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De-Sizing the Church (pt 8): Are We Too Quick to Replatform Fallen Pastors? with Matt Steen (ep 076)
The importance of offering a path to repentance and restoration without re-victimizing those who have been hurt.
De-sizing The Church: Why The Gap Between Big And Small Churches Is Growing
An obsession with church attendance has been with us for a long time. But it’s a bigger deal today because we’ve become really good at it.
Six Ways To Be A Non-Anxious Presence As A Church Leader
When you walk in the room, do you raise the anxiety temperature, or lower it? Mature leaders learn how to be a calming presence.
De-Sizing the Church (pt 7): How To Use Your God-given Platform Well, with Daniel Darling (ep 075)
Fame is not evil, but it is dangerous. Yet it can also help get good information to as many people as possible.
De-sizing The Church: What’s More Important than Attendance?
Healthy, de-sized churches prioritize worship, ministry, discipleship, evangelism, and fellowship not as a means to an end, but as the purpose for which we exist.
De-Sizing the Church (pt 6): Reframing Ministry Success to Reach the Misfits and the Marginalized, with Dave Gibbons (ep 074)
What happens when a pastor decides to reach people who look as different from his current congregation as possible?
De-sizing The Church: Discipleship Fixes Everything
“All numerical markers — increased attendance, bigger and better programs, a larger budget — must take a backseat to listening to Jesus. Jesus calls us to abide in him.”
Peter Scazzero
De-Sizing the Church (pt 5): Forming a Goodness Culture In the Local Church, with Scot McKnight (ep 073)
“Meritocracy has reshaped pastors and churches, and a new culture has taken root, based on achievement and accomplishment rather than holiness and Christlikeness.”
De-sizing The Church: Integrity Lasts
The Bible constantly calls us to strengthen our integrity. We’re never called to increase our numbers.
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Author
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Karl Vaters produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast, The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context. He has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience.
You can follow Karl on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, and LinkedIn, or Contact Karl to inquire about speaking, writing, and consultation.
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