Dr. Chanon Ross says they’ll stay if we just tell them why they should. Dr. Ross, who’s a youth ministry expert at Princeton Seminary, says most churches do a poor job articulating why the church matters to young people and, as a result, we see very few college age – 20′somethings in church. In this [...]

Author, speaker, and former fundamentalist pastor Steve McSwain says the best way to see healthy growth in today’s churches is for a greater sense of openness to prevail. Steve, whose Huffington Post bio calls him the ‘voice of SBNR (spiritual but not religious)’ brings a sobering relevancy to the work churches are embarking upon today. [...]

Ministry in smaller congregations takes expertise and enthusiasm for people not programs, says United Methodist minister and small church consultant Ron Crandall. A retired seminary dean, Ron has a contagious excitement for the small church, and says that building a core team of leaders within the congregation is key. In this interview, Ron unpacks this [...]

This may be the greatest thing churches can do for young people today: help them solve the dilemma of busyness. Youth for Christ VP and chief ministry office Dave Rahn says young people jump from one thing to another so quickly that a churche’s most effective ministry may be to help them find a place [...]

Our pastors take care of us, that’s their job – but should my job also be to take care of them? Retired Presbyterian pastor, author, and consultant Stephen McCutchan says, ‘Absolutely!’ He is deeply involved in the Pastoral Care Network whose litany is: Healthy Clergy, Healthy Church, and he’s devoted his life to coming alongside [...]

Ed Kruse’s consulting business is all about the Uninvolved, the Underinvolved, and the Unclaimed. Ed, a former pastor and stewardship executive, founded healthierchurch.org a few years ago to help congregations activate and reactivate their membership (in fact, if you hurry, you can still register for their April 11 gathering in Chicago – click here for [...]

Author, journalist, and pastor Jason Byassee says it was the natural move at his rather large, well-established Boone United Methodist Church in North Carolina: that his first hire would be someone charged to coordinate care of those who were not already members. Jason, an author who writes for the Christian Century and is a popular [...]

Surprising advice – especially since it’s coming from a church marketer. Richard Reising, from Artistry Labs, says churches should only begin promoting themselves when they’ve got something worth promoting. What’s more, once congregations can do this, there’s a strong possibility they won’t even need to tell anyone. In this interview Richard shares his experience working [...]

Taking what’s best of the old and freshening it up with the new is the challenging work facing nearly every congregation today says Duke University theologian, author, and UMC minister L. Gregory Jones – so how do we do this? Dr. Jones says one strategy is that church leaders need to keep up on the [...]

It’s been said we’re all part of a grand conversation that began before we got here and will carry on well past our departure.  If that’s true, says blogger, author, and contemplative activist Christine Sine, we do well to listen before we do much talking. Christine, co-founder with husband Tom of Mustard Seed Associates, has [...]

Danielle Shroyer and her faith community, Journey: Dallas, are done with distractions (even denominations) and yearn to grow more deeply into Christ through their shared journey together in community. This multi-denominational (post-denominational?) gathering sprung from a traditional church before heading out on its own, and a place where this part-time pastor uses rented space to [...]

We don’t grow in isolation. This is the conviction of John Brown University Youth Ministry professor Jason Lanker, who believes deeply in mentoring, specifically ‘natural mentoring.’ This is the kind of self-selecting match-ups that include shared emotional bonds hand in hand with shared activities. In this interview, Jason tells us why adults and children need [...]

Celebrating juvenile things as if they were adult things. It’s a problem that plagues contemporary society, says professor Tom Bergler, whose new book, ‘The Juvenilization of American Christianity‘ chronicles our modern propensity to extend adolescence as long as possible – which is having detrimental affects on the Church. In this interview Dr. Bergler tells us [...]

We’re finally moving past CEO pastors and the big business of Christian music as purely entertainment – and into a place of authentically seeking after God, says author and musician Michael Card. Michael still writes and plays music (he’s written 19 #1 singles and sold more than 4 million albums), but has also been doing [...]

How do you get families who don’t come to church, to come to church? Introduce them to Messy Church! After a listening campaign involving young families around Lucy Moore’s church, volunteers crafted a new way to do church that’s be welcoming, accessible, and inclusive of families who don’t regularly attend church services. The basic structure, [...]

Average sermon length is now over 17 minutes these days – signalling the first increase in average American sermons in 200 years – says Thomas Long, Candler professor and preaching expert. There are several reasons, says Long, one of them is that people are looking for ‘useful’ sermons – that take longer to unpack. This [...]

Mark Scandrette believes churches need to function less like classrooms and more like karate studios. This innovative pastor and author of Practicing the Way of Jesus, says congregations need to find ways to connect much more deeply with people, allowing room for practice, failure, and transformative interaction. In this interview, Mark describes the ‘learning labs’ [...]

Please excuse the riff of the infamous James Carville line (‘It’s the economy, stupid’) – but for Anglican Benedictine Chris Webb, in a world where churches are tempted to major in so many things – from social justice to education – they must never forget that spirituality is their first call. Chris, who recently wrote, [...]

Times may be tough for traditional churches, but Parker Palmer, founder of the Center for Courage and Renewal, is not only hopeful, but inspired by the faithful and steady labor of today’s church leaders. Parker, whose vocation is helping those in the helping professions, finds hope in failure and potential growth in conflict. He also [...]

Theologian and author Bob Whitesel says ‘the missing middle’ of healthy congregational growth is transformation – which he sees as key for today’s church to accomplish God’s mission. Bob, founding professor of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University and the author of several books on congregational growth, anchors his conviction on his idea of ‘missional’ [...]

Isn’t Church just like any other charity? Why shouldn’t I give more to the Red Cross, opera house, or some place that’s actually ‘doing’ something? When most Americans give less than 1% annually to charity, and  1 in 5 Christians give no money to charity, why should I? Mark Allan Powell’s book, Giving to God, [...]

The unkeepable promise of certainty is what the world offers – and the Church shows its own fears when it tries to compete. That’s why author and theologian Peter Rollins urges congregations to embrace the truth of life’s deep mystery and unknowing – as a way to open us up to God’s presence and purpose. [...]

Discipleship, discipleship, discipleship – that’s Dr. Robbie Castleman’s litany – for clergy and lay folk. Dr. Castleman, a professor at John Brown University, believes biblical illiteracy is the number one challenge for Christians today. She’s dedicated her life to helping folk grow in the faith – and has some great suggestions for Christian leaders who [...]

The pendulum’s swung, says author, speaker, and activist JR Woodward. Bigger is no longer better in the church world – and Woodward is predicting that the real energy for God’s work in the local church will come from smaller, intentional communities who are immersed in spiritual practices that energize and inspire. While many people are [...]

Does our brain react differently to a sermon than any other kind of verbal communication? What makes sermons memorable? And how can we preach more memorable sermons? These are questions that psychologist, theologian, and preacher Dr. Richard Cox explores in a new book called Rewiring Your Preaching in which he gives pointers to preachers about [...]