It’s Christmas time, and I think we’re all glad 2020 is coming to a close. Coronavirus, toilet paper crises, lockdown, politics, more lockdown, more politics, I’m A Celeb in Wales… It’s been a tough year. There’s an old saying that says you learn more in adversity than in success. So what have we learned this […]
Overview 2020 is almost over and that makes it a great time to look back and take stock of our learnings over the past year. 2020 has been an exceptional year in many ways, and whilst many want it over, 2020 has been a fantastic learning opportunity for the church. In this episode, Chris & […]
In the church world, we’ve become conditioned to believe that the right way to “do” church is found in Scripture. And to a certain extent, I agree. We want Scripture to guide us when we look at how we do church. However, when we look at Scripture, there’s no manual for how to run church. […]
Overview When it comes to strategic thinking, strategy can often be the first thing we think about. If we just get the org chart right, the policies in place, everything will work. However, great form follows great function. In this episode, Chris & Lee talk through a number of analogies to help you get the […]
In the COVID world, there’s been much talk about the need for the church to get out of the four walls. Things often get said like, “We shouldn’t be bringing the lost to us, we should be going to the lost!” In one sense I understand this. We should be going to reach people where […]
With the end of COVID now slightly more in-sight, more churches will be thinking about how to move forward as a church. Multisite was a fast-growing option for many churches in the U.K. pre-COVID, and with churches starting to re-gather again, I think that this is going to become a very attractive opportunity for Kingdom […]
Overview Change is an inevitable part of life, so why do we resist it so much? If your church is not where you want it to be (and no church is) then you need to work on leading change within your church. In this episode, Chris & Lee talk all about change including some of […]
“If you change something and no-one gets mad, you just changed something that doesn’t matter.” Dan Reiland I recently saw this quote from Dan which really got me thinking. After all, we often go into change thinking about how we can take people with us. If anything, all of the focus of leading change is […]
The second lockdown can bring with it a healthy dose of introspection. With more time at home, there should be more space to think. At least you’re not being interrupted every two seconds with another request, so take the opportunity to not just work in the ministry, but work on it as well. Working in […]
Hiring is one of the most important jobs you can do in your church. Firstly, you’ve got to get the personality right, if you don’t get that right, all of the rest of this is pointless. Although that’s for another blog. Different types of roles link to different ways in which people think. To achieve […]
I’m a proud child of the City of Gloucester. It’s a small city with a fantastic history. Originally the Roman town of Glevum, we have a king buried in the Cathedral, which was also the filming location for the Harry Potter movies. Home to Robert Raikes, the pioneer of Sunday Schools, birthplace of George Whitefield, […]
If you’ve grown up in church (which I have) then soon enough the talk around personal finances comes up. The talk goes a little like this: Spend less than you earn, give your first 10% to God, save your second 10% and the rest is for spending. And it’s great advice, advice I try to […]
Excellence is a much-talked about subject in church. There’s two camps we Christians can fall into. On the one-hand, many say excellence is our response to a God who gave his excellence for us, it honours Him to give Him our best, and excellence draws people in. On the other hand, excellence is seen as […]
I’ve never watched an episode of The West Wing. However, the one thing I do know about it is that it made the scenes of walking and talking famous. In these scenes, which are now ubiquitous amongst US TV dramas, the main character walks towards the camera in a corridor whilst the supporting cast walk […]
Overview Virtually every church has some sort of social media presence, but few know how to do it well. We often think that social media can only done well if you have a team of employees ready to churn out content on an hourly basis. However, when done effectively, social media becomes a method for […]
The word ‘vision’ gets shrouded in confusion very easily. That’s because we get confused between Mission & Vision. And it’s no wonder that we get confused between the two because everyone has a different definition for it. I remember being in a meeting once and was debating what was ‘Mission’ and what was ‘Vision’. Thankfully, […]
There’s an old saying that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. And it’s usually true, especially in church life. How often are we struggling to find people to fill roles? I don’t know a single church that isn’t crying out for leaders in some area. Now, some of this is […]
Summer is all but gone. And that means that as the leaves turn brown, the days get colder and the nights draw in, the church world turns its gaze to Christmas. However, this year everything has changed. COVID-19 is still rumbling on and new measures have been put in place by the Government to stop […]
On 27th March 2019, The UK’s Parliament started their now famous ‘Indicative Votes’ – MPs voted on 8 separate issues in order to solve the Brexit conundrum. After unceremoniously rejecting both of then-Prime Minister Teresa May’s Brexit deals, Parliament took control and put forward 8 ideas, voting on them with a simple yes/no vote for […]
I grew up in the era of Pearce Brosnan being James Bond. Goldeneye was the classic, and the Bond Car was peak-Bond – a BMW Z3 fitted with stinger missiles. Who knows where the engine would fit with all of the technology going on, but that’s not the point. The point was, James had a secret weapon whenever he […]
When it comes to leadership ability, there are two schools of thought. In the red corner there is the belief in born leaders. You could even go far as saying it’s a God-given gift, and indeed in Romans 12:8, leadership is listed as a divinely-bestowed gift. The thought is that you should be able to […]
Have you ever watched those hoarder TV shows? It’s the ones where there is someone living with so much clutter that they can’t see their sofa, bed or kitchen. They often have very narrow corridors lined with stuff that is piled up to the ceilings. Its particularly sad to watch, no one should have to […]
An interesting TV show started a few years ago on Channel 4. Married at First Sight took an American TV concept of matchmaking couples using science. Here was the twist, though. The couples only met for the first time at the altar. They would then go on their honeymoon and try to start their married […]
“It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this?” The immortal words of The Killers were definitely not written about the state of Online Church services, but the sentiment certainly applies. It all feels like the premise to a Romcom. The love affair of the church with online services started in early March. It was a strange meet cute. […]
Since the dawn of space travel in the 20th Century, there has long been a fascination with looking for life on other planets. The thought is that in a universe as expansive as ours, surely we can’t be alone? Surely there is life on other planets? Whilst we at thinking.church don’t concern ourselves with such […]
‘Church growth’ is a divisive phrase. For some the word is exciting. A church that’s growing has a buzz, more people coming to know Jesus, fuller auditoriums, more leaders. For others, this phrase talks about turning church into a corporation: it’s all about getting numbers for numbers sake, organisational growth without spiritual growth and looking […]
Dragons Den is a classic show. In one episode the then-dragon Duncan Bannatyne stated a well-used phrase, “revenue is vanity, profit is sanity”. And he’s right. In a business, It’s not about the money that you make, it’s about the money that you keep. Vanity measures are important. Tracking revenue is really important, but when […]
Decision-making is a difficult endeavour, and as church leaders it’s so easy to default to hoard all of the decision-making power. After all, it can be difficult to know who should make the decision, and then trusting someone else to make that decision can be tough. However, we also know intuitively, that delegation of decision-making […]
Peter Drucker is famously attributed to the quote, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” – Here’s the bad news. Peter Drucker didn’t say it. Here’s the even worse news. The quote isn’t true. The thinking is that you can have all the plans you want, but the culture dictates what will happen. Surely, get the culture […]
“Everyone Welcome!” I’ve seen so many of these signs around and you’ve probably got something similar in your church. As a church we want to reach as many people as possible. And that’s a good thing, it means that you’re inclusive and diverse. However, this creates a problem. Now you end up needing to cater […]
In Lewis Carol’s classic novel, Through The Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Alice, previously having been to Wonderland, climbs up on the mantlepiece and goes through the mirror and goes into a world where everything is reversed. Sound Familiar? On 23rd March 2020, the U.K. followed much of the rest of the world and […]
I remember hearing something Bishop T.D. Jakes said once. He said we’re called to be fishers of people, and some churches catch with a rod, others catch with a net. If you catch with a rod you can take more time and care over the person, but the return on your labour is less than […]
This article was originally published on Premier Christianity Blog Have you ever watched The Island with Bear Grylls? A group of strangers get stranded on a deserted island with little more than the clothes on their backs and are expected to survive for a month. Inevitably, they valiantly trek into the jungle to find food. […]
When you’re leading a church, everyone’s got an opinion. And that should be celebrated. After all, lots of ideas and opinions are better than none. I would argue that if your church is not getting lots of differing ideas, then it’s a sign that your church has already started to decline. You need fresh ideas, […]