Jesus knew that if his followers were going to make any difference in the world, they would need a laser-like focus on a compass, not on a clock. Sadly, congregations and clergy often abandon this truth.
Are our churches and their leaders ready for the 2020s?
Rather than thinking of turnaround as simply a reversal of numerical decline, the real turnaround for congregations that thrive in the next decade will be a move from irrelevance to relevance in the lives of their constituents and their communities.
Love the church you have
Churches must be courageous and open to change. But sometimes, amid all the pulse-taking, evaluations, strategy planning and critiquing, we forget to love the church we have.
When a church or minister is in need of an intervention
What are the signs that an intervention may be called for? And what should that look like?
Blessed are the foolish, for they are key to healthy churches
Signs of a healthy church are not necessarily a polished worship service, a jazzy children’s program or excellent preaching, but a place where fools are welcome and celebrated. This church is led by the most foolish one of all, the God who voluntarily became human to dwell among other foolish humans, so that they might become God’s children.
How to know if your church will be alive in 10 years
Only 8 percent of American churchgoers attend congregations of more than 1,000 in weekly attendance. Yet the churches attended by 8 percent of Christians are held up as the models for every other church to emulate in order not to die.
Most church ‘visioning’ efforts fail: how your church can succeed
When the visionary rhetoric of a vibrant future collides with the realities of established precedents, facilities, job titles or traditional methods, the result is conflict. This is where many congregational visioning processes get derailed.
Robert Griffin III, the Redskins and dying churches
It was awful. It was embarrassing. I couldn’t watch it anymore. My team, the Washington Redskins had started a good fight against the Seattle Seahawks on a recent Sunday night football. The Redskins came out strong and scored 14 points…