Is there a split in the future church ahead?

Unfortunately, I think the answer is yes.

It’s not your typical (and usually awful) church split about doctrine, polity, personality or the color of the carpet. It’s bigger than that, and for the most part, you won’t even realize it’s happening until you look back a few years from now and see what took place.

If you look a little more carefully right now, you can see that as the post-pandemic world takes shape, there’s an emerging divide between churches that are well-positioned for the future and churches that aren’t.

Essentially, the split is between churches that will be effective in accomplishing their mission and churches that won’t be.

We’ve seen a similar split over the last five decades between churches that drifted from historic Christianity orthodoxy and churches that didn’t. Between churches that embraced change and churches that didn’t. And we saw it in churches that understood the culture and those who were oblivious to it. And pre-pandemic, that split left approximately 15% of churches growing and 85% of churches plateaued or declining.

The coming split is a split between the kinds of churches that will thrive in the future and the kinds of churches that won’t.

The criteria between effective and ineffective churches continue to morph and accelerate as the world re-opens in at least four key areas.

The question, of course, which best describes your church?

Here are four emerging divides that are developing before our eyes.

1. Online-Optional Versus Fully Hybrid

The disruption of 2020 and beyond catapulted every church into the digital age whether its leaders were ready or not.

The pivot to online ministry is not just a technological change, it’s also a philosophical one (or theological perhaps…although for these reasons I’m not sure it’s truly theological).

As the post-pandemic world becomes a greater reality for a growing number of leaders (I understand the pandemic still raging in many areas), many leaders are showing their true hand.

For a lot of pastors, online church lies somewhere between a necessary evil, an unfortunate necessity, or a service they offer that’s an option for people who can’t get there for the “real thing.”

In all likelihood, those church leaders are going to have a difficult future ahead of them.

For a lot of pastors, online church lies somewhere between a necessary evil, an unfortunate necessity, or a service they offer that’s an option for people who can’t get there for the ‘real thing.’

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There’s a smaller group of pastors and leaders, though, who are fully embracing a hybrid church model: deciding to become 100% physical and 100% digital.

They see digital not as an ‘accommodation’, but as both real ministry and an abundant opportunity.

Forward-thinking pastors realize that the best answer to the question “Should ministry be digital or physical?” is “Yes”.

Forward-thinking pastors realize that the best answer to the question ‘Should ministry be digital or physical?’ is ‘Yes’.

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Almost everyone these days lives in the seamless slipstream of digital/physical lives. You order your groceries on your phone and then walk into a coffee shop in person to pick up a cortado.

Similarly, you text your best friend, only to put down your phone and chat with your son in real life in the kitchen who shows you a YouTube video he finds hilarious.

This is life. I’m guessing it’s also your life because, well, you’re reading this online.

If you live a fully hybrid life, and the people you’re trying to reach live hybrid lives, why wouldn’t your church fully embrace a hybrid ministry that seamlessly slips between physical and digital presence?

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2. Bringing People Back Versus Moving People Forward

As the new world opens up, many church leaders seem hyper-focused on getting people back to church.

On the one hand, I get it. It’s been a long, exhausting season. And we all long for normal. I do too.

But bringing people back isn’t a vision. Moving people forward is a vision.

It’s hard to move people forward if you’re obsessed with getting them back.

Bringing people back isn’t a vision. Moving people forward is a vision.

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Increasingly, one of the splits that will happen is between church leaders who are focused on recreating, reviving and restoring older approaches to ministry.

Signs this might be happening include thinking

If we could just get a few more people to come back, everything would be okay. 
I wish we could just see the room full again.
We really need to get back to where we were in 2019, and then we can move ahead.

Pastors who focus on moving people forward instead of bringing people back will have a much better future.

Pastors who focus on moving people forward instead of bringing people back will have a much better future.

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3. Churches That Embrace Versus Churches That Judge

Switching gears a little, another emerging line centers on the attitudes church leaders have toward the community they’re trying to reach.

So let’s start here: Judged anyone lately?

Sadly, the answer for most of us (including me) is… yes.

From the guy who cut you off in traffic, to the off-beat person who’s not picking up the social cues you’re sending, to your weed-smoking neighbor… it’s so easy to judge as the culture becomes more and more post-Christian.

And judgment just gets worse from there. It’s the basis of racism, sexism and almost every other ‘ism’ you can think of.

Churches that embrace the people they’re trying to reach will have a much better future than churches that judge them.

Churches that embrace the people they’re trying to reach will have a much better future than churches that judge them.

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Judgment is also fundamentally incompatible with authentic Christian faith.

Jesus said Christians should be known for how deeply we love. Yet for years now, studies have shown that in the eyes of many non-Christians, we’re known for how deeply we judge, not for how deeply we love.

The problem in many cases is not that unchurched people don’t know any Christians. The problem is that they do. And they don’t like us—for good reason.

A Barna study revealed that 62% of lapsed Christians said the #1 quality they look for in a person with whom to discuss faith is ‘non-judgment.’

Only 34% said they know any Christians who possess this quality.

A recent Barna study revealed that 62% of lapsed Christians said the #1 quality they look for in a person with whom to discuss faith is ‘non-judgment.’ Only 34% said they know any Christians who possess this quality.

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Sigh.

In the evangelical church today (and, yes, despite the reputation, I consider myself an evangelical), the hard edge of ‘truth’ has crushed many. And one of the most frequent expressions of loveless truth is found in judgment.

The presence of judgment almost always guarantees an absence of love.

I try to remember this rule: If I’m judging someone, I’m not loving them. You can’t judge someone and love them at the same time.

Pastors who love the people they’re trying to reach have a much better chance of reaching them than pastors who judge them.

Pastors who love the people they’re trying to reach have a much better chance of reaching them than pastors who judge them.

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4. Ideologically Driven Versus Gospel-Driven

A final gap is widening between churches that appear to be driven as much by ideology as by the Gospel.

Particularly since the crisis hit in 2020, a growing number of church leaders have used their influence to weigh in on everything from politics, to partisanship, to masks v. no masks, vaccines, supreme court nominees, to tax policies, to immigration.

Tim Keller recently weighed in on his surprise over how partisan, political and ideological the church has grown in the last year (you can listen to my conversation with Tim here or watch on YouTube).  Rick Warren expressed similar concerns and surprise (my conversation with Rick is here in audio form, and you can watch here).

This is actually quite predictable for a culture that’s rapidly moving from Christian to post-Christian. It’s tempting to want to hang onto power, to blame the culture for changing, or to see politics as your salvation.

Leaders feel overwhelmed, and it’s easy to try to ‘conserve’ the little that’s left and rail against the new attitudes that are emerging.

Here’s my sense: the effective pastors in the future will weigh in from time to time on critical social issues that the scripture engages (racial justice, poverty, moral values, etc—all of which were transformed by Jesus and the early church and created a more equal world).

Both Jesus and the first-century church were paradoxically apolitical while being deeply subversive. They were apolitical in the sense that they were deeply nonpartisan (Herod was a tyrant, but Jesus wasn’t part of a group interested in removing him, and his Zealot followers soon found another agenda), yet subversive in that that they turned the world upside down through an ethic of truth and love that made existing politics pale by comparison.

Scroll through any social media feed today and you’ll see some pastors commenting on everything from which party to vote for, to tax policy, to Supreme Court nominees, and more.

In the long term, that’s probably eroding their influence with the unchurched (50% of whom by definition won’t agree with them), even if it shores them up temporarily among some of their tribe who thank them for ‘speaking the truth.’

And while local church leaders do need to engage the dialogue between masks or no masks, how we treat the vaccinated and unvaccinated, and safety protocols, there’s a difference between creating a safe space for people to gather and tilting the dialogue to an ideological rant against everything that’s wrong with whoever you don’t like at the moment.

There are two groups losing badly when things turn partisan and ideological:

the next generation

and, ultimately, the congregation itself.

The culture needs an alternative to itself, not an echo of itself.

The culture needs an alternative to itself, not an echo of itself.

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Most people (including you, I suspect) are exhausted by the division, tribalization, and anger that characterizes culture today.

It’s pretty clear that the culture is tired of itself too, but it doesn’t quite know how to escape.

That’s the perfect opportunity for the church to simply be the church.

An exhausted culture needs an alternative to itself, not an echo of itself.

Authentic, grace-filled, hope-bearing, truthful people are what our friends and neighbors need.

A generation tired of hate, yet caught in its grip, will only be released from it if there’s a clear alternative.

Imagine, if in the next few years in your church:

Love surged.

Hope got fueled.

You could disagree but not be disagreeable.

You focused on what united people, not on what divided people.

In a divided culture, Christians should be the help and the hope, not the hate.

In a divided culture, Christians should be the help and the hope, not the hate.

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Is Your Church Ready For Future Evangelism? Take The Free Church Outreach Assessment To Find Out.

Almost every church leader wants to grow their church by reaching more people.

As culture continues to change rapidly into a post-Christian era, though, itu2019s left many leaders feeling like theyu2019re not accomplishing their mission. For too many churches, things arenu2019t going as hoped.

After you complete the assessment, youu2019ll receive a detailed breakdown of your results and get access to a free teaching series that will help you take practical steps forward in each of the five areas.

When youu2019re done, youu2019ll be far more equipped to accomplish your mission.

Donu2019t be discouraged. You can still reach people.

Take the Church Outreach Assessment now!”,”container_class”:””,”element_class”:””,”wrap_styles_border”:0,”wrap_styles_width”:””,”wrap_styles_margin”:””,”wrap_styles_padding”:””,”wrap_styles_float”:””,”wrap_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”label_styles_border”:””,”label_styles_width”:””,”label_styles_font-size”:””,”label_styles_margin”:””,”label_styles_padding”:””,”label_styles_float”:””,”label_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”element_styles_border”:””,”element_styles_width”:””,”element_styles_font-size”:””,”element_styles_margin”:””,”element_styles_padding”:””,”element_styles_float”:””,”element_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”cellcid”:”c8551″,”key”:”the_pivot_ready_cheat_sheet_1602862985838″,”drawerDisabled”:false,”wrap_styles_background-color”:””,”wrap_styles_border-style”:””,”wrap_styles_border-color”:””,”wrap_styles_display”:”block”,”field_label”:””,”field_key”:”the_pivot_ready_cheat_sheet_1602862985838″,”id”:1023,”beforeField”:””,”afterField”:””,”value”:”

Is Your Church Ready For Future Evangelism? Take The Free Church Outreach Assessment To Find Out.

Almost every church leader wants to grow their church by reaching more people.

As culture continues to change rapidly into a post-Christian era, though, itu2019s left many leaders feeling like theyu2019re not accomplishing their mission. For too many churches, things arenu2019t going as hoped.

After you complete the assessment, youu2019ll receive a detailed breakdown of your results and get access to a free teaching series that will help you take practical steps forward in each of the five areas.

When youu2019re done, youu2019ll be far more equipped to accomplish your mission.

Donu2019t be discouraged. You can still reach people.

Take the Church Outreach Assessment now!”,”label_pos”:”above”,”parentType”:”html”,”element_templates”:[“html”,”input”],”old_classname”:””,”wrap_template”:”wrap”}];nfForms.push(form);

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What Are You Seeing?

So where does this land?

In my view, churches that effectively reach unchurched people in the future will likely be those that:

Fully embrace hybrid ministry—digital and in-person forms of ministry.
Focus on moving people forward, not getting them ‘back’.
Embrace the people they’re trying to reach rather than judge them.
Be Gospel-driven rather than ideologically driven or partisan.

Do you see a dividing line emerging between the qualities of churches that will thrive and those that won’t?

Scroll down and leave a (respectful) comment. As always, angry rants and abusive comments will be deleted.  As always, we’re trying to make space here for good people on a common mission who may not see things the same way. So be kind.

What are you seeing?

The post The Coming Church Split (It’s Not What You Think) appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: The Coming Church Split (It’s Not What You Think)

The post The Coming Church Split (It’s Not What You Think) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: Carey Nieuwhof

Ever wonder if your organization’s culture is toxic?

Apparently, not enough leaders do.

According to a Gallup survey, only 15% of employees globally are engaged at work.

In America, 30% of employees are engaged, which at first sounds great.

Except that means that 70% of your workforce feels like their job is grinding the life of out of them. 70% of the people you’ve hired or who are part of your organization aren’t showing up with their best, productivity is low and your mission is suffering.

Underneath that is almost always some kind of unhealthy or toxic culture that demotivates your team.

As a result, every day, good people leave. People don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses and cultures.

One of the most important roles you have as a leader is to create a healthy culture that attracts and keeps healthy team members.

One of the challenges in leadership is that the boss is often the last to know that their work culture is toxic.

Leaders consistently overestimate how healthy they are and how healthy their team is.

That’s why I developed a new resource for leaders called The 3 Step Guide to Developing Better Value Statements. It’s free. You can get instant access here.

So how would you know your organization’s culture is toxic?

Here are ten signs.

People don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses and cultures.

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1. You talk ABOUT people, not to THEM

The golden rule of conflict is this: talk to the person you have an issue with, not about them.

In too many organizations, the opposite is true.

People talk about people rather than to them.

Companies are bad that this, but so our churches. Even in churches, conflict gets swept under the carpet, played out in a passive agressive way or spills out into social media.

The church should the BEST organization in the world in dealing with conflict. Often, we can be the worst.

The church should the BEST organization in the world in dealing with conflict. Often, we can be the worst.

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The next time you want to talk about someone (i.e. gossip), talk to them instead.

If you can’t or won’t, then it’s either not that big of an issue, so let it go. Or, you have a problem deeper than you realize. Get some help.

This also stops gossip dead in its tracks.

The next time you want to talk about someone (i.e. gossip), talk to them instead.

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2. You have to play politics to get anything done

One sure sign of a toxic culture is that you have to play politics to get anything done.

You know things have gotten political in your organization when:

Decisions rarely get made the way they’re supposed to be made.

Most decisions happen outside of meetings or any agreed-upon process.

You can’t get a yes without offering something in return.

You have to continually lobby to be heard.

If you’re always jockeying, lobbying and courting favor to get the right decision made, it’s a sign your organization is unhealthy.

In the local church in particular, having to play politics to win is a sure sign there’s sin.

When you do what you say you’re going to do the way you said you’re going to do it, you bring health to an organization.

In any organization, but in the local church in particular, having to play politics to win is a sure sign there’s sin.

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3. What gets said publicly is different from what’s happening privately

Another sign things are becoming toxic is when what gets said publicly is different than what happened privately.

When there’s spin on every issue and nothing can be said publicly without ‘agreeing’ on what gets said first, you’re in dangerous territory.

For sure, there are times where a situation is delicate and you will want to ‘agree’ on what gets said publicly to honour everyone involved, but in too many organizations few things that get done privately can be announced the same way publicly.

And to be sure…when you’re crafting any kind of a public statement, you want to pay attention to the words you use and perhaps even find agreement on them.

But the end product should never be the opposite or even different than what actually happened

I have good fortune of being part of several healthy organizations. I love it when people pull me aside and ask (in hushed tones), “So what’s the real story?” and I get to tell them “Actually, that is the real story.”

Living in that kind of culture really helps you sleep at night too.

You know your culture is toxic when there’s spin on every issue and nothing can be said publicly without ‘agreeing’ on what gets said first

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4. Conflict happens and is never addressed

Conflict is normal. You can’t have two people hang out for long without some differences arising.

Yet so many organizations are in perpetual fighting mode. Someone’s always at way with someone else.

Another reason churches fight regularly is because personal preferences have trumped organizational mission.

Left unattended, conflict can pit one selfish person or group against another.

A lot of bosses won’t address conflict or help resolve it in a healthy, direction and respectful way.

Unresolved or unhealthy conflict saps the strength out of most organizations.

If your organization is stagnant and in conflict, there should zero mystery as to why it isn’t growing.

If your organization is stagnant and in conflict, there should zero mystery as to why it isn’t growing.

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5. There’s an entrenched ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality

Every organization should be a ‘we,’ not an ‘us’ and ‘them.’

Whether the ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality exists between factions in your organization or between you and the outside forces, it’s always fatal to health and growth.

The job of a leader is to raise vision high enough and urgently enough for all of us to become bigger than any of us.

The job of a leader is to raise vision high enough and urgently enough for all of us to become bigger than any of us.

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6. No one takes responsibility

So who’s taking responsibility for moving the mission forward?

In unhealthy cultures the answers sound like this:

No one.

Someone.

Anybody but me.

As long as things are someone else’s responsibility, things will never get better.

Unhealthy leaders assign blame. Healthy leaders assume responsibility.

Unhealthy leaders assign blame. Healthy leaders assume responsibility.

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7. You can’t tell the truth

One sure sign a culture has gone toxic is when you feel you can’t tell the truth at work, so you go home ‘dump’ all the truth out on your spouse or best friend instead.

There’s only one problem with that: someone who doesn’t work where you work can’t solve your workplace issues.

But your boss can.

One of the best things you can do as a boss is to encourage your team to speak freely, to tell you the truth…without fear of consequences.

You won’t love everything you hear.

But if you thank them for the feedback, never penalize them for telling you the truth, and take action, you’ll love hearing about the things that are bothering them far more than you’ll love hearing that one of your top team members is leaving.

And, once you know what the real issues are, you can start to solve them.

Someone who doesn’t work where you work can’t solve your workplace issues.

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8. Everyone seems fine with good enough

Toxicity isn’t just about the presence of bad things. It’s also about the absence of great things.

Far too often in workplaces, people settle for good enough when it’s really not, well, good at all.

Toxicity isn’t just about the presence of bad things. It’s also about the absence of great things.

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High capacity leaders are repulsed by mediocrity. The best team members actually crave high levels of challenge and want things to be better, if not great.

Too many organizations allow what is good to stand in the way of what could be great. The surest way to ensure a mediocre future is to resign yourself to a mediocre present.

Too many organizations allow what is good to stand in the way of what could be great. The surest way to ensure a mediocre future is to resign yourself to a mediocre present.

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9. There’s very little gratitude

Most people want to know they’re making a difference. Very few bosses tell them they are.

Recognition and gratitude is a simple way to reduce employee turnover and absenteeism and raise employee engagement.

If your team doesn’t know whether they’re making a difference, they’ll be less motivated to make a difference.

If your team doesn’t know whether they’re making a difference, they’ll be less motivated to make a difference.

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10. Only the boss’ opinion matters

It’s amazing that so many leaders hire a team and never really listen to them.

That’s also one more sign of an unhealthy culture.

It’s easy to think that once you’ve become a leader or boss, it gives you the right to call the shots and make the team and organization bend to your wishes. But as Patrick Lencioni argues, that’s the opposite of true leadership.

As Andy Stanley says, leaders who refuse to listen will eventually be surrounded by people with nothing to say.

Leaders who refuse to listen will eventually be surrounded by people with nothing to say. @andystanley

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Get Your FREE Guide to Creating Better Cultural Value Statements

Want to improve your team culture?

Better team culture gets fueled by better value statements.

But how to do create them can be so complicated.

How:

Do you know which values to choose?
Do you avoid creating value statements people roll their eyes at or think are so obvious they mean nothing?
Can you be sure the values are accurate but still stretch you?

I spent years reading books and studying how to create value statements until I had a breakthrough on how to create cultural value statements that were both accurate and aspirational, and that the entire team embraced.

I’ve broken that process down into three simple steps that can get you improving your organization’s culture and values today.

You can get free instant access to The 3 Step Guide to Developing Better Value Statements here.

What Signs of Toxic Culture Would You Add?

This could have been a 41 point blog post, but I stopped at 10.

What signs of a toxic culture have you seen or experienced?

Scroll down and leave a comment.

The post 10 Signs Your Organization’s Culture is Toxic appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 10 Signs Your Organization’s Culture is Toxic

The post 10 Signs Your Organization’s Culture is Toxic appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: The Church’s Role in Political Engagement

The post The Church’s Role in Political Engagement appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Heather Zempel is a biological engineer who started working as a policy advisor to a US Senator on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. She now works with Mark Batterson doing ministry on Capitol Hill.

In a wide ranging interview, Heather describes the culture in DC during the 90s and early 2000s and compares it to how it is today. She talks about reaching young adults in the city, developing young leaders, and why she’s rethinking her groups and teaching strategy as DC becomes more and more post-Christian.

Welcome to Episode 281 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Guest Links

National Community Church | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Big Change Small Groups | Amazed and Confused | Community Is Messy 

Episode Links

Come see Carey and other great speakers at Orange Tour. Use coupon code CAREY at checkout for $10 off your registration.

Registration is now open for the Future Forward Conference. Join Carey in Pittsburg, PA on October 1-2, 2019.

Find training for every ministry area and every leadership level at Ministry Grid. Take advantage of their August special to lock in your annual rate with unlimited training, plus receive my book Didn’t See It Coming as a bonus gift.

Mark Batterson

National Community Church – Protege Program

3 Things Young Leaders Need to Hear from Their Boss, But Almost Never Do by Dillon Smith

Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation by Joel Stein

3 Insights from Heather

1. We get stronger when we reach across the aisle and work together with those that we disagree with

One of the biggest things Heather learned while working on Capitol Hill, is that everybody has got an angle when reporting on the American political system. There is a ton of value to be found in knowing what’s really going on and digging deeper into what you’re hearing and learning. Value can be found in hearing out people who disagree with us.

One thing Heather would love to remind all of us is that most of those politicians are good people that genuinely want to make a difference in the world they live in. Most people don’t realize that politicians have spouses and children, too. Regardless of what side of the aisle we are on, we have to be able to give the other side the benefit of the doubt and be able to love them as Christ has called us to.

2. Young leaders are in the room, so stop talking about them and begin working with them

Sometimes we’re afraid that if we let a young leader lead, they’re going to go rogue or go crazy, and then reflect badly on us as a result. Sometimes that’s true, but not always. Heather recommends that older leaders take that risk because somebody took that risk on you. We should never become too big or too important not to take risks on the next generation.

If older leaders begin to take more risks on the young leaders in their organization, that builds trust with those young leaders. Once you build that trust, the young leader will be willing to listen to whatever coaching or feedback you have to give them as their boss. If you never give them opportunities to fail, they will never be able to learn from their own failures.

3. If you want community, aim for service, purpose, and mission – Community will follow

Community is one of those elusive things that when you try to aim for it, you don’t often get it. But if you aim for something different, community comes as part of the package. The old method for building community was meeting with people face to face and then bringing them into a small group. This still works, but Heather and Carey are noticing a trend.

Both Heather and Carey are both beginning to notice that building community around something that is shoulder-to-shoulder (like serving) is actually leading to more powerful and sustaining transformation in the long run. Over the last 5 years, Carey has begun to notice that some of the best pockets of community in the church have formed around where people volunteer rather than what group they attend.

Quotes from Episode 281

The young leaders are in the room now. We need to let them talk about themselves. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

What most people are craving for is not necessarily teach me what to think, but teach me how to think. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

Don’t trade what you want 20 years from now for what you want right now in the moment. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

One thing people don’t know is that DC is largely run by 20-somethings. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

The church does, for the most part, a really good job with those who are down and out, but we often forget that there are people up and out. @cnieuwhofClick To Tweet

What you’ve got to focus on in your 20s is developing the character that you’re going to need to sustain the calling that God’s placed on your life. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 281

Looking for a key quote? More of a reader?

Read or download a free PDF transcript of this episode here.

Watch the Podcast on YouTube

Select episodes of this podcast are now on YouTube. Our new YouTube Channel gives you a chance to watch some episodes, not just listen. We’ll add select episodes to YouTube as time goes on.

Help Your Church Grow Without Compromising Biblical Integrity

Ready to start preaching better sermons and reach the unchurched without selling out? Then it’s time to start using the right tips, lessons, and strategies to communicating better.

The Art of Better Preaching Course is a 12 session video training with a comprehensive, interactive workbook that will help you create, write, and deliver better sermons. The course contains the lessons Mark Clark (lead pastor of  Village Church, a growing mega-church in post-Christian Vancouver) and I have learned, taught, and used over decades of being professional communicators.

This is the complete course you need to start preaching better sermons, including:

7 preaching myths it’s time to bust forever
The 5 keys to preaching sermons to unchurched people (that will keep them coming back)
How to discover the power in the text (and use it to drive your sermon)
The specific characteristics of sermons that reach people in today’s world
Why you need to ditch your sermon notes (and how to do it far more easily than you think.)
How to keep your heart and mind fresh over the long run

And far more! Plus you get an interactive workbook and some bonus resources that will help you write amazing messages week after week.

In the Art of Better Preaching, Mark and I share everything we’ve learned about communicating in a way that will help your church grow without compromising biblical integrity. We cover detailed training on everything from interacting with the biblical text to delivering a talk without using notes, to writing killer bottom lines that people will remember for years.

Check it out today and gain instant access.

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Hopefully, this episode has helped you lead like never before. That’s my goal. If you appreciated it, could you share the love?

The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts and leave us a brief review! You can do the same on Stitcher and on TuneIn as well.

Your ratings and reviews help us place the podcast in front of new leaders and listeners. Your feedback also lets me know how I can better serve you.

Thank you for being so awesome.

Next Episode: Joel Manby

Joel Manby became the role of CEO at Seaworld shortly after Blackfish was released – a documentary about the relationship between killer whales and their trainers at Seaworld. Joel talks about the crucible of his time there trying to address the concerns of the documentary as attendance and share price dropped, and how he figured out how to address the concerns and position Seaworld for the future. Joel also talks about his early days in leadership, including becoming the youngest CEO in GM history when he was appointed to lead Saab USA at age 35, and so much more. In a remarkably candid and honest interview, Joel talks about the personal cost of leadership and how to transform culture according to the principles of love.

Subscribe for free now and you won’t miss Episode 282.

The post CNLP 281: Heather Zempel with an Inside Look at Washington DC and Ministry Trends Among Young Adults and Post-Christian Culture appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 281: Heather Zempel with an Inside Look at Washington DC and Ministry Trends Among Young Adults and Post-Christian Culture

The post CNLP 281: Heather Zempel with an Inside Look at Washington DC and Ministry Trends Among Young Adults and Post-Christian Culture appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast! We have the pleasure of hearing from a familiar voice today. Tim Stevens is no stranger to the podcast, and he’s talked with us before about his work with Vanderbloemen Search Group.

Today, though, the topic is different. While Tim works with VSG to help churches find staff, he’s here to today to talk about something a bit more personal. His new book, Marked by Love: A Dare to Walk Away from Judgement and Hypocrisy, explore topics and feelings that we all struggle with but fail to discuss or address. Tune in while we hear how Tim defines what it means to be marked by love.

Why he wrote the book//About six to ten years ago, in the throes of a controversial political season, Tim was heavily engaged in social media, and he grew frustrated with seeing Christians acting judgmental and hypocritical online…and then it dawned on him that he might need to reflect on his own internal struggle with judgement and hypocrisy. Tim felt it was important to examine the core of Jesus’ message, and the results of his personal study are in this new book.
Being marked by the love of Jesus in spite of differences// Tim noticed that his previous heavy diet of political commentary and cable news stirred up a side of him that was unloving, judgmental, and very nervous about what was going to happen with the world. While Tim found the positive impact it made on his life when he reduced his consumption of news media, for other people it might be another situation they need to remove themselves from.
…

Source: Being Marked By Love with Tim Stevens – unSeminary

The post Being Marked By Love with Tim Stevens appeared first on Passion for Planting.