I have only been at my current church for about 5 months, but in that time the congregation has noticeably grown. We’ve seen an increase in giving and attendance (two of the most common indicators of vitality, but certainly not the only ones). We’ve also seen an increase in willingness to serve, and interest in small groups and Bible studies. In general, I’ve been told that there is a great atmosphere in the worship service, and a lot of excitement about things.

The growth is exciting and it creates some momentum. The growth is also the result of implementing some changes in the worship service and church system. Early on, I moved the pulpit out of the sanctuary, because I wasn’t really using it anyway (I’m a pacer). Then we moved the altar rails out of the sanctuary to open the area up. Recently, we’ve replaced some chairs with some tables to continue creating a more “open” or “cozy” atmosphere. And each of these changes have been met positively. I’m aware that I’m able to get away with some of these changes because the church is growing. The hope is that the changes continue to generate excitement, energy, and momentum towards growth.

Continue reading →

Recently, I’ve found myself struggling with something I enjoy. Let me explain, since that doesn’t make much sense to me, and I wrote it.

I love studying leadership development, organizational systems, and strategic planning. All of these are things that help out as a pastor, who is trying to help lead a church to growth and change. I can often find myself reading article after article of different things to develop and improve ministries. I buy 2-3 books at a time about “crafting your vision” or “maximizing potential strengths”. I could have meetings all day with ministry teams dedicated to improve our capacity and effectiveness.

Here’s the problem with that: it reduces the church to a generic organization, rather than a spirit-fueled entity. The trick is that a church requires many of the same things that any business does; vision, focus, organization, administration, strategic planning, etc. A church also requires the Spirit of God above all else. And so, a church leader (whether you’re the pastor or not) needs to balance between organizational leadership and spiritual power.

So here are some things that help out with that:

1) Keep the main thing, the main thing: This is true in any relationship or business. You must, above everything else, know why you’re doing something. Why are you married to someone? Why do you work where you work? Why do you go to that church, as opposed to the one down the street? Why are you leading your organization?

No organization exists solely to create organizations. Businesses exist to turn a passion into money. Marriages exist to turn two individual people into one family. And churches exist to create Christ filled disciples. No strategy can replace that.

In an age dedicated to results and metrics, it’s especially easy in a church to turn numbers and measurements of vitality into the main thing. I’ve been guilty of this recently. It’s important to remember that members of a 20 person church can be more vital disciples than members at a 4,000 person church (and vice versa). Metrics don’t determine the “why”. Your “why” determine what metrics you use.

2) You NEED metrics and strategic planning – This is the opposite problem of #1. Too many churches (and other businesses/organizations for that matter) are afraid to look at the numbers and plan things out. And that’s true for a number of reasons.

In churches, many of the people I’ve met who are opposed to measuring worship attendance, offerings, bible studies, or service projects do so because they’re not “truly measuring our vitality”. Essentially, people feel like the numbers don’t accurately show what’s going on. And it’s true that in church, it’s difficult to truly numerically measure discipleship.

But the old adage is true: “what gets measured, gets done.” Without measuring your attendance, you don’t know if you’re growing. Without evaluating your service projects, you won’t know if you are having the desired impact (this implies you have a desired impact, as opposed to just doing something nice.)

Without sails, ships can’t move with the wind. Without a compass, you don’t know which way you’re going. A church can spend it’s time praying God helps them grow, but until they put the needed tools in place to harness that prayer, it’s wasted breath.

3) Create balance –  Every church needs someone who can strategically plan, effectively evaluate, and be the spiritual anchor for any ministry. They should not, however, be the same person at the same time. Someone who is passionate about planning a ministry is too emotionally invested to objectively evaluate their initiative. They may be able to take an honest look a couple of weeks after the project, but not right away.

Someone in every ministry needs to constantly be asking about the spiritual side of things. It’s so easy to lose sight of the importance of prayer when everyone is excited about doing ministry. I know it’s an oxymoron, but it’s one of the biggest truths I’ve learned in ministry: People get too busy doing ministry to pray.

There you go. I hope these thoughts help you out.

And remember, I love you and there’s nothing you can do about it.

I had been wanting to make a shelf in my workshop. It was going to hold up some finishing products I use on my woodworking projects. Plus, it’s good practice anyway. It was just #11 on my mental list of projects I want to get done. So I was planning on getting it done, just eventually.

Earlier this week I had to book a flight for an upcoming trip. I had been somewhat rushed when I was making the plans, but I thought that I had gone over the details fairly thoroughly. When I double checked my officially paid for itinerary, it looked good. Then my girlfriend saw it and pointed out that I had booked my return flight for a time that would be impossible for me to make. When I went to fix this oversight, the resulting fee was significant (like 2/3 of the original cost significant).

Continue reading →

I’ve only been at this church leadership game for a few years, but I grew up in a strong United Methodist Church when I was younger. Throughout college and seminary, I had heard about several people who were going to be in every decision a church makes. Every new idea, or new approach would inevitably get their input. Here’s the kicker, they’re not on any roster, official committee, and they don’t come on Sunday morning.

They’re ‘just in case’, traditions, and the pillar of the church (Okay, I admit, they’re not really people, but they may as well be). But I wonder what would happen if we would start to think about them as actual people in the meetings. Like, if we set out chairs for these three people, would we begin to realize the difficulty in our decision making processes. Maybe then we would realize just how crowded our meetings are.

I remember trying to have conversations and make decisions that I felt like would help steer the church in a good, Godly direction, only to have ‘Justin’, ‘Tray’, or Miss Pillar shoot it down. We couldn’t make room by getting rid of things that hadn’t been used in two decades, just in case we’d need them again. I’ve been told we can’t allow coffee in the sanctuary because of tradition. And I’ve been told that we can’t remove a tree because Miss Pillar’s late husband planted it, even though it desperately needs trimmed and no one likes parking near it.

Now, I’m not opposed to traditions within churches. I’m a big fan of contingency plans. And I understand that the church I am serving now was built and sustained by many, many people. But these three voices often crowd out any new ideas, innovations, or needed transitions. These three things will stifle a decision making team like nothing else. And more importantly, these three voices don’t leave room for the Smith’s to say anything.

The Smith’s are that new family that just moved in down the street, and are looking for a church. They’re the people who have been coming to the church for a few months, who are looking to get more involved but don’t know where to start or even if they fit in. The Smiths are the people who the church keeps saying they want involved, who the church wants to take leadership, but only if Tray, Justin, and Miss Pillar stay on the committees. So long as those three people get the final say about the decisions the Smiths make, the church will be happy. So the Smith’s never become leaders. They never fully engage in the church. Maybe they even leave. And the church is left wondering why there’s no new life in leadership. So what do you do about this? I’m glad you asked (well, I mean, I asked for you…)

1) Begin with Prayer– I know this sounds obvious, but I have had more than my fair share of meetings that didn’t begin with prayer. Now, I know some of this is my fault (I am the pastor after all), but a lot of churches simply don’t have a culture of prayer. They don’t begin their team meetings, worship services, or fellowship events with prayer. Without a good culture of prayer, the congregation, and it’s leadership, will not be able to hear and follow the voice of God. Ultimately, we can’t make the best decision without a culture of prayer.

2) Ask ‘Who is this decision for?’ – If your church is trying to grow and make disciples, that means you’re looking for younger families and people who don’t go to your church. That means the people you’re trying to reach, are not at your meetings. And if you don’t remember who your decision is for, you and your team will gradually gravitate back into thinking about the people who are familiar to you. So ask yourself and your team, ‘How does this decision help the Smiths?’ Caveat here: There are definitely times and places for the decisions to be made for the long time church members. Their service should definitely be honored. Holding special services, offering formal ‘thank you’s’, and other ways to honor them are definitely good and Godly things. In those cases, you should definitely be answering ‘who’ with ‘Mr and Miss Pillar’.

3) Have guidelines for Justin and Tray– Traditions and contingencies are important. They really are. But your church doesn’t need piano receipts from 1956. And you should be able to explain why the tradition is important to the Smiths. I hated being told ‘because I said so’ when I was a kid (to be fair, it was easier than explaining that traffic is dangerous to a seven year old) and I imagine you did too. Being told that we can’t move the pulpit ‘because it’s formal’, despite not using it, is not going to answer the Smith’s question anymore than ‘because I said so’ did when you were a child.

Traditions can be vitally important to a church, but only if the church knows what they mean. Why do some churches light candles at the beginning of a service? Why do the kids go forward for a few minutes with the pastor? Why do we celebrate communion when we do? Why do we keep the pews instead of chairs? Why does or doesn’t the pastor wear a robe? All of these questions can mean something. But if we can’t explain those ‘somethings’ to the Smith’s coming in off the street, we are in trouble. And as far as dealing with contingencies, have a general guideline for when something is obsolete. How many years do you need to keep the piano that no one plays? How long do you need to keep the choir music?

If a person has thirty years and hundreds of songs worth of sheet music stored in a spare room, even though they only sing about twenty different songs a year, we would call that person a hoarder. So why is it normal for the church to do it?

So there you go. Three things I think can help us deal with the pseudo people at all of our meetings and in all of our decisions. Let me know your thoughts down below. If you find something helpful, share this blog with your friends.