Move The Can: The First Step Toward Change In A Stubborn Church
Are there any simple steps you can take to reduce waste and help you get more done with your limited time and resources? Make them a priority.
Innovation
Locked Down In A Small Town: Rural Ministry During COVID-19
Pastors in small towns and rural areas are on the front lines of ministry right now. They bear the needs of their church members deeply. Yet they and their churches probably feel unseen, undervalued and under-resourced.
When A Sprint Becomes A Marathon: Pastoring In A Long-Term Pandemic
Here are 7 key changes pastors need to make as we adapt from running a sprint to running a marathon.
How To Pivot Your Pastoral Leadership In Uncertain Times
When times are normal, leaders inspire change. When times are disruptive, leaders provide stability.
The One Change Every Small Church Pastor Needs To Make
Pastors are not called to do ministry for people. Pastors are called to equip others to do ministry. Certainly, in most smaller churches, there’s some chaplaincy for the pastor to do, but that should never be our main function no matter how small the church may be. This is the primary shift that most small …
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The One Change Every Small Church Pastor Needs To Make
Pastors are not called to do ministry for people. Pastors are called to equip others to do ministry. Certainly, in most smaller churches, there’s some chaplaincy for the pastor to do, but that should never be our main function no matter how small the church may be. This is the primary shift that most small …
The One Change Every Small Church Pastor Needs To Make Read More »
The Only Way To Promote And Sustain Necessary Change In The Church
There’s only one good reason to move a church toward change. Because the mission demands it. This is also the only way to sustain the change in the long term. This is why, despite all the bad reasons for and against change, the church must constantly be in a state of mission-driven change. No church has …
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3 Reasons Upcoming Cultural Changes Will Hit The Bible Belt Especially Hard – And What To Do About It
The world is changing. In good ways and bad. If you live in America’s Bible Belt (predominantly the Midwest and South) you are probably feeling the impact of these changes to a greater degree than those of us who live outside it. And those feelings are likely to grow for at least another generation. If …
5 Steps To Move A Church From A Static To Dynamic Organizational Style
There are two different types of churches, organizationally.
Static and dynamic.
As we saw in a previous article, Why Most Small Churches Don’t Use (Or Need) An Organizational Chart, the smaller the church, the less necessary it is to use a static organizational system.
Static churches have a thorough Org Chart, with positions that need to be filled, and each position is arranged in some sort of hierarchy. Everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and who reports to whom based on the Org Chart.
Some statically–organized churches have a physical chart on display, while others operate by an unseen, but just as strongly defined system.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with having and/or using an Org Chart. In fact, the bigger the church, the more essential it becomes. When you’re trying to coordinate dozens, even hundreds of leadership positions, the Org Chart reduces chaos and helps create stability.
But if you’re pastoring a small church and you want to move from static to dynamic, how do you do that?
Here are 5 starter steps:
Innovation Or Insistence? There’s More Than One Way To Reach Your Goal
Imagine a hallway full of doors, all of which lead to the same destination.
All your life, you’ve seen people go through one particular door, so you use it, too. But one day you try to go through that door and it won’t open for you.
What do you do?
Insistence says, “get me a battering ram, a crowbar or a prayer group. We’re going to push, pry or pray this door open!”
Innovation says “let’s try another door, and another, until we find one that opens. They all go to the same place, after all.”
Both options have their merits. After all, there are times when a door is stuck because of a problem that needs to be fixed. But not always.
We all have to fight the tendency to commit to a door, rather than to the goal on the other side of the door.