2007 is going to be a good year!

I read a blog recently that was pessimistic about the small church.  Let me rephrase that — the blogger said, “There is no hope for the small church.”  He cited the following reasons: He had read Good to Great by Jim Collins, and had applied Collins’ business insights to the church, and small churches in [...]

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Attractional vs. Missional

The big buzz out there in the “church” conversation is the debate over attractional vs. missional church models.  We know what attractional churches are because that’s what most of us have wanted our churches to be.  The whole attractional thing probably started in the 1950s when the ”greatest generation” was settling down, having babies (the baby boom), [...]

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The Strength of Small Churches

Sometimes I get a little discouraged when I talk to friends in really big churches (did I tell you that Rick Warren and I went to seminary together?  I don’t think he remembers me.)  Big churches can do some really cool and creative things.  A local large-church TV spot recently advertised their worship featuring “full-stage lighting.”  [...]

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A Christmas miracle…of sorts

I am a do-it-now kind of guy.  Patience, long-suffering, and other things that require me to wait, slow down, or otherwise get distracted from the mission of the moment are not my strong suit.  They’re not even my weak suit.  So you can imagine my frustration with our long-range planning process.  To me, long-range is the [...]

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The day everything changed

I just finished reading Jesus and Community by Gerhard Lohfink.  Professor Lohfink reminded me of what Christmas is about, although that wasn’t his intent.   Speaking of conditions in Jesus’ day, he says, “The world has structured itself in such a way that God no longer figures in its interpretation of reality.  The moment that Christ [...]

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Saturday night, again

Wow, this has been a busy week!  Here it is Saturday night, again.  Which means Sunday is next!  Fortunately, tomorrow our children present their Christmas musical, Christmas Around the World, so I’m off the hook for a sermon at 11 AM worship, but not at our 9 AM casual worship we call The Gathering.  I [...]

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Give me a sign

Does your church have a sign?  Our church sign in Chatham is a slate marker with the church name, date, and pastor’s name.  The sign complements our Victorian Gothic sanctuary and fits the historic character of our town, but it doesn’t do much in the way of adverstising for us because there’s no place for a [...]

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Our Town

(This post makes less sense now that I have a new header.  But, you’ll get the idea of the kind of town we live in.)  That’s our town at the top of this page — Chatham, Virginia.   If you look closely you can see Chatham Books, our local bookshop.  Our weekly newspaper, The Star Tribune [...]

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My Five Rules for Pastoring a Small Church

Most of my ministry has been in small churches and I love them!  But I grew up in a church with over 500 in worship, so my first small church pastorate was almost a disaster.  Out of that experience, I quickly developed some rules for pastoring a small church: Rule #1:  Realize a small church [...]

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