31 results found for: strategy

board

Who Decides What: The Pastor or The Board

Guest post from Aaron Buer. Reposted with kind permission from Breeze. Who gets to decide what in your church? If the person who leads the children’s ministry at your church decides that it’s time to redecorate the kid’s classrooms, who needs to approve the decision? Who needs to approve the money allotted, the paint colors chosen, and the hiring of painters? Speaking of children’s ministry, who evaluates the effectiveness of the children’s ministry? Who is involved in the decision to fire or hire a children’s ministry director? The reason I bring these questions up is because in many churches the boundaries […]

end

6 Indicators that it’s Time to End a Ministry

Post reshared with kind permission of Breeze church.  Here’s something I’ve learned recently: Every program, ministry and even church has a life cycle. It’s either picking up steam or running out of energy. It really has nothing to do with how long a church, ministry or program has been around; rather it’s all about energy. A few times a year, we gather key leadership for a strategic conversation. Part of this conversation includes evaluating every ministry and program in our church and placing each in one of four categories. Accelerating Booming Declining Tanking Occasionally, when we all agree that a […]

Reflections on Legacy and the Future from Dr. Ramesh Richard

March 20, 2018 My dear friend, I write this letter on John Richard’s 95th birthday. I am seized by his memory. He passed away 17 days short of this rather momentous day. I was fully expecting him to make it and had airline tickets to surprise him with a visit today. Instead, he surprised us! Quite well till the last five days of his life, he entered into his heavenly reward. After a brief struggle, surrounded by loving family, he worshipped His Lord Jesus, whispering St. Paul’s “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course…” and singing […]

leaving

5 Reasons People are Leaving Your Church

Guest post from Aaron Buer of Breeze Church. Recently I was invited to speak at a church in our town where a friend of mine is the senior pastor. While I was speaking, I experienced something incredibly distracting. I kept recognizing people. “Hey! They used to attend my church!” They were everywhere! This of course led to all sorts of questions, the biggest of which was: Why did they leave? Ever been there? One of the hardest parts of church leadership is watching people walk away. I want to take some time in this post to talk about reasons that […]

drive

Four Things That Shouldn’t Drive Church Growth

Article shared with permission from Carey Nieuwhof. Something’s driving your church.  There are a variety of things that drive a church…the challenge for many church leaders is no one is really quite clear on what that is. What drives your church is critical because it impacts everything you do. Ultimately, it directly impacts both your health and your growth as a congregation. As I talk to leaders of churches of all sizes, I find different factors at work. As much as we’d all love to say Jesus runs the church, the reality is that church is a partnership. God seems to delight […]

mpg

How is Your Ministry Work MPG?

Reshared with kind permission by Breeze church. What’s the best car you’ve ever owned? Maybe your first car comes to mind. The freedom of leaving your parents’ house and driving on your own! Sure it was rusty and falling apart and left a hole in the ozone above your hometown but…FREEDOM! Maybe you had a sports car that pushed you back in your seat and made your heart race…before kids and the inevitable surrender to the minivan. Or, maybe, like me, you had a car with insanely good gas mileage and every time you filled up your gas tank you […]

persecution

Training Pastors Under Persecution: Video Interview

Pastor Daniel Fodorean knows times of persecution first-hand. He also believes that “freedom or not, we can train pastors!” Growing up in Romania, Pastor Daniel chose to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in spite of living under an oppressive political regime that tried to eliminate religion. “Nobody can stop the Church,” he says. “The Church will still serve the Lord no matter the circumstances. Also, when we want to train leaders, no matter if there is freedom or not, we can train leaders.” He admits it was–and will be–hard. In his country, the Secret Police raided training sessions and arrested pastors. […]

people

How To Give People In Your Church A Voice

Resharing with kind permission from Breeze Church. One of the most frustrating things about being a part of any organization is finding out about decisions that were made by people above you…that affect you…that you had no voice in. Not cool man! And, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. The reason we find situations like this so frustrating is because we feel like we aren’t being heard. Being heard is important because it communicates value. Also, as someone who makes decisions on a regular basis that affect the people under my care, I’ve come to learn that I […]

church

8 Fundamental of Church Management Part II

Cont’d from Part I  Fundamental #5: Have a Compelling Vision Vision is about foresight, looking ahead and seeing the possibilities of what could be or where God may be leading you.  A vision can be defined as a statement about the future, an imagining of something specific that does not exist today. A pastor needs a clear vision of the future in order to guide and lead the church.  Without a vision a church has no direction, and the people “cast off restraint” (Proverbs 29:18), which means to simply go their own way or do what they think is best.  […]