5 Ways to Advance the Mission and Decrease Exhaustion in the New Reality
I want to help you prioritize and focus your energy where it will produce the greatest return for your mission—that’s one of the best ways I know to defeat exhaustion.
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The Missing Link in Disciplemaking
How a Discipleship Toolkit Moves People from Information to Transformation
Churches want to get better at making disciples. But what if we're relying on the message of Jesus more than the method of Jesus?
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Only 4 Types of Pastors Excel at Vision - Are You One of Them?
I was having a conversation with Bryan Rose on the Auxano team recently. We broached the topic of "pastors who get it." That is, we discussed the kinds of pastors who really press through the vision process to gain great clarity. Client profile: Jason Webb at ElmBrook Church recently completed a 9-month vision framing process. "Rookie" doesn't reflect Jason's stellar church planting track record. But as a 30-something leader walking into a 5,000 plus attendance church, others might assign that adjective. (Especially when #3 - The newly stuck pastor: "I have barrier that I now realize is not going away and I am not exactly sure how to fix it." The newly stuck pastor has a very simple story. You keep growing until you For example, attendance may be flat, but you put your hope in the fact that the church had slightly more attendance at Easter. Or you keep focusing on a few months where giving is slightly higher. You take momentary relief #4 - The rapid growth pastor: "I don't want to grow bigger, unless bigger is better." There are two types of rapid-growth pastors: those who fixate on attendance only and those with a passion for disciple-making in a growing church context. I [...]
Same Grit, New Love: The Church Values of Mark Driscoll's New Church Plant, The Trinity Church
It has been said that your greatest strengths reflect your greatest weaknesses.Mark Driscoll grew a wildly successful church in Seattle–Mars Hill–with a strong following locally and nationally through his speaking, books and the Acts 29 church planting network.A little over [...]
5 Ways Your Church Mission Loses Power
A Culture of Mission is Only Pathway to Real Church Growth
While the mission of the church was given to every church by Jesus, the culture of every church doesn't always take its cue from our Savior's command.
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12 Fun Facts About the Vision Frame for Church Leaders
What is the Vision Frame? I'm glad you asked. It is a simple napkin sketch or whiteboard drawing that is used to represent the five irreducible questions of any ministry. It pictures mission, values, strategy, measures and vision and relates [...]
6 Reasons Why Most Church Strategic Planning Is a Waste of Time
Most church strategic planning is a waste of time no matter what you call it or why the church started the planning to begin with. Have you ever personally experienced a time-waster planning retreat?The planning may be called lots of [...]
Stop Being an Overworked Pastor by Becoming an Essential One
I run into overworked pastors every week. In this second post of a series reflecting on the book, Essentialism, by Greg McKeown for the benefit of church leaders , I want to explore the reality that you are bombarded with [...]
How to Create a Compelling Church Mission Statement in 2021
2021 Update I've learned a lot over the past 20 years about guiding churches through a process to develop clear, unique mission statements. Recently, I remembered a blog post from several years ago and decided I would revisit it and add [...]
The 6 Areas of Break-thru that Church Teams Need Most
Two months ago we celebrated the 10-year milestone of Auxano. Back in February 2004, we built into the DNA of Auxano the idea that our services would always adapt to the primary growth challenges of local churches. Today, with over [...]
A Rapid Growth Church Shares Their Story on the Amazing Benefits of Vision Clarity
In this story from Harvest Church, the staff shares some of the challenges of fast growth and how a vision process helped solve them.“We grew so rapidly it was difficult to determine who we were”“There was a lot of confusion [...]
3 Kinds of Weak Vision that Entice Church Leaders
Warning: This post will challenge some of your assumptions about vision in the church.Across the North American church landscape this year, many pastors will articulate a vision and compel people toward a preferred future that is weak. It's very nature [...]
