In the mind of the ministry leader lots of thoughts race through our heads: What about the hit we will take with people away from the Word and Sacrament? (We don’t want to gather with more than 10 people, cause
Culture, Change and Leadership
Things needed to change. John was the lead pastor of a church that was nearing 65 years old. The church had grown during the years where people were moving to the new new suburbs of the city. But that was
I Know I Should…But
I know I should lead in identifying and clarifying a distinct purpose for our ministry. I know I should cast that vision. I know I should lead in defining a strategy. I know I should lead in identifying goals and
The Missing Ingredient
Five Things that Haven’t Worked and One that Does “Why won’t they listen?” “Why can’t people do what they are supposed to do?” Have you ever felt that way before? There’s an old joke about pastoral ministry that says, “ministry
Two Approaches to Church Revitalization
A pretty common challenge among churches has to do with the number of people in the pews on Sunday morning. In the words of a sainted mentor of mine from years ago, “there is more wood than people” meaning there
Leading Healthy Change
If you don’t want things to change then all you need is management. If you want things to change though, you need leadership. Yet do you want the kind of leadership where things blow up? Certainly not. We want healthy
Three Hazardous Assumptions in Making Disciples
We make a lot of assumptions about what we do and how we do it. It is often necessary to make assumptions. It is more efficient that way. Assumptions allow us to put some things on autopilot. This is necessary
Are You The Lid To Ministry?
“It can’t be me. I’m not the problem. I preach evangelism. I preach serving. I work a lot of hours caring for others. I can’t do anything more. How can I be the problem? In fact, I’m a little bit