Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 43

Five Reasons Why Decreasing the Number of Worship Services Might Be the Best Move

For years, the conventional wisdom has been that increasing the number of worship services is the best path to go. You rarely heard leaders advocating decreasing the number of services. The concern is that the reduction of choices results in lower overall attendance. So, don’t consider going from three Sunday morning services to two or going from two to one. Increase. Don’t decrease.

There is at least anecdotal evidence, however, that the “more is better” rule does not always hold. In fact, we at Church Answers have worked with a few churches that have actually increased their attendance when they decreased the number of services. What is taking place? Why is the sacrosanct rule subject to exceptions? We see at least five reasons this phenomenon is taking place.

1. Attendance is lower post-COVID. We recently conducted a poll, and the median decrease in worship attendance among the churches polled was 25 percent. The room is more vacant with fewer in attendance. The dynamics have changed significantly.

2. There is a greater challenge in getting volunteers. The more services a church has, the greater the challenge to secure volunteers. In some cases, it might be best to have fewer committed volunteers than more lukewarm volunteers.

3. Horizontal growth is a preferred strategy for many churches. Horizontal growth refers to the addition of worship services other than Sunday morning. Those services may include other venues, ethnic services, and multisite campuses. I am familiar with a church that is considering moving from three Sunday morning services to two. But they also have two other ethnic services and one other multisite service. Most of their horizontal growth has occurred in recent years.

4. There is often a palpable energy when the room is nearly full. We have missed that dynamic in many churches post-pandemic. Some churches have been reluctant to decrease the number of services because of their concern that a level of social distancing is still preferred. According to the last football game I attended, we are mostly past that concern.

5. For many contexts, the preferred worship attendance time is somewhere between 9:30 am and 10:30 am. It can be a challenge to fill the other worship service time slots around the preferred time.

To be clear, I am not advocating that the decrease in the number of Sunday morning services is best for all churches. But I am suggesting that it might indeed be the best option for a number of churches whose leaders have been reluctant to move in this direction.

Let me hear from you. What do you think of this development? Are you considering something similar in your church?

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7 Steps to Structure Your Guest Follow Up Process

In a recent post, I talked about the importance of following up with first-time guests (FTGs). On either side of that process, there are often assumptions: the assumption from the guest is that if they give a church their contact information, someone will actually follow up. The assumption from the church (or church staff member) is often that follow up is a hassle, either on them or for the guest. 

Hopefully you are convinced that follow up is important, but how exactly should your first-time follow up be structured? If you want to effectively follow up with guests, you have to have an effective process. It can’t just happen…you have to plan for it!

Here are seven steps to structuring your follow up:

Determine the “right” number of touch points.

I say “right” because it’s not one size fits all. There are going to be different churches that have different levels of comfort with the number of times you reach out to a guest. I define a touch point as any method that you use to connect with a guest. Your first-time guest process on their first weekend is one (or a series of) touch points. Each letter or email you send, each phone call you make, each weeks-later follow up is a touch point. If you spend some time mapping your guest’s journey, it’ll help make your follow up process clear to your team.

Implement a place and a process for capturing information.

You can’t follow up with guests if you have no information to follow up on. That’s why you need a visible place for guests to make themselves known (I highly recommend a First-Time Guest Tent), and a simple way to capture information. We currently use an info card at some of our campuses, but are transitioning to iPads and digital data entry. We’ve also experimented with texting in information, QR code scanning, and more. The point is not necessarily what you do, it’s that you do. And that your FTGs understand that the process is for their benefit, not your own.

Dump all newcomer info into the same pot.

Maybe you have some FTGs who stop by your tent, some who make themselves known when they check their kids in, and a precious few who may self-identify when they arrive in a smaller discipleship environment. Whatever the intake process, make sure everything is going into the same database or spreadsheet for a standard follow up. Getting one contact from a church you just visited is appreciated. Getting four contacts from four different ministry leaders who live in a silo? Well that can be annoying.

Have a failsafe and foolproof follow up method.

We’re getting to the personal touch in a moment, but let’s acknowledge that personal touches sometimes crash and burn if the person forgets to deliver the personal touch. That’s why sometime after the weekend service (and no later than Monday afternoon), you need a standard boilerplate “thanks for coming” touch point that goes out to every first-time guest. This can be a text, an email, or a snail mail letter, but adding this one standardized step will make sure no one gets left behind.

Have a personal touch.

At some point in the process, your guest needs to feel like they’re not just a face in the crowd. A personal phone call from a staff member, a hand-written card, or even a quick text using their name will mean a lot to them. Me? I opt for a phone call every single time (see this post for details). And if you get a voicemail on that first try (which you will, 80% of the time), leave a message and let them know you’ll call back the next day at the same time. In my experience, I find that on round two, I get an 80% answer rate. Not a bad return on investment!

Give them a clear next step.

Maybe it’s a newcomers class, or pizza with the pastor, or a small group connection event, or whatever you offer in your context. Don’t assume that they know what they should do next…tell them. Encourage them to step into the process you’ve created for them. And by the way, if you haven’t created a next step, now is the time!

Follow up after your follow up.

Don’t assume that everyone is going to get involved at the time you’ve prescribed. Life happens, people get busy, and their good intentions get forgotten about. So figure out the best time to check back in…two weeks later, two months later…whatever works best in your context. And go through the effort of making sure they haven’t taken a step. Nothing screams “impersonal” than asking a newcomer to attend a newcomers class that they already attended a year earlier…shortly before becoming a member and starting to lead a small group. (Yikes.)

What are your tried-and-true methods of following up with first-timers?

 

This post originally appeared on dfranks.com .

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The Proactive Church

We’ve all heard the old saying, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” This phrase simply means if something is working adequately, leave it alone. Unfortunately, this phrase is inherently limiting to whoever applies it. As church leaders, one of the primary roles we fill is universal handyman and go to problem solver. Fair or not, we are expected to continually address, prevent, and solve issues when they arise. 

There will always be challenges in ministry that must be overcome in order to advance your ministry. How you approach problems and the type of change you implement is representative of the culture you wish to infuse into your ministry. When it comes to problem solving in ministry, there are only two types of churches, proactive churches and reactive churches.

Proactive VS Reactive Change

In reactive churches, change is initiated because it’s been made necessary by outside forces. Reactive churches seemingly never change until their hand is forced to do so. They often ignore signs of danger until it’s too late and serious problems have already developed. The reactionary church is always left asking themselves the question, “How can we fix this?”

In proactive churches, change is initiated by the leaders because they desire to improve. A proactive church is continually analyzing the church for opportunities to improve and become more excellent in what they do. The proactive church is always asking themselves the question, “How can we make this even better?”

Proactive VS Reactive Planning

Proactive churches develop strategic plans by anticipating or analyzing trends and reviewing the church’s past in relation to its current problems. Most struggles a church goes through can be traced back to a few core issues. If not addressed properly, the underlying problem may end up reoccurring and manifest in multiple different symptoms. Proactive churches strategically plan to reduce the effort and time spent on “crisis management” and free up resources to focus on the church’s mission.

When faced with an unwanted symptom the proactive church did not plan for, they recognize the importance of slowing down and evaluating what went wrong. The best way to slow down and get your team out of “crisis mode” is to ask questions. We’re given multiple examples in Scripture of Jesus slowing down the pace by asking very deep and introspective questions. Introspective questions force the church leaders to identify and address the underlying problems, even if it’s difficult to immediately see the connection between the symptoms of the problem and the problem itself.

One example of Jesus posing an introspective question is found in John 5:1-15. In this passage, Jesus asks a sick man “Do you want to get well?” One could see this as an odd question for Jesus (The God of the universe) to ask a man who’s been struggling for 38 years and is actively sitting at the pool of Bethesda waiting to be cured by a Spirit that would occasionally stir up the waters. It’s obvious both Jesus and the man knew the man’s physical circumstances, but it seems Jesus wanted the man to consider the implications of being spiritually and physically healed. Jesus knew the man might have been so focused on his external situation that he did not recognize his internal need for a Savior. When we ask questions like Jesus did, it forces us to slow down and evaluate the underlying source of our problems.

The proactive church is a strategic church, and a strategic church is a growing church. Growing churches continually ask the right questions and are willing to make decisions now in order to get ahead. On the flip side, reactive churches do not ask the right questions and consequently never get the right answers. Perhaps worse, sometimes reactive churches are willing to ask the right questions, but their unwillingness to change as a result leads to stagnation.

Much like the man at the pool, many churches today are too focused on reacting to their external symptoms and they never identify and address their root problems. The only way to actually assess the root of a problem is to slow down and ask the questions that really matter. If Jesus cured the sick man, what would this man’s identity be? Would being free from physical sickness really make this man well or did he need more than just physical healing? Perhaps the question Jesus asked this man isn’t very different from the type of questions your church should be asking. 

Clarifying Questions

Do other churches in your area recognize you as a leader in creativity and excellence, or do you feel yourself trying to play catch up to other churches?Do your leadership plans often seem to be stalled?Does your leadership team have a written strategic plan for the future they filter decisions through?Do you believe your key issues to be mostly external? Example: Building size, volunteers, location, leaders, finances, or other churches in your area? 

 

This post is brought to you by Brown Church Development Group. Learn more by visiting churchdevelopment.net.

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The Various Voices a Pastor Must Use to Communicate

You’ve likely heard the adage. How you communicate is an essential component of what you communicate. Content is critical, but so is delivery. Finding the voice in which to share content is sometimes just as difficult as determining the content itself.

Leaders are often the first to communicate a new message. As a pastor, your delivery of content will affect how the church receives it. The first time people hear something noteworthy, there is weight to the message and prominence given to the one delivering it. Tone is key if you’re doing the communicating.

How might leaders set the tone in their organizations? What different voices might they use in communicating a message? Consider these options as a church leader.

Coach. Use a coach’s voice to get people pumped up about something. This voice works well when relaying positive news while attempting to recruit people to serve. An in-your-face-yet-encouraging coach will set the tone of enlistment with excitement.

Theologian. Not all theologians are leaders, but all leaders within the church should be theologians. A pastor should use this voice when working through complex biblical issues. For example, what will the church do about a multiplicity of viewpoints among the congregation on a hot-button topic? A theological voice helps set the tone of looking at the issue with the proper amount of emotion.

Engineer. Inevitably, most churches will have a group of people who attempt to solve problems from a structural perspective. For them, problems are solved with policies, charts, and spreadsheets. While not all vision needs to be structural in nature, vision does require structure for proper implementation. Leaders should use an engineer’s voice when communicating this structure, especially to the group of people who default to the structural approach of solving problems.

General. Few want to be on the receiving end of general barking orders on a regular basis. When a crisis hits, however, someone must step up quickly and take charge. When a problem includes a real sense of urgency, the voice of a general becomes an effective way to set the tone of urgency among followers.

Friend. Some leadership messages require less of an inspiring appeal to the masses and more of a friendly interaction with followers. Using the voice of a friend sets the tone for long-term buy-in and loyalty among followers.

Church leaders should use different voices in different venues with different groups of people within a congregation. Followers will respond to the tone of leadership just as much as the actual content of the message. Match the correct tone with the right content, and people will better respond better to the voice of a lead.

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The Confusion about Boundaries between Men and Women in Churches

It would be the last time I met with Billy Graham before his death. He was not feeling well enough to get out of bed, but he welcomed Nellie Jo and me like when we were long-time friends. The reality was that we had only been with the famed evangelist a few times. This visit in his rustic North Carolina cabin seemed different. He was much more reflective than on previous visits. 

At one point, Billy Graham pointed to a portrait of his wife, Ruth. If there were any other wall hangings in his bedroom, I do not recall them. His voice was at his strongest when he said three brief words, “I miss her.” 

I Remember 

I remember how he said those words with deep emotion and meaning. I remember how he often spoke of the love he had for Ruth. I remember how he was faithful to her. I remember how he kept his integrity to death, not succumbing to the temptations of power, money, and sex. 

Though I never heard it directly from him, I remember reading in multiple sources that Billy Graham and his team made some key decisions as their new organization was in its formative stages. They made voluntary commitments to maintain their integrity in the areas of power, sex, and money. 

The “Rule” 

Though Billy Graham and his team never called them “rules,” they made several commitments. The most well-known was their decision never to be alone with a person of the opposite sex other than their spouses.  

Billy Graham kept his integrity throughout his earthly ministry. Though viewed by many as a man of great power, prestige, and influence, he remained faithful, caring, and humble. His commitments to his wife, his ministry team, and his God were steadfast and enduring his entire life. 

Navigating the Confusion 

We at Church Answers have received several questions in light of recent issues of moral failure and, most recently, communication with someone of the opposite sex. Without all the facts, it can be confusing to understand what to do. Perhaps we can mostly agree on a few tenets that, taken together, can help guard our hearts, minds, and integrity.  

Ask what Jesus would do. We know enough about our Savior and his unscathed integrity to emulate him always. Never spend time alone with a person of the opposite sex other than your spouse. I have been criticized for this stand. Some of my critics view it as legalistic and potentially unfair to females in situations where the men far outnumber the women. Others have pointed out dating as an exception. Still, I stand by this commitment. It has served me well. Run from pornography. Many leaders who failed morally have shared stories about the traps of pornography and how it leads to other forms of immorality. Read the Bible every day. Those who choose to hear from God each day will be less likely to stray morally. He is our compass. He is our truth. Pray every day. Like Bible reading, prayer is a discipline where we hear from God every day.  Regard others, and specifically others of the opposite sex, as those who have been created in the image of God. We are much less likely to attempt to conquer, demean, or abuse those whom we see as God’s image bearers. 

While these six guidelines do not answer the specificity of all situations, they can provide the guardrails we so desperately need. And though I obviously do not know all situations, I personally do not know anyone who followed these guidelines and had moral failure. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter. 

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Foreword for Another Gospel? from Lee Strobel

A friend took me and several others on a sailing trip through the beautiful British Virgin Islands. As a novice sailor, I was fascinated by the serious process of anchoring the boat at night.

We would sail into a tranquil cove and drop the anchor. In order to make doubly sure the anchor had gripped securely, someone would dive into the water and inspect it. If the anchor were at all loose, it might fail during the night when we were asleep below deck. At first, this wouldn’t be a problem—the boat would basically stay where it had been left. But over the long night, the gentle current and imperceptible waves would gradually cause the boat to float away, threatening to crash it onto the nearby rocks or ground it on the sandy beach.

That imagery reminds me of the urgent purpose of the book Another Gospel?, by Alisa Childers. In Christianity, the anchor is sound biblical doctrine. What happens if it’s not secure or if its line is intentionally cut? Well, says philosopher Mark Mittelberg, not much at first. For a while the faith wouldn’t drift too far. Tradition and habit would keep it hovering over the same spiritual vicinity, at least for a season. But the real danger is what would inevitably happen over time: The current of the culture would cause Christianity to crash on the rocks of heresy and sink into irrelevancy.

This is the alarm Alisa Childers is sounding in this powerful and persuasive book. In a style that’s at once winsome and convicting, she exposes the false gospel that so many “progressive” Christian leaders are espousing. Their aberrant beliefs are cutting adrift the faith of too many people—even though these folks may not realize it yet. As a result, Christianity is floating toward disaster—a trend that can be reversed only by returning to the sound biblical doctrine that has historically anchored our faith.

Alisa has accomplished something profound in the pages of Another Gospel?. She manages to keep her writing deft and personal, and yet she meticulously documents her points with facts and evidence. She makes concessions where appropriate, but she fearlessly confronts the distortions and outright falsehoods that fuel so much of progressive theology. With clarity, passion, and unrelenting charm, Alisa exposes the often subtle deceptions that too many Christians have been uncritically accepting as gospel truth. Her discernment is razor-sharp, her compass is pointed unswervingly toward the real Jesus, and her conclusions are solidly supported.

It’s an understatement to say this book is important. It’s vital. It’s the right book at the right time. In fact, it may be the most influential book you will read this year. Please study it, underline it, highlight it, talk about it with others, give copies to friends and church leaders, use it in your discussion groups, quote it on social media. Take its admonitions to heart. Let it solidify your own faith so that you can confidently point others to the unchanging gospel of redemption and hope. In sum, do your part in securing the anchor of biblical orthodoxy once more—for the sake of a church otherwise imperiled by dangerous theological drift.

 

Lee Strobel, Author of The Case for Christ and In Defense of Jesus

 

Foreword taken from Another Gospel ? by Alisa Childers, published from Tyndale House Publishers in October 2020. Another Gospel? Participant’s Guide and Another Gospel? DVD Experience (streaming options also available) release in September of 2022.

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Five Warning Signs of False Teachers

Five Warning Signs of False Teachers

Several years ago, I received an email with a link to a sermon given by a pastor in my community. The person sending the email was genuinely concerned.

“Is he preaching heresy?”

The sermon included a terrible conclusion about how Jesus emptied Himself in Philippians 2. The pastor taught Jesus lost His divinity during the incarnation and then returned to being God through the ascension. He emphasized how we have the same power as Jesus on earth since He was merely human like us.

I responded with an explanation about the heresy of Kenoticism. Whether or not this pastor intended to preach heresy, I did not know. But it was indeed heresy.

Heresy is a destructive false teaching with the potential to divide the church. We throw this term around all the time, so much that we’ve lost a sense of the gravity of heresy. Heretics are not people who disagree with you. Heretics are people who divide the church through false teaching.

Most believers do not have the opportunity to take seminary classes on the heresies of Gnosticism, Docetism, Kenoticism, Arianism, Modalism, and others. Theological training is helpful but not necessary to identify heresy.

What are some warning signs of false teachers?

1. Contradicting Scripture. Often, these contradictions affect the meaning of the gospel. This is how Satan works. Distort the gospel just enough so it’s not really the gospel. People will notice if the message is way off, but they won’t notice as much if the message contains just enough truth to appear as truth while being false.

2. Adding or removing from Scripture. False teachers add to Scripture to control the behavior of others. The motive is often power. Other false teachers will remove from Scripture to live as they want and participate in otherwise prohibited behavior. The motive is often selfishness.

3. Claiming special knowledge on your behalf. I cringe when I hear, “God told me to tell you this.” Or even worse, “Only I get this information from God.” Is it possible God speaks through others to you? Yes. But someone claiming unsolicited special knowledge on your behalf is always a red flag.

4. Claiming a different source other than Scripture for God’s messages. Your emotions are a terrible source of God’s truth. Other religious texts are not equal to the Bible. Cults attract people with both tactics: emotional appeals and another so-called sacred text.

5. Making money the message more than Jesus. Please, preach and teach generosity, sacrificial giving, and tithing in your church. But do not forget that a love of money disqualifies one from ministry.

False teachers pull people away from Scripture in two main ways. The first is offering an alternative worldview of the Bible. Essentially, they say, “That’s not right; here is something else.”

The second way false teachers lure people is through reinterpreting Scripture. Essentially, “That’s not what the Bible means to me.”

Recognize the warning signs.

Why should you pay attention?

Jesus answers this question in the Sermon on the Mount. He teaches how few take the narrow and difficult road to discern truth. Jesus then warns about why you should care about discerning truth.

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act.” (Matthew 7:15-16 NLT)

The term “fruit” occurs over one hundred times in the Bible. Fruit usually refers to results. What qualities are manifested in your life? Where do your hours go? Where is your money spent? What words do you communicate? What does your mind consume?

If you are not dedicating hours, mind energy, and eyeballs to God’s Word, then you are going to struggle to know what is true in this world.

Know God’s truth, and the results will follow.

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5 Reasons Congregations Often Need Time to Change

My experience is that many pastors wish their churches were more open to needed change. Congregations, though, can be slow to adapt. In fact, they can be fully resistant to change. If they do accept change, they often need some time to get there. Here are some reasons why:

1. They have sometimes had a string of short-term pastorates. To be fair, some churches are so hard to pastor it’s no wonder pastors don’t stay long. At the same time, though, a church who expects their pastor to follow the same pattern—that is, they’ve grown to think he could leave at any moment—is less likely to be supportive of the change he recommends. He has to stay long enough to convince them he’s committed.

2. Sometimes they’ve had successive pastors who differ on the change they want. One pastor wants them to move to two services, but the next believes a church should have only one gathering. One pastor pushes a particular program, but the next pastor tosses it in favor of another. One emphasizes Sunday school; another believes off-campus small groups are best. When a congregation has seen this pattern enough, they may need more convincing to make any significant change—and that takes time.

3. They need time to understand the “why” and the “how” of the change. Too many pastors push the “what” of the needed change without helping the church understand the “why” and the “how”—and the church pushes back not because they’re opposed to change, but because they need more information. I’m convinced that well-informed congregations will most often be supportive of change, even if it takes them some time to reach that point.  

4. The older the congregation is, the more likely it is they long for something to stay the same. Pastorally, we need to understand what many senior adult believers are facing. Everything seems to be changing, and they have few options to stop it. In many cases, they can’t remember like they used to. They aren’t as mobile as they once were. Retirees sometimes feel lost when they no longer work, yet they’re not always physically able to do all they’ve done for years in their church. Their friends and loved ones are dying—and they themselves are facing the reality of age. With all this happening, the one place where they can fight to keep something the same is their church. They’re not always against the change a pastor recommends; they’re simply longing for a former day when things seemed a bit more under control. I understand these emotions more as I get older—and I understand why some older congregations require some time to buy into a change.

5. Some congregations are accustomed to a structure of committees and votes to make any change, and they want to make sure they follow the process exactly. I don’t think this reason is the primary one they need time to change, but it’s still an issue in some churches. These congregations may not be against a particular change, but they are against pushing the change through without following the traditional pathway to get there. They want to make sure they check off every box (even if the boxes are only the product of a church having far too many boxes in the first place). All these steps take time.

What has been your experience? Why do some churches need time to change?

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Is There a Sabbatical Crisis in Churches Today?

I do not have answers. At best, I have hypotheses.

In forty years of ministry, though, I have never seen anything like it.

We see more pastors who return from sabbaticals to a church in a mess. Members have left. Lay leaders are questioning pastors and staff. The members are unsettled and critical.

Why? Frankly, I don’t know.

Clear Caveats

I want to be clear. I am not anti-sabbatical. While I have cautioned pastors about preparing for sabbaticals, I never thought there was not a place for them.

I also want to be clear that my information and data at this time are limited. I could be wrong. I could be projecting the situation of several pastors in a “sabbatical crisis” to the rest of the church world. But I also have never seen more requests for help from pastors returning from sabbaticals. I know. We are working with several of them.

The Hypotheses

The good thing about hypotheses is that you don’t have to be right. But you at least need to make an educated guess. My challenge is that I am not sure how I will test these hypotheses as we move forward. 

1. Hypothesis #1: It’s the COVID effect.  This hypothesis is at the forefront because of the number of similar situations we have seen in such a short period. We may never fully know the devastating impact of COVID and the accompanying quarantine, but it has not been good for most churches. Members are unsettled. Their uneasiness could be exacerbated if a pastor goes on a sabbatical so close to the relatively recent quarantine.

2. Hypothesis #2: The worship center is empty. It’s another way of saying there aren’t as many people as there have been. If the pastor becomes another one of the no-shows, at least during the sabbatical, the angst about the decline increases.

3. Hypothesis #3: Culture is crazy. Culture is polarized. Culture is less Christian. Values are no longer biblical. Politics are ugly. These are some of the cultural realities believers in churches face today, perhaps more so than at any point in our lifetimes. These church members look to the pastor for assurance and hope . . . unless the pastor is on sabbatical.

4. Hypothesis #4: Church doesn’t work like it did in the past. Not only has the culture changed, but the way churches do ministry must also change. One church member recently asked me in a conversation about a possible church consultation, “COVID is over. Why can’t we do things the way we’ve always done them?” If the pastor is not present to deal with this angst, the pastor can become a convenient target of discontent.

Of course, these four hypotheses are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Indeed, I suspect they are more related than not.

The Path Forward?

Did you notice I put a question mark at the end of the subheading? Indeed, I really would like to be able to answer the questions, “Is there a sabbatical crisis in the church? If so, why?”

We have more church and pastor clients related to sabbaticals than we’ve ever had at Church Answers. Indeed, we now have one consultant focusing exclusively on “sabbatical recovery” for both the pastor and the congregation.

We will continue to examine this phenomenon. If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear them.

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A New Method to Solve the Mystery of How Quickly to Lead Change in Your Church

How fast can I lead change? The answer to this question is critical for any church revitalization effort.

You may know the right thing to do. Getting others to accept and implement the right thing is what separates leaders from dreamers. As you consider the pace of change, use the matrix below to help you identify areas of potential resistance. All change involves people. Therefore, start by assessing the people in your congregation when considering the pace of change.

The Pace Acceptance Matrix

 How resistant to change?  Those older than you Those younger than you Those before you High Resistance Some Resistance Those after you Some Resistance Low Resistance

 

The matrix identifies four groups of people. Everyone in your church will fit into one of these four groups. Granted, this matrix oversimplifies individual nuances, but it is a helpful starting point when determining the potential resistance to change in your congregation.

Those before you and older than you

This group was part of the church before you arrived, and they are older than you as well. The longer your tenure, the smaller this group becomes—as you get older and new people come to the church. This group will be at its peak on your first day, and there is a strong likelihood they will by highly resistant to change, especially fast-paced change. But if you can gain their support, they are also the group most likely to champion change and sustain change.

If you are a new pastor, many in this group may be silent for a season, waiting to see what kind of changes you implement. If you are a long-tenured pastor, you already know this group well. Somewhere between years three and five, this group will either start supporting you, exit quietly, or elevate their concerns.

Those after you and older than you

If you are a younger pastor, this group has the potential to be large and growing. I started pastoring at twenty-four. For a decade, most people who joined the church fit this category. People join a church for a variety of reasons, but for the group that comes after you, you can at least be assured that they did not rule out your church because of you. Most will naturally show you some level of support from the beginning. But that doesn’t mean they won’t show some resistance to change. It depends on their prior experiences. The pace of change will not be as much of an issue for these people as the type of change. Too many changes that shift the culture of the church away from what they thought they were joining can create some resistance.

Those before you and younger than you

One of the surprises for new pastors is how some in the younger generations— particularly those who grew up in the church—can be just as resistant to change as those in the older generations. Younger folks tend to be more tolerant of fast-paced change, but if the change touches lifelong, generational connections, it can create resistance. Don’t assume that all the young people will embrace your proposed changes simply because they’re young. If you are older than forty, you likely already know this principle intuitively. Parents who are raising children in the church often have set ideas like the older generations. Millennials with children are settling into patterns and programs just like their grandparents did decades ago.

Those after you and younger than you

The group least likely to resist change are those who joined the church after you and are younger than you. But low resistance to change does not mean no resistance to change. Even this group has a pushback point. Constant change efforts, especially a string of unsuccessful attempts, will cause anyone to challenge their leaders. This group, however, will generally accept a greater pace of change than the other three groups.

Gauging Pace Acceptance

People are complex. Resistance to the pace of change is common. Even the most banal changes can drum up opposition. Some college football programs have found that the smallest tweaks to the team’s uniform can cause controversy. Who knew shades of green, blue, or red would rile up otherwise sane adults? The same kind of resistance occurs in the church.

 

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This article is adapted from an excerpt in The Church Revitalization Checklist: A Hopeful and Practical Guide for Leading Your Congregation to a Brighter Tomorrow, published by Tyndale.

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