Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 71

Three Ways to Prepare Your Church for the New Post-Quarantine Normal

Allow me to make the understatement of the day: the local church experienced disruptions in 2020. 

In the church where I serve as Lead Pastor, we’ve seen and felt a lot of disruptions. I know you have seen and felt disruptions in your church. But my optimism is high right now for 2021. Why? First, I know the biblical truth that the church will continue no matter the opposition (Matthew 16:18). Second, I am seeing a hunger and desire from those inside my church.

While we are not fully out of the pandemic yet, the trajectory is going in the right direction. As my optimism believes this trajectory is going to bring us to our new normal quickly, I sat down with my church leadership team last night to discuss how we prepare for this new normal. We came up with three areas where our church saw the most disruption. It’s these three areas that I believe need the most preparation now.

Volunteer Reengagement

We lost a lot of volunteer roles during the pandemic. A lot. Since we are a normative-sized church, the impact was greatly felt. And that was to be expected. It makes sense that people would have concerns about serving on our Welcome Team or in our Kids Ministry.

As we begin to enter a new season as church, we want to reengage our volunteers. Here are some quick steps we plan to take:

Communicate the need and vision for serving.Make sure we have safety in mind for each volunteer role.Ask volunteers individually if they are ready to serve again.Ask volunteers where they are comfortable serving right now.Find/create new roles for some volunteers that are not in direct contact with others.

Assimilation Refocusing

The way we did church was disrupted (which inherently wasn’t a bad thing) last year. Our process of assimilating new people into the life of the church took a major backseat. We are refocusing our assimilation process and it won’t look the same as it did before.

The one major change we are seeking to initiate is moving from a process-driven focus to a person-driven focus. We want to make sure each person that comes into our church doesn’t flow through a process but gets a direct connection to someone already in the church.

Outreach and Evangelism Renewal

Here’s one thing for my church that I know: our new normal isn’t going to include “business as usual.” I am dedicated to see our new trajectory include a renewal in sharing the hope of Jesus. As it stands right now, we are going to begin praying for our neighbors this spring and summer. We plan to launch a version of Pray and Go. It just makes sense to pray for our neighbors in a contactless way right now.

We’ll reach a new normal. My optimism says sooner than later. 

How is your church preparing? How is your church reengaging, refocusing, and planning for renewal? Don’t wait to prepare. Be ready now to share the hope of Jesus to a world that desperately needs it.

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The One Question You Need to Answer

Communications for multi-campus churches can present a unique set of problems. For starters, every campus will share some of the main church’s DNA in terms of branding, website, and central resources (i.e. financial and membership resources). Yet, tugging at the heart of each campus is the desire to make itself unique. Every campus wants to figure out what makes them different from all the other campuses. Is it the location? The building? Style of worship?

These are the types of questions that can keep a communications team up at night. With every little difference of a campus, you find something doesn’t scale (i.e. every campus has their own bulletin). And when things aren’t scaling, serving every campus equally can be near impossible.

So how do you rectify this problem? How do you get control of the situation and get a sense how to best serve all your campuses? Well, I think it can be done, and it starts with asking this question:

What’s your campus model?

Okay, so here’s what I mean about campus models. Are you in the type of campus model where every campus is exactly like the others? Does each feel almost identical when you walk in the door? Is the worship set the same at every campus? Is video preaching coming from the video?

Or is your campus one where each has its own unique look? Does each campus have a specific pastor that preaches the same sermon topics but in their own unique way? Does each campus have its own unique worship style?

If you’re struggling with the answer to the first question, try answering a second question. This second question may help better define your answer to the first question.

How much of your model is contextualized or continued on each campus?

For example, will you let campuses have small groups or will they call it Sunday School? Maybe the small groups language works in one environment and Sunday School works better in another environment. This is contextualization.

Will all campuses agree to a statement of faith? Will they all have the same reporting structure? If so, then this is continuity.

Now clearly these are black and white questions and we know that this isn’t really a black and white situation. That’s why when you’re answering these questions, you need to think of your answers like a sliding scale.

For example, you might determine that 20% of what all campuses are going to do is continuity and 80% of what they do is contextualization. So the 20% of continuity may be a statement of faith, sermon series, and overall branding. However, the rest is 80% contextualization, and we’ll let each campus figure that out.

By determining what is continuity vs. contextualization on some sort of scale, you can have conversations with other campuses that will help to better shape your communication processes.

If your team knows that 80% of each campus is contextualized, then they can know which branding elements need to be consistent and which ones can be customized for each campus.

At the end of the day, if your communications team has a clear idea of what the non-negotiables (continuity) are, then it makes their goals, objectives, and tasks all that much easier. So answer these two questions and save your team a lot of work.

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9 Reasons Why Church Revitalization is Hard

It’s tough work to lead a church in revitalization. In fact, it’s hard enough that some leaders aren’t cut out to do it. Knowing, though, why it’s hard can help us press on through the tough moments. Here are some reasons why revitalization is difficult:

The process usually starts years after the church has been in decline. That is, leaders are trying to turn around a ship that’s been floating aimlessly in the wrong direction for a long time. The ship might even seem to be sinking already.The issues are often numerous, and they can be overwhelming. At a minimum, the vast number of issues to address makes it difficult to know where to begin. Hopelessness can quickly take control of a revitalization leader.Many leaders in revitalization settings have little training in this task. They’re serving where the Lord has placed them, but they struggle to develop strategies and plans for revitalization. That’s one of the reasons Church Answers exists, in fact: “to help churches move from flatlined to flourishing through coaching, online courses, daily content, and much more.”Many of the remaining attendees have often lost their energy. They themselves need personal revitalization, and church revitalization won’t happen without it. Leading weary people is never easy.Some of the leaders think they’ve “tried everything already.” No matter what ideas you bring up, they remember when they tried something similar and failed. Even if that attempt took place decades ago, they still remember it.Congregations often want revitalization, but without change. They want to see increased numbers and dollars – so they talk the language of revitalization – but they don’t want anything to change in the process.Revitalization leaders tend to lead from a hopeful vision with a sense of urgency—but the process usually takes a long time. The leader sees seemingly obvious needs and necessary solutions, but it takes time to help the congregation see the same things. Patience is important.Sometimes, the same lay leaders who led the church into plateau and decline in the first place are still in positions of influence. Change likely means they would lose some of their power—and they didn’t bargain for that when they started talking about revitalization.Leaders often have a big-picture vision of what revitalization looks like, and they miss the little changes and growth the Lord produces in their church. Seeing just glimpses of what God’s doing among our congregation ought to encourage us to press on – but we sometimes overlook those glimpses.

What reasons would you add to this list?

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What Changes with a Move from a Church of 50 to a Church of 150

All churches have leadership challenges, regardless of size. Small churches are not easier to lead than large churches. Large churches are not easier to grow than small churches. But they are different. When pastors move from one size church to another, they have to adapt.

One common pastoral transition is to move from a church of 50 congregants to a church of 150. I won’t get into whether a pastor should make this move or not. Let’s assume the move is God’s will. What changes should this pastor expect? The question came through Church Answers Central, a forum for church leaders, and I thought it made for a good post. 

Some expectations remain the same. I’ll start the list with something that doesn’t change, but I’ve added it here because it’s a surprise to many pastors who make the transition from 50 to 150. Many people still want you at birthday parties, at ballgames, and in hospital rooms. You have to learn how to say “no” graciously to more people.

Formalities and structure increase. In a church of 150, there are more formalities. Business meetings and Robert’s Rules of Order become more commonplace. There is also more structure, likely more committees and official groups. 

Less individual attention. The larger the church, the less individual attention a pastor can give to people. Leadership approaches shift from one-on-one in small churches to groups of people in larger churches. Many pastors who make the transition become frustrated for a season because they cannot meet the needs of every individual. The key here is to equip other leaders and invest in them, training them to multiply themselves. 

Fewer family-run churches. At 150 people, it’s tough for one family to run the church, but two or three families can form coalitions and wield power. 

Operational tasks decrease. When I pastored a church of 30 people, I changed all the light bulbs and prepared the financials (which meant balancing the checkbook). In a church of 150, these tasks shift to volunteers. 

Directives shift. In a church of 150, pastors give more directives to teams and committees as opposed to individuals.

Micromanagement in a church of 150 will kill you. Don’t even try.

Diplomacy and statesmanship start to enter pastoral leadership at a church of 150 (and becomes quite important around 500 people). 

When you make the transition from 50 to 150, things change, but a few things stay the same: People still sin. Bullies still attack. Leaders will disappoint. Stress is still intense. But the Groom still loves His bride!

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The Two Largest Groups Who Have Not Returned to In-Person Worship Since COVID

“I really want to see all of our members return to in-person services. I really miss them.”

This sentence was from a pastor in North Carolina. We were in a conversation about a church consultation. His comments quickly turned to the often-asked question today: When will our churches get back to normal? 

As I have noted on several occasions, if “normal” means pre-COVID behavior, we will not return at all. We will, however, experience a new normal. We have to be ready for it when it comes.

I have notes from recent conversations with over 60 pastors. Some of the conversations were by Zoom or phone, others were interactions at Church Answers. While 60 conversations do not constitute a large sample, they do provide us some guidance on reality in churches today. 

In that regard, we are hearing about the two largest groups who have not returned to in-person service. These groups are mentioned consistently when we hear from church leaders. 

Senior Adults

The pastors with whom I spoke categorized senior adults in one of three groups: 65 and up; 70 and up; and 75 and up. The most common group noted was 70 and up. 

The reasons for many of these seniors’ hesitancy to return are obvious. They are one of the greatest at-risk groups for COVID. Secondly, many of them have not received both COVID vaccinations. 

Families with Young Children

As a rule, parents whose children are back in school classrooms are likely to be comfortable bringing those children to in-person church gatherings. But if the child is younger than school age, the hesitancy to return is greater. The entire family typically does not return to church. 

This group of non-returnees is typically not as large in number as the senior adults who have not returned. But the combination of these two groups can be a significant number in a given church.

Will They Ever Return?

The good news is that, at some point, the pandemic will abate significantly. Eventually, the deadly virus will run its course through vaccines and natural immunity. 

The challenging news is that many of these stragglers are not planning to return at all. Any discipline, including the discipline of attending church, develops through habits. Those who have not returned are out of the habit of attending church. Many have already decided they can do fine without attending church.

What can church leaders do in the meantime? You can stay in touch with the stragglers. A simple contact can go a long way. You can start a new digital Bible study group. Though it’s not as good as the in-person experience, it can connect them to others. And you can minister to them. Start a prayer ministry or use your existing prayer ministry to pray for these stragglers. Ask them for prayer requests. Follow up with them.

We will continue to monitor the post-quarantine church carefully. In the meantime, let us know what you are seeing in your church regarding non-returnees. Comment here and share your knowledge and wisdom with others. 

It’s a challenging time.

But it is also a time of great opportunity as God’s Spirit continues to work in our churches.

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Four Reasons Your Church Needs a Mentoring Program

Every week I get the privilege of working with pastors from all over. Most have a sense there could be more. More participation, more depth, more passion, more community. What they’re doing isn’t broken, but it’s not enough. A common concern I hear: “my church is a mile wide, but an inch deep.”

I’m a little biased, but I think the best way for a church to help their people dig a few inches deeper is small group mentoring. 

Before I tell you why, here’s the two-sentence overview of how Radical Mentoring does “small group mentoring.” We equip an older, wiser mentor with conversation guides and other resources to lead a group of younger mentees through an intentional mentoring process for nine to twelve months. Mentors share their faith stories in the first meeting and continue to share their life experience by facilitating a topic-based conversation during each of the monthly meetings that follow.

Now, here are four reasons launching a small group mentoring process can have a profound impact on your church…

Mentoring groups build intergenerational relationships. Last year, Barna released a study on engaging men. They found that men with intergenerational relationships were “nearly twice as likely to be very satisfied in their relationship with their child (54% vs. 30%) and in their marriage (64% vs. 54%).” Mentoring groups create an environment for people of different seasons of life to interact. Mentors find value in sharing their wisdom and life experience, while mentees get to learn from someone who has already been where they’re going.Mentoring groups create authentic relationships. Ultimately, we all want to be known. Of the 450+ people surveyed after their mentoring season, 95% said they experienced authentic community in their group, and 88% described their group’s relationships as “very deep” or “deep.” The secret sauce? Stories. By focusing on stories, mentoring groups create a safe space for people to be real, encourage each other, and drive relationships deep. Having everyone share their full, no-holding-back faith story, starting with the mentor, equips the group to go further, faster and leads to conversations that matter.Mentoring groups raise the leadership capacity of your church. Every church needs more leaders. More people to lead small groups and get involved with the high school ministry. More people to serve as deacons and elders or to lead Bible studies. People who go through a mentoring group become your next generation of leaders. They improve the quality of your other environments by bringing the authenticity and intentionality they learned during their mentoring season.Mentoring groups develop all-in Jesus-followers: Arguably the most important one. Mentees spend nine to twelve months learning from and watching their mentor. They observe how the mentor lives their life and how they interact with Jesus. While anything but perfect, the life of the mentor, transparently exposed and fully committed, shows them a real-life example of what a fully-alive Jesus-follower is like and what it can be for them if they go all-in. 

We’d love to help you explore how small group mentoring could fit in at your church. And the best part, our entire resource library is available to you for free. When you go here to get access, you’ll receive everything you need to launch Radical Mentoring groups for men or Known Collective groups for women, including our coaching and guidance. Learn more here.

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Creating an Ongoing Culture of Generosity to Missions in Your Church

You will not likely get more out of your members through a guilt trip. I doubt many of them respond to pulpit reprimands. Negative tactics only provoke negative responses. Guilt is a terrible motivator. Chastise your people into emptying wallets for missions, and they will likely oblige once out of duty. Creating an ongoing culture of generosity for missions among the church body takes an entirely different approach.

A willingness to give up personal safety is a sign of a willingness to give up financial security. First responders put their lives on the line. With fire personnel and EMTs, we talk of “service before self.” With police, we talk of the “thin blue line.” It doesn’t take much to turn order into chaos, and our first responders help keep order. Our churches have the same fragile environment. One spat with the wrong congregants can turn order into chaos. Pastors and church members who give up safety will become more generous. When you are willing to give up your life for the gospel, then giving up financial security is less of an issue.   

Sacrifice in one area will grow to sacrifices in other areas. There are two types of greed: The desire for more stuff and the desire for more safety. Some pursue greed because they want more toys. Others pursue greed because money is their safety net. The antidote to greed is sacrifice. God does not underwrite thieves. Would you keep giving and being faithful to someone who is regularly stealing from you? Why would we expect God to bless our churches when we are not being faithful to Him? Sacrificial giving changes your lifestyle. In fact, if what you are giving does not change the way you live, then it is not sacrificial. Pastors and church leaders who are willing to sacrifice—change the way they live—in one area of ministry are much more likely to grow in sacrificial giving to missions. 

Generosity is contagious when celebrated. In most churches, pastors are not digging into the giving records of individuals. Most congregations would not accept a leader board of the largest donors. While individual monetary gifts are difficult to celebrate, time given is not. Not everyone has the capacity to give significant sums of money. But everyone has the capacity to give time. Celebrate church members who are generous with their time. You become what you celebrate. When you celebrate generosity, you become generous. 

Make mission work an expectation of the church body. Don’t neglect making local and cross-cultural mission work an explicit expectation of the congregation. Pastors should lead mission trips and equip others to lead. Pastors should serve alongside other members when the church is doing community outreach. If it’s an expectation of the church, then it is also an expectation of the pastor.   

A generous church to missions begins with the pastor. Do you want more people to live on mission, go on mission trips, and give to missions? Then the pastor must live on mission, go on mission trips, and give to missions.

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Six Types of Churches That Have Died During the Pandemic

My purpose is neither to be morbid nor sensational. 

Death is a delicate topic, especially the death of churches. My purpose is to send a warning so changes can be made quickly and urgently. My greater purpose, ironic as it may seem, is to send a message of hope.

These six types of churches are described categorically, but the categories are not mutually exclusive. Many of these deceased churches fit most, if not all, of the categories. We have spoken with the leadership of these churches. The conversations were sad but enlightening. 

All of the churches noted in these categories have either closed or announced their intentions to close. Thankfully, some of them generously gave their sites to healthier churches. We hope to follow their adoption progress closely. 

The aged church. For the churches where I have data, the median age of the remaining membership was 76. In all cases, we learned that the church had been a church of older members for some time. In many cases, they essentially ran off younger members who would have brought changes to their congregations. The fighting church. The deceased churches had numerous conflicts and, often, church splits. With each new conflict, the church declined. Guests stopped coming to the divided church. When the pandemic came, those who remained were too weary to keep the ministry of the church going. The deferred maintenance church. These churches did not make wise decisions to keep the facilities in good condition. One church argued over choosing the contractor to install a new HVAC several years ago, so they did nothing. Most of the churches simply refused to spend the funds. Giving in the churches declined precipitously in the pandemic. The churches literally could not pay the bills to keep the building maintained.  The run-the-pastor-off church. These churches pushed their pastors out either through forced resignations or firings on a regular basis. Every two to four years, they fired and hired a pastor. Usually, there was a power group in the church that did not want the pastor to lead. So that group concocted a reason to push the pastor out. Many of these churches could not find or afford a pastor during the pandemic.  The neighborhood-looks-different church. The neighborhood changed, but the church didn’t. Those in the church looked differently than those in the neighborhood. When the pandemic came, the members stopped making the drive to the church because they didn’t live in the church’s community. COVID exacerbated a trend that had been in process for years.The infant church. These churches were relatively new and did not have many members or givers before the pandemic. Some of the churches were in leased spaces that would not let the church regather during the pandemic. In all of these cases, the church had not reached sufficient maturation to survive the implications of COVID.

Please contact someone who can help you if you sense your church is on the precipice of death, or if your church is not healthy. That person could be in your denomination or network. We are also available at Church Answers. Contact us at info@churchanswers.com. Please seek help. Please have a willingness to be adopted by another church if possible.

Your church has its address for a reason. Your church is to be a light in the community where God placed you.

Don’t let that light go away. We are here if we can help in any way.

And also let us hear your stories, both the good and the bad. We can always learn more for God’s glory.

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Four Ways to Show Love to Your Volunteers

Volunteering shouldn’t be a thankless job, but often it is. Our volunteers make our ministries happen. We love them. We really do. We are grateful. But do we communicate to our volunteers how much we love them and how thankful we are for them? 

Pinterest is full of ideas for cute notes and gifts that you can give to show appreciation. Those types of trinkets are fun, however we can’t only depend on those types of gifts for our volunteers to truly feel loved. We need to build appreciation into the rhythm of our ministries. By building appreciation into the core of what we do, our volunteers know without a doubt that they are loved and that what they do is valued.

1. Pray for them and let them know it. Several years ago I created a calendar on which I assigned a volunteer or two to each day. When a volunteer’s name appeared on my calendar, I would stop and pray for their family. I would send a quick text or give them a call to thank them for serving and to ask if there was anything specific I could pray for. By creating a system, I made sure to include everyone and to regularly connect. 

Another meaningful habit is to stop and pray immediately. How often do you get stopped by a volunteer or get a phone call to share about something that is burdening their hearts. Too often we are guilty of saying, “I’ll definitely pray about that” and then we don’t. Stop what you’re doing and pray for that person on the spot. Pray over the phone. Even if they don’t ask for prayer, but they have mentioned something challenging in conversation, ask if you can pray for them. 

2. Take time to genuinely connect. Sunday mornings are busy. If you are the leader, you are likely getting pulled in a thousand directions. One Sunday I realized that I had immediately started giving orders to a volunteer before I even said hello. Too often we get caught up in the hectic frenzy of ministry and we completely miss connecting with our people. Stop. Say hello. Ask volunteers how their week was. Ask about their family. Take care of as much of the “stuff” of ministry as you can before people arrive so that you can give your volunteers the attention they deserve. 

Also, make time to connect with your volunteers outside of church. Schedule lunch or coffee. Invite their family over. Include a volunteer on a hospital visit you have to make or to do some other ministry task. 

3. Make sure they have what they need to do their job. You can give your volunteers a million candy bars with cute notes, but if each week they don’t have what they need to serve well, they will not feel like they are valued. Make sure volunteers have the supplies and equipment they need. As much as possible, make their space of service comfortable (not too hot, not too cold, not too smelly). Do what you can to staff appropriately so that no volunteer feels they are understaffed. 

You also communicate value by providing the training that they need to serve well. Helping kids’ volunteers know how to manage their classroom, work with special needs, and deal with troubling behaviors will help them feel more successful in what they do. Training student ministry volunteers on how to discuss tough topics will help them feel prepared. Teaching greeters what to do in case of an emergency helps them feel like a part of the big picture of the church. 

4. Feed them well. So this suggestion seems silly, but it really can have the greatest impact. People love good food. When you have meetings, have good food. Surprise your volunteers with a special treat. Once during a planned training meeting, I loaded all of my volunteers up to go to the local ice cream place. Other times I have had shaved ice or ice cream cake. Give away gift cards to beloved restaurants. Communicate how much you love your volunteers by giving them good food!

Volunteers are a gift from God to the church. During this month of love, find new ways to communicate your love and appreciation to your volunteers. 

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Things Believers Do that Make the Unchurched Bristle

Here’s some good news: the vast majority of the unchurched are receptive to an invitation to church. The problem is that few active churchgoers reach out to their neighbors and friends. The mission field across North America is ripe for harvest, but many of the workers lag in apathy.

 Some workers are lazy, and their apathy is correctly labeled hypocrisy. Worse than apathy, however, is hostility. Christians that breed enmity are worse irritants. In Galatians 5, the Apostle Paul uses severe words for the religious people that bite, devour, and destroy: it’s better to be castrated.

 I do not want to be excessively harsh, but it’s constructive to consider the potential negative impact—it’s worse than having no impact. Hypercritical legalism is a clear example of how to turn people off, but there are other, less blatant turn-offs as well. In our research, we’ve heard from the unchurched on things believers do that makes them bristle the most. Here are a few of the most abrasive turn-offs.

 Confuse me. Talk about all the dirt at your church. Drudge up meaningless conflicts. Air dirty laundry in public forums and in the media. File frivolous lawsuits against other believers. Gossip about other churchgoers. Treat other Christians badly. In short, confuse the unchurched with blatant disregard for the Golden Rule.

 Mislead me. Unevangelistic pastors lead churches to reach out less. Unfriendly church leaders set the tone for an unfriendly church culture. Leaders should model the correct behavior. When they don’t, it is a huge turn off for people on the outside.

 Sell me. Encourage people to show up for a bunch of unconnected church activities. Don’t have an underlying mission for church functions. Neglect to connect how the church does ministry with the purpose of the body. Worse yet, lead a person to believe that your church is something it’s not. Selling a façade only disappoints when people get inside. Pretty packaging fools no one.

 Patronize me. A majority of seekers desire biblical depth. They do not want to be mollycoddled with trite spiritual answers to life’s tough questions. Don’t fear telling the truth but do so without an air of superiority. Spiritual arrogance is a huge turn off for the unchurched.

 Avoid me. Treat others like lepers. Don’t invite them to your house. Don’t befriend anyone outside the church walls. Almost eighty percent of adults would enjoy an honest conversation with a friend about religious or spiritual beliefs, even if they did not exactly see eye-to-eye with the friend. Unfortunately, these conversations occur far too infrequently.

 Bore me. The unchurched see no reason to consider a church if the congregation does not take their primary mission of the gospel seriously. We serve a Risen Savior! We know the Answer to life’s most important question! A ho-hum attitude and a lack of celebratory worship makes for a boring church.

 I do not like dwelling on the negative. The list of church turn-offs is long. And it’s much easier to point out all the things wrong in the church than actually make positive steps towards impacting a community for Christ. So take a moment and do a quick inventory of potential turn-offs in your ministry, then focus on the positive ways to be salt and light in your mission field.

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