Part 1: 4 Ways to Keep Your Pastor from “Quiet Quitting”
Suppose you have to read that paragraph again to understand it because it is so intertwined; welcome to the life of a pastor. One circle affects all the others, and all the others affect one.
4 Ways to Keep People from "Quiet Quitting" Your Church
Let's remind ourselves that there is nothing new under the Sun. The circumstances and events that bubble up in culture and society have already existed before the latest buzzword that pushes them to the forefront. Take the newest discussion around the idea of "quiet quitting." According to Gallup, quiet quitting is when "people are not going above and beyond at work and just meeting their job descriptions." A few years ago, we would've called this a few things: "phoning it in, doing the bare minimum, or checking out." However, whatever you want to call it, this is a trend that isn't new; just the words that describe it are. However, this reemergence of an old idea in new terminology means that it's still an ongoing problem that needs addressing.
Five Reasons to Consider a Pull Approach to Congregational Strategic Change
In an age where everyone is discussing the importance of discipleship, it is interesting how many strategic planning processes focus on leaving it up to "the professional" pastor, pastoral staff, or key leadership team to set the direction of the Bride of Christ. How can we seriously say that we think discipleship is crucial if we're unwilling to allow the Bride behind the curtain to participate in developing the future story God wants to tell through the local body of believers?
2 Dimensions of Congregational Giving
As a network leader, you can look at financial stewardship and the patterns it creates in two dimensions: What It reveals about the Church and what it reveals about the value of the Network to the church.
Four Pivotal Questions for a Dying Church
You already know that there’s no silver bullet approach. You already know that one plants, one waters, and God gives the increase. You know you can’t do it alone; instead, you need a team to help you. You see all of this, and probably so much more, but you desperately want to know how to start the process.
The real question you may be asking is, “How do I get the dying church I’m in to see the seriousness of their condition and their need for change before it’s too late? How can I get members to see that our church is sick and needs a change?”
Guide for Assessing Congregational Readiness
While the leadership team, the board, and/or the pastor may desire to see a significant spiritual shift in the direction of the church, most congregations/leaders are not in a position of readiness to receive those changes. Put another way, they may want change in their head, but they don’t wish to change in their hearts.
4 Ways to Prevent Soul Malpractice
The standard cultural portrait of a pastor in our modern age significantly differs from those who proclaimed God’s message in antiquity. In large part, people look for a peaceful protagonist with a pleasing demeanor and positive messages. People long for someone who will cuddle and nestle them into comfortable spaces of complacency and self-acceptance. Like a doctor who refuses to deliver the patient the news that eighty percent of their body is failing, these practitioners of passivity are committing the worse type of malpractice; soul malpractice.
Five Tips to Remember About Church Revitalization/Renewal
Subtly, the congregation has become inoculated into impotence as it pertains to the cause of Christ. No longer is the organized body of Christ in western-cultural Christianity virile, but instead, it has become a barren wasteland of nostalgia.
5 Reasons to Ignore Multi-Vocational Ministry
Twenty-five years ago, it was impossible to think that most people, in their right mind, would consider the option of avoiding full-time employment in a professional position as a pastoral staff member. When an individual reached that point in their ministerial career, they had finally obtained what others were longing for, an opportunity to do ministry in the capacity God had ordained them to do; they were thrilled.
Unbeknownst to many of these newly established full-time leaders, they were quietly and secretly engaging in an unspoken social contract with those who voted them into their ministerial roles.
Crossing the Line
At some point, people face the reality that to step into a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus, they’re going to step out of the comfortable relationships they have with most of their crowd of contacts. It isn’t that they’ll have to have to abandon or have nothing with their crowd of contacts; rather, by deciding to follow Jesus more intimately, it would put them out of step with the cadence of their peers.