The Pursuit of Excellence

Leadership in a post-Christian culture demands alterations to common conceptions of ministry. One “rule” I’m encountering more often is the methodology to grow churches. There seems to be two predominant ways to build resilient or growing communities. The first is to build excellence in the service and programs. The second is to use the same effort of excellence, but in the direction …

Post-Christendom Gathering

In a previous post I discussed a guaranteed method to reduce workloads for overwhelmed pastors and church planters: reduce the number of monthly worship services. In this edition, I ask a related question: do worship services have expiry dates? Or does what we have now work great?   In terms of expiration, high church liturgies don’t update or shift much at …

The Cure for Overwhelmed Church Planters and Pastors

Cut the number of worship services in half. Sound far fetched? It’s possible to do, and it would cut workload considerably. Of course, then you may have to justify your salary. Ultimately, it may be the best move to re-connect with a post-Christians culture. If we look at budgets and responsibilities, the majority of money and time in a church …

How to plant a church with $375

Is it possible to plant a church with a budget remarkably lower than normal? I’ve done it–twice. Before I share that story, a brief look at church planting in North America over the past 20 years. Church planting has entered contemporary church practice as an attractive and practical way to address decline. Globally, church planting in countries like China or …

Stay? Go? A Better Question When Church Planting Gets Tough

“Would you stay in the neighborhood if the church plant fails?” Bryan Stabb’s recent post on church planting success and failure rightly deconstructs common pitfalls concerning unreasonable and unhealthy expectations associated with church planting. An aspiring church planting hero who moved to a city, bought a house, rooted himself in a neighborhood, and picked out his and his wife’s burial …