Features

Why Leaders Lead With Prayer

Imagine attempting to lead without strength, without guidance, and without defense. Personally, I would consider it both terrifying and utterly futile.

Loving and Listening to Doubters

Over the past decade of setting tables where skeptics and churchgoers sit side by side, I’ve gathered a few hard-earned insights about the art of loving those who see the world differently.

5 Innovative Ministries Shaping the Future Church

The following ministry snapshots are just a few of the examples of innovative ministries that are working well. Whether you’re a pastor, church leader or an everyday disciple looking to reach your neighborhood, we hope their stories will inspire you to innovate in your own ways.

Maximize Your Best Resource

Bobby Gruenewald: "Ninety percent of the people who visit a church for the first time go because a friend invited them."

Church Planting, Part 1: Picking the Launch Date

8 church planters describe their prelaunch process and how they chose when to launch

3 Reasons People Are Not Involved in Your Church

Ed Stetzer: “Not everyone is inactive for the same reasons. Once we know why, we can go about helping them move into service.”

Church Planting, Part 2: Choosing the Right Site

Church planters discuss how they chose the locations for their launch services and what unique factors about their communities affect their approach to ministry.

Church Planting, Part 4: Planning the Launch

8 veterans of the process recommend: Define success; count the cost; look beyond launch day—and remember to smile.

Soulfires: Crowning Achievement

After years of substance abuse, drug dealing and incarceration, a son of hopelessness encounters the God of hope.

3 Books That Shape My Ministry

Dan Kimball: "What I love about books is that they make us feel we are not alone on this mission."

Are You Scaring Off First-Time Guests?

Tim Peters offers a list of three common mistakes churches often make with first-time guests.