Church Health/Revitalization Archives - Page 7 of 9

Don’t Be Bashful: Most People Are Still “Lost In America”

“I am not ashamed of the gospel…” Romans 1:16 Back in 2001, Tom Clegg and Warren Bird gave us great encouragement with their book, Lost In America. The subtitle was “How You And Your Church Can Impact The World Next Door.” Before you change channels because I’m reviewing an “old book,” give this post a…

This Old Church: Begin Your Revitalization With An Assessment

I heard it again on Sunday, described a little more eloquently this time than in the past. The homeowner and contractor told me how he had remodeled several homes, each time living in them during the process. He was grateful to have had the same wife with him throughout the whole adventure. As I had…

Keeping The Band Together: Maintaining Unity As Your Church Grows

Would that every church leadership team would be faced with the challenges of significant church growth! A pastor who is dealing with that happy situation put this question to me: “I love the unity we have in our church right now. How can we maintain it as we continue to grow?” Again: wouldn’t it be…

Keeping The Band Together: Maintaining Unity As Your Church Grows, Part Two

Sometimes our success can be our own undoing. Oh-so-happy is the experience of the small, united church! Such congregations tend to grow spontaneously: “Come and check out our wonderful little church! I think you’ll love it.” And they do come, and they do love it, because we’re all looking for love, and this kind of…

Keeping The Band Together: Maintaining Unity As Your Church Grows, Part Three

A wise, young pastor whose congregation is experiencing healthy growth put this question to me: “I love the unity we have in our church right now. How can we maintain it as we continue to grow?” Here are the answers I’ve shared so far: (Read the first full post here and the second post here.)…

Ten Questions To Identify Your Church’s Actual Mission

Does your church have a mission statement? If it’s an evangelical church, it probably does. What does it say? More than likely, it says something to the effect of: “We exist to make disciples” – defined as growing, devoted followers of Jesus. Writing a mission statement is a “slam dunk” because this imperative is so…

How Fast Can My Church Change?

A pastor whose church is experiencing vibrant health and growth recently asked me this great question. Would that more church leaders – the world over – had cause to be asking this! As I write these words, his congregation is growing and significant changes are being made to accommodate and catalyze that growth, and it’s…

How Fast Can My Church Change? Three More Factors

Last week I wrote about a happy question put to me by the pastor of a growing church: “How fast can my church change?” I noted that there’s probably no simple answer available, but I noted several factors, which, considered together, should help a leadership team determine how fast their church can change. BTW: The…

Surviving Those “No-Win” Pastoral Situations

I imagine that people in other professions also experience “no-win” situations. It just so happens that, having been a pastor for many years, and working with many of them now in coaching and consulting relationships, I’m tuned in to the dilemmas in which the leaders of churches sometimes find themselves. Such as: A beloved staff…

Your Kommittees Could Be Killing Your Church

I’m not an anti-committee iconoclast. I only know one committee joke: Q – “What’s a camel?” A – “A horse put together by a committee.” That’s it, and now I have that out of my system. Committees can actually be wonderful: I’ve seen pastoral search committees that served God well by helping their congregations locate…

Four Ways To Reform Your Killer Committees

Criminal justice experts debate whether those guilty of homicide can be reformed. Conservatives tend to say “no,” liberals tend to say “yes,” and Christians often say that since regeneration transforms the worst of us into new individuals, that fact should at least be taken into consideration by parole boards. But that’s not my area of…

What We Can Learn From “New Pastor Revivals”

Many years ago, my wife and I observed that churches with new pastors frequently experience new excitement, new enthusiasm and new growth. At some point we coined the term, “new pastor revival.” Of course, it’s not usually “revival” in the historic sense of a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit among a group of Christians…

What We Can Learn From “New Pastor Revivals,” Conclusion

Last week I wrote about “new pastor revivals,” those wonderful seasons of new enthusiasm and excitement that follow the installation of a new parson in an old parsonage. I mentioned that while it’s not usually a “revival” in the historic sense of a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit among a group of Christians, it’s…

The Myth Of The Young Pastor

I’m not picking on young pastors. Not by any means. Young pastors (and their families) are wonderful. Nor am I picking on churches which like young pastors. Good for them. In fact, I want to commend every church on the planet which is aging but interested in younger pastors because they’re concerned about reaching the…

Full Disclosure Vs. No Disclosure: How Much Should We Tell?

Here’s the scenario: Your church’s youth director has just resigned. He was well-liked and seemed to be effective. Most of the church has no idea what went on behind the scenes. Only a few leaders know that there were character issues, accountability issues, communication issues, philosophy-of-ministry issues and eventually, personal issues between the senior pastor…

Full Disclosure Vs. No Disclosure: Part Two

Last week I wrote about the conundrum of what to tell a congregation when a staff member has resigned or been dismissed under less-than-ideal conditions. We explored the options of: Full disclosure – Telling a congregation the gory details of the departed staff member’s failures, or No disclosure – Saying nothing publicly about the departure,…

The Ill-Fitting Staff Member: How Does This Happen?

Like an ill-fitting pair of shoes, ill-fitting staff members make for painful experiences for both the staff members themselves as well as the churches they serve. It’s not easy to address these situations, but it’s important that we face the facts and get these individuals re-trained or re-deployed. Today’s post will be the first of…

The Ill-Fitting Staff Member: Four Possible Solutions

“It was he [the risen Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers…” Ephesians 4:11 “…speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” …

The Ill-Fitting Staff Member: The Best Solution For Many Situations

“A change will do you good” From the song by Sheryl Suzanne Crow, Sheryl Crow, Jeffrey Trott and Brian Mcleod “…dig up your unplowed ground…” From Jeremiah 4:3 and Hosea 10:12 I’ve written two posts now on the subject of ill-fitting staff members: church employees who – however gifted and dedicated – never were or…

Too Big For Your Britches: How To Kill Your Small Church By Acting Like A Big Church

“God must love poor people; He made so many of them” Anonymous, but attributed to many sources Grownups had a saying when I was a child: “Don’t get too big for your britches!” It meant, “Don’t get too high an opinion of yourself” or “Don’t be proud and arrogant” or “Don’t pretend to be something…

Pastors And Churches: Prepare Your Board For The Future

“…men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do-“ I Chronicles 12:32 “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them.” Acts 6:3 Nobody wants to prepare for a crisis. It’s a lot of…