Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 189
July 19, 2017
Seven Reasons Why Some Churches Should Consider Being Acquired
“I have been involved in 17 church closures where we sold the properties to a secular company.”
Those words grieved me in two ways. First, I grieved that the ministry and mission presence of those 17 churches were no longer realities in their respective communities. Second, I grieved that the properties were no longer being used for local church ministries.
This post is not about a pleasant topic. It’s about churches that have declined to the point where their near term future is in doubt. And it’s about churches seriously considering allowing another church to takeover their property. It’s about churches going down the difficult but noble path of being acquired by another church. Allow me to elaborate with seven reasons why churches should consider this option.
So a church presence in the community will not go away. We need more churches, not fewer churches. If your church has declined to the point where it looks like it may close, allow another church to acquire your property and re-start as a new church.
Because re-plants have many of the same advantages of typical church plants. Simply stated, a re-planted church is able to start anew. Past challenges are in the rearview mirror, and new opportunities abound.
Because real estate is becoming scarce and more expensive. From a stewardship perspective, it makes much more sense to give away the property of a dying church to a relatively healthy church. In some areas, land is scarce. In all areas, new buildings are expensive.
So the work and ministry of your present church may have a legacy of continuation. Imagine the untold hours of ministry that have gone into the work of an existing church. Imagine the potentially millions of dollars that have been given through the church. If your church is on the precipice of closing, don’t let that work and sacrifice end abruptly. Allow another church to honor and continue that legacy.
Because the ministry presence in the community will move from unhealthy to healthy. If your church will possibly close soon, it’s obviously not very healthy. Allow a new church to acquire your facilities to bring a healthy ministry presence to the community.
Because sometimes a new start is needed to overcome negative perceptions in the community. If your church is on the verge of death, its reputation in the community is either negative or unknown. A re-plant will allow the new ministry presence to have a fresh start in the eyes of those in the community.
Because often the acquiring church increases its ministry impact multifold through an acquisition. Many acquiring churches report greater health and ministry impact as they gain new campuses. And it’s usually not the simple addition of ministry impact with each additional campus. All locations of the acquiring church often become stronger and more effective in their respective communities.
I recently went over my updated will with my three sons. The son with the greatest level of mercy told me he was uncomfortable talking about my death. I get that. But death is a part of God’s glorious plan. I would rather plan for it than to leave my family struggling to take care of everything after my eternal departure.
Churches also die. But it’s so much better to be prepared for that death than to close the doors without further consideration.
Churches that allow themselves to be acquired are churches looking to a new future, a new hope, and a willingness to sacrifice to get there.
July 18, 2017
What to Do When You Work for a Bad Leader – Rainer on Leadership #346
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It can be frustrating to work for a bad leader. But does that mean you have to leave immediately or attempt a coup? Not at all. Today we cover six steps to consider when you work for a bad leader.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
A bad leader is not the same thing as a bad person.
A primary characteristic of the best leaders is decisiveness.
If you work for a bad leader, follow them in the areas you can.
You don’t always have to have positional authority to have influence.
Good communication from a leader helps others know the reasoning behind decisions that are made.
If you are looking for the good in your leader, you will likely find it.
Praying for someone may not change that person, but it likely will change your heart toward them.
You will never work for (or be) a perfect leader.
The six steps we discuss are:
Support your leader.
Consider that you may be wrong.
Lead as best you can in your area.
If the relationship allows, ask non-threatening questions.
Seek to affirm your leader whenever it is possible and genuine.
Leave.
Episode Sponsors
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. Their Fall Lead Pastor and Executive Pastor Coaching Networks are now open for registration, and our very own Dr. Rainer will be speaking at the Fall Lead Pastor Coaching Network.
So if you’re a Lead Pastor or an Executive Pastor looking for peer roundtable coaching, check it out at vanderbloemen.com/coaching. It’s limited to 16 folks, so apply today before it fills up.
Midwestern Seminary, one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America, exists to train leaders For The Church. The local church is God’s “Plan A” for the proclamation of the gospel, and there is no Plan B. And this is Midwestern’s vision and heartbeat—equipping pastors and other ministry leaders who are called to expand God’s mission in the world through the local church. At Midwestern Seminary: they train leaders ‘For The Church.’
Visit them online at MBTS.edu and start your ministry training today.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Who Moved My Pulpit?
Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast
How to Lead When Your Leader Is Not Leading Well
The Peter Principle
Church Answers
Leading from the Second Chair – Rainer on Leadership #072
July 17, 2017
Ten Roadblocks to Church Revitalization
Please pause for a moment.
Please prayerfully consider the words you are about to read.
Please ask God for His strength to overcome these roadblocks.
You have seen the data. You know that two-thirds of our churches are plateaued or declining. Even more, among the declining churches are those that are on the precipice of closing, following the pattern of tens of thousands of other churches that have already closed.
Why?
Why are so many of our churches not moving forward?
Since so many of our churches are in need of revitalization, let’s begin by seeing what roadblocks hinder turnarounds. Here are ten of the most common:
Comfort/resistance to change. This theme has been repeated many times. But there is a reason for the redundancy: It’s true. Until our church leaders and members redirect the focus of self-serving to serving others, church members will always be more concerned about my needs. That attitude leads to comfort and resistance to change.
Lack of knowledge. Because many of our churches have been negligent about reaching beyond their own walls, they lack the knowledge to know how to get out of the rut and revitalize. Many church leaders and members have good intentions; they simply don’t know the next steps.
Despair and defeatism. It’s a vicious and deadly cycle. Churches begin to decline. That decline leads to despair and defeatism. Then that attitude exacerbates the decline, and thus leads to greater despair and defeatism.
Perception that programs are ends instead of a means. “If only we used the program that worked so well twenty years ago.” “If only our denomination gave us the right programs.” There are two erroneous ways of thinking about programs. The first is to reject programs and resources altogether. That is just not wise with the abundance of great programs available. The other erroneous perception is to see programs as the ends instead of the means. That is the attitude of the program-driven church.
The magic bullet syndrome. This obstacle views the path toward revitalization to be one simple solution. It could be the program noted above. It could be the calling of a younger pastor without any other changes. It could be the return of a worship style. The magic bullet syndrome never works. Never.
Lack of awareness about the community. Most churches in need of revitalization really don’t know the community in which they are located. If they happen to open their eyes to the community’s demographics and needs, they are often shocked about their misperceptions.
Evangelistic apathy. This roadblock is pervasive in our churches. If we aren’t sharing the gospel, how can we expect to reach people with the gospel?
Deflection of blame. I have sadly heard on more than one occasion the members of declining churches blame the community members for not coming to their worship services. I have also heard blame directed toward denominations, megachurches, culture, sports, and leisure activities, to name a few. Our churches will not move forward until the leaders and members take responsibility for obedience to the Great Commission.
Short-term leadership. Declining churches often view the next pastor, usually a younger pastor, as the magic bullet. If they happen to secure that pastor but make no other changes, the church resumes its decline. The pastor then becomes disillusioned and discouraged, and moves on to another church. The “pastor-as-magic-bullet” church becomes a series of short-term pastorates, exacerbating the decline.
Failure to consider being acquired by another church. Sadly, many churches repeat the patterns noted above until they are on the precipice of closing. At this point the only path of revitalization is to make the godly sacrifice of allowing a healthy church to acquire the dying church and make the dramatic changes that are necessary. Even more sadly, many churches choose to close the doors rather than make that sacrificial change.
This list of roadblocks is not exhaustive, but it does highlight the common problems. In future posts, I will be sharing with you how some churches have addressed these problems well, and revitalized for the glory of God.
July 16, 2017
Pray for Main Street Baptist Church
Location: Hendersonville, North Carolina
Pastor: John Mason
Weekly Worship: 11:00 AM, Eastern
Fast Facts: Main Street Baptist Church was founded in 1959 as a mission church of FBC Hendersonville, NC. The church grew over the next two decades but fell into decline over the past few decades. Pastor Mason was called to serve the church family around one year ago. Main Street is now refocusing on the community and reaching out to businesses owners and visitors that come to the area. Please pray for the Main Street’s ministry as Hendersonville hosts its Annual Apple Festival on Labor Day weekend. This event draws locals and a number of visitors from all over the country. Last year, volunteers from the church gave out more than 5,000 bottles of water during the three days of the festival. They are also considering moving their service outside this year to make it more inviting to people attending the festival. Finally, pray for Pastor Mason as he battles cancer on his neck and face. He is scheduled for radiation treatments for five days a week for the next weeks.
Website: In Progress
“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well.
If you would like to have your church featured in the “Pray for…” series, fill out this information form..
July 15, 2017
Notable Voices and the Week in Review: July 15, 2017
Five Sobering Realities about Evangelism in Our Churches
How to Improve Your Preaching or Teaching – Rainer on Leadership #344
Seven Costs to Being an Evangelistic Leader in Your Church
Six Content Landmines for Church Email Newsletters
10 Most Frequent Questions Pastors Have – Rainer on Leadership #345
The Real Reason We Don’t Read Our Bibles — Brandon Smith
When you think about it, we should get really excited about Bible reading. The God of the universe has given us his Word. He could’ve tapped out when we disobeyed him in the garden, but he didn’t. He went looking for us and talked to us (Gen. 3). Knowing our gracious God gave us his Word should make us want to read it, but often that’s not enough. We don’t read the Bible regularly because we don’t understand how it works. We often think it’s all about us, and that opening Scripture is only useful when we think we need it. We don’t understand how amazing the Bible really is.
5 Mistakes Most Preachers Make — Carey Nieuwhof
How you approach preaching ultimately determines how you preach, which, of course, also determines how your audience interacts with your message and the effectiveness of your message. Here are 5 preaching mistakes I’ve made from time to time. They’re also mistakes I’ve seen others make far too often.
Why Every Young Pastor Needs an Old Mentor — Sam Rainer
Every young pastor needs an old mentor. I know that’s not a new thought. I press the point because it’s hard to overstate the value of wisdom from someone 50 years older than you. Unfortunately, young pastors tend to dismiss the oldest generation of leaders. Not overtly, of course. Few would explicitly state they don’t want to hear from someone older. The dismissal comes more in the form of time. Our ears can only listen to so much before words start melting together. Podcasts, meetings, texts, phone calls, blogs, sermons—how many of them come from the oldest generation? If you’re like me, you tend to listen to people your age, maybe 10 years older. Listening to the oldest generation takes effort. It’s not efficient. My mentor talks slowly, with careful nostalgia. If I pay attention, what I hear is the greatest hits album of his ministry. It should be played over and over again.
Consider These Three Questions Before Taking a Job in Another City — Art Rainer
A new city means a new cost of living. Sometimes this works to your benefit and other times to your detriment. An increased cost of living could swallow the higher salary. So before accepting the role, consider these 3 questions.
How to Pray for Your Pastor — Melton Duncan
If ever there was an era in Christian history that believers should be committed to praying for their pastors, it is now. James rebukes our prayerlessness when he says, “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2). And what prayers are we offering up to God on behalf of our pastors? Let me suggest several.
The Strange Burden of Participating in Social Media — Chris Martin
One of my friends recently left social media entirely. He deleted all of his accounts and isn’t going to engage on Twitter, Facebook, etc. any more. I kinda wish I could bring myself to do that, but every time I consider it, I can’t. It’s not that I can’t bring myself to leave social media because I have some sort of unhealthy addiction to it or because I need to be informed about what all of my friends are doing with their lives. (At least I don’t think that’s why.) I think I can’t bring myself to leave social media because I have a sort of strange burden for it as a medium.
July 14, 2017
10 Most Frequent Questions Pastors Have – Rainer on Leadership #345
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We get questions every day from several venues—blog comments, emails, tweets, and so many more. Here are the top 10 that we get the most and how to answer them.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
The starting point for a church’s revitalization is different in every situation.
Your church is usually farther along in its need for revitalization than you realize.
It’s amazing the number of pastors who haven’t been trained to deal with church budgets.
Some people handle conflict and personnel well. Most don’t.
Sometimes you must make the inevitable the immediate.
Changing your church’s polity is not a magic bullet for church health.
It doesn’t matter what type of church polity you have if you have the wrong people in leadership roles.
The 10 questions we cover are:
Where do I begin to lead my church toward revitalization?
What do I do about our aging church facilities?
How do I handle church financial issues?
How do I handle conflict and personnel issues?
What is the best leadership structure for a church?
What are the best practical ministry tools?
How do I establish a vision for my church?
How do I deal with power struggles in the church?
How do I lead change in the worship services?
Can I survive?
Episode Sponsors
The Timothy Track, from Midwestern Seminary, offers select residential M.Div. students placement in internship positions in a local church in the area. Now you can complement your studies with in-the-field ministry experience. In addition, all Timothy Track students will receive up to 12 credit hours for the internship and a 50% tuition scholarship for the first year.
Find out more at mbts.edu/TimothyTrack.
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. They’ve helped hundreds of churches just like yours find their church staff and are uniquely geared to help you discern who God is calling to lead your church.
Find out more about Vanderbloemen Search Group by visiting WeStaffTheChurch.com.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Who Moved My Pulpit?
Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast
Church Answers
MBTS state t-shirts
The Need for Church Replanting featuring Mark Clifton – Rainer on Leadership #320
Cool Solutions Group
The Importance of Church Facility Stewardship featuring Tim Cool – Rainer on Leadership #317
Four Useful Ministries by Deacons
ThomRainer.com/worshipguru
July 13, 2017
Six Content Landmines for Church Email Newsletters
By Jonathan Howe
Last week, I discussed 10 content suggestions for churches to use as starting points for creating weekly email newsletters. This week, we turn to content that might cause issues in your church email newsletter.
While these may be occasionally acceptable, email newsletters with several of these will likely see decreased engagement and effectiveness. So here are six content landmines you want to avoid in your email newsletter.
Long articles. As I mentioned in last week’s post, it’s great to have an article from the pastor or a staff member in your email newsletter. But I also noted that this article needs to be brief. If someone opens an email newsletter and sees paragraph after paragraph of text, they are not likely to read the email. People tend to scan emails and look for bullets and headlines. Keep your articles as short as possible and use a variety of headlines and bulleted or numbered lists if possible.
Lengthy prayer request lists. Speaking of lists, prayer lists are great content for email newsletters. But the landmine is long lists of request after request. It’s probably best not to include every single prayer request in your email newsletter for a variety of reasons, but the space they take up might be the most important reason.
Overly specific events and details. When including event information, include the bare minimum with a link for more information. While you may think that including detail after detail after detail will be helpful, many readers will tune out the details, and you’re likely to find yourself frustrated that people aren’t paying attention to this information. Also, try to limit the events listed in the newsletter to those that are church-wide or involve large groups of people in the church.
Detailed recaps of the previous week. It’s fine to list a few stats or details from the previous week, but you don’t want to go on and on about what is in the past. Try to keep your email newsletter focused on the future of the church and upcoming events.
Content from others without attribution or links. While it’s perfectly acceptable to repurpose content from other sites or authors (churches use content from ThomRainer.com all the time), use the content according to the host site’s terms of use. Here at ThomRainer.com we only ask for a link back to the original article. Most sites and blogs employ similar terms of use.
Multiple fonts and colors. This might be the biggest landmine for church newsletters. I’ve seen too many email newsletters that use multiple colors and fonts within the text of the newsletter. Try choosing a simple layout with one or two colors and one or two fonts and stick with them.
Again, I encourage you and your church to have an email newsletter. Just be smart in how you use it and what you include.
Have you found any of these in your church newsletter? What else would you add to this list?
Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources as well as the host and producer of Rainer on Leadership and SBC This Week. Jonathan writes weekly at ThomRainer.com on topics ranging from social media to websites and church communications. Connect with Jonathan on Twitter at @Jonathan_Howe.
July 12, 2017
Seven Costs to Being an Evangelistic Leader in Your Church
The topic of evangelism has grown strangely quiet in many churches. Pastors are not talking about it. Other church leaders aren’t talking about it. Members aren’t talking about it.
And if we aren’t talking about evangelism, you can be assured many of us aren’t doing evangelism.
There are likely many explanations for the death of evangelism in our churches. Among them is the stark reality that many of our church leaders, pastors and others, are not intentionally evangelistic.
Why is that?
Though it is not an excuse, we must acknowledge that the pastors and other church leaders pay a high cost when they become intentionally evangelistic. Sometimes it just seems easier to keep our mouths shut about the gospel. Look at these costs to being an evangelistic leader in a local church.
It is spiritual warfare. Satan and his demonic horde do not want people to know the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though the manifestations of demonic opposition are many, you can be assured the evangelistic leader will confront such opposition again and again.
You will be viewed as narrowed minded. John 14:6 does not sit well with culture. Though Jesus Himself said He was the only way, truth, and life, leaders will be rejected and opposed for such “narrow-minded” thinking.
Something else must be sacrificed when you are an evangelistic leader. Your time is limited. You have sermons to prepare. You have hospital visits to make. You have counseling appointments. You have way too many meetings. And hardly a day goes by without a new and unexpected crisis arising. You must sacrifice something else to take time to share the gospel with others.
Some of your members will complain. You have some church members who will complain about anything that does not serve them personally. It may be headed under the passive-aggressive guise of “I’m not being fed,” but you can be assured some of your members will oppose your leadership in evangelism.
New converts will be seen as threats or inconveniences in your church. True story. In one of the churches I served as pastor, a lady tried to get me fired because the “new people” were “messing up our church.” New Christians are needy. Some longer-term members don’t like to give up their comforts for others.
Discussing theology is easier than doing theology. I wish we spent an equal amount of time sharing the gospel as we do talking and debating theology. Yes, we need to take bold stands for the truth. But we don’t need just to stand there; we need to do and go.
You will have to break out of your holy huddles. It’s more comfortable hanging out with people who are like us and who believe like we do. But you will not have that luxury if you become an intentional evangelistic leader in your church. You will discover new relationships with non-Christians, which means you can’t spend all your time with Christians.
There is a cost to being an evangelistic leader in your church.
But the benefits are far greater.
They last through eternity.
July 11, 2017
How to Improve Your Preaching or Teaching – Rainer on Leadership #344
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play
Improving your preaching and teaching doesn’t happen accidentally. It takes intentionality and work. And today we cover 15 ways you can improve your preaching or teaching.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
Intentionality is always key to improvement.
What gets calendared gets done.
Sermon prep alone is not sufficient for the personal devotional life a pastor needs to have.
Pastors need to know their congregation. It’s hard to preach to a congregation that you do not know.
One of the most important things you can do for your church is to pray for your pastor.
Every sermon should have solid exegesis, exposition, and application.
It’s beneficial to take down notes on your preaching as soon as possible after you finish.
The 15 improvement suggestions we discuss are:
Assume you need to improve.
Consider the last time you intentionally improved your approach.
Read the Bible and pray every day.
Forsake sin in your life.
Spend more time with your congregation.
Enlist a prayer team.
Study preaching and teaching.
Listen to other preachers.
Invite others to help you prepare.
Simply and clearly answer the “what,” “so what,” and “now what” questions.
Practice.
Do immediate reflection.
Listen to and watch your own sermons or lessons.
Invite unchurched folks to listen to your sermons or lessons.
Take care of yourself physically.
Episode Sponsors
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. Their Fall Lead Pastor and Executive Pastor Coaching Networks are now open for registration, and our very own Dr. Rainer will be speaking at the Fall Lead Pastor Coaching Network.
So if you’re a Lead Pastor or an Executive Pastor looking for peer roundtable coaching, check it out at vanderbloemen.com/coaching. It’s limited to 16 folks, so apply today before it fills up.
Midwestern Seminary, one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America, exists to train leaders For The Church. The local church is God’s “Plan A” for the proclamation of the gospel, and there is no Plan B. And this is Midwestern’s vision and heartbeat—equipping pastors and other ministry leaders who are called to expand God’s mission in the world through the local church. At Midwestern Seminary: they train leaders ‘For The Church.’
Visit them online at MBTS.edu and start your ministry training today.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Who Moved My Pulpit?
Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast
Church Answers
The Pastor and Church Revitalization featuring Andrew Davis – Rainer on Leadership #332
Preaching and Preachers
City Church Tallahassee Podcast
Pastoral Tenure & Expository Preaching with Alistair Begg – Rainer on Leadership #070
July 10, 2017
Five Sobering Realities about Evangelism in Our Churches
My wife said she did not understand a word I said to her.
Ouch.
I was attempting to explain our research on 1,000 randomly chosen churches, and she had a blank look on her face. I knew what was taking place. A statistical nerd (me) was trying to share research with a normal person (my wife).
Such is the conundrum where I find myself. This research is incredibly revealing, but I often speak in such statistical terms that I cloud its import.
Allow me, then, to attempt to write with some clarity. Let me know if I have not succeeded. Here are some prefatory comments:
In this article, I am addressing the issue of evangelism in our churches. Churches measure conversion growth in different ways. The churches in our study measure conversion growth by baptisms.
The best way we know to measure evangelism effectiveness is the number of conversions relative to the size of the church. We often used membership as a measure of the size of the church in the past. That number unfortunately is no longer statistically relevant. Too many churches have inflated membership rolls. Some churches ignore membership altogether.
We are now using average worship attendance as our metric for church size. We will look at the number of conversions relative to the average worship attendance of the church. For example, a church with an evangelism ratio of 19:1 is reaching one person a year with the gospel for every 19 persons in attendance. To be clear, lower ratios are better; higher ratios are worse.
Do not compare these ratios to any ratios that have used membership as a metric for size! Any such comparisons are “apples and oranges” comparisons.
Please read my previous articles on our research to understand its scope.
So, with the statistical nerdy language done, allow me to share five sobering realities on evangelism in our churches.
Growing churches are growing largely by transfer growth. Most of them are not reaching people with the gospel. They are growing at the expense of other churches. The conversion ratio of all 1,000 churches is 19:1. Growing churches are only slightly better at 17:1. Their growth comes largely from other churches.
The number of effective evangelistic churches (EEC) is surprisingly stable. We defined an EEC church as one whose conversion rate is at least 50 percent better than the average. Although very few churches are growing evangelistically, the number of such churches is pretty stable. I did a study of EEC churches in 1996. The percentage of such churches has remained in the narrow range from 6 percent to 7.5 percent. Though we don’t have many evangelistic churches, the numbers have really not declined over two decades.
Churches that are not in the EEC category are doing much worse evangelistically than in previous years. A non-evangelistic church twenty years ago typically did poorly in evangelism. A non-evangelistic church today is typically doing really, really, really poorly today. There is a widening chasm between these two groups of churches.
Evangelism in the EEC churches is a clear priority. I’m stating the obvious here. But many churches are not doing the obvious.
There are clear and discernible patterns of action in EEC churches. It’s fascinating to see the simple consistency in evangelistic churches. We will be sharing these patterns in future articles.
I am praying God will lead our churches to an evangelism renewal. Please join me at EvangelismRenewal.com where we will be sharing details of our research and much more. You can get a free eBook by me on evangelism renewal when you sign up
May God send an incredible evangelism renewal to our churches.
And may it begin in me.
