Tag: Offer

Keep calm and use facts. Maintaining a good reputation is a biblical requirement for pastors. I can understand the visceral reaction of defensiveness when faced with a public attack. Most want to defend their good name. The problem is you escalate the issue when you respond emotionally.

Jesus shed new light on what agape looks like by establishing himself as the standard for agape love. In the end, we will best build beloved community as we love just like Jesus loved us.

What are the benchmarks for a new church plant?

If you want to move from languishing to flourishing, there are no easy answers. And there are no quick fixes. But this I know for sure: You won’t get there without gratitude.

Everyone who is Jesus’ disciple is his witness (Acts 1:8) and is sent somewhere, whether locally or further afield. The New Testament shows us fishermen, tax collectors, former prostitutes, women who’d had 5 husbands, zealots, ex-Pharisees, old, young, rich, poor, educated and uneducated, sent out on mission to draw people to Jesus. So there’s no excuse for watching someone else do it instead of us.

On average, Protestant churches say 44% of their current weekend worship attendees are involved in a small group, Sunday School or similar group, indicating a decline in average small group attendance since 2010 (49%).

Remember that we live in an 8 second world, and first impressions are critical. In that context, whether you have one person or a multi-person team helping in the parking lot, they’re the first contact new visitors will receive.

For far too long, the church has held up years of service as a marker of a successful pastor instead of the overall effectiveness of servant leadership.