Posts by Mark Howell
Spiritual Rhythms in Community: Being Together in the Presence of God
Looking for resources that expose your groups to spiritual practices? You might want to take a look at Spiritual Rhythms in Community: Being Together in the Presence of God. New from author and speaker Keith Meyer, this resource is intended to be used by groups. While explicitly not intended for use outside of community, I…
Read MoreDilbert on Ignorance
Sometimes you just need to laugh. And as a side note, you can remember this cartoon the next time your recommendation is rejected…
Read MoreCan I Tell What’s Important by Looking at Your Church’s Homepage?
I’ve written about the importance of website presence before. I’ll probably write about it again. For today, I only want to focus on one thing. I can tell from your website what’s really important at your church. Believe me? Here’s how I do it: First, what is really important is mentioned right on the homepage.…
Read MoreTop 5 Signs Your Church Really Wants to Be a Church OF Groups
How can you tell if your church really wants to be a church OF groups? It’s not that hard to figure out. Here’s what to look for: You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to find out everything you want to know about small groups. The website, the bulletin, and the information desk in the…
Read MoreConducting a GroupLife Audit 1.0
How would your church come out on a grouplife audit? I wondered about this last week when my church was visited by the Generis team who were conducting a generosity audit. It was a fascinating day. I sat in on several conversations. And it made me wonder about the benefit of developing a grouplife audit.…
Read MoreStolen: A New DVD-Driven Study from Chris and Kerry Shook
Looking for creative small group resources? You might want to take a look at Stolen, a new study from Chris and Kerry Shook. Taking its cue from John 10:10, Stolen takes a look at how the Enemy uses our circumstances to rob us of treasures like passion, joy, peace, strength, and dreams. Recognized as one of today’s…
Read MoreThe Growing Indifference toward Christianity…and the Opportunity for GroupLife
If you’re tracking the Next Christians conversation, you need to take four minutes and watch this video that first appeared on the Out of Ur blog. Very interesting. If you remember, one of the significant findings in the study that produced unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gaby Lyons was that many young Americans found Christians…
Read MoreThe Perils of the Inside-Outside Disconnect
How keenly is your organization aware of what’s really going on externally? Think your front-line people know what’s going on? Think your key people know? Do you know? According to John Kotter, “The disconnect between what insiders see, feel and think, on the one hand, and external opportunities and hazards, on the other, can be…
Read MoreTrue Community or Smaller Version of the Weekend Service?
Ever heard this one? “We want to be a church of groups. We’ve launched a decent number of off-campus groups, but we also have a number of on-campus Bible studies (Sunday School, ABFs, etc.). Our solution has been to call everything a group…even though what they’re actually experiencing is not the same. How do we…
Read MoreGreat Questions: What Would Have to Be True?
I love a great question. In fact, I’m kind of a collector of great questions. In a way, great questions are like baseball cards. It’s not enough to collect them. You really want to show them off. Here’s one of my favorites. I got this question from Roger Martin and his great book, The Design…
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