The Statement of Faith for Small Church Connections states the following: “We believe that each member of the human race is fallen, sinful and lost; that salvation is possible only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and is received…
Your Church Is The Perfect Size To Do All That God’s Wants You To Do
A few years ago I was in conversation with someone talking about a small church with which I was involved. We talked about a number of different aspects of church life in a church that small. My sister-in-law was on…
Longevity Doesn’t Equal Spiritual Depth
Last week I shared with you the first of two statements that Dean Kevin Martin made in the workshop that he led at St. Thomas Anglican Church in St. Catherines. “The spiritual depth of a church will never exceed the…
The Indispensable Quality in Church Leadership
If I can pick up one new thought or have one truth reinforced when I read a book or attend a conference, I figure that the effort has been worthwhile. There was a time when I wanted the entire workshop…
The Challenge of Working With Volunteers
In an article entitled “If You Don’t Pay Your Volunteers They Won’t Stay Your Volunteers,” Dave Jacobs suggests that leading a church is more difficult than leading a business. The reason that he gives for this is the church leader…
A Different Perspective on Losing Your Youth
I served as the senior pastor of Grace Bible Chapel for eight years in the 1990s. When I resigned from that position, I spent some time looking back over that eight-year period and tried to evaluate the impact of my…
. The Refugee Crisis
I am writing this blog entry in the pastor’s office at City Church in Winnipeg. Tim Nielsen, the pastor of City Church and a good friend, is sitting at the other desk listening online to a video on the current…
The Relationship Between Patience and Change
One of the tensions that exists in all churches is the fact that there are things that need to be changed on the one hand and people who hate change on the other. In any group of people, studies have…
The Relationship Between Patience and Trust
Building trust takes time. There are no shortcuts. There are no quick fixes. It just takes time and time means that we must have patience. The Importance of Trust In the midst of a conversation with another pastor, he…
Patience in Small-Church Ministry
Several years ago I met with a young pastor who was becoming increasingly frustrated with the church in which he served. He wanted them to make changes and they were moving much slower than he thought that they should move.…