Your church is larger than you think
In order to understand the true size of your church, you must take into account membership and attendance frequency along with the average weekly attendance.
Read More >Sam S. Rainer III Archives - Page 5 of 10 - Church Executive
What to expect if you’re a church’s first Millennial pastor
A big wave is coming towards the church. It’s the swell of retiring Boomer pastors. Most Boomer pastors are currently between the ages of 50 and 68. They won’t all retire at once, so this wave won’t crash into the church like a tsunami. However, I don’t believe the North American church is prepared to replace these pastors.
Read More >Why your church needs more (often) announcements in worship
Most of us have entered the twilight zone of worship announcements at some point. A person approaches the pulpit with the same gait as one walking the plank. A piece of paper unfolds, multiple times. The throat clears … loudly. What follows is usually awkward, many times painful, and sometimes memorable in all the wrong […]
Read More >Signals for a maturing church
Is your church healthy or not? It’s a difficult question to answer. When people ask, I often reply, “What’s your definition of ‘healthy?’” There are many metrics that point to — or signal — the health of a congregation. If attendance has declined for 50 years and the church has not baptized anyone in 10 […]
Read More >5 levels of church disasters
She was adamant about going through with the baptism. I tried to convince her to put it off a week. The heating element in the baptistery had gone out. It was January. The morning’s temperature was somewhere below zero. It wasn’t a crisis, but it felt like it. We spent the Bible study hour boiling […]
Read More >The biggest leadership distraction
Followers can bring distractions to leaders. A few years ago, I received a phone call I’ll never forget. It was someone telling me a prominent and faithful church member had died suddenly. He was a doctor and well-respected in the community. The town was already talking about his passing. We huddled together as a staff. […]
Read More >How leaders go numb
I’ve had a few dramatic stumbles when I stand quickly, only to realize one of my legs has mysteriously fallen asleep. The numbness makes it feel like the leg has suddenly gone missing, only to give sharp tingling reminders that it indeed is still there. A foot, arm or leg falls asleep because of too […]
Read More >The tension of ideology and progress
Healthy churches have many points of tension. For example, churches grow by adding new believers. New believers are immature (and typically passionate), which means church programming must balance between immature congregants and mature congregants. Most every pastor has experienced the volley: Yes, deeper! No, too deep! This tension is like a taut tightrope; it tugs […]
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