One Size?

Whew! We are finally getting close to our next issue of The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership to go to press. Hopefully by this time next week it will be in the hands of our subscribers. We are working on getting our next issue out by the end of year. I love being a part of the conversation of leadership taking place in Christian circles. If we truly believe in what local churches can become, we must invest many resources in understanding how best leadership can be developed in local churches--including studying and resourcing ways.

Browsing the bloglines today, I couldn't help but notice the churches considered most influential by pastors. These are megachurches, many of them influencing me. My question is this: what percentage can a megachurch influence, really, a church of 220 in attendence? How do things like the organizational stage, the organizational culture, the undergirding basic assumptions of a megachurch (largely built on a megapastor) influence a church in Smalltown, USA? How much take home is there? I know for myself, these churches influence me in that they encourage me to lead. The how's and way's of leading get much muddier in my local context. Transposing larger percentage of megachurch learnings can get dicey in microchurch settings. We can learn, the question is what can we learn?

Final, ambivalent note. Cubs go in a whimper and Bears appear to have come off life support!