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7 Suggestions TO DO When the Church is in Decline

There are no cookie-cutter solutions for reversing a church in decline. Churches have unique characteristics, because they have different people. They are different reasons which cause decline. It could be anything from poor leadership, to being locked into the traditions of men or simply a change in population in the community. It’s difficult to copy what someone else has done, because the causes are so different. Read More

Planning to Plant a Church? Read This First

Not all planning practices are equal. Planning is most effective when the correct planning style is applied. Read More

Seven Ideas for Effective Church Guest Follow-Up

As we’ve talked with ministry leaders from around the country, I’ve been surprised at the number of churches who do not have a plan for guest follow-up. There may be some structure or a first point of contact, but there’s often no roadmap for the staff to follow. And if the staff don’t have a roadmap, how can we expect guests to know what’s next for them? Read More

Trends in Church Architecture, Part 3

Third Places are the new multi-purpose building. Read More

Trends in Church Architecture, Part 4

Here are seven "Third Places" churches have built in and for their communities. Read More

6 Takeaways from Scaling Up Excellence

How does a leader lead people to scale without losing excellence? Read More

5 Things Insecure Leaders Wrongly Believe

So much of leadership is actually not a battle with others, it’s a battle with yourself. And a good portion of that battle arises out of insecurity. Read More

10 Characteristics of the Best Bad Church Leaders I've Ever Known

In the past, I’ve written about characteristics of effective leaders I’ve known. Today, I write about church leaders I’ve known who were strong leaders on one hand, but poor leaders on the other. Here are some of their good and bad characteristics. Read More

Preaching Matters: Preaching 2 Timothy [Video]

In this month's Preaching Matters' resource, Andy Gemmill tackles how to preach 2 Timothy. Watch Now

How To Pray When Your Soul Is Bone Dry

You know you ought to pray. You know that God invites and even commands you to pray. He loves to hear from you, loves to know you. Yet there are times when your soul feels bone dry, when even opening your mouth to pray seems an impossibility. What do you do? Read More

10 Small Group Lessons from Old-Fashioned Sunday School

When I started ministry many years ago, on-campus Sunday school was the predominant form of small groups. That trend has changed now, but the structure of old-fashioned Sunday school still provides needed lessons for small groups, regardless of their meeting place or time. Read More

In the old-fashioned Sunday school class one person lectured the class on the content of the Bible. Small groups differ from the old-fashioned Sunday school in that the group leader or co-leaders do not teach the Bible but lead the group in the study of the Bible. The training of small group leaders is different from that of Sunday school teachers, focusing on Bible study methods that the group members can learn themselves and small group dynamics. Small groups primarily use the inductive Bible study method. As far as the study of the Bible is concerned, the small group's goal is to transform its participants into "self-feeders." These important differences need to be kept in mind.

BLESS: A 5-Step Path to Relational Evangelism

For the formerly unchurched, relationships played a part in 57 percent of the decisions to return to the church. Read More

The Sexual Revolution and the Witness of the Church

In the face of the sexual revolution, the Christian church in the West now faces a set of moral challenges that exceeds anything it has experienced in the past. This is a revolution of ideas—one that is transforming the entire moral structure of meaning and life. These challenges would be vexing enough for any generation. But the contours of our current challenge have to be understood over against the affecting reality for virtually everything on the American landscape, and furthermore in the West. This revolution, like all revolutions, takes few prisoners. In other words, it demands total acceptance of its revolutionary claims and the affirmation of its aims. This is the problem that now confronts Christians who are committed to faithfulness to the Bible as the Word of God and to the gospel as the only message of salvation. Read More

Russia's Ban on Evangelism Is Now in Effect

But how strictly will it be enforced? Read More