When it comes to church structure (constitutions, by-laws, policies, flow-charts, etc.): What works? What kind of structure is conducive to disciple-making effectiveness? The following are 30 “bullet point” sized suggestions. 1. Mission and vision driven – (or purpose driven) – What is your church for? Who is it for? What is it supposed to […]
QUICK GUIDE – Discipleship Pathways – Strategies For Discipling
Increasing numbers of evangelical church leaders believe in “intentional disciple-making.” This means having a plan, a system, a process for bringing new believers to maturity in Christ. We encourage every church to decide on a discipleship pathway for their own congregation. It may be very imperfect, but an imperfect discipleship pathway is far better than none […]
QUICK GUIDE – Coaching Staff Members
You may know the name Marcus Buckingham as the creator of the Strengths Finder inventory and the author of the popular book Strengths Finder 2.0. We recently had the chance to see Buckingham’s 2017 presentation from the Global Leadership Summit entitled “Reinventing Performance Management.” The talk was so practical that we want to […]
QUICK GUIDE – An Alternative To Pastor Performance Reviews
The relationships between church boards and senior or solo pastors are challenging. In most congregations, the board and pastor have a complex, not-easily-negotiated relationship: All board members, including the pastor, are brothers in Christ, and equals before God. The board, in most cases, was involved in the hiring of the pastor and the writing or […]
QUICK GUIDE – Senior Pastor Performance Review
Based on the paper, “The Pastoral Performance Review: An Opportunity to Empower” Contact Rev. Scott Roen for the complete document – scottdavidroen@gmail.com PERSONAL MATTERS: (As far as the board is able to determine the following…) How did the pastor take care of himself physically? How did the pastor take care of himself emotionally? How did […]
QUICK GUIDE – Succession Planning For Pastors
Condensed from “Succession Planning”, NL Moore & Associates Planned or unplanned, every church will go through a pastoral succession. In the next 10 years, more than half of all churches in America will go through a pastoral succession. There are not enough students in seminaries today to fill the empty pulpits that already exist […]
QUICK GUIDE – Training Elders
I agree with Pastor Larry Osborne that the health of a church begins in the board room. Pastor/board unity is the key to church unity. The leadership of a united board will usually be followed by a united church. We believe that elders should be trained for their critically important role. It is not enough […]
QUICK GUIDE – Church Revitalization
Our awesome God loves to revitalize churches! Some Christian leaders suggest that most churches are so ineffective after thirty years that they should be replaced. We believe that it is much more glorifying to God when churches are revived, not replaced. Our observation is that Jesus will remove a “lampstand” when He has to, but […]
STRATEGY – Strategic Planning Template #8
Introductory Quotes: Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? “For most churches, doing anything intentionally would be an improvement.” Anonymous “Vision is worthless without strategy.” Attributed to Aubrey Malphurs “…anyone who fails to define their strategy is not only foolish but also demonstrating poor management of the time, talents and treasure of their […]
VALUES – Strategic Planning Template #6
Valuable Thoughts On Values: Values are the underlying assumptions and beliefs about what is important, that guide our decision making and our behavior. They are what’s important to us as we seek to achieve our purpose, fulfill our mission and realize our vision. They are a big part of a church’s CULTURE. Values […]
VISION – Strategic Planning Template #7
The creation of a vision statement vies with the identification of a focus (or target) group as being the most controversial aspect of the strategic planning (hereafter: SP) process. It has, in fact, been said that there are two kinds of pastors in the world: those who love talking about vision and those (probably a […]
PURPOSE: Strategic Planning Template #2
Is there a difference between mission (what the church is supposed to DO) and purpose (the ultimate reason for why the church EXISTS)? 1. Some evangelical writers/thinkers say “no,” there is no difference and leave it at that. 2. Other evangelical leaders confuse the issue (in my opinion) by coming up with several purposes […]
FOCUS GROUPS – Strategic Planning Template #5
In my experiences of helping churches with strategic planning tasks – clarifying their purpose, mission, designer disciple, values, vision and strategy – the most controversial part of the process has always been the possible choice of a target or focus group. A focus group is a demographic niche which a church deliberately decides to concentrate […]
OUR DESIGNER DISCIPLE: Strategic Planning Template #4
“Designer disciple” is not a great term. It conjures up all sorts of images and most them are not good. But I’ve never heard a better term, so for the moment, we’ll stick with it. The concept is not to be confused with the “Saddleback Sam” or comical “Green Bay Gary” type character who is […]
FINDING OUR MISSION: Strategic Planning Template #3
Jesus wasn’t always easy to understand but He did make the church’s mission clear and simple. Study Matthew 28:16-20 – There is only one command here in the original language. What is it? Three participles (ing words) describe how the command gets done. What are they? Going – this is the action that we must […]
INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS – Strategic PlanningTemplate #1
Some say that strategic planning (hereafter: SP) is a trend in the business world and therefore shouldn’t be applied to the church. However: The fact that it’s trendy in the business world doesn’t make it wrong. SP should be judged by Biblical and practical criteria, on its own merits. Planning, with humility, the fear of […]
The Big Mo And Interim Pastorates
Here’s a question which is being politely debated within interim ministry circles: Do interim pastorates which are more than one year long kill the Big Mo…momentum? The answer is definitely “yes and no.” YES! – If the interim pastorate is a traditional interim pastorate – in which the pastor works less than full time, preaches […]
Becoming A Leader
Some of you have heard my own leadership story. For those who haven’t, here’s a short version. In my first church planting attempt, right out of seminary, I thought that all I needed to do was to teach the Bible well and my tiny church would grow. It didn’t. In my second church planting attempt […]
Mission And Vision Contrasted: Why Pastors Need To Share Their Dreams
SUMMARY: Sharing your church’s mission is good, but also sharing what you believe God wants your church to become (your vision) is even better. Here’s why: You’ve probably heard management and leadership contrasted: “Management deals with what already exists; leadership deals with what will or should exist.” “Management deals with present realities; leadership deals with […]
Book Review: Pastor Unique – Becoming Turnaround Leaders
Pastor Unique is not just another indictment of the American Church or American pastors. Authors Lavern Brown, Gordon Penfold and Gary Westra have given us a roadmap for real change and it is practical and doable. One clarification: PASTOR UNIQUE is about turnaround pastors in the sense of long-term (not transitional or interim) pastors, who seek to lead […]
Falling In Love With Our Communities
Isn’t it amazing what love can do to a normal human being? Take the 16 or 17 year old guy. His whole life has been about himself. He’s never done anything very unselfish, let along sacrificical, nor has he given any lavish gifts to anyone. And then SHE comes along! He’s head over heels in […]
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