Seriously Troubled Churches Archives - Helping Churches Thrive

The Everlasting Gossip Stopper Can Change Your Church’s Culture

Every human organization has a problem with gossip. It follows the association of people with people as night follows day. I’m not talking about the innocuous version of gossip which is simply talking about people. “In Bible times, women met at the village well to exchange the latest gossip.” I’m talking about the harmful kind…

Five Ways To Practice Spiritual One-upmanship

We might as well admit it. We’ve all used spiritual one-upmanship to win an argument or get our way in a board meeting or committee debate. My dictionary defines one-upmanship as “the technique or practice of gaining a feeling of superiority over another person.” Spiritual one-upmanship uses questionable appeals to the Bible, claims to godly…

Ten Ways To Respond To Gossip About Your Leaders

It’s out of style in today’s world, but in the value system of God, church leaders are to be held in high honor. I Thessalonians 5:13a says we should “Hold them in the highest regard in love, because of their work.” The “highest regard” means that we treat our church’s leaders as being just as…

One Big, Unhappy Family

For several decades family therapists have been thinking in terms of family systems. Family systems theory says that a key to understanding the behavior of individual family members is the family system to which they belong. Just as individuals affect the system, the system affects individuals, in many cases assigning certain roles to members without…

Four More Characteristics of the Unhappy Church Family

In an earlier post I wrote about how family systems theory applies to local churches. Family systems theory says that families are more alike than different. They’re characterized by patterns, roles and habits which show up in the Jones family from First Street, the Smith family from Second Street and the Swanson family from Third…

Six Ways You Can Help Unhappy Church Families

I’ve done some writing in this blog on the subject of dysfunctional church systems, which I’ve referred to casually as “unhappy church families.” By whatever name, these congregations are often characterized by one or more of the following: Unofficial heads of the family – Someone other than the pastor is the leader Triangles – Three…

Encountering Dysfunctional Church Systems

In the 1962, Western classic, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” Jimmy Stewart plays a fresh-faced young lawyer, Ransom Stoddard, determined to bring law and order to the wild west town of Shinbone. Before he even makes it into town he is robbed and brutally beaten by the outlaw bully, Liberty Valance. As much as…

Countering Negativity Bias In Your Organization

In “Negativity Bias And YOUR Organization” I wrote about the unfortunate effects of the human bent toward negativity in human organizations. It was a pretty negative post (of course!) but I promised I would share some hints for countering this pernicious problem. Here’s how I defined negativity bias: Human beings are “bent” toward negativity. Negative…

The All-Important Partiality Clause

“…an overseer must be above reproach…” From I Timothy 3:2 (ESV) “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of…

What Structure Can And Cannot Do

I have to admit it. I’m a structure guy. Even during periods when evangelicals seem intent on denigrating the importance of Biblical, workable, church structures, I’ve stuck to my guns: good structure can help a church to function well. But it certainly can’t do everything. Biblical, workable, understandable constitutions, by-laws, governance systems and policies have…

When Church Members Leave

For many of us, the very mention of the subject of church members leaving knots up our stomachs faster than a phone call from the IRS. Painful memories flood my mind as I sit down to write – and I thought I’d gotten “good at” letting people go. Not that we really want to get…

The Small Church, Post-Pandemic, Survival Guide

Everybody knows that churches were hit hard by the COVID pandemic shutdowns: Theologically liberal churches lost large percentages of their attendees who don’t seem to be returning. Many of these congregations are closing their doors. May these buildings be re-occupied by gospel proclaiming “re-start” churches soon, for the glory of God! Larger evangelical churches lost…

Twenty Observations About Troubled Congregations

By Peter Steinke I have worked with troubled churches for 20 years. I never cease to learn from these experiences. The list below includes some of what I have learned about congregations in times of conflict: 1. Most people are interested in relieving their own anxiety rather than managing the crisis or planning for a…

QUICK GUIDE – Is My Church A Healthy Church?

A Worksheet For Individual Or Group Use 1. What is a healthy church? Why do we have differing opinions on this? Because it’s a theological (ecclesiological) question. Your theology of the church determines your definition of a healthy church. Common views from a couple of decades ago: “A healthy church is a church that’s getting…

QUICK GUIDE – Structure For Success

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 – 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 – 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…

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…

Five Reasons Why We Must Storm The Gates

Before Jesus gave his disciples the New Commandment (John 13:34,35) or the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), he pronounced the Great Prediction of Matthew 16:18 (NIV): “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” There’s no actual command here. …

How We Can Storm The Gates Of Hades

‘Need something exciting to do? Does your church need an exhilarating new mission or purpose? How about “storming the gates of hades,” a phrase used by Jesus in connection with his first mention of the church? Here’s Matthew 16:18 (NIV) in its entirety: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock…

Book Review: Permission To Speak Freely

Doug Crandall and Matt Kincaid’s secular, business world-oriented book, Permission To Speak Freely, makes a great, challenging read for Christian leaders. Here’s the bottom line premise of the book, from page ix of the Foreword (by Shann Ray Ferch): “By not only listening deeply, but encouraging those around us to speak freely, leaders can create…