Our articles encourage, educate, and equip church leaders as they serve Christ at their churches.
Jun 30, 2025Watermark Resources
How To Grow Your Marriage
4 ways you can strengthen your marriage When you said, “I do,” you meant it. You looked the love of your life in the eyes and promised that you would cherish and respect them, put them first, and forsake all others to choose them, even in poverty or sickness. But when the hard times actually come, you might wonder if your promise was premature. You didn’t know it would be like this.
Marriage
Discipleship
Jun 20, 2025Watermark Resources
An Encouragement For Hard Seasons
How God uses difficult seasons In theory, we know that the people of God will have trouble in this world (John 16:33). But sometimes the hard times last much longer than expected. Sometimes they even seem to become the new normal. In those situations, it’s more important than ever for the church to hold onto hope (Romans 15:13). We know that “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28) and that God is always up to something. We can, and should, be thankful always, for everything (Ephesians 5:20), in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). It might not always be obvious what God is doing, but here are some ways he can use difficult seasons to bless your church and make it stronger.
Spiritual Formation
Church Leadership
Jun 13, 2025Watermark Resources
Sharing The Last 2%
Humans were made for relationships We long for true connection—to be known and accepted for who we really are, not just for an image we project. Honesty. Authenticity. Being fully known. These are some of the core pillars of what it means to live together as Christ’s church. But because vulnerability is scary, it’s easy to settle for sharing most things – say, only 98% - and we pat ourselves on the back for being so open and honest. However, that tiny bit we neglect to share is actually the biggest thing: it is the information that would truly make us known, get to the root of the issue at hand, or require real change in our lives. Whether you're trying to get to the root of a specific issue, learn to trust, start fresh, or simply be known, holding back will hold you back.
Discipleship
Spiritual Formation
May 27, 2025Watermark Resources
Find The Leaders In Your Church
Give ministry away Over time, spiritual maturity should naturally move believers from being consumers in the church to using their gifts to build up the body of Christ. It's a key part of the spiritual formation path. That’s why Watermark has long believed in giving ministry away to Members and fostering a culture of volunteer leadership. In fact, when we started our campus, we made it our goal to be a net exporter of leaders—to have more people available to serve as ministry leaders than we needed, so that they could be sent out into the world and deployed elsewhere.
Church Leadership
Apr 25, 2025Watermark Resources
Stop Arguing: The Speaker-Listener Technique
A simple method Unfortunately, arguments are often based on misunderstandings rather than actual disagreements—and our closest relationships, with the people who know us best, are often the ones most riddled with miscommunication. We assume we know each other so well that we don’t need to bother clarifying our intentions. We relax the way we communicate. This is especially true between spouses.
Marriage
Discipleship
Church Leadership
Apr 10, 2025Watermark Resources
Want To Help Kids? Shut Down Your Kids Ministry
Investing in the next generation Please don’t misunderstand; God does a lot of incredible work through children’s ministry and youth groups. Kids need places where they can be known, loved, and taught about God. Christians who invest their time and resources into the next generation are faithful servants doing an invaluable job.
Marriage
Church Leadership
Mar 4, 2025Watermark Resources
How to Have Hard Conversations
A fact of life Hard conversations are a fact of life, especially when you work in ministry. Here are just a few ways that could look:
Discipleship
Church Leadership
May 1, 2024Watermark Resources
Life Is Short
Number your days Memento Mori: “Remember you will die.” While it might seem morbid, it’s also profoundly biblical, and it has the potential to change everything about how we live and how we lead. Moses, a man who literally buried a nation, said in Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Encounters with death remind us that life is short, and remembering that life is short helps us to live wisely. These are a few things that will change when you truly take this understanding to heart:
Spiritual Formation
Church Leadership
Jan 23, 2024Watermark Resources
Show Your Wounds To Share Your Savior
Leading with your failures When we meet someone new, we tend to put our best foot forward, emphasizing our life’s highlights and accomplishments: I’m an engineer. I went to UT. I’m married with three kids. Most of us don’t lead out with our all-time lowest moments or biggest failures. But what if we did?
Care & Recovery
Discipleship
Dec 9, 2022Watermark Resources
How To Measure Success
4 Questions to Measure Ministry Success Christ doesn’t just call his followers to live differently than the rest of the world, but also to measure success differently. This has serious implications for anyone in vocational ministry.
Discipleship
Church Leadership
Dec 9, 2022Watermark Resources
Top 12 2023 Church Leadership Recommended Books
Top recommended books from our staff Friends, are you ready for 2023? We’ve been reflecting on 2022 and gearing up for the year to come. Below are 12 of the top recommended books from our staff. The topics range from theology, to spiritual formation, leadership, and even sociological. We hope these resources will help you as you prepare for another faithful year in ministry!
Spiritual Formation
Church Leadership
Dec 5, 2022Watermark Resources
4 Ways To Care For And Enrich Marriages In Your Church
How to serve marriages in your church It would be impossible to list all the books, retreats, programs, and ministries that exist to serve married couples in the church. It’s appropriate and good that we emphasize this area of care. But the sheer number of options can become overwhelming, and choosing how to best help marriages in each situation takes wisdom and discernment.
Marriage
Church Leadership
Nov 22, 2022Watermark Resources
Marriages Are Your Greatest Discipleship Opportunity
Your biggest discipleship opportunity As church leaders, we know the importance of serving married couples. God has established the importance of marriage, and from a practical perspective, married couples comprise the majority of most congregations. But when serving marriages, we tend to set our sights far too low. Marriage ministry often gets relegated to its own bubble, separate from the overall spiritual shepherding of the church. If this is your church's reality, you are missing out on what is likely your biggest discipleship opportunity.
Marriage
Discipleship
