Renewal is never a calm float down a lazy river. Sooner or later, every church that wants to follow Jesus into deeper health and mission hits rough water. One of the roughest places right now …
Kingdom Innovation
“New wine needs new wineskins” (Matthew 9; Mark 2; Luke 5). Jesus used this image to prepare his disciples for the radical transformation that would come through his death and resurrection. Old wineskins become stiff and …
Can The Pastor Be A Bottleneck?
In the last article, we explored the idea of ministry bottlenecks. Like a traffic jam caused by one narrow chokepoint, churches often slow down not because everything is broken, but because one part of the …
Facing Reality: Blurry Vision
In this series of newsletters, we have been naming six challenges churches today cannot ignore. Today, we’ll turn to the fifth challenge, blurry vision. In many churches, pastors, staff members, office-bearers, and volunteers are working harder …
Facing Reality: Stalled Outreach
In this series of newsletters, we have been naming six challenges churches today cannot ignore. We have already discussed aging congregations, leadership pipelines running dry, and the decline of volunteerism. Today, we’ll turn to the fourth challenge, stalled …
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 …
Navigating Our Fractured Reality
As we noted in the last article, there is a deep fracturing in the evangelical church that can lead people in the pews to suspect those sitting next to them of not being sufficiently Christian …
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 …
Facing Reality: Naming the Challenges Churches Today Can’t Ignore.
Renewal never begins with denial. Renewal begins with telling the truth. And the truth is that churches today are facing daunting challenges. It can be tempting to look the other way. Whether it is stalled growth, …
One Door and Only One?
“One door and only one, and yet its sides are two. I’m on the inside. On which side are you?” I remember this song from my childhood, but I am not sure how to think …