This week we are going to tackle the topic – What Real Ministry Looks Like. In light of the technology revolution of the past twenty years, giving us podcasts, blogs, Twitter, online video, streaming church services, Facebook, and YouTube channels, what does real, grassroots, rubber meets the road ministry really look like? Last month we read an article in the March online edition of Leadership Journal by a young pastor named Chris Nye. We call him Chris Nye the Ministry Guy! In his article, titled The New Televangelists, he talked about how the Internet was forming his vision of ministry when he said “But as I soaked up podcasts and sermon videos from famous pastors, I was unwittingly forming an inaccurate vision of the life of a pastor.”
Our purpose for 200churches.com is to affirm and encourage the pastors who lead and shepherd churches under 200 people – especially lay, bi-vocational, and solo pastors in churches under 100. These men and women are the real heroes of ministry, serving faithfully in rural, suburban, and urban churches where there is little recognition or notoriety. Well, here it is… the final post on the topic of Prone to Wander! So far this week we talked about the negative consequences of leaving too early, and seven things that contribute to our desire to do so. Now, I want to share with you… 4 Practices that Produce Short Pastorates: 1. Going it alone. Whatever you do in ministry, do not go it alone! Loneliness and isolation almost guarantee pastoral failure. First, you don’t know enough to try and do your ministry alone. You need the help of the body of Christ. Second, you’ll miss out on partnership, camaraderie, and the joy of teamwork.
Do you have others on your ministry team? Are there some people in the church that you’ve known for a while you needed to tap and move into a ministry, but just haven’t? Perhaps you fear rejection. You think they’ll say no. Maybe they’re just waiting to be asked. I recently asked two people to serve in our church (they’ve been around for several years but haven’t been serving) and they were surprised to be asked and happily said yes. They’ve served like superstar athletes in our church these last few months – they were just waiting to be asked! Do not go it alone. Gather a team, empower others, and enjoy the game.
This week’s topic is Prone to Wander – that moment when you feel like looking online for another church or ministry! Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the church I love… You’ve likely been there if you have pastored a church for any amount of time. The grass looks greener, the people look better, the community more open to the Gospel, the board structure more supportive, and the opportunities more inviting – at the next church!
Maybe you’re there right now. Maybe you have been looking at churchstaffing.com or ministersearch.com, or even simplyhired.com! Maybe you have given up on the church you are pastoring and hope to find a better place. Then this week’s content is for you!
I am convinced that long pastorates are much more effective than short term stays. As a rule of thumb, the decision to stay is almost always the better choice. After all, why are you leaving? Problems? Welcome to ministry! Stubborn people? Welcome to the people business! Opposition? Welcome to the reality that you may be wrong once in a while! While those all may be reasons you want to leave, they will all be waiting for you at your next church. As the Men’s Warehouse guy says, “I guarantee it!” On this week’s podcast we talk about the dynamics that make pastors want to leave. Yes, on Wednesday’s podcast we will be negative, we will wallow in the muck and mire of self-pity, and explore those issues that make us feel like getting out of Dodge! But today I want to give you three results of leaving a church too early: One of the hardest things for a church to do is actively participate in the life of a community. Churches are excellent at creating communities, at drawing the community in, at building programs targeted at a specific community, but the task of actually going out and integrating into a community is a tricky thing. Our "church" is in the community in the form of people, but how are we corporately involved? Our starting place this week is the cliche question: if your church closed tomorrow, would anybody outside of it notice? Last week, our podcast guest talked about how important it is for church leaders to recognize the leadership that their church members demonstrate in their everyday lives. He challenged us to think beyond "church" and see people as fully integrated; to break down the divide between church on Sunday and living as the church every day. We believe that our corporate body should be as integral to the community as our individual members are, but we recognize that it's difficult to accomplish.
As leaders, we often want to start our planning, by planning our programs. But programs are usually designed to bring people into our buildings or onto our properties, not to take our body out into the community. It's tough to admit, but we can't programmatically approach our desire to be a part of the community. We need to practice a relational approach, and be emotionally invested in people. We should be comfortable up front with a commitment not measured in weekends, but in years. We hope this week to start a conversation that won't get wrapped up by Friday. This is an issue we want to continually wrestle with here at 200churches, because we believe that the church should be an integral part of the community. Corporately and individually, we are called to be salt and light in this world. We want our 200church to be missed if it closes, and we want yours to be, too. So we hope you enjoy the Podcast and blogs this week, and please chime in about your own struggles and triumphs integrating your church into your community.
This week’s podcast centers on how to work with, and learn from, volunteer leaders in your church. One of our volunteer leaders, Jan Schuiteman, joined us on the podcast today and spoke to 200churches pastors from the perspective of a very invested, very committed volunteer leader. Jan is a successful businessman who has started and developed a number of companies, but his passion is ministry and people.
Jan understands business, ministry, relationships, and the church as all part of one entity – Kingdom life. One of his questions to pastors of 200churches is “what’s the difference between being in vocational ministry and leading a business?” By dividing “lay” ministers from “vocational” ministers, Jan believes we’re creating an unnecessary leadership gap in the church. Jan believes that all leadership is about creating relationships, showing and living grace with people, looking for divine appointments, and making a difference in someone else’s life.
We asked Jan in the podcast to tell our listeners what he has done in the business world and what kind of leadership he has been involved in, and his answer betrays his commitment to God and to others. Jan doesn’t spend time bragging about his success in business, but can talk all day about helping people to serve God where their “eyes light up.” After working with Jan for over nine years now, even Jeff was challenged when we listened to our interview again. Jan truly believes everything he says, and he challenges us all to view life from the vantage points of relationships and grace, not production or profit. I hope you enjoy this special episode of the 200churches Podcast. We know that pastors will be encouraged by Jan as he shares his perspective as a volunteer leader and leadership mentor! This week, our podcast focused on creating an inviting atmosphere in our 200churches. We believe that an inviting atmosphere begins with the people who attend your church, and we outlined five steps that you can take at your own 200church that will get you started on cultivating a warm, welcoming environment wherever you are, and no matter the size of your budget. While we start with ourselves as people whose characters, personalities, and practices are what shape the atmosphere of our services, we should also pay close attention to the overall feel of our church facilities. Environments are important and we should take time to consider the message that we're sending to people as they walk in our doors. No matter where a church is located or how many people are attending, we should always be ready for visitors to walk into one of our services. As leaders, we're ultimately responsible for the experience that people have when they attend, and a large part of that experience is related to the environment of our church.
The longer you've been at your church, the more difficult it is to be an accurate barometer of its atmosphere. When I first came to work at the church where I now serve, I had so many ideas on how we could make a change here or there to impact the overall atmosphere in our facilities. As time has passed, however, I inevitably have lost some of my ability to recognize those areas. This happens to all of us, so here are some easy ways to get a feel for what your environment is currently like, and how to move forward.
It may sound trivial, but if our church environments are less than appealing, we reduce the likelihood of attracting and retaining new attenders. Not only that, but we're doing a disservice to the people who are currently attending our church by not working to ensure that the place where they come to worship is always inviting, welcoming, and friendly. Here are a few final questions to ask on environment:
If you had to give bad answers to any of the above questions, what can you do about it? Who is going to address these areas? Are there leaders or volunteers who are gifted and passionate in any of these areas, to whom you could delegate some tasks? You may not need to spend much, if any, money, just a little time and energy removing the old, and straightening, cleaning, polishing, and painting what's left! Before anyone comes to visit us, my wife and I spend some quality time picking up, cleaning up, and working to make sure that someone's visit to our home is as pleasant and enjoyable as possible. Whether it's students from our church or some friends we're having over for the first time, we know that environment is important. We understand that about our homes, but because of familiarity and shared ownership, we miss it at church. It's time we applied the same standards to our churches! When was the last time you started something new at your church? New creates interest, and piques curiosity. New is fun. Even God loves to take what is old, dead, and stale – and make all things new! We want to talk with you about starting something new. Starting something from scratch is a scary and exhilarating experience. Whether it’s as simple as starting a new habit or as complex as starting a new service at your church, there are both unbelievable highs and inevitable pitfalls waiting for us along the way. Here at 200churches, we’re focused on helping the leaders of small churches maximize their giftedness and passion for the Kingdom of God. We’ve found, from our own experience that, while it’s easier to sustain the status quo, starting new projects is a great way to get people involved, create a buzz, and continue to move forward as a church. New is scary for everyone I once met with the elders at a 200church that was stuck between the status quo and the future. The pastor felt that if the church wasn’t able to do some new things soon, it would quickly die out. While I felt for his situation, it was clear that many on his elder board struggled with the idea of “new.” New is scary because it takes resources and energy to create something, and the payoff isn’t guaranteed. For some of the elders, no guarantee was terrifying. It takes extra time, energy, and grace to work with people in a situation like that, but when the vision catches, it can be great for a congregation. New creates excitement It’s always fun to watch TV in the early fall when shows are first getting started up. Networks must eat millions of dollars in advertising money by taking commercial time for their own projects. Why? Because they know that you can always build excitement around something new. The buildup to a new event, group, or program in your church is an opportunity to build some excitement about where your congregation is moving. Larger churches understand this and take advantage by running promotional videos for upcoming sermon series. In 200churches, we have a unique opportunity to not only promote during services, but also one on one! Find the connected people in your church and promote to them. They’ll do the rest. New gives us a chance to deliver As leaders of 200churches, there’s a good chance that the planning and execution of a new project will fall on our shoulders. This is scary, but also comes with a big payoff. As we promote and prepare our new project, it’s important to over-deliver with our finished product. Nothing can kill a buzz faster than our new project not living up to expectations, and nothing will make it harder to do something new in the future than not delivering in the past. The best way to build confidence in your leadership and acceptance in “new” is to consistently over deliver in a way that is both helpful and encouraging. While it may take more time and energy than maintaining the status quo, “new” is an incredible chance for leaders to involve voices and personalities that might not usually be heard, and “new” provides us with the opportunity to move forward as churches. So what are some new projects/ideas you have for your church? What would your answer be if someone asked “What’s new?”
Have you ever been trampled by a sacred cow in your ministry? I remember in January of 1999 our church announced that the upcoming Sunday evening service would be cancelled to make room for a Super Bowl party. This party would be an outreach to invite friends – you know, you’ve all done it by now. The following Monday morning, a couple (who had been members for over 20 years) stopped by the church to inform us that they would no longer be attending and that they wanted their $3,200 offering check from the day before… back! Sacred cow? Evening service!
Another couple I visited asked if we were going to start singing more hymns on Sundays. I told them that we would likely sing less hymns over time. “Okay, thank you. We will begin going to another church then.” Sacred cow? Hymns! Another person left our church when I stopped wearing a coat and tie on Sunday mornings. Another sacred cow. Sacred cows can be buildings, church furniture, service times, platform arrangement, Bible versions, pastoral visits, and even dress codes. How can we as pastors of 200churches change these areas while avoiding stepping and slipping on those fresh, steaming cow patties in our churches? After slipping and sitting in too many of them, I have some ideas for properly killing a sacred cow. But first, consider these thoughts:
So, for those in the third category, here are a few questions you should ask:
As pastors of 200churches, our people should know how much we love and value them, but also that we are committed to killing sacred cows if they are in the way of us accomplishing our Jesus-mandated mission. For 200churches, the only thing more important than our people is our God-given purpose called the Great Commission. If a sacred cow is in the way, the most important question we can ask is: medium, or well done?!
One issue that faces all church leaders is determining the standard for how things should be at your church. We all face a reality in our churches that there are areas and ministries that are not operating in the way that they need to and the way that we would prefer. This could be as simple as having hideous curtains in the sanctuary to as serious as having the wrong people on your staff. In either of those scenarios, and every imaginable one in between, there is a disconnect between how things are and how things should be.
What we've realized is that one of the biggest hurdles between moving from how something is to how it should be is the dreaded phrase "it's not as bad as it used to be." This "not as bad as it used to be" mentality can show up in any area: is the person teaching Sunday School not getting the job done? At least they're not as bad as the last person used to be. Is there a room being used for storage now that could be used in better ways? At least what it's storing isn't as useless as what used to be in there.
The truth is, as long as something is "not as bad as it used to be" we're often content to leave it the way it is. If this is a hurdle you're struggling with right now, here are some questions to ask to help you move forward: 1. What is the mission and vision of our church? 2. How is the person/room/resource in question moving our church closer to our mission/vision? 3. How could this person/resource be used more effectively in moving our mission/vision forward? These can (and will) be tough questions, but they're questions that need to be asked in order to determine how something should be. If we set the standard for how things are at "not as bad as it used to be," eventually our churches will be "worse than they've ever been"! So what are some areas/people/ministries in your church that need to be re-evaluated? Where can you begin to move from "not as bad as it used to be" toward being mission and vision focused? |
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