How Allocating Time for Communication Improves Your Ministry’s Health

There are many ministries and nonprofit organizations that lack a dedicated staff member responsible for coordinating and managing communication and marketing efforts. In fact, a majority of ministries do not have someone in this role. This absence can lead to breakdowns and disconnects in communication, not only across the organization or its audience but also…

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Measuring Spiritual Health in Your Church: A Different Approach

One of the most pressing concerns for pastors, church leaders, and board members is how to measure the spiritual health of their congregation. We know it’s important. We know that spiritual health is at the core of meaningful ministry. But how do we measure something that isn’t as simple as counting attendance or tracking giving…

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Measuring What Matters in Ministry

A while back, a friend recommended the book Measure What Matters. At the time, we were deep into creative and tactical work for ministries, trying to develop better metrics for tracking results. This book introduced a new way of thinking about goals and measurement that was both practical and transformative. Many ministries hesitate to apply…

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Speaking Plainly: The Key to Trust, Truth, and Transformation in Ministry

The lack of truth-filled communication is one of the biggest relationship killers. Why? Without truth, trust erodes, understanding falters, and vulnerability—so essential for connection—disappears. This isn’t just an issue for personal relationships; it’s a challenge for ministry too, where relationships are foundational. Ministry thrives on relationships—relationships with your team, congregation, and the broader community. And…

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Let’s Talk About Talking: Three Surprising Ways to Fulfill Your Mission More Effectively

Everyone knows communication is important. If you look at your bookshelf right now, I’d be willing to guess that you have at least three books on communication. You might have even read at least one of them. There are workshops about communication, blog posts about communication, podcasts about communication, assessments to gauge effective communication, and…

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Do You Know How Your Church is Perceived?

“That place could burn down, and it wouldn’t matter.” I remember the moment I heard someone say those words about a church we were consulting for. They weren’t suggesting arson, of course, but their statement was just as striking. From their perspective, that church was irrelevant. If it disappeared, it wouldn’t make a difference to…

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How Healthy Are Your Church Families?

How do you figure out the true health of your church? This is kind of a danger zone for pastors and leadership teams for two reasons: 1) we are prone to base it on anecdotal evidence or general feelings; 2) we tend to either use no metrics or misleading metrics. Additionally, unless you’ve only been…

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Gossip in the Church: A Communication Problem, Not Just a Sin

Gossip is one of the most common—and damaging—issues in many churches. While we know biblically that gossip is wrong, many people don’t even realize they’re engaging in it. Growing up, my dad had a simple rule: “If I’m not part of the problem or the solution, I probably don’t need to know.” That mindset shaped…

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Finding the Quiet Leaders in Your Ministry

Your best leaders are probably hiding in plain sight. How can you spy them? Beginning on a philosophical level, you might be off to a good start by upending the rubric through which we typically think about good leaders. We judge a book by its cover far too often. James says, “Hasn’t God chosen the…

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