Justin Lathrop - founder of Helpstaff.me (now Vanderbloemen Search), Oaks School of Leadership, and MinistryCoach.tv - recently shared a top ten list of characteristics of effective church leaders that was created by Hillsong Church for its staff members. That list includes: being a can-do person, delegating but never dumping, having an attractive spirituality, serving with gladness, and empowering others. So What? Expectations matter. When your nominating Read More …
expectations
Growing Beyond 200 (#1208)
Most congregations are relatively small. While small is not bad, small and plateaued or small and declining are. In reality, churches of any size are either growing or declining. Healthy congregations should be growing congregations. Carey Nieuwhof, lead pastor of Connexus Community Church, recently wrote about many of the reasons why churches can grow to a certain size, but not beyond such. In a great deal of the literature on the topic of church size, the number 200 is Read More …
Precious Moments Christianity (#1171)
Roger Olson, professor of theology at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, recently blogged about something he calls Precious Moments Christianity (a term he borrows from Charles Colson). The term is intended to lead readers to think about Precious Moments figurines or paraphernalia, and to view Christianity through that lens. Olson identifies ten characteristics of Precious Moments Christianity: No or few expectations of members; Promotion of what Read More …
Adjusting Expectations (#0403)
In an article published by the Associated Baptist Press, Amy Butler, senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington D.C., suggests that parishioners' expectations about church are often unrealistic. She writes: I’m thinking specifically about the yawning divide between church members’ expectations and the reality of living in community. What is it really like to be the church, the gathered community of Christ? You know, the place where everybody loves each other, Read More …