It’s easy to believe that there will come a day when your church will never struggle and you’ll never struggle as a leader. As tempting as that is to believe, it’s just not true. Every church struggles. And every leader struggles. And—yes—even growing churches…
Question: What does it take to survive in today’s church leadership environment as culture moves away from Christianity and into a more pluralistic, post-modern environment? Answer: More than it used to, and likely more than you think. The good news is…
One of the frequent criticisms I hear of churches that are trying to reach people who don’t attend church is that they fail to make ‘disciples’. Honestly, this is a criticism that, off and on, has been levied at our ministry for…
Everyone talks about reaching the next generation of young adults. But what really makes a church effective in reaching the next generation? I’ve visited a few churches that are doing a fantastic job at reaching 18-30-year-olds—a vastly under-represented demographic in most…
You hear it all the time. I’m done with church. I don’t really need to go to church…my relationship with God is personal. I’ve had it with organized religion. The church is a man-made invention, not God’s idea. I completely…
You probably almost didn’t open this blog post, did you? Governance? Who cares about governance? Well, if you care about church growth and accomplishing your mission, read on. I’m convinced bad governance is a key contributing factor as to why many…
There are many, but one of the biggest differences I see is the attitude of the leaders. The leaders of growing churches almost always share a common attitude. So do the leaders of declining churches. And the attitude has a huge…
Almost every Christian leader I talk to has a passion for reaching people who don’t know Christ. But as we’ve seen before, our culture is changing so rapidly before our eyes that many of the methods we’ve used to tell people…
Leadership is a journey…a journey that’s probably different (and full of more secrets) than you thought it would be before you stepped into leadership. When I was young, I always thought leaders had it all figured out. That the uncertainty…
There’s no doubt the church is undergoing a massive cultural shift as people attend church less often, and even regular attenders show up less frequently than before. (I outlined that trend in detail in this five-part blog series.) The shifts…