There is a saying so common that it has almost become cliché: There is no such thing as a part-time pastor.
While churches should not emulate culture for imitation’s sake, we can learn a lot about the mindset of those we seek to reach.
A topic that does not get much attention is the dramatic shift in the front door of churches. By “front door,” I mean that place where a non-attendee will first check out a church.
The church welcome ministry is more important today than it’s ever been.
Though it is cliché, change is the constant in our culture.
For sure, I’ve made many mistakes. I hope I’ve learned from these mistakes more than I have repeated them.
Over nine out of 10 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.
We have heard from pastors more about changes they plan to make than any previous years we can recall.
Here are five of the most frequent responses.
Presuming we get on the other side of COVID by the end of this year, the picture for churches in America is mostly clear.
I truly believe the bi-vocational movement will be both disruptive and positive. But we ignore it at our peril.
We are in a historical cycle in the evangelical world where the mood is to disparage counting, attendance, and other numerical metrics.
It is cliché to say the landscape of church ministry has changed in the past five years, but it is most definitely true.
Pastors of 20 years ago had to deal with the occasional anonymous hate mail, but today, pastors can get hit daily with negative social media posts.
What is that stupid thing I did in marriage? To be clear, I have not done this act of stupidity one time, but many times. Too many times. You would think I would learn by now.
For many churches, the quarantine was a time for introspection and evaluation.
In the post-COVID world we are entering, I see the need for many churches to replant instead of revitalizing.
We get reports regularly from church leaders who share excitedly about the number of people who have visited the church as a consequence of these efforts. We have heard of many who have become followers of Christ.
Far too many churches are handling designated giving in ways that can get them in trouble.
"I'm not getting fed." It's one of the most common complaints of church members looking for excuses to leave a church.
