4 Questions to Check Your Church Culture

by: Trevin Wax

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There’s only so much you can learn about a church from their website.

Sure, you can check the church’s doctrinal statement to find out what the people believe. You can see from the church calendar what programs run and how active people are in church activities. But the calendar and confession don’t necessarily tell you about the church’s culture.

Culture is the heart of your church, the atmosphere your church creates – whatever makes your church unique.

Unfortunately, the culture of a church doesn’t always match the confession. And when the culture isn’t aligned with the confession or the calendar, the culture typically wins. Which means, as church leaders, we shouldn’t spend all our time stocking the calendar or tweaking the confession. Instead, we need to take a step back and ask some questions about our culture.

In Creature of the Word, Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson, and Eric Geiger write:

“A church culture is healthy when there is congruence and consistency between what the church says is important to her and what others know really is important to her.”

So how do you know what your church culture is like? Here are a few questions:

1. What are you funding?

If your website says “missions” is a core value, and yet the music ministry budget is four times as big as your missions ministry, your church culture doesn’t line up with your stated values.

Follow the money. What are you funding? It’s likely that the more inward-focused your budget is, the more inward-focused your church is.

2. What are your people talking about? 

I recently spent some time on a college campus, and went to dinner with a couple guys. For two hours, all I heard about was the people these guys were discipling. Drug addicts. Homeless people. People far from God. It was clear from casual conversations that the culture of the school was mission-focused.

Spend time in casual conversations with the people in your congregation. You’ll discover what people are excited about. Talk to them long enough and you’ll discover the motivation behind the excitement. Are volunteers excited about VBS because of their love for kids, or because they hope to outshine the other churches across town? Are people always talking about personal preferences or how to be better effective in mission?

3. Who or what is the focus of attention?

What is the church focused on? Certain programs that give the church a good reputation? A ministry that gets good press? Powerful worship? Preaching? All these are good things can eventually supplant the worship of Christ.

Pity the pastor whose message is all about Jesus but whose ministry is all about himself! It’s possible to say Jesus is the hero from the platform and yet live as if you’re the hero of the church.

4. What are signs that back up your talk?

In Creature of the Word, a gospel-centered framework is described as a house.

• Theology is the foundation – what your church believes.
• Ministry philosophy is the structure and the design of the house, the commitments that undergird all your church does.
• Practice is the furniture of the house, what your church actually does.

Look at what your church is doing, the activities your church is involved in. And ask yourself where your practice aligns with your philosophy and theology. What are the signs that your people actually believe the confessional statement about evangelism? Or the core value of hospitality?

Look for the signs that back up your church’s talk, and then publicly celebrate those signs constantly. You become what you celebrate.

Conclusion

It’s possible to talk about grace and still be a legalist. It’s possible to talk about Jesus and still be self-centered. It’s possible to talk about guests and still be unwelcoming.

So check the culture of your church. Listen to those who visit. Ask friends to give you feedback. Don’t give up until the Jesus you worship and proclaim from the platform is the center of everything your church does.

Read more from Trevin here.

Tags: Activities, Attention, Communicate, Funding, Theology, Trevin Wax

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Using Social Media as a Christ Follower: One Principle and Three Questions

by: Will Mancini

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After taking LifeWay Christian Stores through a vision process, I not only shop there often, I go with a different mindset. Their mission is passionately engaging believers on their journey of faith. The big idea is to be an oasis-outfitter. A place that feels at the same time like a refreshing oasis and an REI outfitter, for your spiritual life.

Because I’m a father to Abby, my 15-year old daughter, I recently  picked up a new piece of equipment: a book by Kate Conner titled,  Enough: 10 Things we Should be Telling our Teenage Girls.

Here is a takeaway that I think brings immediate value to any Christian using social media.

ONE PRINCIPLE

Conner argues that the answer to problems with social media don’t center around removing social media itself. Rather it involves the commitment to:

Take the good, leave the rest.

She cites 1 Thess. 5:21: “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” Here is where her words grabbed me:

• Take the enjoyment, leave the addiction
• Take the communication, leave the isolation
• Take the inspiration and leave the jealously

Good stuff. And remember what Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

THREE QUESTIONS

1. What story am I telling?

If you look at the ongoing communication of social media what is the dominant theme and meaning of your life. What are you all about? Travel? Parenting? Sports? Work? Criticism? Food?

2. If I went back and read all of my social media statuses, would I recognize me?

Conner emphasizes that our heat-of-the-moment selves are not our best selves.

3. If I want back and read all of my social media statuses would I know I was a Christian?

Great questions to bring clarity to your life. What questions would you add?

> Read more from Will here

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Enough: 10 Things We Should Be Telling Our Teenage Girls, Kate Conner, LifeWay Christian Stores, Social Media, Will Mancini

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Growing Your Groups, Part 1: 5 Ways to Connect with Disconnected People

by: Ed Stetzer

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One of the higher priorities for the church in recent years has become assimilation, and rightful so. The days are gone when people would find the nearest church and commit immediately—more people are secular and are not looking to jump in to a church and more Christians are cautious in their involvement. If people visit your church, however, they are probably looking to connect in some way, regarless of their spiritual condition. If they don’t, they won’t be around long.

So, this article is intended to help you find ways to connect with people who visit your church but are not connected in community. In a later article, I will deal with connect (via groups) with people in your community.

Simply put, you need to find opportunities to connect with disconnected people that attend the church gathering. People need to be assimilated into the church fairly quickly. It has been said that if people do not get plugged into some meaningful community within six months of their attending a church, they almost always drop out. In some cases, that may look more like six weeks.

On the other hand, if they are successfully connected (or “assimilated”), they are probably going to stick. This opens up doors for evangelism, discipleship and spiritual growth for not only with those people and their family, but also their extended family and friends.

Connect with the Disconnected People

People come to a church gathering and they will typically visit anonymously to check things out. They are often looking for a connection to God that comes through worship, prayer, the sermon and communion. They are also looking for a connection to people; otherwise they would stay at home and watch an Internet church. If they connect with God at the gathering but don’t connect with people, they may miss an opportunity for their spiritual growth, health (or in some cases, spiritual birth).

Let’s look at five ways a church body can connect with the disconnected.

1. Take Advantage of the Three-Minute Rule

The three-minute rule begins when the final prayer is said or song is sung. This is not the time to talk to your best friends. During those first three minutes, two things are going to happen: people who are familiar are going to talk to each other and people who don’t know anyone are going to leave quickly. This is where it’s crucial. If you take the time in those first three minutes to talk to the people who aren’t connected, you will have time afterward to talk to your friends who are more likely to stick around. You need to see those first three minutes after a church gathering as a time-sensitive corporate fishing pool for Group prospects. You have three critical minutes to look immediately around for people who are not connected in the body. Be friendly to them, ask them if they are in a group, and invite them if they are not connected to one.

2. Make Sure Group Leaders are Visible and Available

People who are not connected will often slip out as quickly as possible—sometimes even before the service is over. (It is not surprising that they don’t excitedly anticipate the offering and closing benediction.)

Key group leaders should move to the exit areas to connect with the disconnected right after the sermon or the end of the message. The people who are the most disconnected will exit before they have to speak to anyone. They may not be ready to connect, but you can at the least, be a friendly face on their way out. If they return, you will have a greater opportunity to connect them to a group when they are ready.

3. Know Where the Groups meet and have a Groups Concierge in a Prime Location.

As a group leader trying to connect with newer people, know what groups may work best for the person you are trying to connect. If the visiting family lives 15 miles east of the church gathering, asking them to attend a group that meets 15 miles west would not seem very wise—you shouldn’t expect them to drive 60 miles round-trip every week for a group meeting.

Try to connect them with a group that meets fairly close to their home. If you are not sure, walk over to the group’s counter with them and help them to find one that best suits them. You can offer your assistance based on their demographic or their interests as well as your knowledge of the leaders. The goal is connecting them to a group that best serves their needs, not that best serves your needs. Have a groups table with a volunteer staffer ready to help them find a place.

4. Invite them to a Basic Newcomer’s Class or Informal Gathering.

Connect with people by inviting them to a basic newcomers’ gathering. This could be a class that highlights the foundations of your church or it could be an informal gathering that helps them find their next steps for assimilating into the church. Design this as an opportunity for them to connect with other people: group leaders, key leaders and pastors. The goal of this newcomers’ gathering is to connect them with the mission and vision of the church, with other people, and with a group.

5. Follow-Up

Here is where we go “old school.” Many churches have abandoned some basic follow-up of visitors to their church gatherings. Below are some follow-up things we do.

• Visitors receive a phone call on Sunday night from a volunteer who thanks them for visiting.
• The church mails out a typed letter on Monday that includes information about small groups.
• As the lead pastor, I send visitors a hand-written note on Thursday. It is brief but personal saying something like: “Thank you for being our guest this Sunday at Grace Church. We hope you were challenged and encouraged. Please let us know if you have any questions or if we can be of service in any way. God bless, Ed Stetzer.”
• An optional follow-up is really old school. We stop by their house with a baked good on the Saturday after they visited. This works better in some parts of the country than it does in others.
• Finally, we provide the names and contact information of those people who attend the newcomer’s gathering to the group leaders. We want the group leaders to connect them to a group as soon as possible.

Conclusion

We want to move disconnected people who are sitting in rows toward becoming connected people who are sitting in circles. If we do that quickly, they’re almost certain to stay and become connected into the life of our church. If they’re not yet a believer, they will hear the gospel in the context of having some friends around them, and that is the ultimate goal. We want them in the Kingdom, not just in the building. It starts with a simple connection.

Later this month, Eric Geiger and I will release a book called Transformational Groups.Groups are at the core of the mission of the church, and in our book we set out to help churches evaluate and improve their small groups.

You can learn more about the book and preorder your copy here.

Read more from Ed here.

Tags: Connect, Ed Stetzer, Small Groups, Transformational Groups

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8 Responses of Leaders When Their Church is in a Slump

by: Thom Rainer

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The meaning of “slump” is more evident in sports. When a baseball player, for example, is in a slump, we surmise that he is not hitting as well as he was earlier in the season.

For churches, however, there is no clear definition. Indeed, some leaders wonder if it is even right to say that a church can get in a slump. Still, some pastors say they church is in a slump if they are not connecting as well with members as they once were. Others declare a slump if attendance or offering numbers are down. Still others have a more subjective sense of a slump that defies a clean or clear explanation.

But many pastors will tell you about times when their churches were in a slump. Some will admit that the slump is present tense. So I asked a number of pastors how they react when this reality hits them. What do they do to lead their churches out of this perceived slump?

The pastors shared with me eight consistent responses. I list them in the order of frequency that I have heard them.

1. They sought the advice of a leader outside their specific church. Sometimes that person was the pastor of another church. On other occasions it was a denominational leader or a church consultant.
2. They refocused on the vision of the church. A number of pastors indicated that the church had “lost its way.” So they spent time reminding the congregation of the vision of the church. Of course, this approach presumes the church has a clearly articulated vision (I’ll cover that in my Wednesday blogpost).
3. They led the church to more outwardly focused ministries. Some church slumps were the result of the congregation becoming too inwardly focused. One pastor led his church to “adopt” an elementary school in the area. The members became motivated and enthused as they did whatever the principal and other leaders of the school told them the school needed.
4. They sought a trusted confidant to evaluate their leadership. This reaction is similar to number one. In this case, however, the problem was specifically perceived to be the leadership of the pastor.
5. They spent more time in prayer. I suspect this and the next response were actually more frequent. Many pastors sought the face of God more intensely and more frequently for guidance out of the slump.
6. They became more consistent in their time reading the Bible. Many pastors get into the trap of reading the Bible only to prepare sermons or lessons. I know. I’ve been there as a pastor. But pastors need the consistent nourishment of the Word of God beyond the time they spend studying it for sermons or lessons.
7. They became more intentional about connecting with their members. One pastor made a commitment to hand write one letter a day to a church member, write two emails a day to a member, and make one phone call a day to a member. The purpose of each piece of communication was brief encouragement and gratitude. It took him less than 30 minutes to do all of them, and he was consistent in it four days a week. In one year’s time, he connected with 800 members.
8. They set aside time on the calendar during the week to dream. Pastors are on call 24/7. Life can become hectic and frustrating. One pastor sets aside two hours a month to go to a private room to dream about the future of the church. The time is a fixture on his calendar. Sometimes he prays. Sometimes he reads about God’s work at other churches. And sometimes he writes ideas and thoughts. The process invigorates him, and he can thus lead the church with greater enthusiasm and clarity himself.

These responses to a slump could really apply to any Christian leader. In this case, I listened to pastors.

So . . . can you sense when your church is in a slump? What is it like? How do you respond?

> Read more from Thom here.

Tags: Thom Rainer, church in a slump, slump

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10 Tips to Help You Connect with the Largest Generation on the Planet

by: James Emery White

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I’d like to introduce you to Generation Z.

I know, some of you are still trying to catch up with Busters, or Generation X, or whatever we called whoever followed the Boomers. Or maybe you leapfrogged over all that straight to Generation Y (Millennials), on whom marketers have been focused for at least a decade.

Let me save you some time. Drop everything and start paying attention to Generation Z, who now constitute 25.9% of the U.S. population. That’s more than Millennials (24.5%). That’s more than Gen X (15.4%). Yes, that’s even more than Baby Boomers (23.6%).

So who falls into Generation Z? There’s still some debate on exact dates, but essentially those who were born after Generation Y. So approximately 1995 to present. At the time of this writing, it is the generation that is now under the age of 18.

Do the math, and you realize that they grew up in a post 9/11 world during a recession. They’ve experienced radical changes in technology and understanding of family, sexuality and gender. They live in multi-generational households, and the fastest growing demographic within their age-group is multi-racial.

And how has that molded them? According to the marketing research of Sparks and Honey, here are some “Z” headlines:

• they are eager to start working
• they are mature and in control
• they intend to change the world
• they’ve learned that traditional choices don’t guarantee success
• entrepreneurship is in their DNA
• they seek education and knowledge, and they use social media as a research tool
• they multi-task across five screens, and their attention spans are getting shorter
• they think spatially and in 4-D, but lack situational awareness
• they communicate with symbols, speed and with images
• their social circles are global
• they are hyper-aware and concerned about man’s impact on the planet
• they are less active, and frequently obese
• they live-stream and co-create

I’ll stop there, because the list goes on and on. Bottom line: they are not Millennials.  So how do you connect with the largest generation on the planet? Marketers are way ahead of you.

Here’s a top ten to consider:

1.  Talk in images: emojis, symbols, pictures, videos.

2.  Communicate more frequently in shorter bursts of “snackable content.”

3.  Don’t talk down…talk to them as adults, even about global topics.

4.  Make stuff – or help Gen Z make stuff (they’re industrious).

5.  Tap into their entrepreneurial spirit.

6.  Collaborate with them – and help them collaborate with others.

7.  Tell your story across multiple screens.

8.  Live-stream with them – or give them live-streaming access.

9.  Optimize your search results (they do their internet research).

10. Include a social cause that they can fight for.

Do you see a theme? I do. It’s all about talking in a way they will understand. Not watering down the communication of the message, just changing the method of communication.

And with Generation Z?

It needs changing.

>> Read more from James Emery White here.

Tags: Generation, Generation Z, Generational differences, James Emery White

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3 Interview Guidelines for Finding the Best Next Hire for Your Church

by: Bryan Rose

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Mistakes are most often made when hiring is based on surface characteristics like stage ability, resume experience or fashion sense, rather than on the foundation of church culture. Your values define your church’s culture. Therefore, values should form the basis of your staffing logic, whether the prospective leader is paid or unpaid. Well thought-through interview questions, based on values, could be the difference between a perfect match and the perfect storm.

The best values-based interview questions are those that do three things: 1) Hide the “right” response, 2) Reveal practice not thinking and 3) Mine for specifics. Let’s take a look at each technique and provide a simple illustration for each one.

#1 Hide the “Right” Response

Let’s imagine one of your church values is “Risk-Taking Faith.”

• Ask…  If you knew that God would meet or exceed one goal you have right now, what would you ask for?
• Not… What was the last faith risk you took?

Why? Because the natural tendency when being interviewed for a position you want is to frame the answer to what you think the interviewer wants to hear. Questions that state the value up front, don’t allow the candidate to reveal how the value is present – or not present – in their life and ministry.

#2 Reveal Culture in Practice, Not Thinking

Let’s imagine one of your church values is “Evangelistic Ethos.”

• Ask… What do you know about your 5 closest neighbors (geographically) ?
• Not… How important is evangelism to you?

Why? Because it is easy to talk about how things should be, and avoid talking about how things are. Questions that allow the potential staff member to speak to a value from experience not ideas, separate mere affinity from life application.

#3 Mine for Specifics, Not Answers

Let’s imagine one of your church values is “Doing Life Together.”

• Ask… What was the last tough conversation a close friend had with you?
• Not… Who are you doing life with?

Why? Because simple answers that are easily given leave little room for follow-up and become fairly useless in determining cultural alignment. Questions that generate responses with multiple follow-up possibilities (why don’t you have close friends? how did you respond to their criticism?) can produce a multi-dimensional understanding of the person in context of the church value at hand.

So remember, experience is important, but programs will change. Stage skills are huge, but presentation can be developed. Fashion is fleeting, but skinny jeans will eventually go out of style… we pray. When you hire by values, culture becomes the glue that holds your staff together.

Read more from Bryan here.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Leadership Engine, New Staff Position, Staff Culture

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15 Ideas to Help You Evaluate Your Church Bulletin

by: Rich Birch

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Recently I emailed some friends and asked them to grab their bulletins from their weekend services at their church and mail them to me. I was overwhelmed when just over 100 that arrived in my mailbox or email! It was so fun looking in at what’s going on at so many churches across the country. I asked for this bulletins because I wanted to learn from what other churches are doing to regularly communicate with their people through this channel. I’ve picked out some of the pieces that stood out to me and provided them here for you to check out as well. How are you leveraging your church bulletin (or program … or worship folder … or whatever you call it) to communicate with your people? I hope these inspire you to reconsider how you can make it better … I know it did for me! [You can download all 17 bulletins in one ZIP file.]

• It’s doesn’t have to be in full color. // You’ll notice that a number of the bulletins that I’m going to highlight use color to communicate but good design can go a long way with a black and white bulletin. I like what Beulah Alliance Church did with a custom printed stationary (with a stripe of color) and then the rest of it’s in B&W. [Good design is about thinking through how you place the information in an attractive manner … color is optional.]
• The Bigger the Church … The Smaller the Bulletin // I noticed that larger churches seem to limit more what is in the bulletin. Although these ministries have a lot to offer their their people … they narrow the focus of this piece exclusively on what people need to know to take their next step. This is a discipline that I think churches of all sizes should mimic. What actually needs to be in this piece? [North Point in Atlanta has over 25,000 people every weekend but they have one of the smallest bulletins I’ve ever seen!]
• Branded to the Message // The core of a great weekend service experience is the teaching. Many of the bulletins that caught my eye were designed around the message that the Pastor was giving that weekend. This helps to build anticipation in the people attending as well give a sense where the morning is going right from the moment they come in. [Check out how Celebration Church branded the bulletin to their Christmas Series.]
• Make Financials Easy to Understand // If you are going to communicate where your church is at financially make sure to communicate it in a way that is easily understood by non-numbers people. Many churches have “financial reports” in their bulletins but they aren’t clear what they are attempting to communicate. [Check out how simple Central Church made it to understand where they are at.]
• Pictures > Words // We live in an increasingly visual culture. It’s not that people can’t read … it’s just that they don’t. Find ways to add more pictures and images in your bulletin to communicate what you are trying to get across. Find some pictures of people from your church and include them in the bulletin. Use images to draw people’s eyes to what you want to communicate. [Check out how Christ Church of the Valley uses images to communicate!] NOTE: CCV’s bulletin is my favorite of all the ones I received. I love the short story about people being impacted by the church … love how clear what to do if I’m new … love how simply they communicate next steps.
• Repurpose Other Design Elements // Increasingly churches are using slides and graphics to support the announcements portion of the service. Why not take those images and reuse them in your program? If it’s a big enough deal to talk about from stage … it’s a big enough deal to take up more space in the bulletin and use that same slide. [Check out how Christ Community reuses it’s slides.]
• Take the Space to Make it Simple // Are you trying to introduce your people to something new? Take the space to make it super simple to understand. I noticed a number of churches are trying to get people to move to “Text to Give” services. It can be confusing for people who are doing it for the first time. [Notice how Christ Fellowship tried to simplify this process with a simple 4 step process.]
• More is Not Better // Rampant across many of the bulletins I received was just way too much information. If you are ever thinking to yourself “How small of a font can I use and still have people read it?” … you have way too much in your bulletin. So many bulletins had literally dozens and dozens of “calls to action” contained within them … people can’t respond to all that! If you make everything “special” and put it in your bulletin … nothing will be special. [This was a noble attempt by Creekside church to inform people about everything that is going on at their church … but I think it gets lost in how many different things are communicated!] I’d be tempted to slip in an announcement in that bulletin that offers to give people a free $10 iTunes gift card to the first 10 people who read and respond to see if people are actually reading all that. [Doncaster Church is another example of this issue.]
• Declare Your Strategy // Can you articulate your approach to ministry in a straight forward way that makes sense to people who are reading it for the first time? The bulletin is a great place to communicate to your guests how your ministry “works” and what their next steps are. [I think First Baptist Spartanburg does a great job summarizing their 4 fold strategy in their bulletin.] I love the reflective questions listed … they engage people in self reflection and invite them into the mission.
• Perforated Response Cards // Many of the programs that stood out to me had perforated parts for people to tear off and respond. This is an effective way to follow up with first time guests or collect information on how people are reacting to the service. [Check out how First Christian has a “week specific” response tear off that lines up with the announcements for that weekend.] They were looking for people to volunteer with transportation and a Christmas project and had a simple check box response form to respond to those asks.
• Discipleship Embedded Bulletin // What if the bulletin was a discipleship piece? What if it offered help for people and didn’t just try to get something from people? [I dig how Genesis Church has a Bible reading and reflection plan right in their bulletin!]
• Don’t Have a Bulletin! // A number of the friends that I asked to send me something told me that they’ve dropped the bulletin all together. There is a trend of moving away from this printed piece as just sending out a weekly email or maybe hosting it on a blog. Churches are opting out of the bulletin for cost savings, environment stewardship and effectiveness. [Here is an example from a Harvest Bible Chapel of the email that they send out to their entire database every week.]
• Best Use of a Beard // [I love the cover of Open Door’s Bulletin.] Too much fun.
• Help Your Guests Know What to Expect // When I was a kid I remember using the “bulletin” to try to figure out how much longer I had to sit through the service .. our church had the entire order of service printed in it. It seems like most churches have wisely moved away from this sort of “service order” listing in their program … however there is still value in helping your guests anticipate what is going to happen. Not knowing what is going to happen during the service is particularly nerve wracking for a first time guest! [Check out how South Point clearly defines what’s happening at their service.]
• Contextual Contact Information // Who should your guests talk to when they need help at your church? Often churches seem to make it hard to find contact information on the various key leaders that guests should connect with if they have questions. [I like how obvious Sugar Grove Church makes it to find contact information for various departments.] Help people connect with people … not departments. Give out contact information for actual people! [I love how The Meeting House provides the direct cel phone number of their campus pastor right on their program … that campus is a few thousand people … and you can call the Campus Pastor directly.] (Try it! Tell Matt I say hi!)

I’d love you to provide a link to your bulletin (or program!) in the comments section. What do you think your piece does particularly well? At my church we focus our bulletin totally on the first time guests … I don’t think our “regulars” look at bulletin at all. We used to have this cool “story of us” on the inside of our program every week for about 18 months. I liked that piece because I think it brought people up to speed quickly on who we are. I also like our current version of “what to expect” … I think it makes it pretty clear what is about to happen for our guests. I’d love to hear about yours!

>> Read more from Rich here

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Rich Birch

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Growing Leaders Crave Silence and Solitude

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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When was the last time you had meaningful time alone?

No meetings, no appointments. No phone buzzing. No music in your ear buds. No distractions.

Just stillness. Solitude.

My guess is for many of us the answer is it’s been a while.

What if I told you that your effectiveness and maybe even your longevity as a leader depended directly on finding and establishing regular periods of solitude? 

Ever notice that:

> Jesus prepared for 30 years and taught for three? That’s a 10 to 1 ratio of preparation to execution. We do the opposite.

> Even when Jesus was teaching, he would just disappear to pray or to be alone?

I think Jesus modeled the truth that solitude is essential for impact.

As a driven leader who for many years was an extrovert (I’m a little more introverted now), I used to resist solitude.

I saw downtime as unproductive time and was uncomfortable if I sat still for more than 10 minutes. I would actually invent something to do just to break the silence.

But, thankfully, over the years I’ve learned to make peace with silence.

Since that truce happened, I’ve learned so much more about myself and about what God wants to do in my heart and my life.

Now I crave silence and solitude.

In fact, I think the most effective leaders seek it out and see it as essential to tuning up the most important aspects of leadership.

8 Things Solitude Can Do For You as a Leader

1. Reveal how you’re really doing. The quiet outside will reveal the quiet or disquiet within you.

2. Help you discover what is most meaningful and important. The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates).

3. Give you insight into your character. Silence and prayer have a way of revealing the truth about who you are. And as I outlined in this post, that’s critically important because ultimately, character, not competency, determines your capacity.

4. Give you energy. Like exercise, practicing the discipline of solitude gives you energy.

5. Let you actually hear from God. You can only really hear from God when you’ve slowed down enough to listen. For me, when I do my slowest readings of scripture, I hear from God the most clearly.

6. Renew intimacy. Intimacy isn’t possible in a rush. True intimacy (with people or with God) only happens when no one’s in a hurry.

7. Establish priorities. Solitude accelerates clarity.

8. Restore your soul. If you’ve lost your soul, solitude will help you find it. If it’s out of balance, solitude can help you restore it.

5 Do-able Ways to Find Solitude

While the pattern of solitude might look slightly different for all of us, here are 5 doable ways for busy leaders to carve out solitude in the rhythm of every day life:

1. Get up earlier. Even if it’s just 15 minutes earlier than you get up now, starting your day earlier allows you stillness than will otherwise elude you for the rest of the day. I get up every day between 4:45-5:30 a.m. so I have solitude before anything else begins. Not a morning person?  Michael Hyatt’s free podcast on how to become a morning person is classic. (If you just don’t want to become a morning person, then stay up later to find solitude.)

2. Calendar solitude. I intentionally book very few meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. My perfect week has none. That’s because I bring the highest value as a leader when I’m working on the ministry I lead, not in it. You can get so lost in the details of managing a ministry that you stop leading it. When you book free days (start with just one if you have to), you give yourself time to pray, think, reflect, imagine, dream, poke, kick and rethink.

3. Find a hobby you do alone. For me, it’s cycling. 80% of the time, I ride alone. No one interrupts me. The movement in my body kick-starts movement in my mind. Some of my best ideas have come when I’m cycling. Other leaders I know choose photography, running, kayaking, hiking or other hobbies. Even if you start with an hour a week, it will clear your mind.

4. Take a personal retreat. I haven’t done this often, but at critical times I’ve borrowed a cottage (lake house), rented a suite or just gotten away to clear my mind. Even a day can do wonders.

 5. Take a mid-day break. Turn the music off, turn off your phone and go sit somewhere. Even for ten minutes. Find a park bench. Sit by yourself at Starbucks. Sit in the shade in your car. When you are still, you will know that God is God.

What’s your relationship with solitude like? Do you find it valuable? And how do you make time for it?

Read more from Carey here.

Tags: Carey Nieuwhof, Leadership Practices, Silence, Solitude

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Leading a Church to Die Well Rather than to Live Poorly

by: Ed Stetzer

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It is better for denomination or network leaders to be prepared to respond to dying churches rather than to react to the despair of confused churchless members as churches move toward closure.

Many churches will reach the end of their life cycle without making the necessary moves to experience real change. Those churches that do not comeback will eventually close—it is inevitable.

Today, most denomination or network leaders react to the closing of churches. In the future, wise leaders must anticipate and prepare for the closure of churches. They will facilitate a dignified death for congregations, much like Hospice facilitates sick individuals in anticipation of their passing.

Be honest about the reality of death of churches.

Let’s consider a Hospice ministry for churches.

Obviously we need to realize that most churches die. It is a part of the life cycle.

Jesus sent messages to the churches in the book of Revelation. I’ve been to all seven of the places where those churches were. None of them are there anymore. Churches die.

I think churches should die well rather than live poorly. As a Star Trek nerd, I remember the Klingons would dream of dying in battle—dying well. I think the dream of a church should be to die and let the battle continue through the resources they have the their support for other churches.

It is difficult for a church to die and at the same time release its resources to another group to continue the mission. After all, the new church may play different style worship music in our building. What if they don’t have Sunday School? Can we give our building to a new church that may remove the pews? Yes, these are crucial questions for some.

At the end of the day, leaders of denominations or networks must be able to help churches get through this process.

Recognize the signs that death is near.

We have to help people in dying churches to recognize some signs that it’s time for their church to die, and that it’s okay to die sometimes. So, what are some of the signs?

There are many, but I’d say that a lack of interest in leadership positions is a sign that death is near—the congretation has been demoralized to the point that there’s no one willing to lead the efforts to right the ship. Without a leader, a church will die.

Another sign is when pastoral leadership has come to the place where they simply have no plan other than to try to ride it into the ground. If the plan for a church is, “We’re just going to hang on as long as we can,” death is likely imminent.

If the only reason people join and remain in the church is out of obligation or out of family connection, that’s a sign that the church’s time has come to an end. A church is where people grow, worship and serve God out of a sense of opportunity, not obligation.

When the passion for worship and service is gone, the church loses its soul and is no more than a shell of former life.

In other words, if the church has lost its purpose, the best thing may be for it to give up its facility and let somebody with a purpose use the space for the glory of God in a new congregation.

Communicate the process.

The problem is that declaring a church dead is just as demoralizing as clinging to life. For instance, consider the church whose building our church recently aquired as another died.

The church closed. They gave us the building. We were bringing in a thriving congregation that had been meeting in a theater. So we were going to add 100 people to the 25 that stayed with us in our new church. That incoming number would undoubtedly change the lives of the people who were giving up their church.

Even with the good spirit that they had, there was still a sense that “This is not our church any more.” It’s been psychologically hard, as it should be. There is grieving invovled. We’ve even had some minor conflicts, and we expected that. This kind of transition is traumatic and the process needs to be communicated—even overcommunicated—again and again.

It’s not a failure, it’s a rebirth, and we have to communicate that process well.

Part of the key is to remember that we should not see the death of a church as a failure. Even the churches in the New Testament died and were restarted (or, were not, in some places).

Celebrate successful transitions.

If I was creating a Hospice ministry for my denomination or network, I would have somebody who, as part of their role, would help churches do this. I’d get one example and then I would get up at the denomination or network meeting and say, “Look at what the Lord did. We planted a new Latino congregation. The neighborhood had changed.”

Why not make the death of your church a strategic decision rather than an unfortunate accident?

I would give people hope that their church could die with dignity in a way that advanced the cause of Christ. As it is, the only thing they see is that door shutting and that padlock coming to mothball the place where they got married, and built an education wing, and gave for the parking lot, and had late night prayer revivals. But if you can show dying churches another way, if you can point to another future, you can give them an opportunity to honor their past.

The death of a church doesn’t have to be the end of its ministry. In dying, a church can be a blessing to others and continue the mission of Christ.

>> Read more from Ed here.

Tags: Death of chuches, Die Well, Dying Churches, Ed Stetzer, church life cycle

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5 Words Toward a Stronger Esprit de Corps

by: Dan Reiland

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The hallways often reveal more than the boardroom.

What you hear in the hallways is often a better indicator of the spirit of your team than what is said in the boardroom. I’m not suggesting that your team isn’t honest in your meetings. But they are more relaxed in the hallways, in the break room, or anywhere a cup of coffee is shared where you work.

How is your team doing? Are they happy? Are they energetic? Are they productive? Do they face adversity well? Do they get along? Your answers give insight to the level of Esprit de Corps.

Esprit de corps is a cool word. Not just because it’s French and I can’t spell it without looking it up. But because it says so much! It embraces the idea of a sense of unity and of common interests. It carries the notion of common responsibilities of a group committed to a goal together. It’s about a team of people connected not just to a goal but real relationship with each other.

Esprit de corps is closely connected to the idea of morale. A team’s ability to maintain high morale reveals commitment to a deep belief and mission, even in the face of difficulty or hardship.

> Generosity

We often think of money when it comes to generosity, and that is part of it. But a spirit of generosity reaches much farther than finances alone. It’s a way of living. It’s about time, faith, love, and kindness and more. Generous people think differently than those who are takers by nature. Generous people think larger, believe bigger and possess a positive attitude. Generous people love to give, but they also see it strategically. Generosity is not all about goose bumps and emotion, but making wise investments into people’s lives with intentionality.

When you lead your team with generosity you lead with a spirit of giving more than taking. Some leaders are takers, they want more from you than they pour into you. That diminishes morale. I remember one leader saying to me, “But I pay them! I expect them to show up and get their work done!” He did not have a spirit of generosity! It’s reasonable for him to expect his staff to show up and work, but he had a demanding spirit rather than a developing spirit.

> Trust

I have been part of the team at 12Stone® Church for twelve years. I have served as Executive Pastor under Senior Pastor Kevin Myers. From day one Kevin has trusted me fully. That is critical, without it I can’t lead. Trust is different than respect. Respect must be earned, but trust needs to be extended as a gift from the beginning and removed only if it is broken.

Trust is essential to a positive sense of esprit de corps. If you don’t trust your team, it’s as if you are holding back the oxygen they need to lead. They just can’t breath! It’s as if you put them on a short leash and tied them up to their desk, they can move, but not much! If you find it difficult to trust people, I encourage you to reflect on why. Have you trained and developed your team? Have you been hurt by someone? Do you have control issues? Are you a perfectionist? What would it take for you to trust? Without trust, empowerment cannot exist, let alone thrive.

> Empowerment

Trust is where empowerment begins. The first component of empowerment is to trust with responsibility. Connecting this principle with a spirit of generosity allows us to see that empowering isn’t dumping work on someone, it is trusting them with the responsibility of accomplishing something that is important.

No one wants to be micro-managed. “Small” leaders attempt to keep power and control, they “meddle” and some even have a heavy hand on everything. Empowering leaders set people free. It’s not about letting people do whatever they want. Empowerment is the right mix of freedom and guidance. It involves communication, goals, and training. These things allow us to free people up so they can grow, excel and achieve more!

> Alignment

Your team loves the trust and freedom that comes with empowerment, but they also love, need and want boundaries. People hate chaos, and they know that if everyone “does their own thing,” nothing of significant impact will be accomplished. High morale is experienced teams that work together and head in the same direction. A sense of productive esprit de corps comes to a team that enjoys being with each other and wins together. Independence breaks down alignment. In contrast, organization and agreement of goals builds alignment. I love track and field in the Olympics, and I really enjoy the relay races. Can you imagine if each of the four runners on the team ran whenever they wanted, in whatever direction they wanted and never handed the baton off to the right person? Alignment is essential!

> Caring

The impact of simply caring is staggering. At times I think it’s becoming a lost art. Please don’t misunderstand. I believe that church leaders care. They really do, but sometimes the demands of a busy schedule can result in an inability to keep up with everything. You have a finite amount of energy, in fact, you run out of energy to demonstrate that you care. You are so busy making things happen, (and getting things done), that your relational bandwidth runs thin.

The good news is that the remedy is often simple, and as long as it’s from the heart you are good to go! It might be a hand written note of encouragement, a public expression of appreciation for a job well done, a quick phone call, or a cup of coffee with someone just to see how they are doing. It could be as simple as a thank you card with a Starbucks gift card inside. It’s usually just not that complicated. We just need to do it!

I pray these thoughts encourage, guide and inspire you and your team to a greater sense of esprit de corps!

The Pastor’s Coach is written by Dr. Dan Reiland and is available via email on a free subscription basis. You can subscribe by clicking here.

Tags: Dan Reiland, Staff Culture, Volunteer Culture

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