Are You Leading the Church You’d Want to Attend? by Bill Couchenour

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Are You Leading the Church You’d Want to Attend?

Are You Leading The Church You’d Want To Attend?

By Bill Couchenour on Jan 25, 2024

Cogun.com

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Relationships are more important to church growth than preaching, media or music. How are yours?

Scripture: Deuteronomy 28:1-30:2

Tags: Building, Preaching, relationships, lead, Leadership General, preaching (view more) (view less)

I recently heard Dave Travis give a talk to church planting pastors entitled, “10 Things You Should Know (But You Probably Don’t).” I enjoy Dave as a friend and as the CEO of Leadership Network. He always has great insights. Most of his points had a relational component:

Dave led with the comment that illicit sex will bring down your ministry, but far more ministries have been destroyed by the pastor being one or more of three As: Arrogance, Anger, Donkey (think King James version).

It’s not your preaching that builds the church, but rather your winsomeness (do people like you?).

Remember to say “Thank you” to your staff, both paid and volunteer. The relationship means more to them than their paycheck.

Relationships are more important to church growth than media and music — friends tell friends (and people from large churches are three times as likely to tell their friends).

But the one that I have continued to bounce around in my mind is “Pastor the church that you’d want to attend.”

The changes that are taking place locally and globally are nothing short of seismic, and the church finds herself in the midst of them. Some pastors trained and entered the ministry for a role entirely different than the one they find themselves in today. A pastor once told me, “I got into ministry because it was a calling, but it’s become a job. I want it to be a calling again.”

The good news is that you can lead your church through the adaptive changes necessary to become the church you’d want to attend. You are capable of making the changes needed to develop necessary leadership capacities.

I don’t think there’s ever been a more important time in history for the U.S. church, because it is a historical “hinge” time that charts the course for the future. These are difficult but exciting days that are calling us to new work of God!

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 28:1-30:2

Bill Couchenour (website: Cogun.com)

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Bill Couchenour has a fervent desire to help ministries improve their effectiveness at connecting their communities with Christ. He has served as President of Cogun, a company committed exclusively to helping churches develop the right ministry space, since 1994. From 1982 to 1994 he launched the Florida District of Cogun and served as District Manager. Bill has a business degree from Youngstown State University, an MBA from The University of Tampa.

He has served in various capacities for his local church and other organizations including Youth for Christ, Heartland Christian School and BeTheChangeProject. Bill is the author of the book Churches... Before You Build.