10 Free Resources from Leadership Network – Part 2
At Leadership Network, our philosophy is to foster innovation movements that activate the Church to greater impact for the Glory of God’s name. As part of our strategy, most of the resources we publish on our website are available for free. We reviewed all of the resources from 2015 and have curated a list of the top 10 free resources available to church leaders. This includes articles, reports and videos. Here’s part two of the list (part one here), in no particular order:
Seven Most Interesting Lies from Bad Church Statistics
by Warren Bird
I recently took a survey that made this amazing claim: “Given that over 95% of people in the U.S. under the age of 33 don’t attend church, to what degree do you think churches should….?”
Really? That statistic is certainly not true, but how did it get out there? The most common path starts when a respected speaker makes a specific-instance statement like “last year was our worst ever, as only 6% of churches in our denomination grew at a pace faster than their community’s population growth rate.”…
Lately I’ve been asking people, “What percentage of married people do you think would say they are happily married?” I’ve heard responses from 5 percent to 40 percent. But the correct answer is pretty astonishing. Every year since 1973 researchers at the University of Chicago have been conducting a “Trends in Wellbeing” study. One of the questions they ask is, “Taking things all together, how would you describe your marriage? Would you say that your marriage is very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?” Amazingly, and consistently nearly 97 percent of married couples answer, “very happy” or “pretty happy.” A mere 3-4 percent today would say they are “not too happy.” What?!?!?!!? How can that be?
One of the most-asked questions from multisite churches is, “What should we look for in a campus pastor?” or more specifically “What are some of the best campus pastor job descriptions that we could adapt?”
This mini-report, drawing from a recent Leadership Network survey of campus pastors, tries to address just that. It shows the relationship between what a campus pastor does, and how those emphases impact the job description...
Large Canadian Churches Draw an Estimated 300,000 Worshippers Each Week: Findings from a National Study
by Warren Bird in collaboration with a Canadian research team
On any given weekend, an estimated 300,000 people across Canada participate in the kind of church that draws 1,000 or more in weekly attendance. That’s about 1 of 8 people who went to a Protestant church. Even in cities where sizable portions of the population check “no religion” on their household surveys, these predominantly evangelical congregations are growing, reaching out, and focused on serving children and youth.
These breakthrough discoveries come from a first-ever effort to conduct a national study of the country’s largest-attendance churches….
Leadership Network held an online summit on mental health and the Church’s role in helping people deal with its impact. The conversation began in Tyler, Texas, with the McSwane family who was tragically affected by mental illness in the loss of their son. During this event, they share their story and gather experts to discuss mental illness and its effect on the church today.
Watch video highlights from the Mental Health and the Church Summit earlier this year.
