The Unstuck Church Podcast with Amy Anderson

As churches grow, one of their biggest challenges is finding the right people to add to their team.

On paper, it may look like they have enough staff, but they often find themselves with a shortage of strategic leaders on their team.

We're continuing our series on "Growing Church Problems" with an important topic that impacts every expanding ministry: structure and finding the right staff.

Church growth is exciting…until it creates problems you've never had to solve before.

This is the tension of leadership: growth always brings complexity.

And yet, when you're prepared, growth doesn't have to lead to burnout or stuckness. With the right decisions about space, staff, systems and strategy, you can create a sustainable path forward.

We're kicking off a new series called "Growing Church Problems." We're unpacking the re...

Gen Z's interest in church is rising.

Most churches want to reach the next generation, but they often lack the practical tools and strategies to make it happen. Russ Ewell from Bay Area Christian Church is helping young men and women step into leadership and faith, and he has a valuable perspective to share.  

In this bonus episode, Amy had the chance to connect with Russ about Gen Z's interest in church, what's actually working to...

Many of us in ministry are responsible for leading other people.

It's hard to lead others well without good management skills. Management is something that, just like any other specialty, needs to be trained and developed. But, historically, churches have not been good developers of managers.

Effective manager training is crucial to building a culture of health and high performance on a church staff. Without great managers, we won'...

When it comes to numbers and metrics, churches sometimes say things like, "Our culture has never talked about numbers; we're not a business," and "Numbers are too impersonal."

This topic seems to create anxiety in church staff members. But what if numbers actually weren't the enemy? What if you could use metrics and value people simultaneously? What if you could listen to the Holy Spirit and use data to support your vision and miss...

Being a part of the Body of Christ means we each have different roles. 

If we're going to be a healthy body, we need to talk to one another, communicate with one another, watch one another's back and grow in our abilities to play the role He has placed us in.

We ALL need honest feedback on what we are doing well a...

People-oriented people are often the ones who end up in ministry. And as people-oriented people, we'll do anything to protect our relationships with our staff (or, rather, we'll avoid anything that would disrupt them).

And yet, we are called to lead each person God has placed in our care. And part of leadership is management.

We're starting a new series called "Management Is Not a Dirty Word," where we'll share practical tools ever...

"Where did all our momentum go?"

We hear this question often from the multisite churches we serve. It is so common for a multisite church to get stuck at three locations. Having three locations is amazing and exciting, but if you are continuing to grow, it can suddenly feel very frustrating if your multisite model becomes the barrier to making room for new people.

In this episode, Sean and Amy break down a growth barrier that isn't...

Crossing the 2000 barrier isn't just about adding more seats on Sunday.

This barrier represents a significant shift in how a church needs to operate. At this size, it's common to see ministry silos develop and a realization that your leadership structure needs to evolve. As the leaders of the church, you have to make some changes to your mindset and to how you lead.

...

"I've never led a church this size before..."

If you are a senior pastor, executive pastor or board member, you're not alone in thinking this. We hear church leaders say it all the time, as they wonder how they're going to break through the next growth barrier.

We're continuing our series on breaking common growth barriers, specifically helping church leaders in key ...

You know the story: the numbers rise then stall. Two steps forward, one step back. Maybe your church has a history of hovering around a number—a familiar attendance line you just can't seem to cross. Or maybe a rapid growth season occurs, but eventually, something—people, systems, culture—plateaus the momentum and drifts you right back to where you started.

Sound familiar?

In this new series, we tackle the real reasons churches sta...

The newest edition of The Unstuck Church Report is here!

Over the past few years, our Unstuck Church Reports have told a pretty encouraging story. On average, churches are seeing double-digit growth. In fact, if you look back at the last 13 quarters, attendance growth has landed somewhere between 13% and 30%. Incredible!

But let's be honest: not every church is experiencing that kind of momentum. Some are still stuck or even losin...

As followers of Jesus, we're called to reach people outside of the faith. But doing so requires a strategy—both in the church and in your personal life. 

We're wrapping up our series on communication challenges for churches with a conversation about communicating with outsiders—people outside the church and outside the faith. Read more