November 5, 2025
For the One: A Call to Radical Alignment
The Great Commission isn't a random utterance of Jesus. It's the marching orders for the church that still stand today, including you and your church.
Articles for tag: Church Vision
November 5, 2025
Taking the Gospel Back to Post-Christian Europe
What if the next great move of God isn’t coming from Europe but is going back to it? At ONE&ALL Church in Southern California, we’re preparing to send hundreds of young adults to replant the gospel in the very lands that once sent it to us.
November 1, 2021
Ministry Mistakes
By Don Wilson In more than 50 years of ministry, I’m not sure I have ever gone to a conference where speakers shared their greatest leadership failures and mistakes. I have, however, been to many conferences where pastors and leaders shared their greatest ministry success stories. If we are not careful, we unknowingly can discourage pastors who feel like failures because they don’t experience similar successes. I want to share four of my mistakes in ministry—and what I have learned from them—in the hope it will encourage others. Mistake No. 1: Believing All Church Leaders Want Their Church to Grow
November 2, 2018
Elders Cast Vision
E2: Effective Elders Blog Editor’s Note: Each Friday we publish a new blog post from our partners in ministry, E2: Effective Elders. We publish it here simultaneous to E2’s posting on their site. The leaders of E2 write an article for our print and online magazine every month as well. Those articles are full of wisdom and practical help for elders. Please check them out! _____ By David Roadcup The ability to craft and utilize a useful, compelling vision is one of the cornerstones in the life of an effective church. What is vision? It is developing the ability to see what is not
May 5, 2017
Questions Worth Asking (2016 Megachurch & Statistics Report)
By Kent E. Fillinger Leading a church is a complex undertaking. The challenges can seem to mount more quickly than answers or resources become available. However, asking good questions is helpful. And asking the right questions as a leader is a game changer. One question I always ask is, “What can we learn from our annual survey data to apply to life and ministry?” Here are some important findings from key survey questions, and I”ve included some application questions for you and your team to discuss. One of this year”s survey questions was, “What questions or issues is your church
March 16, 2012
A Call to Courage
By Susan Lawrence I”ve noticed something lately that deeply troubles me: a lack of courage among church leaders. Hear me out. I”m not saying church leaders aren”t godly people. I”m not saying I”ve lost all respect for church leaders. But as I talk to people around the country about a variety of situations in their churches, my uneasiness grows as I see a common thread. I”m sure it”s not new, but I”m confident God has brought several situations to my attention, so he could whisper something in my ear: “Be on guard.” After listening to a youth pastor”s accusations behind
February 7, 2010
How One Minister Survived a Building Program
By Ken Swatman Just the thought of building and relocating to a new facility can strike fear into the heart of the most experienced and energetic of pastors, and it was no different for me. As the new senior pastor of a struggling 80-year-old congregation, I was faced with the challenge of relocate or perish. Our building was too small for even our 115-member congregation. There were too many stairs, not enough bathrooms, and a bottom floor that looked more like a dungeon than a children”s ministry center. Add to that the curb appeal of a 1950s institution and you
October 15, 2006
STARTING SMALL: It’s Really Not About Size
Tom Ellsworth shares hard-won lessons from moving from small-church ministry to leading a growing congregation—why attitude, vision, relationships, and serving matter more than size, and how churches can stay healthy as they expand.
