In the Margins or at the Center? We discovered something profound by accident. In our quest to understand how to build better church chairs we asked, “Why do you like your church?” What we ended up with was what Francis Chan calls bragging about God. In a society in which so many voices clamor to [...]

How Did We Make It So Boring? By Ray Wheeler, DMin. The problem was that the change project we designed as a pathway to release ministry in the congregation threatened to turn into a train wreck. My pastor and I had spent hours sitting in church chairs in the sanctuary reflecting on the health of [...]

When Church Growth Crosses Cultural Boundaries Ray Wheeler, DMin. When Philip called and asked me to address his congregation about the challenges of mission I was intrigued. Philip (not his real name) grew up on the mission field. He led a congregation in an area of Western Washington that was growing in cultural diversity and [...]

An Agitating Question – Investigating Hope Are the people in your church chairs happy? When the question first popped into my head I was startled by it. It is not what is typically asked about church members. It seems almost nihilistic. But, happiness in this context does not mean a pursuit of pleasure. Maximizing pleasure [...]

By Ray Wheeler, DMin. The significance of ministry is neither found in the number of church chairs occupied by bodies on a Sunday morning nor in the capacity of your building to hold larger numbers. A friend of mine recently posted a statement on Facebook that captures the essence of significance; I measure the significance [...]