Why the church continues to decline in almost every metric is the great contemporary dilemma of pastors and church leaders.One thing is certain: The root cause for the lack of impact and fruitfulness of the church is a shortage of authentic disciples of Jesus.Growth requires discipleship-not just any form of discipleship, though, but passionate discipleship.And passion is a function of environment.We thrive when we fit, when we have a strong sense of belongi...

FEELING ALONE, ISOLATED, OVERWHELMED, OR STUCK?We live in a world that is uncertain, unsettled, and constantly moving; and the individualism, emotional immaturity, and division of our society have permeated many of our churches and leadership structures-with the body of Christ declining and ineffective as a result. For far too long, the Western church has relied upon solo leaders to meet these challenges, but in recent years, many prominent leaders and ministries h...

Best-selling author of The One-Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard, along with Phil Hodges, offers guidance for how to become a successful modern-day servant leader modeled after Jesus Christ. Based on years of leadership study and proven leadership styles, Blanchard gives established and up-and-coming business leaders solid examples, tools, and methods for life-changing results in their leadership of others.Servant Leader summarizes the Four Dimensions...

Most church leaders are passionate about their calling to “go and make disciples.” However, despite their most creative thinking, diligent efforts and rigorous assessments, year after year they arrive at the end of a ministry season with no way of knowing for sure whether they have succeeded or failed in their calling. “I want to serve God,” the refrain goes, “and on most days, I believe I’m doing what I’m called to do. But what if my approach is off-track? What if the work we’re doing as ...

Why do some small groups thrive and grow while others struggle and falter?The authors have surveyed over 3000 group leaders in more than 200 churches. Their findings will place practical, applicable principles into the hands of small group leaders and pastors. This book also includes access to additional resources from the author's website.

Like nothing else, small groups have the power to change lives. They are the ideal route to discipleship—a place where the rubber of biblical truth meets the road of human relationships. However, church leaders often feel at a loss when it comes to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of group life in a church, and they struggle with understanding and solving the root causes of problems. Group Life resources provide, in ebook format, the practical tools and training resources needed to d...

The Power of Mentoring is a groundbreaking guide for mentoring the next generation of Christian leaders. With its variety of practical, insightful mentoring models, The**Power of Mentoring provides motivation for mentoring involvement, new approaches and skill-building exercises and implementation strategies. This ideal resource includes: key thoughts questions for reflection, action plans, a "Life Plan" for self-evaluation, accountability questions and additional suggest...

Many children’s ministries are a flurry of activity, run by dedicated volunteers and staff who put in long hours and work hard for the good of the children and parents they serve. Yet despite good intentions, many children’s ministries today are not effective. They lack purpose and intentionality.A twenty-five year veteran of children’s ministry in the local church, pastor Steve Adams has ministered to families in multiple churches, from tiny church plants to his present position a...

The goal of Christian coaches is to move people toward Jesus Christ. While Christ-like character is most important, a small group coach also equips leaders with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective in small group ministry.A cell coach encourages, nourishes, and challenges cell leaders to grow and multiply their cell groups. The word coach is not a sacred term. In fact, churches use many terms to identify the role played b...

Discipleship that Deeply Changes Your Relationship with OthersAs Part 2 of the Emotionally Healthy Discipleship Course, Pete and Geri Scazzero developed Emotionally Healthy (EH) Relationships over a 27-year period to directly address core biblical principles to guide you and others into an experience of discipleship that will deeply change your life.In EH Relationships Expanded Edition, everyone will learn eight practical relation...

God declared through the Apostle Paul that the church would be a place of transformation. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we find, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. Despite this, the church seems increasingly to be a place where transformation fails to occur.Surveying the landscape, however, there are some bright spots where churches are faithfully producing transformed disciples. Furthermore, as sho...

Every church has a next step for spiritual growth.Is your congregation engaged in an on-fire relationship with Jesus and His work in the world? For ten years, REVEAL research has been the gold standard for measuring spiritual vitality based on its unprecedented database of 500,000 congregants attending 1,800 diverse churches across America. Now in Rise, REVEAL researchers offer new comprehensive data—and encouragement from churches in the trenches—to help c...