Tag «How To»

Nine Pointers for Serving Alongside Your Spouse in Full-Time Ministry

When a married individual works in full-time ministry, there can be the temptation to think the spouse should volunteer in the same area in order to help. Sometimes this temptation comes from the full-time minister pressuring the spouse to “support” his or her ministry via volunteering or sacrificing. Other times it’s the spouse that pressures…

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10 Reflections on Church Consulting for 25 Years

I’ve been doing some level of church consulting for over 25 years. If you’re a consultant (or one studying consulting through Church Answers), maybe these reflections will be helpful to you: 1. Assessing a church’s health requires much more than analyzing numbers. We can’t ignore numbers, but the factors that contribute to church growth or…

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What If COVID Becomes a Permanent Reality? 7 Implications for Churches

Do you remember the first time your church responded to COVID? For most of us, it was early in 2020. Hundreds of thousands of churches closed their doors and stopped having in-person worship services. Many of us thought it was a short-term problem, that in three or four months, we would be back to normal….

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10 Ways the Enemy Attacks Church Leaders

For more than 25 years, I have studied the biblical reality of spiritual warfare. In no particular order, here are ten common strategies I’ve seen when the enemy attacks church leaders: 1. Encouraging leaders to live in self-reliance. Because most leaders can lead, they are always susceptible to leading in their own ingenuity and strength….

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9 Questions to Ask

For the last two years, hospital visitation has been a challenge. That’s beginning to change, and it’s time to rethink the strategy for hospital visits. When I started pastoring, I didn’t think much about the strategy of a hospital visit. I just went. In most cases, a simple ministry of presence is the key. However,…

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Why Sermon Preparation is Not Devotional Time

Every Monday morning, I swivel in my desk chair—praying, pondering. Yellow legal pads fill with chicken scratch in a language only I understand. About fifty Mondays a year, around 3:00 p.m., I start to wonder if I’ll have anything worthwhile to say the following Sunday. The other two Mondays I’m on vacation. I know it’s…

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9 Realities for Your Church in 2022

Presuming we get on the other side of COVID by the end of this year, the picture for churches in America is mostly clear. Of course, none of us can know the future with certainty, and another COVID spike could change the conversation dramatically. Still, we see nine realities your church will face in 2022….

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How Pastors Can Use Feelings of Restlessness in a Positive Way

I have a tendency towards restlessness. Leading through a pandemic did not help. Feeling restlessness is a common phenomenon among pastors and church leaders right now. Maybe you can relate. Leadership restlessness is something most leaders feel—usually more often than not. It’s the nagging question that keeps you thinking . . . what’s next? In…

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The Surprising Attendance Decline of Streaming Worship Services: Five Observations

Over nine out of ten church leaders describe their church’s decline in attendance in streaming worship services as “major.” Many of them say the decline is at least 90 percent from its peak during the pandemic. While we certainly anticipated that many church members would return to in-person worship attendance after the quarantine, we were…

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5 Things Church Leaders Wish They Had Done Differently During the Pandemic

The pastor who asked the question demonstrated both maturity and wisdom. He asked our community of church leaders at Church Answers what they wished they had done differently during the pandemic. His question was not one of remorse. Instead, he wanted to learn some lessons for the future. I watched the community of church leaders…

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