Seven Traits of Pastors Who Lead Breakout Churches

If you want to experience an “aha” moment about revitalizing churches, this research may be the near the top.

Most of you have heard the dire information and statistics about congregations in North America. Indeed, I have been among the purveyors of the negative news. For sure, the overall picture is gloomy. There is no hiding from that reality.

Words of Advice for Young Church Leaders

Last week, a friend asked me what general advice I would give to young church leaders. I’m sure this list is not complete, but here’s a start.

12 Findings from Church Health Surveys

More than 15 years ago, Dr. Rainer and I developed a Church Health Survey to assess the condition of local congregations. A 160-question survey that focuses on the six purposes of the church (worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry, prayer, and fellowship), the questionnaire reveals a church’s perception of itself.

Over the years, hundreds of churches in North America have completed the survey as they work with my church consulting group. Here are some general conclusions these surveyed churches have told us about themselves.

Expectant Churches vs. Reactive Churches

The Bible is a story of expectations: an expected Messiah who would crush the serpent (Gen. 3:15), an expected people from Abram (Gen. 12:1-3), an expected new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34), an expected return of Christ (Matt. 24:29-30), and an expected new creation (Rev. 21). Faith, in fact, is about expectation – the “reality of what is hoped for” (Heb. 11:1, HCSB).

Many churches, though, live in reactive mode rather than expectant mode. In my book, Discipled Warriors, I compare these churches.

Six surprising traits of effective pastors

This blog has looked at characteristics of effective pastors from different perspectives over the past few years. But this information may prove to be a bit surprising.

A couple of caveats are in order. First, the idea of “surprising” can vary from person to person. I think you might be surprised at some of these traits, but you might not be. Second, the term “effective” is nebulous. I am not speaking of size of church or level of fame. I have subjectively noted several dozen pastors whose ministries have been consistent and whose impact in their churches and communities has been positive.

Counterintuitive Discipleship Values

1. Go slow to go fast!

2. Outsiders raise up insiders – an inexperienced insider is more effective than a highly trained outsider.

3. Focus on a few to reach many.

Seven Sure Ways to Grow as a Leader

Do you want to grow as a leader? Do you want to keep growing?

Here are seven sure ways to grow as a leader:

1. Desire growth
Sounds simple, but we tend to seek what we desire most. If you truly want to grow as a leader you will continually find ways to do so. Check your heart. Do you really desire to grow as a leader?

11 ways to pursue a relationship with God

A few months ago, my family left dear friends and family and moved to a place where we are literally starting from scratch on friendships and community. We’re excited to be here, but it’s not easy to be surrounded by new faces and to start every conversation with questions that really amount to, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

We trust that someday the faces here will be as known and dear to us as those we left, but getting to that place takes time and effort. Most good relationships are built from many encounters over a long period of time. Early encounters can be awkward and draining, and sometimes it’s tempting to just give up. But there is no other way to gain old and well-worn friendships, and there are few things more beautiful and refreshing.

Do you want to know God?

Seven Prayers for Jesus’ Church

Jesus is building his church.

Jesus’ church knows no borders. It is not confined by time, language, culture, or politics.

Jesus’ church has stood the test of time. It cannot be stopped by force, political pressure, or even political correctness. It has weathered tumultuous years and lived through multiple heretical diseases.

Jesus has been building his church, is building his church, and will continue to build his church (Matt. 16:18) until he returns in glory to redeem his bride. And absolutely nothing and no one can get in his way.

The One Thing

What is the one critical, consequential, non-negotiable for a ministry leader? When the noise of life and strife resound with obligation, and our capacity reads empty when the demand measures full, we need to remember what cannot be forgotten—the ‘one thing’ that matters most. Try to stay focused today; maybe this is just for you.

Seven critical abilities senior leaders must have

I want to address some critical abilities that a senior leader must have to be effective. The intent of this post is not to appear arrogant as a senior leader, as if I have qualities others may not have, although I’m confidant some will take it that way. (Isn’t being misunderstood part of being a senior leader? :) ) I’m not afraid to admit my weaknesses…of which I have many…but there are certain abilities senior leaders need to do their job well.

• I remember how many people told me I wouldn’t understand parenting until I was a parent. They were right.
• I remember how many people told me I should enjoy parenting at every stage of life while my boys were home. They were right.
• I remember how many told me that I would adjust to being an empty-nester. They were right.

The point is that sometimes we can’t understand something until we experience it firsthand.

Seven reasons pastors burn out

I heard the story again last week. A pastor I know announced his resignation. No moral failure. No severe crisis at the church. No major family problems. No sickness. He was simply burned out. That’s how he described it. He said he had gotten to the point that he was having trouble putting one foot in front of the other.

So he quit. Without another job. His church family was stunned.

Eight ways to empower your team

Leaders: one of the key things you must ALWAYS do is empower your team. As I’ve learned over the years, most leaders at their core are control freaks, which is part of the reason they are successful. But we all must learn and recognize the need to empower those around us to succeed and do what they do well. Most leaders think they can do it all on their own, and many try, but ultimately in order to grow a successful organization that outlives you, as the leader, you have to empower those around you.

In defense of short-term mission trips

One of the most curious things about the book of Acts is how Luke goes out of his way to show his readers the gospel spread around the world faster by laypeople than by apostles. Acts 8 begins, “They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. . . . Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” I can just imagine Peter and John saying, “Wow, Luke. Really appreciate you calling us out like that. ‘Everyone went around preaching the gospel except for us.’ Thanks for that.”

Leaders, Lust, and Longings

Leaders are, by their very nature, driven people. Always there are more goals to reach, more dreams to fulfill, more thirsts to quench. That attitude is part of what makes them leaders.

Leaders are simply passionate people. Those passions can, though, mark victory or defeat. You can use this blogpost to think about the passions that most influence you as a leader.

10 areas pastors need to be trained in for the 21st century

Any pastor or other church staff member should be prepared in biblical truths. Theology is a key discipline as well. Indeed none of the classical disciplines should be forsaken, nor any of the practical disciplines, such as missions, evangelism, or church planting.

But the American culture has shifted dramatically in a relatively short period. The United States is becoming more like an international mission field. As a result, ministry training, whether formal or informal, should reflect this reality. Missionaries are typically required to receive intensive cultural and language training before they go overseas. Frankly, a similar need exists today for those in American congregations, or those planning to go to these churches.

Using our gifts to serve God, not ourselves

Did God give us the church as a place to use our gifts? Or did he give us gifts so we could serve the church? The difference might seem subtle, but the way you answer has a profound impact on how you view yourself, your church, and your volunteers.

A Tale of Two Gospels: Which one do you believe in and share?

Which “gospel” do you believe in?
Your answer to that question will have a direct bearing on what you think about church discipline. Therefore, it’s worth making sure we are talking about the same gospel before we talk about anything else.

Here are two subtly different versions of the gospel. The first one will probably shut down any talk about church discipline. The second one will start the conversation.

12 Common Mistakes in Ministry Leadership

I had the occasion over a couple months to ask some senior people in ministry the same question. Some were long retired. Others had 30, 40 even 50 years experience, but are still serving today. All would be considered to have finished – or be finishing – well.

Here was the primary question: Looking back, what were some of the biggest mistakes you made in ministry? If you had it to do over – or you were advising me and others – what advice would you give?

How to multiply leaders

We know we need to multiply groups if we’re going to reach new people.  The most common objection I hear to creating new groups is, “We don’t have enough leaders.”  So how do we multiply leaders?

The book Ten Best Practices to Make Your Sunday School Work (Ken Hemphill and Bill Taylor) contains some great ideas about developing an intentional process to continually multiply leaders.  Here are three of those ideas:

The never-ending need of multiplying leaders

Pastors of growing churches know all too well the old adage of there being two sides to every coin. The excitement and energy of a growing congregation brings with it new needs and a constant demand of more people to help carry out the ministry.

When the numbers are lacking, the pressure increases on the pastor and staff to solve every problem, run every small group, set-up every service, and clean every toilet. The stress can become so heavy that the growth feels more like a crisis than a blessing.

Obstacles to Church Planting Movements

Church Planting Movements are acts of God, but it’s amazing how much mankind is capable of interfering with them. As with most of God's works among us, He allows us to actively cooperate with Him or become obstacles—consciously or unconsciously—to His desired purposes. Missionaries involved in Church Planting Movements have identified several very human courses of action that tend to obstruct, slow or otherwise hinder CPMs.

Provocative thoughts on Church Planting Movements

What is a Church Planting Movement and what does one look like?  David Garrison investigated this question by studying church planting movements around the world.  His approach was to observe what God was doing and then to describe what he saw. 

In his pioneering book, “Church Planting Movements,” he defined a Church Planting Movement as follows:  “A Church Planting Movement is a [1] rapid multiplication [2] of indigenous churches [3] planting churches [4] that sweeps through a people group or population segment.”

Experiencing the power of the Gospel in community

We were not saved for isolation. We were saved into community. Through the cross of Christ, God made us family not only with himself, but also with everyone who trusts in Christ alone for eternal life. God has gathered under his roof an enormous crew of former rebels, and he has turned us into family.

While we look forward to worshiping Jesus as a family forever in his castle, our King and heavenly Father tells us not to wait until heaven to pursue each other. He tells us that now is the time to live in community together for the glory of his name, for the joy of our own souls, and for bringing more people into his kingdom (Heb. 10:24–25).

10 Simple Discipleship Truths

Last month Deborah and I were in Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan teaching Asian pastors, church-planters, and missionaries about discipleship and leadership. Same ole boring strokes, again. After our Sunday night session a young Indonesian leader asked, “how do you define discipleship?” Good question. Here’s my answer, and more.

The spiritual discipline that impacts everything

In our research behind Transformational Discipleship, we discovered that engagement in one particular spiritual discipline positively impacts engagement in every other spiritual discipline (giving, serving, sharing the gospel, fasting, praying, etc.). In other words, while the other spiritual disciplines are important, engagement in one of these (from a research vantage point) does not necessarily increase engagement in the others. But there is one spiritual discipline that increases activity in every other spiritual discipline.

3 critical elements of time for every leader

Time is one of the greatest assets of any leader. Learning to balance a leader’s time effectively is often a key in determining the level of success the leader attains. In my experience, every leader has three critical segments where they must invest their time on a regular basis.

Most leaders tend to do one of these especially well, so by default they spend most of their time on it, often to the neglect of the other two. All three are needed. Learning to balance a leader’s time in each of these three areas will greatly enhance the leader’s productivity, so the leader must discipline for the other two.

Here are the 3 segments of time every leader must consider:

7 New Year Resolutions that could Change the World

In the new year . . . let’s resolve.

Whether or not you do New Year resolutions, we could all stand to improve some things in our life. And, if we do, I’m confident we could also improve the life of others. In fact, with a whole lot of improving . . . it might become contagious . . . and we might just change the world.