Church Unique’s Vision Pathway and Tom Paterson’s StratOps

by: Will Mancini

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Over the last few years, I have enjoyed learning more and more from the contribution of Tom Paterson. Tom is a brilliant consultant and friend of Peter Drucker who innovated a very specific, high-impact model of strategic planning in the business space. I am grateful for five gentleman who have been a part of my own access and “digestion” of StratOp as a certified facilitator : Doug Slaybough (pictured above & former guy beyond the success of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven organization), Michael Murphy (current president of the Paterson Center), Greg Hawkins (executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church), Buck Rogers (friend and master facilitator) and Todd Wilson (kingdom entrepreneur behind Exponential and a fellow clarity junkie).

Most recently, I have completed the integration work of utilizing Paterson’s StratOp process for churches as a follow-up to Vision Pathway process that I have developed and used for twelve years, through the ministry of Auxano.

Why?

Simply put, The Vision Pathway and StratOp are the two best ways to solve two different but related problems for the local church leaders.

In this post I want to explore the basic differences. In the rest of a series I want to show:

• Part 2: The REAL Chemistry of Vision Pathway and StratOps
• Part 3: Why StratOps is a Waste of Time if You Don’t Have a Vision Frame
• Part 4: Why Every Church over 400 in Attendance Should Use StratOps 

VISION PATHWAY AS A UNIQUE SOLUTION

The Vision Pathway  was created to solve the problem of cut-n-paste ministry models and photocopied vision proliferated by books and conference in the church space. The result is a lack of freedom, confidence, passion, credibility and ultimately progress for a local church leadership team.

The Vision Pathway was developed in 2001-2004 from a biblical  understanding of the church in order to develop new competencies in thinking, leadership and communication for local church teams. The deliverable of the process is a fully articulated vision and ministry model that takes into account a church’s heritage, the unique community context, the distinctive congregational strengths and Spirit-guided passion of the leadership. The process was formally articulated in the book, Church Unique in 2008 with the subtitle of “How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture and Create Movement.” Church Unique continues to be the leading book in the church vision and planning category since it’s publication.

The baseline Vision Pathway requires a minimum of 6 days of collaborative work over a several month period. The Pathway is built with 5 master tools, that cover 8 big ideas, with 10 specific deliverables with dozens of “add-on” features and optional sub-tools based on church’s theological bent, size, life-stage, growth challenges and culture. There really is no other comparable process for church leaders to experience.

STRAT-OP AS A UNIQUE SOLUTION

StratOp was created to solve the problem of lengthy strategic planning process that don’t get total buy in across the executive team of large businesses.  The result is a lack of daily cooperation and coordination of diverse functional units towards the strategy priorities of the business.

StratOp was birthed through a challenge in 1980 issued to Tom Paterson to reduce the timeframe and increase the effectiveness of formal strategic planning. The design parameter was three days, which was given to Paterson by Thomas E. Bennett, who was the the Vice President for Corporate Planning for Ingersol-Rand Company. The content of the process is available only through the Paterson Center to certified consultants and facilitators. (Approximately 180 have gone through the process in the last 15 years.)

The StratOp process is a 3-day event (with a typical 2-day follow-up process with key individual leaders).  It works through 25 “tools” that are collaborative conversations ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The deliverable is a set of dashboard-like documents that can be used in the operational flow of leadership and management. While there are many planning processes out there, I have not seen one better for creating priorities within a one-year horizon. In addition several Paterson disciples are Jesus-followers who have applied what was originally designed for business, to the local church.

Read more from Will Mancini on his blog: WillMancini.com

Are you ready for a new level of team focus, energy, and productivity? Connect with an Auxano Navigator and start a conversation with our team.

Tags: Church Unique, StratOps, Strategy, Tom Paterson, Will Mancini, church leaders

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Stop Asking Millennials for Money

by: Derek Gillette

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Drawing on the findings from research into giving by millennials here and here, I’ve compiled six traits of young givers that charities and non-profits would be wise to keep in mind as they look to engage with the $200b spending power of the Millennial generation:

1. We like to invest in ideas that actually make a difference

Photos of starving children don’t stir us to donate, rather they stir us to care about fixing the root of the problem. We want to donate toward something that will help prevent poverty, hunger and trafficking altogether. Have you noticed the term “social enterprise” is on the rise? As the discussion on development and market-based solutions is advancing, so is our interest in innovative ideas to donate to. Or rather invest in.

2. Our buying looks like our giving

Many creatives and entrepreneurs have recognized the opportunity to blend social impact with business. This competition has driven an increase in the quality of socially-benefitting goods, and they’re no longer just unworn beaded bracelets from Africa. Many of them are really cool and mainstream now. Check out Boll & Branch’s comfy fair trade and organic throw blankets, or these leather bags and jewelry from fashionABLE.

3. The experience is everything

The cost of traditional entertainment is through the roof these days. Since we go to the movies less these days (the cost of that alone rivals a nice meal out), we instead hope our donation experience will give us some level of satisfaction. Invitations to attend meet and greats, events, volunteer functions, and best yet, a seat at the table for decision-making, all of these engage the Millennial’s desire to create a memorable experience.

4. Smartphones are good for more than just social media

For years, charities have pushed social media campaigns on us, inviting us to share and tag and hashtag and what not. But we’re doing more on our smartphone than just social media. Propelled into the mainstream by the introduction of Apple Pay, more of us are not carrying around cash, and we’re definitely not carrying around checkbooks. We want the ease of payment through our phones, but only if it can be as simple and streamlined as a song download. At eChurchGiving we’ve found that 85 percent of users abandon mobile giving attempts if the transaction takes longer than 30 seconds. Average experiences for online giving can take up to three or more minutes. That’s a major lost opportunity for most charities and churches.

5. Embrace the Thrifty

As mentioned above, many Millennials are caught in this tension of feeling generous, wanting to be more generous, but being held back by thrifty habits. However, position a campaign in a way that taps into both thriftiness and generosity, and Millennials will jump on board. An example, Kickstarter’s Founder just started Dollar a Day, where you commit to donate a dollar each day, and they send you an email each morning with the story of the non-profit your dollar went to. That’s one thrifty way of donating $365.

6. It’s cool to care

I grew up in an era where it was cool not to care, about anything. Sagging pants, oversized hoodies, poor posture, and one word answers, these were the character traits of many popular figures. Thankfully, that’s not the case anymore. The rise of technology has made intellect a valued commodity. Combine that with the shared desire to leave the world a better place, it’s all of a sudden really really cool to care. And not just to care, but to do something about it.

How are you engaging the Millennials in your church in generosity?

Tags: Derek Gillette, Generosity, Millennial generosity, Millennial giving, PushPay, eGiving

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Are Your Children Hearing the One Story, Not Just a Bunch of Stories?

by: Ed Stetzer

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Children have a faith that is ready to go. Let’s not waste that opportunity by delivering a humanistic Gospel.

We talk a lot about contextualization Gospel communication. How do we share the eternal truth of God in specific locations for specific people who have a specific shared experience?

The Gospel does not change. So the message should remain the same, even as the methods are adjusted for effectiveness.

But how well do we proclaim the Gospel to children? I’m not asking how well we teach children Bible stories, or how well we have taught the moral truths of Scripture.

Are we contextualizing our Gospel communication for children as well as we are for the hipsters in Brooklyn or the tribes in Tanzania?

The Bible as a Collection of Good Stories

Too often we teach the Bible as a series of isolated morality tales, like Aesop’s Fables. We want our children to learn how to live well, so we draw from the Bible stories of people who did the right thing and those who did the wrong thing.

We hope they are getting the idea that good is of God, leading to success, and bad is of Satan, leading to failure. If the kiddos can then live out and retell the story with the right names and main points, we feel like they have a grasp on the Gospel.

Churches have told children tons of good stories, but have we told them the Story?

It is easy to tell the stories within the story, but there is a big picture here. We miss some important points when we offer a slice of the Gospel as if it is the whole pie.

I think about it this way.

There’s this huge story with basically four major acts. Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. I teach these at my church. You might as well. But how do you teach this to children?

I’m a father of three daughters. The reality is I just don’t want them to know one part of God’s big story. He’s given us His Word that tells the story of His grand and awesome plan, from the first verse to the last. I want them to know the Truth, not just a truth or two.

The Gospel is About What God is Doing

We miss the flow of God if we just take the Bible in isolated parts. And the flow is important to understanding that the Gospel is not just a group of ideas, but rather a plan that has been designed and implemented by a loving God for the saving of humans.

Ideas aren’t as personal as a plan. The plan runs the length of Scripture. So for example, we hear Jesus say in 1 Corinthians 11, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.”

But we don’t remember that Moses said, “This blood is a symbol of the covenant” in the Old Testament. We don’t understand why Abraham would be called to sacrifice Isaac if we don’t understand what would happen as God the Son is sent by God the Father to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. This interconnectedness happens all through Scripture.

When we take the Bible as a series of isolated morality tales, we think about 66 books with hundreds, if not thousands, of stories contained within them. In actuality, there are not thousands of stories. There are not 66 stories. There aren’t even two stories with the Old and New Testament. There is one story and that is the story of what God is doing—redemptive history.

The Gospel is Not a Self-help Program

Part of the challenge is in the midst of sharing the Gospel. We want to teach morals to kids, but we don’t want them to become moralists. Yet that is a facet of the predominant religion of our culture today—moralistic therapeutic deism.

Christian Smith coined this phrase.

Moralism is the idea that whatever God is out there wants you to be a good person. It’s also therapeutic. It makes you a better person. It’s actually good for you to have some spirituality in your life. And deism is merely the belief in some God doing something up/out there.

While many people would not self-identify as moralistic therapeutic deists, that is exactly what they are, practically speaking.

They often draw their theology from various sources, including the Bible. But they cherry pick Bible stories that work well with their worldview and adopt the morality found in the story. This will make them feel better and pleasing to God. Mission accomplished.

But that isn’t our mission. That’s not our desire.

The Gospel is that sinners have been saved and are part of a family of believers who edify and equip one another to go out to other sinners and tell them about the Savior. Scripture tells us how God has been searching for and saving people from the first Garden to the Eternal City. We have the privilege of telling that to others, including kids.

Contextualization for Children is Essential

I’m not a children’s pastor and do not have a Ph.D. in educational pedagogy.

Yet, I can tell that that we should not let the fact that children are still learning how to learn keep us from sharing the whole counsel of God with them. When Jesus taught about our acceptance of the Gospel, He said that we must become as children.

Children were designed to hear about the things of God and have faith in them with few hurdles. So let’s be honest with them about the Gospel. It will make more sense if it is delivered holistically, and it will have a greater effect in their lives.

Definitely contextualize, as you would anywhere to anyone else. But do not strip the Gospel of its power in your delivery. God has a Story, and they are in it.

• How can we more effectively teach stories without extracting them from the Story?
• What have you found as you teach children about the bigger story?
• What part of the Gospel is the most difficult to contextualize for children?

Some Resources

Thankfully, many gifted people see the need to teach the whole Story of Scripture to children. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of great resources available to the Church today to teach children about Jesus, the Gospel, and God’s Word. There are some links to some below. Feel free to suggest your tools in the comments below as well.

• The Gospel Project for Kids—Download a full month preview of The Gospel Project for Kids and see how we’ve designed this Bible study material to not only teach kids the stories of the Bible, but the Story of the Bible—the Story of redemption through Jesus Christ.
• The Big Picture Interactive Bible Storybook
• The Jesus Storybook Bible
• The Big Picture Story Bible

> Read more from Ed.

Tags: Children's Ministry, Ed Stetzer, children

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Work Simply to Live Fully: Exploring 4 Productivity Styles

by: VRcurator

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Why can’t you stop procrastinating?

Why can’t you get more done?

Why isn’t your inbox under control?

Carson Tate, expert on workplace productivity and founder of Working Simply, believes that the problem is not you. It is how you are trying to overcome your busyness that is the problem.

You cannot outwork your busyness using one-size-fits-all time management solutions. The latest app, prioritization tip, or email management strategy will not work if it is not personalized for you, and aligned with the way you think and process information. Instead it will only create even more frustration, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness.

It is time to let go of the traditional approach to overcoming busyness—time management— and instead embrace the power of your unique cognitive style to guide and inform the choices you make about planning and executing on your daily work. It is time to get personal about your own productivity.

Personalize Your Productivity

To personalize your productivity you need to first identify your Productivity Style. There are four Productivity Styles: Prioritizer, Planner, Arranger, and Visualizer. We have all four styles within us, but similar to whether you’re left- or right-handed, you have a strong preference for one style.

A word of caution: do not pigeonhole yourself. Having seen so many working men and women frustrated and confused by productivity systems designed for other people and imposed on them arbitrarily, the last thing I want to do is to create yet another arbitrary set of rules to serve as a straightjacket for you! The goal is to create a personalized productivity toolkit that is in alignment with the way you think and fully supports you.

Embrace Your Productivity Style

Busyness is the noise that gets in your way. Turn down the noise. Embrace your Productivity Style. Instead of fighting against your natural wiring, work with it. Use your understanding to guide the choices you make to manage your attention, invest your time, get work done, tame your inbox, and design your work space in ways that are customized for you—not for someone else.

Change the ways you work and live so that you can be the best you—creative, productive, energized, and happy. Work simply to live fully.

>> Read more about the four Productivity Styles here.

Tags: Carson Tate, Productivity Styles, Work Simply

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Deal with Problems in Your Church by Speaking of Current Reality and Future Possibility

by: Trevin Wax

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A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post called“Assessing the State of Your Church and How it Got There.” I looked at a few business and leadership books and then considered some ways their advice might apply to a local church. I concluded with this word of warning:

Don’t miss the importance of learning “what time it is” for a church and how it has progressed to this point.

If the church culture has stifled honest conversations about the current realities and challenges, people will begin to shield the leader from “grim facts” for fear of being criticized or penalized for telling the truth. Then, once the “brutal facts” are ignored, the organization suffers and, sometimes, dies.

Of course, the next question is: Okay, now what? If I’ve prayerfully and honestly assessed the state of my church and how it got here, how do I move forward with my congregation?

I would sum up the next steps in two phrases: tell the truth and face the future.

Tell the Truth

Helping others see the urgency of the situation is important in communicating what must change.

In the business world, John Kotter says the biggest mistake leaders make as they seek to implement changes in an organization is to move forward without establishing a sense of urgency. In How the Mighty Fall, Jim Collins warns that simply communicating facts is not enough to stimulate change. In declining organizations, he writes,

“there is a tendency to discount or explain away negative data rather than presume something is wrong with the company; leaders highlight and amplify external praise and publicity.”

A Burning Platform

How should communication of the state of the organization take place?

Kotter recommends a “burning platform.” This refers to the ability of a leader to communicate the truth that complacency in the organization is the real danger, not change. People in the organization will not sense this to be true until they realize they are on a “burning platform” in which fire starts on the floor beneath their feet, spreads around them, and eventually forces them away from the status quo.

In other words, the leader must communicate the true state of the organization and help others view the reality of the present situation and the dangers on the horizon if the organization fails to make the proper changes. The pastor has more of a “burning platform” than any mere business or secular organization. We believe in the reality of hell, the urgency of evangelism, and the success of God’s mission through His Spirit.

Some business books go so far as to recommend a new leader “create” a crisis, if necessary, in order to implement changes quickly. For example, Kotter believes since crises are always rising, a real leader should “create artificial crises” and make use of them rather than waiting for a true crisis to come along. Such a strategy is unacceptable for the Christian leader. The Christian who understands the reality of the current situation must communicate the truth; manufacturing crises for the sake of implementing change is unethical and manipulative.

Face the Future

A leader who knows “what time it is” organizationally will not only diagnose the current situation and communicate the “brutal facts,” but the leader will also envision the future of the organization and take measures to pursue the path forward.

A Plan of Action

Prescription is vital, which is why a plan of action must be set forth. If the leader focuses only on the urgency of the situation, people are likely to fall into despair rather than move forward with an optimistic outlook. Description of the bad and prescription of the solution are both necessary.

The timing of implementing changes is important. Reggie McNeal warns: “The right issue tackled at the wrong time faces certain defeat.” However, most of the time, the right issue is determined by the trail the leader is blazing toward the future.

Be Clear

The vision of the future must be clear, which is why leaders who know “what time it is” organizationally will be relentless in the pursuit of clarity, both for themselves and the people they lead. Without clarity regarding changes, people will disagree on the direction, perhaps due to confusion or questions about the necessity of the decisions.

Church consultant Will Mancini synthesizes several definitions of clarity:

It means being free from anything that obscures, blocks, pollutes, or darkens. Being clear as a leader means being simple, understandable, and exact. The leader helps others see and understand reality better. Leaders constantly bring the most important things to light: current reality and future possibility, what God says about it and what we need to do about it.

Clarity must include not only the win, but also the path to the envisioned future. The Christian leader must know “what time it is” organizationally and be able to communicate the present reality and the path toward to the desired future.

> Read more from Trevin.

Tags: Clarity, Face the Future, Tell the Truth, Trevin Wax, Will Mancini

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7 Ways to Prepare for More Baptisms in Your Church

by: Rich Birch

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We were recently on a leadership team retreat, taking time to reflect on what God is doing at our church. I’m honored to serve at Liquid Church and I count it a privilege to play a small part in what it’s doing. One of the things we were celebrating from the last year is that we’ve baptized 1,000 people in our 7.5 years as a church. We count baptisms as the clearest evidence of life change in our church. It’s a significant milestone for people to get into the tub, tell their story and publicly declare what is happening in their lives.

During the leadership retreat, we were reminded by Tony Morgan that healthy churches should see 10% of their communities baptized per year. This is a great target to work towards as a church! Tony writes about this and some other Vital Signs in a report by the same title that is well worth a read.

Clearly, the reason we’ve seen so many people baptized is the movement of God in people’s lives. We can’t take credit for any of it. I do believe that churches can do a number of practical things to help people as they process the decision to be baptized. Our goal should be to remove as many barriers as possible, so people aren’t hindered by our processes or systems. Here are some practical keys to baptizing more people at your church:

• Preach on it // The most powerful communications tool at your disposal is the Sunday morning message. 4 to 6 weeks before your next baptism service preach on why people need to be baptized. Summon the motivation and inspiration for people to catch a vision for this. It’s a big deal in the life of your church and it’s a big deal in your people’s spiritual development. Don’t relegate it to a cheesy announcement. Call people to get out of their seats and into the pool!
• Show, don’t tell // Can we talk honestly for a minute here? Adult baptism by immersion is a bit weird and scary. People voluntarily allow other people to dunk them under the water. It’s strange. Our job as church communications folks is to make it as normal as possible. You need to show people what it’s going to look like. Make sure your promotional efforts show people actually getting baptized to demystify it as much as possible. This is one of those times when calling together great photographers from your church to help you will pay long-term dividends as you encourage people to get baptized.
• Simple response tools // Don’t make it hard for people to show that they are interested. Find the simplest way for them to indicate even a fleeting interest, so your team can talk with them. I’ve found that paper response cards are the best way to gather this sort of data. [Check out this article on how to make response cards that people actually use.] Think simple, small steps. Only ask them for the information that you actually need to start the process. Don’t ask them to “sign up to get baptized.” Instead, ask them to “let us know if you are interested in more information about getting baptized.” It’s a subtle difference but it allows people to ease into a decision, rather than forcing them to decide prematurely one way or the other.
• Make it easy to share // Next time you host a baptism, make sure you empower the people who are actually getting baptized to share the experience with their friends. Think through how many different ways you can make it easy for them to tell their friends and family about the experience. This sort of sharing prompts other people to get baptized in the future. Post photos of everyone getting baptized on Facebook …these photos are among some of our most shared and commented on. Video the service and make it available for people to watch. Give out paper invites to the people getting baptized … like party invites … and ask them to invite their friends and family.
• Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate! // People are standing up in front of their community and declaring their allegiance to Jesus … it’s time to party! This experience should be the Mother-of-all-Church-is-Fun-Moments. The music needs to be high energy. Have a reception (with cake!) at the end of the service for the people getting baptized. In all the pre-game huddles that day, make sure you prep your teams to be high energy and excited for the candidates. The place should be filled with high-fives and hugs to reinforce the decision people are making. The Kingdom of God is a party and this is one of those times when we need to let loose!
• Engage the entire family // I was baptized at the same time as my two parents and brother. It was a full family experience. What an honor! Your entire church can work together to encourage parents as they work with their kids through this important spiritual milestone. Talk about it in your children’s ministry and give parents tools to talk about it with their kids. Help parents respond well when their kids ask questions. Few churches have modeled this as well at North Point Ministries has with their Family Birthday Celebration. It’s an intentional strategy to help families leverage this key moment in their lives!
• Prepare for spontaneous baptisms // People are going to come to your baptism service and in that moment decide they need to get baptized. Be ready for them. Have everything they are going to need to make that happen: change of clothes, flip-flops, hair products, towels, a place to get ready and so on. Then let people know during your service that you are ready for them. Prepare a team of people to be ready to talk with folks who might want to be baptized. Don’t ask them to wait … don’t make them take some class … be ready to respond to what is happening in the moment. Ask the band to play another song and wait if people are still getting changed. As people see that you are ready for them, they will respond. It is a faith building experience to watch someone follow through and be baptized during a service when they didn’t anticipate it. [Elevation Church has put together a fantastic resource to help churches prepare for spontaneous baptisms … click here to download it!]

I think there are people at your church who are ready to be baptized. Serve those people by making it easier for them to take this bold step of faith! It’s our job to remove to the barriers. Make the right thing to do … the easiest thing to do. 

> Read more from Rich.

Tags: Baptism, Liquid Church, Rich Birch, Spontaneous Baptism

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Why Your Volunteer Problem is Really a Vision Problem

by: Bryan Rose

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As I pulled into the parking lot, the temperature on my dashboard read negative twelve degrees. 

And there he was… standing there waving.

I couldn’t see his face, it was obscured by a heavy duty ski mask. But I could tell he was smiling.

And waving. And pointing me to another volunteer equally protecting every bit of bare skin from the unforgivably cold temperatures and minus thirty-something wind chills.

They were all out there. I found out later that every man on the team, had made it a point to serve this morning. The coldest morning any had seen in a long time.

Later, in the church lobby, they were resupplying hand and shoe warmers, to again face deathly cold. Just to park cars. 

So I asked them how, and why, and what.

How, today of all days, could they stand outside and wave?

Why would they literally risk life and pinkie toe to make sure cars get parked?

What could possibly motivate this level of servitude?

They just smiled. And to a man said: “It’s my ministry. Parking cars is my calling around here.” 

These men reminded me…

Most churches do not actually have a volunteer problem.

They have a vision problem. 

Tags: Bryan Rose, Church Volunteers, Vision Problem, Volunteers

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Why Your Church Should Think Twice Before Going Multi-Site

by: Rich Birch

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The multi-site revolution is the biggest thing to happen to the broader church movement in my almost 20 years of ministry. I’ve personally been involved in the launch of 12 campuses—working on 2 more as we speak!—and I’ve coached a bunch of other leaders through the process.I’ve written a lot on the multi-site movement and I’m genuinely a fan of this approach to multiplication.

However, you might want to think twice before attempting this approach to multiplication at your church. Avoid going multi-site if the following applies to your church:

• You want to spur growth. // Going multi-site takes whatever is presently happening at your church and magnifies it. If your church is in decline, going multi-site won’t turn that around … it will probably push it further into decline. Take time to uncover why your church isn’t growing and focus on that before making the step towards multi-site. First nail it … then scale it.

• Empty seats at prime time. // When was the last time your “prime time” service was packed to the roof? A building bursting with people provides the relational dynamics needed when casting vision for launching your services. Years ago, I heard an early multi-site pioneer say that if you didn’t have 7 weekend services at your original campus, you shouldn’t go multi-site. Although that is extreme, the core idea is correct. If you don’t have full services, it’s difficult to convince people to head to a new location.

• Fuzziness on why people invite friends. // When launching your first campus, you’ll need to decide what to export to the new location. If there isn’t organizational clarity on what is most important, it will be difficult to make that transition smoothly. It doesn’t matter as much what leaders think needs to be exported—it matters what people in the church think is great about your church. Work hard to replicate that well.

• Leaders who don’t build systems. // There are some church leaders who look down on documentation and repeatable processes because they see them as less spiritual. Those leaders have a harder time making the transition to multi-site because the entire ministry is built on systems. You need people in your leadership who can care for people through structuring a nurturing environment and not just by meeting one on one with people. Leaders need to be able to scale their influence through building a systematic approach to ministry

• Ego-driven leaders. // If you are the sort of leader who needs to get credit for everything that happens, don’t go multi-site. If you are the sort of leader who needs every team to look to you for direction and answers, multi-site is not for you. One of the great paradoxes of multi-site is that it is often criticized because it elevates a few leaders over a larger number of communities. My experience is that leaders who thrive in multi-site are people who can empower, defer and encourage a wide variety of leaders. They give up control to allow their ministry to multiply. Think hard before you make this step: Are you willing to draw in other leaders and release the ministry over to them?

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on why churches should avoid going multi-site! Join the discussion in the comments section below.

> Read more from Rich.

Tags: Church Growth, Multi-Site, Multiplication, Rich Birch

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Open Your Ministry to the Power of a Generation

by: VRcurator

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Encouraging a healthy and welcoming community among all generations.

How is your church tapping into the power of the 20-something generation? Maybe you know you could do much better, but have been challenged by not really knowing what you can, and should be doing. The millennials are reachable. Through the voice of a 20-something, get a glimpse into their heart, and be inspired by the possibilities.

Whatever It Takes

by Heather Stevens

20-somethings seem to be leaving the Church at a rapid pace, and it saddens me because often that is due to unfortunate experiences that aren’t representative of what Jesus has called us to. It’s so easy to become hardened to Christianity because of that one person, one circumstance, or one church. Take Alex, for example. Hers is the story of so many 20-somethings today: a girl who, after seeing more negative than positive done by Christianity, decided to leave the Church for good.

The Christian church seems so incredibly and undeniably hypocritical. Not only do they bicker with other religions but among the denominations. There is no tolerance for outsiders’ or differing opinions… This is not the Church Jesus created. I recently stopped wearing my cross because I didn’t want to be associated with the angry and ignorant people who seemingly use their Bibles as weapons against people who aren’t exactly like them. 

>> Read more here.

Tags: 20-something, Execution, Heather Stevens

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Missing the Mission: Looking for the Right Results While Loving the Wrong Things

by: Ed Stetzer

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All churches love certain things. Some love fellowship, some worship, some prayer. Those are good loves. Some are neutral loves. Some are not. Other churches love their building, their history, or their strategy.

Those can be good or bad, depending on what we mean by love and how we value those things. But, there are some things churches love that hurt their mission and hinder their call. Here are three I’ve observed from my work with thousands of churches.

1. Too many churches love past culture more than their current context.

It’s remarkable, and I’ve said it many times: if the 1950’s came back, many churches are ready. (Or the 1600’s, or the boomer 80’s, depending on your denomination, I guess.)

There is nothing wrong with the fifties, except we don’t live there anymore. We must love those who live here, now, not yearn for the way things used to be. The cultural sensibilities of the fifties are long past in most of the United States. The values and norms of our current context are drastically different and continue to change. The task of contextualization is paramount to the mission of the church because we are called to understand and speak to those around us in a meaningful way. We can learn much from the Apostle Paul’s example recorded in Acts 17:16-34.

So, a church on mission– in this time and place– engages the people around it. Yes, in some ways, it resembles its context– a biblically faithful church living in its cultural concept. But, if your church loves a past era more than the current mission, it loves the wrong thing.

2. Too many churches love their comfort more than their mission.

The fact is your church probably needs to be less focused on what makes it happy and more focused on what pleases Jesus. This is an easy trap to fall into because it happens very subtly.

Most churches have worked hard to get to a place where congregational customers are happy– their needs are met. The problem is that we are not called to cater to customers. We are called to equip co-laborers. When we win the affections of those inside our circles, it becomes hard to pull away from the affirmation we receive. Again, this only becomes a problem when the affirmation of those on the inside works to the detriment of our mission to those on the outside. It is a lot easier to settle down with the people who are like us than to reach the foreigner or alien among us.

So, a church does not exist for the comfort of its people. Actually, the Bible reminds us again and again that we are to “provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews10:24), to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), and more. But, if your church loves its comfort more than caring for others, it loves the wrong thing.

3. Too many churches love their traditions more than their children.

How can you tell? They persist in using methods that are not relevant to their own children and grandchildren. Far too often church leaders, in an effort to protect the traditions of their congregations, draw lines in the sand on non-essential issues.

This is not to say that “tradition” is wrong. It depends on how you define it, but I think most will know what I mean. Christian scholar Jaroslav Pelikan said, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Churches that love tradition that way will choose their traditions over their children every time.

Too often churches allow traditions to hinder their ability to humbly assess their missional effectiveness. Moreover, they allow traditions to trump the future trajectory of their demographic. I know of several young pastors who have been exiled from their local congregations because they didn’t fit the mold of what had always been the ethos of the leadership. Sometimes this is because impatient pastors try and force change too quickly. Other times it’s because settled churches resist change so forcefully.

Undoubtedly, there are always times to defend the traditional stances of essential doctrines in the local church. But we should not have a cultural elitism that hinders passing the torch to a new generation of leaders. If your church loves the way you do church more than your children, it loves the wrong thing.

It’s time to evaluate your church.

Love is good, and everyone wants a loving church. However, loving the wrong things leads you the wrong way. Loving what is good, including our context, Jesus’ mission, and the next generation (to name a few things), moves the church in the right direction. The church should be always reforming, that is, humbly looking at itself and assessing its ability to reach people with the good news of Jesus. Sadly, many of the people Jesus devoted His time to would not feel welcome in our churches.

What about your church? What does its posture, behavior, practices, and activities communicate to your community? I think all of us want to understand the culture and community we are ministering in so we can communicate the gospel with absolute clarity. To do this we need to ask ourselves the hard but needed questions.

• Who are we reaching?
• Are we primarily reaching people who are like us?
• Are we primarily reaching people who are already believers?
• Are we primarily reaching people who understand Christian subculture and taboos?
• What about the people who don’t have a church background?
• What about the people who are unfamiliar with Christian beliefs?
• What about the people who don’t understand church subculture and behavioral taboos?

To say we are unable to reach the lost because of our traditions or preferences is simply unacceptable and antithetical to the mission of God.

Read more from Ed here.

Tags: Ed Stetzer, Mission, Vision Frame

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