CCL Network Blog

Small and rural churches are facing a crisis: there simply aren't enough ministers. This is happening in every part of the country and affects churches of all sizes and locations, but it's hitting small and rural churches especially hard. Ministers ...

If we aren’t careful, we can look at a topic like mobilizing our members as just a contemporary church-growth topic. Another method to be tried and then discarded when the next new thing comes along. Mobilizing our members isn’t the latest, new church-growth fad. It is an ancient technique developed to a high art by Jesus.

When I read the book of Acts, I see that the church of the New Testament was on the move. I believe that a stagnant church is at least a discouraged church and at worst a disobedient church. James reminds us that faith and action go hand in hand. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14- 17 (NIV)

Growth precipitates growth. Spiritually healthy leaders infuse health in others near them because healthy teams grow healthy teammates. Healthy leaders consistently counter spiritual sicknesses that seeps into their teams through much prayer, both for and with their teams. Over time they’ll be inspired to grow. Spiritual cell-reproduction is infectious, motivating the multiplication of spiritual formation in our teams.

If there is one inescapable, immutable, undeniable bit of reality an aspiring leader must face up to, this is it: if you don’t keep your promises, you won’t keep your followers. Period.