Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 78

Five Reasons Why 2021 Should Be a New Base Year for Your Church

I know. The number “2020” has taken a new meaning.

It used to mean perfect vision. Now it means lousy everything. 

But 2021 represents a fresh start. In that context, our team at Church Answers is recommending to church leaders that they use 2021 as a new base year. In other words, comparisons with previous years are apples-to-oranges. We are in a post-quarantine era that behooves us to make comparisons from 2021 forward. It will likely not mean a lot to compare church metrics using 2020 and prior years. 

Numbers and metrics are not our goals. They are not all-important. But they are good indicators of church health. Just like the thermometer we use to measure our body temperature, metrics can be pointers to measures of church health.

We are thus suggesting 2021 become a fresh start for churches, a blank slate if you will. Church leaders have the opportunity to lead their congregations anew. Here are five of the primary reasons we are suggesting that 2021 become a new base year for your church.

Because so many things changed in 2020. Your church is not returning to a new normal. It is returning to a new reality. For sure, biblical truth is unchanging, but the way we “do church” will change dramatically if our churches are to thrive, even survive, in the days ahead.


Because churches have the opportunity to restart with a blank slate. Though the pandemic has been tragic in many ways, it is still an opportunity to look at how we lead our churches forward. In a September 26, 2020 article in the Wall Street Journal, the authors noted that new business starts are at amazing levels. Look at this quote: “Americans are starting new businesses at the fastest rate in more than a decade, according to government data, seizing on pent-up demand and new opportunities after the pandemic shut down and reshaped the economy (see “Is It Insane to Start a Business During Coronavirus? Millions of Americans Don’t Think So.” by Gwynn Guilford and Charity L. Scott, Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2020). While churches should not mimic the business world in everything they do, it is a good reminder of the unique context in which we live.


Because metrics are changing. More churches than ever are looking at digital metrics. Most of them have no previous years’ comparisons. We also see metrics of conversion growth becoming more important than ever. And as we note below in the fifth point, new metrics will have to be used to account for the new sites, venues, and campuses that will open.


Because around 20 percent of attendees will not return. This data point is more anecdotal at this point, but we are hearing it from hundreds of church leaders. Most of them are telling us that one out of five of the pre-COVID attendees will not return. We refer to this group as “the stragglers” or “the ex-churched.” This new reality is yet another reason why 2021 should be a new base year. 


Because the “multi-movement” will become more pervasive. Worship gatherings will be smaller. Churches were moving toward new sites, campuses, and venues well before the pandemic. That trend has accelerated. We will begin to see new metrics to account for new sites and gatherings.

 The year 2020 will become a marker for history. For certain, it will be a marker that includes sickness, death, and dismal economic realities. But it will also be a marker for new opportunities. You are about to see God do an incredible work in thousands of churches in 2021.

 I pray your church is among them.

The post Five Reasons Why 2021 Should Be a New Base Year for Your Church appeared first on Church Answers.

Having the Conversation We All Hate to Have

Restructuring is hard… but the alternative is much harder

I’m convinced that the last 6 months have forced most churches to make more than a decade’s worth of changes. Whether it was building out our online ministry platform, rethinking our ministry priorities, or learning how to do congregational care when we can’t sit across a table from one another, much has changed.

Now, six(ish) months in, we are at a point where it would serve us well to pause, survey our current landscape, and think through what the road ahead looks like for us. While our vision and mission are likely still the same, this is a good time to ask ourselves whether our current ministry structures continue to serve us well in this season. What do I mean by ministry structures? I’m glad you asked. Our ministry structures are those things that enable us to achieve the vision that God has given our congregation. For most churches, this means your budget, facilities, programming, and staffing.

Now is the time to stop and begin to ask yourself, and your team, the hard questions about your ministry structure and begin to evaluate whether your current structure is serving your vision… or forcing your vision to serve it. A few questions that might be helpful for you as you begin your evaluation process:

Budget: Based on what you have learned since January, does your current budget prioritize those areas of ministry that will be most important for your church’s vision in the next 6, 12, and 24 months? What areas require less funding now than they did at the beginning of the year?
Facilities: How has the pandemic affected the way that you currently use your building and what does that mean for the next 6, 12, and 24 months? Does your facility need to be upgraded in order to better achieve your mission?
Programming: What have you learned about the effectiveness of your current programming in this season? As you look to the future, what do you need to start, stop, and continue, program-wise, in order to more effectively share the Gospel with the world around you?
Staffing: As you look at your current team, do you see any gaps that need to be filled? Are there teammates that need to be redeployed into more strategic areas? Are there beloved team members that are no longer effective in their current role?

These questions can be intimidating to ask, especially when it comes to cutting budgets, eliminating programs, or encouraging teammates to find their next ministry position. Difficult though they may be, these are crucial conversations to have for the future of your ministry. Now is the optimal time to have this conversation, for three reasons:

Year-end is coming: From a timing standpoint, your church is likely to be preparing your 2021 budget. These conversations will give you clarity on what that should look like.
Change is still new: The changes made over these last six(ish) months are still new. The concrete has not set and you have an opportunity to evaluate what changes are worthy of keeping and which are not.
It will happen: Restructuring is going to happen one way or another… it is in the best interest of your church to proactively choose when to have the conversation instead of waiting for it to be forced upon you.

The hardest part of these conversations is knowing where to start. If that is your struggle, the team at Chemistry Staffing has created a tool to help you navigate this process: Chemistry Staffing’s Restructuring Playbook. This playbook will walk you and your team through a series of tools that I use with our churches when helping them think through what structure best serves their ministry. I hope that it will serve you well.

The post Having the Conversation We All Hate to Have appeared first on Church Answers.

Leading a Whiteboard Session with Your Staff or Church Leaders

By now, you’ve heard the call to capture the opportunity of a blank slate. The current pandemic is prompting every church to reconsider approaches to ministry.

 Practically, how do you start this process? 

One consideration is a “whiteboard session.” The term refers to a meeting in which a group of people collaborates with an open mind. The whiteboard reference implies starting fresh with nothing on the board—a “blank slate” if you’re referencing a chalkboard. The two keys to a whiteboard session are collaboration and creativity. The group should work together on new ideas. Multiple people share ideas in a visual format.

Some whiteboard sessions have the purpose of closure. The meetings are short and precise, mainly for solving a specific problem. In these shorter meetings, decisions are finalized. Other whiteboard sessions have the purpose of exploration. The meetings are open and longer in duration, mainly for engendering creative ideas through collaboration. In these longer meetings, new ideas are discovered.

 I’m referencing the longer, more exploratory whiteboard sessions in this post. How should you lead one?

 Be visual. Write on the board. While people may take notes on their computers, at least one person needs to draw out and write the actual ideas on a whiteboard. This meeting should be free-flowing but focus on a specific question or problem. For example, you might ask, “If our church could be exactly who we need to be for the next five years, what would we look like and what would we do?” 

Discuss. After writing or drawing the idea, have a discussion and refine everyone’s collective thoughts. In a whiteboard session, there are fewer filters than in a normal meeting. Allow people to think out loud and freely. Give people permission to bring up unique perspectives. Make everyone in the room contribute to each idea. 

Refine. Start culling the best ideas and craft a broad solution or new path. Remind people in the room that the purpose of a whiteboard session is not to finalize specifics but to understand broad themes. 

Limit. A longer whiteboard session should be done once or twice a year—quarterly at most. Holding them more often diminishes their power. Use existing standing meetings for implementing the ideas that surface through the whiteboard session. 

Why are whiteboard sessions needed? Churches are notorious for getting stuck in old models and paradigms. Obviously, not everything needs to change. Some things stick around a long time because they work. The danger comes when churches assume the status quo is best. A whiteboard session helps keep leaders fresh.

The post Leading a Whiteboard Session with Your Staff or Church Leaders appeared first on Church Answers.

9 Unique “Talking” Characteristics of the Two Leaders Who’ve Most Influenced Me

I’m thinking today of the two men who’ve most influenced my life as a minister—the best leaders I’ve known. Here’s what I remember about the way they talked: 

I never heard them speak poorly of others. They could have, as they knew a lot of people and saw the “underbellies” of churches and denominations – but they didn’t. They either built up others or said nothing. 
I never heard them say anything off-color or immoral. Ever. Not even close. Others around them may have moved in that direction, but I never heard them follow that route. 
They quite naturally told others about Jesus. Evangelism wasn’t a program for them; it was a lifestyle. They seldom missed an opportunity to talk about what Jesus meant to them. 
They readily said, “thank you.” No matter what position they held, they knew how much they needed the help and support of others. Saying “thank you” was quite natural to them—and genuine. 
They talked about how much they loved their family. I don’t ever recall being with these men without their speaking about their spouse and children. In fact, I seldom thought about them apart from their families.
They loved preaching—and were good at it. Give them a Bible and a group to listen, and they were in their element. Because you knew they were genuinely men of God, you wanted to hear what they had to say. 
I never once questioned the veracity of their words. It never even crossed my mind they might be fudging facts or exaggerating stories. The integrity of their witness meant too much to them to risk it. 
They always deflected praise. You can tell by this post that I think they were worthy of honor, but they never let praise settle on them. They knew how deeply they needed the grace of God.
They never failed to encourage me. Even when they confronted me about something, I came out feeling loved and supported. 

Truly, these men were some of God’s gifts to me. I pray I can talk like them today. 

The post 9 Unique “Talking” Characteristics of the Two Leaders Who’ve Most Influenced Me appeared first on Church Answers.

Communication Can Always Be Better

In May of 2017, I started my tenure as Executive Pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church. Less than 60 days later I found myself coordinating the church’s first adoption. Both the Immanuel staff and myself were in uncharted territory. A couple of our pastors had worked for a multi-site congregation, but none of us had adopted another congregation.

Fast forward to February of 2018. The Immanuel staff had done an incredible job of adopting the previous congregation and re-launching the site as Immanuel Baptist Church at Armstrong Mill. Yet, I could sense some tension building amongst the staff. Dan Russell, a seasoned minister of 40+ years, pulled me aside and said, “Communication can always be better.”

Most of my failures would have been mitigated if I had just communicated better. When you are not the primary leader the need to communicate becomes twice as important.

Two arenas in which I could have improved my communication are frequency and channel.

When you are communicating with others you have to discern the frequency needed for communication. There are three levels of frequency:

Often – I needed to communicate more often with my lead pastor and with my peers. I don’t want to be prescriptive, but if you only talk once a week, then you aren’t communicating enough. Sometimes a text is all you need, for others a 5 minute drive-by to their office will be extremely productive.

Regularly – A team needs regular communication. This may or may not be a group of peers and could be specific to a project like launching a new campus. I would encourage scheduled conversation at least every other week. In between meetings send a digital check-in, like an email, to check progress.

Periodically – These meetings are for your entire staff or congregation. They need to be concise updates on problems that you are solving or upcoming projects. Typically these are informational and reflect the decisions that have been made. 

During COVID-19, often meant meeting daily, regularly meant meeting 2-3 times a week, and periodically meant communication weekly to our congregation. The situation should dictate the frequency to communicate.

The second arena of communication is the channel of communication. Here are some common channels… 

Face-to-Face – When decisions have to be made you should get on the phone, get in a room, or get on a video conference. Decisions should never be made over email or text messaging. 

Group Messaging – A group text or communication app like GroupMe should be utilized when communicating quick changes or to give status updates. 

Email – I believe emails should be sent as a review of uncompleted tasks or as a summary of a meeting with action points.

Mass Communication – Every situation needs to be reviewed individually. When communicating to the staff at large or the congregation you must remember to be clear and succinct and to be prepared to follow up with multiple emails.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all communication method. You will have to work on improving communication constantly. Learn where you could communicate better and learn how to best communicate with people.

The post Communication Can Always Be Better appeared first on Church Answers.

Four Ways to Encourage Families During This Season

If your church is like mine, our families are all over the map during this season. Some have fully returned to church and to all the programming we offer. Some are still watching online. Some are cautiously coming back. Some are out of the church habit altogether. We live in a very divided time in our country where strong feelings abound. How can we best support families in such a unique season? 

Be intentional about connecting. As I debriefed the quarantine season with several other ministry leaders, we all agreed that the period of “stay-at-home” reminded us how essential personal contact and one-on-one ministry truly is. As our normal church activities begin to resume, we must fight the busy to maintain that priority. Print a list of all of the families who attend your church. Go through it carefully, noting who you haven’t seen and who you haven’t had contact with recently. Make a plan with your ministry leaders to reach out. Do you have parents who are also teachers? Consider a special encouragement for them during this trying time for educators. Do you have families who have experienced illness or loss? How can you show Jesus’s love? Create a system so that your families are routinely contacted, whether they have returned to your church services or not. Keep a running list of prayer needs. Look for ministry needs and connect them with people that can help. You can only discover these needs by consistently connecting.
Be gracious in understanding families’ positions. Some families will be anti-mask and won’t want to come if your church is requiring masks. Some families will be very pro-mask and won’t come if you are not requiring masks. Some families are very fearful of the virus and some are just trying to be very cautious. Regardless of your personal position or your church’s position on handling things, you will come across church members who disagree with you. Sometimes they will disagree strongly and vocally. We must remember Colossians 4:6. It says, “Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” Even if we disagree, even when conversations become emotional, and even when we just can’t understand where someone else is coming from, we must respond kindly and patiently.
Communicate often and clearly. Our families are processing alot right now. Many are balancing virtual school and jobs. After many months of doing little, family calendars are quickly filling again. Many parents feel overwhelmed. As church leaders we end up feeling frustrated that parents aren’t paying attention to what we say or provide. Parents are simply just trying to keep one foot in front of the other. In this season, minimize communication to share what is most important in the most clear and succinct ways possible. Don’t send long, multi-paragraph emails. Send three bullet points. Don’t post extra-long social media posts. Be brief and to the point. Repeat yourself more than you feel you should have to. Especially in this season, as soon as you are tired of announcing something, one of your church families is hearing it for the first time. Help families understand where to best get information and make it easily available for when they remember they need to know it. 
Help resource them where they are. Are most of your families back to church but a few remain at home? How can you keep those kids connected? We restarted our Wednesday night discipleship ministry, but have a handful of kids who are not ready to return. We chose to engage some college students to create an online group for them. We are hoping these families connect to the group, but even if they don’t, hopefully we are at least communicating that we care about them even if they aren’t prepared to be back on campus. 

We have not ministered in a culture like we are now. It is all new. It’s challenging. We will make mistakes. We will hurt feelings or not meet someone’s expectations. But we also have many opportunities to point families to Christ and to encourage them in an extremely unstable time. Keep pushing forward. Keep showing Christ’s love. Keep praying for God to make Himself known in the families your church serves.

The post Four Ways to Encourage Families During This Season appeared first on Church Answers.

We Adopted A Church: Six Lessons Learned After One Year

Some dying churches are saved through revitalization or relaunches. Others are saved through the process of adoption. When a church is adopted, a healthier and stronger congregation receives a more vulnerable congregation into the family. Two families are brought together. Some refer to this arrangement as a merger, but I prefer the language of adoption.

My congregation, West Bradenton, adopted Southside Baptist about a year ago. This adoption happened after a season of fostering them. A fostering arrangement occurs when a healthier and stronger congregation sends help and resources to a more vulnerable congregation. With fostering, the vulnerable congregation retains autonomy as they receive help from the stronger congregation. They did not have a pastor, so we sent them someone from our congregation to preach every week. We also sent people to help with worship. 

Southside approached us after a time of fostering and asked to become part of our family. We weren’t ready, but there was no way we could turn them down! A year later, I understand God’s timing. Southside would not have survived the pandemic on their own. 

Attendance at Southside has grown from a dozen to almost forty. People from the community are showing up. Last Sunday, Southside baptized four new believers, their first baptisms in over eight years. A new group for young adults has started. Children are now present on campus regularly. Many had doubts as to whether the adoption would work. Frankly, I did too. 

We had to be creative. The Southside campus launched with less than ten volunteers and no budget funds. Our vision is to be a neighborhood church and adopt other neighborhood churches into our family. We want to take churches of ten and twenty and help them become campuses of one hundred and two hundred. After our first adoption, we’ve learned a few lessons.

Always perform formal due diligence. We had several layers of due diligence over the course of a year: Leadership, doctrine, financial, facility, and legal. During our legal due diligence, our lawyer uncovered that Southside had used variants of their church name on different legal documents. This discovery was significant because any documentation to formalize a merger needed the true name of the church. The most time-consuming and expensive part of our adoption was getting the legal name of the church right.

Many will not understand the vision at first and that’s ok. The church merger concept has existed for about twenty years, but it’s still not a mainstream thought among parishioners. Using language like adoption is new. When I proposed the vision of revitalizing churches through adoption, I knew people would need to see it in real-time before understanding it. Thankfully, West Bradenton was supportive. Likely, the multisite model via adoption will not become part of our culture until we open our third campus.

Wrong motives will crush you. Don’t adopt struggling churches if you’re looking for a quick-growth strategy. Adoption requires a deep love for established churches. It may take years of work to grow a healthy campus out of an adoption. 

Live preaching is preferable to video venues. Most adopted churches need the presence of a campus pastor, and it’s preferrable this pastor be the one preaching regularly. The Southside campus simply would not work without our campus pastor.

Who you send is critical to long-term success. Church adoption requires both an entrepreneurial spirit and a patient mindset. The ideal volunteer will adapt to change quickly but also operate well in an established church setting. We asked our adopting team to commit to a year. Many will stay longer. Others may find a permanent home. Don’t send disgruntled members and hope they thrive in a new place. Don’t push people who would rather not go regardless of how well you may think they fit. Work with those who are excited about the new work. 

Bi-vocational or co-vocational campus pastors are the future. Our campus pastor is bi-vocational. He works at a local school and serves West Bradenton. Bi-vocational pastors would likely accept a full-time position if available. A co-vocational pastor has a calling to be both in the marketplace and also serve the church. As more church adoptions occur, the need for both kinds of pastors will rise dramatically. Most church adoption cases necessitate part-time campus pastors. 

Church adoption is messy. It’s hard. It’s confusing. It’s frustrating. But great rewards come from difficult challenges. One year later, I’m thrilled we adopted Southside. They are part of our family.

The post We Adopted A Church: Six Lessons Learned After One Year appeared first on Church Answers.

Four Key Attitudes of Leaders Whose Churches Will Thrive in the Future

The topic of COVID or the pandemic often brings feelings of gloom and despair. Indeed, the year 2020 will be, in many ways, a year we will choose to forget. It has been difficult for many people and many organizations.

But during this trying season, I have been devouring news and studies of churches and other organizations that are poised to move positively in the future. These organizations are not succumbing to the inevitability of life getting worse and organizational health deteriorating. They do not have their metaphorical heads in the sand. To the contrary, they are looking up and looking around to see the new paths and the new possibilities in this new reality.

When I recently synthesized many of the articles and podcasts addressing these challenges positively, I saw a pattern. There were four attitudes among the leaders common to most all of them. I believe these four attitudes are emblematic of successful organizations of the near future. 

“God is not done with us yet.” To be clear, the leaders of secular organizations were unlikely to articulate this attitude in the same way church leaders were. But all of the healthy organizations had attitudes of hope and possibility. Defeatism was a foreign concept to all of them. 


“We are not waiting for things to return to normal.” Any organization waiting for a pre-COVID normal is already in trouble. Any churches expecting patterns of attendance, giving, and ministry to be similar to 2019 are really up against a wall. There will not even be a new normal, because normal cannot be defined. These leaders are looking for indicators of a new reality and they are making pivots to these new realities. 


“We will be more outwardly-focused than ever.” Too many churches and other organizations got comfortable prior to 2020. The leaders of future-focused organizations are determined more than ever to reach beyond themselves. The churches and the organizations of the future cannot and must not be navel gazers. 


“Major change is inevitable; we will embrace it.” The healthy church or organization of the future cannot simply move from change-averse to change-receptive. They must proactively seek and move toward radical change. They cannot wait for change to come to the organization. These organizations must take faith-based risks like many have never known before. If the leaders of these organizations succumb to the whiners who lament, “We’ve never done it that way before,” the organization is doomed. Healthy organizations of the future will embrace change with wisdom and courage. 

In many ways, we are indeed living in difficult and heartbreaking times. We cannot deny the reality of sickness, death, depression, and economic collapse COVID has brought to our world. But, in other ways, this season is a  time of incredible opportunity. Many organizations are paralyzed with fear and think the best strategy is hoping life resumes its normalcy. 

That’s not going to happen. 

Such is the reason the leaders of healthy churches and organizations of the future will take these four attitudes and change the world. 

I can’t wait to see what it will look like.

The post Four Key Attitudes of Leaders Whose Churches Will Thrive in the Future appeared first on Church Answers.

Taking Care of His Temple

God has charged pastors and church leaders to take care of His body. Most of us steward well the congregational body of Christ, but what about our personal physical bodies? 

This week marks one year since my heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery. I’m eternally grateful to God for His divine intervention, a loving family, and supportive church. My cardiac issues were not due to an out of control diet, being overweight, or a sedentary life. The doctors believe that my issues stem from a genetic predisposition for heart disease. However, I have surmised that the stress of pastoring and leading a church has also been a contributing factor to the complications I experienced. Leading in ministry is rewarding but it can be a risk factor and challenge to our physical well-being.

For me and most of us, it is time to stop making excuses and start making the necessary lifestyle changes to better health. It begins with surrendering your whole self to God and developing a pattern of daily disciplines and making healthy choices. One significant key is to remind yourself that one day you will have to give an account to God for how well you maintained His temple.

Focus on 3 primary areas for good physical health. Improve what you ingest, how you rest, and how you physically progress:

What you Ingest

Pay attention to the quality of what you eat and the quantity of what you eat.  Consume the foods that will provide the best nutrition your body needs instead of the foods that contribute to weight gain, chronic disease, inflammation, and fatigue. Here are a few suggestions:

Eat more foods that are formed closest to God’s original creation. For instance, eat more bananas, peaches, and fish rather than more banana pies, peach cobblers, and fish sticks. 
Regulate the amount of animal proteins you eat.  I’m certainly not suggesting you become a vegan, but you need to reduce the amount of saturated fat you consume. Fill up on more beans, vegetables, fruits, and grains.
Drink more water. Start your day with water and learn to drink it all day.  In time your body will start to crave it as you wean yourself off soft drinks and sugar-based beverages.
Food is not the only thing we ingest. As church leaders, we ingest the hurts, hopes, and heartbreaks of the people we serve. We need to be sure to limit the amount of stress from others we allow to have an adverse bearing on our lives. 
It’s important to aim for progress not perfection.

How you Rest

Sleep is fundamental to a healthy body, sharp mind, and consecrated spirit. Church leaders stay up late, rise early, and run nonstop throughout the day. We have convinced ourselves that we need to push through our fatigue because God and the people demand it. But we violate the fourth commandment of sabbath rest when we fail to slow down, take a day off, and relax. Perhaps one of the most beneficial things a leader can do for their physical and congregational bodies is to create a rhythm of rest.  Ministry flows best to others when it is delivered from a full vessel. We must learn to give to others from the saucer that holds the overflow from our full cups.  

Learn to step back weekly for a time of reflection, recreation, re-creation, and restoration. 

Reflection– This is a time to look back and reflect on the past.  What did I learn? How could I have done something differently? What do I need to give God thanks for?
Recreation– This is a time to stop and enjoy the present. It’s a time to enjoy yourself, reconnect with family and friends. Don’t feel guilty about taking care of yourself. 
Re-creation– This is a time to look ahead and think about the future. Where is God leading me? 
Restoration– This is the nightly time to restore the body to have energy to face the work ahead. 

How you physically progress.

Church leaders are committed to exercising our soul, spirit, and mind but are not as disciplined to exercise our bodies.  It’s time to get moving!

Meet with your doctor to set a weight goal and develop a plan to get there over the next year.
Start with a walking routine.  Set a goal to walk 2-3 miles a day.  Buy a pedometer and count steps.  Create a friendly competition with family, friends, coworkers, or other pastors/leaders to count steps per day. Listen to music or use the time to pray and think.
Take the stairs, park the car at the furthest spaces, conduct walking meetings, etc…
At least three times a week get your heart rate up for at least 20 minutes either at a gym or at home. Slowly increase the activity over time and vary the activities.

For some of us it is a real struggle to make the necessary changes and we seem to forever stay on the “woulda-shoulda-coulda” treadmill. My encouragement is to not give up. The doctors told me that I had several blockages in my heart for many years. Although my heart issues were caused by a genetic predisposition to heart disease, I also have a rare gene that causes my body to produce collateral veins or natural bypasses when there are blockages in my heart. 

For the past five years I was unaware of the many collateral veins that kept me alive. My prayer is that we will make the changes in our behavior that will result in better physical health.  However, when we don’t, I trust God’s Spirit to give us grace and produce the spiritual bypasses for a healthy body, soul, and spirit to further His work and advance His kingdom.

The post Taking Care of His Temple appeared first on Church Answers.

“Love Thy What?”: 7 Ways to Befriend Your Neighbor During COVID-19

Our culture didn’t need any assistance in further isolating ourselves, and yet a global pandemic has managed to do just that. Each day we hear stories of people who yearn for community and friendship. Singles and shut-ins are just two examples of the loneliness epidemic. So how do we combat that both in normal times and in times of COVID?

The problem with back porch living

I’m no expert on American housing, but it seems that the last few decades have seen a migration to the homeowner’s backyard. Gated neighborhoods, two-car garages that seal us off at the push of a button, privacy fences, and even fire pits have conspired to remove the front porch in favor of the back porch. Add the threat of a highly-contagious virus, and it’s the perfect mix for boxing ourselves off from the world.

What we gain in comfort, we lose in community. Gone are the days of front porch swings and rocking chairs, sipping lemonade while waving a friendly hello or having an impromptu conversation with a neighbor who stops by. Locked in our living rooms or sequestered on the back deck, we miss natural, easy opportunities to connect.

I recognize that this is a first-world problem that not even everyone in the first-world has. I realize that COVID is a real threat to our health and that of our neighbor. That said, I’ve discovered that many of us will take any excuse to stay in the backyard. While I believe that hospitality is the new apologetic, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not always quick to live it out. So how does an introverted, unintentional, comfort-loving guy like me nudge himself to neighbor well in lockdown time or anytime? 

7 ways to be a good neighbor

Don’t stuff your schedule. When we redline our lives, we leave no room for life. Include enough margin that you have time to get to know your neighbors.

Hold high the hello. Wave. Speak. Yell across the street if that’s what it takes. Don’t reject an opportunity to connect. Even surface contact can lead to deeper conversations later.

Beware your banners. Political signs, social statements, and pandemic opinions have their place, but prominently displaying them in your front yard or Facebook page could be a way to alienate half of your neighborhood before you get a chance to know them.

Participate in parties. When the coolers come out on the cul-de-sac, be the first to reply to the Evite. Better yet, maybe you can be the one to organize and host a block party. Maintain a safe distance and follow local guidelines, but don’t ditch the chance to gather responsibly.

Know what you’re known for. My in-laws are the “pineapple people.” Every time a new neighbor moves in, they hand-deliver a symbol of hospitality as well as a card with their contact information. The schtick works: they know almost every single person in their neighborhood.

Serve without strings. Provide a meal. Help with virtual learning. Make a grocery run for someone who can’t leave their house. And do it all not because your neighbors are a project, but because they’re people Jesus loved.

Make the gospel your gravitational pull. We’re reminded of the words of the apostle Paul: without love, all of this is clanging cymbals. The gospel should be our driving force and giving them the hope of the gospel should be our primary aim. No, we don’t befriend our neighbors only to share the gospel. But it’s hard to share the gospel without first befriending our neighbors.

Rosaria Butterfield says “Practicing radically ordinary hospitality is your street credibility to your post-Christian neighbors.” Christian friends, let’s get intentional about building street cred with those on our street.

 

Hospitality isn’t just something we do during the week. In September and October I’ll be offering a series of free webinars to equip you and your church volunteer team on guest services, volunteer culture, and connecting fringe attendees to the mission of your church. To find out more, click HERE .

The post “Love Thy What?”: 7 Ways to Befriend Your Neighbor During COVID-19 appeared first on Church Answers.