Posted on Monday, October 20, 2025

How to Define Reality for Your Church

by Josh Reich

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Every church starts with the desire to be a healthy, growing church that helps change the community around it with the gospel. No church begins with the desire to be an insular community that has “a country club mentality.”

The longer a church exists, the more difficult it becomes to keep the original vision and excitement. Families grow up, leaders get older, and communities around the church change. Slowly, the leadership team that was bustling with new ideas starts to recycle old ones. What was once new starts to feel stale.

And many times, the church and its leaders are unaware of the shift that has occurred within them, the church, and the surrounding community.

The question becomes, what is a church supposed to do? If a church is beginning to decline, can it reverse the decline and return to the glory days? Or are those days past? And if you are in a church that isn’t declining, how do you know if it will begin to decline?

Can a church reverse the decline? Or are the best days behind your church?

If, as Jim Collins says in Good to Great, “Leadership begins with getting people to confront the brutal facts and act on the implications,” then we as church leaders must confront the brutal facts about our churches and act on the implications.

Often, the leaders of churches in decline do not want to face the brutal facts. This can happen for several reasons. One, the brutal facts are uncomfortable. It means admitting that what was once a thriving church no longer is. It might mean admitting that they led the church into decline. Two, it means acknowledging that the community around the church has shifted and changed, and the church didn’t change with it. Third, it means facing grief and loss—the loss of influence as a church, the loss of staff and members. Facing the brutal facts means facing reality, and for many people within churches, that brings a lot of discomfort, and we’d rather focus on the positive.

3 reasons we don’t confront the brutal facts in our churches.

However, the second part of Collins’s challenge is equally difficult: Act on the implications.

Not only are we to face reality, but we are also to act on what those facts reveal. As we will see, this means praying and asking God for what He has for the church’s future, dreaming together, and experimenting. It might mean ending specific ministries, changing how you do small groups and make disciples, or it might mean changing how the people in the church relate to each other. It is just as uncomfortable as, and possibly more painful than, facing the brutal facts because acting on the implications is the moment of change.

Acting on the implications is challenging for a church and its leaders. For many leaders, the culture shift is difficult because they are often unaware of it or unprepared to address it. They are blind to the change happening in the community around their church and to the needs of those people.

How do you face the brutal facts? How do you do that, especially if you are a new leader at your church? Charles Stone says there are five ways to define reality:

Take your church’s pulse.
Decipher the unwritten code.
Discover the wounds from the past.
Clarify the church’s overall health stage.
Match strategy to situation.

5 ways for pastors to define reality for their church.

These steps of defining reality help pastors understand the first steps of revitalization, how to move forward, and how to help their people navigate the steps to rebuilding.

How to define reality for your church when no one wants to see reality.

Posted on Thursday, October 16, 2025

Why the Past Matters for the Future of Your Church

by Josh Reich

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

Many pastors, as they try to lead their church into the future, want to avoid the past.

This occurs for several reasons.

The past might be painful for the church. Perhaps a split, moral failure, or series of firings has caused pain within the church. This past impacts your present and future as a church. As a leader, you will be navigating a church that may struggle to trust the leadership or wonder if you will be around for the long term.

Maybe the church has had a series of theological divisions or arguments over the years. So, the church is either conflict-averse or constantly seeking something to argue about. This creates an environment where either. Nothing is a big deal, or everything is a big deal.

The church’s past may have involved a series of pastors, leading one to wonder if the current pastor will remain in place.

The age of the church, the age of the people in the church, and the length of previous pastorates all impact the church’s present and future.

The way the church conducts worship, preaching, prayer, small groups, and outreach has an impact on its current and future performance in these areas.

Suppose there have been incredible growth seasons and moves of God in the history of the church, which also impact the present and future of the church. This can create an expectancy and hope for the future in people, but it can also evoke a sense of nostalgia, as the present is never as great as their memories.

What often happens is that a new pastor comes in and either neglects the past or minimizes it. They are future-oriented because that is what leaders do, and there is a good chance the search committee told them they want to move forward as a church.

And deep down, they do. They want to remember the past as well.

So, as you look backwards to go forward as a church, here are some questions to ask:

How old is your church?
How many pastors has it had over the years? How many staff and leadership transitions have there been?
Have there been any firings or moral failures?
How has communication and power been seen in your church?
What growth seasons and moves of God have you seen in the history of the church? What stories do people have?
Are there any stories or moments that you hear about again and again?

Questions to ask about your church’s past that are impacting your present and future.

All of those things impact a church. Those stories and moments tell you a lot about what people value in your church.

Pay attention to stories that get retold and people who are mentioned repeatedly. Listen for the memories that people share and re-share. If the people you hear about are no longer at the church, try to meet with them and listen to their stories.

Whether you realize it or not, you are likely leading and living in their shadows and are part of their story.

This is all over Scripture. The word “remember” appears over 1,200 times in Scripture. Memory is powerful.

God knows this.

However, we also see that God wants to restore and renew us from our past.

God wants to restore and renew out of the past.

Throughout Scripture, we see evidence of this and the call for the people of God to be a part of that restoration.

We see this call in Isaiah 58:12, “Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets where people live.”

There is a critical calling on those who start new works, but there is an equally important calling for those who will rebuild ancient ruins.

The phrase “rebuild ancient ruins” is essential when considering church revitalization. This shows us the work that lies ahead and what has come before.

Ruins connote the idea that something that was once there has since been destroyed.

You do not rebuild on top of ruins; you must first remove the ruins to begin the rebuilding process.

You must identify what needs to be removed and what must remain, as well as which stones have been destroyed and which can be repurposed for the new project.

Positively, you are standing on the shoulders of those who came before you. Rebuilding is not easy, but it is also not starting from scratch. Not every pastor is meant to be a church planter, and not everyone is meant to be a rebuilder.

Posted on Wednesday, October 1, 2025

The Great Need for Church Revitalization

by Josh Reich

Photo by Ronni Kurtz on Unsplash

In 2014, Lifeway Research found that 4,000 churches opened their doors, and 3,700 closed their doors. In 2019, those numbers changed: 3,000 new churches started, and 4,500 closed. The rate of church planting does not keep up with the rate of church closures, which makes the opportunity and need for revitalization even more crucial.

The opportunity for church revitalization is so great!

There are several reasons for this. Church planting has become increasingly expensive. In 2019, the typical range for a church in the United Methodist denomination was $300,000 – $500,000. While many conference speakers will use the stat that 80% of church plants fail, NAMB (The North American Mission Board) has found that 68% of church plants are thriving. That expense is difficult to justify in a region like New England, where church attendance has continued to decrease. One reason is the cost of bringing a church planter to New England. The cost of living in Massachusetts is 47% higher than the national average. We have had incredible difficulty getting a family to move from another part of the country because of the cost of living and housing.

Church revitalization becomes an option when church planting becomes too expensive.

While churches have decreased and closed nationwide, New England’s numbers are incredibly disheartening. The states with the lowest church attendance are Vermont (17% in weekly attendance), New Hampshire (20%), Maine (20%), and Massachusetts (21%). In Massachusetts, 59% of the population seldom or never attends church. “Missiologist J.D. Payne has surveyed individual cities and found New England cities to be the least in total evangelical percentage – Pittsfield, MA (1.5%), Barnstable-Yarmouth, MZ (1.5%), Providence, RI (1.7%), Boston (2.5%), Hartford, CT (2.7%), Burlington, VT (2.9%) and Bangor, ME (3.5%). These and other factors have caused many to consider New England an “unreached people group.” The church I lead is 10 minutes outside of Providence, RI.

Some have pointed out that the reason for church decline is generational.

Is church decline generational?

According to Nick Blevins, the average church has a 10-15% attrition rate yearly. But people are attending church less. According to Ryan Burge, in 2022, 39% of Americans never attended church, up from 35% in 2020. He also found that “The number of those who never attend church has doubled in the last 15 years, reaching 85 million.”

One study states, “The average congregation size across Christian denominations is less than half what it was in 2000 – down to 65 from 137.” About 65-85 percent of American congregations have plateaued or are declining. Mainline denominations stopped growing around 1965. Some congregations along the way made the painful switch of adding a contemporary service and grew until about 2005. But since then, many congregations have struggled, unsure of how to reach young adults who do not fit historic congregations.

Why church revitalization is so difficult and needed in New England.

And while there are stories of churches beginning and growing, regionally, half of all congregations in the US are in the South. As a comparison, there are 1,393 congregations per million residents in the South compared to 750 congregations per million residents in the Northeast.

Here are some things I’m learning in my doctoral research on church growth.

What is it about the Northeast that creates such difficulty for churches? Why are there fewer churches per resident than in any other part of the country? One of the challenges is relationships within New England. Nate Pichowicz, a pastor in New Hampshire, points out, “Robert Frost, a native New Englander, published his poem, “Mending Wall” in 1914: a sort-of literary commentary on rural New England life from the perspective of a farmer. In the poem, two neighboring farmers meet in the Spring, walking along the stone wall which marks out their property line. The narrator questions the purpose of the wall, but his neighbor only responds with the proverbial maxim, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Here are some things I’m learning in my doctoral research on church revitalization.

While Frost did not originate this line, he no doubt made it famous. The sentiment undergirds the New England temperament, as it explores the tension between all communal relationships in the Northeast. New Englanders are reserved and guarded, tentative and contemplative, self-reliant and proud, principled and often stubborn. While not necessarily cold, we are not known for our “northern hospitality,” rather, we keep to ourselves. Despite our desire for friends, we struggle to embrace communal living.”

If you read American history, you know that the colonies began in New England, meaning Christianity in America started here. But it didn’t just begin there. Historian Harry Stout said, “In New England, the church would be central. New England’s mission began with the church.” But the church or New England lost its way somewhere along the way.

Lessons for churches in New England.

Posted on Monday, June 30, 2025

How to Handle Pastoral Transitions

by Josh Reich

Photo by Memento Media on Unsplash

At some point in your leadership as a pastor, you will have a staff member, elder, deacon or volunteer resign and say, “I’m done.” It might happen suddenly, as if out of nowhere. It might be mutually a good idea. It may be hard to accept, or it may be a hidden blessing. Regardless of the situation, there are some things you can do to honor them, communicate it in a way that benefits both the person leaving and the organization, and move forward.

Many churches struggle in this area because there is the balancing act of sharing what happened behind closed doors, honoring the person who is leaving, and answering questions people might have who weren’t involved. What makes churches even more challenging than a secular company is the reality of “being the family of God.” How do you fire someone who is part of the family? Because of this, the feelings involved become complicated very quickly. Churches usually either act completely like a public company and use an NDA, or they hold on to someone too long.

Regardless, at some point, you will have someone resign or you will have to let someone go.

Here are 8 ideas to navigate that so that it can be helpful for you as the leader, for the person leaving, and for your church:

8 things to do when a staff member quits.

1. Find out the whole story from the person. When people leave a situation, they tend not to tell the entire story. They will often tell their boss or ministry leader only what they’re comfortable sharing or what they think the other person wants to hear. Do as much as you can to find out exactly what happened and why they are leaving. Find out what is underneath things and keep digging. This will help you to learn as a leader if you did something wrong or if there is something unhealthy in your church. Avoid simple Christian clichés if possible; instead, ask them to explain it. Too often in these situations, because they are difficult, people in a church environment hide behind “God told me, God is moving me,” etc.

They might not be willing or able to share the whole story with you as their boss, and that is okay. Don’t pressure them. But ask curious questions and listen. Hidden in their frustration or hurt might be some things that you, as a leader, need to learn or things your church needs to face.

2. Honor them and what they’ve done publicly as much as possible. The person leaving has done a lot for your church, whether you want to admit it or not. Even though it is difficult and hurts, honor them. They’ve meant something to you, your church, and others. Honor them. Thank them. Give people a chance to say thank you. People care deeply about how much you honor someone. This gives you an opportunity to demonstrate to others how your church treats people. Someday, your church may treat you the way you treat leaders who have transitioned out of their roles.

As people come up to you, the pastor staying, and share with you how much that person meant to them, or share their frustration and hurt at leaving, don’t get jealous or angry. The ability to differentiate your emotions in this moment is incredibly important.

3. Say what only needs to be said publicly. If sin is involved, relational strife, poor job performance or anything else that is difficult, you don’t need to put that out there. I’m not suggesting that you lie or take an arrow for someone else’s sin or stupidity; you just don’t need to share everything with them. Each situation will dictate what you say. Over the years in the churches I’ve worked in, we’ve had people leave on their own, staff members we’ve let go, had elders or staff members who disqualified themselves, and because each situation is different, it has changed what we said publicly. If the person leaving is not a well-known on-stage figure in the ministry, don’t bring them on stage to say goodbye. Discuss it in the places where this person has touched and affected others.

This one is hard because no matter what you say publicly, it will not be enough for someone in your church. Do your best if you can to answer those questions personally. I always do my best to meet with anyone who wants to meet with me to answer questions in these situations. You should include another leader or elder with you so that you don’t miss something, and that person can also help you navigate your emotions in these meetings.

What to say and not say publicly during pastoral transitions.

4. Publicly, focus on the future. When you make the public announcement and have thanked the person or explained what happened, spend as much time as possible focusing on the future and how things will not fall apart. I would say in the “official” announcement, you need to spend 80% of the time on the future. Show people that you are moving forward, and the ministry or church will survive.

This might feel callous to those who were close to the person leaving. And that is real and an important feeling.

Depending on the person, there is also a whole segment of your church that will shrug when someone leaves. As the leader, you are balancing both of these feelings and thoughts.

5. Be honest publicly and privately. As a pastor, don’t lie. Every fact doesn’t need to be shared, but don’t lie. In private, don’t make things up, don’t bash the person. Have one person you are venting to if it’s a difficult situation, who is speaking into your heart on the situation, but don’t have a team of people you are venting to.

Also, as the leader, you should have someone who loves you who is giving you feedback on your ability to hear what others are saying, how you are responding, and how you are coming across.

6. Honor them financially. Whatever the situation, you are called to shepherd them and care for them. Go above and beyond financially in terms of salary and insurance. Once, we relocated a pastor who had been with us for three months back to Indiana. He wasn’t a fit, and everyone knew it quickly, and they had just moved, so we felt the honorable thing was to move them back to where they came from. Sometimes you give months of salary and benefits, sometimes you give a week. Again, it depends on the situation. One rule of thumb I’ve used is: if this became public, what would people think of us and how we’ve handled this, and what we gave the person? Another way to think about it is, would I want the same treatment I am giving this person?

Again, you are a church and not a business. So while some business principles might apply here, you also need to handle things differently. You need to steward things for your church.

How long should staff transitions take in a church? The answer might surprise you.

7. Create a transition plan as quickly as possible. Don’t wait to decide what is next for the ministry. Grieve what is happening, find out the story, and start on a plan. Don’t wait around. If you are the lead pastor or the leader of a ministry area, take the lead and get this done. People will want to know the ship is being steadied and you are moving forward.

Transitions are the seasons when people can leave your church, momentum can be lost, or it can be a moment to move in a new direction and experience new energy and vision.

8. Transition them as quickly as possible. This last one will seem unloving because it is a church environment. When someone says, “I’m done,” they’ve likely been feeling that way for weeks or possibly months; they’ve just now verbalized it. This means their passion is gone, their calling is gone, and they are done. Getting them out of their role as quickly as possible, in the long run, is the best thing for them and the ministry. Staying around for 3-12 months doesn’t benefit anyone. Make a plan, honor them, take care of them, and move them on as quickly as possible.

How to handle staff transitions in a church.

These situations are sticky, and they are all different. As a leader, you will walk through this too many times to count. Each one hurts. They are people you’ve invested in, loved, cared for, and worked with, and watching them leave always feels personal. You either feel like you did something wrong, missed signs, hired the wrong person, or were lied to or let down. Grieve the situation. Learn as much as you can and move forward to become better and resolve the situation.

Posted on Monday, June 16, 2025

How It Starts vs. How It Ends

by Josh Reich

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Every pastor knows this feeling.

Imagine you are sitting across the table from someone in your church—a person you have led to Christ and baptized. They are involved in the life of your church and dedicated to the mission, and they say, “We’re leaving.”

When this moment hits, especially if you didn’t see it coming, it feels like the world is spinning.

Edwin Friedman said, “A major difficulty in sustaining one’s mission is that others who start out with the same enthusiasm will come to lose their nerve. Mutiny and sabotage came not from enemies who opposed the initial idea, but rather from colleagues whose will was sapped by unexpected hardships along the way.”

This, by far, is one of the most painful realities of leadership and ministry. To have the people closest to you bail before the end.

This occurs for various reasons. Life situations change, and now they can’t go with you. Their theology or passions change. It may require more than they have to give.

To be clear, the reasons that people stop working with you or trying to accomplish the mission are not all evil. But they all still hurt.

Talk to any pastor or church planter, and they can tell you a story of someone who said, “I’ll be there til the end,” and they weren’t.

Talk to any pastor or church planter, and they can tell you a story of someone who said, “I’ll be there til the end,” and they weren’t.

I remember when we started our church in Tucson and one person from our launch team told me, “I’ll be here as long as you’re here.” Ten years later, they were at a different ministry. Now, it was an amicable ending, and we are still friends, but it stung deeply.

The reason this stings is that you have been in the trenches with this person. You have prayed and wept with this person. You have celebrated the highs of ministry and life, and you have sat through the valleys together. You have baptized them or people in their family, and been at gravesides with this person to bury their parents or children. You have vacationed with this person and helped this person move. You have watched their kids grow up and launch out into the world. In short, you have walked a long road with this person.

And then one day, they aren’t there.

This cuts deeply not just for the leader but for everyone involved. Your spouse has now lost a friend, someone they vacationed with, and perhaps they will now bump into them at the store or on the soccer field. Your kids wonder what ever happened to so-and-so and why their family doesn’t attend our church anymore.

It is one reminder after another.

And as a pastor, you wonder what you did wrong. Is there something you could’ve done to change their mind?

And there will also come a moment, or several, in your leadership, when you wonder how many more of these transitions you can take. I recall speaking with one leader who, through tears, said to me, “I’m not sure I can handle another transition on my team.”

That’s leadership.

That’s life.

If you are a church planter or pastor, you’ll have someone look you in the eye and say, “I’ll be here until the end.” And you have to believe them. You can’t think, “We’ll see…”

[Tweet “If you are a church planter or pastor, you’ll have someone look you in the eye and say, “I’ll be here until the end.” And you have to believe them. You can’t think, “We’ll see…”]

Because if you do, you will give the enemy an opening.

Now, that doesn’t mean you are naive and blindly trust everyone.

So, what do you do as a pastor?

3 ways to handle the valleys of pastoral leadership.

Prepare for the transitions. Know that transitions will come. Don’t be surprised when someone walks in and says, “We’re leaving. I’m resigning.” Do your best as you navigate these moments and the tensions that they create.

Enjoy the people you have. It is easy to close your heart off after a fellow leader has hurt you. This will feel natural, but don’t. Fight against this.

This doesn’t mean that you bare your soul to everyone who joins your team, but don’t let someone in your present suffer for what someone in your past did.

Don’t make someone in your present pay for what someone in your past did.

Create relationships not connected to your church. Ensure you have friendships with other pastors or individuals who don’t work for you. Yes, be friends with people on your staff and in your church, but also make sure you balance that with people you don’t work with so that when a leadership transition comes, you don’t lose all your friends.

Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Starting Strong at a New Church

by Josh Reich

Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash

Picture this: You just got a job at a church. You have decided to leave your last ministry, gone through the interview process, sold your house, packed up, and moved your family. You are excited and a little scared, but ready to go.

What do you do first?

Your first steps determine how your ministry goes at that church. The phrase “you only get one shot at a first impression” comes to mind. And that first impression will become a lasting impression.

Often, pastors come to a new church thinking they have all the answers. After all, they got the job and must be the answer person. In many ways, the church does look to the pastor for the answers, to know the vision and where the church is going.

The problem for new pastors is that they don’t know what they don’t know.

The problem for new pastors is that they don’t know what they don’t know.

One of the things I did in my first six months at CCC was interview almost 50 people. I met with people who had been at the church for decades and ones who had started in the last six months. I talked with people who were long-time Christians, some new Christians, and a few exploring the faith.

My goal was to learn as much as possible about the church from those in it.

I asked them the same 8 questions:

What is going well at Community Covenant Church?
What is not going well at CCC?
What is one thing about CCC you hope doesn’t change?
What is one thing about CCC you hope will change?
What burning questions would you like to ask me?
If money weren’t an issue, what would be your next full-time hire(s) and why?
If you were in my shoes, what would you focus on first?
How can I pray for you?

As I listened, I started to get a sense of the story of the people in CCC and the story of CCC from the perspective of the people who lived it.

How to start a brand new ministry on the right foot.

When you talk with a search firm that is leading a job search, you hear what they want you to hear. It isn’t wrong or false, but it is often incomplete. Because the search firm doesn’t live in the area or attend the church week in and week out.

Additionally, when a new pastor comes, he will often want to change the church’s mission, vision, and strategy. Sometimes, this needs to be done quickly; other times, it might be best to wait. As I listened to people’s answers, I started to get a sense of what God had not only done in the life and history of CCC, but also what God might be calling us into next. I was able to start saying back to the staff, elders, and leaders, “This is what I hear people saying, does that sound right to you?”

Too often, we take our vision from what another church did or the last thing we heard in a podcast. That can be a good thing, but I think there is something unique that God wants to do in and through a particular church. That is why He has brought together that group of people in that place at this time.

I think there is something unique that God wants to do in and through a particular church. That is why He has brought together that group of people, in that place at this time.

The job of the leaders is to come together with the people to discern that.

What was amazing to me was how many answers were the same in terms of how people answered these questions.

Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2025

One Thing Your Church Can Do with “The Crisis of Discipleship”

by Josh Reich

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Recently, in one of my classes at Fuller, this question was posed:

Reflect on the “crisis of discipleship” revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic. How might thinking of the crisis of discipleship as an adaptive challenge shape your approach to the spiritual formation work of churches? And how might the development of adaptive capacity help better equip the Church for its formative task?

Adaptive challenges and technical challenges are not the same thing. Thinking of discipleship as a technical challenge would involve meeting and brainstorming new classes or groups. What kind of new studies or sermon series might you come up with to address the crisis in front of you?

Adaptive challenges require new behaviors, new ways of thinking, and letting go of old ways and old modes. They will also require loss and grief as you enter a new world, one Tod Bolsinger calls canoeing the mountains.

The crisis of discipleship revealed in churches during COVID-19 is that separating discipleship from mission has stunted our growth as disciples and the health of churches. If the goal of discipleship, as seen in most churches, is “the more you know about God, the more you know God or the closer you are to God,” COVID-19 revealed that it is not true. As churches, we have made discipleship primarily about what is in our heads, rather than about our whole person, thereby separating discipleship from mission.

Considering this crisis from the perspective of adaptive change involves confronting the notion that discipleship and mission are not separate but are interconnected, forming two sides of the same coin. Discipleship is about transforming the whole person, which leads to our mission in this world. According to writers like Ruth Haley Barton and Jim Herrington, this is a “deeper soul change.” Meeting God in the desert or “crucible of ministry and life.” Much of our discipleship talk and formation in churches has not prepared our people to navigate the desert and the dark night of the soul. My guess is that many pastors in America have not navigated their own desert or dark night of the soul, but that is a different post.

During COVID, we returned to ‘what we’ve always done.’

During COVID-19, we returned to our technical change tool belt to do what we’ve always done. If our discipleship was about justice, we focused on justice; if it was about serving or “doing good things,” as one church member told me, we collected food and made masks. Many churches focusing on Bible studies offered more online services and daily messages during COVID-19.

Looking back, I wonder if all this activity kept us from the silence God wants to invite us into, the silence that could’ve been incredibly beneficial but is also, at times, painful. You see, the moments of solitude throughout Scripture are the places where God meets His people and brings them to places of deeper change.

We all encountered solitude during 2020, and many of us were unprepared to navigate it. Now, solitude and loneliness are not the same thing. But it is in solitude that the deepest change happens. In solitude, the loudest voices in our souls start talking, bringing up past memories, hurts, or sins, and many of us prefer the busyness of life to the solitude we most desperately need.

Many of us prefer the busyness of life to the solitude we most desperately need.

Posted on Monday, May 5, 2025

A Few Things I’ve Learned About New England Churches

by Josh Reich

Photo by Bill McBee on Unsplash

Four years ago, my wife Katie and I and our five kids loaded up and moved across the country from Arizona to Massachusetts. We spent 15 years in Arizona planting a church and as a teaching pastor at a large church.

Recently, in an Overseed cohort, the conversation turned to leading change in a New England church and the challenges that come with that. In that conversation, I reflected on some differences between Arizona and New England and how they impact church leadership. Afterward, Jim asked if I’d share some things I’ve learned about New England culture as someone new.

As pastors and leaders, we must be observant and think like cultural missionaries. What makes a culture tick? What makes even the different states of New England so different? Connecticut is not like Maine. Rhode Island and Massachusetts are not the same.

The reality is that all cultures are different. Often, we think that every part of America is the same since we are all one country. But I don’t think we can overlook the impact of regions and states, especially as pastors. In my doctoral research, one of the books I read was American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. In it, the author talks about how the founding of different states and regions of our country still impacts our world today.

When you think about New England, the people who founded it were the people who stayed. The rest of the country had to keep moving west. Many people who live in New England today were born in New England and their families have been here for generations. The number of people I’ve met in New England who can trace their family to the Mayflower is astounding. My guess is this is one reason change in New England churches is so tricky. In Arizona, you rarely meet someone who is from Arizona. Many people move west looking for something, on some kind of search. When I met someone new to Arizona and asked what brought them west, they often said something like, “I’m trying to find myself. I’m looking for something, but I don’t know what.”

Because people in Arizona are on some kind of search, it created an openness to friendships and community and an opportunity to step into new opportunities. In New England, many people have had the same friend group from kindergarten. This can be helpful, but it also makes it a challenge for someone new to a church to step into a community, especially if they aren’t from that town. We framed things in Arizona around finding something: finding Jesus, finding friends, finding purpose. This made sense because of the underlying search people were on. In New England, there is not that same sense of searching, even among those who have it. They feel like they should know it already, have found it, or that life is what it is.

One reason for this feeling is something that makes New England unique: the number of schools and colleges in the region. This emphasis has a significant impact on ministry. Depth, knowledge, etc., are a big part of following Jesus and being a disciple in New England.

When we moved here, our kids were some of the only new people at their public high school. As I’ve gotten to know people, I’ve learned that there is a strong sense of identity around where you are from in New England. Someone told me that if you aren’t born in Maine, you can’t ever say you are from Maine. This creates loyalty in people but makes it difficult to break into the community or welcome someone new. Many people who move into New England feel on the outside looking in. When one of the pastors at our church left, I was in the meeting where he told his volunteers, and one of them said, “I love you and will miss working with you, but I was here before you, so I figured I’d be here after you.” I sat there and thought, that perfectly sums up New England.

Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2025

3 Things that Sink New Pastors

by Josh Reich

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

When you arrive at a church as a new pastor, there is a lot of excitement. There is also a lot of grief, some fear, and hope. How the last pastor left, whether it was good or not, whether he was forced out or not, how much time has passed, and what has transpired goes a long way to determining the culture you are stepping into as a new pastor.

You are also carrying things as a new pastor. You might be tired and worn out from the move for your family, grieving the losses you experienced, and exhausted from a job search. However, you are also excited about new beginnings and ready to hit the ground running.

As you arrive at a church, you will receive a lot of goodwill and trust because you are new, and people are excited. But if you aren’t careful, you will quickly find yourself stuck if you turn right when the church expects you to turn left. Many new pastors have made the wrong turn by using the wrong verbiage or version of the Bible or making a decision without asking the right person, even though the right person isn’t on the leadership team.

There are landmines at every job and church, things that sink your ministry before it gets started or at least slow it down and waste your trust bank.

The problem is that you aren’t aware of what these things are, and almost no one else is because they just happened over the years. Like your family, churches form a system that helps them function. Over time, the church falls into patterns of relating, communicating, making decisions, and functioning as a church.

In many ways, the church just happens.

People start new things, new leaders rise, and things “just get done over time.” This is especially important in a transitional time. Someone has to make decisions and ensure things happen, especially if there is no pastor.

The biggest thing that can trip up a new pastor is the things you don’t know.

One of the things you need to learn as quickly as possible is what has transpired in the church, how things get done, and what matters most. Sadly, some of these things won’t come up in the interview process because most people aren’t aware of them. Again, these are things that have just happened in their church.

Here are 3 things that trip up new pastors (or at least slow you down):

Not knowing who actually has power. In every church, just like in a family, someone holds the power. This power can be authoritative; it could be in finances or relationships. This power shows up in a variety of ways and different places. Someone might hold power in the church, the elder team, the men’s or women’s ministry, and the worship area. These might be the same people or different people.

One of the things you need to figure out as quickly as possible is who has power and influence in the church. If you misread this, you can be in a bad spot as a leader.

You can ask people to find out, but you can also observe it. Listen to who people say, “Have you checked with ______?” Watch in meetings to see who speaks last and sways the group. You can also ask, “Before I arrived, who made this decision?”

When you are new to a church, it is important to find out who has the power and influence.

Not using the right words. Every church has a culture of words and communication. This can be the preaching style, worship leading, and how things are communicated from the stage or on social media. This can even be about the version of the Bible that the church is used to.

These can seem like small things, but they are big things to the church because they are used to them. Communication gives a sense of safety and belonging. Suppose the church is used to a 40-minute, expository sermon. As a new pastor, you should do that, no matter your preference. It doesn’t mean you can’t change it later on, but to get started, do what they are used to.

If the church is used to a particular version of the Bible during the preaching or specific ways of doing baptism or communion, do those when you first arrive. It can create an unneeded whiplash for the people if you don’t.

When I first arrived at CCC, I didn’t know there was a specific way of setting up communion. Before I arrived, the pastor did it a certain way, using a particular passage and specific words each time. On my first Sunday, I was asked to set up communion, and I did it the way I was used to. I heard from numerous people that I had done it wrong. They weren’t angry about it, but to them, it was not what they were used to. I started on the wrong foot with some people, which could’ve been avoided.

The words you use or don’t use go a long way to helping to connect with the culture of your church.

Not knowing the hurt or wounds people carry. The last thing that can trip you up is not being aware of the past and the hurts or wounds people carry. These might be obvious if the church has walked through a split, a moral failure, or a recent firing of the pastor. But they also might not be the ones that you are aware of. If changes were made that caused some volunteers to step out or be asked to step out, that would create hurt. Maybe before you arrived, the church did a building campaign that went poorly, and people lost trust and confidence in the leadership because money was misspent. Perhaps a beloved staff member was fired before you arrived, and you are left picking up the pieces for a decision you had nothing to do with.

3 things that trip pastors up that might surprise you.

You might wonder if there is a quick way to learn these things to avoid getting tripped up.

Yes and no.

If you come to a church in rapid decline, quickly losing members and money, you may not have time for this.

But in most situations, the best thing you can do is to come to a new church as a student. Ask questions, observe behaviors, and listen to the stories and legends people talk about. Watch who sways meetings and moments. See who gets things moving and gets things done. Watch who stops things and starts things.

Over time, you will pick up a wealth of information and begin to discern the way forward.

Posted on Thursday, February 27, 2025

6 Reasons Pastors Quit (And What To Do about It)

by Josh Reich

Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash

I heard at a conference recently that 2 out of 5 pastors are thinking about quitting ministry.

Many people attending church may be surprised, but pastors know this reality.

Pastors regularly wake up after a hard day or season of ministry and wonder what life would be like in a different job. This isn’t just pastors, as I’m sure anyone reading this has thought about quitting their job and trying something different.

But why do pastors feel this?

Pastors know this.

Many people in their churches do not.

There are a few reasons why pastors think about quitting:

1. Ministry is hard work. Every job is hard. Whether you are a pastor, an electrician, an engineer, or a barista. Life and work is hard. Ministry is no different. You can’t be naive about this. Too many pastors have rose-colored glasses about putting out a church sign and just expecting people to show up, and the people who show up will be bought in, not messy and without difficulty.

I think one of the things that pastors need to learn how to navigate is not only the physical, mental, and emotional side of their role (as all jobs do) but also the spiritual side (especially the warfare they and their families will experience) and moments of grief and loss. These are the things that set ministry apart.

Handling your energy is a stewardship issue.

2. They aren’t sleeping or eating well. There is a direct connection between how you eat, how you sleep, and the level of energy you have. Handling your energy is a stewardship issue. Leaders have a lot of meetings over meals and drink a lot of coffee or energy drinks. They stay up too late watching TV, surfing social media instead of sleeping, taking a sabbath, or doing something recharging and refreshing.

There is a direct connection between how you eat, how you sleep & your energy level.

This becomes even more of an issue the older you get. Now that I’m in my 40s, I don’t have the same energy levels I had in my 20s. But many leaders try to lead and live like they are half their age.

We often quote the verse about how our bodies are a temple, which means our bodies are meant for stewardship and worship. How we treat them is a direct reflection of our worship. So what we put into them and put them through is connected to our worship.

3. They don’t have an outlet. Whenever I get tired, it is often because I am not taking my retreat day, hanging out with friends, or doing fun things. Leaders and pastors are notorious for being bad friends and struggling to have hobbies and do fun things. You will start to think about quitting, not being thankful, begrudgingly going to meetings or counseling people. Get outside, take a break, slow down.

When was the last time you took a break and had fun?

4. Tensions. Tensions are a part of life because tensions are a part of every relationship. Tensions in life aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Andy Stanley says,”Tensions show us things we need to pay attention to.” In the last few years, those tensions have increased in our culture, and I think everyone feels it. Some of the tensions in our culture are around sexual identity, politics, or race. Those tensions can find their way into churches. Still, you add a lot of tensions around community and relationships, conflict, finances, theology, and the shifting sands of culture. Pastors also have tensions in life; they navigate as they parent, age, and deal with aging parents. Part of the role of pastors is carrying tensions others carry, whether that is healthy or not. Pastors often feel like they are running ragged because of this.

Pastor, you must learn how to navigate the tensions in your life and let go of them.

5. Not leading from a place of burden. Leaders are idea machines. We read books, go to conferences, listen to podcasts, and look for the latest trend, but those are ideas, not a vision. It is easy to confuse the two.

A vision is what drives you and comes from a burden. Any leader, if you want to know their vision, ask about their burden. You must keep that in the forefront. I wake up and want to lead and build an irresistible church to our next-door neighbors and the next generation. This burden is ingrained in experiences growing up and watching churches fail to reach this demographic, especially men.

Vision is not an idea, it is a burden.

Many pastors begin out of a place of burden when they start. But then life and ministry just seem to happen. They take some hits, have some failures, and slowly, that burden disappears.

You must continually remind yourself of this burden. You must put yourself in places where this fire is rekindled.

Whatever it takes!

6. Not dealing with emotions. I was unprepared for how emotionally tiring ministry and leadership can be. It can be hard to walk with people who get a divorce, get fired, wreck their lives, funerals, and miscarriages. This can wreck your heart. You must learn to deal with the emotional ride of pastoring. If you don’t, you will become a statistic.

6 reasons pastors think about quitting.

Part of this journey for pastors is learning to acknowledge their journeys with a trusted friend or counselor. Too often, as leaders, we try to be strong and think we are doing our team, spouse, and church a favor. Sometimes, this is true, which makes leadership so tricky. There has to come a moment when you can let go of someone. Share precisely where you are, what you need, and what you are carrying.