Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 57

Seven Ways to Equip Your Church to Give Sacrificially

Giving patterns in churches are changing. The ways in which people give are changing. What does not need to change is the heart for sacrificial giving.

How can you equip your congregation to give sacrificially? Here are seven items to consider.

1. Teach why sacrificial giving is necessary for God’s mission. If what you are giving does not change your lifestyle, then it’s not sacrificial. Not all giving is sacrificial, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Leaving a great tip is generous, but the extra $20 doesn’t change how you live. God’s mission requires a body of believers to give in such a way that it changes them. Sacrificial giving must be taught in all areas of the church: Weekend worship gatherings, in small groups, in membership classes, and even in your children and student ministries.

2. Celebrate the story of your church’s giving. Few people remember financial figures. Most people remember stories. Few in your church could quote the weekly budget requirements from memory, but most will remember a powerful story of sacrificial giving. Let people know every week about a ministry in the church. Thank the church for supporting this ministry through the offering. Not only do you communicate the importance of sacrificial giving, but it’s also a time to promote ministries in the church.

3. Establish multiple giving channels. Your church should have multiple ways for people to give. Some prefer to give online. Others like the consistency and simplicity of automatic deductions. Given the prevalence of smartphones, many will want to give through a mobile app or texting. Other people prefer mailed envelopes because they have created a discipline of sacrificial giving through a regular Sunday morning routine. I doubt many pastors would say a Bible reading plan is only relevant at certain times or on certain days with a particular translation. The same goes for sacrificial giving.

4. Create a personal connection with the mission. You cannot expect a church to give without creating a compelling vision of why. And people will never know why they should give unless you connect them with the local and global efforts of your church. Without a personal connection to the outward movement of the gospel, it’s unlikely your church will see increases in sacrificial giving.

5. Set meaningful goals. “We need to increase giving 5% next year” is not a meaningful goal because there is no reason to give other than a desire for more money. Here is a better, more meaningful goal: “Our giving needs to increase by 5% because the church plans to send more on mission and invest more in local ministry.”

6. Put a system of accountability in place. Be transparent and intentional with your financial goals and systems. Let everyone know how this accountability takes place. And stick to it—no exceptions! You should also have consistent reporting mechanisms, such as regular financial statements given to the congregation. Never violate the confidentiality of individual giving, and set clear guidelines for who can see what in the giving records. A violation of trust in this area will hit the mission of your church like a wrecking ball.

7. Produce financial statements everyone can understand. A good system of accountability will be most beneficial to the church if the majority of people can understand your financial statements. Use plain language for budget line items. Create easy-to-read and clean statements. If you need an accounting degree to understand your financial statements, then redo them. People will not trust something they don’t understand, so help your church understand the way they finance God’s mission.

Kingdom work depends upon sacrificial giving rooted in a deep love for the gospel. Large or small, every church can be a resource giant for God’s kingdom. Rich or poor, every Christian can give sacrificially.

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10 Reflections on Church Consulting for 25 Years

I’ve been doing some level of church consulting for over 25 years. If you’re a consultant (or one studying consulting through Church Answers), maybe these reflections will be helpful to you:

1. Assessing a church’s health requires much more than analyzing numbers. We can’t ignore numbers, but the factors that contribute to church growth or decline are numerous. That’s why most churches I’ve consulted have sought a comprehensive consultation.

2. Doing your homework about the church, its denomination (if it is affiliated with one), its website, etc., is important. Doing the research will show the church your commitment to this task for this particular church. In addition, it will help you to make the wisest, most-informed recommendations.

3. An honest relationship with the pastor is critical to the process. If the pastor is not on board, the church won’t do much with the report you write. At the same time, developing a good relationship with the pastor will help him trust your input.

4. Churches want to know the bottom-line financial cost. At least, they don’t want to be surprised by unexpected expenses—especially as they’re sometimes still dealing with the anxiety of the COVID situation.

5. Churches want prescription more than diagnosis. They need to know how you reach your conclusions, but they want to know what to do next. If they knew the answer to that question in the first place, they likely wouldn’t have sought a consultant.

6. Quick, easy wins for the church are important. The sooner they can see something positive as a result of the consultation, the more likely it is they will try to implement more difficult suggestions. In fact, I usually try to give a church an easy win long before I write the final report.

7. Church leaders will be overwhelmed by a report that is too long. You might see much the church needs to address. Nevertheless, giving them too much to do—or even too much information to digest—may well result in their doing nothing. Even taking the first steps in climbing a mountain becomes intimidating when you can’t see the top of the mountain.

8. A consultant team is usually better than an individual consultant. I realize that working with a team is more complicated and time-consuming, but having input from more than one person can help refine the consultant’s suggestions. And, having a team helps us recognize (and overcome) our own biases, preferences, histories, etc., that might influence our view of the church.

9. Enlisting a prayer team for each consultation is important. After all, outside consultants are seeking wisdom about congregations they’re just now studying. Ideally, the prayer team consists of an inside group of church members and an outside group of prayer warriors who pray for the consultant.

10. Helping a church move in a healthy direction brings a lot of joy. It’s hard work, but it’s worth it.

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What If COVID Becomes a Permanent Reality? 7 Implications for Churches

Do you remember the first time your church responded to COVID? For most of us, it was early in 2020. Hundreds of thousands of churches closed their doors and stopped having in-person worship services.

Many of us thought it was a short-term problem, that in three or four months, we would be back to normal. Then we realized that the problem would not go away soon, so we began planning for quarantines of nearly a year or more. We began to realize “normal” was not coming back, and we did not know what a new normal might be.

Finally, most churches reopened, and people regathered. In July, we thought we had a new independence from COVID. Then came the delta variant, in many ways worse than the previous strains of COVID. Now, we see the omicron variant on the horizon, and we are waiting nervously to see what happens next.

It’s tough to live in such times. And it’s tough to lead in such times, especially if you are leading a mostly volunteer organization like a church.

Our team at Church Answers has been gathering data constantly to do everything we can to help churches and their leaders. Now, we are asking the question, “What if a COVID strain becomes a very long-term or even a permanent reality?” We don’t have all the answers. Only God has a clear view of the future. But we are sharing with leaders some implications for churches. Here are seven of them: 

1. The new ideal capacity for worship space is 60% or lower. We no longer advocate that churches seek to get their worship space to 80% capacity. One of the COVID effects is people wanting greater personal space, even in crowds. While someone might make an occasional exception to attend a sporting event or concert, they do not want to be close to someone in a crowd every week.

2. Most churches should not combine existing worship services. Many churches added one or more services during the pandemic to provide greater social distancing. Members are urging those same churches to combine services to return to the good old days. In most cases, we recommend leaders not yield to the pressure. Social distancing in some form is here to stay.

3. Home groups will become a more significant challenge. We have been surprised to see the resistance to returning to home groups in many churches. Members do not desire the close confines, and the hosts are hesitant to bring different people to their homes every week. We are a big proponent of small groups, and we are concerned that this option may fade away.

4. If your church is not clean and sanitized, it will likely decline and die. This issue is no longer an option for churches. While every area of the physical facilities of churches should be clean, it is especially important for the children’s areas.

5. Digital services will remain a complementary option. The declining numbers of views in most churches are leading some leaders to discontinue digital services. We urge leaders not to shut down the streaming services but to look for new and innovative ways to connect with people through them. The church without a digital service in the months ahead will be like a church today without a website.

6. Horizontal growth will become more critical and common. Churches have typically grown through vertical growth, meaning that they try to get everyone to attend the “Sunday morning service at one site together.” In this COVID world, smaller is better for gathered worship, and smaller is made possible by offering alternatives to gather at times other than Sunday morning in the same place. This pivot might mean offering a Thursday evening service or adopting a declining church and growing at a new site.

7. Small foyers will be detrimental to growth. Again, the long-term COVID effect means people don’t like close proximity to each other in crowds. Many churches have such small foyers that attendees have to move through them quickly since there is little room. Church construction projects will increasingly seek to expand the foyer and, perhaps, decrease the size of the worship center.

We will continue to keep you updated on necessary pivots churches must make if it becomes more apparent that COVID is here to stay.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this trend.

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The Danger of Envying Another Church and How It Affects You

Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you’ve looked at another church or pastor with envy.

It’s that spark of elation you feel when first hearing about a mega-platform pastor falling—envy. I’ve felt the flicker of “I knew it!” without even knowing the person. Envy must be stomped out.

Church envy happens at the local level as well. Some will look at the church with the bigger budget or more talented staff and believe pragmatism must be driving the success, not the Holy Spirit. Some pastors will attack the largest church in town simply because it’s the largest. These same pastors likely have never visited the church nor met with the leadership. For most of us, it’s envy that drives the bashing.

What are the dangers of church envy?

Envy causes resentment. What is a key signal for envy? When you’re unhappy that others are happy, you’re likely guilty. To covet is to be discontent with what God has given you and to want something someone else has. To envy is to resent the person for having it. When you scoff at salvation reports from another church, you not only resent that church, you are dangerously close to resenting the gospel.

Envy triggers restlessness. A constant negative focus on other pastors and churches produces restlessness in your ministry. When you are green with envy for another church, the grass will always be greener at a place other than your current church.

Envy drains your energy. Do you need to see something wrong with another pastor? If so, it’s envy. Envy drains you of what’s positive and fills you with self-pity. Pastors filled with self-pity are often lethargic and caustic, a deadly combination for leading a church.

Envy poisons gratitude. It’s difficult to be thankful for what you have when you’re internally griping about what you don’t have. Pastors who make constant comparisons out of envy will not enjoy their ministries.

Envy clouds your vision. Envy pulls your heart away from God’s calling in your local church. When your heart is not in it, you lose your passion. When you lose your passion, you lose your vision. It’s impossible to know where to lead your church if you’re envious of another church.

Leadership envy remains hidden for most leaders. The reason is that envy is petty. And we know it. So we internalize the sin while it slowly eats at us. Envy may be the biggest reason why some pastors become shells of their former selves. At the same time, envy may be the least discussed leadership sin.

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15 Lessons I’ve Learned from 40 Years in Ministry

One of the members of the Church Answers’ community started a discussion that I absolutely loved. After some lengthy prefatory comments, he asked the community: When things are tough, when you feel like you have no more to give, what are some of the things that keep you moving forward?

His post created a great discussion. I jumped in with the realization that, beginning in 2022, I will have been in vocational ministry for 40 years. Those 40 years are divided almost into equal thirds: pastor, seminary dean, and CEO of a Christian resource company. Two quick thoughts hit me. First, I am old. Second, I’ve learned a few lessons.

For sure, I’ve made many mistakes. I hope I’ve learned from these mistakes more than I have repeated them. In the discussion at Church Answers, I named eight of the lessons. For this article, I added a few more.

The spiritual disciplines are not only acts of obedience for me, but they are also necessary for my spiritual and emotional survival. When I am not praying, reading the Word, or sharing the gospel, I am more likely to be discouraged and even despondent.An optimistic (hope and faith-based, of course) attitude seems to be a differentiating factor for many in ministry who persevere.True friends are priceless anywhere and particularly in ministry.It’s even better that my sons and my wife are my best friends.Comparison to others in ministry is an emotional killer. Don’t do it.Laughter is a key trait to longevity.Apologize and ask for forgiveness quickly.Don’t be snarky and critical, especially on social media.Most crises are not true crises. Give it a week or so, and your perspective will change.Don’t make major decisions when you are tired.Don’t denigrate others. It is a sign of your own insecurities.Silence is often the best response.Love the church where God has you. The members are not perfect, but neither are you.Work hard and work smart. Others are watching you. Set the example.Don’t forget God’s call on your life and your ministry. It will be the single factor that keeps you going at times.

I would love to hear your perspective. When things are tough, when you feel like you have no more to give, what are some of the things that keep you moving forward?

Let me hear from you.

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How to Lead Like a Bully (in Three Easy Steps)

The Old Testament story of Rehoboam is one of the most haunting in all of scripture. In it, we see a man who had the ability to unite Israel and rebuild his family’s legacy, but instead he split the kingdom.

Here’s the quick backstory of 1 Kings 12: King Solomon has just died. His 40 year reign had been marked by wealth and wisdom, but his love for foreign women ran afoul of God’s explicit commands and led to serious repercussions for Israel.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam became successor to the throne, and upon his coronation one of his father’s former employees was sent to ask the king to reduce the tax burden on Israel. In this moment, Rehoboam had an opportunity to listen well to two groups of people: those he led and those he could learn from. Unfortunately, he did neither. And because of that, his story illustrates three simple steps to leading like a bully:

1. Listen to the problem, not the people.

Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away. (1 Kings 12:3-5)

Jeroboam had a reasonable request: ease up on the forced labor, and we’ll gladly serve the King. Rehoboam had a reasonable dilemma: to continue to build the kingdom, he needed both taxes and labor.

But Rehoboam’s real problem was that he saw the problem, not the people behind the problem. And that’s how we begin to lead like a bully. When we view those we lead as problems to be solved rather than people to be loved, we place the proverbial cart before the horse and we can’t see our own responsibilities clearly.

2. Reject counsel from seasoned leaders.

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him… (vv. 6-8a)

Rehoboam called a meeting with his dad’s former cabinet. These men were not kings, but they had served one. They’d never single-handedly led a country, but they had been around long enough to know how a country is best led. And their counsel was simple: lighten up. Seek to serve rather than be served. Win the hearts of the people by understanding the heart of the people.

But Rehoboam abandoned the counsel. We don’t know why. Was it because he viewed them as irrelevant? Did they refuse to say what he wanted to hear? Did he fear that showing kindness would make him look weak? Whatever Rehoboam’s reason, he disregarded the very shoulders he should have been standing on.

3. Surround yourself with yes men.

…and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’” (vv. 8b-11)

Not content with the “lighten up” counsel from the seasoned leadership, Jeroboam instead turned to his peers. These were young men who had grown up with him. His childhood chums. His high school hangout crew. His weekend warriors who’d seen their royal offspring pal make it to the big chair and saw this as an opportunity to tell him what he wanted to hear.

And Jeroboam listened to them. We don’t know why. Did he think it was the fastest way to build the kingdom? Was he afraid of losing face with his buddies? Did the scorpion terminology appeal to his inner tough guy? Whatever Rehoboam’s reason, he took the counsel of children rather than advice from the aged, and he paid dearly for it.

Rehoboam answered the people as a bully, not as a shepherd, and the results were immediate. Ten of Israel’s twelve tribes revolted and formed the northern kingdom. His legacy was marred and his leadership was forever tainted. His rival king, Jeroboam, established idolatrous golden calves and led the people to sin. And Israel eventually suffered centuries of captivity and exile.

Do you want to lead like a bully? It’s easy. Disregard your people, disregard seasoned leaders, and surround yourself with people who think like you. Those whom you lead will view you as the enemy quicker than you can say Rehoboam.

 

This post originally appeared on dfranks.com .

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Major Warning Signs Stress is Starting to Impair Your Leadership

Every pastor gets overwhelmed. The pressures of ministry are real and many, and seasons of stress are bound to occur. I’m sure many of you have stories of severe storms in which the stress was overwhelming. However, when ongoing stress starts to define a pastor, it becomes a contagion that spreads to others.

Unresolved stress can ruin church leadership. In fact, it can turn normally humble pastors into tyrants. When the causes of stress go ignored, when a pastor refuses to deal with the root of stress, then leadership becomes impaired.

What are some warning signs ongoing stress is starting to impair your leadership?

The questions of others are viewed as attacks. I’ve been guilty of treating questions from people as an interruption to my schedule, when in reality my role is to serve them. It’s understandable pastors will feel this way from time to time. When stress builds, however, an impaired pastor will view questions from church members and staff as attacks. When stressed out pastors start thinking every question is an attack, paranoia will drive them away from the very people they are called to serve.You take the mistakes of others as a personal letdown. Church members, staff, and other leaders will make mistakes. Often. So will pastors. Churches—even healthy ones—are glorious messes where imperfect people serve a perfect Savior. Stress starts to impair leadership when a pastor takes everyone else’s mistakes personally. If you feel like every mistake in the church is an indictment on you, then stress might be impairing your leadership.You withdraw from key problems. Pastors should not feel the burden to solve every problem in the church. Superhero pastors are neither super nor heroes. But church leaders impaired by stress have a tendency to withdraw from the problems they should help solve. At times these problems are among the causes of the stress! Withdrawing from key problems creates a vicious cycle in which stress builds even more. Running from stress only creates more stress.Seclusion is more about escape than spiritual retreat. Jesus had time alone to pray to the Father. Pastors and church leaders should follow the example of Christ. However, Jesus was secluded for spiritual reasons. Isolation from others as a means of escape is a major warning sign.

Stress in ministry is inevitable, but unchecked stress is dangerous. It can impair your leadership. It makes you selfish. If you start thinking every question is an attack, if you take the mistakes of others personally, and if you withdraw from key problems, then stress is likely impairing your leadership.

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7 Possible Bible Reading Plans for 2022

It’s time to be planning our Bible reading for 2022. I think it’s best if we read through the Bible each year, but I understand that’s not always easy. I fear too many church leaders, however, are not consistent in our reading—so perhaps one of these ideas will help you in the next year:

 READING THROUGH THE ENTIRE BIBLE:

1. Read the entire Bible in 2022, from Genesis to Revelation. This method is likely the most difficult one to complete, but you can do it by reading a little less than four chapters per day. It’s good to read the Scripture from beginning to end.

2. Plan to read the entire Bible in 2022-23. This plan slows the process down (a little less than two chapters per day), but it still helps you finish the entire Bible in two years. All of us ought to read all the Word at least every two years.

READING PORTIONS OF THE BIBLE:

1. Do a book-by-book study of several books of the Bible during the year. One of my former students, for example, reads one book multiple times each month (depending on the length of the book). He devours 12 books of the Bible each year, and his plan is to complete the entire Bible in 5.5 years.

2. Do biographical studies of biblical characters. Spend some time studying the lives of people like Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Saul, David, Esther, Ruth, Peter, Paul, etc. The inspired Word of God helps us to know the victories and defeats, strengths and weaknesses of its characters.

3. Study famous chapters of the Bible. Folks differ on what constitutes a “famous” chapter, but a Google search will give you some direction. In fact, do a quick quiz now to see how many of these chapters you recognize: Genesis 1-3, Genesis 12, Exodus 12, Exodus 20, Joshua 4, Joshua 24, Psalm 23, Psalm 51, Proverbs 31, Isaiah 53, Matthew 5-7, Luke 2, John 17, Acts 2, Acts 9, I Corinthians 13, Ephesians 6, Hebrews 11, Revelation 2-3, Revelation 21.

4. Read the New Testament, and review every Old Testament passage it references as you read. Don’t just skim over the Old Testament reference; instead, read the text in its original context—and you’ll learn about the Old Testament, too. A good study Bible will help you with this task.

5. Do a geographical study as you read. That is, actually use the maps in the back of your Bible (or, use maps found on the Internet). Sometimes, just seeing the direction, distance, etc., between events in the Bible can help you picture them and remember them.

 My plan over the next year is to read through a Chronological Bible. If you’re interested in my general Bible reading plan, you can find it here.

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Five Problems with Designated Church Giving

The largest amount of funds most churches receive are called “undesignated giving” or “general fund giving.” These gifts are used toward the ministry and general operating budget of the church. There are no restrictions to fund a very specific cause.

The other category is called “designated giving.” The donor specifies exactly what he or she wants to be done with the money. To be clear, there is a place in churches for designated giving. Unfortunately, most church leaders have not considered the problems that are often associated with these gifts. I see churches dealing with designated gift problems a decade or more after the gift was given. Let’s unpack five of the key problems.

1. Most churches are not equipped to handle the pet projects of the donors. A couple recently wanted to donate a few thousand dollars to help families who foster children. The problem is that the church did not have a process or the knowledge to know how to distribute the funds. It became a divisive issue in the church. Hundreds of hours were wasted. The church leadership should have pointed the donors to the local Christian children’s home at the onset.

2. Sometimes designated giving is a form of protest against the approved budget of the church. A student pastor in a church never thought his ministry was adequately funded. He would go to key supporters and ask them to designate their gifts to the student ministry. Again, the issue was highly divisive in the church. The leadership should have declined the gifts, but they were fearful of causing conflict. The conflict happened anyway.

3. Non-cash designated giving can be a pain. I wonder how many churches have had out-of-tune and barely functioning upright pianos donated to the music ministry. I know one church that ran out of room because they had so many of these pianos. They had one in the men’s restroom. I will refrain from any one-liners. When church members clean out their unwanted goods, they need to take them to Goodwill or some similar organization. They know what to do with the donations.

4. Designated gifts can be “stuck” in the church for years. One church member donated $25,000 for a new church steeple. The church ended up building a facility without a steeple after the member died. They still have a church steeple fund 17 years later.

5. Sometimes designated giving can be illegal. I’ve known about this story in two churches, but I bet it’s happened many times. The donor gives to a scholarship fund, and (surprise, surprise) his son receives the funds for his college education a year later. The churches allowed the donors to give funds that were likely illegal tax schemes.

We recommend strongly that churches decide ahead of time what gifts they will accept outside of undesignated gifts. Mission funds and building funds are the most common examples. Some churches have decided to avoid designated giving altogether and only accept gifts for a unified budget. That’s not a bad idea.

Let me hear your thoughts on designated gifts. Have you experienced any of these five problems?

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Two Ways Social Media is Changing

Recently Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta. It wasn’t just a name change, but rather a nod to where social media is going and what the future will look like. If you watched Mark Zuckerburg’s keynote you could easily get lost in all the technology that he presented. However, these new advancements that Facebook is presenting are nods to how social media is changing. 

You may think that these changes will have little impact on your church. For the immediate time being, you would be correct. However, over the next few years we’re going to see a significant shift in how social media is used by the people who are attending our churches. Here are two ways that social media is changing:

Social media is becoming more private.

One of key things that social media companies are focusing on is how they can get you to share more of your life online. Whether it’s Instagram posts, stories or reels, the goal is for you to put more of your life online and thereby create more content for others to consume. 

However, social media companies are discovering that young adults prefer to share content in friend groups versus to the whole world. One specific example of this is the increase in the usage of Apple’s messaging platform iMessage. Facebook has cited iMessage as a competitor for Facebook due to young adults preferring to share content to a select group of people. 

The implication for the church is that while most older generations share their lives more freely on Facebook and Instagram, which can lead to more ministry opportunities, young adults are less willing to let you into their personal lives. Yes, young adults will still do Tik Tok dances and post images of coffee on Instagram, but they will keep the more intimate, real parts of their life for their close friends. 

This means that you as a minister will need to focus on how you can best equip your people to have one-on-one conversations with people versus focusing on how many people saw last Sunday’s worship service on Facebook live. 

Social media is fading into the background

When computers were first introduced to the public, it was very easy to separate your digital world and your physical world. However, with the proliferation of devices that we use to monitor our steps (Apple Watch, Fitbit), our homes (Ring Doorbells) and kids (Disney’s Circle), we’re now in an era where you can’t escape technology. It’s so abundant that it is almost like it’s in the background of everywhere you go. 

Social media is now fading into the background as well. Yes, we still actively consume it and create content to put on our social media accounts. However, the act of consuming and creating has be​​come so routine it’s now just a natural extension of everything we do. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where if we don’t post a photo of an event on social media then it seems odd. 

This change presents some challenges for churches. First, if social media is becoming so ubiquitous, then how do we break through the noise and get people’s attention? Second, how do we make sure that we don’t elevate social media to the point where it takes a higher priority than meeting the needs of our congregations?

Churches will need to address these problems in the next few years. There isn’t a quick fix, but there’s an opportunity to create a culture where social media supports ministry and not the other way around. 

Social media is changing, but that’s nothing new. Facebook along with all of the social media companies will continue to find ways to get your attention and get you to share your life online. The question is, how will you prepare your church to disciple those who are online as well? 

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