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I once caught a deacon throwing choir robes out of the second-story window into a giant fire on the ground below. “What’s going on?” “Fire hazard.” By the look and smell of the robes, I agreed and went about my business. There were probably one hundred burning robes in the fire—enough for every person in…
The post Five Ways to Honor the Past While Not Losing the Future appeared first on Church Answers.
*This article is an excerpt from Disciple: How to Create a Community That Develops Passionate and Healthy Followers of Jesus. Some months ago, I published the book Disciple: How to Create a Community that Develops Passionate and Healthy Followers of Jesus. In that book, I point out that many churches that think they’re disciplemaking churches…
The post How to Evaluate Your Church’s Discipleship Program appeared first on Church Answers.
The question was straightforward: What are some of the most difficult things you have done in ministry? I asked this question on some of my social media channels, so it was an informal survey. The responses were high, over 600 in the first eight hours. While the quantity of the responses was indicative of the…
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We’ve done a lot of listening and learning the week after Easter. We at Church Answers are grateful for consulting and coaching clients and for the large community at Church Answers Central. Though our information is more anecdotal rather than data-based, it is nevertheless insightful. Here are seven key takeaways we gleaned from church leaders…
The post Seven Insights from Churches about the Recent Easter Weekend appeared first on Church Answers.
Can you lead a church without proper authority? Yes, but it is more challenging and complex. I’m assuming most church leaders would rather not step into a situation where they have the responsibility to shepherd without the corresponding authority. But there are churches with misaligned power structures in desperate need of good pastors. What if…
The post Leading a Church When the Wrong People Hold Power appeared first on Church Answers.
Admittedly, it’s a tricky thing to find a precise beginning and ending point to a pandemic. We could accept the declaration from the World Health Organization that COVID-19 began on March 11, 2020. But the virus was rapidly spreading around the world prior to that date. The ending date is even more of a challenge…
The post Seven Things We Didn’t See Coming in Churches at This Point after the Pandemic appeared first on Church Answers.
For decades, the church has lost ground with overall charitable giving. Charitable giving is up—a near record of $485 billion in 2021, despite surging inflation. Giving to churches has dropped even though giving to non-profits is up by 4%. In the early 1980s, churches received over half of all charitable giving. Today, churches receive less…
The post Churches Are Getting Less of Total Charitable Giving—Here’s Why (And What You Can Do About It) appeared first on Church Answers.
I’ve done church consulting for decades now. Over the years, I’ve worked with churches of various sizes, multiple denominations, differing polities, and diverse locations. I’ve learned a lot over the years. Some patterns are generally the same among these churches, which doesn’t surprise me. Some examples are that most churches are not doing evangelism well,…
The post My Greatest Surprise about Churches Seeking Consultations appeared first on Church Answers.
My childhood memories are vague. Still, I do recall with some surprising detail the passing of the offering plates in my first church. I never questioned its validity or efficacy. It was just something churches did. Most churches used an offering plate or its equivalent prior to the pandemic. Now, most churches do not. It…
The post Five Reasons Why the Disappearance of the Offering Plate Is So Significant for Churches appeared first on Church Answers.
A habit is an ongoing tendency with a pattern of behavior that is difficult to change. Bad habits can develop in church workplaces like in any other place of employment. I’ve assembled a top-ten list of some common bad work habits among church leaders. 1. Procrastination. It’s harmful at any level, but the effects of…
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