Talking About God Without Being a Jerk

In everyday life, most Christians avoid talking talking about their faith. They freeze up. They don’t know what to say. Or they fear rejection. Or they don’t want to come off as a narrow-minded jerk. The truth is, most people–even most churchgoers–lack a basic understanding in how to naturally bring faith into a real conversation. How […]

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The Church’s Hidden Back Door

Beef up outreach. Emphasize evangelism. Plant more churches. Polish the marketing. None of this is reversing the overall trend of church decline. Even when a church attracts new members it doesn’t grow. Why? It can’t add people fast enough to make up for the legions slipping out the back door. They are the Dones–those who […]

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Church’s Obsession with Sunday Morning

A friend of mine visited a large, famous church on a typical Sunday. The worship band performed with precision. The lighting and fog effects were state of the art. The pastor presented a polished sermon amidst specially built staging. Later in the week the pastor shared this church’s ministry secrets in a seminar. He described […]

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Reforming a Repulsive Reputation

We have a reputation problem. Increasingly, the public tags Christians with some very unsavory attributes. We describe these characteristics in our new book that releases this week, Why Nobody Wants to Be Around Christians Anymore. In short, people view Christians as judgmental, disinterested in others’ thoughts, hypocritical, and disconnected from God. Are these fair assessments? How […]

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What’s Missing in Missional

“We try to be missional. We try to be externally focused,” the young pastor told me. “But nothing seems to work.” This church, in a metropolitan area, has invested in numerous efforts to reach into the community and address various needs. But nothing has resulted in really connecting those who are served with the church […]

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Alert: New Church Coming to Town

Does your town need another new church? A lot of people think so. It’s true that most people won’t attend any church in your town this week. But that’s not because there’s no room for them in your churches. On the contrary, open capacity has never been higher. But over-supply will not stop the church […]

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Reaching the Community–With No Strings

In the face of agonizing tragedy the church stepped up. After monster tornadoes tore through Oklahoma, the people of the church demonstrated the simple and powerful love of Christ to those they never met. And may never see again. Yet the church served, without expecting anything in return. Local churches offered their facilities to those […]

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Making the World’s Largest Congregation

I just returned from the world’s largest worship gathering. And I picked up some ideas for those who wish to grow their congregations to epic proportions. I witnessed an estimated 50 million faithful gather in one place to seek the Almighty’s favor, wash away their sins, and spend time with their admired religious leaders. This […]

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Shutting Up the Heathens

No wonder people view Christians as judgmental. No wonder the unchurched feel their thoughts and questions are unwelcome at church. In my work with Lifetree Café I hear weekly from the unchurched, the dechurched and not-yet-believers. And I also have the opportunity to talk with church leaders about how Lifetree connects with those who don’t […]

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Back-to-Church Bait-and-Switch

It’s time to crank up the new season. As the new church year approaches, church leaders begin to roll out varied efforts to entice the unchurched to fill the pews. Churches across the country use all kinds of back-to-church lures: special events, comedy concerts, giveaways, fish frys, and creative advertising. But do these efforts work? […]

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