Off the Agenda: Conversations for Building Church Leaders

Editor's Note: As we assembled our latest resource, Membership in the Congregation, we knew that formal church membership is an ongoing debate. We decided, then, to bring that debate to Off the Agenda. Below is one pastor's take on the issue. If you're interested in writing a response to Thabiti, please email us at BCL@ChristianityToday.com.

There's a new debate among today's Christians. Does the New Testament require, suggest, even hint at local church membership? Are Christians required to belong to a local church, or is it an option? And what does such belonging entail?

The New Testament knows nothing of a creature reborn through faith in Christ, baptized in identification with Christ, communing with Christ at His table, and not a member of a visible, local, identifiable congregation of other born-again baptized believers.

By "membership" I mean the way in which the individual is known to be intentionally committed to every other member of the congregation, and the congregation known to be committed to the individual. On nearly every page of the New Testament, local church membership is assumed.

For example, no one disputes that each Christian is a "member of the body of Christ." We all belong to the spiritual body of our Lord, united to Him inseparably as Head to torso. In that sense, "member" is a peculiarly Christian idea (Rom. 12:3–8; 1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:11–16)—not an idea lifted from Rotary, golf, or ski clubs. But the Bible shows that this spiritual union gets worked out in local church membership with other flesh-and-blood believers.

Continue reading "Church Membership? Yes"...

I grew up in a large church (where my mom was on staff), and my closest friends in high school attended another large church nearby. I have a megachurch pastor in the family. I have seen behind the curtain.

Then during college, I served on staff at two small, rural churches. Today my wife is on staff at our mid-size suburban church. I have to say that, at the end of the day, I really prefer these smaller churches.

Ruth Tucker also prefers smaller churches. Her book Left Behind in a Megachurch World is billed in the subtitle—"How God works through ordinary churches"—as a tribute to the small church, which she calls the "left behind" church. Really the book accomplishes two things. First, it systematically deconstructs the theology, ethos, and appeal of the megachurch movement. Second, it demonstrates through Tucker's reflections on her own experience, theological insights, and spotlights on successful small ministries that "smaller churches bear the greatest mantle for Christlikeness" (from the back cover copy).

Continue reading "Book Corner: A Better Way to be Left Behind"...

The reality of church shootings has led some congregations to use armed vigilantes—those with nothing more than a concealed-weapons permit—as security. In the video above, Richard Hammar, editor for ChurchLawToday.com and author of more than 100 books on church legal and tax issues, talks about the dangers of this practice and one viable alternative.

What security measures do you think are, or aren't, appropriate to use?

Worship leaders, have you ever realized in the middle of a song that you were taking an invisible set of pliers to your congregation's vocal cords? Well, I've been meaning to link to this post by writer/worship leader Bob Kauflin, which has some very practical suggestions for finding singing-friendly keys for your worship set.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

Slower songs with a narrow range (less than an octave) can work fine in lower keys because they don't require as much energy. So "Here I am to Worship" (range of a 5th) could be done in C, D, or E. On the other hand, uptempo songs naturally require more energy and people can often belt out the higher notes without a problem.

…

The widest range a song will go is usually an octave and a fifth, the same range as The Star Spangled Banner. In those cases, I opt for a range of G to D or A to E. Shout to the Lord is an octave and a fourth, so A is a good key, although it can also be done in Bb.

Continue reading "BlogSpotting: For Worship Leaders, Finding the Right Key"...

In my Google News feed this morning, an article from an Illinois paper caught my eye: "How to choose a church -- Four suggestions for seekers." The piece is written by an outreach pastor and is apparently part of a recurring "Clergy Views" series.

Here are the pastor's criteria—in condensed form—for a church worth plugging into:

1. Integrity. "I would stay away from any church whose members claim to be perfect, just as I would stay away from a church where people's lives are not regularly being changed by the power of Jesus Christ."


2. Doctrine. "What they believe will determine what kind of church they are."


3. Friendliness. "If in a couple weeks, no one has made any effort to become your friend, move on."


4. The right fit. "Churches are like blue jeans. Some fit some kinds of people, others don't. You have to find the kind that fits you."

Tim Avery is the associate editor of BuildingChurchLeaders.com.



Continue reading "Pastor Tells Seekers How to Pick a Church"...

Posted by Tim Avery at 11:29 AM on May 29, 2009 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

Our new resource this week is Outreach to Young Adults. In light of that topic, I went and found the above video, which was produced by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.

This 15-minute piece features a wide sample of interviews with young adults who either have had trouble connecting with the churches they've gone to or understand the obstacles faced by their peers. Midway through, they show a list of the top nine things their interviewees were looking for in churches:

1. Safe community


2. Authenticity


3. Mentorship


4. Passionate leaders


5. Interactive environment


6. Involvement


7. Relevant engagement


8. Intellectual challenge


9. Technology and Internet presence

Continue reading "What Do Young Adults Think of Church?"...

I tend not to pay much attention to sensationalistic titles. The last thing we need, I figure, is another alarmist manifesto on how bad the world is becoming. And that's what I thought David Olson's The American Church in Crisis was before I took a closer look. Boy, was I mistaken.

Through fairly extensive research, Olson charts the life cycle of churches. He identifies common denominators between growing churches as well as similarities among dying churches. He explores when in its lifetime a church is the most evangelistic, when it becomes the most introspective, and when it begins to decline.

Olson also takes time to address changing sociological trends in American culture that present challenges for the church, including the shifts from Christian to post-Christian society and from modern to postmodern worldviews, and changing ethnic demographics.

Continue reading "Book Corner: Planting for the Future"...

I recently spoke to a church staff member who had been working with youth full-time for 12 years. Yet in his dozen years of service, he had only attended one Youth Specialties conference—that was all the training he ever received. I couldn't help but think how much he and the thousands of youth he worked with over the years could have benefited from additional training at conferences.

During tough economic times, many churches are looking at cutting all travel for training and events, but that may not be the wisest decision. Why?

1. The church is about people caring for people, so your most important resource is people! They need to be trained and equipped to not only care, but guard and protect. They need to know how to identify young leaders and raise them up. They need to develop an eye for gifting and calling as well as those on the margins. Investing in people is one of the best investments you can make.

Continue reading "4 Reasons Not to Cut Conferences"...

NOTE: This post is adapted from the book Missional Renaissance. In it, McNeal argues that missional churches will shift from program development to people development.

In order to help people grow, we're going to need a new scorecard that celebrates investments in people, not just programs, and cheers breakthroughs in people's lives, not just organizational achievement. We need a scorecard that supports a people development culture.

To pull off this new scorecard will require a retooling, a reallocation of every resource the church and church leaders employ. It can be helpful for us to think through this grid of resources: prayer, people (both leaders and your ministry constituency), time, finances, facilities, and technology. In each of these areas, we can and should identify specific results in people's lives that would signal genuine progress for them.

Below are some benchmarks to track your ministry constituency. These suggestions are just ideas to prime the pump of your imagination as you cultivate a people development culture.

Continue reading "A People Scorecard for Your Church"...

A couple weeks ago, we talked here about reasons you'll want to leave a ministry position but shouldn't. Today we're publishing a condensed version of an article, excerpted from When It's Time to Leave, that takes the opposite approach: when you should leave, or at least consider it. If you want to see the full version of this piece, and several related articles, download our training tool here.

1. Incompatibility.
Good church, good pastor, but a bad fit. The congregation needs a form of pastoral leadership that the sitting pastor does not possess. Take, for example, the pastor who is entrepreneurial by instinct (read "visionary" or "passionate for growth"). The congregation, on the other hand, seeks a pause in the outward look. They want to build their sense of community and concentrate on spiritual development for a while (not always an inappropriate decision). Both pastor and congregation develop a suspicion of the other's agenda, and no amount of mutual reflection brings about convergence.

2. Immobility.
The congregation has become trapped in an ecclesiastical whirlpool—lots of programmatic motion but little sense of direction. By subtle control, some dominant church members quietly (or not so quietly) stymie every pastoral initiative. Fresh leadership is shrewdly neutralized. There is an inescapable sense that the congregation is a closed community that plays church as a way of meeting the social needs of its constituents.

Continue reading "8 Reasons You Might Need to Leave"...

I guess I don't browse the Religion section of my local papers enough. The Church section of my Google News feed surprised me a bit this morning when it brought up this—one paper's preview of local worship services, including sermon topics, for the coming Sunday.

Okay, so the fact that churches publish their service times in the local papers each weekend shouldn't really surprise me. But it's intriguing to peruse an article like this. Not to read the service times, mind you, but the sermon titles.

A few of the grabbier titles:

"You Call That a Church?!"
"Dear Recovering Pharisee"
"Monster's Inc. - How Fear Feeds our Biggest Foes" (on 1 Samuel 17, of course)

Continue reading "Sermon Names in the News"...

The first time I heard someone use the word "missional" I was confused. I knew about missions and missionaries, but missional? That was a new one for me. Even as I type this post, "missional" is underlined by a jagged red line. Apparently my spellchecker is confused too.

Missional was a term coined by a group of missiologists (another strange word) who were heavily influenced by the missionary and theologian Lesslie Newbigin. Upon retiring as a missionary in South India, Newbigin returned to his native England where he came to a rather depressing conclusion about western culture—it was post-Christian. As a result, he believed that Christians in the West had to start thinking like missionaries, looking for creative and authentic ways to incarnate the gospel in a culture estranged from the principles of God's kingdom.

Continue reading "Explainer: Being Missional"...

After the presidential election, I read a lot about the Republican "brand." Nearly every living pundit was talking about how the Republicans needed to repair the damage the election had done to it. The word "brand," of course, is marketing jargon for reputation and public image. I'll leave the politics to others, but I think a group in definite need of brand revival is small churches.

Let's face it: small churches, like Rodney Dangerfield, get no respect. Or at least very little. Small congregations typically are viewed as stodgy, dead, or sick—that last one according to a very prominent church consultant who will remain anonymous. Here, in my opinion, are a host of wrong perceptions held by many:

• Small churches are stuck in the past with no vision for the future.


• Small churches don't want to grow.


• Small churches are pastor-killers.


• Small churches don't have the resources to do real ministry.


• Small churches are run by a handful of people.


• Small churches are dead, dull, and boring.

Continue reading "Small Churches Need a Brand Revival"...

Our excerpt from a John Koessler interview on small churches really struck a chord with some of you this week. And that shouldn't surprise me, since I know a lot of our readers hail from smaller congregations.

But for me it raised the question, when is a church a small church?

Lyle Schaller sets the threshold at 125 people for the purposes of his book Small Congregation, Big Potential. The back covers of a couple of other titles—Shepherding the Small Church and Help for the Small-Church Pastor—implicitly peg it at 150. And Chuck Warnock says his Confessions of a Small-Church Pastor blog is for "churches with up to 300 in attendance."

Continue reading "When Is a Church a Small Church?"...

Making visitors feel welcome is an ongoing challenge for most churches. Charles Arn is president of Church Growth Inc., where he has invested a lot of energy into understanding how visitors respond to different congregations. Our very own Rachel Willoughby spoke with him about how churches should engage newcomers.

In your research, have you found that there's one specific reason that visitors come to church?

The friendship factor. We've asked more than 50,000 people over the last 10 years why they came to church, and between 75 and 90 percent of respondents say, "I began attending because someone invited me." Those friends and relatives are critical to the growth of churches. They far outweigh factors like the facilities, music, preaching, or children's ministry—people may stay because of these things, but they come because someone they knew invited them.

Continue reading "3 Questions for Charles Arn"...

Are you or someone in your church interesting in singing more hymns? At his blog In Light of the Gospel, James Grant shares a few suggestions for bringing hymns to a congregation that isn't used to them.

Show them the beauty and importance of theological expression in music.
Hymns aren't always fonts of eloquent truth, nor are more contemporary praise forms unable to say rich things about God. But Grant obviously believes that the average hymn (still surviving) will be more meaningful than the average praise chorus hot off the press. If you're already thinking about crossing over, you probably agree with him, and you have to think about how you want to talk to your congregation about that. He suggests discussing how "learning hymns is a way to participate in the church universal and the communion of the saints."

Introduce one hymn each month. You can't spend all your worship time learning new music, and you need to give people time to get comfortable with new melodies and words, especially when they might have a different feel from the music you've always done.

Continue reading "BlogSpotting: How to Bring in Hymns"...

Technology is like a teenager: rapidly changing, sometimes frustrating, and full of potential. Lynne Baab, a lecturer in pastoral theology at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, is interested in helping the church and technology get along. She is the author of several books, including Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond Our Appetites, which was picked this year by Christianity Today as a top five book for Lent, and most recently Reaching Out in a Networked World (The Alban Institute, 2008). BCL's Rachel Willoughby spoke with her—across several time zones—about visual literacy and using technology in church.

As you talked to church leaders, what were some common fears that they expressed about technology in the church?

Probably the biggest fear is that online relationships aren't real—that the only thing that matters in terms of relationships is face-to-face communication. One of the funny things I learned while working on my PhD was that when the telephone came into use during the early 1900s, the exact same fears were expressed. People thought that the telephone was going to ruin real relationships. If you've ever lived far away from people that you love, the telephone is a huge and wonderful way to stay in touch. Yes, the telephone can interrupt dinner at the wrong hour and disrupt relationships if it rings and someone goes to answer it when they should really stay talking with the person that they're in the same room with. But by and large, telephones have been a blessing with a few complications.

Continue reading "3 Questions for Lynne Baab"...

At Confessions of a Small-Church Pastor, Chuck Warnock offers an example from his church that backs up Lyle Schaller's mantra, "New people need new groups." Schaller reasoned that, since existing groups tend to resist newcomers, churches must create new ones.

Warnock and his wife started a new class in their church a year ago:

The intent was to gather all our younger adults who did not attend Sunday School into a new class just for them. Instead we actually attracted new people. Our class of about 12 now has all new members or guests, with one exception, who have joined since we have been here in Chatham.

That makes a lot of sense to me. Even a group that is intentionally welcoming to outsiders will have built-in obstacles. We develop a rapport with people we've been around, in part through our pool of shared memories. Inside jokes are irresistible, for instance, but can be a quick turn-off for others.

Continue reading "BlogSpotting: Chuck Warnock on Assimilating Newcomers"...

This week's orientation guide, Elder/Deacon, includes an interview with Dr. Bruce Howard, professor of business and economics at Wheaton College and chair of the council of elders for College Church in Wheaton, Illinois.

In the clip below, Howard answers the question,

"What do you do to foster a spirit of teamwork and cooperation on the elder board?"

Click here to download the clip. What do some of you do to build trust and cooperation on your boards?

For more on elders and deacons...

Prominent blogger Michael Spencer, a.k.a. the Internet Monk, believes "we are on the verge—within 10 years—of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity." Within two generations, says Spencer, the number of evangelicals will be cut in half, and we'll find ourselves in a "very secular and religiously antagonistic" culture.

Why does he think this will happen? For one, Spencer blames the role of evangelicalism in the culture war.

He predicts that conservative stances on moral, social, and political issues will be "losing causes" in this culture. Since evangelicals have made themselves synonymous with all these causes, "there will be increasing pressure to consider evangelicals bad for America, bad for education, bad for children and bad for society."

Continue reading "BlogSpotting: Internet Monk Predicts Evangelical Collapse!"...

J.I. Packer sat down recently with a few of our editors to field questions on a variety of topics. Below is what he had to say about communion.

Do you believe that access to the Lord's Table should be restricted, and if so, how does the church do that in a way that's inoffensive?

Yes, I believe access should be restricted at two points. First, the folk who come to share the Lord's Supper with the congregation should be people who have shown that they can discern the Lord's body. In other words, they understand what the Communion service is all about: Christ crucified for us.

Continue reading "J.I. Packer on Restricting Communion"...

Churches are increasing their visibility online these days, but Scot McKnight is frustrated with how some choose to do it—that is, at least on pastor or staff bio pages.

McKnight argues that many of these pages reflect a trivial attitude toward the pastoral role, telling us "what's most annoying" for Pastor So-and-So, or "what's on the iPod." On one staff page, each pastor named his dream job; none said pastor.

Continue reading "BlogSpotting: Scot McKnight Isn't Happy with Pastor Bios"...

If you've been visiting BuildingChurchLeaders.com or receiving the BCL newsletter for long, you've probably noticed that our downloads come in a variety of formats and under a multitude of names. You may have even noticed more than one download on the same topic. If you're new to the website, you may wonder what BCL is all about. With the short descriptions below, we hope to explain - to old friends and new - just what you can expect to find here at BuildingChurchLeaders.com.

To summarize, our editorial staff is committed to providing church leaders with practical and useful downloadable resources that can be used in and adapted to virtually any church environment. To do that, we develop nine different kinds of downloads, each with a specific purpose.

Practical Ministry Skills
This is our staple download: practical, brief, and ready for use in a discussion. These downloads are collections of between seven and nine articles that address a single topic from multiple angles and are designed for quick reading.

Continue reading "Understanding BCL Downloads"...

Budget season is around the corner for most churches, so it's a natural time to evaluate compensation packages. Are staff members paid fairly? How does your church compare to others when it comes to qualifications, such as educational background and experience, or church factors, including size, geography, and denomination?

The 2009 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, which surveyed 4,800 U.S. churches - representing about 11,000 employees - between January and March, provides answers to those questions and more. Among the annual report's findings:

People, Pews, and Paychecks
Churches that draw 101 to 300 people for worship services each week typically pay their senior pastors $72,664 each year, including benefits, but that figure substantially grows to $88,502 - or 22 percent more - when attendance averages between 301 and 500 people, and $102,623 - or 41 percent more - when attendance averages between 501 and 750 people.

Continue reading "Paying for You"...

We've all been there: patiently biding our time as a team meeting, board meeting, or committee meeting rolls forward. Old business is being reviewed and discussed; new business, tossed back and forth; the agenda is moving from opening remarks to closing prayer, no surprises in sight.

And then divine lightning strikes. You have an epiphany that can change the course of the week, the year, your church, perhaps it can even usher in the kingdom! You raise your idea, excitedly presenting what is no less than a revelation. As conversation begins, enthusiasm mounts; others are buying into your vision.

And then someone older and, possibly, wiser begins to speak. He (or she) judiciously probes the weaknesses of your idea; soon it is no more impressive than a deflated birthday balloon.

Bad memories and emotions aside, the moments in which a good idea dies are some of the worst for team morale. My church recently conducted a business meeting in which a great idea (in my opinion) met vigorous opposition and soon gave up the ghost. The main weakness of the idea had nothing to do with the concept. Rather, it became palpable early on that the groundwork of highlighting the need for this new idea was virtually untouched. Without a foundation, the idea had nothing left to stand on, and it soon fell to strong - and at that point justified - resistance.

In the spirit of protecting your next idea to fight another day, here are three structures that General Henry M. Robert built into Robert's Rules of Order. They won't get a bad idea through a committee meeting (I hope). But they can give a good idea a fighting chance - whether you rigorously follow the book of order or not.

Continue reading "When a Good Idea is Under Attack"...

I recently sat down with Jennifer Oxford, regional leader for Student Impact, the youth ministry of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Jen has five years of ministry under her belt and lots of experience orienting volunteers into a world that is new to them. Here's an excerpt from an interview with Jen that we just published in our Orientation Guide for Volunteer Youth Leaders.

What advice would you give a volunteer who is just starting out?
The first six months are very awkward. It's like going back to junior high or high school. You're the new person without a lunch table. You go home every week and think, What am I doing? But even those confusing times help you become a better leader, because you can empathize with the new students coming into the group. And it does get better.

I would also suggest that someone starting out should mentally commit to serving for two years. Once you get through the initial awkwardness, you start to sense real ministry happening. If you don't wait out the awkward time, you won't truly get into the heart of ministry. It's worth it to persevere, but it takes time to transition into youth ministry.

What should a new youth worker expect?
[Students] end up learning because of who you are, rather than what you're teaching. That's why it's important to commit to two years - because your life speaks volumes. Eventually, they'll begin to learn from the Bible and through spiritual disciplines, because they see you learning that way and teaching them. It's all about relationships and time.

Is there a specific kind of person who is best suited to work with students?
In many youth groups, you see leaders who are in college or in their early to mid-twenties - you know, "hip" people. But I recruit parents. I recruit people from all walks of life. The person God calls to youth ministry is the person he has a plan for. I have some students who don't have a strong parental presence in their lives; having an older, "un-hip" adult lead their small group meets a tremendous need. If you feel passionate about working with youth, then you're the person that's supposed to be there, whether you're 20 or 70.

What are the difficult issues that youth volunteers will face?
When you start working with youth, you become aware that they are confronting serious realities. I've worked with students who are dealing with the death of a parent; struggling with their friends who are starting to party; encountering drugs, pregnancy, sex, rape, and jail. Some are thinking about suicide, or grieving friends who've committed suicide. These issues don't affect every student, but many will know someone who is affected.

Does being a leader include correcting, maybe even rebuking a student?
Definitely. If you have junior high students or even high school freshman, there will be a goof-off factor, and you need to find a balance between building community and teaching the lesson you've planned. With some topics, students goof off because it hits too close to home. When that happens, you need to discern the importance of your topic. If it's worth pursuing, you need to say, "No, guys, we're going to settle down and talk through this." Other weeks, they might need to have some fun, and you can scrap the agenda.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone just starting in youth ministry?
Step out in faith and just give it a try. I don't think there's anywhere else where you can make such an incredible difference in someone's life. You experience highs and lows, but you are also given many opportunities to do God's work.

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Ministries close down. Programs come to an end earlier than expected. No one enjoys these events. Perhaps the people who have to pull the plug enjoy them least of all.

It still happens, however, and ending a ministry can even be seen as an act of stewardship. We asked Leith Anderson how to close down a ministry. His answer doesn't contain too many surprises, but it may motivate you to do what leaders are called to do - to make decisions.

There are still a few weeks to go before the Vacation Bible School season kicks off, so if you�re looking for some quick promotional ideas to generate buzz, here�s one my church is trying.

The great thing about this idea, which our Christian education director found online, is that it provides publicity for your VBS throughout the neighborhoods near your church AND it helps raise money. You can�t beat that.

It basically costs about $120. It also requires the creation of a sturdy sign, some time developing its promotion at your church (for a sample video our church made, see below), and a group of volunteers to help see it through during the course of a few weeks.

It goes like this: You purchase 20 or more plastic, bright-pink lawn flamingos (you can find them through an internet search using "plastic flamingos" as your keywords). And you construct a wooden, sandwich board sign promoting your church�s VBS�the dates, the location, and the theme, plus a holder with flyers people can take with them.

Then the fun begins.

Continue reading "Quick Tip for VBS Promotion: "Flamingo" Marketing"...

People who don't go to church may be turned off by a recent trend toward more utilitarian church buildings. By a nearly 2-to-1 ratio over any other option, unchurched Americans prefer churches that look more like a medieval cathedral than what most think of as a more contemporary church building.

The findings come from a recent survey conducted by LifeWay Research for the Cornerstone Knowledge Network (CKN), a group of church-focused facilities development firms. The online survey included 1,684 unchurched adults - defined as those who had not attended a church, mosque or synagogue in the past six months except for religious holidays or special events.

"Despite billions being spent on church buildings, there was an overall decline in church attendance in the 1990s," according to Jim Couchenour, director of marketing and ministry services for Cogun, Inc., a founding member of CKN. "This led CKN to ask, ?As church builders, what can we do to help church leaders be more intentional about reaching people who don't go to church?'"

Ed Stetzer suggested that the unchurched may prefer the more aesthetically pleasing look of the Gothic cathedral because it speaks to a connectedness to the past. Young unchurched people were particularly drawn to the Gothic look.

Stetzer noted that despite these survey results, most of the churches that look like a cathedral are in decline. Just because someone has a preference for the aesthetically pleasing, Gothic churches doesn't mean they'll visit the church if that's the only connection point they have to the congregation, he said.

"Buildings don't reach people, people do," Stetzer said.

This post originally appeared on a blog operated by editorial advisor Ed Stetzer. It is an excerpt of an article, which can be accessed here.

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A church in our area recently dealt with a situation that made me think harder about the way many congregations approach adult Sunday school.

This church of about 150 people gathers for a worship service first, then breaks into age-specific classes afterward. A few months ago, a group of young mothers in the church found themselves loitering together in the church lobby. They wound up spending the entire Sunday school hour sharing updates on life and providing encouragement, without children around to interrupt.

The following week, the women found themselves in the lobby for the impromptu meeting. And then again the next week. And the next. Some momentum began to build.

But in a church of about 150 people, it didn't take long for others to notice. And this is where I found myself challenged by the ways church leaders typically approach adult Christian education.

Continue reading "Pondering the Question of Adult Education"...

StreamingFaith.com recently sat down with marketing guru Seth Godin and asked his advice on church "marketing" in our increasingly plugged-in, techno-driven society. At the forefront of Godin's thought-world these days is "new marketing" - methods of communicating messages that aren't top-down (from an ad firm to your TV) but side-to-side (from a bootleg YouTube clip, to your blog, to my blog, to the evening news). New marketing reaches smaller audiences, but it creates more of an impact.

His advice may surprise or offend, but it is still worth thinking about.

Consider these excerpts (you can see the full interview here):

"Churches are the oldest businesses around today. And yes, they're businesses. They don't necessarily sell a physical product, and they don't always charge money, but there's a transaction nonetheless. And that involves the individual paying attention. Attention is precious and it's rare and it's non-refundable?."

"Just because it's important to you (and it could be your Tupperware product line or your sermon) doesn't mean it's important to me. The essential idea here is that new media is selfish and you can't buy or demand attention, no matter how worthy you believe your idea may be?."

"I'd say you need to concentrate on what's remarkable and interesting and noteworthy and touches my faith, and stop spending time on tasks that don't amplify any of those elements. Doing something because you've always done it isn't an idea worth spreading?."

What do you think? Do we short-change ourselves by taking people's attention for granted? Do we recognize the selfish way in which people listen to our messages? How can church leaders make the most of insights from the business world?

Let us know what you think. If you want to read more, check out the full interview on StreamingFaith's website.

Last week, we continued our series of short-term missions downloads with a download of practical articles for crossing cultures. (You can see it here.)

This week, we�re continuing this focus. We�ve created a Listmania collection on Amazon to pull together the best resources for cross-cultural ministry. We�re including novels in our list, in case you want to discuss fiction rather than non-fiction. (Some excellent, practical books are on our list, too.)

Now it�s your turn. Contribute to our Listmania, or let us know about the resources you rely on for taking short-term missions teams outside of their comfort zone (and culture).

Post a comment below to tell us what works for you. If it�s a book, give us a sentence or two about why it�s valuable, and we�ll update our Listmania. If it�s a website or article, give us a link and we�ll point people there.

Let�s create a comprehensive list of books, articles, and websites, and let�s help each other cross cultures with the Good News.

I know a thing or two about living in the parsonage.

As a pastor's kid, I spent 10 years living in the house next door to the church. And later, as a youth pastor's wife, I spent a few more living in a bubble that may as well have been a parsonage.

The thing about the parsonage, in my experience, is that many church members consider it their property and figure they can come and go as they please. And the bubble is similar. For some reason, many people feel free to take great liberties with the personal boundaries of church staff and their families.

Why is this? Is it because people believe that those who dedicate their lives to ministry automatically surrender their sense of self? Do they believe God grants special grace to church workers, overcoming their need for downtime? Is it because people who contribute money to the church figure they're paying the salaries and therefore are the bosses?

Continue reading "So Many Bosses"...

Timing is very significant in spiritual leadership. Indeed, timing played a major role in shaping Jesus' ministry and death. Not only would Jesus not go to the cross for the wrong reasons. He didn't go until it was the right time ("Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father" [John 13:1; NIV]).

Great leaders understand the importance of timing, specifically when it comes to making decisions. There are right times to consider issues and right times to make moves. Conversely, even the right issue tackled at the wrong time faces certain defeat.

There is no formula for great timing. It is part instinct, part intuition, part paying attention to surroundings, part prayer life, and all of the above. But it is not guesswork. Leaders who have a good sense of timing seem very wired into their situations while, at the same time, wired into God for a perspective that transcends just what the leader and his or her advisers can see.

Leaders adept at timing know how to read audiences and situations. They have practiced this over the years, testing out their hunches and intuitions. They have learned how to monitor their own internal sensors and when to pay attention to the voices around them and the voice within. Leaders with great timing know how to test the water, sniff the wind, and commit just enough to gauge reaction before committing it all. They risk, but they do not gamble.

Continue reading "Choosing the Moment to Lead"...

About this time last year, our outreach committee (of which I am a member) began planning our church's participation in the community's Fourth of July parade. It's a big deal. Literally everyone in town shows up. Consequently, it has been a priority event for our church for years - a chance to connect with the community and tell them about church ministries.

So, after all our planning, a record breaking four people showed up to build the float. Three of us were on the committee. Complete disaster.

Continue reading "Outreach After Programs"...

As a show of solidarity with my seven-year-old daughter, I recently reread the classic Little House on the Prairie books and Anne of Green Gables. One phenomenon I noticed this time around (probably because I'm in the habit of thinking about church leadership) was that the books' good, churchgoing characters didn't have to choose between churches of various sizes and stripes. They simply attended the church in town and enjoyed (or put up with) the teachings of Reverend So-and-So every Sunday.

My, how things have changed. Along with the constant and dizzying array of choices we face every day, we have the luxury of choosing the church we like best. I know some small towns and villages in our country still have only one church. But in most of those cases, people live within driving distance of other communities and might choose to drive to one of them to attend another church. And the situation is very different where I live - in some areas I can find a church on every block. And on a recent trip to the area around Fort Worth, Texas, I thought I saw at least two churches on every block.

Continue reading "Highlighting Our Differences"...

Several years ago, I had to look in the eyes of someone and tell her she could no longer be part of our team. Her final day would be in two weeks. She looked back, unblinking, almost uncomprehending, and then her large, brown eyes began to well with tears.

Her friends on the team felt hurt by the decision. The farewell party, despite the fancy cake, was visibly strained.

Meanwhile, I was reading Good to Great (HarperBusiness, 2001), in which Jim Collins explains the traits of leaders who transform good organizations into great ones. "We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy," he writes. "We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seat - and then they figured out where to drive it."

Makes eminent sense: If you get the right people, in the right seats, then you and they will be able to figure out where to take the organization. Once you've heard, "First, get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus," it seems self-evident.

Before we dutifully apply this principle as Christian leaders, however, we'd be wise to consider a few things.

Continue reading "Arranging the Passengers on the Church Leadership Bus"...

In mid-January, the Wall Street Journal published an article about church discipline, choosing for its focus a case in which a 71-year-old woman was expelled from her congregation. The article made almost no use of concepts that are central to church discipline - redemption, unity, and discipleship. Almost immediately, a small niche of the blog world erupted at the overwhelmingly negative portrayal of discipline. A few secular blogs picked up on the article, too, and they used it to bolster cynicism.

Off the Agenda decided to take the opportunity to address and to expand upon the core issue brought up in the article - how leaders and congregants can survive the pitfalls of conflict. In the following article, Ken Sande, president of Peacemaker Ministries and a member of Building Church Leaders' Ask the Experts panel, explains several steps that leaders can take to avoid destructive conflict. This article first appeared on Peacemaker's website:

Every year hundreds of churches and ministries are thrown into turmoil when someone criticizes or raises serious questions about the conduct of a pastor or ministry executive. All too many of these situations end in resignation, dishonor, or division - usually because those who are responsible for addressing the allegations commit one of two major errors.

Continue reading "Holding Leaders Accountable"...

Good decision makers make sure they are working on answering the right question. They know that answering the wrong question, even precisely, doesn't accomplish anything; in fact, it keeps leaders and organizations tied up in counterproductive pursuits, with potentially disastrous results.

Pastor Ned finally realized that changing the worship style and moving the worship times at his church were the wrong problems for him to be working on. This realization came only after he had paid a terrible price personally in terms of the conflict generated by his new initiatives. He had endured months of criticism from church members who resisted the changes before they happened as he nurtured the hope that the new worship would draw many new faces into the church, making all the pain worthwhile. Trouble is, it didn't happen. Now, four months into the new schedule and services, he was looking at the same faces - actually, fewer of those faces.

Ned finally came to grips with the real issue: the congregation's lack of mission. The right question involved helping the church gain God's heart for people, especially those who have yet to hear the gospel of God's redemptive love. Absent this conviction, the church members just viewed the worship and schedule changes as a loss for them.

This beleaguered pastor is not alone. All over North America churches and church leaders are busy addressing the wrong questions. Answering them not only won't address the critical issues facing them, it will, in fact, compound the wider church's dilemma and hasten its slide into spiritual obsolescence in the emerging culture.

Continue reading "Reggie McNeal: Ask the Right Questions"...

I spent the better part of two years looking at congregational websites as I wrote my doctoral dissertation in the field of communication studies. One of the things I noticed was the strategic use of links by congregations to communicate their values.

Almost every church wants to express a warm welcome to potential visitors. Some use: "Welcome!" or "Christ Church extends a warm welcome" or "Join us for worship."

Other church websites provide links specifically for newcomers: "New to Christ Church? Click here." Or "Information for Visitors." Sometimes the link for newcomers is placed on a menu, but often the link is set apart with large type or a graphic. Sometimes the page for visitors is structured in a question-and-answer format with questions about location of the church, what to wear, what to expect during a typical worship service, and so on. Sometimes the link takes the viewer to a letter (or video) from the minister expressing welcome and giving basic information about the church.

Which strategy is more welcoming - words of invitation or links for newcomers?

Most people in Christian leadership love words and believe in their power. But this can blind us to the power inherent in website structure - which is based on hyperlinks - to communicate values. The links used on a homepage of a church's website communicate what matters to that congregation, without using the word "values" or "priorities."

Continue reading "How Websites Communicate Congregational Values"...

Several years ago, my pastor left our church and moved 45 minutes away to plant a congregation. Thankfully, he had a family of six, so that more than doubled the waiting group of five people.

My wife and I decided to join the group because we're church-planting junkies; if we're not sitting on folding chairs, we don't know how to worship God. Still, it had been some time since our church fit in a living room and served Holy Communion from a card table.

I figured the new church would soon be like the former one, for it had the same senior pastor, the same worship style, a similar location, and, including our family, 10 of the same people.
I was wrong, hilariously wrong.

The church became radically different from its ancestor. Their demographics, passions, and projects diverged widely, even wildly. One example: They have a ministry for home-schooling families; we have one for Gen-Y professionals. The churches stand as a case study for Lyle Schaller's point that churches are progressively becoming more unlike each other.

That fact challenges every church leader today to discern and affirm the congregation's unique spiritual calling. This sounds easy, but it's surprisingly difficult. To understand and accept these people, to see what God wants to do in and through them, requires us to lay down much of what we know and what seminars teach. It requires listening and letting go of our plans.

It's much faster, when entering a church, to franchise, to use an approach proven in a larger congregation. It worked there, it should here. (Besides, we like that approach.)

Continue reading "What We Have Uncommon"...

When our small staff (of two) met for a long-term planning and goals review, my colleague was visibly stressed. She said, "My whole life is church. I'm drained, rather than energized, by ministry. I want to be able to go home without thinking about work all the time."

We talked about delegating some of her duties. But she was already delegating effectively. Then we talked about her schedule. She produced a "to do" list with 64 items on it. No wonder she felt pressured!

Her list included everything from meetings and telephone calls to recruiting ministry volunteers and revising ministry positions. With the help of another set of eyes, she realized some of the duties could be delegated. But it still left an intimidating list and an incredible mess on her monthly planner.

Eventually we arrived at a simple but effective way of keeping priorities straight and burdens in perspective.

Continue reading "Is Your "To Do's" List Too Long?"...

The number one reason that pastors leave their ministries is "wives issues," according to a 2007 Time magazine article. I would take some comfort in that statistic - that the number one reason they leave isn't sexual sin or burnout - but the Bible teaches that neglecting an obligation to care for family is its own form of moral failure. (Here I'm thinking of Ephesians 5, but I don't think Jesus is far from this in the beginning of Matthew 15, either.)

Up until last July, I doubted the prevalence of stress placed on pastors' spouses. But when we launched a Survival Guide entitled "Help for the Pastor's Spouse," and it became one of our most popular downloads, I had to admit that the stress was more common than I ever expected. For a succinct understanding of why, consider the opening paragraph from that Time article:

HELP WANTED: Pastor's wife. Must sing, play music, lead youth groups, raise seraphic children, entertain church notables, minister to other wives, have ability to recite Bible backward and choreograph Christmas pageant. Must keep pastor sated, peaceful and out of trouble. Difficult colleagues, demanding customers, erratic hours. Pay: $0.

Yes, it's a cynical view of the role - or vocation - of a pastor's spouse. But it rings true for many ministry wives, and it drives many of them to create networks on the internet and beyond.

These networks build themselves around the pain points (and, to a lesser extent, the shared joys) of marriage to a minister. Unless we want our churches to bear the burden of a pastor's strained marriage - or the wreckage of a broken marriage - it would be wise for leaders to periodically consider the pain points and ask a few questions:

Continue reading "Remembering the Pastor�s Spouse"...

The close of 2007 brought the close of two eras Sunday in the Chicago area. Two churches with histories of more than 100 years each shuttered because of dwindling attendance.

Today's Chicago Tribune spotlighted the sad tales in its Metro section, chronicling the final services at the Church of the Mediator, a 129-year-old Episcopalian congregation on the city's South Side. The very end of the article also mentioned the end for St. Paul's Community Church, founded 115 years ago by Norwegian Lutherans.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of the story came from the parish leader of Church of the Mediator. "We weren't ever able to build up a young congregation again. People leave. Many families die out," Mary Reich told the Chicago Tribune. The article continued: "Reich said church members debated closing as early as 1980."

Twenty-seven years of wondering about closure, of wondering what to do to try and draw new attenders.

On a positive note, not all is glum for old churches in the Chicago area. A stand-alone photo and caption in the same edition of the Chicago Tribune spotlighted the 150th anniversary of the Holy Family Catholic Church, which hosted an open house featuring antiques from the church's history. Not only has the house of worship made it this long--it managed to survive the 1871 Chicago Fire, which destroyed much of the city.

Many communities struggle with a shortage of public space in which to hold meetings, events, and offer education. These communities often view local churches and their facilities as accessible and welcoming places that meet their needs. When it comes to such use, however, church leaders often are challenged to develop consistent facility policies and practices. Yet careful building use can be an excellent form of congregational stewardship, providing hospitality and, in some cases, evangelistic opportunities.

Five factors demonstrate why churches need up-to-date policies and practices on facility use.

Continue reading "Wisely Managing Use of the Building"...

It was 2:45 p.m., and my son, Cameron, and I were lost and already 15 minutes late for a birthday party for his 7-year-old friend. True to the male stereotype, I was bent on finding my way without directional assistance. Convinced that he was missing crucial elements of the party, Cameron piped up and pleaded, "Dad, stop and get directions! If you had asked somebody for help as soon as we got lost we could have been there by now."

My 7-year-old had just taught me an important lesson in leadership. The I'll-find-my-way-on-my-own attitude can impair your ability to navigate effectively, and the situation gets worse the longer you dig your heels in. Whether in a car or a leadership role, openness to input can get you where you want to go faster than figuring it out on your own.

The phrase "I don't know" should be a staple of every leader's vocabulary. To think that you have the answers for every leadership situation you're faced with is unrealistic. Take advantage of the varying knowledge base and experience of those around you. There's nothing wrong with asking for help now and then. Being closed to input destines us to the limited outcome of what we can think up, problem solve, or achieve on our own.

I see this a lot in my role at Leadership Transformations. We have a church health assessment that allows leaders to do their own "church health check up" over the internet and get feedback from the entire congregation and leadership team. In one month, leaders can gather feedback as to how their ministry is going, all with minimal effort from the church staff.

Whenever I mention this concept to a pastor, I can tell within a couple sentences of his response if he's the type of leader who is open to feedback or not.

Continue reading "Directionally Impaired Leadership"...

We've all been there: patiently biding our time as a team meeting, board meeting, or committee meeting rolls forward. Old business is being reviewed and discussed; new business, tossed back and forth; the agenda is moving from opening remarks to closing prayer, no surprises in sight.

And then divine lightning strikes. You have an epiphany that can change the course of the week, the year, your church, perhaps it can even usher in the kingdom! You raise your idea, excitedly presenting what is no less than a revelation. As conversation begins, enthusiasm mounts; others are buying into your vision.

And then someone older and, possibly, wiser begins to speak. He (or she) judiciously probes the weaknesses of your idea; soon it is no more impressive than a deflated birthday balloon.

Bad memories and emotions aside, the moments in which a good idea dies are some of the worst for team morale. My church recently conducted a business meeting in which a great idea (in my opinion) met vigorous opposition and soon gave up the ghost. The main weakness of the idea had nothing to do with the concept. Rather, it became palpable early on that the groundwork of highlighting the need for this new idea was virtually untouched. Without a foundation, the idea had nothing left to stand on, and it soon fell to strong - and at that point justified - resistance.

In the spirit of protecting your next idea to fight another day, here are three structures that General Henry M. Robert built into Robert's Rules of Order. They won't get a bad idea through a committee meeting (I hope). But they can give a good idea a fighting chance - whether you rigorously follow the book of order or not.

Continue reading "When a Good Idea is Under Attack"...

"Schedule time together between official meetings, whether one-on-one or with a few. It can be in the pastor's or a member's home for an evening (with spouses), or over lunch. Tomorrow morning, for example, I have initiated a breakfast meeting with five key board members as we work through a matter for our congregational business meeting next Sunday. But sometimes the get-together may simply be for social purposes. I've found I must plan these times well in advance, or they won't happen."

- Chuck Swindoll, from the article,"Build Better Relationships with Your Board," from the Building Church Leaders Practical Ministry Skills, "Becoming a Great Church Board."

What are some valuable ways your church's senior staff and board have built camaraderie?