Our articles encourage, educate, and equip church leaders as they serve Christ at their churches.
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 3, 2025Braun Brown
Building a Team of Lay Leaders Who Multiply Ministry
5 ways to build a great lay leadership team I had the honor of working on staff as the Director of Student Ministry for years, placing sixth-grade students in small groups they would remain in all the way through middle and high school. One time I went to see two guys from the same small group sign papers for Division One scholarships at their high school. At the end of the celebration, everyone gathered for a group photo: these two guys, the other small group guys who had come to support their friends, their faithful small group leaders—and then me in the very back.
Discipleship
Church Leadership
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 15, 2025John Cox
Three Keys to Building a Great Team
Raising up leaders Ministry is a team sport—but before the team comes the leader. In Scripture, whenever God wanted to do something significant, He began by raising up a leader—Moses, David, Paul, etc. Leadership, then, becomes the rate-limiting factor in ministry growth. Healthy ministry grows at the speed of healthy leadership. That’s why one of the most impactful things we can do is not just lead ourselves well—but build up others to lead too. That means both bringing in newcomers and helping the people we already have grow more mature and spiritually in-tune. To build a great team in ministry, think about how a coach builds a great team in college football:
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 18, 2025John Cox
Three Keys For Being A Successful Ministry Leader
Why self-leadership is essential In ministry, who you are matters more than what you say. Words may make an impression in the short term, but over time, your character and way of life leave a much more lasting impact. I can’t recall, for instance, a single thing the man who led me to Christ when I was a teenager ever said, but I can tell countless stories about how he lived—and how that shaped me.
Spiritual Formation
Church Leadership
Mar 5, 2025John McGee
Discover 12 Must-Read Books For Young Leaders
Recommendations from Watermark Staff When it comes to reading, most of us have more aspirations than time, and trying to read every stellar Christian book would be a Sisyphean task. To help you prioritize, we’ve asked our staff leadership which books they would recommend unreservedly to any believer who wants to grow as a Christian and a leader. Wherever you are in leadership or your faith journey, we think you’ll find these twelve books helpful and valuable.
Spiritual Formation
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
Apr 14, 2023John McGee
How To Lead Through Crisis
What would a great leader do? A crisis is the perfect time to ask, “What would a great leader do?” It would be nice to always lead in a predictable environment where things go the way that they’re supposed to. But that’s not how things work. Life is full of storms, and in many ways, the way you respond to them defines you as a leader. Remember, leaders only exist because problems exist that need fixing!
Church Leadership
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
