Leadership
11 Indispensable Relationships
Leonard Sweet wrote a book, 11: Indispensable Relationships You Can’t Be Without. This book is a great resource for leaders, especially leaders in churches and faith based organizations. The summary list is below. 11 Indispensable Relationships by Leonard Sweet Editor-Nathan True Friend-Jonathan Butt-Kicker-Jethro Protege-Timothy Encourager-Barnabas Yoda-Peter/Paul Back-Coverer-Deborah Reject-Zacchaeus Little One-Rhoda Read more…
Leadership
Habits of Healthy Churches: Habit #7
Healthy churches are not territorial. Almost every church struggles with some incidents or areas where there is territorialism. The healthier the church, the less of this there is. Territorialism can occur with space, resources or ministries. Every space in the church except for personal offices should be a shared space. Read more…
Leadership
Habits of Healthy Churches: Habit #6
Healthy churches value process. Churches tend to under process conflict and overprocess everything else. In some ways, process matters more than results. Process allows for learning and adjustments and creates a culture where everything can be seen as an experiment. Discipleship itself is a journey and a process, not a Read more…
Leadership
Habits of Healthy Churches: Habit #5
Healthy churches are focused more on those outside the church than those inside the church. This does not mean that you ignore those inside your church. In reality, many churches are already good at caring for those inside the church. The church is the only institution/organization that exists primarily for Read more…
Leadership
Habits of Healthy Churches: Habit #4
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 Read more…
Leadership
Habits of Healthy Churches: Habit #3
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 Read more…
Leadership
Habits of Healthy Churches: Habit #2
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 Read more…
Leadership
Habits of Healthy Churches: Habit #1
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 Read more…