Carey Nieuwhof Archives » GProCommission

March 17, 2020

3 Spiritual Phrases Christian Leaders Should Stop Saying

I often hear from people who say “We don’t any need more ideas/strategies/conferences/skills…all we need to do is ________,” and then they fill in the blank with something that sounds spiritual. Maybe you have people like that at your church, or someone like that on your team. It’s amazing how common this perspective is. You know the drill. Every time you suggest “Why don’t we try reformatting our services/changing our kids ministry/reaching out into the community” they shoot back with “what we really need to do is just pray” (or “what we really need to do is get back to the Bible…”) as though […]

February 4, 2020

Pastor Carey Nieuwhof shares about the tensions facing pastors of small and mid-sized churches.

5 Real Tensions Every Small to Mid-Sized Church Leader Feels

This article on the tensions that face small and mid-sized churches is reshared with kind permission from Pastor Carey Nieuwhof If you lead a small to mid-sized church, you face struggles leaders of large churches don’t. I can totally relate to the dynamics of leading a smaller church. When I began in ministry, I spent about 3 years leading a small congregation (under 100) that grew into a mid-sized church (under 500) and then grew into a larger church of 1500 I’m part of today. You learn a LOT about leadership (and yourself) at every stage. I remember the emotions […]

January 23, 2020

Pastor Nieuwof breaks down the big shifts that will be needed to change the direction of the church in the coming years.

6 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2020

So what are the 2020 church trends you should watch in what is shaping up to be a very pivotal year? In this post, I’ll share six new trends that really have my attention. While it might seem like a lot of change and challenges ahead, you and I lead in an age of massive disruption. Industries are being disrupted or obliterated in years, not decades, and once-dominant companies are falling fast (just ask Polaroid, Blockbuster or Compaq computers). And leading in the church is even a little more complex than leading in the marketplace for numerous reasons. Here’s one of them: […]

September 8, 2019

How to lead in a world of distraction

Clay Scroggins is back on the podcast with some fresh insights from his brand new book, How to Lead in a World of Distraction. In an open and vulnerable interview, Clay talks about how the pressures of leadership led to him missing some of the signs of emotional ill-health, breaking down in his boss’s office, and finding quiet and healing in a noisy world. And if you think this is just theory, Clay is learning all this while leading a church of over 9,000, nurturing his marriage, and parenting five kids under the age of ten. Welcome to Episode 292 of the […]

September 5, 2019

5 Preaching Trends That Will Shape the Future

Continued from PART 1 here. 4. PREACHING TO THE HEART/AFFECTIONS (MARK) One of Jonathan Edwards’ great fears during the awakening that happened around his preaching was that the conversions of thousands of people to Christ weren’t real. That they were surface level, even counterfeit. His desire was that the gospel would change someone from the inside-out vs. the outside-in (through Religious Guilt or Cognitive Teaching, etc.,). He knew what Augustine said was true: that we are what we love, that the most powerful part about us wasn’t our thinking, but our feeling, our gut, and that true and effective preaching […]

August 22, 2019

The Emotions of Pastoral Succession

resharing with kind permission from Carey Niewholf Succession has emerged as one of the major issues facing the church in the next decade. Businesses are not that far behind in struggling with succession. Most senior pastors (especially founding pastors) hang on too long. The question is why. In a candid and disarmingly honest interview, Amplify Founding Pastor, Lee Kricher, and his successor, Jason Howard, talk about how they paved the way not just for the next generation of leader, but for the next generation of church, allowing the model to change while the leadership changed. In the midst of it, […]

May 23, 2019

12 Secrets Most Leaders Won’t Tell You

Reshared with kind permission from Carey Nieuwof. Leadership is a journey…a journey that’s probably different than you thought it would be before you stepped into leadership. When I was young, I always thought top leaders had it all figured out. That the uncertainty would one day disappear once I had more life and leadership under my belt. But as you eventually learn, it doesn’t really work that way. In fact, I think most leaders struggle more than they let on. I know personally, at one point or another, I’ve struggled in each of the areas listed below. But, at the […]

April 25, 2019

5 Challenges With Being A Local Pastor (or Leader) in the Age of Social Media

Social media is changing you and me in more profound ways than any of us imagine. Like a growing number of people, I’m increasingly concerned with how addictive tech has become, and am leaning in on the arguments that some like Roger McNamee (who has a fascinating conversation with Sam Harris here) and Tristan Harris make that social is addicting us to outrage and challenging the underpinnings of what we’ve known as civilization. If you’re interested, for a good introduction on how tech is manipulating how you think, check out this article from The Guardian. The problem with technology is that while we’re its parent, we’re […]

November 20, 2018

The Difference Between Churches That Grow and Churches That Don’t

So…what’s the difference between a growing church and a declining church? Well, there are many, but one of the biggest differences I see is the attitude of the leaders. The leaders of growing churches almost always share a common attitude. So do the leaders of declining churches. And the attitude has a huge influence over the results each church sees. Attitude may or may not be everything, but it’s close. Here are 5 attitude differences I see again and again in growing churches and declining churches. 1. WE CAN V. WE CAN’T Perhaps the biggest differences I see between growing churches and declining churches is the attitude around […]

October 18, 2018

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 […]