Healthy Church One Day
Join Karl Vaters as he invites us to consider how removing church size from the equation can be an essential element in rebuilding trust, restoring relationships, and renewing our spiritual lives.
The Details
Who: Karl’s ministry encourages churches of all sizes but is especially focused on encouraging church leaders for churches of 250 or less (90% of all churches).
Date: Monday, June 3, 2024
Time: 9a-3p
Cost: $20 per person (for breakfast, lunch, and snacks!)
Location: Branch Life Church Pughtown Campus (780 Pughtown Rd, Spring City, PA 19475)
Keep reading to learn about the Healthy Church One Day sessions.
Healthy Church One Day Sessions
Session 1: Redefining Success in Ministry
In this session, Karl walks through his story as a discouraged small church pastor who discovered the importance of defining success in ministry without numbers attached to it. This lays the groundwork for all the following sessions by encouraging small church leaders that they can lead a small church well without settling for less.
Session 2: Big Churches, Small Churches - What’s the Difference?
Big churches and small churches are different. Not in their mission but in how they’re led. In this session, we talk about those differences so we can lead small churches better. We also have some fun answering the important question that all small church leaders have asked at some point: “Why Is My Church So Weird?”
Session 3: Finding & Training Volunteers for Tomorrow’s Church
This is a call for pastors to fulfill our prime mandate to “equip God’s people” (Eph 4:11-12). It includes proven methods to find and train volunteers and turn them into leaders, starting at the all-important baseline of biblical servanthood.
Session 4: De-sizing the Church
We have an unhealthy relationship with bigness in the church. Especially in the American church. And it’s killing us. The rate of church closures, departing members, and pastoral burnout is growing exponentially.
In this session, Karl will talk about how we became so obsessed with bigness in the church, why it’s dangerous, and what we can do to change course, including addressing the following questions:
What is de-sizing?
Why do we need to de-size?
Where did our obsession with bigness come from?
What are the dangers of pursuing bigness?
How do we fix this?
Meet Karl
Karl Vaters is the author of five books, including the brand-new De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What’s Next.
Karl’s other books are:
The Church Recovery Guide: How Your Congregation Can Adapt and Thrive after a Crisis
100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-By-Step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams
Small Church Essentials: Field-Tested Principles for Leading a Healthy Congregation of Under 250
The Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches and the Small Thinking That Divides Us
Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.His heart is to help pastors of small churches (up to 90 percent of us) find the resources to lead well, and to capitalize on the unique advantages that come with pastoring a small church – something virtually every pastor will spend at least some of their ministry years doing. He also believes that big and small churches can and should work together more often – to the benefit and blessing of everyone.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast, The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry. Episodes feature in-depth interviews about the topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.
