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Though it is cliché, change is the constant in our culture. Even before COVID, the world was changing steadily and constantly. When the pandemic came, change was accelerated, and the challenges were exacerbated. In earlier years I was an advocate of “eating the elephant” change, that is making incremental, “one bite a time” changes. I…
The post Seven Ways Your Church Must Deal with Rapid Change appeared first on Church Answers.
God is not done with our churches. His activity and his work remain powerful and pervasive. Let me share with you four examples of churches that have been used by God when they made a specific and powerful commitment: They wanted to serve and minister to their communities more effectively. 1. Single moms and the…
The post Four Success Stories from Churches that Made a Commitment to Know Their Communities Better appeared first on Church Answers.
Let me take you behind the scenes of our church’s communication strategy. I set aside a day every year in December to think through our church’s communication goals. I spend time thinking about what worked and didn’t work this year, and what the challenges will be for our church in the coming year. During this…
The post What I’m Planning for 2022 appeared first on Church Answers.
The magical age for ministry is somewhere between 38 years-old and 56 years-old. I use the word “magical” because far too many churches look at the age of a ministry candidate as some sort of magic bullet. Any younger than the mid-thirties, and you’re too young. Any older than the mid-fifties, and you’re too old….
The post Ageism: The Real Struggle for Church Staff Close to Retirement appeared first on Church Answers.
I’ve been doing trends and predictions for churches for many years. My track record is good, but it has nothing to do with my sagacity. To the contrary, my approach is straightforward. I look at the data points and try to connect them to see the trends. This COVID year is different. We know the…
The post Ten (Very Different) Church Trends for 2022 appeared first on Church Answers.
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…
The post Nine Pointers for Serving Alongside Your Spouse in Full-Time Ministry appeared first on Church Answers.
Giving patterns in churches are changing. The ways in which people give are changing. What does not need to change is the heart for sacrificial giving. How can you equip your congregation to give sacrificially? Here are seven items to consider. 1. Teach why sacrificial giving is necessary for God’s mission. If what you are…
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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…
The post 10 Reflections on Church Consulting for 25 Years appeared first on Church Answers.
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….
The post What If COVID Becomes a Permanent Reality? 7 Implications for Churches appeared first on Church Answers.
Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you’ve looked at another church or pastor with envy. It’s that spark of elation you feel when first hearing about a mega-platform pastor falling—envy. I’ve felt the flicker of “I knew it!” without even knowing the person. Envy must be stomped out. Church envy happens at the local level as…
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