If you are curious about what other churches are doing, this week’s newsletter is for you! The National Congregations Study tracks important metrics over time so that trends can be measured. Today, I will share …
Does Your Church Need a Restart?
Essential choices must be made when a church moves onto the downward slope of its lifecycle. This is especially true as the church moves from early to late aging. When the church enters this stage …
To Livestream Or Not To Livestream
Does offering a worship livestream siphon people off from participating in-person? New data by the Pew Research Center says that is generally not something to worry about. Most people are not substituting online worship for in-person …
Transformation in a Secular Age
A critical task of pastors and ministry leaders in a renewal process is to lead people toward being transformed by God. Paul writes to the church in Rome, calling them to be transformed by the …
How To Balance Love and Truth
The Gospel of John says Jesus came full of grace and truth (John 1:14), and the apostle Paul urged Christians to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Even so, many churches today are struggling to …
Trends in Staffing Relevant for Church Renewal
In many churches, staff members play a crucial role in accomplishing the mission. They are seeing and solving problems. They are working in the trenches of ministry day after day. The investments we make in the …
The Emotional Rollercoaster of Church Change: Decline, Renewal, and Closure
The work of church renewal can have a tremendous emotional impact on members of churches, in particular its pastors and “older” folks, many who’ve been members of the church for most of their lives. For many …
Is Church Decline Over?
New surveys show the rise of the “Nones” may be coming to an end, but it’s not all good news. This month, the Cooperative Election Study published new findings, showing that 36 percent of people now identify …
A Tailor-Made Approach to Change
How do ideas spread? That is the question behind Everett Rogers’ classic book, The Diffusion of Innovations. As church renewal leaders, learning the art and science of change is crucial to our work. Developing those skills by reading …
Pastoring the Local Community
What do high impact congregations have in common? That is the question the developers of the REVEAL Survey (REVEAL measures the discipleship health of a congregation) wanted to answer when they asked pastors from the highest …
