Healthy churches are praying churches. It seems cliche’ and perhaps even a bit obvious, but the reality is that few churches make prayer a priority. If how conflict is handled is the #2 determinant in church health, then prayer is #1. We often tell God our plans and ask (or expect) that they would be blessed rather than to look the Holy Spirit, ask what the Spirit is doing and join the spirit in that...
Read moreInternational Pastor, Youth Pastor and Church Leader Training: This program will both provide a curriculum for training leaders and deliver training to leaders in countries where poverty prevents them from receiving a formal education or quality training. As the first part of this program, various training modules and curriculums will be created and shared with international partners. These partnerships will be developed with organizations, denominations and church leaders in various countries in order to provide...
Read moreOur Programs: Church Revitalization Network – Preparing for Amazement Ministries Our mission is to revitalize and build the global church. The world is a mess. The church is a mess. The church around the world is in decline. In the United States alone, roughly 70% of churches are in decline, 20% are plateaued and 10% are growing. Only 1% of churches are growing from people new to the faith. We are driven by the notion...
Read moreEmpowering and equipping churches and leaders to create lasting and transformational health. In the midst of the Covid-19, Preparing for Amazement Ministries is working hard to build and revitalize the global Christian Church. We hope you take a couple minutes to read our October newsletter and visit our website. What’s New?! We are now going to be sending our newsletter every other month instead of every month. There are a lot of exciting new things Read more…
Patrick Lencioni notes, “Organizational health trumps everything.” Healthy churches focus on adoption rather than assimilation. Historically, the church has taken the following approach to people: Believe the right things. Behave the right way (ie, like we behave). Then you can Belong. This is not consistent with the life and ministry of Jesus. Instead, our approach should be: You Belong because you are loved and created in the image of God. We want to help you Read more…
Patrick Lencioni notes, “Organizational health trumps everything.” Healthy churches do conflict well. The number two factor as to whether or not a church is healthy and growing is how they handle conflict (in case you are wondering, being a praying church is number 1). Luckily, Jesus gave us specific instructions for dealing with conflict, hurt and even sin in the church. Often, especially as Americans, we like lists and instructions so we are fortunate to Read more…
Habit #1: Healthy churches make decisions in a healthy way. How does a church make a decision in a healthy way? Here are some key principles: Make the decision for the right reason. Wrong reasons include: fear, reactivity, pleasing people, tradition. Right reasons include: reaching people, making disciples, church health. Is the decision: Biblical? Compatible with Lutheran theology? Consistent with our mission & identity? Make the decision the right way-using a healthy, efficient process. Including Read more…
Organization health trumps everything. The most important thing you can do for your church, the best advantage you can give your church is to do all you an to ensure it is the healthiest it can be. So, what are the key factors in church health? Throughout various blog posts we will be exploring the key factors in church health. This will not be an exhaustive list, but it will cover the most important factors Read more…
In his book, The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni asserts that organizational health trumps every other advantage, resource or asset for an organization. This truth can be transformative for leaders and churches in particular, if we are willing to embrace it. No church can or needs to be the biggest, most technologically savvy, have the best worship, best staff, best location, best facility or a host of other ‘bests.’ Rather, to be effective and to have an Read more…
Empowering and equipping churches and leaders to create lasting and transformational health. In the midst of the Covid-19, Preparing for Amazement Ministries is working hard to build and revitalize the global Christian Church. We hope you take a couple minutes to read our August newsletter and visit our website. What’s New?! There are a lot of exciting new things happening in our ministry in spite of the challenges we face in the world with the Read more…
Organizational health trumps everything. The most important thing you can do for your church, the best advantage you can give your church is to do all you an to ensure it is the healthiest it can be. People do not want to become a part of something that is unhealthy and if they do, they don’t stay for long. The ones that do stick around in unhealthy organizations are often part of the reason it Read more…
Organizational health trumps everything. ~Patrick Lencioni Organizations cannot be healthy if their leaders are not healthy. Our focus is on empowering and equipping churches and leaders to create lasting and transformational health. This is just one resource in helping leaders examine their life and health. The goal of this inventory is to help ministry leaders reflect on their overall health. In addition to the foundational questions of health, the inventory offers 7 questions in 7 Read more…