Strategy | Coaching Churches

Category Archive: Strategy

5 Essentials For Today’s Church To Thrive

Posted by on July 19, 2023

With world class worship services available online, there must be another reason for people to come to your church on Sunday than great preaching and worship. There can be no real personal community online that offers the deep relationships that the church should be known for in your city. Your church must be committed to having a personal conversation with everyone who walks in the door.

This post by Dan Reiland is well worth the read: “If you quietly believe your church isn’t that different today than two years ago, consider that because the culture has dramatically changed, people see, perceive, and experience your church differently.

That reality is unavoidable.

The essential question is — Are people experiencing the difference in your church that you want them to experience?

In most cases, the difference is shaped by nuance, how you say what you say, how you treat people, and the values and convictions you stand for – not your programs.”

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7 Disruptive Trends That Will Rule 2021

Posted by on January 19, 2021

I have talked a lot about disruption in my book Church Scattered and with a lot of clients. The major truth that must be understood is that there is no going back to the way things used to be.

We can continue to live in denial and long for the good old days but that will not help to lead our people through this critical and stressful period of change. Leadership through disruption means maintaining what is essential from the past and integrating that with what is critical for now.

This post by Carey Nieuwhof is a must read for church leaders: “Just when you thought the world couldn’t get any more turbulent or surprising, the opening moments of 2021 still have everyone trying to catch their breath.

So what are the leadership trends you should be tracking in 2021?

For years I’ve done a series of church trends posts. You can read the 2021 Disruptive Church Trends post here (along with backlinks to the Trends Series over the last five years). While those trends are aimed at church leaders, the implications are broader than that.

Last year, I added a more general Leadership Trends post, focusing on a broader swath of issues facing all leaders, businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits, professionals—essentially all of us who lead.”

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How To Lead A Church That Can’t Agree On Anything Right Now

Posted by on August 31, 2020

In my lifetime the church has never gone through this much disruption for this long of a period of time. The church has literally been scattered and we are living through at least 5 major crisis that have created massive amounts of stress. The country is more divided than ever, which sadly means your people are probably more divided than ever as well.

This post by Carey Nieuwhof is extremely helpful in that he seeks to help us find the things we all still have in common. If we focus on our shared mission, then we will see all of this as a divine opportunity for the kingdom. Enjoy this great post:

“This is probably one of the hardest seasons you’ve ever led through.

One of the things that’s making this season particular challenging is that, regardless of ideology, theology or viewpoint, we are more divided and adamant than ever.

People don’t agree on masks, social distancing, schooling, reopening church, online church politics or whether there’s even a real threat.

As one lead pastor told me recently, “There used to be two options. Now it feels like there are four or five, and no one agrees with anyone anymore.”

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COVID-19 Is Changing The Way Believers Connect

Posted by on April 5, 2020

The mentality of I can’t wait until things get back to the way they used to be is not going to work for church leaders. It will never be the same again. That does mean it has to be a bad thing but for it to be good we must proactively lead. We have feared virtual church to the point that we have not leveraged the power of technology to help us complete our mission. Casting a vision of how to connect believers during the week for faith instead of fun will be a game changer. This post by Leah Davenport is worth the read:

“When it comes to adoption of new communication technologies, the church has typically been at the forefront. The first book ever printed on Gutenberg’s press was the Bible, after all. Beginning in the 1950s and 60s Billy Graham took the format of the tent revival global by utilizing satellite broadcast technology. A cursory glance at the app store or Youtube will yield dozens of Bible reading apps, plans, and sermon podcasts. And yet until recent events, churches still revolved mostly around the weekly rhythm of in-person services on Sundays and weeknight Bible studies.”

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What Will The Post-Coronavirus Church Look Like

Posted by on March 29, 2020

I sincerely believe that one of the lasting lessons of any disruption is that things will never be the same again. We can return to the ways of doing church that were effective in making disciples. However, we should as church leaders use this time to make any change that will help us be more effective in reaching and equipping people. This post by Thom Rainer is excellent:

“Church leaders and members are rightly giving much attention to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. In-person church services are being canceled. Small groups are meeting digitally, if at all. Church leaders are urging members to support the church financially through digital giving. Churches are preparing ways to minister to their communities in the midst of the pandemic.

I am grateful for the responses and for the caring hearts of so many church members. In the midst of a major challenge, it is heartwarming and reassuring to see many people who really care.

But the coronavirus will move past its pandemic state at some point in the future. I am fascinated to see what our churches will look like on “the other side.” Here are eight likely developments:”

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Cursing The Darkness

Posted by on March 24, 2019

As we enter this post-Christian period in America, I am deeply concerned that we still do not understand why we are increasingly ineffective in making disciples. I hear everything blamed from emerging churches, seeker services, contemporary worship, reformed theology, postmodernism and watered down preaching just to name a few.

We certainly will never be able to solve the problem if we can not accurately diagnose the cause. We must stop cursing the darkness and talking about everything that is wrong and start shinning the light about what is right.

We must start with the simple truth that the people who are not attending church are significantly culturally different from the people who are. This means that all pastors in America must become missional in their methodology in order to reach new people or our churches will die.

The days of build it and they will come through transfer growth are over forever and in the end that is a very good thing.

We must stop preaching that the culture is our enemy. It is simply the context in which we have been called to do ministry. As a necessary reminder the modern culture with all its logic and reason was no friend to the gospel because it produced humanism and evolution.

I am extremely excited about the next generation and their passion for community, integrity, spirituality and service. We need compassion for their lostness but respect for their uniqueness.

It is our responsibility to understand them if we want to reach them and not require them to become like us if they want to come to Christ.

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Major New Research On Declining, Plateaued, And Growing Churches

Posted by on March 10, 2019

The reality that the North American church is in serious trouble is not new information. However, the continuing downward trends should cause even more concern than in the past. It is clearly time to admit we need dramatic change in methodology and passionate prayer for God to move again. This post by Rainer is a must read:

I am grateful to Exponential for engaging LifeWay Research to discern current levels of church health according to a number of factors. While worship attendance trends over a three-year period were a primary indicator of health in this study, the Exponential research also included conversions, income, and staffing in the data.

In addition to the categorization of churches as declining/subtracting (Level 1), plateauing (Level 2), and growing/adding (Level 3), the study looked at two other supplemental categories. A Level 4 (reproducing) church places a high value and priority on starting new churches. A level 5 (multiplying) church takes church planting to multiple generations of congregations.

Nine Steps To Develop Leadership Discipline

Posted by on August 3, 2018

Great leadership is a combination of having the discipline to execute daily on major priorities while at the same time keeping one eye on your market and competition. Operational excellence is demanded but you must create a culture where strategic innovation can thrive. The Forbes Coaches Council always delivers:

“Business leaders have a tough job. They must manage themselves, lead others and keep the organization heading in the right direction. They are ultimately accountable for the organization’s success. With this comes stress, fear and other emotions that can get in the way of leadership discipline.

Working with CEOs and entrepreneurs, I have the joy of working with some fantastic leaders. I see and experience their wins — their satisfaction of doing a good job. With that, I hear and see the personal struggles, the burden of people issues and the overall frustration that comes with leading.”

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A 40 Year Debate Over Corporate Strategy

Posted by on May 23, 2018

This post by HBR was extremely challenging and helpful to me on this subject of corporate strategy. Michael Porter’s HBR article on “What Is Strategy ” has become my best practice in helping clients. The new factor in the conversation is how do you maintain a competitive advantage in a market that is almost in constant disruption. Both approaches are right but the challenge is to what degree do you value innovation as part of your strategy:

“When Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “moats are lame” during the company’s earnings call last week, he was calling out Warren Buffett, the chair of Berkshire Hathaway, who uses “moat” to describe barriers to imitation that stave off competition. “If your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you will not last long,” Musk continued.”

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The Essence Of Strategic Planning

Posted by on April 23, 2018

There is so much confusion today in corporate leadership around all of the commonly used terms of vision, purpose, mission and strategy. The most confusion surrounds a through understanding of what strategy really means and how you develop and sustain the best strategic position. This HBR post is excellent:

“It happens all the time: A group of managers get together at a resort for two days to hammer out a “strategic plan.” Done and dusted, they all head home. But have they produced a plan with a strategy? At the start of my public seminars on strategic planning I ask attendees, who rank from board members and CEOs to middle management, to write down an example of a strategy on a sheet of paper.”

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