In our last entry, we affirmed that making disciples is the primary work of the Church. We simply aren’t getting the job done if we aren’t guiding those who accept Christ’s free gift toward the much deeper commitment to give up their own life and follow Him. Making disciples is job one!

It's time to answer the Grow question: How will we teach them how to follow Jesus?

In our last blog, we took a look at the first of two things a pastor can do to begin moving his church toward health–grow yourself. In Part 2, consider step two for the pastor.

With thousands of churches plateaued or in decline, many of which are aging with the future growing more ominous each day, I’ve been searching for simple and powerful steps in a new direction. Many struggling churches are overwhelmed by a culture of “can’t.” They hear the ideas that turn around other congregations, but find most of these beyond their current abilities, resources, and people. There has to be a “can” out there with every church’s name on it.

Mike Breen wrote an article some time ago with a shocking title, Why the Missional Church WIll Fail. In it he says, “It’s time to start being brutally honest about the missional movement that has emerged in the last 10-15 years. Chances are better than not that it’s going to fail.

Sunday is a day like no other, for many of us. On this first day of the week, we do things quite differently than on other days. We start our day, not at work, play, or with a honey-do list, but gathering with others we don’t see all week to worship. Then it’s off to lunch and perhaps an afternoon nap. The day’s events look nothing like what is awaiting us on Monday.

One question I find myself asking church leaders is “What is it like to be on your team?”

No strategy for helping people find a place to serve is complete until we have a plan to both equip and evaluate them in their effort. Far too many churches seem to think they’ve achieved their goal at the moment someone says, “Yes, Pastor, I’ll be glad to help.” But unless there’s a quality plan for training and a system to give them needed guidance and feedback, their serving won’t be satisfying for long.

As we continue to explore our answer to the Serve question–How will we help them find a place to serve?–we need to ask the question of gifts.

Serving is the only way you can follow a servant. There’s simply no other means of following Jesus than learning to put others ahead of yourself and give your best to their needs. Surely, I don’t have to tell you of the nature of serving. We know that it demands humility, love, and a genuine heart to see others grow.

Occasionally Jesus flipped typical life on its ear by demonstrating the importance of children in the kingdom of God. I would imagine that when He put His arm around a young child and mentioned that the kingdom of God belonged to these, He likely stunned and confused the adults around Him. Seeing Him welcome children to His lap makes us like Him a lot, but does it impact our ministry thoughts?

Over the past seven years, I’ve posted more than 300 blogs on the subject of church health. I’ll confess that sometimes I struggle with what to write. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there’s enough to say about the church to fill a few more years of Mondays, but this form of communication doesn’t allow us to meet eye-to-eye so you can see the passion of these thoughts or even hear the force with which I type them.

The very idea of worship begins and ends with relationship with God. Our God has shown us that His revelation of Himself to us is for the sole purpose of relationship. He needs nothing. He needs no one. But He has proven His desire to make Himself known to us, even to dwell among us.

Having looked at both the Old Testament and New Testament priorities in man’s worship of God, we’re now ready to start asking the modern question: How are these same priorities reflected in our worship?

In the previous installment of this blog series, we introduced a challenging question for modern Christians…what is worship? It seems that many of us are raising this question amidst the seeming performance-priority arising in the contemporary Church. When we use the word worship, is it healthy that our first thoughts focus on a Sunday morning music set?

There’s a battle raging in many churches today over the concept and the content of worship. No…it’s not a war over musical selections, though conflicts of that ilk dot the ecclesiastical landscape too. But this is a deeper battle. It’s a fight for the very nature of worship. Here are the two sides:

This phrase, once shouted by a guest in our church lobby, underscores the awareness that the unchurched are exactly that and may need a little help navigating the new world of a worship environment. In truth, any attempt at communicating effectively in today’s world requires some intentionality. Like many, I grew up in church, the product of a deacon’s family and the idea that if the church lights were on, we should be inside. I know church–at least the version I grew up with. I’m a native. I speak the language fluently. I know that being “covered by the blood” is a really good thing, and means something more than just the destiny of extras in the latest horror flick. I can say “propitiation” with awareness of its theological implications and without spraying my neighbor in an unfortunate manner.

Not long ago I found myself navigating yet another church visitor card as my weekend work of church consulting was fully underway. This, like so many congregations I’ve encountered, seemed like a nice gathering of nice people who wanted me to have a nice time in their house of worship. Lots of smiles, warm handshakes and even a quality cup of coffee had greeted me in the hallway. Since I was to eat this day’s lunch with the pastor, I’d already been forced to turn down one lunch invitation from a family that had no idea why I had come. As I said…nice.

Okay, sorry for the somewhat provocative title, but communicating effectively in today’s world requires some intentionality. Like many, I grew up in church, the product of a deacon’s family and the idea that if the church lights were on, we should be inside. I know church–at least the version I grew up with. I’m a native. I speak the language fluently. I know that being “covered by the blood” is a really good thing, and means something more than just the destiny of extras in the latest horror flick.

While we can do a lot to care for people when they visit our church, what we do next can prove equally important. So let’s consider how we follow-up with a guest after their visit.

There are a couple of additional considerations when answering the question, How will we treat them when they come through our doors?

In this edition, we’ll continue our discussion of the Connect question. You can drift back through the previous blogs and see what we’ve already discussed about answering the question, How will we treat them when they come through our doors?

In this edition, we’ll continue our discussion of the Connect question. You can drift back through the previous blogs and see what we’ve already discussed about answering the question, How will we treat them when they come through our doors?

There are certain questions every church must answer to either turn things in a positive direction or take the next step forward in ministry effectiveness. One of these questions is, How will we treat guests when they come through our doors?

Sadly, many of smaller churches are ruled by these small ideas. Now, not every church is designed or destined to reach a mega-capacity, but health and growth are typically inseparable. Like a stagnant pond where no water flows in or out, if a church isn’t growing, before long it won’t be healthy.

We aren’t very patient people. Life has encouraged us to insist on getting what we want somewhere close to the minute that we ask for it. We get our food fast, retrieve our mail in seconds, and have little patience for the moments those processes slow down. We want what we want…NOW!

Alton Garrison interviews Ed Stetzer on the importance of Evangelism in Rural America.

Sadly, many of smaller churches are ruled by these small ideas. Now, not every church is designed or destined to reach a mega-capacity, but health and growth are typically inseparable. Like a stagnant pond where no water flows in or out, if a church isn’t growing, before long it won’t be healthy.

Since we work with many plateaued and/or declining churches, it doesn’t take long to identify common threads. Many churches, regardless of size, struggle with these two issues for the same reasons. And the common causes? For plateaus, the issue is a lack of vision; for declines, the culprit is almost always inward focus.

For the past several years, I’ve been a part of a team that crisscrosses the nation to work with local churches–hundreds of them. At the same time, I spend a chunk of my summers poring over church attendance and ministry data, identifying metrics to measure health and real effectiveness, and looking for clues to what can drive the oft-elusive, but greatly-prioritized goal of growth.

As we pointed out last time, many churches fail to invest in the new life opportunities that come their way. They continue to pour their resources into familiar holes, often because the long-term members demand it. But once a church wisens to the need for investing in new life, a second step begins to rise on the screen.

With upward of 70% of churches today either plateaued or declining, and the growing 30% wanting to grow more, every pastor looks forward to the possibility of new people attending his church. Both numbers and common sense tell us that growth can only happen with new people (or more baby dedications than funerals).

The Billy Graham Center, in partnership with Lifeway Research, the Caskey Center for Church Excellence and eleven other denominations recently...