Many small membership churches today are faced with the sobering reality of attendance loss and overall decline. This resource provides a guide to help you find hope, alternatives, and the possibility of a new beginning. Included are tools to help you measure your church's vitality, evaluate the results, and diagnose your church's condition, along with several options for treatment plans as you seek to faithfully serve your community. Remember that we can choose our story. If we believe in our hearts there is another possibility, we can be faithful in choosing intentional pathways forward that honor God, the church founders, and generations to come. Follow the steps outlined in these pages to evaluate where you are and what the next steps on your journey need to be as you seek to be a "not yet big church," "a stable, small church," or a church that chooses to close and be repurposed for unexpected new life.

God's answer begins with you. Something is not quite right in the local church. Many Christians see the symptoms of decline in fellowship and spiritual vitality. If health and life are indications of growth, their congregation is not well. Unfortunately, the ailing church is becoming the common church. Professor and church growth consultant Bob Whitesel has written Cure for the Common Church to offer potent and proven cures to foster health in their local congregations. By thoughtfully examining Scriptures, he applies truths through real-life experience from his years of consulting. Questions for group study also help members explore and discern together how to become a healthy force in their church. Cure for the Common Church will fan the fires of change and bring health, vitality, and new life to your church

Leaders who are interested in planting or revitalizing congregations often feel discouraged and defeated after leadership conferences, or after reading about the ‘heroes’ of church planting and church growth. “They are amazing,” they say. “I can’t be that amazing.” But Jesus’ load is easy and his burden is light. When we examine the practices and characteristics of those ‘heroes’, we see striking trends and commonalities. Aspiring church leaders can learn the practices and develop the characteristics that will lead to successful churches. Instead of feeling defeated, new leaders should have a hope-filled sense of what new thing they can do. Authors Matt Miofsky and Jason Byasse carefully researched, interviewed, and profiled successful church-growers across the U.S., and identified 8 characteristics these leaders and their congregations have in common. These pastors are still learning, still figuring out how to do this work and how to faithfully live into God’s call. But for now, how are they doing what they do? What mistakes have they made & learned from? Where have they paid the stupid tax that others should avoid? Each of these ‘heroes’ is painfully ordinary and up front about their flaws. And each can see slightly farther than the rest of us. What do they see that we can learn from? Discover the 8 characteristics, and learn how to adapt them for your own congregation and calling: Believe in miracles and act accordingly Integrate new people quickly Love the local Exist to reach the next person Elevate the practice of giving Work in teams Preach effectively to skeptics Make friends with the denomination

This seven-week participant’s guide helps readers dig deeper and strengthen their faith as they learn how ideas from the five fatal worldviews can infect their faith. Readers will understand more about Secularism, Marxism, Islam, New Spirituality, and Postmodernism, and how their faith can be affected by the ideas these worldviews spread. Designed to be used alongside the book and DVD, this interactive guide gives readers tools to establish a strong, biblical worldview.

Veteran pastor, professor, and church planter Horrell suggests that the customs, patterns, and structures of churches may actually be barriers to what God 's purposes for the church really are.

Every pastor wants their church to grow, but the reality is that most churches are stagnant or shrinking, leaving most pastors frustrated, weary, and discouraged. They continue to search for answers at conferences, in books, and on websites, but they don't find them. They don't realize that the answers that can actually make a difference in their ministry are the ones they need to give themselves. When Your Church Feels Stuck poses seven unavoidable questions church leaders must answer before they can chart the unique path to growth for their church. These challenging questions address the key subjects of mission, strategy, values, metrics, team alignment, culture, and services, and the way pastors answers these questions will help them discover the real reasons their churches are stuck--and what steps to take to facilitate real growth.

RELIGION & BELIEFS. It's Time for a Relationship Checkup! Getting routine physicals and dental checkups is essential to your health. And your car needs a regular oil change. But what about your relationship? Dating and married couples rarely, if ever, do a checkup on their relationship. But the sooner you identify problems and find ways to resolve them, the easier it will be to create a strong future. And the sooner you discover your relationship strengths and build on them, the deeper and more intimate your relationship will be. Each chapter of The Remarriage Checkup explores one of the key qualities of happy remarriage relationships. Like a GPS device for your relationship, this book has a CPS (Couple Positioning System) and built-in discussion questions that can help you and your partner discover where you are, where you'd like to be, and how to get there.