Raise your hand if you love accountability. What about a good staff evaluation? 🥴Is that just your favorite? Okay, what if you were told you got to have a coach or mentor or guide to meet with regularly as a support piece to your job? Does the change of phrase make a difference? We’re guessing…
If you’re thinking about how to connect well with kids of all abilities and backgrounds, one of the first questions you may be asking is: should we try for an inclusive space or create a completely separate special needs ministry? And my answer is always: yes!
As a new school year is upon us, many parents are eager for their children to return, while others may feel anxious sending their babies off to be cared for by people they barely know. Likewise, some children are excited to begin a new school year, while others may not even want to say the…
Engaging Upperclassmen I can remember being in my first few years of ministry and learning about a trend that seemed to happen every year in almost every setting. In looking at the demographics of youth groups, they always seemed to skew young. This was certainly the case when it came to our high school ministry….
Are we normal? At Ministry Architects, we’ve worked with over 1,000 churches, and, inevitably, this is THE most frequently asked question. Based on all that we’ve seen and come to understand about what helps support a sustainable ministry, we’ve developed some norms. These numbers are just a way to compare some numbers from your church…
How do you know when it’s time for a redirection? Does your congregation need a fresh dream or more explicit direction? Here’s a good starting metric: check the level of enthusiasm in your church. Can you find it? Is it focused and aligned or scattered and invested in all sorts of places? If the enthusiasm…
Over the past several years, I’ve been working on a few projects that have led me to think deeper about a lot of things. Most of these things revolve around parenting and ministry to families. Like many ministry leaders, I’m hoping to be a voice of hope to people as they navigate life and faith….
Stan Harding became my pastor at the end of high school. A Navy officer turned second-career pastor, he came to our church after serving for a few years at a little church in Iowa. Here he was at a brand new place – a large, suburban, and highly liturgical church. And he did something crazy….