Not every pastor is brave enough to do this.  But those that do, often find it a painful yet eye opening thing to do and in many chases a strong motivation to begin to make some changes.  Andy

25 Years of Being a “Secret Shopper Worshiper”

by Doug Lawrence
10 easily corrected things I found…is this your church?

Who’s checking your church for “chinks in the armor?” It’s important to identify and do something about them. For 25 years I’ve enjoyed the occasional foray into sister churches to act as an objective “chink finder.” My checklist for effectiveness has over 100 items on it, but I’m just going to share some impressions that have occurred way too often in my experience!

I didn’t intend to be a “secret shopper,” it just sort of happened. Twenty-five years ago my pastor called me into his office to talk about a newspaper article he had been reading about the retail industry and how cleverly they were sending paid stealth shoppers into the field to ferret out bad practices in their retail stores. The pastor thought maybe we should do the same sort of investigation at our church.

So, I found someone (non-Christian) to help with the task and, I must say, he was thrilled at the possibility that he might find out about some horrible secrets we were hiding or maybe even learn about our clandestine rituals and human sacrifices! He was very disappointed to find zero weird stuff, and about two weeks later started attending the church regularly. That was a good outcome, but the great lesson for us (and everyone in our congregation) was that we should all be “watching the store” a little more closely.

I spoke of this experience at a church conference many years ago and over time I’ve been asked dozens of times to come to various churches and report on my objective observations. This is a list of some of concerns I reported to one church’s staff and elders. Remember that by the time I gave them their debrief, we were speaking very candidly.

1. I believe you think that your church is very friendly, but not one person greeted me in the hour and a half I spent with you.

2. Your signage is similar to a country club’s golf course—no information. At a CC the members all know everything there is to know about every hole on the course, so signage is usually not needed. At your church, I ended up feeling like I was in a club and didn’t know the secret handshake. I couldn’t find an adult class I wanted to attend and finally gave up. The truth is, I couldn’t even find the men’s room.

3. The folks at Willow Creek told us years ago that visitors don’t like it when we talk about money during services. That’s probably true, but, at least for me, I kept waiting for you to tell me about some of the things you were doing in the community and around the world so that I could help. I was looking for the “put your money where your mouth is” challenge that goes with your considerable vision.

4. There was a lot of talk about families and married folks. I wondered how I would have felt if I were a single in your community.

5. The sermon was exemplary from a homiletics point of view, but I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with the information I received. Not every sermon needs an application, but every sermon should have something resembling a behavioral objective. “So what?” is never a bad question to ask when you’re assembling a sermon.

6. I must say that I couldn’t figure out what your core beliefs are. You said a creed (rapidly) in unison, and I still didn’t get it, and there was no written material that would have helped answer that question either.

7. The announcements were twice as long as the Prayers of the People. If I had not known better, I might have assumed you were more interested in potlucks than prayer. That may seem harsh, but I observe in many churches that they believe that their activities are a sign of their health. I’m not entirely sure that’s true.

8. The guy operating the PowerPoint for hymns and songs on your screens consistently forwarded the slides late, so I was never prepared to move on. Come to think of it, I got very few cues from leadership about what was happening next in the service, so I spent the hour constantly playing catch up.

9. It felt like you believe that long delays between events in the service make it more reverent. Educators used to say that Sesame Street was too fast-paced for young minds, but they don’t say that much any more. We’ve all become accustomed to fast edits and rapidly moving story lines. Long pauses are not necessarily more reverent. In fact, they might be the moments where people’s attention slips between the cracks!

10. Small thing… Instead of just saying, “We’re so glad you’re here this morning,” try adding, “God loves our coming together to give Him praise.” Without meaning to, churches often end up being more about themselves and their culture than the Founder of their gathering.

Have you developed a plan for evaluating your worship experiences. As my uncle used to say, “It couldn’t hurt!”

Blessings,
Doug

—Doug Lawrence, internationally recognized speaker, author, and advisor, helps churches assess and improve their skillfulness in creating engaging worship experiences by utilizing his more than 35 years of “deep trench” worship leadership in prominent mainline churches.  Doug now teams with the slingshotgroup.net to place extraordinary worship leaders in extraordinary churches.

This post is close to my heart and where I live and breathe.  When I first begin working with a church, “I’m the secret worshiper that arrives late, sits in the back and acts somewhat lost…all to see how prepared churches are for newcomers.  Often my report surprises the leaders, but in all honestly, seldom the pastor.  I could add a few to this list of 10, could you?  Let’s hear them.

Andy

Churches Jumping the Shark

By Derik Hambly

ABP) — When does a church “jump the shark?” That phrase refers to the time Fonzi, the star of the TV comedy “Happy Days,” jumped a shark (literally) and has served as an example of a TV show that tries something strange to boost sagging ratings.

I wonder if many churches are trying to “pack the house” by doing the same thing? I’m reminded of the story from the life of fundamentalist Baptist preacher J. Frank Norris about the time he baptized a rodeo cowboy and had the man’s horse stand in the back of the church to watch. Personally I believe he jumped the shark long before the cowboy baptism, but today it seems many churches — in the desire to be innovative and creative — are jumping their own sharks.

Ed Young Jr. recently hosted a “Car give away extravaganza.” Young gave away 13 cars on Mother’s Day. Some were for the needy and others were random drawings. I’m not against the idea of helping women in this way, but listening to the clip it sounded just like an episode of Oprah Winfrey. He announced it with the excitement of a talk show and the crowd (congregation) responded with cheers.

This is the same man who preached on sex with a bed on stage and gave a daily sex challenge to couples. I recently saw a video of him doing a rap song for a preachers’ conference called “UBU.” I really do believe Young has jumped the shark so many times I’ve lost count.

Young isn’t the only one. Preachers are preaching with tanks, cars, entire stage sets. Some mega-churches constantly bring in celebrities and script their services in ways that are slick and polished like an episode of “American Idol.” I know one church that designed its children’s department to model a kids’ show and baptized children with a cannon shooting confetti over the crowd. So much shark jumping I can’t keep up.

I watched a video clip of Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, when he rode – dressed like General Patton — into the chapel on a Hummer with guns. Blank machine guns were firing. He got off, took off his helmet, pointed around and said, “We are going to take the Hill!” The Hill is the neighborhood where the seminary sits and he was announcing a new evangelism effort to visit homes in the area. The crowd went wild. Even schools are jumping sharks.

I’m not bitter over mega-churches or big churches. Smaller churches can jump the shark just as easily. Some smaller churches do their own gimmicks and many try to model what they see the “big” churches do. Many small-town churches jump baby sharks.

Have I ever jumped the shark? I have to say yes. There are times I can worry more about how things “look” or whether people “liked” worship. Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive for quality and the best in what we do. But the best/quality I do is not for me, but for God.

I do want to be relevant so folks can connect and so that real needs and real people are brought to a real God. This very article used many cultural references and I see no problem with that. There just comes a time when we cross a line that makes us look very fake and quite silly. This isn’t a call to any style of worship because this happens in all styles. As worship leaders and churches we are going to have to work hard to help our folks understand worship and strive to experience a holy God who can transform lives.

It’s only a matter of time before some preacher out there literally does try to water ski over a shark to boost attendance. I just wonder if he’ll look as cool as the Fonz when he does!

Derik Hamby

Derik Hamby is pastor of Randolph Memorial Baptist Church in Madison Heights, Va., and a trustee of the Religious Herald. He blogs at http://dwhamby1.wordpress.com.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Has your church ever “jumped the shark?” or are you familiar with any shark jumping churches?  I’m looking forward to hearing your stories.  You can’t make up this stuff.

Andy

This is most likely one of the most helpful posts that I have placed on The Disciple Makers so far.  Many of the things on this blog have pointed out the difficult condition of American churches.  This article however is filled with great ideas and concepts of churches that are creatively reaching their communities.  You may not agree with everything you read, so take what you can and pass on the rest.  Happy reading.  Andy

As an organization, the Center for Church Communication (CFCC) wanted to spotlight churches that are excelling in brilliant communication. They wanted to recognize communication that demonstrates talent leveraged with creativity and commitment to the cause and to celebrate design, but not just for design’s sake, more specifically for the purpose of connecting people to God’s message, to Jesus.

Firestarter is a way to recognize churches that have ignited ideas and sparked brilliant communication. The hope is that this project will fan the flame and spread those creative embers to other church communicators.

2010 Firestarters

The 2010 Center for Church Communication Firestarters were announced in July. Read more about what a Firestarter is and how churches were selected.

Bloom – St. Paul, Minn.
They have a fresh approach to church branding. They launched a young, hip and sophisticated  church brand for young adults in the politically-charged Twin Cities. The brand appeal has been attracting creatives to the new church plant since its launch in the fall of 2009.
On the web: http://whybloom.com

The Gateway Church – Des Moines, Iowa
They desire to join with God in the renewal of all things, namely Des Moines. The design flows into the building that they use. The preaching flows into the small group materials. It all works. They are reaching a community of believers (ages 20-35) exceptionally well, in a time when this age group is leaving the church in droves.
On the web: http://thegatewaychurch.com

BridgeWay Church – Oklahoma City, Okla.
Their Worship & Arts communication and community is a definite highlight. There is a highly connected, inter-generational community of artists that bring a distinctive feel to this church. They communicate the gospel through home church groups and Celebration Sunday, and also through projects within the art community.
On the web: http://www.bridgewaychurch.com & http://brandnewmountainspeeches.com

Mission Community Church – Gilbert, Ariz.
This is a church focused on the raising up the vision of Micah 6:8 as their mission. They are doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. They recently opened a brand new facility and for their grand opening did an amazing kick off to this new season in their church. Mission Community Church has been a part of rescuing girls out of the sex trade locally in the Phoenix area and globally in places like Fiji. They’re huge on putting flesh and bones to the gospel while helping people find their spiritual shape as they build relationships.
On the web: http://www.mission68.org & http://www.mission68.org/_grand-opening

Park Community Church – Chicago
They are incredibly forward thinking in their communications, transitioning away from a bulletin to an email/web/texting/social media structure that gets the info out much more efficiently and effectively.
On the web: http://www.parkcommunitychurch.org

Waterfront Community Church – Schaumburg, Ill.
They give away 100% of their Sunday offering to serve and love people in their community. This move has allowed them to take down barriers that exist between the church and it’s community. They have chosen to love their neighborhood and give sacrificially with what is brought in through tithes and offerings. Local media has taken notice and Waterfront has taken great strides to advance the gospel in Schaumburg.
On the web: http://waterfrontcc.com

Guts Church – Tulsa, Okla.
They have a long standing reputation for community relations. Any time their is a community disaster, Guts Church is there to help. Additionally, Guts Church has volunteers throughout the city helping in schools and many other organizations.
On the web: http://www.gutschurch.com

Grace Church – McKean, Penn.
They’re using a fresh voice and simple clarity to personalize communication and alleviate the noise and chaos of traditional “broadcast” promotions. Also, they’re partnering with the mayor’s office and major nonprofits to ‘Serve Erie’ and have a diverse management team (in experience and age). They’re innovative without significant resources.
On the web: http://whoisgrace.com

The Chapel – Chicago
The Chapel is doing some incredible work in the Chicagoland area and have leveraged great marketing ideas, social media, and the web to effectively reach thousands. They have an active presence on most social networks, ranging from a Facebook group for their singles ministry to a staff Twitter directory.
On the web: http://www.chapel.org

Ottumwa Bridge – Ottumwa, Iowa
Led by Marty Schmidt, this church has done a lot with a very small budget. They have a great website and lead pastor Marty’s blog serves as one of the primary points of communication for the church. They are growing exponentially in a tough place for church growth, with a minuscule budget.
On the web: http://ottumwabridge.org

About CFCC

As the Center for Church Communication (CFCC), we exist to help the church matter. We’re a resource for church communicators. Churches have the greatest story ever told, but struggle to tell it well. We want to help churches tell it better. http://www.cfcclabs.org/

Was this post helpful?  Anything spark your interest with some great ideas?  Maybe some of the ideas had a reverse impression on you.  Let’s hear your thought.  Andy

A Hail Mary Approach to Restarting a Dying Church

by Bill Easum Revolutionary Restart – Tips for churches that need a restart.

By Bill Easum

The average church in the U.S. is under a hundred in worship. Churches with less than 50 people in worship make up 40% of all churches in the U.S. The average age in these churches with less than 50 people in worship is over 65. Add to that less than 2% of these churches are growing and you have a formula for major disaster over the next fifteen years for 40% of all the churches in the U.S.

If there is to be any hope for the vast majority of these churches radical action must be undertaken within the next few years or most of them will go out of existence. So, I am suggesting a “Hail Mary Strategy” for these churches.  You get the image. It’s the last five seconds of the football game; your team is down by six points; and you are on your own 45 yard line.  Only a touchdown will allow you to win the game. So you call the play and launch the ball as high and as far as you can hoping beyond hope the ball will come to rest in the arms of your receiver somewhere over the goal line.

So the question is this – “Will the leaders of your church wake up to the fact that the church is in serious trouble and the only way to move it from survival to thriving is by starting over?”

Starting over means the following based on the “Hail Mary Strategy.”

• Find a way to have a full time pastor/planter who will commit for three years . I know you can’t afford this at the moment but you must find a way or you will continue to decline. A part time pastor does not have the time to do all that is necessary to restart a church.

• Suspend all of the present ways/policies/hidden agendas/system stories regarding decision making and day to day running the church and allow the pastor and a launch team to give direction to the church during the three years. This also means disbanding all of the existing committees and the Administrative Council.

• Do away with the present mission statement and come up with one that a six year old can remember as well as short enough to be written on a t-shirt.

• Allow the pastor to bring together and disciple/equip a re-launch team of a seven people and give them full authority to make all of the decisions for the next three years.  These people need to have four faith characteristics: one, a renewed belief in Jesus Christ and the mission of the church; two, a servant’s heart; three a deep compassion for the lost; and four, a more focused prayer effort.

• The pastor should be personally responsible for spending 80% of his or her time in the community, dreaming up ways to reach the unchurched, and responding to the visitors to worship. I’ve never seen a church this size grow without the pastor being the direct cause of the growth. Just think how it would change the church if the pastor personally brought in fifty new members over the next eighteen months?

• Begin an indigenous worship service designed specifically for people 25-50 which means lively music and tons of visuals.

• The pastor must find a musician who believes in the mission and is willing to give his or her time to developing the music and musicians for this service. I know you don’t have a clue how to do this but you get what you look for and if part of the 80% of the time the pastor is spending on the unchurched is devoted to finding this person the pastor will find them.  These people are out there waiting to be asked to play in worship rather in the bar scene.

• Send out six off-the-wall direct mail pieces to all the households with five miles of the church announcing the start of the new worship service.  These mail out pieces will focus on two things- a new service and a new sermon series designed to catch the imagination of the people under 50 years of age. It must not look churchy.

• Develop one or two signature ministries.  Churches with less than 300 in worship can only do one or two key ministries. I suggest one of these be a children’s ministry fashioned after Promise Land from Willow Creek. You will not be able to afford  to purchase it, but you can easily put your own program together once you understand the basics.

• Keep the present worship service in tack for the present members. These folks have kept the church open all these years and need to be honored for their commitment. What I am suggesting in no way diminishes their past or future contributions to the God’s Kingdom.

• Have a capital fund drive to raise enough money to accomplish the above. One of the roles of the present members will be to “pray and pay” for what needs to be done to reach young adults for Christ and cause your church to thrive once again. With a solid plan in place you can probably borrow more from your bank.  This should be more than enough money to do what is necessary.  Now you see why I call this a “Hail Mary” strategy. But it works if you have the right planter/restart/pastor.

The one thing you know for sure; if you keep doing what you’ve been doing you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting. Surely you’re not satisfied with that.  So roll the dice; spend everything you have; and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, it just means you’ll close the doors a few years sooner and with a lot less grief.

Bill Easum

Bill Easum is the founder and senior consultant for 21st Century Strategies and is one of the most highly respected church consultants and Christian futurists in North America.  He has been a pioneer in helping churches grow on behalf of the Kingdom, with 35 yearsof pastoral ministry in three churches and two denominations. During his 24 years at Colonial Hills Church in San Antonio, the church grew from a restart of 35 in worship to over 1,100 in worship (1993 when he left the local pastorate).  Bill is a graduate of Baylor University, B.A., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, M.D., and Perkins School of Theology, S.T.M. He is the author of twelve books, the most recent, “A Second Resurrection.”

http://churchconsultations.com/

I always encourage churches to think “outside the box” and allow God to put new dreams and vision in their hearts in order to do something supernatural and exciting.  After reading this article by Bill, there is no doubt that he’s certainly is suggesting that inside the box is slow death for a church.  I’m curious what your opinion is about his idea of “restarting” a church.  One thing for sure is that it’s taking a chance, but honestly it’s a lot better idea then letting a church die.  OK…ready for your thoughts.

Andy

This just may surprise you.  It sure did me.  With all the bad press and scandals going on in the Catholic Church who would have thought they would be growing, for any reason?  Not only that, with the aggressive church planting efforts done by the Southern Baptist, doesn’t it take you by a bit of a surprise that they have experienced decline?  This article is a bit dry but causes me to scratch my head and wonder what’s going on.

What do you think?

Andy

Catholics, Mormons, Assemblies of God are growing while the mainline churches report a continuing decline

New York, February 12, 2010 — The National Council of Churches’ 2010 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches reports membership gains in the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Assemblies of God, among others.

The 78th annual edition of the Yearbook also reports a continuing decline in membership of virtually all mainline denominations. And the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s second largest denomination and long a reliable generator of church growth, reported a decline in membership for the second year in a row, down 0.24 percent to 16,266,920.

The Catholic Church, the nation’s largest at more than 68 million members, also reported a slight membership loss in 2009 but rebounded this year with a robust growth of 1.49 percent.

The Latter-day Saints grew 1.71 percent to 5,873,408 members and the Assemblies of God grew 1.27 percent to 2,863,265 members, according to figures reported in the 2010 Yearbook.

Other churches that continued to post membership gains in 2010 are Jehovah’s Witnesses, up 2 percent to 1,092,169 members, and Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.), up 1.76 percent to 1,053,642 members.

Churches reporting the highest membership losses are the Presbyterian Church (USA), down 3.28 percent to 2,941,412; American Baptist Churches in the USA, down 2 percent to 1,358,351; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, down 1.92 percent to 4,709,956 members.

Membership figures reported in the 2010 Yearbook were collected by the churches in 2008 and reported to the Yearbook in 2009.

However, eleven of the 25 largest churches did not report updated figures: the Church of God in Christ; the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.; the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.; the African Methodist Episcopal Church; the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America; the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.; Churches of Christ; Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc.; Baptist Bible Fellowship International; and Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.

Church financial trends are also reported in the Yearbook. The financial reporting in the 2010 Yearbook is based on the financial income reports of the 64 churches reporting. The almost 45 million members of these churches contributed almost $36 billion, showing a decrease in the total income to the churches of $26 million.

Information in the Yearbook is kept up to date in two regular electronic updates each year. Access to this Internet data is provided through a unique asscode printed inside the back cover.

Total church membership reported in the 2010 Yearbook is 147,384,631 members, up 0.49 percent over 2009.

The top 25 churches reported in the 2010 Yearbook are in order of size:

1. The Catholic Church, 68,115,001 members, up 1.49 percent.

2. Southern Baptist Convention,16,228,438 members, down 0.24percent.

3. The United Methodist Church, 7,853,987 members, down 0.98 percent.

4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,974,041 members, up 1.71 percent.

5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no membership updates reported.

6. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc, 5,000,000  members, no membership updates reported.

7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,633,887 members, down1.62 percent.

8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

9. Assemblies of God (ranked 10 last year), 2,899,702 members, up 1.27 percent.

10. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 1(ranked 9 last year), 2,844,952 members, down 3.28 percent.

11.  African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

11. National  Missionary Baptist Convention of America,  2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

11. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

14. The Lutheran Church– Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,337,349 members, down 1.92 percent.

15. The Episcopal Church, 2,057,292 members, down 2.81 percent.

16. Churches of Christ, 1,639,495 members, no membership updates reported.

17. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

17. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., 1,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

19. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,400,000 members, members, no membership updates reported.

20. American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., 1,331,127  members, down 2.00 percent.

21. Baptist Bible Fellowship International (ranked 22 last year), 1,200,000 members, no membership updates reported.

22. Jehovah’s Witnesses (ranked 23 last year) 1,114,009members, up 2.00 percent.

23. United Church of Christ (ranked 22 last year), 1,111,691 members, down 2.93 percent.

24. Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), (ranked 25 last year), 1,072,169 members, up 1.76 percent.

25. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (ranked 24 last year), 1,071,616 members, no membership updates reported.

The 2010 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches reports on 227 national church bodies. Statistics in the yearbook reflect “continued high overall church participation, and account for the religious affiliation of over 163 million Americans,” the editor reports.

OK…I’m interested in your comments.  Any surprises here?  Anyone want to comment on any of the stats of some of the denominations and what’s happening with them?

Andy