The Church Revitalization Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Read this week's article at malphursgroup.com/285

his week, hosts Scott Ball and A.J. Mathieu dive deep into a topic that might make some church leaders uneasy: the reasons why some churches fail in their revitalization process. They outline three key types of churches that struggle – the poorly pastored church, the timid church, and the lazy church. 

Through their candid discussion, Scott and A.J. provide insights into why these barriers arise and how to overcome them. Whether you're a pastor, church leader, or congregation member, this episode offers valuable takeaways for ensuring your revitalization efforts lead to success, not stagnation. 

Growth is often celebrated in church circles, but what if your success is hiding deeper problems? In this episode, Scott Ball and AJ Mathieu tackle the rarely-discussed challenges that growing churches face. They reveal three common pitfalls: becoming complacent with your current success, not understanding why you're actually growing, and expanding too quickly without the leadership foundation to sustain it. Whether your church is experiencing modest or explosive growth, these insights will help you build a healthier, more sustainable ministry that values depth over mere numbers. Because not everything that grows is healthy – and sometimes the most dangerous time for your church is when everything seems to be going well.

Read the full show notes at malphursgroup.com/284

In this episode of the Church Revitalization Podcast, Scott Ball and A.J. Mathieu discuss the essential roles and responsibilities of elders within the church. They outline three critical things that elders should never do: getting too involved in the minutiae of church operations, acting unilaterally without the consensus of the elder board, and neglecting the spiritual care of the congregation. The conversation emphasizes the importance of defined roles, collective authority, and the need for elders to focus on higher-level oversight and spiritual nourishment for the church community.

Read the full show notes at: https://malphursgroup.com/275

A spiritually unhealthy church may find short-term gains, but sustainability only comes when people, and church leadership in particular, are right with God and others.

Beginning a revitalization process in the church should first include an introspective look at the spiritual condition of those working on the revitalization plan.

As a part of this week’s episode of the Church Revitalization Podcast, we’ve provided a free download of our Spiritual Formation Worksheet.

To read today's show notes or download the Spiritual Formation worksheet, visit: https://malphursgroup.com/185

Church leaders serve various functions within the church, but there are certain capabilities or competencies that are essential to leaders at any level and of any function. One of these core competencies is spiritual mentorship.

This week on the Church Revitalization Podcast, we'll go deeper into what it means to be a spiritual mentor and explore how the core competency of spiritual mentorship manifests at various levels of leadership within the church.

To read today's show notes, visit: https://malphursgroup.com/184 

Being elevated to a leadership position does not make anyone immune to being emotionally unhealthy. Likewise, leadership promotions should not be taken as an affirmation of a clean bill of emotional health.

This week on the Church Revitalization Podcast, we talk through five common emotional disorders that can hold people back from excelling as a leader and leading effective teams.

To read today's show notes, visit: https://malphursgroup.com/183

This week’s episode of The Church Revitalization Podcast takes a little lighter tone.

We explore the diverse landscape of American evangelicalism by taking a quiz based on an article by Mere Orthodoxy called "The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism."

Of the six categories outlined in the article where will we end up? You’ll hear it unfold in real time as we go through it and anxiously await the results of the quiz.

Mere Orthodoxy article: "The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism" - https://mereorthodoxy.com/six-way-fracturing-evangelicalism/

To read today's show notes, visit: https://malphursgroup.com/182

One of the most common hurdles as churches begin to grow is how to transition from one to two services. If your church has outgrown its capacity for a single service, it may be time to start considering the possibility of moving to two worship services.

In this episode of the Church Revitalization Podcast, we'll explore the reasons why this transition can be beneficial for your church, as well as key factors involved in making the move.

To read today's show notes, visit: https://malphursgroup.com/181

We haven’t done the hard work for you, just given you a path.

A common question that we as Malphurs Group Guides get from pastors that we work with is “Do you have any suggestions for sermon topics that will help with revitalization?” Generally, the answer is to preach through the primary topics of a healthy church: Great Commission mandate, building up mature disciples, and having a compelling future-focused vision. For this week’s episode of the Church Revitalization Podcast, though, we’ve zoomed out to some broader themes and given you five sermon series outlines to take your congregation deeper into the truths of Scripture.

To read today's show notes, visit: https://malphursgroup.com/180

Leading and directing are both crucial functions of effective church leadership, but they involve different approaches and goals.

Our goal is to help you better understand the difference between leading and directing and how to apply each approach depending on the situation. 

To read today's show notes, visit: https://malphursgroup.com/179