COVID-19 is rightly seen as a plague on our world, leaving a wake of physical death and financial devastation in its path. Most would say it’s been terribly distressing to the church, as most churches around the world are not able to gather for weekly worship or physically interact as a community of faith. What…
Strategy
Strategic Planning During Crisis – Where to Start
The past several weeks have been unlike anything our churches have ever experienced. As the world has gone under lockdown, nearly every organization has been dramatically impacted. Most of us have had to learn new technologies and new ways of loving one another from afar. This is our reality today, but all organizations need to…
Does Your Church Planting Strategy Include Spiritual Warfare?
The church growth models of today experience little if any persecution. The plans do not even factor in such a thing as spiritual warfare.
What If Ministry Failure Isn’t Really Failure?
The great spiritual writer Watchman Nee observed, “We think in terms of apostolic journeys. God dares to put His greatest ambassadors in chains.” Could it be that your greatest ministry failure isn't an accident? In my book, Finding Favor: God’s Blessings Beyond Health, Wealth and Happiness, I look at nine different ways God “blesses” people…
Mobilize Your Church to Reach Out During These Trying Times
No doubt, if you pastor a large church or are on its pastoral staff, you were already presented with the reality that groups larger than 200 people have been banned for the foreseeable future in some areas. Then more recently the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has moved to discourage meetings of fifty or more.…
Tech is Benign, Right? (Well, Not So Fast)
Tech is benign, right? Wrong. As an article from The New York Times put it: “The medical profession has an ethic: First, do no harm. Silicon Valley has an ethos: Build it first and ask for forgiveness later.” As a result, Harvard University and M.I.T. are offering a new course on the ethics and regulation of artificial intelligence…
