Mission
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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5 Good Reasons A Church Should Close
It’s no secret that thousands of churches close every year. Every time I hear of a church that’s closing, my heart sinks. Despite the voices of all of the critics, I really do believe the local church is a beacon of light in a world that’s increasingly dark. In light of the fact that I…
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7 Easy Ways to Blow It With A Mentor
Almost every leader you talk to these days either wants a mentor; has a mentor or is mentoring someone. I talk to scores of young leaders who want to be mentored. So let’s say you land the mentor you were hoping to get…how do you make the most of that relationship? I’ve seen more than a…
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The Current American Tension and 4 Opportunities for the Church
You don’t need to be anything more than a casual observer of American (and Western) culture to know that something significant is happening. Charlottesville, Ferguson, Baltimore and a host of other cities that have seen events which symbolize the problems this generation is struggling with will, sadly, likely give way to a list of more…
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5 Ways Tracking Church Attendance Messes With Your Soul
If you’ve spent more than 10 minutes in church leadership, you’re aware of the tension that tracking church attendance creates inside you and around you. Sure, for starters, the way other leaders talk about numbers is an easy gateway for criticism (He’s totally obsessed with numbers). But it’s deeper than that. It’s easy to criticize…
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How to Respond to a Culture You Don’t Like Anymore
Ever feel like the culture is changing so much you really don’t like it? You’re not alone. The culture around us is changing. You can debate when the collapse of Christendom in the West began, but there is little doubt we are witnessing a massive shift away from the cultural consensus that existed even a…
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Why Attending Church No Longer Makes Sense
The trend is practically universal: fewer people are attending church every year. You might have even asked the question yourself. Why bother? There are many reasons why that’s happening (I outline 10 here), but I think it’s increasingly evident that it no longer makes sense to attend church. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge…
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5 Ways To Become a Better Leader…Today
Sometimes leadership can seem so overwhelming. In reality, though, leadership is simpler than it first appears. In many ways, great leaders master some very basic things that other people miss. The advice in this post is so simple you might be thinking “well, my mother used to tell me to do that”. Maybe that’s the…
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5 Mistakes Most Preachers Make
So maybe you’re a preacher, or you listen to preachers (or stopped listening to preachers). Almost everyone has a perspective on what makes or doesn’t make for a great sermon. I’ve been preaching regularly for over 25 years, so I know a little bit about the head games preachers play with themselves. What you do…
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5 Honest Struggles Most Church Leaders Don’t Want To Admit
Most of us who get into full-time ministry do so because we sense a calling, not because it was a ‘career path’. Chances are you got in this because you love God, deeply, right? So it’s always a bit surprising and unusual then when ministry leaders find themselves struggling with the very God who called…
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