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Where are the churches that honestly equip people for ministry?
Actually there aren’t many, mostly due to being program focused. Often I tease pastors that ministry isn’t simply going to the “church program” store and buying the latest notebook that contains what some other successful church is doing. What works for one church doesn’t always work for another. Churches need their own “process” of equipping and developing people for ministry.
Dr. Bill Donahue helps us to determine the difference. Tell me your thoughts Andy
Is Your Church Developmental?
by Bill Donahue
There is clearly a difference in a group, church or other organization between those that equip and develop, and those who simply gather people and move them around.
Here is a comparison.
Non-equipping vs. Equipping
Event-driven vs. Community-Driven
Fills Slots vs. Forms Servants
Throws Tasks at People vs. Tasks Emerge from People
People Serve Organization vs. Organization Serves People
Begins w/ a Program vs. Begins w/a Relationship
So, an event-driven, slot filling approach uses the platform to drive people toward accomplishing the program. A community-driven, servant-mobilizing group starts with a relationship and re-strucutres the organization to support people on a mission.
What is the litmus test?
Does your staff spend more energy competing for announcement slots on Sundays to mobilize volunteers for service than on training them for ministry? (“Our infants will grow up to be little Hitlers if you don’t serve in the nursery!”)
How much money in the budget is spent on training people for specific ministry based on their gifts and ministry opportunities, and how much is spent on “gathering” people to fulfill organizational roles and tasks? What is the ratio in dollars, hours, staffing? Sounds a bit idealistic, but is entirely biblical.
Did Jesus say, “Go you therefore and organize events?” Did Paul write in Ephesians 4 that each part of the body does church work or that churches should work to help each part of the body do its own work?
In reality these are never either-or propositions – but what is the primary focus of your community? That is a fair question. Equipping is harder to do and measure, at least initially. Reggie McNeal gets this in his book Missional Renaissance, about changing the scorecard of the church.
What if we measured how many apprentice leaders we had, how many couples in restorative therapy, how many people trained for serving the poor, how many people are equipped to actually study the bible and engage life’s challenges with the truth? What if we measured not only how much money we collected each week (most church bulletins do this) but posted how much we gave away each week?
What would it take to get there?
Dr. Bill Donahue
Dr. Bill Donahue is a widely sought after speaker, author and strategic voice for building community, shaping strategic mission and vision, and developing leaders at all levels of an organization. Bill has worked in the marketplace and in non-profit environments, most recently serving 18 years building groups and developing leaders at Willow Creek Community Church
http://drbilldonahue.com/
I love the comparisons that Bill offers in this post. Can you think of any others. Andy
Could your church use a “secret shopper” (worshiper)?
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 
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
When churches jump the shark
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.
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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
Starting A Fire to Reach Your World
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
Can Churches Get by on Less?
Getting by when churches have to make do with less
by: Dan Hotchkiss
Our parents’ and grandparents’ memories of the Great Depression are not fond ones, but they came with a silver lining: When you’re making do with less, you learn what really matters.
Having less is no fun, as many church executives are finding out. Whether unpaid pledges, unmet campaign goals or plummeting investment funds, the fiscal story over the last several months for congregations has been challenging. It’s a situation no one would have chosen, but here it is; we need to make the best of it.
Americans are out of practice with making do with less. Between 1950 and 1970, real income per capita—the amount of stuff each of us can buy with what we make—almost tripled. Congregations participated fully in that growth: During the same 20 years, the per-member revenue of denominational churches tripled. Our concept of the minimum a church needs to provide each member has grown with members’ concept of the minimum to which they are “entitled.”
Since 1970 real incomes have stagnated, but until recently, consumption has kept on growing. We made the difference up by borrowing: consumer debt, mortgage debt, and—especially since 2001—national debt. Reliable statistics about churches are hard to come by, but who can doubt that congregations have participated in this trend? Over the last 30 years, churches have become as comfortable with debt as families. And, with the same results.
“If you build it, they will come,” is a nice slogan, but not an eternal truth. Like families, churches can go into bankruptcy or foreclosure. Some have already. Others will if they don’t quickly tighten up their belts.
Where is the growth?
The good news, such as it is, is that spending more per person does not seem to spell success for congregations. The denominational churches that increased their standard of living most during the postwar decades are the same ones that declined in influence and numbers.
And who grew? Lean, mean, mission-oriented churches operating out of storefronts and warehouses, using clergy without seminary training and musicians without highbrow credentials; big congregations with low costs per worshiper. And, online ministries whose marginal cost for increased volume comes as close to zero as a cost can come.
This is nothing new. Throughout American history, most churches start lean and get fat. As they invest more in perpetuating their institutional life, new converts lose interest. Over time, churches that began as earthshaking religious movements accommodate the culture, accumulate capital, and increase operating costs. Churches that do not continually renew their interest in future members eventually lose their edge.
Does your church have a mission statement? Probably. Does it say whose lives you plan to change and in what way? Probably not. The typical church mission statement is either a vague bumper sticker or a catalog of every program and activity with a strong enough constituency to raise a fuss if it were left out. In theory, mission statements reflect hard choices about priorities; in practice they too often reflect leaders’ preference not to choose.
Here is where an economic crisis may conceal an opportunity. When budgets grow, leaders find it easy not to choose. They say “yes” to every question. When budgets shrink, leaders have to say “no” sometimes. In order to say “yes” to what is central to the mission requires saying “no” to cherished, praiseworthy, excellent, and long-established—but peripheral—activities simply because they are not central to the mission.
Refocusing on the core
It is not easy to take advantage of this opportunity. During the Great Depression, the established, mainline churches suffered, but their decline accelerated. I suspect one factor is that most of them gave priority to preserving the externals of church life—clergy, staff and buildings. And, with too few exceptions, they didn’t take advantage of the slowdown to refocus on the core, distinctive gifts each congregation offers people.
What needs to be done? On one level, it’s a simple business calculation: If you believe, as most economists do, that this recession will be deep and long, your church needs to cut costs or find new revenue, and soon. From a business point of view, the time to act is early. Politically, this may be difficult, because the seriousness of the recession may take awhile to sink in with your decision-makers.
If parts of a large plant need to be sold, closed or rented in order to save cash, it’s better to do it sooner than later. Selling unused real estate may seem unwise in a down market, but remember not to fall victim to the “sunk cost” fallacy that leads gamblers to throw good money after bad. The fact that an asset has lost value does not mean you need to hang onto it. Unless you believe values are likely to rise soon, the price you can get today—however disappointing—is the true value of the property.
It is even more tempting to postpone needed staff cuts. Waiting for attrition—or even for the end of the budget year—only deepens the cuts that need to be made. That is the business calculus.
But money decisions in the church are never simply about money. To persuade decision-makers to make hard budget cuts and donors to open their reduced pocketbooks, leaders need to connect decision-making to a clear-eyed understanding of the congregation’s mission. That’s where the sense of urgency created by a global recession can actually create opportunities.
Because we all need to make do with less, it can be easier to get leaders to focus on distinguishing the core mission from the external, “nice, but peripheral” cost centers that naturally spring up when funds are plentiful.
Getting hit from both sides
If your church depends heavily on endowment income, it may be hit from two sides: decreased “draw” from the endowment, and wealthy contributors who feel less wealthy because of their own investment losses. Of course, wealthy people—even when their losses are great in percentage terms—do not suffer as a struggling family suffers after a job loss.
The philanthropic principle: ”From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48) continues to apply. But we who ask for gifts can plan on being asked sharp questions by both rich and poor. “What difference will my gift make?” “Why your church and not some other?” In hard times, a glib answer to these questions will not do.
To satisfy the queries of potential donors who are making do with less, the church must separate the kernel of its mission from the chaff surrounding it. Mission-driven budget cuts are one way; a renewed focus of staff and lay leader effort is another.
In economic hard times, people need the church more than ever—to comfort them when they lose jobs, have to adjust their lifestyles or postpone retirement; to provide them with meaningful opportunities to serve those worse off than themselves, and to advocate for justice for the weak. In the process, we may gain new eyes to see the frills in our own institutional life and recommit ourselves to what is most essential.
Dan Hotchkiss, Middleboro, MA, is a senior consultant with The Alban Institute. www.danhotchkiss.com
Have churches become spoiled with all that the past economy had to offer and now unable or unwilling to make the needed adjustments? I have seen churches make cuts but almost always in the things that never made sense to me, such as missionary giving, evangelism, discipleship and community outreach. It stands to reason that those things are the areas that will cause growth, yet the first ministries that suffer cuts. OK…what are your thoughts?
Andy
Revolutionary Restart – Tips for churches that need a restart
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
Lessons on mentoring
I’m sure you know that discipleship is more then just a few hours a week going through some Bible lessons and the praying. Making disciples is a lesson in life. It’s one person mentoring another, not only in biblical truth but also on how Christians react and deal with life’s issues. Thom Rainer is one of my favorite persons. I don’t know him personally (wish I did) but I feel as if I know him from his insightful books about church health and growth. I found this article by Thom about mentoring (discipling) and wanted to share his wisdom with you.
Andy
Lessons on mentoring
by Thom Rainer 6/11/2010
Jimmy Scroggins is one of my favorite people in the world. He serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach, but I have known him many years before he became pastor of this great church. Indeed, I had a small role in mentoring Jimmy in his younger adult years. To be honest, my role in mentoring him was small compared to others. Kevin Ezell, Jimmy’s former pastor and boss, invested a lot more time in Jimmy than I did.
But I take great joy that I had a small role in Jimmy’s life. As a man in my mid-50s, I have some of my greatest joys watching how God is using men in whom I have invested some of my own life.
But I could have done better.
Mistakes made in mentoring
The length of this blog is not sufficient to highlight all the mistakes I have made in mentoring, but a few will suffice for now. I guess my most frequent mistake was just plain busyness. I let good activities replace great activities. I failed to see the long-term impact of investing in a life, and too often I succumbed to the tyranny of the urgent. Simply put, I did not mentor as often as I should.
On other occasions I failed to take advantage of opportunities ripe for mentoring. I remember Jimmy Scroggins asking to travel with me on one occasion. And I remember thinking that I should have taken more young men on my travels. I missed great opportunities for a lot of one-on-one time.
Key lessons
I have learned through the years some key lessons about mentoring. I’m sure that my insights are neither original nor exhaustive. Perhaps, though, they might be of some value to you.
1. Mentoring can be formal or informal. On occasion, I would intentionally decide to work with a young man. In the case of Jimmy Scroggins, I never declared that I was mentoring him. But, through different events where we were together, a mentoring relationship did exist.
2. I did my best mentoring when I enjoyed the person whom I was mentoring. Okay, there’s no abundance of wisdom with that comment. Still, I found myself a more effective mentor when the relationship was fun and enjoyable.
3. Mentoring is not a one-way effort. I have learned much from Jimmy Scroggins, probably more than he’s ever learned from me.
4. Mentoring works best when it is built on the foundation of prayer. This past week, I called Jimmy because I wanted him to pray for someone. My relationship with those I mentored was strongest when it was built on a common trust and dependence on Christ.
5. When mentoring is effective, the one who is mentored becomes an effective mentor as well.
And the gift goes on…
I do have some regrets. I do wish I had taken more young men under my wing and offered them my time and what little wisdom I had to offer. But I also know that, God willing, I still have years left to mentor others.
And lest I fail to mention the obvious, my three sons have always been my most intense focus in mentoring. God gave me three of the greatest gifts in the world in Sam Rainer, Art Rainer, and Jess Rainer. The times I have invested in them have been some of the most precious times of my life.
One final word in this somewhat rambling blog. Jimmy Scroggins is now mentoring my son, Art, who serves on the staff of the church with Jimmy. And I am watching how he is doing so much better with Art than I ever did with Jimmy.
Of all the investments we can make, nothing is as valuable as investing in a life. I am grateful for the times I have. And I am grateful to see the legacy of mentoring continue.
The gift truly does go on.
—
Thom Rainer
Thom Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, and for 15 years prior to that led a church and denominational consulting firm. He is the author of 22 books. His newest, Transformational Church, released June 1.
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Have you had the pleasure of being mentored or mentoring someone else? What affect did that person have on you and what would you say were the benefits of such a relationship? OK…looking forward to your comments.
Andy
Churches and Denominations – Who’s Growing and Who’s not?
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
Distracted from The Mission
Are churches really distracted from The Mission?
Pastors, church leaders and members alike often wonder what’s happening to their churches. They just can’t seem to get “over their mistakes” that have caused the church to be at a stand still or declining. The problem? Most churches are distracted from The Mission that Jesus gave us over 2,00 years ago and have shifted into Maintenance Mode. Berry Winders from Ministry Indicators helps put things in perspective and refocus on why we are here as a church.
Andy
Distracted churches can reclaim first love
by: Barry Winders
Contemplate a total surrender of meaningless activities and church busyness.
What would the church look like if we stopped counting people, stopped soliciting new donors, and stopped staffing or funding ministry programs that only serve our members?
Distracted churches come in many varieties: Missionary Church, Maintenance (Survivor) Church, Seeker-Sensitive Church (Weekend Church), Consumer Church, Church Growth Church, and Activist Church. Most churches are a combination of these characteristic types. Critical to understanding distracted churches is being able to definitely describe where your church is and to strategize ways to lead the church to practically demonstrate its first love of connecting people to God.
Missionary church
This type of church is noted for sending a lot of missionaries to foreign countries, raising funds for missionaries, holding missions conferences and, when they are in town, featuring missionaries prominently in worship services.
Because of rapidly-changing Western culture, however, many churches are experiencing outreach ministries that are as cross-cultural as traditional missions.
Maintenance church
If a pastor expends the most energy emphasizing the need for more workers to begin and sustain church programs, it can easily be interpreted as an organization primarily concerned about providing benefits. Thus, the pastor is the recruiter and members are clubbers.
Reggie McNeal describes such churches as having a “club” mentality. They are churches who have made themselves their purpose. Their priorities include maintaining established programs and practices, in large part because they are established, and keeping people coming to the church in order to maintain the programs. The church building (enlarging and maintaining it) is often a key goal or priority.
This model easily surrenders to legalism and making a “Little Big Horn” stand against the different look and change in the religious landscape. Many Christians who are loyal to this model see their faith and way of “doing” church as the only way. Tolerance of examining one’s faith is seen as compromise of their interpretation of the Bible. Either/or answers are viewed as the right answers. In their view of church behavior, command and control are central issues. Discernment of scriptures always runs consistent with church polity and doctrine. To them it would be reprehensible to question the way the church does things or gets things done. In their eyes, there is no middle ground to those who see their mission in life as preserving the church against the attacks of the world. The huge problem with this mentality is that the church is certainly not a perfect world in itself.
Seeker church
Over the last 10 years especially, the burden of evangelism has shifted church services into a means of promoting the gospel. The seeker model of ministry puts the major focus or emphasis of mission on what happens at a church during its weekend services. The objective for many worship teams is to provide experience via music, ambiance and theatre. In many churches, this model has proven successful in terms of increased attendance and assimilating people in the church service who were previously unchurched. However, one of the dangers of this approach has been a shift of responsibility to the programmatic aspect of the church service and an emphasis on invitational outreach. Less emphasis is placed on each individual follower of Jesus to live a life of discipleship that models the love and care that can attract unchurched people to the gospel. Another danger is the self-imposed pressure to out-perform and out-experience the last worship performance. Sadly, when this occurs, the worship of creating worship happens.
Consumer church
This church becomes a vendor of religious goods and services. People are attracted to the church to be fed and have their needs met. The major emphasis is to “go” or “come” to the church. Programs and ministries are more attractional than incarnational. This explains why the church talks less about spirituality and more about announcements, prayer requests, and the like. It is all about having what people want so they come to the church as a consumer, viewing the church as responsible for their own spiritual and personal growth. They become immature, undiscipled Christians.
Church-growth church
The church-growth movement is a mixture of things good, bad and in-between. In part a by-product of the secularization in America, the movement created obsessions with the exaltation of numbers and of technique. Church leaders have become fascinated with statistics, data and marketing concepts. Like the business world, the church is conscious of its target audience, periods of receptivity, trends, efficiency, quantifiability, productivity and, of course, the greater use of technology. However, sometimes when a church focuses on trying to grow, the larger mission suffers and the church can actually become less attractive.
Activist church
The church can ill afford to shift its message from one of redemption and hope for humanity to a message of political activism alone. Just think how terrible it would be if religious institutions carried labels of “red” and “blue” churches and the membership requirements included a litmus test concerning your political persuasion. Does morality come by changing the laws of the land and prescribed viewpoints? Or is the heart of an individual changed by the presence of Christ one person at a time?
Re-focusing on the first mission
Standing in contrast to these church types, missional churches are focused on the main purpose of the church to connect people to God. They transform the distracted church into a church focused on the vision of God for loving humanity as Christ did. It takes a lot of discipline and creativity to stop doing what distracts you from seeing with God’s missional eyes.
Have you identified the distraction you see in your church?
Berry Winders
Barry Winders, a missional coach for Ministry Indicators. Barry is the author of two books: Leading With Ministry IntelligenceFinding the Missional Path (2007). Both books are available now in bookstores, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. He is passionate about aiding small and mid-size congregations in moving from their current levels of ministry and to higher and more effective ones that produce disciples.
Lots to think about in this article. My question for The Disciple Makers readers is, “have you ever been part of a distracted church? I know…stupid question. Well…tell us without mentioning the church, what was the nature of the distraction and was anything ever done to correct it?
Andy
Kingdom-Driven Discipleship
I extended an invitation to Paul and Peggy Schlieker to contribute an article on disciple making. They are a special couple with a kindred spirit as our ministry here at The Disciple Makers. Their heart and commitment to making disciples is an encouragement to me as they clearly see that you just can’t make disciples in a crowd. In a day when everything seems to be “driven” by something in eh church, it’s refreshing to see what Paul calls, Kingdom-Driven Discipleship. Enjoy the article and be sure to leave a comment for Paul and Peggy.
Andy
Disciple-making: A Relational Ministry
Many overestimate the lasting impact of events and underestimate the power of relationships. As a result, contemporary Christianity is often a mile wide and an inch deep. Jesus’ ministry was relationship-driven, not event-driven. His focus was people, not programs or classes. Jesus knew that drawing a crowd and making disciples was not the same thing. While large group events can attract, instruct and inspire, they cannot fully transform. Transformation requires relationships. Jesus called plain “fishermen” to spend time with him and then transformed them into fishers of men. If God can change the lives of these ordinary non-theologians, he can produce disciple-makers today.
A mature follower of Jesus obeys, loves and bears fruit (John 8:31; 13:35; 15:8). These and other verses describe the outcome of disciple-making more than the process. In the Olympics we see athletes with flawless physiques. What we don’t see are the years of personal commitment and training required to produce their world-class ability. While a mental picture of what a mature disciple looks like is needed, equally important are the components that produce such a disciple.
Jesus is the perfect model His approach to disciple-making involved two basic elements: time and practice. First, Jesus called his disciples to spend time with him in a variety of life settings. Second, he expected them to practice a godly lifestyle. This kingdom lifestyle was clearly taught and visibly modeled for them every day. Jesus showed his followers how to love God, neighbors and enemies. They grew spiritually through their daily commitment to stay with him and obey his teaching.
Developing a new skill always requires training. To run a marathon, your preparation might begin by attending a class or listening to an experienced runner. A training video may introduce you to various techniques that will help you endure 26 miles, 385 yards. But seminars and videos are not enough. Can you get in shape by watching a workout video? Training for a marathon calls for hours of running. Likewise, spiritual development requires practice. We learn by doing. Habits are formed by discipline, commitment and effort. No one becomes like Jesus by merely thinking about him.
Jesus sees what we can become and wants to enlarge the way we see ourselves. The original disciples certainly realized that the words, “I will make you fishers of men,” were Christ’s agenda. The simple phrase fishers of men significantly shaped the mental picture they had of themselves and their future. Ask Jesus to help you see yourself as a disciple-maker.
Paul and Peggy Schlieker
Paul and Peggy Schlieker have a heart to provide easy to use, practical Bible study lessons that can be used in a variety of settings – both inside and outside of the church building. They teach and disciple seekers, new believers and seasoned followers. Their simple approach is, “if you can read it – you can lead it.”