We are living in exciting days of the Lord’s church. Across the land, there are congregations moving forward by faith as more and more people are becoming involved in the ongoing growth of Christian ministry. Why is this happening? In a word —“Leadership,” this is the key. Christians of outstanding abilities are involved in leadership…
Riverdale is a small rural community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. In 2021 the Riverdale Church of Christ courageously and thoughtfully faced the reality of their declining number of members and the older age of their remaining members. They realized that with only a few senior people still attending, the life cycle of…
A STORY OF RENEWAL About 5 years ago, a group of us at the San Leandro Church of Christ became quite concerned about the steady decline in attendance our church had experienced over the past two decades. We asked our elders if we could bring in church consultants to help us figure out what to…
We use our Bible school classes to bring the Word of God into the lives of people. From when I was just a little guy, I remember going to Bible classes on Sunday morning before the worship. I also went to Wednesday night Bible classes and had some amazing teachers that helped me ingrain the…
Stewart (not his real name) is tired and grieving the losses and disappointments he has suffered in recent years. He qualified for Social Security benefits and received his first check only last month. It helps a little, but he struggles financially because the churches where he preached never paid him enough to save much money…
I have spent the last 30 years of my career as a business owner. That turned into a passion for developing amazing workplace culture and creating a place people love to come to work. Employee Engagement is the goal of great culture and is what truly drives the best companies forward. The key to Engaged Employees is Engaged…
Have you ever heard a sermon on retirement or saving for retirement? Me neither. According to Teresa Ghilarducci in Rescuing Retirement, America is facing a DIY retirement, economic, and moral crisis. She warns elder poverty or near poverty is the devastating result of this “Great-Depression-like…watershed moment” in America because millions of people won’t have enough money…
Each quarter Tony Morgan, director of the Unstuck Group, publishes a report on the state of church health among churches with which they connect. I see this report as somewhat of a thumbnail checkup on what is happening in some parts of American Christianity. It gives me some food for thought. This quarter’s Unstuck Church report…
What do you think and how do you feel about this question: should your church plan to grow? I don’t remember any group of church leaders every telling me they did not want to grow. I think most leaders know that growth in their church is good. Where I sense the pause is about planning….
Any crisis in a small church sends proportionately bigger waves through the congregation than in larger churches. What feels like a bumpy wave in a large church feels like a tsunami in a small church. Ministers (and anyone leading in a church) can be hyper-critical of themselves and full of self-pity. This is destructive. Survival…
When he left home, my Granddad Bouchelle started digging postholes in the rocky soil of central Texas for a $1 a 10-hour day during the depression. After WWII he took his young wife and baby son, my dad, to West Texas and started farming 80 acres he bought off his father-in-law with a bank loan….
One of the biggest obstacles American churches must face is the realization that individual congregations have lifespans, just like all living organisms, and that this is not a bad thing. Churches tend to grow to close to their full size in their first decade and rarely grow much after a couple decades. Most churches will…
In my previous article I shared about the transition I anticipate will happen in the next year and the blessings I have witnessed by investing in others. Another important aspect of my transition involves the church reimagining her mission in light of new leadership and community change. In 2000, when the church began our two-year…
I anticipate I have about one year left in full-time ministry before I transition into another phase of life. The future is uncertain, but God will lead me and my family as he has throughout forty plus years of congregational ministry. Forty years of ministry have not been easy or smooth. As a young Christian,…
The Optometrist was clear… my vision was not! I was surprised. Frankly, I had inadvertently become accustomed to how things were. Over time, a lack of clarity and focus became my normal. So, it took an intentional process with a qualified resource to diagnose, prescribe and implement steps to bring a vibrant clarity and focus back into…
Part 1: In a chaotic time, Paul clung to his personal identity Have you ever lived in a time when church felt more uncertain? I have not. Over the past 2 years I have been blessed to have front row seats on nearly a dozen new church projects, and have had the opportunity to visit several established…
What does it mean to be a “member in good standing” in your congregation? This question has become increasingly difficult to answer. Back in the day, we used ugly code words to categorize church members like “Faithful Attender”, or “Sunday Only”, and reserved the lowest category for the unpredictable attender that we might even call…
A primary Heritage21 service for Churches of Christ is to make sure they are legally protected in times of difficulty or crisis. Struggling congregations often experience some of the following challenges: These outcomes are preventable for congregations that are diligent about stewarding the resources God has entrusted to their care. Below are two examples of…
Happy New Year friends! The New Year’s season is made for reflection about the past year and looking at the possibilities for the new year. We at the Heritage 21 Foundation wish you a good year, a year in which you see God at work in and through your church.The New Year is the season…
Holiday greetings! ‘Tis the season. Last weekend we drove some of our grandkids around (“for hours,” the youngest one said) looking at Christmas displays. What a delightful time of year. It’s also the time to reflect back on the year. How did your church fare in 2021? In the Heritage 21 Post-Quarantine Church Forum we were surprised, in…
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