In this series of articles, we are exploring ministry bottlenecks that keep churches from moving forward. In the last article, we explored how the pastor can become a bottleneck when too much depends on one person. …
How to Find and Relieve Ministry Bottlenecks
Have you ever been in a traffic jam? Traffic gets backed up for miles and moves at a snail’s pace, adding a half hour to your trip. When this happens, it is usually not because the …
Facing Reality: Volunteer Decline
In this series of newsletters, we have named six challenges churches today cannot ignore. We have already discussed the first two challenges, aging congregations and leadership pipelines running dry. Today, we’ll turn to this third challenge, the …
A Look Back: Fresh Ideas From 2025
This year, we shared many ways to help your church take bold steps of renewal. Below are ten fresh ideas we think are worth re-visiting as the year comes to an end! Ten Fresh Ideas …
Facing Reality: Aging Congregations
Last week, we named some of the most common hard realities churches today are facing: aging congregations, leadership gaps, volunteer decline, stalled outreach, blurry vision, and conflict. We said that acknowledging the hard realities your church is …
Every Church Can Support Church Planting
Church planting is a powerful way to expand God’s Kingdom, but not every congregation will be ready to launch a daughter church this year. Still, every church can take concrete steps today to prepare for planting and to …
Comparing Five Church Planting Models
Church planting is one of the most effective ways to reach nonbelievers with the gospel. As we noted in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, they tend to be more nimble and more …
What it Takes for a Church Plant to Thrive
Planting a new church is one of the most exciting ways to grow the Kingdom of God! As we said in last week’s article, church plants tend to be strategically nimble and especially effective at community …
A Fresh Look at Church Planting
If you care about church renewal, you cannot ignore church planting! As we seek to move our congregations out of maintenance mode and into a multiplication mindset, church planting should be on all our radars! …
No Justice, No Renewal?
Church leaders often find that one of the hardest parts of church renewal is engaging the congregation in the work of justice. Because justice is often perceived as unrelated to renewal, it can get pushed to the …