The Unstuck Church Podcast

No one TRIES to lead ineffective meetings, but any leader can get a bit lazy. The 9 key practices we share in this episode aren't rocket science, but they are things we see many church leaders just letting slip. When a team is clear on direction and wins, and puts these principles into practice in their meetings, people actually like meetings. They help us clarify our work and move things forward....

What drives leaders completely crazy? Lack of follow-through.  It's honestly one of the most common frustrations we hear from church leaders. They invest time, prayer, dreaming, talking, and planning around what God has next for their ministry, but then nothing happens. There's no follow-through. A distraction, or a crisis—something that feels more urgent—consistently derails the leader and the te...

Are you leading too many direct reports?  A senior leader's span of care can significantly impact a team's ability to clarify roles and maintain alignment. Part of span of care is giving direction related to the mission, strategy, and priorities of your church, but the other piece of it is the discipleship of the people on your team. Many leaders think that by directly trying to lead as many peopl...

How do you define reality for your team and why is it important?  In 2019, 85% of churches that took the Unstuck Church Assessment self-identified as being in the "declining" stage of the life cycle. Now, having survived 2020, more churches than ever are feeling stuck. So we're kicking off a four-part series on how to create alignment in your ministry strategy and among your staff and volunteers. ...

"Do we have to embrace digital ministry?" "Do churches need to mimic the business world when it comes to online options?" "Do we really have to hire new roles for our staff team?" We've been getting a lot of questions about digital ministry strategy now that we're a year into the changes that COVID accelerated. The initial changes churches were forced to make are being reevaluated as many places o...

How important is data? What role should data play in your ministry strategy? What should you measure?  In this week's episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, we sit down again with the Sun Valley Church team to dig into the practical ways they use data to inform their ministry strategies and how churches can leverage data to help reach more people with the message of Jesus.  For the full episode tr...

Where do you find the right person to lead your digital ministry? What should your digital ministry focus on? How do you reach new people online?  For months, we've been coaching churches to find a leader for their digital ministry strategies and in this week's episode we're sitting down with a church that has done exactly that. Paul Alexander serves as the Executive Pastor at Sun Valley Community...

How can you maximize your ministry impact? Your team plays a big role. We've heard from a lot of churches that have questions about how to structure their team. They're re-evaluating what roles they need to have on their staff team and looking for clarity on how to structure their leadership team moving forward.  If you're wondering how to structure your team to be healthy and high performing, you...

What are the common mistakes multisite churches make in staffing and structure? Now that the church has embraced multisite for over 20 years, there are predictable outcomes that we see related to how churches design and structure their multisite churches. Some of those outcomes are good and they help the church grow and expand in healthy ways. And some of those outcomes lead to what we have starte...

What do church mergers have to do with multisite strategy? And why is this such a critical conversation right now? Pre-COVID 20% of churches who took our Unstuck Church Assessment identified that they were in the "life support" stage. For many struggling churches, merging with a healthy, thriving church is their best option. And for larger, healthy churches, merging can be a way to expand their mi...

What are the common challenges that multisite churches face? Should your church consider going multisite?  Multisite churches have come increasingly popular. 20 years ago, there were only 200 multisite churches across the country. In 2019, there were more than 5,000.  The pandemic has also contributed to a growing interest in multisite strategy as churches consider how to grow and reach more peopl...

What should churches be measuring right now? What's been happening across churches over the last 9 months of doing ministry in the midst of the pandemic? In this week's episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson unpack key findings from The Unstuck Church Report and dig into trends in giving, staffing, online engagement, and reaching new people.   For the full episode tran...

How do you equip your congregation to bless their neighbors? How can you create a culture at your church where you're developing meaningful friendships with people outside the faith?  Barna's research indicates more than six in 10 non-Christians and lapsed Christians say they would be open to talking about faith matters with someone who listens without judgment.  In this week's episode of The Unst...

How do you plan for the future of your church when the future is so uncertain? After surviving the incredible disruption of 2020, all of us are looking for a clear path forward. The good news is you don't need to wait for certainty to get clear on your church's mission, vision, and strategic plan.   In this week's episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson dig into 5 key q...

What should churches invest in financially? 6 out of 10 churches are doing better than before and giving is up. But 4 out of 10 churches have, understandably, experienced a financial decline in the last year.   In this week's episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson unpack 3 key investment strategies for churches in the new reality.  For the full episode transcript, link...

How do you structure your team for a hybrid church model? Many churches are wondering what roles they need on their team, what to measure, and how to align their staff around a hybrid church model with both online and in-person ministry strategies.  In this week's episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson unpack the 3 new keys to staffing and structure for a hybrid church...

You did it. You survived one of the most disruptive, unpredictable years we've ever seen.  And your church survived too. But the stop-gap strategies that helped churches stay afloat through the last year are not the strategies that will set them up for long-term health and growth.  In this week's episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Tony Morgan and Amy Anderson unpack the foundational principles...

2020 was a year of unprecedented change and unwanted tensions and an unknown future. As we welcome 2021 and look back at the year behind us, Tony Morgan shares some insight into what he's grateful for at The Unstuck Group and a challenge for churches moving forward. 

What strategic shifts do churches need to make due to the coronavirus?  This week, we take a look back at our most popular conversation from 2020 and dig into the practical ways that churches need to change their ministry strategies to continue not just survive but thrive in the new normal and continue making disciples. 

How do you structure your team for a hybrid church model? How do you staff for a digital-first ministry strategy? Many churches are struggling to optimize and align their staff team around a hybrid church model and make the mental shift from being a church with online options to being an online organization with in-person options.  In this week's episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Tony Morgan...

One of the biggest questions we've been asked since the pandemic hit is: What should we be measuring now? So this week we're going to walk through what to measure and what matters in the world of online disciple making. There are a lot of easy-to-see metrics clamoring for your attention. But at the end of the day, there is a simple principle that will help you navigate what to measure regardless o...

How do you make disciples online? If you want your church to thrive in 2021, you need to figure out how to both reach new people and engage with your current congregation digitally. At this point, 10 months into the pandemic, many churches are seeing less and less engagement online. In order to create a strong, successful digital ministry strategy, you need to understand the spiritual journey and...

What does it take to create an effective church board? Over the last 11 years of working with churches, we've found that church governance is a key difference between healthy, growing churches and churches that are stuck or in decline.   In this week's episode, Tony Morgan and Sean Bublitz dig into the best practices for selecting board members and structuring your church board to be healthy and e...

What makes an effective church board? What roles should they take on and what's the responsibility of the staff team?  After working with close to 500 churches over the last 11 years, here's what we've learned are common mistakes church board's make and the 5 key roles they need to own.  For the full episode transcript, links mentioned during the show, and to download the Leader Conversation Guide...

The demands and expectations for leading ministry seem to be surging .   We're all changing how we do ministry, serve people in our communities, and care for the sick.  The workload has grown exponentially, and none of us can do it all. You, and the people on your team, are only human. In last week's episode, we talked about how pastors can stay emotionally healthy as they are under greater pressu...