A flourishing church in southern Lancaster County (Pa.) hit a rough patch. In quick succession, the church lost three pastors, each time with disheartening decreases in attendance, finances, and confidence. 

The residual strength of the “core” congregation provided a foundation for recovery. The governing board mobilized a capable team of lay preachers and leaders. The board also engaged with a consultant to double-check their...

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes wrote: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: . . . [such as] a time to heal (3:1-3).

Two years ago, a church in south-central Pennsylvania was racked by conflict. As a result of sharp disagreement about a pastor’s reappointment, people were estranged, grieving the departures of friends, and demoralized.

A seasoned churchman was brought in to chair the gover...

Greg Starr, pastor of New Life Church of Hershey (Pa.), customized an approach to setting direction that fits New Life. With his leadership team, Greg considered several envisioning approaches (see Setting Direction I, II, and III) and melded them into one that engages the whole church.

A first step was to invite everyone in the church to complete a survey. Since the questions themselves can influence responses, Greg and t...

After 180 years, Washington Boro (Pa.) Church of God is like an old apple tree. The church has matured over the decades. It is deeply rooted. It is still bearing fruit. Yet people are wondering whether the church has a viable future. To answer this question, the church is mulling over possibilities.

Nurture. Washington Boro is a church of mostly older adults. So one option is to specialize in ministry to seniors. This would req...

Montoursville (Pa.) BIC wants to serve broken and neglected people. As a smaller church, they excel in caring for one another. But how, they have asked, can they also engage their community?

Looking at themselves closely, they realized that individuals in the church are already engaged in a wide range of regional, national, and global issues.

Rich, Jo, and LuAnn lead Bible studies for the elderly. Craig and Brenda stir up volunt...

After an extended season of growth, Millersville (Pa.) Brethren in Christ Church encountered a series of setbacks, coming in quick succession. 

As the church and its leaders were called upon to use their time and energy in order to work through these issues, other ministry areas lost momentum, and a sense of discouragement began to set in.

Some distresses require a major overhaul. At other times, as church leaders at Miller...

In 2007, New Trail Fellowship near Abilene (Ks.) was launched to serve the western heritage community of the Smoky Valley Region by reaching the uncommitted for Christ.

For five years the new church thrived. Then misunderstandings occurred. Factions developed within the fellowship and the young church was in real danger of collapse.

The pastor and remaining people were committed to the founding vision and to caring for people wh...

One way to ease the stress of transition is to prepare in advance (Mt.16:21; Jn. 14-17).  

After 23 years, the pastor of Highland Park Community Church in Dublin (Va.) announced his voluntary retirement in six months. Church leaders took prompt action to reduce the normal strains of healthy transition to the extent possible.

The whole church was invited to participate in a survey. Then 25 persons met for a working retreat i...

​For better or worse, your church is being evaluated every Sunday. On the way home, someone will ask, “What did you think of the sermon?” Or “How was children’s church?”

Since evaluation is already occurring spontaneously, the Refton (Pa.) BIC Church decided to initiate an annual church-wide evaluation so the whole congregation could benefit.

Church leaders developed "yardsticks" for measurement. They restated their purpose and...

The phrase “one another” is used 100 times in the New Testament. Yet mutual assistance among churches can be a rare occurrence in a North American culture that values independence over interdependence. 

For one glorious day, the Real Life Church of God in East Petersburg (Pa.) was an astonished (and grateful) recipient of churches helping one another. 

This small church, with a worship attendance of 35-40, has a good facili...

In formatting documents, text and images can be resized to fit available space. Similarly, daunting tasks can be “fit to size” for smaller churches. 

To cite one instance, New Beginnings Church in Ephrata (Pa.) is introducing a creative way to leverage the close-knit relationships in a smaller church to identify, equip, and deploy new workers and leaders.

First, current leaders take time each year to identify potential work...