No doubt at some point you will contemplate going to 3 services. Often this is a wise decision. Occasionally it’s not. Since this is something I will often walk a Senior Pastor through as a part of our coaching relationship, I thought it might be helpful to talk about the ins and outs of how to make this decision and how to pull it off well when you do. Let’s start … [Read more...]
5 Things To Consider As You Schedule Your Christmas Eve Services
Christmas affords a number of unique opportunities and challenges for churches when Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday. Let me highlight some key considerations for your team to wrestle with to help you pick the right Christmas Eve service times. 1. It Will Require a Lot of Energy to Pull off Good "Normal" Sunday Morning Services, Then Come Back on Monday Night and Pull off Great … [Read more...]
Why You Must DOUBLE The Size Of Your Geographical Target Area
I want you to look at three maps that just rocked my world. In my January 10th article How To Grow From 1,000 to 5,000, I quoted Dudley Rutherford, who gave me this advice: “Brian, to grow you must reach out to a larger geographical area than your small, well-trodden target community.” Of course, like most of us do, I ignored this great advice and went about my merry … [Read more...]
Please Rethink Your Christmas Eve Services
[I’m excited to be back each Tuesday sharing practical ideas for Senior Pastors in the trenches. Let’s start off this week with an issue that many of you have already “settled” in your minds and are getting ready to roll out to your congregations in a few weeks.] Hopefully, I've caught you before you've announced this year's Christmas Eve service times to your … [Read more...]
Leadership Evangelism: How Your Church Can Double In Three Years (or Less)
What I am about to share with you is the single most important church growth principle I have ever learned for Senior Pastors of churches under 1,000 in size. I call it Leadership Evangelism. Leadership Evangelism is the process by which Senior Pastors single-handedly ignite a movement within their church that will cause it to double in size in three years or less. Here’s … [Read more...]
How To Reach Searching Catholics
One of the greatest joys of my life is serving my friends and neighbors who grew up in the Catholic Church but are now, for whatever reason, looking for God outside the church of their youth. Knowing how to reach searching Catholics has been a huge learning experience for our church. I must admit that when I was growing up I didn’t know too many Catholics. That’s … [Read more...]
5 Reasons I Believe In Short-Term International Mission Trips
Championing short-term international mission trips has unquestionably been one of the best things I have ever done as a Senior Pastor. Short-term international mission trips have sparked more spiritual growth in the hearts of people at the church I serve than everything we have ever tried to do combined. When people ask why I think CCV has grown so rapidly and impacted … [Read more...]
7 Must-Do Items For Your Church Growth Calendar
One of the essentials for leading an outreach-focused, growing church (and likewise RARELY present in a stagnant one) is a detailed 12-month church growth calendar created six months before that calendar year begins. What I mean by this is the Senior Pastor and team must create a roadmap for the congregation to follow, which, when executed, will ignite church growth. I … [Read more...]
Why Churches Should Never Advertise To Christians (Like In The “Christian Yellow Pages”)
Since the first day we started CCV, until now, we’ve faithfully abided by one enduring value: we will grow our church through conversion growth only. Never transfer growth. The Mission of the Church To us the reason is simple – Jesus came to earth, lived, died, and was resurrected to send the Church out into the world to reach people who aren’t Christ followers yet. That’s … [Read more...]
7 Ways To Keep Church Hoppers From Staying At Your Church
Two of the most dangerous influences any church faces are: (1) Spiritual leaders who have lost their first love and (2) the onslaught of church hoppers. Having wavered before in my faith and flirted with losing God as my first love, I know firsthand how dangerous the first one can be. But that's something we spiritual leaders have control over. The second one...not so … [Read more...]
You Can Only Offend One
If forced to make the decision, our church from day one has decided that we will offend the self-seeking Christian before the spiritually seeking non-Christian. I tell Senior Pastors that I coach, that I personally believe you can only strategically choose to offend one of those groups. Some churches are purposely designed to offend the spiritually seeking non-Christian, … [Read more...]
3 Church Attendance Shifts Troubling Senior Pastors
In the last 5-8 years a subtle, but profound shift in church attendance behavior has begun to change the way ministry is done in North America. The problem is some Senior Pastors don’t realize what has been happening, or at least have been taken off guard and haven’t fashioned a response yet. I know because I'm still trying to find my bearings. Here are 3 church … [Read more...]
10 Ways To Increase Baptisms
Recently a friend in ministry shared that he was frustrated by the lack of baptisms the church he is serving has experienced. He asked for advice, and since I get asked this question a lot, I thought I’d share my response here: Hi Jason, by God's grace we see quite a few people get baptized here at CCV, just under 1,900 in 15 years in fact. I’m not sure there are any secrets, … [Read more...]
4 Reasons Why Increasing Your Easter Attendance Matters
If there's one thing we know about Easter, it's that many Senior Pastors go to great lengths to mobilize their congregations to get new people to attend on this day. Many think this is a wasted attempt to pander to "Chreasters." I completely disagree. Increasing your Easter attendance is important, but not for reasons commonly thought. Here are four reasons why doing … [Read more...]
11 Ways Senior Pastors Can Re-Ignite Evangelism In Their Congregations
It’s not by hiring staff. It’s not by starting building projects. And it’s definitely not by doing direct mail and advertising. I believe in advertising, but in the same way publishers know that great marketing will only make a bad book fail faster, evangelistically passionate Senior Pastors know marketing will only give a false sense of excitement and growth. … [Read more...]
2 Things Senior Pastors Can Do To Regain Their Passion To Reach Lost People
As a Senior Pastor you’re going to lose your evangelistic passion from time to time. That’s normal. The question is how do you get it back? Whenever I’ve lost my evangelistic passion, here’s what I’ve always done to get it back. 1. Pray this prayer multiple times a day: “God give me your heart for people in this area.” Over the years, whenever I’ve lost my passion for people … [Read more...]
If The Senior Pastor Doesn’t Evangelize, Eventually No-One Will
Evangelism and church growth begins with you. When we first started Christ’s Church of the Valley in the suburbs of Philadelphia we quickly had seven families start attending from our street alone. When it came to evangelism, I walked the talk. Unquestionably. Since we made a commitment to God to grow through conversion growth only, waking up every day and desperately praying … [Read more...]
