Posts by Carey Nieuwhof
CNLP Bonus 017: 8 Keys to Breaking the 200 Barrier
In this special bonus episode, Brian Orme interviews Carey on the 8 key reasons 85% of churches never break the 200 attendance barrier. Welcome to Bonus Episode 017 of the podcast. Links Mentioned Be a part of the Breaking 200 Without Breaking You launch here Churchleaders.com Church Leaders Podcast: Episode 38 3 Insights from This Episode 1.…
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CNLP 158: Kara Powell on How to Tell if Your Church is Positioned to Draw Millennials and Her Personal Habits and Rhythms as a Leader and Mom
What does your church need to do to connect better with Millennials? Kara Powell shares insights from research from 250 effective churches on practices that work for any size church in any setting. Plus, she shares how she gets it all done as an academic, mom, church leader, author and speaker. Welcome to Episode 158…
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Why Control Freaks Rarely Lead Large Churches or Organizations
So you’re a bit of a control freak. And you’re a leader. That’s not surprising. People who like control seem to have a natural ability to get into leadership positions. Or sometimes they create positions, start things and build their own organizations. For years, I resisted the control freak label. I wasn’t a control freak.…
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5 Very Real Tensions Every Small to Mid-Sized Church Leader Feels
If you lead a small to mid-sized church, you face struggles leaders of large churches don’t. I can totally relate to the dynamics of leading a smaller church. When I began in ministry, I spent about 3 years leading a small congregation (under 100) that grew into a mid-sized church (under 500) and then grew…
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If You’re Tired of Doing Everything Yourself As a Leader, Read This
Tired of doing everything yourself? Most leaders are. And yet we feel we have to do it or it won’t get done right, or maybe it won’t get done at all. I’ve been there. I get it. But the question is why? Why do so many leaders end up there? Even worse, the vast majority…
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CNLP 157: Jon Acuff on What It Takes for You To Finish What You Start, Finding Your Career Path and The Rhythms and Routines That Make People Successful
New York Times best-selling author Jon Acuff is back on the podcast to talk about research he did about why some people finish their goals when most people don’t. In this wide-ranging interview, Carey also deconstructs some of the rhythms and routines that have made Jon successful. Finally, Jon offers some challenging public speaking advice…
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5 Signs Your Motives For Church Growth Are Bad
You probably have an immediate reaction to the concept of church growth. You might get really excited about it, or maybe you wince and launch into a list of criticisms in your head (or on your keyboard). Personally, I’m committed to helping churches reach more people because I long to see everyone in a personal…
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How to Tell if A New Volunteer is Truly a Leader (Or Simply a Doer)
I recently surveyed 1400 small and mid-sized church pastors to find out what they struggle with most as their church grows. They overwhelmingly identified developing leaders as their top challenge. Don’t get me wrong, there were many more issues (I address the big eight in my new course, Breaking 200 Without Breaking You, which releases…
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CNLP 156: Whit and Willie George – An Honest Conversation About Succession, Working With Family and Keeping Church on the Move Thriving
Willie George founded Church on the Move 30 years ago. Recently, he transitioned the senior leadership of the church to his son, Whit. How do you follow a legend? How do you keep a large, widely respected church growing? And how do you handle family tension? Carey interviewed Whit and Willie about all this and…
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The Top 8 Reasons Most Churches Never Break the 200 Attendance Mark
While social media and even traditional media are still preoccupied with mega churches and multi-site churches, the reality is that most churches in North America are quite small. The Barna Group pegs the average Protestant church size in America at 89 adults. Only 2% of churches have over 1000 adults attending. According to Carl George…
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