As a group, established denominations are in decline for various reasons. Typically this happens when the collection of congregations in a denomination do not innovate the style of their ministry to present the substance of the gospel in a manner…
Congregational management must be accountable to visionary leadership
“Who is in charge here?” is a demand question often heard from someone who wants to enter an organization and provide either leadership or management. When spoken loudly and with an anger edge it can mean that if no one…
Is Sunday the most segmented day of the week?
With honor for and apologies to the legacy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, I would like to ask a different question than the statement he made around 50 years ago about churches, Sunday and segregation. Is Sunday the most segmented…
Freeing people stuck in your church
By George Bullard How do you help people who are stuck in your congregation become unstuck? How do you free them to continue their life journey with joy? In a previous post entitled, “When sticky church becomes stuck church,” I…
Attractional church, missional church and the end of the home field advantage
There’s an important distinction to be made between “attractional church” and “missional church.” Some key differences include: An attractional church sees itself as the center toward which people and resources flow. A missional church sees itself as a gathering from…
You are not a pretend church!
Trinity Baptist Church in Lebanon, New Hampshire, had twelve people in worship yesterday. Ten adults and two children. We sang, we prayed, we greeted one another. They listened to my sermon. We all stayed for lunch, then gathered for another…
Congregational vision is not about successful growing programs
By George Bullard Their name is Legend because there are many congregations who believe the best way to make progress is to have excellent programs, ministries and activities. They measure the success of their congregation by the quantitative and qualitative…
When sticky church becomes stuck church
By George Bullard A ministry acquaintance of mine, Larry Osborne of North Coast Church, an Evangelical Free Church in Vista, Calif., wrote a book several years ago called Sticky Church. The book makes the case that closing the back door…
Maybe you should stay. Maybe…
Posted by Garwood Anderson on January 18, 2016 A durable modern and first-world “problem” is what to do next. People didn’t always spend a lot of energy wondering what they should do next. “Next” was defined by the passage of…