Tag: Church Size
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Bounded-Set vs Centered-Set
Some time back I posted a piece titled Numbering Those On the Ranch, exploring the concept of what missiologist Alan Hirsch refers to as a “centered-set” metric for evaluating a church. More recently I stumbled across a post by Bob Thune, of Coram Deo Church in Omaha, explaining his understanding of Centered-Set verses the more…
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Is Bigger Really Better?
No matter how much I have grown to despise the discussion, it seems I cannot avoid it entirely. Almost any conversation about church, it seems, inevitably gravitates in some form toward the Bigger is Better or Great Things Come in Small Packages debate. It is not always an actual debate. In fact it is probably…
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More Than Numbers
Here is a needed reminder: I’m not so sure God cares how big your church is. Seriously. If your numbers aren’t “growing,” so what? I’m also not sure that the sign of a vibrant healthy church is ever-increasing growth, significant growth. It seems to me that the sign of a vibrant, healthy fully alive church…
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Numbering the Sheep on the Ranch
Blogger Tim Challies is at the Together for the Gospel Conference, surrounded by other church leaders. No surprise then that he is hearing this common question all around him: “How many people go to your church?” And apparently Challies, whose primary vocation is writer not pastor, has some concerns about this question: I’d like to…