LEADERSHIP Archives - Page 2 of 12

Shifting Your Small Groups to Vibrant Missional Communities

Around the world thousands of churches have loads of people involved in what we’ve come to know as “small groups”. And that’s a good thing. But often these groups can become very inward focused–not a lot of outward or missional impulse. It’s time to shift those small groups to missional communities!

Transitioning small groups or community groups to missional communities is much more than a name change. It’s much more than a weekly meeting (of mostly Christians) and it’s not just a monthly service project added in and called “mission”. (more…)

5 Steps To An Awesome Date Night With Your Spouse

I started dating Tina when we were both 16 years old and in high school. That was like, uh, 15 years ago? No actually, we have been together for well over half of our lifetime. And this month we celebrate 32 years of marriage. I can barely remember a “me” without Tina in my life. I love you honey!

We started out dating and became best friends. Throughout our marriage we’ve discovered that it is super-important to actively, intentionally work on staying friends. Having a regular, scheduled “date night” has been crucial to keeping the fires burning. We’ve found that if we don’t, we can end up only being in problem solving mode all the time and move from task to task and mini crisis to crisis and start to feel more like business partners than two people in love and marriage.

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Transform Your Small Group to Live as Good News

It’s happening. Churches are starting to shift their small groups to more mission-focused, incarnational communities. And many people I know are forming new “missional communities” among their family and friends. That is super encouraging!

But… Here’s the Problem:

Christians have spent years listening to sermons, studying theology and doing Bible studies, yet still feel intimidated or unable to naturally express the good news of the Gospel into normal life, conversations, and circumstances. We will never experience gospel-transformation and missional movement in our families and neighborhoods unless this changes. (more…)

What Are the (new) Signs of a Healthy Church?

No one sets out to have or lead an unhealthy church or ministry. But we often find ourselves stuck in a loop of numbers and metrics we’ve inherited, or were imposed on us by the “higher-ups”. It would be great to have new signs of a healthy church.

The 3 Bs

For a long time now, churches have often or only measured three things I call the “3Bs”: Butts (attendance on Sunday); Building size; and Budgets. Are these the signs of a healthy church? Hmmm… I wonder how Jesus’ ministry career would measure up to these three benchmarks?

Click Here to Get my Free eGuide that includes: 10 Missional Benchmarks Test, Assessment & this Manuscript

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Jumpstarting, Restarting or Resurrecting Your Missional Community

Authentic faith lived in a vibrant missional community can be a hard thing to find, create and maintain. There comes a time for all of us when we may need to look at jumpstarting or re-starting some of the basics.

Whether it’s the busyness of holidays, the start of a new year, or things have just sort of fizzled out, there a few simple yet intentional rhythms you can dive into that can make all the difference and will get you and your missional community back on track. (more…)

Why You Should Stop Hiding Your Imperfections

Scripture and virtually all of history have shown us that if there is one thing we have most in common with every other human being, it’s our sinful nature. No one is perfect, not by a long shot.

Yet, usually we let other’s sins define them–and divide us–when in fact we are all sinners in need of the same Savior. We’re all dying, literally, and in need of rescue. (more…)