Senior Pastors typically underestimate the impact their building has on their church’s future growth. Building Too Late Church planters believe the lie that they don’t need a building to grow, ignoring the fact that your chances of survival begin to plummet drastically after year six outside of a permanent facility (whether owned or leased). We will always find growing church … [Read more...]
Criticism Is The Price Of Growth
If you are going to attempt to lead your church in growth, you will be criticized. Period. If the Apostle Paul was ruthlessly criticized at every step of his journey, you can pretty much assume that you will be too. What I tell Senior Pastors that I coach is that the good news is that criticism and leadership pretty much go hand in hand, so no matter what you do you’ll be … [Read more...]
How Churches Actually Grow
If you’re at a loss as to why the church you serve is no longer growing, you’re in good company. Every week I hear from highly gifted Senior Pastors whose churches have grown in the past, but for some reason have stalled. When I get permission to look under the hood and poke around a bit, asking questions and analyzing data and trends, I tend to hear the same response to … [Read more...]
Why Increasing Church Attendance Matters
Contrary to what contemporary church thinkers might say, church attendance is absolutely an important spiritual indicator in the life of the church. Church attendance matters because… The Book of Acts tells us that the corporate church continuously met together (Acts 2:42-47) and Luke made it a point to count it as a way of marking progress and participation. God … [Read more...]
Forget Mission, Vision, Values, And Strategy (and all the things “experts” say you need)
I’ll never forget sitting down with a seasoned church planter from another denomination who received my direct mail and offered to take me out to lunch for extra encouragement. I proudly laid before him my mission, vision, values, strategy, and a host of other things people told me I needed at church growth conferences. Mid-way through lunch he smiled and said, “Please … [Read more...]
The Three Buckets: The Key To Reigniting Growth
If you are trying to restart your congregation, or jumpstart growth, what I'm about to share with you is hands down the single most important thing you need to understand. I call this principle "The Three Buckets." The Three Buckets Picture before you three buckets. The bucket on the left is called the "Sunday Bucket." The Sunday bucket represents … [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...]
The #1 Secret Of Church Growth
When I was pastoring a church that took off like a rocket from 150 to 150 in four years, I wrote every pastor of a growing vibrant congregation over 1,000 I could find. I asked them for their best advice on how I could lead my congregation to become a healthy, growing, outreach-focused church like theirs. I purposely sought out people who had led their church through my exact … [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...]
You Must Believe You Can Lead Your Church To Grow
Not only must you believe your church can grow in order for it to happen, you must believe you are the person to make that happen. The problem is it is a whole lot easier for we Senior Pastors to believe that our churches will make it through the desert to see the Promised Land than it is to believe that we'll be the ones to get them there. For instance, it snowed again this … [Read more...]
You Must Believe Your Church Can Grow
Whether you’re trying to break 100 or 1,000, you have to believe three things before your church will go anywhere. The first is the hardest: You must believe your church can grow. Like seriously-deep-down-inside believe it can happen. Trust me, if you don’t believe that it can, it won’t. I know that from first-hand experience. The "Yeah, But" Syndrome A strange thing happens … [Read more...]
The Painful Cost Of Unity
Unity within a church is the indispensable key to accomplishing the Great Commission. Show me a church with tremendous talent, resources and potential, but no unity, and I’ll show you a church that is already dead in its tracks. But show me a unified church with limited resources and significant challenges, and I’ll show you a church that will find a way to win every … [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...]
