Kay Kotan's Blog, page 9

What’s Your Holy Disturbance?

They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as
He talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”
Luke 24:32 NLT

“After the crucifixion and, at that point, rumored resurrection of Jesus, some of the disciples were contemplating the events around Jerusalem as they walked home. A man joined them on the journey, and after he left their presence, it became clear to them that it was the resurrected Christ. When they realized it was him, they asked, “Were not our hearts burning within as he opened the Scriptures to us?” We are all on a journey together, and when Jesus speaks to each of us within the body of Christ, our hearts are fanned into flame with a passion to serve and share the great things God has done. We have come to call this a “holy disturbance.””
Ken Nash, Multi-Site Ministry: Expanding the Expedition Reach

What are your passions? What is nagging at your soul that just won’t go away? What keeps you up at night thinking about all of the possibilities or is your first thought when you wake up in the morning? This restlessness or relentless desire or drive is what the followers of Jesus referenced in the scripture above and Nash described as a “holy disturbance.” It is where one’s gifts and passion come alive in what God is calling a person to do or become. So often we ignore these holy disturbances in our own lives thinking they aren’t possible or they are just crazy ideas. Other times those holy disturbances are squashed by the bureaucracy of the complex and time-consuming decision-making processes in our churches.

Just over a year ago I had one of those holy disturbances. I so wanted to shake it! I could justify a multitude of reasons why I should not be the one to take on this particular holy disturbance or why it wasn’t “my” holy disturbance to carry or be responsible for doing. Yet, God continued to work on me and showed me all the ways the path had been prepared for this work. Therefore, stepping out in bold faith, I began to work on the manuscript which became the book that launched earlier this spring titled, Cry From the Pew: A Call to Action for the United Methodist Church.

What is the holy disturbance stirring inside of you as of late? How are you and your church encouraging and helping others recognize and live out their holy disturbances? Sometimes one’s holy disturbance is lived out within the faith community. Other times, it might be launched out of the faith community, but lived out outside the faith community. Either way, we need to be advocates and encouragers for people to be aware of their holy disturbances, encourage them to act upon those holy disturbances, and equip them to live into them.

If a conversation partner would be helpful on your journey in exploring your holy disturbance or how to create a culture in your church for encouraging laity to explore and identify their holy disturbance, consider doing so through a coaching relationship. Find out more here.

What’s Your Stress Level?

The pandemic has caused a mental health crisis. The number of people looking for help with anxiety and depression has skyrocketed. This is marked with a 93% increase in anxiety screenings and a 62% increase in depression screenings (2020 over 2019) according to Mental Health in America. The number of people screened with moderate to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety continued to increase throughout 2020 and remained higher than rates prior to Covid-19.  For example, 8 in 10 screened for anxiety scored with moderate to severe symptoms in September of 2020 and 8 in 10 screened for depression consistently scored with moderate to severe symptoms throughout the pandemic. More people are reporting frequent thoughts of suicide and self-harm than have ever been recorded in the MHA Screening program since its launch in 2014. 

In the 2020 Stress in America report despite several months of acclimating to a new reality spurred by the pandemic, Americans are struggling to cope with the pandemic’s disruptions. Nearly 8 in 10 adults (78%) say Covid-19 is a significant source of stress in their life and 2/3 say their stress has increased due to the pandemic. Nearly half say the pandemic has had a negative effect on their physical and emotional well-being.  Sixty-five percent of adults report the current amount of uncertainty in our nation causes them stress and 77% say the future of our nation is a significant source of stress (up from 56% in 2019).

Your stress level is probably elevated from reading all of these distressing stats on our mental health!  How does stress affect people physically, mentally, and emotionally?  Stress can physically lead to heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, headaches, muscle tension, and accelerated aging to name a few.  Stress can mentally lead to anxiety, restlessness, lack of motivation or focus, feelings of overwhelm, irritability or anger, and sadness or depression.  Stress can cause one to act in unhealthy ways such as overeating or undereating, angry outbursts, drug or alcohol misuse, tobacco use, social withdrawal, or exercising less often.

Taking steps to manage and minimize your stress is critical.  Here are some tips to consider:

Get regular physical exercisePractice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, yoga, massage, or meditationDon’t take yourself too seriously, make sure you have a good belly laugh dailyMake sure you spend time with your loved ones and good friends routinelyCarve out time for the activities that you loveKeep things in perspective and focus on the momentReach out for help and support

What your stress level?  Take the free Stress Index assessment today.  Just follow this link, provide your email, and the assessment will be sent to you.  If your stress level is moderate or high, consider options to reduce your stress by altering your lifestyle and the methods you use to cope with stress, as well as if having a coach might be another step in the stress-less direction.

Cost of Lacking Self-Awareness

How healthy are our American pastors?  According to a recent Barna study, the statistics are quite alarming.  Only one in three American pastors scored excellent or good in all six physical and emotional health categories.  Forty-one percent had an excellent or good score in at least three of the six categories.  One quarter of pastors scored excellent or good in less than half of the six categories.  The number of pastors who are giving real and serious consideration to quitting ministry is increasing – 29% of pastors in January 2021 increased to 38% in October 2021.

Continuing the series of renewed church shifts in Barna’s The State of Your Church, the next identified shift is “A renewed Church needs leaders who are self-aware about the condition of their hearts before the Lord.”

According to Betterup.com, “Self-awareness is the ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don’t align with your internal standards. If you’re highly self-aware, you can objectively evaluate yourself, manage your emotions, align your behavior with your values, and understand correctly how others perceive you.”

Most leaders believe they are self-aware, but according to a study conducted by Tasha Eurich, only 10-15% of the people they studied actually fit the criteria of being self-aware.  Her research revealed three important facts:

There are two types of self-awareness:  internal and external.  Eurich distinguishes these between how we see ourselves and how others see us.  One can be high on one awareness without being high on the other.  A good balance on both is important to have a healthy self-awareness.Experience and power hinder self-awareness.  Experience can lead to a false sense of confidence about performance and self-knowledge.  Power can lead to overvalued skills.Introspection doesn’t always improve self-awareness.  The problem isn’t that introspection is a bad thing.  The issue is that we don’t have the access to the unconscious thoughts, feeling, and motives to accurately articulate the situation.  Therefore, a person invents what is true about the situation.  This speaks to the latest work of Brene Brown featured in her book,  Atlas of the Heart , that identified 87 different emotions.

According to Betterup, the benefits of self-awareness:

It gives us the power to influence outcomesIt helps us to become better decision-makers It gives us more self-confidence — so, as a result, we communicate with clarity and intentionIt allows us to understand things from multiple perspectivesIt frees us from our assumptions and biasesIt helps us build better relationshipsIt gives us a greater ability to regulate our emotionsIt decreases stressIt makes us happier

If you are a leader (particularly a pastor), what are you doing to increase your self-awareness in general and specifically about the condition of your heart before the Lord?  If you are a lay person in a leadership role responsible for supporting your pastor, what are you doing to support and encourage the health and well-being of your pastor?

The Cost of Low Laity Deployment

How many laity in your congregation are equipped and deployed in ministry (not meetings)?  Continuing in the series of Barna’s, The State of Your Church, the third needed church shift identified is, “A renewed Church required contributors and participants in gospel mission not just consumers of gospel content.” 

In an earlier blog, we looked at this shift from the perspective of the lack of leadership development.  Now we are going to explore this from another lens and different set of data.  Barna’s research indicates only three in ten Christians have taken an assessment, inventory or test identifying their gifting, talents, and abilities.  In addition, three out of four practicing Christians desire to find a way to follow Jesus that connects to the broader world in which they live and desire to make a difference in the world.  There are laity in our churches that have these desires but are not necessarily equipped or empowered to do so.  Furthermore, the Millennial and Gen Z generations have a strong desire to be involved in organizations and movements that roll up their sleeves and make a difference in the lives and communities in which they live.  If our churches are not offering these opportunities, these generations are often missing from the life of these congregations.

Often, people do not feel like they have any gifts, talents, or abilities that could convert to serving in ministry.  Asking about people’s passions and experiences is also helpful in connecting and equipping laity for ministry.  This is why the gifts assessments or inventory is so helpful.  It is a tool that not only helps laity identify their gifts, talents, and abilities, but we must also use this tool to help them connect these gifts, talents, and abilities to the ministries.  Sometimes those connections are not as obvious as one might think.  This is part of the equipping and encouraging portion of the process.  Too often we skip this step leaving laity feeling ill-equipped and, therefore, there is a failure of confidence and no ministry connection nor deployment occurs.

Identifying, recruiting, equipping, and deploying laity for ministry is key to helping laity find a way to follow Jesus that connects to the broader world in which they live and make a difference in the world.  Without these intentional steps and connections, clergy will be overwhelmed with the weight of the ministry, laity will feel disconnected, and the mission will go unserved.

Where do you start?  If your church has not offered these tools for your laity, start with offering an assessment tool.  Next, help laity connect their gifts, talents, passions, and abilities to ministries.  Finally, equip and deploy laity in their matched ministry area.  Continue to encourage, celebrate, and equip.  Repeat.

Needed: Objective Evaluation of Impact

“A renewed church requires Christian leaders who are characterized by honest and objective evaluations of the impact they are making.”  states David Kinnamon, President of Barna, in The State of Your Church.  What kind of evaluation process does your church have in place for every ministry, every leader, and the church’s vision?  How do you measure the effectiveness of each?  To take it a step further, how are you evaluating the impact of each?  How are people being transformed?  How is your community (the congregation and the neighborhood you serve) being transformed?  How honest are those evaluations?  How objective are those evaluations?

In a recent webinar, the subject of accountability came up.  While there is always some unpacking to do when I broach this subject, there was substantially more pushback and negativity towards this word in this group.  Later in the follow up coaching with the teams from this webinar, we spent more time unpacking accountability.  As I commonly discover, the resistance to accountability is seated in fear.  There is a fear that if congregants (in particular “volunteers”) were to be held accountable for doing what is expected or what they had committed to do, people would leave.  In other words, we would rather keep our expectations low with no accountability likely resulting in ineffective or subpar ministries with a greater number of disengaged congregations.  What is misunderstood is that when we raise the expectations and practice accountable leadership, the church has more effective and impactful ministries with engaged, spiritually mature leaders.  While a church shifting to this kind of culture may initially have fewer leaders, long-term the church will be healthier and more vital with more leaders who are younger and more diverse.

How are church’s goals set every year?  What are they based on?  Often leaders sit in a room and base goals on whims and dreams because they have not had training on strategic planning.  Goals for the church should be based on the next faithful steps for the church to live into its vision.  Then the objectives (ministries, programs, events) are planned based on the goals.  The budget needs to align to the objectives.  The assets need to be leveraged for the overall strategic plan.  All ministries, events, and programs (which should already align with mission, vision, goals, and objectives) need to clearly define the purpose and desired outcome and then evaluate afterwards based on those criteria.  So often all of these pieces of the ministry are disjointed with no evaluation, let alone questioning their impact.  We often repeat the same ministries year after year because “we’ve always done it that way.”

How are ministry team leaders, staff, and clergy evaluated in your church?  Are they evaluated on their effectiveness in serving and leading the church in its disciple-making mission, living into the vision, and accomplishing the goals?  Or are they evaluated on how well they cater to the desires and preferences and care for the congregation?  What criteria is used for raises of paid staff?  Are bonuses paid in lieu of raises or in addition to raises when goals are met or exceeded?  How are these leaders evaluated in how their leadership is equipping and deploying congregants in ministry and leadership?  How are these leaders evaluated on how they are impacting the community and equipping other leaders to impact the community?

Why is all the evaluation important?  First, it is a question of stewardship.  We need to be faithful in how we steward all the resources the church has been blessed to receive.  Second, without evaluation the church has no idea if the ministries are effective.  Third and most important, as disciples and as leaders of the church, we are accountable to Christ for leading the church in its disciple-making purpose to transform the world.  Friends, the leaders are accountable to Christ for investing and leveraging the resources for the greatest Kingdom impact!

For assistance in evaluating your church’s vitality, vision, and community connection, check out the Church Vitality Dashboard.

The Cost of No Leadership Development

Every year the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development gathers.  They find the latest copy of the church’s pictorial (now at least 4-5 years old) and begin searching for their next victim – I mean nominee.  Who isn’t currently serving that they could finagle to say yes?  Who should call to ask them to serve that is most likely to get the yes?  How can they make the ask sound as easy and as unbinding as possible so that they can fill in those required blanks on that darn charge conference form the district superintendent is requiring them to complete?

Does this sound at all familiar?  While we might all chuckle as we relate to the story (some more than others), the sad truth is that this happens all too often in churches each year as we prepare for fall charge conferences.  We struggle to find servants.  In particular, we struggle to find servant leaders. Why is this? The reasons for our leadership struggles are multi-faceted. 

First, most churches do not have a leadership development process.  The Nominations Committee has been trained to come together once a year for a month or so to coerce people into saying yes.  Unfortunately, they have not been equipped with the full understanding and responsibility of their position as a member of the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development.  Yes, this is the group who have been tasked with developing a process and pipeline for leadership development. 

Second, the church has shifted most every responsibility that isn’t a paid staff position in the church into a standing committee position.  This is not a requirement of our polity.  This requirement has only evolved over time.  Depending on the leadership structure, the church is required to have only a certain number of administrative committees, but the rest can be ministry teams. Teams come together for a specific purpose and disband when the work is completed.  For example, a person does not have to serve on a children’s committee for three years.  Instead, a person passionate about VBS, could serve for three months and be finished.  People are much more willing to serve in areas they are passionate about for shorter periods of time.

Third, the way churches are structured and led are not inviting or attractive for effective leaders and/or younger generations.  These leaders will not be willing to sit in two to three-hour meetings and see no results or impact.  Complicated or complex systems will simply not due.  These leaders will not serve where there is no trust, transparency, and accountability.

Fourth, too many churches have become pastor-centric and/or staff-dependent.  There are many reasons for this.  It is not productive to point fingers nor cast blame.  We must recognize that the result of this shift is that laity are no longer being encouraged or well equipped to serve and lead.

In Barna’s State of Your Church Report, David Kinnamon states, “A renewed Church requires contributors and participants in gospel mission, not just consumers of gospel content. I believe this is one of the key shifts we need to prioritize coming out of the last few years: The Church must become better at developing people and releasing them in their giftedness. Some of our recent studies show that 92 percent of pastors prefer lay-driven initiatives to new church programs and 96 percent say that for their church to be healthier, lay people must take more responsibility. Yet only 9 percent of pastors say their church is very effective at developing new leaders and only a small minority of churchgoers says their church has helped them to identify and use their giftedness.”

What is your church’s leadership development process?  Do you have more standing committees or short-term teams for disciples to serve in?  Is the way your church is structured and led simple, flexible, missionally focused, transparent, and accountable?  Has your church become too pastor or staff driven?  What are your next steps in developing effective, healthy leaders?

The Price You’re Paying for Lacking Discipleship

In Barna’s State of Your Church report, one of the key shifts identified that churches will need to make toward renewal is, “A renewed Church needs leaders who are in tune with the flourishing of the people they are serving and discipling.”  Barna has identified the areas of personal flourishing as faith, relationships, vocation, financial well-being, and (physical and mental) health.

We know that what we measure is what we give attention.  Because most judicatory leadership has primarily measured church vitality by worship attendance, church leaders have concentrated on worship attendance.   Consequently, much of our attention, focus, time, and budget have been allocated for worship – mostly in the building on Sunday morning.  Yes, worship is important!  Yet, what we have come to realize is that just because someone has sat on the pew for twenty, forty, or seventy years does not necessarily mean they have matured as a disciple.

Most churches I’ve encountered over the past decade in my consulting work lacked a pathway for discipleship.  Think about that.  Making disciples is our mission, our purpose for existing as a church.  Yet, the majority of churches do not have an intentional process, pathway, or system for helping a seeker become a follower and a follower to become a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ.  In addition, there is no correlation to the day-to-day ministries of the church to the intentionality of developing disciples, let alone disciple-making disciples.  This is one of the key foundational reasons our churches are in decline. This lack of discipleship over the decades is the price we are paying for the shape the church is in today.

Now for some good news!  In Barna’s research, they discovered that not only were church goers interested, but the community was interested in attending classes in the areas of personal flourishing identified above.  What are your next steps?

If you don’t have a discipleship pathway, create one.  There are many resources available.  Check out this guide, Phil Maynard’s resource, or Schreiner and Willard’s resource.Get out into your community and talk with unchurched people and community leaders.  Ask them what resources they would like to see offered in the five areas of personal flourishing.  Don’t assume!  Inquire about locations where they would most be comfortable participating in classes and under what kind of leadership.Connect the information you heard from your community to the seeker steps in your discipleship pathway.  Do the same for the people inside your congregation.  Help them identify where they are in the discipleship pathway and offer ministries to help them take their next faithful step.Step out and get started!  Continuously evaluate and adjust as needed.

The Greatest Expedition ReLaunch

Next week we are thrilled to be celebrating the ReLaunch of The Greatest Expedition!  The Greatest Expedition is a congregational journey for churches led by a church Expedition Team of 8-12 brave pioneering leaders. The purpose of The Greatest Expedition is to provide an experience for Expedition Teams to explore their local context using new methods to develop postmodern MAPS (ministry action plans) which are more relevant and contextual for reaching new people in their community.

During ReLaunch week (March 14-18), be sure to catch us on Facebook where you can listen in on interviews with the thought leaders who are resource creators from around the country, learn more about The Greatest Expedition, hear details about the different expedition pack options, and familiarize yourself with the layered approach to this congregational journey of exploration and discovery.

As we celebrate the ReLaunch of The Greatest Expedition, you will enjoy the opportunity to take advantage of some fantastic (never offered before) specials during this limited ReLaunch week only.  Specials are effective March 14-18.  Visit The Greatest Expedition for pricing information.

Partner Special                                   $500 Off

Bundle Special                                    15% Off the Essentials or Expansion Packs

Expedition Team Special                    $250 Off Any Team Package

Caravan Special                                 $1000 Off Any Caravan Package

Email Dani@GreatestExpedition.com with your name, email address, church name, church address, and which Special you’d like to purchase no later than midnight on Friday, March 18, 2022.  An invoice will be sent to you to payment by check or credit card.

Join us in celebrating The Greatest Expedition by launching your Expedition Team in 2022!

Introduction to Simplified, Accountable Structure

There is a growing curiosity from church leaders about Simplified, Accountable Structure.  The need for swift decisions during COVID drove more leaders to consider the model along with fewer people available to fill leadership slots.  But all too often, churches jump into this model of structure too quickly and without being fully informed.  They usually have some awareness of the technical changes this means for the congregation, but often have little to no realization of the adaptive changes the congregation will face.  Additionally, to walk a congregation through the process of adopting a more Simplified Structure, it is critical to also understand the importance of also adopting the Accountable Leadership Model. 

While leaders are often seeking the Simplified, Accountable Structure as a means to solve some sort of issue within the church, they unknowingly walk right into another (often bigger) issue if they aren’t careful.  Rushing into the adoption of the model starts a congregation off with a suspicious, unhealthy start to what could have otherwise been a strategy that may very well have helped the church become more missionally focused.  Slowing the process of discernment down to include prayer, congregational conversations to share information and answer questions, small groups providing feedback, and plenty of time for multiple modes of communication provides transparency, trust, and a deeper level of comfort and understanding.

If you are entertaining the idea of moving to a Simplified, Accountable Structure in 2023, now is the time to start the discerning phase.  Don’t wait until this summer or worse yet when your fall charge conference pack arrives.  It will be too late!  An introduction to the Simplified, Accountable Structure model is a tool created to help congregations who are beginning the exploration process.  This 60-minute video will provide an overview of the model and outline the three phases of adopting the model:  Discerning, Equipping, and Implementing.  The steps for getting started, common challenges of the model, and the four areas of focus for the new leadership board are also identified.

Don’t leave the understanding of the model a mystery for your congregation. Walk through the process with transparency using healthy steps developed through working with hundreds of congregations throughout the country.  Access this invaluable resource HERE today.  Find other valuable resources, tools, and assistance on Simplified, Accountable Structure here to help you with your discernment journey.

The Need for Marketplace Multipliers

There is a growing recognition of the compelling need to move disciples beyond the walls of the church.  Furthermore, there is an affirmation of the high potential of the marketplace to be the place where the opportunity for people to establish a relationship with Jesus through the example and influence found in the relationships they develop in their daily environments with Marketplace Multipliers. 

Increasingly, people’s first exposure to the Gospel will not be in visiting a church in person.  We must therefore leverage the already existing life-on-life environments like those found in the marketplace.  It is in those life-on-life environments where we are more likely and able to multiply opportunities for people to establish a relationship with Jesus through the example and influence found in the relationships they develop. 

Marketplace Multipliers is a beyond-the-walls-of-the-church disciple-making movement.  Marketplace Multipliers are commissioned to be sent into the marketplace for this important and holy work.  They understand that what they do every day is an extension of their local church and do so in partnership with their pastor.  Marketplace Multipliers are intentional to integrate their faith and work to equip those around them in their workplaces, translating their influence into making disciples and multiplying the kingdom of God.  They do this in whatever career or areas of influence they are led into. God is at work where they work, so they serve the higher interests of the kingdom while leading with excellence in the marketplace.

While the name of Marketplace Multipliers might be new, the concept is not.  This is the way the Gospel has spread since the birth of the Church recorded in the book of Acts.  It is true the Gospel was shared by people like the Apostle Paul in the synagogues.  But every day Paul and other co-workers in Christ maximized their marketplace connections to share good news.  Two of Paul’s closest co-workers, Aquilla and Priscilla, also had a tentmaking business.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus.
He had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla
because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.
Paul visited with them. Because they practiced the same trade,
he stayed and worked with them. They all worked with leather.
Acts 18:1-3 CEB

Together Priscilla and Aquila owned and worked in their family retail business.  Their work positioned them to share their faith.  Because their business could function in a variety of locations, they could reach out to new communities.  When not preaching and teaching we can imagine Paul, Aquila and Priscilla sitting together in Aquila’s shop as they plied their needles and fashioned or repaired tents. Paul found joy in partnering with Aquila and Priscilla for he was of the same craft and at times supported himself in this way trade.

If you find yourself being more curious about the Marketplace Multipliers movement, visit MarketplaceMultiplier.org.  You will find more information about the movement along with the link to pick up the book, Expanding the Reach Through Marketplace Multipliers, a video of our launch with Rev. Dr. Ken Nash, a major player behind the movement, followed by a Panel Discussion featuring key leaders talking about the importance of the movement.

To join the network of Marketplace Multipliers as an individual or by forming a group in your church – what we are calling a Huddle, sign up here. When you join as a Huddle, we will send you an information packet with step-by-step directions on how to launch your own Huddle in your local faith community.