smallchurchtools.com

  Most of my life I have heard people refer to the church as a hospital for the spiritually ill.  It is a good comparison as people who need spiritual healing often seek out the church just as those who need physical healing go to the local hospital.

  But there is a new breed of people in America today.  We are now dealing with a generation of folks who were not raised in church.  Many adults today have never seen the inside of a church building except for an occasional wedding or funeral. ...

  I have never run across a church that did not consider itself to be friendly.  Ask any active member of any congregation and they will tell you that their congregation is one of the friendliest in town.

  The problem is that not every outsider sees it that way.  Many a visitor has been turned off by what they felt was a cold attitude at a church they had tried out.  So it is obvious that friendliness or at least the perception of it can be measured in different ways.

  I submit that a chu...

  Small church pastors are called upon to fill many shoes.  They are there at weddings, births, and deaths.  They go to the hospital to pray with the sick of the church.  Sometimes they are the only non-family member some shut ins see.  All of this is in addition to the regular duties of teaching, preaching, praying, studying, and witnessing.

  And very often they are called upon to serve as counselor.  From marital problems to sin issues, he is expected to listen to and have answers for a l...

  Many churches and religious organizations have a facebook page.  You can follow man ministry leaders on Twitter.  Other social networking sites offer a number of Christian ministry choices to view.

  But many small church leaders have to be asking “Is it worth the trouble?”  Small church pastors tend to be over extended already.  Maintaining a facebook site or tweeting your latest theological thoughts seems like a lot to ask for someone with limited time.

  You have to consider the bi...

  Many churches and religious organizations have a facebook page.  You can follow man ministry leaders on Twitter.  Other social networking sites offer a number of Christian ministry choices to view.

  But many small church leaders have to be asking "Is it worth the trouble?"  Small church pastors tend to be over extended already.  Maintaining a facebook site or tweeting your latest theological thoughts seems like a lot to ask for someone with limited time.

  You have to consider the bigge...

  In my last post I made some comparisons to the marketing strategy of Mountain Dew and the church sharing the gospel.  The main thing to remember from that article is that the soft drink maker changed their marketing but kept their product the same (although someone pointed out that the formula was changed in 1960, but that was long before the time period I dealt with).  In the same way some churches may need to update the methods they use to reach a lost and dying world with the saving gosp...

  When i was a kid Mt. Dew had a very different marketing strategy than they do today.  Back then the soft drink maker used a hillbilly theme.  There was a picture of a hillbilly aiming a gun at a fleeing man on the front.  On the neck of the bottle was the same hillbilly holding a jug with the cork popping off and putting a hole in his hat.  And on the back was the company's profound slogan "It'll tickle your innards" (now how's that for a catchy phrase!).  Although this motif had the bevera...

  Every small church wants to have children...or so they say.  I mean, after all, kids are the future of the church, right?  If you don't have them, it is a sign that you are on your way down and one day your congregation will be gone.  So it is a foregone conclusion--you want to have children around.

  Or is it so certain.  You see, having children in your church comes with a price tag attached.  Things aren't like they were when you were a kid coming up in church.  They aren't even like th...

  This is the last article in a series on the book of Ezekiel as it relates to the small church.

  ¹ Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. ² And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. ³ It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw—like the vision which I saw when I^[a] came to destroy the city. The visions werelike the vision which I ...