Thom S. Rainer
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10 reasons pastors are glad they quit vocational ministry
Many of these pastors especially flinched at late night or early morning calls. Those were typically someone calling the pastors to notify them of a tragedy involving church members.
Disunity in the church and among Christians destroys evangelism
Jesus is praying for our unity right now. He is praying for our churches to be unified today. He looked over time and space and saw us in our churches at this very moment. And he simply prayed that we would be one, that we would be unified.
5 reasons digital church attendance numbers are getting confusing
Perhaps it is because we are still relatively early in the introduction of digital worship in most churches. Perhaps we will see some common practices that will bring clarity to both the counting and purpose of digital attendance. For now, here are five reasons digital attendance is confusing.
25 unbelievable things search committees said to pastoral candidates
We got dozens of the expected responses like, “Does your wife play piano?” But we got many more that shocked us. By this point, you would think that I couldn’t be shocked how some churches treat a pastor or staff member.
5 reasons your current church attendance is the new normal
I am hopeful that you will take your current attendance as your base, or new normal, and seek God’s power to grow the church from there. I see this new normal as an opportunity rather than a defeat.
4 success stories from churches that made a commitment to know their communities better
They found ways to reach and mentor many of these young mothers. Eventually, the moms started coming to the church. And, of course, their kids came as well. The church is now thriving with kids and young adults.
15 lessons I’ve learned from 40 years in ministry
For sure, I’ve made many mistakes. I hope I’ve learned from these mistakes more than I have repeated them. In the discussion at Church Answers, I named eight of the lessons. For this article, I added a few more.
7 changes pastors plan to make in 2022
We compiled seven critical changes pastors are planning from our ongoing conversations with pastors at Church Answers. The list is not comprehensive. It does represent, however, the most frequent changes pastors have told us they plan to make.
Decline of streaming worship services: 5 observations
One of the reasons millions of church members attend in-person services is because it represents a healthy habit they have developed.
5 things church leaders wish they'd done differently during COVID
As the church regathered, they were better prepared to reach and minister to the community where God has placed them.