Insight 058: FaithSoaring Churches Start in the Center
Many congregations are stuck in a pattern from the 1950s of pushing hard on promotional efforts to make their congregations successful. They start at the edges trying to get an increasing number of visitors, and then take them through a modified sales funnel. This is not all bad but can be fruitless if the congregation […]
In Church Planting It Should Be Pull Not Push, and Receive Not Send—Part One
This is my 54th year to be involved in planting new congregations. I helped my parents plant a congregation when I was 15 and planted my first congregation myself when I was 19. That was after spending the first 15 years of my life in the home of church planters. My parents were planting a […]
Insight 057: FaithSoaring Churches Have Prayerful Dialogue with Other Congregations
Many congregations who need to transform are myopic and defensive about their situation. They are stuck in the “Ain’t It Awful” Zone. They are primarily talking to themselves about their situation. When they talk to people in their family and friends network these people say to them “why have your let your congregation fail like […]
The Search for Best Practices for the Multiplication of Congregational Expressions
I am traveling Sunday, February 25th to Orlando, FL for the Exponential church planting and multiplication conference. They claim it is the largest annual gathering of church planters on the planet. I have been to this conference several times, but it has been a few years. Previously when I attended Exponential it was for networking […]
Insight 056: FaithSoaring Churches Have Consistent Doctrine and Practice
Many congregations are part of denominations and other networks of congregations who have strong doctrinal positions that focus on the missional nature of congregations. Such a focus may help FaithSoaring Churches develop and sustain continual relevance to their context. However, many congregations who need to transform dilute or ignore the prophetic edge of these doctrinal […]
Insight 055: FaithSoaring Churches Go Places Only God’s Holy Spirit Can Lead
Congregations in need of transformation are risk adverse. In their opposition to transition and change, they are afraid to leave the comfort of the known for the unknown. They want a clear handbook that guarantees that any risk they take will result in the reward they desire. The early Christian Church did not have a […]
Insight 054: FaithSoaring Churches Have Emotionally Mature People
The other side of spiritual maturity is emotional maturity. It takes both types of maturity in the leaders who claim they want to be part of God’s transformation of their congregation. Leaders’ emotions must allow them to stay focused on the centering God is providing for their congregation. Leaders must not be disturbed and disrupted […]
Insight 053: FaithSoaring Churches Nurture Spiritually Maturing People
It is tough for congregations to transform if their leadership and many of their members are not spiritually maturing. If they have become stale in their spiritual formation and see issues from a church culture perspective more than a Christ-centered perspective, it is difficult for them to be open to the new thing God is […]
Insight 052: FaithSoaring Churches Enhance Their Conflict Capacity
FaithSoaring Churches engage in transitions and changes. There is no way to avoid this. Congregations cannot move forward without them. Transitions and changes inevitably raise the intensity of conflict in congregations. It is a “ready or not, here I come” experience. If congregations do not have the capacity to handle conflict, then their conflict is […]
Insight 051: FaithSoaring Churches Streamline Governance
The longer a congregation is in existence the more baggage it develops around its governance processes. This is symbolized by the number of committees and the steps necessary to get a new idea approved, funded, and moving forward. More resources are spent on management than ministry, and on doing things right rather than doing the […]