Category Archives: Leadership

10 Stupid Things that Keep a Church from Growing

I read a review of this book — not yet released — and thought the partial list offered in the review worth mentioning — *  “Trying to do it all.” A comical quote at the bottom of the chapter page cleverly … Continue reading

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Leading a Small Church, Part 3

I want to pass along a story about Christ’s Church at Remmel, from a long-ago post about this small church that has enjoyed dramatic growth: This rural Arkansas church of 170 has had 85 baptisms! And it did it through caring about its community. Here’s … Continue reading

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Leading a Small Church, Part 2

If I were called to lead a church of less than 50 members, I’d try to persuade the church to think of itself as a church plant — placed by God in this community to reach the lost and serve … Continue reading

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Leading a Small Church, Part 1

I get emails. 1.) My congregation has less than 50 members now. It’s suffered some splits in the past but very much wants to be evangelistic and to grow. We are thinking about changing the congregation’s name to another scriptural … Continue reading

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A Warning to Married Preachers

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Church Growth: The Difference Between Big and Small Churches

According to Ed Stetzer,  A new study by Rodney Stark of Baylor University, now available in book form here, is dispelling the popular caricature of the megachurch as spiritual entertainment for the quasi-Christian baby-boomer. What Americans Really Believe reveals that megachurch members tend to … Continue reading

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Leadership Network Megachurch Salary Survey

The Leadership Network has published a salary survey of megachurches, which is very interesting. The most interesting part, to me, is the staffing ratio. The churches, on average, hire one fulltime person per 45 members. “Staff” is anyone on the … Continue reading

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American Megachurches: Ministerial training & post-denominationalism

Ministerial training The report finds — On the other hand, 7% more megachurches (47% in 2000 to 54% in 2008) were sponsoring Pastors or ministerial conferences. Additionally 69% have internship/ residency programs to train potential staff and ministerial candidates. So … Continue reading

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American Megachurches: Private Schools

Another area where some shifting of emphasis within megachurches can be seen is around the effort to train other religious leaders. In 2000 42% of churches surveyed said they operated a Christian elementary or secondary school, whereas in 2008 only … Continue reading

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Leading Change: Small Groups vs. Sunday Night Worship

Ben raises an interesting point in a comment, and I thought the topic merited a separate post, because so many churches struggle with whether to give up our traditional Sunday night worship in order to start small groups. Ben notes that … Continue reading

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