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Take Another Look:
How to Put 18-24 Months of Preaching Prep into Play
So many pastors get caught in the week-to-week grind, frantically finding themselves at the end of a week trying to conjure something to say for Sunday. Early in my ministry I found myself in this place. I thought crafting a message would be energizing. Even fun. But each week the urgent overshadowed the important and…
Care and Connection
We love that you’re checking out more ideas for congregational care in your community. If you need help figuring out where to begin, take advantage of our totally free coaching call.
Easy Wins in Family Ministry
From a friend of Ministry Architects, Pastor Kevin Allen, guest blogger If the goal in Family Ministry is to help parents train up children who, as adults, are making disciples on their own, it may feel at times that it’s just wishful thinking and hopeful praying. It can definitely seem overwhelming when a parent is…
Be More Ted
Love it or loathe it, since its launch in 2020, ‘Ted Lasso’ has gained a global following. The award-winning Apple TV+ series follows the story of a college football coach from Kansas City who travels across the pond and manages a fictional English Premiere League soccer team, AFC Richmond. Ted’s unique leadership style has led…
Volunteer Inventory:
Just how full and fulfilled are your teams?
Take this volunteer inventory, add up your score to see how you’re doing, and take these steps to get full rosters and fulfilled volunteers.
Building Ministries vs. Making Disciples
Full disclosure: I think leaders and pastors fall into the trap of focusing more of their time on building ministries than making disciples. It is not that leaders and pastors don’t think discipleship is essential, but the reality is that discipleship does not pay the bills. The commitment to discipleship is time and energy-intensive, ultimately taking time and energy away from the ministries we are paid to oversee. As a result, discipleship takes a back seat to most everything else.
Nobody Wants to Work Anymore: Why blaming young adults won’t get us anywhere in the church.
The church in North America is shrinking and we blame the next generation, “nobody wants to go to church anymore.” We did it with Gen X. We did it with the Millennials. We’re doing it with Gen Z. However, I don’t think blaming the next generation of young adults for not connecting with what connects to us is going to right the ship.
Discipling The Sandwich Generation
There are many that live within the “Sandwich Generation” that feel overlooked or forgotten. We can change that. We can disciple, encourage, support, and care for this unique group, just as we do all the others.
How to Do 18-24 Months of Sunday Morning Sermon Prep
It’s Friday, and it happened again. You’re sitting in front of your laptop trying to come up with something to preach on Sunday. Your mind is blank. Your soul is dry. You’re frustrated and angry for getting to this point again. You were so excited earlier in the week about what you wanted to share. Now, you don’t want to be here, stuck doing sermon prep. It’s the weekend and there are other things you’d rather be doing. All the while your cursor is blinking, “You’ve got nothing. You’ve got nothing.”
How to Support the
Bi-Vocational Pastor
If you have bi-vocational pastors at your church, you’re not alone. More and more responsibility is being taken on every year by these heroes of ministry. The question is: what can we do to support them and ensure their longevity? Researcher Thom Rainer called the bi-vocational movement “a true revolution in the church.”1 He estimates…
5 Steps for Welcoming Families with Special Needs
It’s Sunday morning. Everything is ready. Materials are prepared, worship is cued, and volunteers are in place. Then it happens. One child’s behavior sends your morning off the rails. So much for well-made plans. All children deal with behavioral issues now and then, but what if that behavior tells you something else? What if the…
When Your Ministry Story Looks Different
A perspective on bi-vocational ministry. If you’ve been in ministry for any length of time, you know that it reaches much further than the time you’re officially “on the clock” for your job. Ministry can seep into every corner of our lives – sometimes in beautiful ways, other times in unhealthy ways. On a typical…