Everyone knows the importance of finding renewal leaders. At the Center for Church Renewal we often say, “As leaders go, so goes the church.” God himself leans heavily on leaders. The Bible’s redemptive story demonstrates …
The unique skill set of revitalization pastors
The skills of established church pastors and church planting pastors are distinct. Established church pastors have skill sets that lean towards pastoral ministry while entrepreneurial skills are of greater importance to church planters. The skills …
The Power of Stories to Shape Our Story
If you ask a top athlete how they got into their sport they will typically share an inspiring origin story about their first golf outing with mom, about watching the U.S. Gymnastics team win gold or …
How To Root Vision Into Church Culture
Most renewal-oriented congregations have developed a vision statement. Vision statements identify a congregation’s “main thing” and help them focus on loving God, loving neighbor and making more and better disciples. Unfortunately, most vision statements never …
How To Renew an Aging Congregation
As life with COVID-19 continues, churches are returning to earlier conversations about renewal. One challenge many of these congregations face is that they have a majority of chronologically aging members. Renewing an aging congregation has …
7 investments for creating trust accounts
Church revitalization demands change. Change is essential if churches are to move ever closer to the goal of becoming intentional missional congregations that make more and better disciples. Churches that resist change will inevitably die …
Programs Are Not The Same As Discipleship
As church leaders, we long for people to grow in Christ. We want children to know Jesus. We want adults to mature in faith. We want leaders to lead like Jesus. We want worship, small groups, …
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 …
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 …