Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 249

Five Ways to Lead in Times of Fear

“I’m not sure there is a safe place in the world today.”

The comment was from a friend, a strong Christian and an active church member.

Her voice seemed tinged with fear. I understand fully. It is a natural reaction to the events of the days in which we live.

Most of you who visit my blog are church leaders. People look up to you. They look to you for calm and assurance. And they look to you for God’s perspective in this mess. What can you offer? Though the answer to that question could fill volumes, allow me to suggest five ways to lead in times of fear.

Lead in greater and deeper prayer. Certainly a deep prayer life should be normative for Christians. Many of us, however, can use a reminder that God is always there to hear our petitions, our needs, and our fears. He is the Comforter. He is the Victor. He removes the fear with His assurance and promises.
Be courageous yourself. How many times have you read in God’s Word to be courageous? How many times has He said, “Do not fear”? There is a reason for such an emphasis. First, God does remove fear. Second, He expects His leaders to demonstrate such courage and fortitude. People are watching. Let them see God’s hope, not humanity’s fear.
Focus on the promises of God. Have you ever done a teaching series on the promises of God? It is an incredible exercise and affirmation of how much God loves us and cares for us. It can also be greatly comforting for those who sit under your teaching.
Teach how Christ’s love overcomes hatred and bigotry. There is simply no greater example than the cross. Sometimes I think that some of the violent and vile people do not deserve love and forgiveness. Then I am reminded that I don’t either.
Focus on sharing the love of the gospel with others. There may not be a better time to demonstrate and share the love of Christ than the times in which we live. People are looking for hope. Christ is such hope.

I find myself looking to the news apps on my smartphone more often these days. I need to be opening my Bible more often. I need to hear more from Him through His Word. And I need to demonstrate His comfort, assurance, and love to others.

Indeed, we live in perilous days. But we also live in days of great opportunity. May more people see Christ in all that we say and do.

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I did not give as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful” (John 14:27).

Let me hear your thoughts.

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Pray for Buena Park Bible Church

Location: Buena Park, California

Pastor: Scott Bashoor

Weekly Worship: 11:00 AM, Pacific

Fast Facts: Founded in 1934 in the midst of north Orange County’s citrus groves, Buena Park Bible Church is now surrounded by apartments and an Indian temple (Jain Center of SoCal). Buena Park is a small congregation of about 50 with mostly seniors and young families. They incubate (via low rent) an autonomous Spanish church on the campus and partner together in a couple outreach events each year. Both pastors are bi-vocational which both enriches and challenges ministry. The church hosts a children’s outreach ministry most months and a couple annual outreach events. The volunteer base and financial base is thin, making ministry development & property maintenance difficult. Nonetheless, they’ve sent several people into full-time overseas mission work in the past few years, and their people have rich love for God’s word. Every month or two Buena Park hosts a Friday evening kids’ outreach event called “YO” (Youth Outreach), featuring games, evangelistic Bible lessons, and free pizza. They recently restarted this work after losing our previous pool of workers to the mission field. Once a year they host a 3-on-3 basketball tournament called Hoopla for area youth, and a speaker shares his testimony and the Gospel at lunch. Please pray to engage more of our people in adult evangelism. Also pray as they prepare to budget for the next year, as they may have to make some hard choices unless the Lord should supply our deficit. Attendance has grown slightly in the past year or so, but so have the financial needs of their people. They’re facing more challenges than ever in ministering to the poor within our own church body. Pray for the English and Spanish pastors’ encouragement, and that they’ll have “small-church smarts” as they lead with limited time and resources.

Website: BibleChurchBP.org

“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..

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Notable Voices: November 28, 2015

Five Reasons We Should Sing Passionately & Loudly in Church — Philip Nation

LifeWay was blessed to have The Gettys perform for our Christmas chapel this year. You can catch them in a city near you this Christmas on their ‘Joy! An Irish Christmas’ tour. While they were around, Philip got some thoughts from Keith on worship.

 

Three Emotions Pastors Bear Which Are Unknown to Most Congregants — Erik Reed

Pastors, you are not alone. And church members, please pray for your pastor. Many of them deal with issues far greater than many of us can ever imagine.

 

What They Need on Sundays — Jared Wilson

Pastors, please read this exhortation from Jared. It’s a short and poignant reminder about what you are called to as a proclaimer of God’s Word.

 

What Amazing Bosses Do Differently — Harvard Business Review

The difference between a good boss and an amazing boss is nearly razor thin. But these three simple characteristics often embody amazing bosses.

 

What Is a Budget? 8 Definitions for a Misunderstood Document — Brad Hambrick

Budgets are important for both individual finances and organizational finances. I appreciate how Brad puts stewardship and budgeting into a greater kingdom-minded framework in this post.

 

10 Reflections on Today’s Preaching — Chuck Lawless

The third point Chuck makes in this post is one I have not seen many touch on. Though I think he may be onto something with his analysis of sermon series length.

 

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Why Churches Choose to Die – Rainer on Leadership #178

Podcast Episode #178

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On today’s episode, we discuss how churches—intentionally or not—choose to die. Whether it be elevating negotiables to the status of non-negotiables or just refusing to face reality, churches often choose to die rather than choosing to change.

Some highlights from today’s episode include:

When a church has an attitude that the pastor works for them to meet their needs, it’s already dying.
Many churches who feel they are “the friendliest church in town” truly are friendly…to one another.
Pastors too often blame new churches or megachurches for their church’s failure to reach their community.
A church who is all about what it is against is on a path to dying as a church.
There are some church members who would rather let people die and go to hell than to lose their preferences in church.

The five ways churches act in such a way that they effectively choose to die are:

They refuse to face reality. 
They are more concerned about greater comfort than the Great Commission. 
They are unwilling to accept responsibility.
They are too busy fighting and criticizing.
They are confusing non-negotiables with negotiables.

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.

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is a dynamic community of learners who are serious about ministry preparation biblical studies theological reflection and cultural engagement. Their faculty are gifted men and women who minister as much through research and writing as through local church involvement but their primary ministry is teaching and caring for students. Find out more about TEDS at Divinity.TIU.edu.

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 I Will.

Resources

I Am a Church Member
Autopsy of a Deceased Church
Auxano
I Will
Twenty Five Silly Things Church Members Fight Over

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Nine Reasons Christians Don’t Evangelize

By Chuck Lawless

I’ve been a professor of evangelism for almost twenty years. Over the years, I’ve continually considered and asked why most believers never do evangelism. Here are nine of the reasons I’ve discovered, given in no particular order.

Many don’t know what “evangelism” is. When doing church consulting, I ask believers to rate the evangelism in their church. It’s not uncommon for me to hear answers like, “We send a lot of people on mission trips” or “we minister to the homeless downtown.” Both of these ministries are significant (and would likely contribute to evangelism), but they’re not evangelism unless the gospel message is proclaimed.
We have few evangelistic role models. Two men in my life modeled evangelism for me. In both cases, seldom was I with either man without his sharing the gospel with somebody. When I ask my students today about their models, though, many have none.
Some church members aren’t convinced about lostness. I encourage you to consider doing an anonymous theological survey of your church. I will not be surprised if you find folks who believe that good people might go to heaven apart from a relationship with Christ. Folks who believe that way see no need to do evangelism.
Some churches have provided no evangelism training. I am still surprised by the number of churches that have no intentional, strategic plan to help Christ followers do evangelism. Ideally, of course, believers will naturally talk about Jesus, but even passionate people sometimes need direction and equipping.
Fear of the unknown halts our efforts. You’ve probably heard fears expressed. “He might not listen to me.” “What if doing this costs me my friend?” “She might ask me questions I can’t answer . . . .” “They might reject what I say.” Most of these fears, I believe, are more perceived than real in North American culture, but perception matters.
We’ve “gotten over” our salvation. In some ways, this issue is the focus of my book, Nobodies for Jesus . When Jesus becomes routine to us – that is, our passion for Him has settled into mediocrity – we won’t readily tell others about Him.
Pastors aren’t taking the lead in evangelism. I cannot recall ever seeing a strongly evangelistic church led by a non-evangelistic pastor. The pastor who evangelizes regularly will speak more of his evangelistic experiences, challenge his church with more passion to evangelize, and assure his church provides evangelistic training.
We don’t really know many lost people anyway. Many church members are so cocooned in the church world that they couldn’t list several names of non-believers they know well. If our whole world revolves around hanging out with Christians, we’re not likely to do evangelism.
We don’t care about non-believers. I don’t think we can avoid this possibility. If we truly believe that people need a personal relationship with Jesus, but we still keep that message to ourselves, how can we conclude otherwise?

What reasons would you add?

Be sure to check out Dr. Lawless’ daily blog posts at www.chucklawless.com. Chuck Lawless currently serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Seminary. You can connect with Dr. Lawless on both Twitter and Facebook.

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Eight Struggles Pastors Face: A Thanksgiving Story

Pastors are struggling.

Yet most pastors love their ministries and churches; and they are committed to both.

But they still struggle.

I am blessed to hear from pastors in many venues. Indeed, it is a constant stream of information. In the course of a week, I will hear directly from over 300 pastors. Sometimes I ask them questions directly on my blog, in our online coaching community (the ChurchAnswers.com Coaching Corner), or on social media.

I also monitor on a regular basis the struggles pastors face. Let me share with you the current reality of eight of the most common struggles.

Leading change. Change has always been rapid, but it is exponentially rapid today. While the truths of the gospel are unchanging, everything else seems to be changing. Many pastors are having a difficult time leading their church members, many of whom are change-resistant, to more effective ministry.
Criticisms and conflict. Though this issue is not new, it has been exacerbated with social media and blogs. It used to be that everyone had an opinion. Today, everyone has an opinion and a forum to share it.
Unrealistic expectations. Every church member has a different set of expectations about what the pastor should do and where the pastor should be. The cumulative effect is that pastors are expected to be omnicompetent, omnipresent, and omniscient.
Time pressure and life balance. Not only do pastors live with unrealistic expectations about their ministries, they have other responsibilities as well, particularly family responsibilities. Bi-vocational pastors also have the time pressures of a second job.
Loneliness and insecurities. Pastors feel pressure to demonstrate they have it all together. To the contrary, many of them feel very alone and deal with insecurities. “It is difficult to have a true friend in the church,” a Colorado pastor shared with us. “I tried one time, and shared confidential issues with him,” he continued. “He broke the confidences and caused me to lose my job.”
Staff issues. Anyone who works with anyone will have these issues. Pastors and staff are not exempt.
Personal finances. Because pastors with excessive lifestyles get media attention, we often fail to consider that the majority of pastors barely get by financially. Personal financial stress diminishes ministry effectiveness and family health.
Church finances. The majority of churches in America are under 100 in worship attendance. Many of these small churches are struggling financially. But the struggles are also present in a number of larger churches. Pastors have the stresses of inadequate ministry funding; and they sometimes wonder if they will get a paycheck.

Pastors, as a rule, would not want others to have a pity party for them. Most of them feel very thankful, very blessed, and wouldn’t consider doing anything else. I had other reasons for writing this post.

First, we need to have an awareness of these realities. Second, we should pray for our pastors daily. And third, let us be thankful for them. The pastors who serve our churches are a blessing and a joy.

They are a true thanksgiving story.

Let me hear from you.

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Hit and Miss Church Guest Experiences – Rainer on Leadership #177

Podcast Episode #177

SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio

We love hearing from listeners and readers here at ThomRainer.com. Recently, we asked for your church guest experiences and the feedback was overwhelming. I wrote a post with the best and worst experiences and today we discuss that post as well as how my dog, Marley, likes his hamburgers dressed at Sonic.

Some highlights from today’s episode include:

If church members or staff take guests to lunch, a personal connection to the church is more likely.
Apprehension is the norm when a guest comes to a church for the first time.
Using insider language confuses church guests and alienates them.
If you have a stand-and-greet time, make sure it is a genuinely friendly time and not contrived.
Make sure your greeters are trained well and use good common sense.

The guest experiences we cover today are:

Seven Great Experiences

“They went out of the way to make my children calm and happy.”
“A lady befriended us and took us to her small group.”
“The pastor offered to take us to lunch.”
“A church member wrote our children a letter after meeting us.”
“The church was clean and had great signage.”
“A church member invited us to lunch.”
“We were greeted in the parking lot and walked to where we were supposed to go.”


Seven Bad Experiences

“I didn’t know what they were talking about. It was a lot of internal language and acronyms.”
“No one spoke to us.”
“We were given ear plugs when we walked in.”
“My wife and I are a mixed race couple. The greeter suggested we might be at the wrong church.”
“The friendliness seemed contrived and fake.”
“They asked us to stand up and introduce ourselves.”
“The greeter gave me a children’s bulletin and told me I could color on it. I’m twenty years old.”



Episode Sponsors

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is a dynamic community of learners who are serious about ministry preparation biblical studies theological reflection and cultural engagement. Their faculty are gifted men and women who minister as much through research and writing as through local church involvement but their primary ministry is teaching and caring for students. Find out more about TEDS at Divinity.TIU.edu.

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 I Will.

The post Hit and Miss Church Guest Experiences – Rainer on Leadership #177 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.

Three Reasons Why Big Events Are Ineffective in Most Churches

Tens of thousands of churches will have events to celebrate the Christmas season. The events will range from simple Christmas Eve candlelight services to major musical productions.

And most of them will fail their intended purpose.

When I speak with church leaders and ask them to describe how they reach their communities, many of them point with pride to a major event, such as those that take place at Christmas, Easter, or the Fourth of July. But when I ask them to assess how many people are currently a part of their churches because of past events, most often I get an awkward silence.

To be sure, not all church events are intended to be outreach events. But many of them, perhaps most of them, have that intention. And most churches do not fare well in that regard.

The church leaders often point to the large attendance of the event, to the hundreds of guest cards completed, or to the decisions noted by these guests. But when the same leaders try to assess how many people have actually become integrated into the life of the church, the reality is usually disturbing.

Why are church events typically so ineffective at truly reaching people and integrating them into the life of church? I’ve seen three common reasons.

Reason #1: The church was not outwardly strategic in his preparation for the event.

If an event is to have an outward impact, it should be strategically and prayerfully planned accordingly. Invitations should be made particularly in the context of existing relationships. There should be an intentional strategy to invite people not in church. There should be concerted prayers to reach people through these events. The entire preparation of the event should be able to communicate the gospel in a powerful way to those who have no connection to the church.

Reason #2: The church was not strategic in its follow-up.

The majority of churches of which I am aware have zero follow-up to their events. They put so much time and energy into the event that they are too weary to do more. The event likely inspired many people; it just did little to make disciples.

Reason #3: The church does not have an outwardly-focused DNA.

This reason is the single most significant reason for ineffective events, and it is the issue where few church leaders have awareness. If a church is truly only focused outwardly for one or two events a year, the event could do more harm than good. The Great Commission cannot be limited to special holidays. The event should be only a part of an overall heart and strategy to reach people with the gospel. This issue is much like churches expecting the stand-and-greet time during the worship services to make them a friendly church. Genuine friendliness is not limited to a planned moment. And genuine outreach cannot be limited to one or a few days a year. Do not plan to use the big event in your church for reaching people unless that is your church’s consistent behavior.

So many church leaders are frustrated that their big events expended so much of the church’s resources with little fruit over the years. The reasons for this reality are easy to explain, but much more challenging to change.

Let me hear from you.

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Pray for Cresaptown UMC

Location: Cresaptown, Maryland

Pastor: Hal Atkins

Weekly Worship: 8:30 and 11:00 AM, Eastern

Fast Facts: Cresaptown UMC has been in existence since 1784 and continues to have a vital relationship with Christ and with the community it serves. An older congregation seeking to become more intergenerational, Cresaptown UMC is the host church for Kairos Prison Ministry. Kairos just finished its 7th Kairos Weekend at the Western Maryland Correctional Institute. Cresaptown UMC has been blessed to host Kairos for all seven weekends. Kairos #8 will be held in April, and the first Kairos Weekend at the North Branch Correctional Institute will take place in May. They have had the joy of seeing many prisoners have come to know Christ through these Kairos events. Please pray for continual spiritual transformation for both prisons, WCI and NBCI, and for the Kairos Weekends at both prisons in the Spring. Also please pray that the congregation continues to grow in having a vital relationship with Christ. Cresaptown UMC seeks to be passionate in their worship of Christ, radical in their hospitality toward others, intentional in their discipleship, articulate in their faith, risk-taking in their mission, and generous in their giving.

Website: CresapUMC.org

“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..

The post Pray for Cresaptown UMC appeared first on ThomRainer.com.

Notable Voices: November 21, 2015

Six Factors that Can Hinder a Millennial’s Career Advancement — Art Rainer

Art shares six habits or schools of thought which can easily hurt Millennials in their career. Of the six, number three might be the most perilous both to Millennials and those of other generations.

 

Ministry Makes You More Holy or More Hypocritical — Eric Geiger

In this short post from Eric, he examines the way in which we study the Word. Are we being changed or are we using it for our gain?

 

22 Mistakes Pastors Make in Practicing Church Discipline — Jonathan Leeman

Even when practiced correctly, church discipline will furrow the brow of some members for one reason or another. And when these mistakes are made, the problems are compounded.

 

5 Shared Characteristics Needed for Church Planting or Church Revitalization — Ron Edmondson

In some circles, there seems to be an unintentional dichotomy which has been created between planting and revitalization. As Ron shows in this post, the two are quite similar in some areas and ever share characteristics.

 

How Pastoral Care Stunts the Growth of Most Churches — Carey Nieuwhof

It’s quite simple: too much focus on pastoral care means less focus on pastoral leadership.

 

Five Key Church Health Hindrances — Church Answers

On this week’s episode of Church Answers Live, I discussed five hindrances to church health. While some are results of collective attitudes or behavior of the church, most are the outflow of pastoral leadership. Don’t forget to join us every Thursday at 3:00 PM Eastern for Church Answers Live.

 

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