evangelism
I admit to some ambivalence when I received Shannon O'Dell's book, Transforming Church in Rural America: Breaking All The Rurals. I write for small church pastors and leaders, and one of the themes I keep hitting is "small churches don't have to be
evangelism
Outreach in the Crises of Life is the title of the workshop I'll be hosting at the National Outreach Convention in San Diego, November 3-5, 2010. This will be my 4th year speaking at NOC, and I'm looking forward to addressing this topic of reaching out
Community
"I'm the most unsuccessful pastor in Pacifica," Jonathan Markham observed four years ago. Markham's church in affluent San Mateo county southwest of San Francisco was growing spiritually he thought, but not numerically. Church attendance hovered around 15-20 each week with few visitors attending. Located
Community
In their new book, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and The Churches That Reach Them, Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes provide a comprehensive analysis of who the eighteen-to-twenty-somethings are and what churches are doing to reach them. Ed outlines the purpose of the book by saying --
Leadership
When our church led the way in building the new $3-million community center in our town, we did not expect the outcome to be new members for our church. We did expect the community center to become a gathering place for the community. When we helped start the local Boys
bless the world
I'm playing around here and this is the rough draft of 101 Outreach Ideas for Small Churches. Any others you want to add? I'd love to hear any stories you have about any outreach ideas you've used. I'm working on a book,
bless the world
Here's the powerpoint I used in my NOC2008 workshop, Small Churches Make Good Neighbors. I'm using the abbey church model, and discussing the 10 aspects of the ancient celtic abbeys applied to churches today. The ppt is on SlideShare, so you can view and download the
Congregation
Whatever it takes, right? I mean, anything that gets people in church is okay, right? Because, after all, everybody needs to hear the gospel, so the ends justifies the means, right? Maybe not. What are the ethics of outreach and when do we cross the line from compassion to conniving?
Culture
Wow, what a great kickoff to NOC08 yesterday. The small church discussion group I led had an overflow crowd and lots of great ideas. Erwin McManus delivered a powerful and compelling message. McManus said that most of our effort is spent trying to make Sunday worship just a little less
church as abbey
Wednesday I fly to San Diego for the National Outreach Convention -- NOC2008! I'm leading the workshop, Small Churches Make Good Neighbors: 10 Ways Your Church Can Change Your Community. I hope you're meeting me there, but if not, you can follow all the action at
Community
At exactly 9:22 PM on December 31, 2007, Confessions of A Small-Church Pastor hit 50,000 page views! Almost 1,000 views per week for our first year is an exciting milestone. What a great way to end the old year and bring in the new! Thank you for