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  • Ten Strategies of the Local Church

    Ten Strategies of the Local Church

    If you’ve ever made Macaroni & Cheese, you know there are a few elements that you MUST have to successfully make one of America’s favorite dishes. These bottom of the barrel basics must be present, or it just wouldn’t be macaroni and cheese. They include: (1)pasta, (2)cheese, (3)water, (4)containers, (5)heat. Your STRATEGY for making Mac & Cheese can differ from person to person. For example, there are various kinds of cheese you might use. You might make the pasta from scratch. You can boil it over the stove, cook it in the oven, over an open fire or in the microwave. That said, I think everyone knows, without those five things, we can’t really make the dish or it wouldn’t technically be called “Macaroni & Cheese”.

    The same is true for the LOCAL CHURCH. There are a number of elements that are necessary for a church to successfully fulfill it’s mission to reach their communities for Jesus Christ. The STRATEGY behind how each church accomplishes those goals may differ, but for church to happen, each one takes place in some form or another. 

    10 STRATEGIES OF THE LOCAL CHURCH

    After years spent in pastoral ministry and coaching church leaders I’ve identified ten key areas that make up a local church. These are the aspects of ministry within the church which I recommend leaders regularly evaluate, strengthen and develop. It is important to recognize that this series of articles do not outline WHAT your strategy should be in each area. Rather, they represent what strategies your leadership team should clarify and develop for each age demographic of attendees in your church body.

    The Marketing Strategy

    Any church worth attending should be worth talking about. The Marketing Strategy will determine how well known your church is in the community. It will include traditional methods of advertisement like your website, email campaigns and social media, but it should also take into account the overall ‘culture’ of your congregation when it comes to word of mouth advertising. 

    The Assimilation Strategy

    This strategy includes your “Guest Friendly” programs and processes. It should specifically help to provide a positive experience for your first time and returning guests and eventually lead them down the path of full integration and involvement in the life of your church. Check out other posts focusing on the Guest Friendly Church right here.

    The Weekend Service Strategy

    This strategy includes all of the systems surrounding the Sunday morning service. Everything you do (or don’t do) to prepare and lead the service, from cleaning the building, worship team practice, bulletin prep, technical prep, sermon prep to facilitating communion, communicating announcement, and ministering at the altar.

    The Fellowship Strategy

    This strategy is about fostering a church culture where people will develop authentic relationships with one another. Healthy churches encourage and offer ways for attendees to connect with one another and build a biblical community beyond the weekend service experience. 

    The Discipleship Strategy

    This strategy addresses the issue of discipleship among your church attendees. Your Discipleship Strategy describes what the local church is doing to help people become more like Christ in their everyday lives. Understandably, you will have individuals who are at different stages of maturity in their walk with Christ. This strategy ensures there is a plan to provide a foundation to new believers while training, empowering and releasing mature believers as disciplers in the church and community.

    The Care Strategy

    This strategy concerns how the people in your church and community receive personal and ongoing care during times of physical, emotional, relational, financial, or spiritual crises. Most pastors provide some counselling to church attendees and make pastoral calls to the hospital, but the Care Strategy also addresses how the congregation cares for one another, what you do when someone in the church dies, and how your church will respond during a community or national crises.

    The Ministry Partner Strategy (Volunteers)

    Effective and growing churches will ensure that church attendees can and will ‘partner’ together in ministry. The pastor will be a facilitator and enabler for  others to be ministers to the body of Christ. This strategy outlines how that gets worked out practically. It will answer questions like: How are volunteers recruited into ministry roles? What on-ramps have been created to allow easy access to ministry partnership? How are Ministry Partners being equipped, resourced and encouraged?

    The Leadership Strategy

    Similar to the Ministry Partner Strategy, but fundamentally different in a few important aspects, this strategy will clarify how you identify, recruit, train, strengthen, and hold your leaders (both staff & volunteer) accountable for the ministry that they lead. An effective leadership strategy centers around a trust-filled environment where relationship and accountability work together to achieve results. The Leadership Strategy also addresses the administration of the oversight setup for the church (elders, denominational authority, etc.).

    The Stewardship Strategy

    This strategy addresses how the church budgets, spends and manages money and physical resources (like facilities, grounds, vehicles and equipment.) However, it is much more than that. Your Stewardship Strategy encourages regular giving & tithing in your congregation, strengthens families through biblical teaching on personal financial stewardship, and facilitates effective capital campaigns. 

    The Strategic Planning Strategy

    Without regular evaluation, discussion, and ongoing clarity all of the church systems & strategies will eventually decline into sacred cows; bulky & ineffective ministry that is increasingly irrelevant to the church body and community. Your Strategic Planning Strategy ensures that the other 9 strategies, their associated systems and every ministry initiative in the church is aligned with the church mission, vision and values.

    —

    NOTE: To see an archive of past articles on many of these strategies, check out my archived blog at www.waynehedlund.org/category/healthy-church-growth/ten-church-strategies/. Stay tuned on Transforming Church to learn more about each of these strategies! 

  • Blind Spots for the Local Church

    Blind Spots for the Local Church

     
    I visited a church a while back that had a BIG blind spot. At least, it seemed like a blind spot to me. I could see the problem, but none of the other leaders seemed to realize it was there. The problem was, they really believed they were a friendly church, but in reality they weren’t . . . unless you were an insider. I was greeted at the door, which was nice; but from that point forward I became invisible. People actually seemed to work hard at avoiding eye contact with me! This ‘Blind Spot’ is really hurting them – mostly because they are blind to the problem, while it’s painfully obvious to every guest who darkens their door.

    Last week I wrote a post entitled, ‘Blind Spots for the Christian Leader‘. This simple matrix does a great job of defining the various areas of self awareness each of us possess. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you jump over & check it out.

    Today, I’d like to explore how the Johari Window applies to the local church (rather than just the pastor or a leader within the church). Here’s a review of how the Johari Window works. 

    In the above image you’ll note four quadrants. Each section represents knowledge or lack of knowledge regarding various character traits, weaknesses, etc. for the individual, or for today’s discussion, the local church. Because we are dealing with a group of people instead of just one person, each quadrant gets a little more complicated. With the exception of the ‘Unknown’ section, there end up being different groups of people for each area. So far as I can tell, here are the different groups of people we should keep in mind within the local church:

    • Leaders: This includes the pastor, key staff, elders and any other leaders who are on the front lines in ministry at the church.
    • Members/Attendees: This includes everyone else who attends regularly and are the recipients of most of the ministry at the church.
    • Guests: This includes anyone who attends a service, activity, or event for the first time as well as those who come back to visit two or more times. A ‘guest’ is anyone who considers themselves a visitor at the church, regardless of how long they have been attending.
    • Community: This includes anyone in your community who has never attended your church. 

    Let’s take a look at each quadrant in relation to the local church:

    Open Self – Known To Everyone

    Leaders, Members, Guests, Community. For the local church, this is the smallest quadrant of all. There is very little about a local church that everyone knows about, especially when you add in the community – some of whom may not even know the church exists. Depending on the community, the ‘Open Self’ quadrant may include things like the church name, website, location and/or pastor. Technically, anything the church posts on their website could potentially be considered knowledge available to everyone as well.

    Hidden Self – Known Only To Us (leaders & members)

    Leaders are aware of things that members, guests, and the community are unaware of. Examples might include sensitive information like giving records, a parishioners unique circumstances, people problems, etc. It may also include a clearer understanding of the bigger picture for the church. For instance, church leaders are most likely to know where the church has been and where it’s going.

    On the down-side, leaders are often guilty of unintentionally holding their cards too closely to the chest. As a result, sometimes other leaders, volunteers, and/or members can be stuck serving without fully comprehending what they are doing, how they should do it, or why it’s important.

    Members are usually ‘in the know’ in some areas, at least in comparison to guests and the community. Where church life can get messy is when members are aware of sensitive information that doesn’t include the whole story or bigger picture. This is a feeding frenzy for Satan to reek havoc in the church. Lack of communication or miscommunication will often lead to false conclusions, wrong expectations, and misguided assumptions.

    To make matters more complex, many times members are privy to situations and needs in the church that leaders are unaware of, but don’t take responsibility to communicate what’s going on with them. Again, this disables whatever care those leaders may be able to exert in the situation.

    Finally, leaders often fail to realize that members feedback/participation is exactly what they need to solve certain problems, lead certain ministries, or fund new initiatives. God has placed the right people in ‘the house’ for the ministry He wants to initiate. This means many members have the skills, experience or funds to fulfill those purposes, if leaders would just invite them to participate. 

    Blind Self – Known to Others, Unknown to Us

    Leaders are often the ones in the dark in this quadrant. The old saying, “Ignorance is Bliss” may be true for church leaders & pastors. Many would rather not know what they don’t know, but ultimately ignorance isn’t healthy or helpful to the success of the church.

    Blind Spots for leaders will include what people really think about the services, events, and activities in the church. For instance, the pastor may believe the weekly bible study is important, relevant and impacting to those who attend while the attendees may simply come because they believe they are supposed to, not because it is helpful to them. Other leadership Blind Spots might include genuine needs that members, guests and the community has, but which have never been communicated to them.

    (Remember, we are focusing on the organization, not the individual – there are more blind spots that the pastor or a leader may have personally which I’ve discussed in the post ‘Johari Window for the Christian Leader‘.)

    Members often have blind spots in their overall effectiveness or involvement in ministry in the church. Additionally, they may not reflect the values and culture the leadership is expecting or hoping for. This is usually due to a lack of communication, mentoring and regular leadership development. It’s vital for church leaders to create systems focusing on evaluation and feedback for members so they can remove their blind spots and be more effective in ministry.

    Additionally, members know things that leaders don’t. They know what they really think of the building project, the Sunday service or the kid’s ministry. Many of a leader’s blind spot is simply the result of members who either have never been asked their opinion or are unwilling to give it.

    Guests know what church is like to outsiders. Their perspective is one which most pastors and leaders will never have. They know what it’s like to find parking at five minutes before the service. They know what the bathroom and halls smell like (because you don’t notice that smell anymore). They know if the seats are hard, if the message is boring and if their kids really like the kids program. Conversely, they may perceive the church as a warm, friendly place at the start but discover later on that it’s very difficult to connect with people. Research says that 96% of people who have a bad experience never complain. This means your guests may know things about your church that you are completely clueless about; in particular, their first impressions and experiences.

    The Community. Assuming they even know your church exists, your community knows what reputation your church has maintained. Unfortunately, this may contribute to their unwillingness to visit. For example, perhaps they ‘heard’ about a guest’s bad experience or that a member was rude or insensitive to someone they know. Perhaps that community event the church hosted ten years ago that didn’t go very well is still remembered by long-standing community residents. Individuals in the community will almost never share these thoughts with church leaders, unless they somehow find their way into the life of the church first and reflect back on their original perceptions.

    UNKNOWN – Known to No One but God

    There are things about your church that nobody knows, but God. Some of those things don’t really matter, like where the cool Christmas lights went that were bought two years ago. However, sometimes there are important aspects of ministry that, if revealed, would stimulate personal and numerical growth over time. This is why it is so critical that church leaders remain humble, are voracious learners and readers, and are willing to allow others outside their church (and often inside their church) provide coaching or feedback to them, both personally and organizationally.

    As a ministry coach, I might be able to play a role in helping you unveil some of the ‘Unknown’ in your ministry. If you’re interested, please contact me and we’ll start a conversation about it.

  • 10 Tips For Effective Guest Follow-Up

    10 Tips For Effective Guest Follow-Up

    A while back my wife and I were invited to dinner with another couple in our church. From the moment we arrived until the moment we left we were treated like honored guests. The food was great, the fellowship was great and the overall experience was just very relaxing and enjoyable.

    The next morning the host family sent us an email thanking us for joining them for the meal and we found a post on Facebook announcing their joy in spending time with us. I was really impressed that they were still thinking of us even after the official ‘event’ was over with. It was definitely a Romans 12:13 experience.

    “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”

    There are so many things the local church can learn and should emulate from this experience. The one I’d like to highlight in today’s post has to do with the importance and value of effective guest follow-up.

    Consider this scenario:

    It’s Sunday afternoon and Tim & Joanne just finished lunch with their two teenage kids. Conversation centered around everyone’s impression of the church they visited that morning for the first time. Everyone was in agreement that they enjoyed the service and the people were mostly friendly. Since attending church is not something they normally do as a family they found it a novel experience, to say the least. That said, nobody suggested going back next week.

    Two days later Joanne and her daughter are sitting in the living room watching TV when a commercial comes on, distracting them for a moment. Joanne mentions that she received a nice letter from the pastor expressing how glad he was that they visited and letting them know he’d love to talk with them sometime if they have any questions about their first visit to the church. This sparks a lively conversation about one aspect of the service that they did find awkward (the singing). Before the show resumed, the daughter wondered if they should try visiting again some Sunday. 

    Fast forward three weeks to a Saturday afternoon. Everyone is driving back from a baseball game when Tim announces he had just received an email that morning from one of the greeters of the church inviting them to come visit the church again sometime. He asked his family, “What do you all think of us going back tomorrow morning?” After some discussion about schedules, everyone agrees to give it another try.

    A simple little story that highlights just one thing: the potential influence of guest follow-up. In this scenario, had the church not reached out to that family again, it could have been months or even years before they ever came back. The busyness of life and schedules would hold a greater demand on their time.

    Church was hardly the center of this family’s attention or priorities, but they decided to visit again. I wonder what might happen after they have come a second time? Will their conversation at lunch that Sunday result in a die-hard commitment to the church for the rest of their lives?

    I doubt it very much. Assuming they have another great experience (which is sometimes ‘iffy’) they may find themselves a little more vested than a month ago, but not enough to become regular attendees . . . yet. Thus, the importance of a second time guest follow up.

    I’m a firm believer in consistent, intentional and friendly follow-up to Sunday service guests.

    I believe there is a RIGHT way and a WRONG way to follow up with church guests. In fact, poor guest follow up might actually end up being worse than no follow up at all. Check out some of these tips for great guest-friendly follow-up.

    10 Follow-Up Tips

    1. Decide to Follow Up.

    One of the biggest reasons church’s don’t follow-up is simply because they are already busy and overwhelmed. Follow-up is just one more thing to do and often it gets shoved to the back burner for more urgent tasks. What most pastors and leaders forget is that effective follow-up may ultimately be one of the most mission-critical things you do besides the Sunday morning experience. Your passion to see lives transformed means you should be committed to finding ways to encourage people who need what you have (Christ’s Transforming Love) to return again and again until they have received it. Make a decision this week to start or begin evaluating your guest follow up.

    2. Ask Permission.

    Nobody likes to receive communications without at least some small amount of permission first. It’s not necessary to literally ask a person if you can send them information; but it’s usually wise to create a system whereby they give you their email, phone numbers, and mailing address (as opposed to surprising them by sending them communications by looking them up). The simple task of having them write out their information is implication enough that you just may DO something with that information. For example: Asking them to fill out an information card during their visit to the church.

    3. No Pressure.

    Please don’t pressure your guests to come back or make them feel guilty if they don’t visit again! This is, perhaps, one of the worst ways to communicate with new people in your church. Whether you are sending a letter, email, Facebook message, or calling them on the phone, remember to treat them as you would want to be treated were you in their shoes. Guests want to feel valued and special when they hear from you. This also means that you shouldn’t presume that they will or will want to visit the church again in the near future.

    4. Be a Giver.

    The focus of your follow-up communications should stay solely on serving your guest. What can you give to them to help them in this season of their life? You know they may be interested in your church, so GIVE them information they are interested in receiving about your church, with no strings attached. Ask them about their experience on Sunday and if they have any questions about anything. You also know that, whether they know it or not, people usually attend church because God is drawing them. If possible, find out what’s going on in their life that you or your church can help them with. Ask them if there’s anything they would like prayer for. As a bonus, if you can find ways to literally give your guests gifts I’m sure they won’t be too upset. For example: Include a $5 gift card or see if a business owner in your church would be willing to give out free coupons to guests for their product or services.

    5. Look Out.

    In this article I discuss the difference between Insiders Looking In, Insiders Looking Out, Outsiders Looking In, and Outsiders Looking Out. Taylor your follow up with an ‘Outsiders Looking In’ or an ‘Outsiders Looking Out’ perspective. Remember the world they live in and that their lives are probably already complicated and full.

    6. Follow Up More than Once

    It is very common for churches to send one follow-up to guests and then to never contact them again. Unfortunately, one follow-up is rarely enough to encourage repeat visits for every guest. Fact: Your guests will probably NOT attend your church consistently at first. They may visit two, three or more times over the course of several months before they start attending weekly. Fact: Your guests have NOT decided to make your church their church home after visiting two or three times. They may say they like your church and the people, but they are not vested in attending regularly yet. Follow up after each guest attendance – at least the first three if not more. Consider following up more often in between visits as well. For example, I know a church that sends a letter to all the guests who visited their church the previous month.

    7. Build Follow-Up Systems

    There is no way you will be consistently successful in guest friendly follow-up without some systems in place to accommodate what amounts to a highly administrative part of church work. Check out this article I wrote about the Systems/People Matrix. This means you need a simple system for collecting guest information, processing it, tracking it so that you know how often your guests have attended, clarifying which type of follow up should happen (first time follow-up, second time, etc.), and getting the right tasks to the right people in order to actually do that particular follow up. Note: there’s no way around it, you will need a secretary or an administratively gifted individual to champion your follow-up systems.

    8. Be Relevant

    What worked last decade probably isn’t relevant today. Letters are nice in certain communities and for the older generations they are probably great. But take into consideration your demographics and who you are trying to reach when you choose your methods of follow-up. At one church I worked with for many months they chose to follow-up with a mix of phone calls, letters, emails and Facebook posts.

    9. Be Personal

    Another way to say it is, “Be friendly.” It is altogether too easy to write an email or letter that sounds formal and businesslike. Not good. Work hard at ensuring the tone of your nonverbal communications are down to earth and friendly. Work just as hard at your verbal follow-ups. You may even consider writing out a script that could be used to ensure your language is friendly over the phone. For instance, “Hello, this is Pastor Bill from the Community Church. I was wondering if I could speak with Tim or Joanne? Oh, hi Joanne. (1)Am I catching you at a bad time? Great. (2)How are you today? . . .  (3)Joanne, the reason I’m calling today is simply to follow-up on your visit to church this last week. (4)I was wondering how you liked the service and if you had any questions about your experience . . . . . . Hey, one more thing before I let you go. (5)Is there anything I can pray for you and your family about this week? . . . . OK. (6)I’m so glad we were able to connect for a few minutes. Have a great day! Bye now.” Notice the script includes several key phrases I wouldn’t want to forget to say. I also phrased them in a conversational way to help me keep the conversation informal. 

    10. Follow Up in Bite Size Chunks

    You’ve heard the phrase, “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” It applies here. Please develop your Guest Friendly Follow Up, but don’t try to go from zero to hero in one week. Build your follow-up systems in small pieces to ensure the systems work. A few months ago I was coaching a pastor and he told me he was ready to take another step in his follow-up systems. We developed a system where a particularly nice and caring man in the church gets a list of 2nd time guests once a month and calls them to pray for them and invite them to an upcoming special event or Sunday service again. It was one step forward. He spent several weeks getting that strategy up and running, and then came back and started talking about what should happen after that.

  • Church Stage Designs Made Simple

    Church Stage Designs Made Simple

    Every once in a while I get asked about what it takes to create great stage designs to support sermon series or to just spruce up how things look during different seasons of the year. Years ago, we would sit in our creative team meeting and bang our heads against the table to come up with some fresh, cool looking creative themes for the stage. We did a pretty good job, but half the problem was in trying to figure out how to implement our ideas after we got them, without breaking the bank!

    Check out ‘Church Stage Design Ideas’ at www.churchstagedesignideas.com!

    Things changed drastically when we discovered this wonderful free resource. I remember soon after finding the website that we were able to create a cool new look for less than $100 using paper plates! Of course, it helped that we had already invested thousands of dollars in lighting over the years. That said, whether you’ve invested in your stage and lighting designs or not, this website is sure to give you a head start in thinking outside the box. Enjoy!

     

  • Christmas Music Video’s

    Christmas Music Video’s

    Following are some of my favorite Christmas Music Video’s. These videos could be great to show PRESERVICE or POSTSERVICE sometime this month of December or for your Christmas Eve service. Perhaps you might even find a way to sneak one into your service plan too! Enjoy!

  • Guest Friendly Perspective

    Guest Friendly Perspective

    Does your church have what it takes to attract and keep guests? I’m sure the vast majority of churches in America want guests to darken their door. Most pastors and church leaders would be very happy if they saw a weekly inflow of visitors. There is something exciting about knowing that your church just might be instrumental in touching others’ lives for eternity’s sake.

    The problem is that many churches don’t understand that a “Guest Friendly Church” requires a “Guest Friendly Perspective” from the pastors, elders, worship team, greeters, ushers, kids ministry workers, etc. A wrong mentality about guests will only drive and keep them away. Here are a few thoughts on the kinds of mindsets a church might adopt.

    Insider Looking In

    This is when an insider (member, pastors or leader) thinks about their church from the perspective of an insider. In other words, when they only think of the church as if it were there FOR themselves.

    This is the worst possible mindset you and your congregation can have. It is the exclusivity that comes from a lot of people getting used to how things are and resisting any changes towards something different. The focus of the entire Sunday morning experience as well as most of the church programs is to serve the current congregation, specifically, the one that is and has been there for some time. Insiders looking in have a lot of sacred cows. Usually the pastor walks on egg-shells when certain topics are discussed. Oh, and the guests. When guests actually come to church they usually feel like outsiders interfering in a family affair and are very anxious for the service to end so they can make their getaway. If church growth happens at all, it will be primarily due to internal growth, not external. The families within the church get married and have kids or the in-laws move in town and start attending.

    Insider Looking Out

    This is when an insider (member, pastors or leader) thinks about outsiders (guests or potential guests), but doesn’t really put themselves in their shoes. In other words, they want to reach guests, but still focus mostly on themselves.

    Not quite as bad as ‘insiders looking in’, but still not desirable. Congregations with this mindset genuinely want to have guests and really hope to not only attract them, but find ways to help them become part of the family. The problem is that insiders looking out have a lot of preconceived notions and expectations of guests. They assume guests will understand and embrace the culture and people in the church. They reason to themselves, “after all, we like it here so others will to.” Insiders looking out expect guests to know what to do and what’s going on during the Sunday service. They assume they will go out of their way to greet people and ask questions if they have them. They expect them to be interested in church activities and upcoming events since they are interested in them. In short, this mindset assumes that guests will perceive the church similarly to how they perceive it.

    Guests at this kind of church will often meet one or two people who are genuinely glad they are visiting, but they will still feel like outsiders. Additionally, they will likely feel like they are stupid, unspiritual, or unfit for the church. After all, the unspoken expectations of those around them will be speaking loud and clear the whole time.

    Outsider Looking In

    This is when insiders (members, pastors or leaders) think about how the church is perceived by outsiders (guests or potential guests). In other words, they regularly put themselves in the guest’s shoes.

    Now we’re getting somewhere. Congregations who foster a perspective of an outsider looking in has taken the first and biggest step towards becoming a ‘guest friendly’ church. These churches are always viewing the church culture, environments, language, and activities through the eyes of new people and the unchurched. It is not that they orient everything in the church just towards guests and it doesn’t mean they have committed to become overly “Seeker Sensitive” as a church. They are simply considerate of people who have never been there before.

    Those with an outsiders looking in perspective regularly evaluate the various aspects of the church experience based on what a guest would think or feel. Leaders with this mindset might send an email to the pastor during the week saying something like, “Pastor, I noticed this Sunday that when our guests arrived they had a hard time finding seats near the back. If they were me I would have felt a little uncomfortable coming in late and having to walk up the aisle to the middle section. What do you think about us asking our regular members to keep the back row free for guests?”

    Guests in this environment are going to genuinely feel comfortable and cared for. The likelihood that they return is much greater than the aforementioned two insider perspectives. 

    Outsider Looking Out

    This is when insiders (members, pastors, leaders) not only view the church from the perspective of the guest, but also find ways to create a comfortable environment for guests by integrating cultural norms into the church environment.

    I think this is perhaps the hardest perspective for church leaders (myself included) to have. With this perspective, not only are congregations aware of how guests might view church as they arrive, similar to Outsiders Looking In, but they are also keenly aware of the actual culture their guests live in. They have become students of the towns, communities and people who surround the church. They have familiarized themselves with the social and economic statistics relevant to their area (which can be found for free at www.census.gov). They are constantly thinking about what it’s like to live in this world and in the communities around them.

    Outsiders looking out don’t separate their work, home, school, and neighborhood world from the church world. Rather, they find ways to draw the world into church by creating environments that are relevant, inspirational, and practically applicable to everyone. Guests are often drawn to these kinds of churches and tell their friends about them as well. They feel comfortable and are amazed that church can be so engaging and applicable to them. At the opposite end of the “Insider Looking In” kind of church, these visitors immediately feel accepted, empowered and equipped to seek and find God simply because most of the members of that church don’t have an “us/them” mentality – it’s just “us”.

    Churches with this mentality don’t compromise biblical values to create relevance, they don’t become worldly. But they do intentionally choose to depart from the ‘norm’ of what a lot of church environments tend to be like. Usually churches of this nature will frustrate and drive away the “Insider Looking In” kind of people. 

    So how does your church measure up? Which perspective do you think your church most closely identifies with? How would you rate your church’s “Guest Friendly” culture based on these criteria? What ONE THING could you start doing THIS MONTH that would help foster a “Guest Friendly Perspective”?

  • How To Offer Amazing MinistryWith Not So Amazing People

    How To Offer Amazing Ministry
    With Not So Amazing People

    I recently visited a local gym who was offering a week membership for free. I was truly impressed. They had a wide range of workout rooms and exercise equipment and a beautiful facility. When I arrived for the first time, they gave me a tour of the facility and made themselves available to help me get acclimated to any of the equipment I didn’t understand. The offer to help wasn’t really necessary since there were instructional signs and videos available explaining how to use each machine.

    They converted an inexperienced and mildly overwhelmed guy (that’d be me) into a confident individual who had the right tools he needed to get great results. At the very minimum, it would be hard to NOT have at least an average workout, though I’d definitely rate my experience above average, if not exceptional. 

    Great systems turn the wrong person into the right person and quickly convert average results into maximized results.

    The Systems/People Matrix

    Let me introduce a revolutionary matrix that, if properly applied, just might change your perspective on how to offer amazing ministry with not so amazing people.

    I call this diagram the Systems/People Matrix. The point of this matrix is simple. When you have great systems, you can often recruit people who aren’t necessarily the ‘right ones’ and eventually develop them into the right people over time. Amazing ministry happens not just because we have the best people in place, but because we have great systems that give the wrong people time to become the best people.

    Let’s look at each quadrant a little closer:

    Down and to the Right

    When you have poor systems, but great people, your end result is frustration. That is, the people serving are frustrated and the longer they serve in that role the more frustrated they become. This often eventually leads to volunteer or staff turnover. They love doing what they are doing and are passionate about it, but they don’t feel valued or cared for and don’t feel like they are equipped or empowered to do the job right.

    RESULT: Not so amazing ministry.

    EXAMPLE 1: A Sunday School teacher shows up to teach the class and discovers that the toys are dirty and put away in the wrong boxes from last week. She spends the first ten minutes putting them in order and getting all the toy pieces back where they belong. Those ten minutes were supposed to be spent preparing the craft and quieting herself before everyone arrives. The next time she arrives to teach, she discovers all the crayons are broken and the cereal box was left open so the cereal is stale.

    EXAMPLE 2: The drummer shows up for worship team rehearsal 10 minutes early to prepare and make sure the drums are setup the way he likes and so he can warm up. When the worship rehearsal time arrives he discovers only two people have arrived. He waits 15 minutes before everyone else gets there and takes the stage. It then takes another 15 minutes to do the sound check and get the monitors mixed properly. He wonders if he should just show up 30 minutes late from now on and forget about warming up.

    Down and to the Left

    If you don’t have good people in the designated role and you don’t have any systems to serve them, you’ll end up with failure. There’s really no way meaningful ministry can happen consistently in that environment.

    RESULT: No Ministry.

    EXAMPLE 1: A Sunday School teacher doesn’t really care about doing anything other than making sure the kids don’t hurt themselves. She doesn’t particularly enjoy kids either, but she serves because she knows it’s important. Since there are no systems in place to provide great toys, craft supplies and a lesson plan to the teachers, she literally just comes every week and spends her time trying to keep the kids occupied and prevent them from hurting themselves. Afterwards, kids leave the room crying or bored and the teacher leaves exhausted and ready to quit. As a result, the parents are frustrated that their kids aren’t getting any valuable teaching and don’t want to attend class and it becomes increasingly difficult to find reliable volunteers to run the class.

    EXAMPLE 2: A volunteer is recruited to build a website for the church because he has some web experience. Since nobody gave him any instruction, images or content, he just creates a basic and simple site that ends up missing a lot of crucial data. And since all he was recruited to do was build the site, and not manage it, three months after it’s completed most of the information on the site is dated and some of the pages are broken. Guests who visit the site often choose to visit somewhere else simply because the website is so outdated and unprofessional looking.

    Up and to the Left

    The top left quadrant is the one that fascinates me the most. In this quadrant you have great systems in place, but not the greatest people serving in those roles. Perhaps the people are new, immature, unskilled, or simply not passionate about what they are doing. Despite this, the results will very often be average and sometimes above average. A great example of this in the business world would be your local fast food joint, like McDonalds, Arby’s, or Taco Bell. Similarly, some of the more nicer fast food places apply as well, like Moe’s, Chipotle or Subway. I’m fairly certain most of those employees don’t dream about making fast food service a career path or have a lot of previous training flipping burgers and taking orders. And yet, it’s highly likely you will receive similar service and products no matter where you make your order in the entire world. Why? Amazing Systems. 

    RESULT: Average to Above Average Ministry.

    EXAMPLE 1: A hesitant single adult has agreed to do a ‘3 month test drive’ as a Sunday School teacher. At first, she is nervous she made a bad decision because she has never worked with kids much. But after attending two sessions as an apprentice, receiving great follow-up training and walking into the classroom each week with everything in it’s place and simple, easy to follow, instructions on the inside door, she has decided it’s not that hard and a lot of fun. At the end of the 3 months, she’s committed to serve another year and has already proven to be the ‘right person for the job.’

    EXAMPLE 2: A volunteer that normally comes in on Saturdays to fold and stuff the bulletins calls in sick the last minute. The secretary has a substitute list of potential backups, but they have never actually done the job. She makes the call and as the backup arrives she spends 5 minutes walking her through a checklist and showing her the machinery, which is also well labelled with instructions. As a result, the job gets done as expected and the volunteer felt like she was able to help the church ‘on the fly’.

    Up and to the Right

    This quadrant represents not average ministry or even above average, but maximized ministry. Staff and volunteers are serving where they believe they are called to serve and they have the training and gifts needed to do it. Since there are great systems in place, they spend a lot of their time and energy actually ministering to people and improving the overall ministry of the church. Often, they move on to become the influencers within that sphere of responsibility. 

    Result: Amazing Ministry.

    EXAMPLE 1: The sound tech loves to do sound ministry, and over time he has learned how to do it well and is good at it. On top of that, the expectations, systems, and tasks necessary to do the job are well defined. As a result, he helps recruit and train new sound techs and is currently working on learning some advanced tech that will eventually help the church know how to best place the speakers in the room to maximize their capacity and actually minimize loud hot-spots in the room.

    EXAMPLE 2: A Sunday School teacher serves twice a month in the four year old class and absolutely loves it. He actually looks forward to those Sundays. Since he knows exactly what to expect each Sunday morning there is little stress associated in the job. In fact, the children’s director has created room in the timeline of ministry to kids to allow him to personally pray over each child every week. He recently started a blog for parents of preschoolers at the church and is personally ensuring that each preschool teacher writes on it once a month. His love for the ministry is so contagious that the adults in his small group are thinking about volunteering too. 

    I have a challenge for you . . . write out each area of ministry or responsibility you have delegated to other staff or volunteers. Now ask yourself which quadrant in the Systems-People Matrix that ministry falls within. What can you do to improve the systems to better serve those areas of ministry?

  • 5 Reasons Why People Don’t Volunteer

    5 Reasons Why People Don’t Volunteer

    Not too long ago I was talking to a longstanding church attendee about getting involved in her local church. I was surprised to hear her say the following words to me, “I don’t think they need me anywhere.” When I pressed her to explain more, I learned that she had expressed interest a few times over the years and nobody seemed that interested in pursuing and recruiting her to get involved. So she stopped offering to help, assuming she wasn’t needed or wanted.

    This is not good. Ephesians 4 challenges us to a very high standard when it comes to volunteers. The local church is called to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. As christian leaders, that means we’re not supposed to overly rely on church staff and/or do the bulk of ministry ourselves.

    God wants to release His people to use their gifts to grow the church, disciple people and reach the world. That is His model and strategy.

    Over the years, I’ve discovered a few key reasons why people don’t get involved. I wonder how many people in your church aren’t involved because of one of these excuses?

    1. What Volunteer Opportunity?

    In an effort to create a positive environment during church activities, we sometimes hide the volunteer ‘holes’, or opportunities, we know we have to the congregation. Consequently, people don’t see or know about our needs. For one reason or another, we simply don’t tell the congregation what volunteer openings we have. It is important we create methods designed to let our congregation know about the various volunteer opportunities we have available, and how they can get involved.

    2. Been There, Done That.

    When volunteers have a bad experience in ministry, they may choose to take a ‘been there, done that’ attitude and refuse to get involved again. Whenever you perceive a volunteer has been burned, I recommend you bend over backwards to bring reconciliation to that hurt. Asking questions, listening intently, affirming their hurt and asking forgiveness will go a long way to paving the road for them to eventually get involved again.

    3. I Have Nothing To Offer.

    A lot of people don’t get involved because they can’t see themselves doing what they see so many others doing. They don’t feel qualified. “Serve on the worship team? I can’t sing like they do.””Help with the kids? I don’t know how to teach kids.” “Help with tech? Have you seen how many nobs are on that board?” People need to know that they don’t have to be experienced before they get plugged in. Hopefully, you already have the systems in place to eventually train them to succeed. They just need to know you believe in them and that they can make a difference. 

    4. I’m Too Busy.

    Yes. People are definitely busy. And they are often convinced they are too busy to get involved in ministry right now. Occasionally it’s true. However, most of the time it’s not about being busy, it’s about priorities. Until people are convinced that what you want them to do is important to them, they won’t give something else up to help the church. People need a good reason to give their time and energy to a cause. You need to convince them that what you are asking is truly important.

    5. Nobody Asked Me.

    It may seem like a simplistic excuse, but it’s very real and very common. There are some highly skilled and experienced people sitting in church every week who aren’t involved simply because nobody thought to ask them. We don’t ask them for any number of reasons, but often we have convinced ourselves that they can’t or don’t want to. In other words, we say ‘no’ for them and never give them the opportunity to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ themselves.

    Asking people to serve in ministry isn’t easy and can be very intimidating. I have recruited hundreds of people into volunteer roles during my ministry career, and I don’t think I’m necessarily the best seller there is! But I did it, and I believe you can too. 

    What other reasons do people choose to not get involved?

  • Communication + Time = United Change

    Communication + Time = United Change

    I recently spoke with a church member who was frustrated with his local church. He confided he was considering attending elsewhere. He expressed doubt in the leadership’s ability to make wise choices. He always felt out of the loop. Announcements made about changes in the way things were going to be done with kids, small groups or upcoming event schedules always came unexpectedly and last minute. There was never any room for discussion. They were announced and it was assumed that everyone would line up and follow the new marching orders.

    His solution to the problem was to quietly slip out the back door. When I suggested he talk to the pastor he made a very interesting comment. He said, “I wouldn’t know what to say to him. He’s in charge, I’m not. Plus, it’s not like he’s done anything grossly wrong.” When I pressed him further, I discovered he actually had tried to talk with the pastor about the issue earlier in the year, as best he could. The problem was that he didn’t really know exactly what the issue was – just that he felt discontent, disconnected and powerless to make a difference. Nothing changed.

    There are two very important elements that every church leadership team should include whenever introducing change. Most don’t. Both elements slow things down. They gum up the works and make things more complicated. However, without them there will almost always be dissension and dissatisfaction. 

    COMMUNICATION + TIME = UNITED CHANGE

    In my years of ministry I have come to the conclusion that the below formula is super important when introducing change to your congregation. It doesn’t matter if the change is something huge like a building campaign or something relatively minor like switching youth group night. Following this formula will ensure the highest involvement, participation and commitment to your cause from your attendees. Let’s unpack the formula a little bit.

    COMMUNICATION

    The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. George Bernard Shaw

    People need to get the skinny if you want them to buy-in. Even better, give them a chance to pipe in with their thoughts and input. All you have to commit to is explain and listen. Most complainers wouldn’t be so difficult if they were just heard. Of course, who wants to do all that work? Better to just make the decisions and roll them out, right? That could work, but it won’t lead to committed people. The people that usually follow that kind of leader are those who are either loyal to them no matter what or those who really don’t care either way. No. Share the vision with them and give them time to process and be part of the discussion, first.

    “When people see their own ideas and fingerprints on the work, they have a sense of ownership that feels true and genuine.” Barry Demp

    TIME

    If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over? John Wooden

    Communication must be combined with time. That is, people need time to think through your vision. To process. To ask questions. To check their schedule and life and see if it will fit. When you don’t give people time, you are showing a lack of respect for them – the very thing you’re trying hard not to do. So give people time to process change, especially change that will impact them. If your changing worship team rehearsal night from Tuesday to Wednesday, there are only a few people who need to know, but give them time. Communicate + Time will more likely lead to wholehearted commitment to the changes, even when it requires a sacrifice on their part.

    UNITED CHANGE

    I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 1 Corinthians 1:10

    The Word of God has a lot to say about the topic of unity. We are called to work hard at obtaining unity and maintaining it. How ironic that many times we are the reason we lack it, simply because we don’t go the extra mile to communicate clearly and give people time to get on board!

     
    How do you introduce change to your congregation?

  • What Drives Your Church?

    What Drives Your Church?

    Every once in a while, I’ll be talking to a friend about one of our two family cars, well, family vans. The question sometimes arises, “Who drives THAT one?” They are referring to our old, beat up minivan that I refuse to give up until it does. It’s just a little embarrassing to drive (my kids would say a lot), especially to school. This afternoon, I was talking to my 17 year old about driving the van, making sure he took care of it, checked the oil, etc. 

    In today’s post, I want to ask the question, posed by Dave Browning in his book, Deliberate Simplicity, “What drives your local church?”

    Check out this quote from the book:

    You cannot do work that matters until you define what matters. A leaders job is to clarify and simplify so everyone understands what’s truly important….

    President Calvin Coolidge believed that ‘no enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself, but for others; or failing therein it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist.’ Perhaps that statement summarizes the reason why many churches are sick and dying….

    Some of the organizing principles that churches adopt (maybe unknowingly) include:

    TRADITION. A church driven by tradition finds itself looking to the past for guidance for the future….

    PERSONALITY. A church driven by personality finds itself directed by a key figure or figures….

    FINANCES. A church driven by finances finds itself looking at the budget for direction. If it’s in the budget, we can do it. If it’s not, we can’t….

    PROGRAMS. A church driven by programs defines itself by the programs it offers….

    BUILDINGS. A church driven by buildings finds itself in constant pursuit of bigger and better facilities….

    EVENTS. A church driven by events finds itself regularly gearing up for its next concert or pageant or bazaar. While events can be an effective part of any church’s strategy, left unchecked, events can grow to be the ministry….

    SEEKERS. A church driven by seekers finds itself trying to get into the mind of ‘the customer.’ Surveys are taken. The results are evaluated. The church’s ministry is driven by polling data. The energy of the body goes into being culturally relevant and seeker friendly….

    PURPOSE. A church driven by purpose finds itself evaluating what it does in relation to its sense of purpose. It has a philosophy of ministry that begins with the question, what is the church supposed to do? The church’s goals and objectives become the ruler by which efforts are measured.

    What is the driving force behind your church?

     

     

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