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Tag Archives: scott thumma
American Megachurches: Introduction
The Leadership Network and Hartford Institute for Religion Research of the Hartford Seminary have released a joint report on American megachurches by Scott Thumma and Warren Bird called “Changes in American Megachurches: Tracing Eight Years of Growth and Innovation in the Nation’s Largest-attendance … Continue reading
Church Growth: Moderation
As we said in the preceding post, the Christian Chronicle has listed three key strategies for church growth: adaptability, moderation, and evangelism. We discussed adaptability in the previous post. This post is about moderation. And just to be clear: I … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, Christian Chronicle, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, scott thumma
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Church Growth: Adaptability
As we said in the preceding post, the Christian Chronicle has listed three key strategies for church growth: adaptability, moderation, and evangelism. By “adaptability” they mean if your congregation doesn’t reflect your community, either change to reflect your community or … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, Christian Chronicle, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, scott thumma
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Church Growth: The Christian Chronicle’s Conclusion
This month’s Christian Chronicle completes a series of articles on church growth in the Churches of Christ. It’s an excellent compendium of both what’s right and what’s wrong in how we do church. But you have to read between the … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, Christian Chronicle, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, scott thumma
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Church Growth: The Crowd
The “Crowd” is a term likely coined by Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Church. Thumma and Travis find in their research that the way a church deals with the Crowd is likely the most telling characteristic of a megachurch. … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, megachurches, preachers, scott thumma
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Church Growth: Serving the Community
Here’s a fascinating statistic from chapter 5 of Beyond Megachurch Myths — 21% of megachurch members volunteer weekly in community service. Ten percent of megachurches have over half their members active in community service on a weekly basis! Wow! Plainly, … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, megachurches, preachers, scott thumma
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Church Growth: An Equipping Ministry
One of the most difficult tasks of any leader is training additional leaders. After all, leaders are busy, and taking the time to train someone else is not immediately productive. It takes time — often years — for the person … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, boards that make a difference, carver leadership model, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, equipping, john carver, megachurches, mentoring, preachers, scott thumma, servant leadership
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Church Growth: Organizing for Community Formation
I’ve earlier written about the importance of the church as community, several times. This is not only a theological imperative (that is, a command of God) but also a great cultural need in modern America. People are so individualized, so … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, boards that make a difference, carver leadership model, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, john carver, megachurches, preachers, scott thumma, servant leadership
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Church Growth: National Trends
I started this series out mentioning that I was reading Beyond Megachurch Myths, a recent statistical study of American Protestant Churches having attendance of 2,000 or more each week on average. I’m finished now, so it’s time to return to … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, megachurches, preachers, scott thumma
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Church Growth: Getting the Elders Out of the Way, Part 5
To even consider adopting such an approach, an eldership should consider at least the following: Ministers should help develop policy. While policy is from the owner (Jesus), through the elders, to the staff, it just won’t work unless the minister … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, boards that make a difference, carver leadership model, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, john carver, megachurches, preachers, scott thumma, servant leadership
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