It Starts With You

It Starts with You.

I’ve often thought our work with churches is analogous to how churches serve their congregants. If they would just do what we tell them to do, their lives would be so much better. If churches would simply do what we told them to do, they would be healthier while making a greater impact in their communities. How’s that going for us?

Churches don’t control their congregants. We don’t control churches.

What we do have are strategic “inputs” that can influence the churches we serve and ultimately model for churches the “inputs” they can bring to their congregations.

During this pandemic, what is it we want churches to be doing? We want them to be proactive, bringing creativity to discipleship/spiritual formation, outsider focused and being a beacon of hope for their community. We want them to be early adopters, positive and leading well in and through the crisis. How are they doing?

How are we doing?

Are we modeling and providing strategic inputs that our churches may adopt? Are we being proactive, early adopters leaning into change and a beacon of hope for our churches? Or, are we stuck?

There is plenty we don’t know about the future but here are some sample inputs we have been working with denominational leaders as they serve their churches:

Agile Discipleship:  What tools and methods can we provide our churches to help them develop steps for their guests and members 24/7 digitally and/or live?

Digital Relevance:  Our mission field has been online for 10-15 years, it’s taken a pandemic for most churches to finally take steps in this direction. How are we modeling our own digital relevance? How are we reinventing our resources and the central services we provide churches?

Healthy Multiplication:  Not all growing churches are healthy but healthy things grow. How are we creating missional multiplication in our region and through our churches?

Leadership Pipeline:  Do we have emerging leaders to fill the vacating positions in existing churches and to launch new churches? How are we preparing new leaders in our seminaries and training to effectively do ministry in 2020 and beyond?

Vision for the Future:  What do we want our region to look like in 2025? Do we have a clear vision? Are we effectively executing a vision and have it integrated with the churches we serve? Have we adapted our existing vision with the new pandemic (and someday post-pandemic) reality?

Sadly, many denominations and churches remain stuck in the “danger zone” of the grief/change cycles. If we remain confused, unproductive and anxious, how should we expect anything different from our churches? If churches remain confused, unproductive and anxious, how can they expect anything different from their congregations?

It starts with you. You can’t control churches but you can control your inputs and drive proactive, healthy action through this pandemic.

What are your next steps? What is your leadership team modeling to the churches you serve?

You Have a Brand

You have a brand, whether you like it or not. It’s what people say about you when you’re not around. What story do you think is being told?

The Episcopal Church is not working along with many other mainline denominations as they experience 20% plus decline over the past 10 years. How do we shift that trend? How do we start influencing and building a different narrative in our parishes?

“It isn’t clear in many local churches what the church’s theological identity or core story really is and how its practices make a distinct difference in people’s lives.”

- Dwight Zschelle  “Faith + Lead”

  (Comments on the state of the ELCA denomination)

Everything communicates. Every interaction a guest has with your parish influences their trust of your brand. Touch points such as your property, website, greeters, decor, systems, parishioners, teaching and service all impact trust. If your brand does not line up with what they see, hear and feel, they will not trust your brand. Ask yourself these questions:

• What is the story you want your community telling about your parish? How do you want them to answer that?

• Why should I be part of your parish?

• What is an Episcopalian (or any other denomination)?

• What’s unique about you?

• How are you improving our community and humanity?

• What’s in it for me?

How do we give our parishioners “handles” on inviting others into building in our mission? Clarifying your story, developing the language you use and aligning your congregations around that messaging is a great first step. Your parishioners are your brand ambassadors engaging  their workplace, neighbors, friends and families every day.

Here are some examples of what is said that is not very helpful:  

• “We are very friendly and welcoming.”

• “We are about making a community impact” 

• “We are Episcopalian”. That really doesn’t tell me much.

Here are some examples that better represent one’s story:

• All are welcome here. Really. No matter what your life story has been to this point.

• Our service is oxygen for the soul, to breathe and renew your mind.

• We fight injustice and seek to bring true unity to this community. We are on the front lines educating and representing those with less privilege. 

• No child will go without a meal in our community. No person will not have the opportunity to have a roof over their head at night in our backyard.

What is the story that is being buried in your parish? How can you align your members around that story that needs to be told?

Where are your touch points and actions out of alignment with who you want to become as a parish?

The secret is not in doing more, the secret is doing less. 

Here is a one page Brand Cue Card resource that could be helpful.

Where Is Your Church Headed?

I don’t want to simply grow old, tearing the days off a calendar. I want to be part of something bigger than myself, to be stretched with others, and to experience the life I believe God has created for each of us… to accomplish something with others I could never pull off solo. This is what I would want in a church. If we believe we have the greatest mission on the planet, then let’s get after it, and see what God can do in and through us. If my family moved to a new community, this is one of the factors we would be looking for in a church. Do they have a vision that’s bigger than any one person at the church? Do they have a sense of where they are going?

For churches with an answer to the vision question, it’s often a flowery mash-up of words that really don’t tell me much, and it’s certainly not measurable. Example: We are going to make a huge community impact and love people well.

Your vision should be measurable and at some point, we should be able to say whether or not that was accomplished. How much community impact? How many new people are taking steps in their spiritual journey? Example: There will be no homelessness in our area of the city. No kids will go hungry in our schools.

People fund vision, they fund less when a church is in maintenance or preservation mode. I’m called to steward and manage what God has placed in my hands. I want to invest in a parish that has a vision for the future. I want to invest in what I believe will lead future life change as people take steps toward Jesus.

At a time when over 75% of churches are on the wrong side of the life cycle (maintenance, preservation or life support), we have a real challenge and opportunity at hand. Will we simply submit to the current trend in our parish? Will we continue to age, diminish and simply fade? 

How about no. How about skipping that story and exchanging it for a story of emptying ourselves to bring Jesus, the greatest Hope to our world? Or as The Most Rev. Michael Curry would say, will we bring and live the way of love?

What is the compelling vision God is calling you and your parish to? What might your parish look like in the next five years? What is it that would make you jump out of bed every morning? Prayerfully develop and seek a measurable, tangible vision for you in this next season.

Why Does the Church Exist?

Mission answers this question- why does the church exist? Really, most churches have the same mission statement. Usually it’s some version of love God, love others and go make disciples. Jesus came up with the idea, so it seems to have stuck.

So, where does it go wrong?

Tony Morgan articulated it well, “anytime something trumps Jesus in its mission, the Church suffers…” What are some examples we see in churches we work with?

Methods. Whether it is working or not, this is how we continue to operate. We are going to do what we do and hopefully some people catch on, either way, we’re not changing. This is the way we’ve always done it (music, order, style, location, insert other here).

“We are a family.” I love a church that truly acts like a caring family for everyone. However, my colleague, Amy Anderson, once commented, “being a family isn’t the mission, helping people to Jesus is the mission… feeling like a family is a by-product of being on that mission together. It’s not the mission.” Right on.

Social justice. I’m amazed at the work the Church is doing on the front lines, in some of our most charged issues in our culture. It is courageous and truly loving our communities well. They are bringing dialogue, healing and raising issues to areas we’ve turned a blind eye to. However, it’s not the mission. It is an outflow of the mission. If we champion social causes but place Jesus on page two, we’ve missed it. Keep bringing the needed change but double down on Jesus. 

Then what?

Ask yourself, who is it that you’re trying to reach? Who is your mission field? Where has God placed your church? It’s counter intuitive, but churches that narrow their focus actually do a better job of reaching everyone. If you could hand pick the next 100 people that walked through your doors, who are they? How old are they? What’s their spiritual condition? Where are they coming from?

Everyone and every generation has a part to play, this is not an exclusive discussion. Who are you connecting with that is not like you? Can you identify 3-5 people in your life that you’re genuinely a great friend or neighbor to? Engaging with them as Jesus would?

People are not projects. It’s a two way learning that happens when we engage in new relationships. We have as much (and often more) to learn. May we all learn how to be better friends to the people around us.

Culture Has Changed… What About the Church?

We are now in a post-Christian culture in the US. Here is some sample data provided by Mission Insites, what one might consider a strong Bible belt region, Argyle, Texas:

• 12.8% less people agree with the statement, “Jesus rose from the dead just as the Bible teaches”after the past five years. Five years. That’s a quick, dramatic shift.

• 9.1% more people agree with the statement, “Jesus was only a good, moral teacher- no more” in the last five years. This represents a shift in opinion of over 18,000 people in the region of approximately 200,000 people.

• 4.5% is the average increase of “Nones” over the last 10 years. An individual who marked “None” may not have left the faith, although many have, but no longer affiliate with a mainline, protestant, catholic or other religious designation. 

Where does this lead? Our friends in Canada are ahead of us in this cultural shift and can provide clues to an impending reality in the US. We had the opportunity to spend a day with church leader, Carey Nieuwhof discussing this topic. Twenty years ago their community of 30,000-40,000 people had approximately 20 churches, now there are 2. The ELCA denomination boasted 5 million members in 1988 and projects to be down to 67,000 members by 2050. The Episcopal Church has seen a decline of 24-25% average Sunday attendance over the past 10 years.

It’s no longer an expectation to go to church, if anything, it’s turning negative in some pockets of our society.

So how are churches responding? It seems we are seeing one of three predominant responses.

1. Dig your heels in. Circle the wagons, shift focus even more inward to the church because the culture around us is falling apart. One denominational leader might suggest, “this is a purifying time, it’s okay the Church is in decline or maybe we need to have more babies”.

2. Bury our head in the sand. “Let’s keep doing what we’ve always done because that’s some alarming information”. This is certainly an easier path. One that leads to continued decline, aging and financial challenges. Doing the same things will not produce a different result.

3. Lean in, learn and respond. Some churches are becoming students of this new mission field. What questions are they asking? What are the essentials of church? What is it that only we can do? What are the unique needs a church can meet in our communities?

How are you or will you respond as a church?

2000 vs. 2020

I can vividly remember going downstairs in our home, logging in to some brick of a Macintosh computer, entering the year 2000 and waiting to see what would happen. Would the power stations fail? Electricity shut down? Data crumble in disarray with the odd “00” number sequence? Sigh, no worries, enjoy the new year. Twenty years have passed since that day…

Looking at some research, teens today spend an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes on their phones daily. When I do the math, the amount of time a teen spends on their phone from age 14 to age 21, will exceed the total amount of time I’ve spent on activities with my church my entire life, as I approach 50 years old (services, small groups, volunteering, trips, etc.). That’s a bit sobering. There is considerable research on the impact of our phones on our brains. I love technology, but the world is changing fast and it is hard for our brains to keep up. 

Additionally, the technology and marketing platforms built into these great apps we use, are designed to give us more of “us”. It is similar to a pencil going back and forth on a piece of paper and digging in a dark groove. We are marketed more of what we want, based on our clicks. 

On the surface, I could love this! Why worry about 31 other NFL teams when the technology knows I’m simply a Dallas Cowboys fan. Get the rest of that news out of my feed… that’s right. However, it doesn’t stop there. It’s also determining if we’re right leaning or left leaning politically, monitoring every click and attention signal we give. It narrows our world to... Us. And we wonder why we’re more divided? We are given less opportunities to hear another point of view, to engage with a broad set of content and ideas, or to explore new things. Our world gets smaller, easier, and more efficient - but divided from those who distract us from us.

For faith and the Church, a few thoughts...

• We are being told, “you do you” while the Bible would suggest we are to die to ourselves as we love and serve others.

• The information now available forces the Church to “up its game” and tell us why Jesus matters, how it will impact your life, and why you should care. A YouTube video of a leading atheist speaking at Notre Dame, works to dismantle Christianity in about 7 minutes and has several million views. Contrarian to the Christian worldview, it challenges the Church to stop with the cliche’ answers and to engage in these conversations.

• The Bible suggests our image is in Christ. However, technology is putting “image” in overdrive with selfie, like, and follower generation. 

If we hope to have relevance and to be in the conversation, we can’t run the same plays. We need to consider what is impacting the culture and mission around us. 

A lot has happened these past 20 years, how are you responding?

The Church is Not a Business.

I hear this often, “The church is no place for business tactics.” Mmm hmm.

Ecclesiastes 1:9  “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

We really give businesses too much credit. Is what they do really…. new?

Today, I weigh 228 pounds. You might look at me at disagree and think, “Uh, you’re pushing a good 250 there big guy.” I know this because some guy named Sir Issac Newton discovered gravity, allowing us to determine how much we weigh. I could also say I weigh 600 pounds… on Jupiter. Science, astronomy, doctors, marketers, psychologists and more are continuing to grow in knowledge of what already is - God’s creation and the way it all works.

The business community is simply observing what is true about God’s creation: how the brain works, what motivates us, what captures our attention and how to better communicate. Segmented markets are based on personality and interests. They are examples of these observations put to use. These are not business ideas. Often, they are simply doing a better job observing what exists, what God created, than churches. We can learn from the way God created us and our world to develop effective means for communication, care, love and systems that work. Let’s not give the business community more credit than it deserves. But, let’s give them some credit. We can learn from their observations. Jesus certainly knew how to connect and cared about what He said and how He told stories. I can’t speak to what He knew at the time, but, He was pretty effective. :) If I were a betting man, He had a pretty good sense of his Father’s creation. 

Why do businesses show greater care to guests than a church? I have experienced far better service at a hotel or restaurant than many of the churches I’ve secret shopped.

Why do many businesses show greater fiscal responsibility and care for return on investment than churches? 

Why do businesses recognize and often create culture changes while churches lag entire generations?

God is not surprised by the concepts of project management, time management, budgets, personality tests, marketing or customer service. These ideas are not owned by the business community. We all have the opportunity to learn from what God has already created. These same ideas allow us to better capture attention, connect with our culture and develop effective structures for growth. Come on church. Observe what already is and take steps to be more effective. God is way ahead of us- step into what is already true.

Our Church is Big Enough.

In the next 12 months, we will have 2.1 million net new people in the US. Let that number sink in. Let’s do some simple math. Assume the average church size is about 100, to keep it simple. That would mean we would need 21,000 new churches to serve new entries alone. We would also need 21,000 new leaders to teach, serve, train and equip those churches. And in another year? Most likely, we’ll have 2.1 million more. This doesn’t account for those who are already here, not engaged, fallen away or disinterested.

That brings a whole new context to Matthew 9:37 “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

Use the strategy of multiplication with the churches we serve. There is a great case to be made and we’re not making it. We need urgency and the pendulum needs to shift to an outside focus as a Church. We’ve all heard the comments of “our church is big enough” or “are we only about growth?”. I have a hard time with some of those perspectives. If we believe Jesus is the Hope of the world, everyone should get a clear, helpful, compelling opportunity to consider that as a plausible option on how they live out their short 70-90 years on this planet.

Four quick options emerge as we think about what that means for the churches we serve:

Grow: For every church, are we reaching new people? We are called to go and make disciples, how are we doing? One of the vital signs we look at for churches is their first time guests. If a church is 100 in size, we need to see at least 100 first time guests to come through their doors in that year. If this is happening, the church is probably seeing moderate growth. It’s a front door issue if their ratio is below 1:1 of their current attendance.

Multi-site: Multi-site continues to be a viable option for multiplication. There are times when a church has reached its limit with location, space and footprint and simply needs to take action to continue its reach. The option is to go multisite or plant new churches.

Plant churches: It is it’s easier to start something new than revitalize and lead change to something that is stuck. As you survey your region, partnering with your healthiest churches to build a church planting strategy is a great approach.

Multiply leaders: Leadership development comes up in virtually every church we work with. There is a crisis of leadership in the church. In this increasingly hostile and post-Christian culture, smaller numbers of qualified people are entering the ministry. If a church struggles to grow but is able to send new leaders into the ministry, that is a great win. I believe there are thousands of rural churches that could cast a vision within their churches to help new young leaders listen to a call God may have on their lives.

Double down on multiplication. Literally. It’s not about egos and numbers, it about people and bring the Hope of the world. Let’s not over complicate this.

100 Churches. 3 Scenarios.

Over the past five and a half years, I’ve had conversations with over 2000 church leaders, denominational leaders, networks and more. I love numbers and honestly, I see much of the world through a data-filled Excel spreadsheet. Regardless of denomination, size, or location I find these common themes:

For every 100 churches...

20% are healthy. The church may be growing and/or have a strong leader where there is optimism for continued growth and multiplication. While all churches have things they need to work on, this group has stronger ingredients in place for the next season.

40% are in the mired middle. They could go one way or another. Through the research of The Unstuck Group, we know that the majority of churches that we’ve worked with fall into the “maintenance” phase. This phase marks the beginning of a downward trend.

Nationally over 75% of churches on the wrong side of the life cycle.

After working two days onsite with scores of these churches, I am left with a telling impression. It indicates whether they will pivot as a church into a new life, or, will continue running the same plays into the end of their life cycle.

40% are dying. It’s sad, but true. There are various reasons for this. In many cases, they are “heels dug in” and we won’t hear from them. Many don’t know their church is dying and the ones that do aren’t willing to do anything about it. I could say more but that doesn’t help us.

So what can help? As a leader over these 100 churches, what is one to do?

One denominational leader told me, “Mark, I’ve been chasing fires and drama for seven years (in the bottom 40%) and I’ve decided to change my plan, I’m going to invest in health.” What a monumental move. While that district leader has since retired, it’s been amazing to see the fruit from that decision. He handpicked 8 churches (out of 55) that we developed a peer group with. As a group, we worked to develop vision, plans and best practices. That same district has continued to work through their churches using a planning process. They are finding clear goals, identifying what healthy churches look like and building new habits.

How could we approach each group?

INVEST in the Healthier 20%. These are the churches most likely to produce new leaders, new locations, church plants and growth in their church. Develop strategies with this group to partner, vision and dream what God may do. Allocate at least 50% (or more) of your resources to these churches. You will see the greatest return on ministry from this effort.

INFORM the Middle 40%.  Make sure this group knows best practices and has access to great content. In many cases, these are “moving cars”. They are active, they want to get traction, they simply don’t know what they don’t know. They need to be pointed in the right direction to greater health and growth. The leaders have humility and are lifetime learners. There are ingredients there but they need help with some of the basics. Invest in those willing to take a step and continue to inform and educate those who are muddling along. Often, they need encouragement and know that you are for them.  Allocate 20-40% of your resources to this group.

INVITE the dying 40%. They are parked cars. It’s hard to do much with them. In some cases, the leader is the lid and simply won’t change. In other cases, a few lay leaders are holding the church hostage and it’s dysfunctional. Invite them into the game and for a select few, a leader could emerge that has the courage to make a bold move and do the remarkable… pivot a dying church. I have hope for all churches- maybe to a fault. However, a bold leader is needed to be obedient to the call to bring a church back to its mission- reaching people for Jesus. Allocate 10% or less to this group.

Your breakdown can shift by 10-15% for each of these categories. Sadly, one group of Midwest churches I worked with hard a hard time finding 8 churches out of 105 that fit any of the criteria of health. In many denominations, this is the sad reality we are working with.

What’s your story? How are you getting traction in your region?

Stay the Course - Global Leadership Summit, Session 8

We have a drifting culture. But no one drifts upstream or toward holiness.   Going upstream takes work.  So, to stay the course, to help guide our culture lost in the seas of right and wrong, we must establish a true north. A map changes but a compass always points to a true north. North never changes.   Just like the the word of God, our true North, even while culture is changing.

Our culture would say there are many maps (or ways) to find God but we are the ones with the only map that leads to freedom.  To salvation.  So what do we do?  How to we reach out and guide a wayward culture?

Here are four responses to change in our culture seen today:

#1 Accommodate
People begin to accommodate the “drift.” They may, over time, change their stance on issues pushed to the forefront of society - gay marriage, gun control, immigration - and try to be politically correct instead of taking the time to judge the fruit.

#2 Oppose
Some only listen to people who reinforce their fears and fuel their anger.

#3 Withdraw
Some feel as if their voice means nothing so they would rather stay out of the conversation and the line of fire. But those who withdraw too quickly lose the opportunity to have the impact God has called us to.

#4 Engage
This is the right response. We must engage our culture. Jesus stood up to the religious people who focused on their positions instead of loving well. If we are the salt and light of a world walking in darkness, we have a responsibility to bring the salt and light to the table. The only reason evil has prevailed is because the good has been absent. The church must be present when there is evil in our cities and communities because evil is simply the absence of good. This is the time to engage our culture, not to retreat.

So how to do you keep yourself from drifting?

#1 Know who you are.
You’re the church. Don’t be defined by Hollywood or culture. Our identity is in Christ (Acts 20:24).

#2 Watch the undercurrent.
This includes anything that opposes the will of God.

#3 Keep coming back.
We need to stay to the flight plan God has for us. An airplane makes hundreds of adjustments to stay on course.

#4 Repent when we’ve deviated from his plan.
The Titanic was warned four times but did not heed the warnings, but a scared world needs a fearless church.