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With THE UNSTUCK CHURCH PODCAST, we invite you into the real-time conversations our team is having about church leadership every week. Hosted by Tony Morgan, this podcast explores common challenges in ministry and practical steps for tackling them. It’s like getting to be a fly on the wall of our staff meetings. Tune in weekly for: * Insights, observations and trends for church leaders from Tony Morgan. * Benchmarks in church growth and health from The Unstuck Group’s work serving hundreds c ...
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Vision & Leadership for a Multigenerational Church - Episode 365
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Who is responsible? When kids’ attendance numbers are down, senior leaders can tend to blame the kids’ pastor. But the truth is that the children’s pastor has very little control over creating the necessary environment for reaching young families. The church’s leadership and vision are big factors. Before Tony Morgan’s tragic passing in early Septe…
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Many of you have already heard of Tony Morgan's passing on the morning of Wednesday, September 4, 2024, after suffering a heart attack two days before and battling with all his strength. But we wanted you to hear it from our voices. This is a tribute to the best boss we ever had, the leader who practiced what he preached, and the man who loved Jesu…
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What It Really Takes To Reach Young Families (Part 1): The Foundation
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16:57
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If a church is engaging young families, it’s pretty easy to see. What’s less obvious to the outside observer is all the decisions they have made to become a church that parents and kids want to attend—what it really takes. There’s much more to it than curriculum, facilities or finding the right staff, and through this series, we are going to unpack…
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Brand New Data on Church Health and Trends: Q3 2024 Unstuck Church Report - Episode 363
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Every quarter, The Unstuck Group compiles all the data we’ve collected to monitor trends in churches in the United States. In this episode, Amy and I discuss findings from the Q3 2024 Unstuck Church Report and take a targeted look at key differences between growing churches and churches that are plateauing or declining. You can subscribe to receive…
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BONUS Episode - Organizational Health in Churches: An Interview with Beau Johnson from The Table Group
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23:46
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Organizational health impacts the overall health of churches. When there are gaps in strengths, trust and accountability in staff teams, stuckness soon follows. Here at The Unstuck Group, we've found an effective way for our team to identify their strengths and close gaps in their leadership through Working Genius by The Table Group. In this BONUS …
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More Things Unstuck Churches Have In Common - Episode 362
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Our data consistently contradicts the broader trends of declining religious affiliation and church engagement in our country. In fact, we personally know many churches that are experiencing major momentum right now—in terms of attendance, engagement, professions of faith, giving and all kinds of metrics of church health. Clearly, there’s something …
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Why Some Churches Are NOT In Decline - Episode 361
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People are often surprised when they read our reports for the first time. Our data shows contradictory trends to much of what we read in general research. For example, in our most recent edition of The Unstuck Church Report, the average year-over-year attendance increase was 17%. There’s clearly something different about the churches engaging with …
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The State of Religious Participation in American Life with Alan Cooperman of Pew Research Center - Episode 360
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43:24
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New data, same headlines. The surveys and studies always seem to repeat the same refrain: Church attendance is in decline. Religious participation is phasing out of American life. Except…our data shows the opposite. In our most recent edition of The Unstuck Church Report, the average year-over-year attendance increase was 17% across churches of all…
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Spiritual Gifts, Serving and Growth Track with Chris Hodges - Episode 359
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When people discover their gifts, they begin to feel more connected and fulfilled. But few churches know how to help people discover the unique wiring God has given them—and fewer still have a plan to help people leverage those gifts once discovered. We wrap up this series on "Serving as Spiritual Formation" with an interview with Pastor Chris Hodg…
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The Rooted Experience with John Thomas from Mariners Church - Episode 358
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26:31
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It is possible to integrate serving into your spiritual formation strategy in a practical and effective way. We’re seeing churches all across the country do it. In recent years, churches we serve have been telling us they love The Rooted Experience. So, in part four of this series on Serving as Spiritual Formation, Tony interviews Pastor John Thoma…
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The Discipleship Opportunity with Daniel Im - Episode 357
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Spiritual formation is less about what we ask people to do and more about who we’re equipping people to become. In this episode, Tony interviews Pastor Daniel Im, author of The Discipleship Opportunity: Leading a Great-Commission Church in a Post-Everything World, about the role serving has in helping people grow closer to Jesus. This episode is br…
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Structure for Volunteer Engagement - Episode 356
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22:12
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Before the pandemic, we typically saw 45% to 50% of all adults and students serving on a volunteer team at least monthly. Our most recent data shows churches reporting only 35% are serving today. In the first episode of this series on "Serving as Spiritual Formation," we talked about some of the most common mistakes churches make with their volunte…
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Strategy for Volunteer Engagement - Episode 355
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24:18
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Most churches say they need more volunteers. But answer this honestly: What is your theology of serving? How well is your church discipling people to offer their spiritual gifts as part of the Great Commission? Many churches have gotten further away from viewing serving as an integral part of spiritual formation than they’d likely admit. In this se…
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How to Find Great People for Your Church Staff Team - Interview with Tim Foot (Bonus Episode)
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We know from our research and conversations with clients that finding great people for the ministry staff team is very challenging right now. As an addedumn to our series on "Staffing Wisdom for Church Leaders," we bring you this bonus interview with Tim Foot of Slingshot Group for some timely insights into church staffing in 2024. In this conversa…
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Leaders know it's true: Not having the right people on the team hinders the impact of your church. So what do you do when it's clear you need to remove someone from the team—when it's clear they are not a fit? In the last episode of our series on "Staffing Wisdom for Church Leaders," Tony and Amy discuss the very real reasons why letting someone go…
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This part makes a leader's stomach drop. We've laid the groundwork, and we've taught you the wisest order for processing restructure decisions. But now, we’re going to dive into wisdom that has more to do with how you make decisions about specific people. In the third episode of our series on "Staffing Wisdom for Church Leaders," Tony and Amy focus…
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Do you believe your current senior leadership team offers you your best chance to achieve the vision and mission God designed for your church to accomplish right now? Before you start restructuring departments of your ministry, you need to clarify the role of the SLT and get the right people leading on it. In the second episode of our series on "St…
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We help teams solve complicated staffing challenges with wisdom and grace all the time. We’ve helped more than 650 churches do it. So, we’re going to share some of that wisdom related to structure, leadership, getting the right people in the right roles, and handling “misfits” in this new series we're calling "Staffing Wisdom for Church Leaders." I…
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New Church Staffing Trends: Q2 2024 Unstuck Church Report - Episode 350
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Every quarter, The Unstuck Group releases The Unstuck Church Report to help church leaders monitor trends and benchmarks in key ministry areas. In this episode, Tony and Amy discuss key findings from the Q2 2024 special edition of the report focused on staffing and structure trends. You can subscribe to receive the quarterly report for free, or, if…
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Constant crises, lack of training, inadequate systems for project management—there's a long list of reasons why the process of "assess, plan, and execute" may be simple but not easy. In the final episode of our series on "How Healthy Churches Grow," Tony and Amy share some practical, proven ways to carve out time to follow through on the priority i…
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You can make better decisions today regarding people, money, current priorities, etc. when you have clarity on what the future looks like. In this episode of our series on "How Healthy Churches Grow," Tony and Amy focus on the importance of making it part of your culture to have a regular rhythm of planning that involves the right voices. FREE WEBI…
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The First Step Toward Healthy Growth – Episode 347
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Attendance growth isn't always a sign of health. After all, both healthy and unhealthy things can grow. In the first episode of our new series on "How Healthy Churches Grow," Tony and Amy unpack the first principle of healthy growth based on our work with 650+ churches: objective assessment. FREE WEBINAR: What's Working in Large Churches Now In thi…
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How to Talk About Faith “Non-Essentials” (with Pastor Dave Dummitt) – Episode 346
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“Discussing the non-essentials ought to help you make disciples, not hinder you from making disciples.” In this episode, Pastor Dave Dummitt from Willow Creek Community Church joins us to discuss exploring tough topics as a church and navigating non-essentials in our faith. This Episode is Sponsored by PATH As your church grows, it becomes difficul…
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How To Talk About Politics (with Andy Stanley) - Episode 345
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“My responsibility as a pastor isn't to convince you that my view on things is correct. My responsibility is to disciple you to be a better follower of Jesus.” In this episode, Tony sits down with Andy Stanley to discuss how pastors can navigate controversial topics regarding politics—especially as we enter an election season in the US. > Registrat…
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How to Talk About Sexuality & More (with Pastor Rich Villodas) – Episode 344
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“I have sensed a need from God to be courageous in these moments and recognize that not everyone's going to be happy with what I'm saying.” In this episode, Rich Villodas, Pastor of New Life Fellowship (a large, multi-racial church in Queens, NY), offers wisdom for discipling our diverse churches on tough topics like sexuality. Learn more about our…
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