In Preaching Articles: "The Churchs Message"

When Church Members Leave: How Pastors Carry The Quiet Wound

By Greg Surratt on Apr 29, 2020

Pastors feel deep pain when people leave their church. Understanding why it happens and how to respond wisely can turn hurt into growth, humility, and renewed strength.

Scripture: Hebrews 10:25-35, John 6:66-67, Proverbs 19:11, Romans 12:18, 2 Timothy 4:16-17  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Church, Church Growth, Connect, Assimilation, Church Practices, connect, church  (view more)  (view less)

Five Strategic Advantages Of Small Churches

By Brandon O'brien on Feb 14, 2024

Brandon O'Brien offers five strengths that he believes are inherent in small congregations, which can leverage these characteristics for ministry success.

Tags: Church, Growth, pastor, Church Growth, Health, Small Church, Church General, Pastor, church  (view more)  (view less)

10 Reasons Small Churches Tend To Stay Small

By Joe Mckeever on Sep 21, 2024

After working for years among hundreds of small congregations, Joe McKeever speaks to the subtle growth barriers that tend to go unnoticed or unaddressed in stagnant churches.

Scripture: John 13:35, Psalm 85:6, Luke 11:1-2

Tags: Church, Outreach, pastor, Church Growth, Health, Fail, Small Church, Church Practices, Pastor, church  (view more)  (view less)

10 Things Healthy Churches Do Well

By Joe Mckeever on Jan 24, 2025

Whether we are a critic or a lover of the church — or for some of us, both — it's important to remain balanced.

Scripture: Acts 6:1-7

Tags: Church Growth, Healthy Church, Pastors, CHURCH LIFE, Church General, Accept  (view more)  (view less)

5 Things That Are Not So Wrong With The Church

By SermonCentral .com on Mar 4, 2022

I’ve noticed that for a couple thousand years now, the church has had this tendency to be quick to point out what is wrong with the church, but slow to affirm what is right.

Tags: Church, Culture, negative, Church Health, church, culture  (view more)  (view less)

11 Signs Your Church Is Going Extinct

By Carey Nieuwhof on Nov 13, 2025

Unless you’re in a free fall right now, it can be hard to know whether your congregation will thrive, survive or take a dive in the next decade.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 2:1-11

Tags: Church, Preaching, preaching, church

Eight Things I Like About The Church…and Five I Hate.

By Joe Mckeever on Jun 7, 2023

Show me a Christian who can please God better alone than with other believers and I’ll show you a one-of-a-kind, something never before seen on planet Earth. The Lord thought you and I would be needing each other, so placed us in a church fellowship when He saved us.

Tags: Church, Preaching, preaching, church

A Category You Won’t Find In The Bible: The Churchless Christian

By Thabiti Anyabwile on Oct 27, 2022

"It is important for Christians to be members of a local church because the New Testament apostles can’t conceive of anything called a Christian that’s not connected to Christ’s body."

Tags: Church, Discipleship, Christian Life, Healthy Church, Called to serve, local church, be the church, Church Body of Christ, Christian community, church  (view more)  (view less)

Avoid Crashing Your Sermon! Your Checklist For A Strong Sermon Closing

By Lane Sebring on Jan 27, 2020

If the closing of your message is disorganized and unclear, then your listeners will walk away feeling the same way about your message.

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-5, Genesis 1:26-27

Tags: Preaching, crash, Checklist, disorganized, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Is Your Church Stuck Or Just Small?

By SermonCentral .com on Aug 11, 2025

If your church is healthy, quit stressing about getting bigger. God may not be calling you to bigness.

Scripture: Acts 1:1-15

Tags: Healthy Church, effective, Small Church, Growth, Church Growth  (view more)  (view less)

7 Dangerous Church Hiring Mistakes

By Brian Orme on Mar 28, 2024

We don’t want you to drop $300K (or more) of Kingdom funds on bad staffing when it should go toward Gospel-centered initiatives. So, here are seven hiring mistakes you want to avoid at all costs.

Tags: Church, Preaching, mistakes, church and business, hiring, preaching, church  (view more)  (view less)

If Your Church Is Drifting And Stuck, Should You Try To Change It From Within?

By Jonathan Herron on Jan 12, 2022

What do you do if you’re a frustrated support staff member of a visionless church? Do you try to change things from within?

Tags: Church and change, church planting, Church Death, pastoral leadership

5 Personal Changes To Empower Your Preaching

By Rick Ezell on Feb 11, 2025

When you preach, in many respects, you are the message. If your personal life is not congruent with your words, then a mixed message is delivered.

Scripture: Galatians 6:1-10

Tags: Faith, Preaching, Prayer, Personal Change, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Good & Bad Cases Of Church Discipline

By Ray Hollenbach on Mar 11, 2025

A real church incident exposes why believers distrust discipline. Yet Scripture shows discipline is meant to heal, not harm, calling us to restore one another with Christ’s presence.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 5, Matthew 18, Hebrews 13, Philippians 3, Galatians 6  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: pastoral care, Pastoral Care

52 Quotes For This Generation Of Church Leaders

By Brad Lomenick on Apr 15, 2020

52 insightful quotes from Brad Lomenick that pertain to the preaching and pastoral audience.

Tags: pastor, Pastors, Leadership General, Young, Church, leadership  (view more)  (view less)