“Words! Words! I get words all day through; First from him, now from you! Is that all you blighters can do?” Eliza Doolittle singing “Show Me” in Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” It sounds simplistic but I believe it’s true. Mediocre churches focus on words; great churches focus on actions. Here’s what […]
Book Review: The Externally Focused Quest
The challenge of turning an inwardly focused church into a vibrant, externally focused mission to its community is formidable. It’s no accident then that the same writers who gave us The Externally Focused Church, Eric Swanson and Rick Rusaw, felt led to follow it up with The Externally Focused Quest. It is a quest, and […]
The Problem With Exciting Church Growth
“Problem? What? Are you kidding?” Most of us find the growth of our churches to be exhilarating, exciting, heady. Especially if this growth follows an extended period of little or no growth. New people walking in every Sunday! Favorable comparisons to your newbie’s former pastors! Long dormant ministry slots finally being filled! Except for a […]
Welcoming Our Post-Apocalyptic Guests
I concede that my title might be a bit wonky, but there’s method in my madness. Everybody knows that most churches lost people by way of the COVID shut down. Some folks decided that if it’s okay to just “watch church” on a screen at home during the shutdown, it should be okay to continue […]
Nickels And Noses: Better Ways To Measure Church Effectiveness
Are we really getting anywhere? Are we actually making disciples, or just going through the motions, doing what we’ve always done while getting what we’ve always gotten? These are hard but important questions for church leaders to ask. I’m assuming that you agree with me that the church’s #1 “job,” its mission, is to make […]
Pipelines, Pathways And The Church’s Supply Chain Crisis
Everybody knows that we have a supply chain problem in America in 2022. It’s irritating. It’s frustrating. And it’s hard to put a finger on exactly what the problem is. All I know for sure is that there are a lot of items “missing” when I go to the store. After twenty-two months of the […]
Reversing The Church’s Supply Chain Crisis
Last week I wrote about Pipelines, Pathways And The Church’s Supply Chain Crisis. It wasn’t about computer chips, potato chips, toilet tissue or gasoline, it was about the lack of new attendees, and much more importantly, new converts to Christ, coming in our church doors. This paragraph was the heart of the post: Even in […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Revitalization Playbook: Play #2 – Help Your Church To Take Responsibility For Its Condition
Two weeks ago I began sharing a revitalization playbook. It’s not a step-by-step manual for church renewal, for I don’t believe that creating a universally applicable revitalization plan is possible. But it is going to be a playbook, like that of a football team which has a couple dozen plays it has practiced extensively. And […]
The Revitalization Playbook: Return To Real Discipleship
We’re working on a revitalization playbook, a compendium of initiatives which church leaders can choose from, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, in their efforts to see their congregations returned to vibrant, Great-Commission health. My final suggestion for you – and by no means am I saying that I’ve given you these in the order of […]
A New Day Of Small Things
We have a saying in America: “Go Big Or Go Home!” We like big stores, big stadiums, big stadium events and big churches. Unfortunately for those of us who are disciples of Jesus, this is a new day of small things, not a new day of big things. You’ve probably read the same stats that […]
A Simple Secret For Better Evangelism
This will probably be the simplest post I’ve written for a long time. Not “simplistic” I hope, but simple, and maybe even short. I was talking to a pastor a few weeks ago about his excellent church. And it really is. It’s united, growing spiritually, growing by way of new converts to Christ and joyful. […]
What An Outward Focus Actually Looks Like
Nowadays, just about everybody knows that churches should have an outward focus. The average evangelical church member has heard the term enough times to know that, when cast as a “Sunday School question,” as in, “Does your church have an outward focus?” the orthodox answer is “yes.” I’m realizing that if I really want to […]
Programs, Paradigms And Presuppositions: Why We’re Struggling With Disciple-Making
Trends come and go. Some are good and some are…not so good. The disciple-making trend, which can legitimately be called a movement is one of the most encouraging trends I’ve seen for a long time. At its heart, the “new” disciple-making movement (or DM) is a shift back towards an understanding of the Christian life, […]
Eight Ways We Can Return To Discipleship WITH Disciple-Making
Last week I wrote a post called “Programs, paradigms and presuppositions: Why we’re struggling with disciple-making.” I began by rejoicing over the “new” disciple-making movement (DM) and how it is seeking to return the American Evangelical church to a version of Christian discipleship (the Christian life) that includes disciple-making as part of the paradigm. I […]
Let’s Invite The Young Into The Greatest Movement Ever
“Son, that’s just the way it is. Some things will never change.” Bruce Hornsby, 1986 Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk there’s been a lot of great discussion about the movement he had begun and how attractive it was, and is – now more than ever – to young people. This has been a great […]
“Playbook” Chapters I Need To Add: Help Your Congregation Discover Their Riches In Christ
Just a note: In 2025 we launched “The Revitalization Playbook.” The “Playbook” is similar to the ones used by football coaches on the sidelines. The coach’s playbook contains all the plays that the coach is confident that his team can run. Conditions on the field determine which play he chooses next. In my “Playbook,” knowing […]
