I heard of a report of a church, the other day, in which the minister, who was well known to have reduced his congregation to nothing somewhat cleverly wrote, “Our church is looking up.” When questioned with regard to this statement, he replied, Everybody knows that the church is on its back, and it cannot do anything else but look up.” When churches are looking up in that way, their pastors generally say that you cannot tabulate the work of the Spirit, and calculate the prosperity of a church by figures. The fact is, you can reckon very correctly if the figures are honest, and if all circumstances are taken into consideration: if there is no increase, you may calculate with considerable accuracy that there is not much being done; and if there is a cleare decrease among a growing population, you may reckon that the prayers of the people and the preaching of the minister are not of the most powerful kind.
Ed Stetzer & Comeback Churches
Last year, Ed Stetzer was interviewed about some of the research from his book Comeback Churches, which we reviewed last year. You can read that review here. Below, is a video concerning the Role of Leaders/Teamwork. Good stuff here. Also, see the rest of the interview over at Ed Stetzer’s blog.