Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 307

10 Reflections on Leadership

By Chuck Lawless

Forty years ago at this time of year, a seventh-grade classmate was sharing the gospel daily with me. I was months away from accepting God’s gracious salvation, but I was daily contemplating gospel truths – even as a thirteen year old.

Thirty-three years ago, I was about six weeks into my first pastorate. I knew very little, except to preach the gospel and tell everybody about Jesus. God blessed those efforts despite my inexperience in leading a congregation well.

Today, I still do not claim to be a great leader. The best I can say is I’m a leader who has learned, and who continues to learn, through my experiences and the experiences of others. Here are some of the things I’ve learned:

Realize you will not always be the leader.  You are the leader now, but you will not lead forever. Callings change. Health issues erupt. Organizations restructure. And – though this thought is difficult for some of us to imagine – those organizations often go on well without us. We sometimes become only one of the pictures of past leaders hanging on the wall, all photographic reminders that an organization is much bigger than we are.
Continually have an “intern” learning with you. Leadership is not only about what we do today; it is also about what happens when we’re no longer in the leadership role. I know few leaders who would say otherwise, but I also know few leaders who act as if they believe these words. Too many leaders seemingly are striving to build their own kingdom with little regard for what happens in a future beyond their leadership.
Get some rest. Frankly, I’d prefer not to include this reflection, as I’m not very good at this one. I try to get needed rest at night, but I’m not faithful in taking time for vacation and renewal. I, like many other leaders, need to heed the words of the great theologian John Stott, “God knew what he was doing when he gave us one day’s rest in seven, and we should not claim greater wisdom than he.”
Prioritize evangelism. Church leadership – whether full-time, part-time, or volunteer – is so multi-faceted and time consuming that it’s easy to fail to do evangelism. Evangelism is not likely to occur unless we prioritize it in our conversations, our relationships, and our daily calendar.
Enlist prayer partners. Do not assume that others are praying regularly for you simply because you are a church leader. The reality is that many church members pray for you only when they learn of a problem. Your leadership will be stronger if you have enlisted and challenged a specific group of people to pray for you intentionally and regularly.
Take care of your body. God created all of our being, including our bodies. Our physical being faces enough struggle simply because of our fallenness; why exacerbate the problem by failing to take care of ourselves? The work of God’s church is so great that we ought to strive to be fully able to carry out the task.
Take at least one mission trip annually. Life situations may hinder following this suggestion, but the strongest leaders I know sacrifice time and funds to reach the nations. We have great access to the world, including places opposed to Christianity. The world has come to North America as well, so this “trip” might be across our continent. Again, though, leaders must prioritize this Great Commission commitment.
Annually read at least one leadership biography.  The Bible is all-sufficient for our task, but that truth does not preclude a need to learn from other sources. We can learn much – both positive and negative – by studying how historical leaders dealt with their specific contexts and issues. Moreover, biographies are often filled with illustrations for preaching and teaching.
Be aware of the dangers of email. Because of my work with missionaries, I’m grateful for email. At the same time, though, email is dangerous. The buffer of cyberspace somehow permits us to be rude and ungodly at times in our interaction with others. Several friends I know fell morally into relationships that began with seemingly “safe” email intimacy. Needless to say, we leaders need godly wisdom here.
Never stop learning and growing. When you think you no longer need to learn and grow, you’ve just forfeited your right to lead.

What other reflections would you add to this list?

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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Pews, Chairs, or Something Else in the Worship Center?

One of the larger expenses of many churches, and often an area of contention, is the type of seating in the worship center. I have been amazed to hear stories of intense church arguments over seating in a church facility. In this brief article, I do my best to offer some objective analysis. I understand there are emotional attachments that go well beyond this mundane prose.

There are really three choices of seating instead of two. Most of the debate is between pews and chairs. But there are really two choices beyond pews. Design/build firms often call the latter two pew chairs and theater seats.
Pew chairs refer to the mobile, stackable chairs. They can be moved and configured as needed. They tend to be a bit more expensive than comparable seating of regular pews.
Theater seats are fixed and not mobile. They are typically bolted to the floor.
According to design/build experts, the actual capacity of pews is much lower than the stated capacity. In fact, pews are considered full when they are at 70% of stated capacity. Pew chairs fill at 80% capacity. And theater seats fill at 90% capacity. So, from this perspective, theater seats are more economically efficient.
Pew chairs engender greater flexibility, but the church must have a place to store them when they are not in use in the worship center. Frankly, many church leaders are surprised to discover how much space those chairs actually need for storage.
The parking capacity of the church is directly impacted by the type of seating chosen. Zoning authorities look at the seating capacity to determine the number of parking places a church must have. Theater seats fare better here, because each seat is counted as a capacity of one. Pew capacity related to parking counts one person for every 18 inches. For the record, most of us can’t fit in 18 inches, so more parking is required beyond the real capacity. If a church has the moveable stacking chairs, the number of chairs is irrelevant to parking. Instead, the total square feet of the assembly space is calculated.
Pews tend to have more sentimental attachments, particularly in more liturgical churches. But a number of non-liturgical church members express strong emotional attachments to pews as well.
Because Americans are getting larger, many of the pew chairs and the theater seats must be larger. So more churches are getting both 21 inch and 24 inch seats. The latter, obviously, reduces seating capacity.
Theater seats allow for easier cleaning and easier access because they fold up when someone is not sitting in them. Obviously, that is not the case with pews and pew chairs (stackable chairs). Both have to be moved to clean around and under them.

As I look at the three alternatives, I see three simple perspectives. Pew chairs, or stackable chairs, allow for greater flexibility. Theater seats engender greater efficiencies. And pews engender greater sentimentality.

Of course, there are more issues both functionally and emotionally. I probably have oversimplified the matter here. So I know there are many more discussion points. And I have little doubt that my incredible readers will add to this conversation.

What type of seating do you have in your facility? If you could change the type, which would you prefer?

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Pray for Cove Baptist Church

Location: Orange, TX

Pastor: Travis Head

Weekly Worship: 10:30 AM Central Time

Fast Facts: Cove Baptist Church is an established church that is in the process of revitalization. Please pray for them in this process that they will reach the lost in their community and continue the revitalization process. Also pray for their upcoming VBS, youth and children’s camps, and back to school rally this summer.

Website: CoveBaptist.net

“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, download this information form and return it to the address on the form.

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Whatever Happened to Sunday Evening Services?

I received a phone call from a pastor I have known for many years. Indeed, I consider him a leader and friend. His question was quick and to the point: “What can I do about our Sunday evening services?” Despite numerous valiant efforts, attendance continued to struggle. The church he serves is, by most standards, a healthy church. But the attendance on Sunday evening is going counter to all the other positive indicators in the church.

This pastor is not alone. Other church leaders are concerned as well. Some have given up on Sunday evening services out of frustration. Others have discontinued the services without much lament. And a few leaders have fairly good reports about these services.

The feelings tend to run strongly one way or another about these services, particularly among those whose traditions have affirmed them in past years. Perhaps a quick overview of the Sunday evening services would be helpful.

An Uncertain History

There will be a number of church leaders reading this article who will hardly give it a second glance. Their church traditions have never, or at least not in recent decades, had Sunday evening services. But there are many other traditions for which these services have been staples. Frankly, the decline in the Sunday evening services among these churches is both noticeable and getting worse.

For years, I have attempted to understand the history of these services. My efforts have not been conclusive. I’ve heard many times, for example, that the evening services began with the advent of the electric light in America. But that explanation seems unlikely since I have found examples of the services in both the 1600s and the 1700s.

Here are some other historical tidbits I have found, all unverifiable at this point:

The services grew during the agricultural phase of our history. Farmers had to work their land six days a week. But, on Sunday, they would have come to a morning service, then have dinner on the grounds, and then have a second later afternoon services before returning home.
During World War II, many men and women worked seven-day weeks to meet the production needs of the war. The Sunday evening service allowed them to attend worship since they couldn’t come on Sunday morning. Thus the service time grew in popularity.
Some denominations and other church traditions focused one service on equipping the believers, and another one on reaching the lost. Thus the Sunday evening service became distinctively different than the Sunday morning service.
As a reminder, some church traditions have little to no familiarity with Sunday evening services; their leaders often wonder why there is so much discussion about the issue outside their traditions.

Possible Reasons for the Decline in Sunday Evening Services

While the history of this service is largely unverifiable, the decline in its attendance, and the reduction in the number of churches offering are clearly evident. Let’s look at six possible reasons for its decline or demise.

The advent of Sunday evening services in many churches was a cultural adaptation for its time. Its decline or demise is thus a cultural response.
The disappearance of blue laws (mandatory Sunday closings) allowed many alternatives to Sunday evening worship, and many church members chose those options.
There has been an increasing emphasis on family time. Families with children at home particularly viewed one worship service on Sundays to be sufficient for them.
Many pastors simply do not have the desire, energy, or commitment to prepare a second and different sermon. Their lack of emphasis was thus reflected in the congregation’s lack of interest.
When many churches began offering services on alternative days, such as Fridays or Saturdays, there was neither the desire nor the resources to keep Sunday evening services going.
A number of churches, particularly new church starts, are in leased facilities. They do not have the option of returning on Sunday evenings.

Trying to Be Objective

In my previous post on changes in church worship services, I stated my desire to be the objective researcher and not inject my own opinions on the issue. That remains my goal in this article as well. But the previous article engendered many comments and not a little emotion. I see that possibility in this endeavor as well.

I do want to hear from you. I continue to be impressed with the acumen and the insightfulness of the readers of this blog. It will be a joy to hear your comments and opinions on Sunday evening services.

Does your church have a Sunday evening service? If you do, is it thriving? Surviving? Struggling?

photo credit: patrickfranzis via photopin cc

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The Pastors’ Wives Episode – Rainer on Leadership #054

Podcast Episode #054

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I’ve written on pastors’ wives a few times here at the blog and every time I do, people flock to the posts. So this week, we looked at these posts and discussed all things related to the pastor’s wife: expectations, loneliness, parenting, friendships, the desire for mentors, and so much more. Here are the points we covered:

Seven Things Pastors’ Wives Wish They Had Been Told Before They Became Pastors’ Wives – April 2013

I wish someone had told me just to be myself.
I wish someone had prepared me to deal with criticism of my husband and me.
I wish someone had reminded me that my husband is human.
I wish someone had told me that others were watching us (the glass house syndrome).
I wish someone had told me there are some really mean people in the church.
I wish someone had told me how much my husband needs me to build him up.
I wish someone had told me that my schedule will never be normal again.

11 Things I Learned from Pastors’ Wives – January 2014

The number one challenge for pastors’ wives is loneliness.
These ladies need to know they have the love and support of their husbands.
A pastor’s wife does not want a church member to tell her what her “job” at the church is.
She would like church members to understand that neither she nor her family is perfect.
The pastor’s wife does not want to field complaints from church members about her husband.
The pastors’ wives who entered ministry with no forewarning about the issues they would face were the ones who stressed the most.
She does not want to be told she needs to work to support her husband and family.
While most pastors’ wives affirm their identity as a wife in ministry, they do not want that to be their only identity.
Many pastors’ wives believe they need training for their roles.
These ladies want to be reminded again and again to keep their focus on Christ.
Many pastors’ wives want a means where they can support one another.

Twelve Reasons Pastors’ Wives Are Lonely – February 2014

Superficial relationships in the church.
A busy pastor/husband.
Mean church members.
A conduit for complaints about her husband.
Broken confidences.
Frequent moves.
Viewed as a second-class person.
Lack of support groups.
No date nights.
Complaints about children.
Husband does not give the wife priority.
Financial struggles.

Episode Sponsor

This week’s podcast is brought to you by the HCSB Study Bible for Women. In The Study Bible for Women, you’ll join a host of other women, all academically trained in the original languages of the Bible and passionate about God’s Word, for an intimate dive into Scripture that will equip you to unlock the riches and majesty of His Word, and ignite a passion to mentor others in your life to do the same. Visit LifeWay.com for more information

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 Autopsy of a Deceased Church.

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Friday Is for Freebies – Autopsy of a Deceased Church

My giveaway this week includes my new book, Autopsy of a Deceased Church.

For more than twenty-five years, I’ve helped churches grow, reverse the trends of decline, and autopsied those that have died. From my experiences, I have discovered twelve consistent themes among those churches that have died. Yet, it’s not gloom and doom because from those twelve themes, lessons on how to keep your church alive have emerged.

Whether your church is vibrant or dying, whether you are a pastor or a church member, Autopsy of a Deceased Church will walk you through the radical paths necessary to keep your church alive to the glory of God and advancement of Christ’s Kingdom.

Also included is the black, genuine leather version of the HCSB Study Bible, a comprehensive, easy to read, and easy to use Bible, with features and formats specifically designed to enhance your Bible study experience. You can also go to MyStudyBible.com and dive right in for a complete digital experience.

This Bible has a retail price of $79.99 and features 15,000 study notes, 290 Hebrew and Greek word studies, 66 highly detailed book introductions, 62 maps, 27 topical articles, 20 charts, and 18 illustrations, all focusing on the most important topics and questions in Bible study.

Enter this week’s Friday Is for Freebies giveaway

To enter this week’s giveaway, fill out the form below. Entries will be closed at midnight Saturday night. We will contact the winner via email on Monday morning. Names and addresses are deleted each week and are just used to select a winner. RSS and email subscribers should click through to the website to enter.

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After submitting your entry, you will be directed back to the ThomRainer.com homepage. By entering, you acknowledge and accept the terms of the promotion.

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Notable Voices: May 8, 2014

Five Ideas for Celebrating Moms – Selma Wilson

My three sons are blessed to have a great mother in Nellie Jo, and they do a good job celebrating her. Selma offers five ideas for you to celebrate your mother on this special weekend.

 

Why Playing it Safe as a Pastor Is the Riskiest Move You’ll Make – Eric McKiddie

Leadership will be risky at times. However some pastors are so risk averse that they don’t realize they are actually taking more of a risk by doing nothing at certain times.

 

New Rules for Church Buildings in a Multisite World – Jim Tomberlin

Multisite churches are changing the landscape for how churches look and feel when it comes to physical space.

 

A Pastor & His Culture – Tony Merida

The culture a pastor or church planter builds in a church is important to the success he will have as the pastor of that church. Tony shows how you can build a healthy culture that leads to a productive pastorate or plant.

 

Why your Church Needs a Social Media Policy – Brian Howard

I recently wrote on the need for churches to have someone in charge of social media at the church. But you also need guidelines for social media.

 

12 Tips to Help You be a Better Speaker and Communicator – Brad Lomenick

In my 20+ years of public speaking, I’ve seen plenty of good and plenty of bad. These tips from Brad will help you to become a better public speaker.

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Nine Rapid Changes in Church Worship Services

If you were attending a church worship service in 1955 and then returned to the same church in 1975, the changes would be noticeable but not dramatic. Churches were slow to change over that 20-year period. If you, however, attended a church worship service in 2000 and then returned to that same church in 2010, there is a high likelihood you would see dramatic changes in just ten years.

What, then, are some of the most significant changes? Please allow me to offer some trends from anecdotal information, church consultations, and objective research. As a caveat, some of the data based research comes from an excellent study, The National Congregations Study by Duke University. This study, fortunately, is longitudinal, so it is able to look at changes over many years. But the study is also dated, with the latest data reported in 2007.

From these multiple sources, I have assembled nine changes that have come at a rapid pace in many churches. Please note my perspective. I am offering these from the perspective of a researcher; I am not making qualitative assessments. Also, with every trend there will be thousands of churches that are exceptions to the norm. But these are the changes in the majority of churches in North America.

Choirs are disappearing. From 1998 to 2007, the percentage of churches with choirs decreased from 54% to 44%. If that pace holds to this year, the percentage of churches with choirs is only 37%.
Dress is more casual. In many churches, a man wearing a tie in a worship service is now among the few rather than the majority. While the degree of casual dress is contextual, the trend is crossing all geographic and demographic lines.
Screens are pervasive. Some of you remember the days when putting a projection screen in a worship center was considered a sacrilege. Now most churches have screens. And if they have hymnals, the hymnals are largely ignored and the congregants follow along on the screens.
Preaching is longer. I will soon be in the process of gathering this data to make certain the objective research confirms the anecdotal information.
“Multi” is normative. Most congregants twenty years ago attended a Sunday morning worship service where no other Sunday morning alternatives were available. Today, most congregants attend a service that is part of numerous alternatives: multi-services; multi-campuses; multi-sites; and multi-venues.
Attendees are more diverse. The Duke study noted the trend of the decrease in the number of all-white congregations.
Conflict is not increasing. In a recent post, I noted the decreasing frequency of worship wars. The Duke study noted that overall church conflict has not increased over a 20-year period.
More worship attendees are attending larger churches. Churches with an attendance of 400 and up now account for 90% of all worship attendees. Inversely, those churches with an attendance of under 400 only account for 10% of worship attendees.
Sunday evening services are disappearing. This issue has stirred quite a bit of discussion the past few years. I plan to expand upon it in my post this coming Saturday. Stay tuned.

I have tried to present these changes from a research perspective instead of injecting my opinions or preferences. Obviously, I have my own, but I would rather hear from you. The readers at this blog are much smarter than I am anyway.

Do you see these trends in your local congregation? What would you add?

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8 Reasons I’d Love to Be a Pastor Again

By Chuck Lawless

I served as a senior pastor for fourteen years in Ohio prior to becoming a seminary professor in 1996. To be honest, I think often about those days. I realize the Lord has not placed me in the role of pastor for this season of life, but I miss shepherding a local church.

I’ve thought about this role a lot this week. This coming Saturday, the Charles Spurgeon Center for Pastoral Leadership and Preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is sponsoring a discussion on “What I Love about Pastoring.”  Our goal is to encourage pastors while also learning from them how we might best serve them in the future.

I know pastoring includes tough days. Sometimes “power players” are a thorn in a pastor’s side. Sermon preparation is time consuming. Many church members struggle with change that threatens the status quo. Nevertheless, here are some of the reasons I would return to pastoring if the Lord so allowed.

The pastor’s responsibility carries eternal significance. A quick reading of Hebrews 13:17b makes this point clear: “they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account” (HCSB). Pastors are undershepherds called to care for and lead the flock entrusted to them. The responsibility is huge – but so is the privilege.
A pastor shares all of life with others. The pastor is often one of the first to celebrate a birth. He’s invited to celebrate birthdays, graduations, promotions . . .  and most importantly, Christian conversion. He provides a shoulder in times of difficulty, and he’s there when death occurs. To my knowledge, no one else has this level of opportunity to walk through life with others.
A pastor preaches the Word each week to a particular church family. He gets to help a congregation understand the Word from Genesis to Revelation. Each week, he has opportunity to dig into the Scriptures and then help a local body of Christ understand and apply them well. What a blessing to see eyes light up when a believer learns a new truth from the Word!
The pastor sees the transforming power of the gospel at work. Sometimes, he is one of the few persons who know another person’s sin history – and thus he knows best the power of the gospel. Yes, he has seen tragedy, but he has also seen families restored, wayward children returning, addicts set free, the weak made strong, and the lost redeemed.
A pastor has opportunity to learn from others. The pastor is a teacher, but he also has a congregation who might teach him as well. I love the nations today because a missions leader in my church told me as a young pastor, “If you’re going to be our preacher, you need to be committed to missions.” Another leader introduced me to the importance of small groups. I’m a better man today because church members have taught me through the years.
A pastor’s work touches the world. The pastor preaches the Word and shepherds the sheep – and those sheep share the gospel with their neighbors and the nations. Some give their lives to full-time missionary service, and others serve as short-term volunteers. The gospel flourishes somewhere today because a pastor challenged a church to take seriously the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20).
Pastors do not work alone. God not only calls pastors to the role, but He also empowers them to fulfill their calling through His indwelling Spirit. God then builds His church (Matt. 16:18), giving a pastor members of the Body to walk with him and serve beside him. Pastoral work may be lonely at times, but pastors are never alone.
There is always a better day coming. Undoubtedly, pastors face difficult challenges. Hope, though, is never lost. Pastors who preach faith also have the privilege of marching forward in faith. God still reigns, and He will complete His plan.

Help us with this list, especially as we prepare for the Spurgeon Center event this coming Saturday.

What do you love about pastoring? If you are a layperson, what do you appreciate about what your pastor does?

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 Reasons It’s Easier Not to Attend Church Today

I’m not certain it’s all bad news. Sure, the majority of congregations are experiencing declines in attendance. And many more churches are growing at a pace that is slower than the growth of the community in which they are located.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that attendance declines are good. Such trends mean fewer people are engaging with believers, and fewer people are being exposed to the gospel.

But our nation is no longer a “churchy” culture. More and more, to be involved with a local congregation means you are counter-cultural. It’s now easier to see where the home base for congregations ends and where the mission field begins. There are fewer and fewer persons who show up at church services because they simply want to be part of the crowd. To the contrary, active congregants are now the exception in our nation rather than the norm.

For now, I simply want to share eight common factors that are negatively impacting church attendance. Some of the reasons apply specifically to the unchurched, while others could be related to either the churched or unchurched person.

In most areas, it is no longer culturally expected for persons to attend church. I live in the heart of the Bible belt in the Nashville area. But when I leave for church services on Sunday mornings, I see numerous families out playing with their children, walking the subdivision, or just enjoying the day outside. They don’t feel the cultural pressure to attend church. To the contrary, they are joining the majority who opt out.
Congregational expectations of the attendance of members are lower. In the recent past, the absence of a frequently-attending church member was noticeable. He or she might get a call from another member to check on them. Today, if a church member attends three of four weeks, rarely does another member inquire about their absence. By the way, if every member, on the average, attends one less Sunday per month, the overall attendance of the church drops 25 percent.
Unchurched persons are often very demanding about the perceived quality of worship services. Though some of us bemoan this reality, the entertainment culture is now pervasive. If an unchurched person attends a perceived low-quality service, he or she may not return.
Many church members are less friendly to guests today. I understand that this statement is categorical and not statistically verified. But I can say, after over 25 years of doing surveys of church guests, I hear more and more about unfriendly church members. So either the expectations of friendliness are higher, or many church members are really not that friendly to guests.
Churches do not emphasize involvement in groups as much as they did in the past. Simply stated, if a person is only involved in the worship services, he or she is likely to leave the church within a few years or even months. But those involved in groups, such as home groups or Sunday school classes, have natural accountability. They also have stronger relationships to other church members that engender more frequent attendance.
Most churches have no clear purpose. An organization without a clear and poignant purpose will have members wandering aimlessly. And many of them will wander out the figurative door of regular attendance.
Most churches have no clear plan of discipleship. This factor somewhat overlaps with the previous issue. Church members are more likely to be faithful attenders if they understand how they can become a better disciple for Christ through the ministries of the church.
The typical church in America is a low-expectation church. I have written on this issue extensively. And the less you expect of members, the less you will get, including attendance.

Of course, it’s easier to write about problems than offer solutions. But I will be doing the latter rather extensively in the months ahead.

In the meantime, I would love to hear from you about these eight issues.

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