Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 208
January 10, 2017
How to Renew Evangelistic Growth in Your Church – Rainer on Leadership #292
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play
In my trends for 2017, I mentioned an increased intentionality on evangelism in the church. Today, we look at five keys to evangelistic growth in your church.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
The top 6% of evangelistic churches reach one person each year for every 20 in attendance.
The author of salvation is God—not an evangelistic methodology or a program.
What a pastor leads and makes important is how the church will respond.
I’ve yet to find an evangelistic church who is not led by an evangelistic pastor.
Evangelistic growth, evangelistic atmosphere, and evangelistic environment are all tied together.
Church leaders need to be in the habit of sharing their faith and inviting others to church.
The more you celebrate evangelism in the church, the more it will happen in the church.
The five keys to renewed evangelistic growth which we discuss are:
A small group of church members dedicated themselves to pray for an evangelistic harvest.
Pastors make evangelism a personal priority.
Leaders in the church teach church members to invite people to church.
These churches love the communities in which they are located.
These churches have consistent, usually weekly, efforts to connect with unchurched people in the community.
Episode Sponsors
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.
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
10 Major Trends for Churches in 2017
Invite Your One
I Am a Church Member
January 9, 2017
Six Statements That Can Kill a Church
Words can kill.
Words can kill churches because they often have deadly actions behind them. As we begin this new year, please allow me to share six statements that I have heard from church members whose churches have died.
Please hear that last statement again: These are statements from church members whose churches have already closed their doors. I am convinced these statements were major contributors to the churches’ demise.
“We pay our pastor to do evangelism.” The common meaning behind this statement is that the members have no intentions of sharing their faith. A church with non-evangelistic members is a dying church.
“Without our money, this church would be in trouble.” Ouch! The key word here is “our.” Members with this attitude do not give with an open hand; they perceive the money they give to the church is their money, not God’s money. This tight-fisted non-stewardship, if prevalent in the church, is a sure sign of sickness or death.
“This church is not meeting my needs.” For certain, members’ needs should be met. But have you noticed that, often times, the most needy members are the first to complain and the first to leave? We should certainly care for the needs of the flock, but the attitude of the members should be that of serving instead of being served.
“We pay the salary of the pastor and staff, so they should listen to us.” This deadly statement has two major inflictors of pain. First, the money is treated with a tight fist, as I noted above. Second, the money is used to control leaders. I served in a church where a member made that statement to me frequently. Years after I left, I learned he never gave a dollar to the church.
“We will let the next generation deal with change.” When older generations make this statement, they are resolutely refusing to make necessary and immediate changes. Sadly, the next generations won’t stick around in such a church to make the changes.
“I was here years before the pastor came; I’ll be here years after he’s gone.” This statement is one of power and control rather than service and giving. It’s about out-lasting each pastor to keep the church just the way the member wants it. It’s a statement that was commonly heard in churches that have closed their doors.
I remain an obnoxious optimist about our local congregations. But, sadly, many will die in this year and the next. Most of them will have had members who made these six deadly statements,
I pray your church is not among them.
January 8, 2017
Pray for Valley Life Church
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Pastor: Cody Deevers
Weekly Worship: 10:30 am, Mountain
Fast Facts: Valley Life is a small network of community churches, each with its own pastor and leaders, but with a common culture and resources. Today is launch day for Pastor Cody Deevers at the Arrowhead location. In two weeks, another location (Camelback) will launch. Please pray for Cody and the launch team at Valley Life as well as the staff at the other locations.
Website: ValleyLife.Church
“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..
January 7, 2017
Notable Voices and the Week in Review: January 7, 2017
Ten Major Trends for Churches in 2017
10 Major Trends for Churches in 2017 – Rainer on Leadership #290
Five Common Greeter Mistakes to Correct in the New Year
Five Ways a Church Can Use Social Media when Weather Threatens
How to Adjust When Church Giving Increases – Rainer on Leadership #291
Friendship for the Pastor’s Wife — Christine Hoover
Pastor’s wife, I have good news for you. You do have a choice in the matter, and friendship is a very real possibility for you. Friendship will require your vulnerability, however, and this is the first obstacle you’ll have to hurtle yourself through with purpose and intentionality, because vulnerability is something we tend to tightly lock away. We point to the caveat–“but make sure you are vulnerable only with safe people”–as permission to remain holed up and self-protective. This doesn’t win friends, dear reader. Here’s what does:
10 Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year — Donald S. Whitney
Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going. The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.
5 Takeaways From Pew Research Center’s 2016 Social Media Update — Chris Martin
The data published in the report is interesting, but not at all surprising. Here are five key takeaways I grabbed from the data so you don’t have to dig through it if you don’t want to:
How to Set Annual Goals with Your Church Staff — Sam Rainer
Annual goals should be more tactical and less visionary. Tactics are the operational steps to achieving a desired end. Your annual goals act like the step-by-step instructions moving the church closer to a broader vision. Think of vision as the place just beyond the horizon and annual goals as the plan for the next leg of the journey towards the horizon. One of the key roles of a lead pastor (or whoever manages the staff) is coordinating the staff’s annual goals. Below are five steps to setting annual goals with your staff.
3 Ways a Good Assistant Helps a Pastor — Cody Deevers
God has placed gifted people like [assistants] in His church and more than likely in your church. If you don’t have a [good assistant] yet, pray God gives you one soon. If you do, get a pen and paper, write them a thank you note asap. And mail it, don’t just hand it to them. It’s just a stamp and they are more than worth it.
10 Bible Verses to Start Your 2017 — Art Rainer
For some, a new year means a new start. It’s a natural point in our lives when we consider what we desire to see happen over the next twelve months. Maybe you desire to be a better leader. And this is the year. Maybe you desire to get your finances headed in the right direction. And this is the year. Or maybe you desire to spend more time with God. And this is the year. I am sure that you have high hopes for 2017. You are setting goals and making plans. And this is good. But there is no better place to start this fresh year than in Scripture. So, here are 10 verses to start your 2017:
Notable Voices and the Week in Review: January 7, 2016
Ten Major Trends for Churches in 2017
10 Major Trends for Churches in 2017 – Rainer on Leadership #290
Five Common Greeter Mistakes to Correct in the New Year
Five Ways a Church Can Use Social Media when Weather Threatens
How to Adjust When Church Giving Increases – Rainer on Leadership #291
Friendship for the Pastor’s Wife — Christine Hoover
Pastor’s wife, I have good news for you. You do have a choice in the matter, and friendship is a very real possibility for you. Friendship will require your vulnerability, however, and this is the first obstacle you’ll have to hurtle yourself through with purpose and intentionality, because vulnerability is something we tend to tightly lock away. We point to the caveat–“but make sure you are vulnerable only with safe people”–as permission to remain holed up and self-protective. This doesn’t win friends, dear reader. Here’s what does:
10 Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year — Donald S. Whitney
Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going. The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.
5 Takeaways From Pew Research Center’s 2016 Social Media Update — Chris Martin
The data published in the report is interesting, but not at all surprising. Here are five key takeaways I grabbed from the data so you don’t have to dig through it if you don’t want to:
How to Set Annual Goals with Your Church Staff — Sam Rainer
Annual goals should be more tactical and less visionary. Tactics are the operational steps to achieving a desired end. Your annual goals act like the step-by-step instructions moving the church closer to a broader vision. Think of vision as the place just beyond the horizon and annual goals as the plan for the next leg of the journey towards the horizon. One of the key roles of a lead pastor (or whoever manages the staff) is coordinating the staff’s annual goals. Below are five steps to setting annual goals with your staff.
3 Ways a Good Assistant Helps a Pastor — Cody Deevers
God has placed gifted people like [assistants] in His church and more than likely in your church. If you don’t have a [good assistant] yet, pray God gives you one soon. If you do, get a pen and paper, write them a thank you note asap. And mail it, don’t just hand it to them. It’s just a stamp and they are more than worth it.
10 Bible Verses to Start Your 2017 — Art Rainer
For some, a new year means a new start. It’s a natural point in our lives when we consider what we desire to see happen over the next twelve months. Maybe you desire to be a better leader. And this is the year. Maybe you desire to get your finances headed in the right direction. And this is the year. Or maybe you desire to spend more time with God. And this is the year. I am sure that you have high hopes for 2017. You are setting goals and making plans. And this is good. But there is no better place to start this fresh year than in Scripture. So, here are 10 verses to start your 2017:
January 6, 2017
How to Adjust When Church Giving Increases – Rainer on Leadership #291
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play
Today’s episode may be a dream for many church leaders. But often, more money for churches can lead to more problems for churches if not handled well.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
Today’s podcast episode may be about the dream scenario for many pastors and churches.
Faster growing churches tend to have lower per capita giving.
Giving patterns of families often follow life stages, so determine if increased giving is ongoing or temporary.
I prefer the lag approach to church staffing rather than the lead approach.
High cash reserves can discourage giving and show a lack of faith.
Low cash reserves can indicate a church is not prudent or not planning for the future.
In many churches, we erroneously treat the previous year as the base for what will happen the next year.
The nine responses to increased giving that we cover today are:
The surprising place where many churches get in trouble
Find out why
Ask for an age breakdown
Determine if ongoing or temporary
Be careful before adding personnel
Check reserves
Be exceedingly careful with one-time gifts
Make certain next year’s budget is accurate but conservative
Postscript: Faith or prudence?
Episode Sponsors
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Find out more at mbts.edu/mdiv.
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
Belay Solutions
January 5, 2017
Five Ways a Church Can Use Social Media when Weather Threatens
By Jonathan Howe
As I write this article, a potentially disruptive snowstorm is headed toward the southeast United States. Unlike some parts of the country, the South does not handle winter weather well.
At all.
We panic. We cancel everything, and then load up Instagram and Facebook with snow pictures.
However, there are times when (and places where) life must go on regardless of the weather—winter or not. This is yet another reason why social media can be such an incredible tool for churches—when weather threatens, social media can help your church respond. Here are five guidelines for using social media to keep your members informed during severe weather:
Post graphics keeping your congregation informed. Cancelling service? Still having service? Post a graphic you have already created to your social media accounts. Text the image to your staff and have them share it as well. Images stand out more than a simple text update. So use images to communicate important information related to service cancellations due to weather.
Answer questions that come in promptly. Whoever monitors and manages your social media accounts should be one of the first people you call when a decision is made about cancelling or keeping your service schedule when weather threatens. Have a planned statement to provide to anyone asking about the status of your services. Also, send this statement to any media outlets who may be aggregating closures.
Understand that not everyone will agree with the decision. If you cancel services, someone will complain. If you don’t cancel, someone will complain. Just know there will be complaints regardless of the decision. These complaints may come over social media, so have a courteous response ready.
Consider providing online video feeds of the service or sermon. When a service is cancelled, the pastor basically has two options: save the sermon for the next week, or preach it online via Facebook Live or Periscope. If the service goes on as planned and you don’t already have a live streaming option, consider providing one for those who may not be able to make it to the service. By making this available to those who follow you, your complaints from the point above are likely to lessen.
Update the church calendar for other events that may be scheduled. Sometimes, we can get caught up thinking only about Sunday morning services that we forget other events are scheduled. Have someone designated as a point person to communicate with other ministry leaders who may be affected by weather-related decisions. Their personal social media accounts can be used to get the word out about any updates that are necessary.
Is your church routinely affected by winter weather? Do you use any specific tools to communicate closures? Is social media a major part of your communications plan?
Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources, 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.
January 4, 2017
Five Common Greeter Mistakes to Correct in the New Year
I guess I’m a bit picky here
If your church has a greeter ministry, it’s already ahead of most churches. I should just be grateful you have such a ministry.
But you do want it to improve, right?
Greeter ministries, like any other ministries, can get in a rut. And since we are about to greet a new year, let’s have an honest conversation about how to begin a new year with some improvements in your greeter ministry.
Here are the five most common greeter ministry mistakes. The good news is they are all easily correctable.
Greeters who only converse with people they know. Sure, they will give a perfunctory “hello” to those they see, but many only have conversations with those they know. Sometimes greeters spend most of their time talking to one another. A great greeter strikes up a conversation with someone he or she does not know.
Failure to have greeters in the worship center before services begin. This issue is commonplace. What happens when guests arrive to attend services? They usually go sit down and wait for the services to begin. With no one speaking to them. With no one seated by them. I will expand on this issue in an upcoming post.
Combining the greeter function with the person who hands out bulletins/worship folders. Greeters just have to be free to greet! They can’t greet and converse if they are busy handing out a bulletin to each passerby.
Greeters who fail to introduce themselves. It’s not a true greeting unless the greeter takes time to introduce himself or herself to a number of people. But what if the person receiving the greeting is a long-term member? You know, I’ve never known members to get mad because someone is making an effort to get to know them better.
Failure to have greeters in place after the services have begun. Guests will be late. They may never have been to your church before. They may have had problems getting the kids ready. They may have underestimated the travel time. Sometimes we have asked “secret guests” to be 10 minutes late to a service intentionally. Nearly three-fourths of the time, there is absolutely no one there to greet them for their late arrival.
Yes, greeters can make a big difference in how guests perceive your church. I am grateful many of your churches have greeters. I am even more grateful when you strive for excellence with these ambassadors of hospitality.
Let me hear from you.
January 3, 2017
10 Major Trends for Churches in 2017 – Rainer on Leadership #290
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play
At the beginning of each year, we predict trends to look for in the church during the coming year. Today we explain why I chose these ten trends for 2017.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
In some ways, outreach and evangelism were easier in the past. A greater intentionality is needed today.
The gospel does not change, but how we reach people with it does.
If you don’t have a child protection policy in your church, you are living dangerously.
If you have a church credit card, you need checks and balances to ensure all purchases are church related.
My hope is that denominational leaders will see church closings as an opportunity instead of a reason for despair.
Longer pastoral tenure is correlative to better church health.
Healthy churches are being led by leaders who are in a continuous learning mode.
The 10 church trends for 2017 which we discuss are:
Renewed emphasis on evangelism.
Renewed emphasis on practical ministries.
Increased frequency of allegations of child sex abuse in churches.
Increased financial fraud in churches.
The multi-site movement becoming a neighborhood church movement.
An acceleration of church closures.
Church acquisitions becoming normative.
Worship center downsizing becomes normative.
Longer pastoral tenure.
The remarkable shift toward continual learning.
Episode Sponsors
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.
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
Invite Your One
Invite Your One featuring Jeremy Roberts
Belay Solutions – Church Bookkeeping
Multi-Site Church for the Rest of Us, featuring Jimmy Scroggins
Five Seismic Shifts Virtual Tour
January 2, 2017
Ten Major Trends for Churches in 2017
For those who read my blog regularly, you know I do a “trends post” every year early in January. This next statement sounds totally immodest, but I’m pretty good at predictive trends.
Now let me tell you the whole truth.
I’m pretty good at these predictive trends because I have been following developing patterns for the past year. In other words, I’m really not that bright or prescient. The best I can say is I’m pretty observant.
So what are the ten major trends for 2017? It’s a mixed bag of good news and bad news.
Renewed emphasis on evangelism. Many church leaders want to know how their churches can better reach the non-Christians where they are. This emphasis on the “Jerusalem” of Acts 1:8 will result in more intentionality in evangelism and, thus, more people becoming followers of Christ.
Renewed emphasis on practical ministries. Many of our churches have gone through a period of theological recovery for which I am very grateful. Now the leaders want to know the “how” along with the “what.” They are looking for practical solutions built on biblical truths.
Increased frequency of allegations of child sex abuse in churches. Sexual predators see churches as places of vulnerability and opportunity. Too many churches are not prepared or equipped to deal with these issues. Please see my recent post on this topic.
Increased financial fraud in churches. Once again, some of those with ill intent see the church as a place of opportunity to commit theft. I will address this issue more fully later. I am an advocate of outsourced church financial ministries like MAG Bookkeeping to do payroll, bookkeeping, and financial records. It takes the burden and liability off the church. Indeed, I could have added to the list an entire trend of churches moving toward more virtual workers through organizations like MAG Bookkeeping and eaHELP.
The multi-site movement becoming a neighborhood church movement. I have written about the multi-site movement many times at this blog. The next extension of this movement is an intentionality to start or acquire campuses to reach and minister to residents of specific neighborhoods.
An acceleration of church closures. The death rate of churches is sadly increasing in America. I do not see that trend abating.
Church acquisitions becoming normative. I am surprised how quickly churches and denominational entities have become strategic about acquiring churches that are declining and dying. While the trend of church closures is not encouraging, it is encouraging that more churches are becoming intentional about saving these churches from total extinction.
Worship center downsizing becomes normative. This trend was easy to predict. The Millennials are leading the way to attend worship services that are small to mid-size. As a consequence, the huge worship centers have lost their attraction. Church architects and design/build firms will be busy downsizing worship centers.
Longer pastoral tenure. This trend is being led by Millennial pastors. These younger pastors do not desire to climb the ladder to larger churches. They are more desirous to stay and make a long-term difference in the community.
The remarkable shift toward continual learning. Our research is showing that pastors and church staff tend to have greater success in their roles if they are intentional about continual learning. Some go the path of greater formal education, but more are receiving coaching and intentional programs of continual learning like the ministry we developed called Church Answers. An ancillary trend to this one is the increase in number of mentors and coaches for pastors and staff.
These trends are relatively easy to predict, but that does not make them less important. Think how they might impact your church.
Let me hear from you.
