Articles for tag: Gary McIntosh

September 20, 2019

Small Churches: Responding to Some Stereotypes

In this repost of a classic article that first appeared in Christian Standard on May 20, 2012, Tom Claibourne responds to some fairly typical stereotypes about small churches. Claibourne is in his 40th year serving with Bethlehem Church of Christ, Winchester, Ohio. He recently was inducted into the Christian Village Communities Hall of Faith; his induction video celebrating his life of ministry is available at the church’s Facebook page. (Read our October 2019 issue for articles about challenges facing rural and small churches . . . and possible solutions.) _ _ _ By Tom Claibourne Small church. What is the

October 9, 2015

Christian Standard

Church Leadership

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership

By Matt Proctor Why do some leaders fail? The answers often lie belowÂ the “waterline.” The Brooklyn Bridge is a New York City icon, but during its construction, controversy arose. It seemed to the watching public that no progress had been made for months on the New York tower””the Manhattan side of the river. While the Brooklyn tower rose 100 feet above the water, the New York tower was still 78 feet below the surface, unseen. Building Below the Waterline So in June 1872, the chief engineer of the project wrote: “To such of the general public as might imagine that

April 20, 2011

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Church Growth

The Church Size Matrix (Part 2)

By Kent E. Fillinger The Church Size Matrix looks at six types of organizational change that take place as a church grows. In Part 1 of this article (April 10/17), we looked at two of these changes, Orientation and Structure. This week we consider the remaining four. Minister”s Role In his book One Size Doesn”t Fit All, Gary McIntosh wrote, “As the size of a church increases, the perception of a pastor changes from an emphasis on relational skills, to functional skills, to leadership skills.” It is essential, therefore, to understand the progression of roles required by the senior minister

April 19, 2011

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Church Growth

The Church Size Matrix (Part 1)

By Kent E. Fillinger Less than 20 years ago, a megachurch was an anomaly. Today there are roughly 1,500 Protestant megachurches””56 from among the Christian churches and churches of Christ, representing a 250 percent increase from the 16 megachurches recorded in 1997, the first year Christian Standard reported megachurch attendances. But while the number of megachurches has dramatically increased during the past decade, the size of the average church has not changed since 1998. The median conservative Protestant church in the United States has 117 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings. The median refers to the point at which

January 27, 2008

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Eldership

Size Matters: The Changing Role of Elder

By Doug Priest Our family became members of Oaklandon Christian Church a dozen years ago when we returned to the States after our years as missionaries in Singapore. In Singapore we were part of a church with about 80-90 in weekly attendance. With the move, we became part of a church with an average weekly attendance of 350. And during the 1990s the church”s growth surged from 200 to 700. The church in Oaklandon, a township on the outskirts of Indianapolis, Indiana, was founded 140 years ago. In the last couple of decades Oaklandon has lost most of its rural