Today we're revisiting a conversation from our most downloaded episode of 2018. We chose to re-release this conversation because it happened so long ago, you may have missed it—AND, because we think this topic is an important one for any pastor to engage again heading into 2019.
Tony and Amy shared the 3 most common issues they see plaguing weekend church services—the things most pastors don't see that keep the overall experience from giving people a compelling reason to show up and invite friends.
Listen to get a fresh perspective on the services you put so much effort into providing, and be encouraged: All of the issues they share are fixable once you see them.
For links to the resources mentioned during the show, visit the Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode73.
Join the Live Conversation on Social
If you're listening on Wednesday morning, when the episode first releases, join the live conversation The Unstuck Group's team, including Tony and Amy, will be having on social media about this week's topic. We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on Twitter. Or you can join in on Facebook.
Ask your questions, add your comments about this topic, or check out the Show Notes for the questions we plan to discuss!
If you're catching this episode later, you can still join in! Just tag us @unstuckgroup, use #unstuckchurch, and include [episode73] in your post for reference.
Almost never. We almost never see a multisite church succeed with live-teaching at each campus. So naturally, we wanted to get to the bottom of why it works so well at Community Christian Church in the Chicago area.
In this episode, Tony Morgan interviews Tammy Melchein about how they've become a church that continually develops and resources new, excellent teachers—which makes this model work.
Not leading a multisite church? Don't skip this episode. The creative systems and strategies CCC has implemented to keep raising up new leaders to teach the Gospel will give you plenty to consider even within your single site.
For links mentioned during the episode, visit this episode's show notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode72.
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Check out our new online course—Multisite Unstuck, or learn how we help churches get unstuck at theunstuckgroup.com.
Every church could use more volunteers. They're crucial to the life of any church. But the truth is, we never seem to have enough for all of the needs our churches have.
In this episode, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson discuss the 5 Barriers to Engaging Volunteers and how you can get more volunteers so you can increase your impact.
For more resources and to join the conversation, you can visit this episode's show notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode71.
Getting your church unstuck is possible. It's a process that takes time but is effective. Our team is always working on perfecting that process and we have just made it even better.
In this episode, Tony and Amy talk through our newly updated 4 Phase Process for getting churches unstuck and how this process can help your church accomplish its mission and help people take their next steps toward Jesus.
For more resources and to join the conversation, you can visit our show notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode70.
Our heart is always to help the church. But sometimes that means speaking the hard truths that keep us from getting unstuck. Recently, Tony published an article called 20 NEW Politically Incorrect Thoughts on Church in America. As you can imagine, it caused quite the stir.
On this week's episode, Amy and Tony explore his heart and thinking behind 8 of his politically incorrect thoughts and why he thinks they are crucial for churches to getting unstuck.
If you would like to join the conversation and get more resources, you can see the show notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode69.
A few trends jumped out at us from the Q4 2018 edition of The Unstuck Church Report. From increasing vs. decreasing weekly attendance, the relevance of church membership, and whether or not you should fire all of your part-time staffers... In this episode, we're sharing the conversation Tony, Amy, Sean, and Michael had on a recent live webinar. It gets down into the nitty-gritty of what the numbers mean for your church.
You can join the conversation and get more resources by going to the Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode68.
Your church building might be saying more than you think. Your architecture is either helping or hindering your ministry. From the design to the people in charge of it all, there are ways to leverage your church building that actually help your church's mission.
Mel McGowan is Co-Founder of PlainJoe Studios as well as a church architect. In this conversation with Tony Morgan, Mel shares compelling thoughts on the theology of church architecture and practical insights into the building process.
For more resources and to join the conversation you can go to the show notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode67.
Do you ever feel like you have to choose between creating a healthy team culture and getting results? It doesn't have to be that way.
Lance Witt is the author of Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul and is a former executive and teaching pastor at Saddleback Church. In this episode, Tony and Lance discuss how to lead your team to find the essential balance between health and performance.
You can find more resources including this episode's FREE Discussion Guide and join the conversation by going to theunstuckgroup.com/episode66.
Has the way you do church become more important than why you do church? It's tempting to try to keep the people you already have happy. But the moment you stop focusing on reaching non-believers, you've become stuck.
In this episode, we identify four signs that your church has become inwardly focused and give some solutions on how to reach new people.
You can see the show notes, download the Conversation Guide, and join the conversation at theunstuckgroup.com/episode65.
Your worship leader is great. That doesn't mean he or she should lead your Creative Team. Music is obviously creative, but we need more creativity in our churches than just music—and we very rarely find worship leaders who are equipped or able to lead more than music.
Hiring leaders who can focus on the creative aspects of your church allows your musicians to do what they do best while still getting stuff done. In this episode, Tony and Amy talk about who should be leading your creative team and how to structure your creative team to make the most of it.
You can find resources from this episode and join the conversation by going to the show notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode64.
Are events killing your church? Every church has events, but not every church knows why. Events have the potential to be helpful for people to take their next steps toward Jesus, but it's rare that they actually work.
In this episode, Tony and Amy discuss 6 questions to ask when planning events as well as 5 ways to make your events effective.
There is a ton of great information in this episode and we created a Discussion Guide to go along with it if you'd like to take this conversation to your next leadership team meeting. To get the Discussion Guide and join in on the conversation visit http://www.theunstuckgroup.com/episode63.
We've found 12 common issues that routinely cause churches to get stuck. In this episode, we cover two important ones that have something in common: leadership. Whether it's senior leadership or volunteer leaders, if we're not structuring our churches in a way that sets leaders up for success then our churches will become stuck.
In this episode, Tony and Amy discuss two leadership issues churches face and how to solve them so your church can grow and get healthy.
Join in the conversation and see the show notes at theunstuckchurch.com/episode62. We also discuss the Leading from an Unstuck Church Course in this episode. Find more details and sign up at theunstuckgroup.com/course.
What's one thing we almost never see a church doing well? Even the big ones? Content strategy. And that's just one reason why church communications is stuck in 2004.
We're living through the biggest communication shift in 500 years. As fewer people attend church and more utilize the web for every aspect of their lives, our churches can't afford to not have a strategy. This isn't an add-on to our ministry; it's a full scale shift.
In this episode, Tony and Amy interview The Unstuck Group's Marketing and Communications Director, Tiffany Deluccia, about how the world has shifted, why your church needs to be thinking about "inbound marketing," and the tools you can use to make it happen.
This episode shares a ton of resources that will help you create and execute an online strategy so you can reach more people! Find the resources from Episode 61, including links to the tools mentioned during the show, in the Episode Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode61.
Andy Stanley wants us to rethink how we read the Bible. In his new book, Irresistible, he addresses questions like: What do we do with the Old Testament commands? Are Christians obligated to follow the 10 Commandments? What did Jesus think of the Old Covenant?
In this episode, Tony Morgan asks Andy to weigh in on why a "Mix & Match Theology" is so prevalent in our churches, why Jesus' one command makes our faith generationally transferrable, and how we go back to where our faith began to better understand how to connect with the next generation.
Check out the show notes for more resources on this topic, links from this episode and to join the conversation at theunstuckgroup.com/episode60.
Is your staff structure a lid? It's worth digging into. We hear this all the time from churches we're serving:
"I knew we needed the ministry health assessment. I knew we needed to plan for the future. But we didn't even realize our real problem was our staff and structure."
In this week's episode, Tony interviews Amy on the most common structure challenges she sees getting churches stuck and some practical ways you can pivot to get healthy.
Check out the show notes for more resources on this topic, links from this episode and to join the conversation at theunstuckgroup.com/episode59.
20 years of ministry. Tony Morgan left his job in city management to enter full-time ministry as a pastor at Granger Community Church.
In this week's bonus episode, Tony shares the story of how he got started in ministry, the people who encouraged him along in this path, the challenges he faced, and how he met Jesus in the first place. There is one big takeaway that Tony has from his 20 years in ministry and in this episode, he shares it with us.
Tony wrote a post exploring this more on his blog.
Rogue ministries. We all know the signs. Ministries in our church that are fundraising on the side or creating separate branding. Leaders who think their ministry is more important than the others in the church. What went wrong and how do we fix it?
In this episode, Tony and Amy share 4 ways to realign rogue ministries with your church’s mission, vision, and strategy. The fourth one might step on some toes but it needs to be said.
Find the resources from Episode 58, including links to the tools mentioned during the show, in the Episode Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode58.
Sunday's always coming. You've heard it said. You may have said it yourself, frustrated with the lack of progress your team makes on the ministry's plans. But is it just that? Or is it that another meeting's always coming? Or that decision rights are confused? Or that key members of the team manage projects with Post-It Notes instead of an effective system?
In this episode, Tony and Amy outline 4 proactive steps taken by teams that execute really well. (And there's a bonus fifth thing those teams DON'T do.)
This episode shares a ton of resources that will help you get more stuff done. Don't miss out! Find the resources from Episode 57, including links to the tools mentioned during the show, in the Episode Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode57.
We get into ministry full of hope. But something happens along the way, and we don't see it coming: We become cynical leaders. We let ourselves project past failures onto the future. We get stuck in our own heads.
In this bonus episode, Tony Morgan interviews Carey Nieuwhof about leadership setbacks, ministry burnout, and a wonderful aspect of life we give up when we let ourselves become cynics.
Find more resources from Episode 56, including links mentioned during the episode and bonus material, in the Episode Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/56.
Friendly, but not welcoming. That's how Thom Rainer describes the situation at a lot of churches. And he would know—as the current CEO of Lifeway, in addition to his time leading Rainer Group, pastoring a church, serving as a dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and authoring more than two dozen books, he has a unique vantage point.
Tony and Thom discuss common barriers preventing churches from becoming welcoming, why small churches have a welcoming advantage, and how to better serve first-timers in the moment when they feel most awkward at church.
Find more resources from Episode 55, including links mentioned during the episode and bonus material, in the Episode Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/55.
How do you adjust to whoever is leading your team? Do you refuse to change your leadership style? Or do you lean into what that leader has for you?
In this episode, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson switch places as Tony interviews Amy about what it's like to work for someone with a "driver" personality. She explains five ways to adjust to these types of leaders and why being adaptable ultimately strengthens your church.
Do you have a driver in the driver's seat? In Episode 47, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson described the 4 types of leaders they often see on church staff teams. This week they take a deeper look into what it means to have someone wired as a "driver" serving as the lead pastor, and how it affects both that leader and the rest of the people on the team.
Tony also shares some common blindspots for drivers, and 3 practical tips for overcoming them to lead a healthier team.
Whenever our team at The Unstuck Group is working with a church, the churches almost always mention their problems with internal communication. Over the years we have found that if you think you're having a communication issue, it's probably just masking a different problem that your church is facing.
In this episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson discuss what these root issues are and how to solve them.
50 episodes of The Unstuck Church Podcast, in the books. We're taking a look back at the 5 most downloaded episodes to date, and Tony and Amy share a few new thoughts on those most popular topics.
When planning your annual budget, it can be easy to want to give all of your ministry areas the same amount of funding. However, like Tony points out in this week's episode, "life isn't fair."
When planning your budget, you need to strategically plan where you're going to allocate funds and how much you want to spend. In the 50th episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson explain the Biblical principles behind budgeting and how to utilize them in your church.