Articles for tag: Senior Ministers

April 4, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

My Read on a Surprising Remedy

By Mark A. Taylor Readers of a certain age can”t resist a bold, red headline that says, “Live Longer!” And when the caption below it promises “50 Proven Ways to Add Years to Your Life,” an almost-retired guy like me knows he wants to know more. You could probably guess several of the live-longer tips offered by the March 2017 AARP Bulletin: get your sleep, drink water, eat whole grains, exercise. But some of it is less intuitive: get rid of throw rugs (they cause falls), find a woman doctor (statistically their patients have better results), watch your grandkids (regular

January 4, 2013

Christian Standard

Ages 50 to 75: The Minister”s Sweet Spot

By Brian Jones I believe pastors don”t hit their ministry “sweet spot” until they”re in their mid-50s. And if they stay engaged and growing, that sweet spot will last into their mid- to late-70s. Anyone who has ever led a church, or been led by a pastor in a church, knows this. Put another way, I believe a pastor”s personal ministry effectiveness, as defined both biblically and experientially, doesn”t reach its full potential until a pastor has grandkids and starts to get AARP letters in his mailbox. You can understand my great disappointment, then, when I read my friend Kent

June 4, 2012

Christian Standard

Better with Time?

By Kent E. Fillinger Neuroscience and social science both suggest we are more optimistic than realistic. On average, we expect things to turn out better than they do. The belief that the future will be much better than the past is known as the optimism bias. To make progress, we need to be able to imagine alternative realities””better ones””and we need to believe we can achieve them.1 Senior ministers, especially those of large churches and megachurches, typically believe their congregation”s best days are ahead of them. But research consistently shows church growth rates diminish as the senior minister”s age and

June 4, 2012

Christian Standard

Beware the Second Decade

By Darrel Rowland For several years in a row, Kent Fillinger”s statistics have shown that church growth peaks when the senior minister is in his eighth to tenth year. Last year, those churches” weekend attendance increased an average of 8.3 percent””about double the figure for years 11-20 of a minister”s tenure. The 2010 contrast was even greater: 17 percent growth for years 8-10, a mere 1.4 percent for the second decade. Is now the time to mention that many senior ministers really hate these statistics””even though few quibble with the bottom-line numbers? One reason: The figures shoot down a prevalent

November 14, 2011

Christian Standard

Talking Church

By Dennis Bratton During a discussion about mentoring, talk turned toward the idea of a coaching cohort. The term coaching struck a cord of familiarity. I”d taken part in peer coaching for years. We didn”t call it that. It was just a group of preachers who got together once a year to talk church, play some golf, and talk church some more. The benefits of those connections were far-reaching in my ministry. I was in a growing church and regularly facing issues and challenges for which I often felt ill equipped. My best source of counsel came consistently from those

April 6, 2011

Christian Standard

God Is Giving the Increase

By Kent E. Fillinger A Dilbert cartoon recently featured Dogbert, the consultant, standing in front of a projection screen asking, “Where does your company fit on this comprehensive list?” The list on the screen included, in order: “Facebook, China, Irrelevant.” The next frame showed three bug-eyed employees, followed by a third frame in which Dogbert says, “Now let”s form breakout groups to fantasize about being relevant.” Just as Dilbert”s mythical company is identified as being irrelevant in the business world, the church has been declared irrelevant by our culture, and even by other Christ followers for decades. A quick scan

September 15, 2010

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Measuring Growth at Medium-sized Churches

Kent E. Fillinger Some readers may wonder why there is an entire issue devoted to medium-sized churches with an average worship attendance of 250-499. This special issue featuring medium-sized churches reports on far fewer congregations than we had anticipated. There are obviously more than 32 Christian churches/churches of Christ that fit into the medium-sized church category. We hope to include many more of them in next year”s report! Despite its small sample size, this report still provides a one-of-a-kind, detailed snapshot of medium-sized churches that will serve as a sound starting point to develop in the future. If you are

September 8, 2010

Christian Standard

LARGE-SIZED CHURCHES: A New Name and New Numbers

By Kent E. Fillinger What”s in a name? Abram became Abraham and Sarai become Sarah in the Old Testament, and Simon became Peter and Saul became Paul in the New Testament. Name changes were common in the Bible when God altered the purpose or role of an individual. Christian Standard has reported the average weekly attendance and the total number of baptisms annually for churches that average 1,000 or more in weekly attendance since 1997. Several years ago, the size designation of a megachurch shifted from 1,000 to 2,000 in attendance. Therefore, the term emerging megachurch was developed for churches

September 20, 2009

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The Leadership Factor

  by Kent E. Fillinger What situations foster or frustrate church growth? Some statistics correlate directly to growth, while other items have an indirect effect or no apparent impact at all. But two recurring statistics directly impact a church”s growth rate in ways that deserve attention. These two statistics have held true from megachurches to medium-sized churches over four surveys in a four-year period (2005″“08). The two factors both relate to the senior minister. One is his age. The other is his tenure. Combined, they create what I call the “leadership factor.”   The Leadership Factor  The average age of

September 13, 2009

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The 2008 List

  by Kent Fillinger/Ben Simms This is our first Medium-Sized Churches chart for churches that averaged 500-999 for worship. This listing of 66 churches includes church name, city, senior minister, Web site, average attendance for 2008, and number of baptisms. (This is not a complete listing of such churches; it is a listing of Medium-Sized Churches that participated in our survey.) The chart/pdf that is accessible below contains the entire 66-church listing. Click here to look at this chart of the 2008 MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES.         This listing is part of The 2008 Medium-Sized Church Report: Deluxe Edition, which is available as a

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