By now, approximately 40-50% of Christians who attend churches in America have seen the movie Avatar. After a small, informal research project, I was surprised to see how many Christians had watched the movie and didn’t get the amazing parallel to the salvation story of Jesus Christ.

First you have the incarnation: Jake Sully […]

The world is fascinated with mass production — it is the economy of scale. It works well for cars, fast food, and flatscreen televisions. It works not so well for developing people. This may be one of the reasons Jesus built relationships, discipled a few, and empowered them to multiply. It may also […]

As consultants, we find some common challenges, even though we would never treat churches with a “one size fits all” approach. I had a nice discussion with a nurse when I had my knee surgery who said they find certain pathologies or recovery elements that are recurring at large rates and common. They have a […]

I’ve been thinking of the new ways we are going to measure the actual size of our churches. In a previous history, it was always membership. Then, wise church consultants realized many churches have people on the membership rolls who live in another state, they can’t locate, or might even be dead.
The next phase was […]

After working with a lot of churches over the last 30 years, I’m convinced that 95% of what most churches do is just fine. It’s the other 5% that makes 100% of the difference. But focusing on the 95% and recognizing what God is accomplishing in the church, focusing on core competencies and strengths of […]

I was working with a Presbyterian church in the Midwest. It’s an inner-city church that conducts some ministries with an Anglican church (that has left the Episcopal Church) about eight blocks away. Both churches are declining rapidly. Both churches suffer from seriously deteriorating buildings that they couldn’t possibly afford to restore. I recommended […]

Information gleaned from statistics reported in Outreach Magazine in an article about the 100 fastest growing churches in the United States in 2008 as well as t he 100 largest churches in the United States in 2008.

Among the 100 fastest growing churches in 2008, […]

Not long ago I had a long luncheon with my friend, Walt Kallestad from Community of Joy in Phoenix, Arizona. We got on the subject of denominations. Do they have a future? I don’t mean this as negative, but we don’t think so. It seems like every 500 years, the church has a […]

I’m in the hospital recovering from knee surgery. As always, you can learn new things!

As consultants, we find some common challenges, even though we would never treat churches with a “one size fits all” approach. I had a nice discussion with a nurse today who said they find certain pathologies or recovery elements that are […]

An article in USA Today (Tuesday April 28, 2009) reflects findings of the Pew Research center, based on the most in-depth analysis to date of people changing churches. The end result of what keeps people in church, from switching to another church, or drifting away from church, according to this research, “suggests” that […]