Does Your Leadership Structure Impede the Progress of Discipleship?

by: Ed Stetzer

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At LifeWay Research, we are passionate about the state of the church. It is the focus of the vast majority of our work. One of the conclusions of an overwhelming amount of statistical evidence is that healthy churches are utilizing small groups.

Whether they call them cell groups, small groups, Sunday School classes, missional communities, or one of a number of other monikers, healthy churches are moving people move from sitting in rows to sitting in circles, in order that they might engage in community for ministry and mission.

If we take a good look at the state of our churches, however, we also see that there is a dearth of disciple-making. People are neither being discipled nor trained to make disciples, and much of that problem springs from a lack of small group community participation.

We surveyed North American churchgoers, and found: less than half sacrifice their own desires to provide for those in need; over one-third never exercise their spiritual gifts to serve God and others; and only 19 percent read their Bible every day.

Discipleship Deficit

So, statistically we see churches have a major discipleship deficit. Those who have realized this have tried to address it in various ways. For some, the answer is more exciting worship. For others, it is better programming or better preachers.

All those can be helpful things, but it can be deceptively hurtful when our focus becomes all about the weekend. A dynamic communicator and wonderful music can gather a crowd, but they often do not move people forward in discipleship.

In the book Transformational Discipleship, we specifically zeroed in on that particular deficit. What we found in our research is that one of the keys in the discipleship process is tight-knit community. Small groups are vital for creating disciples.

The Need for Community

There are at least 30 commands in the New Testament you cannot obey unless you are actively engaged in a local church. And you will not fulfill these “one another” commands by simply attending a church that is all about the weekend. You have to meaningfully engage in relationship-building with other believers who will walk through life with you, thereby fulfilling the one anothers together.

Because of all that we have learned in our research, small groups are now an assumed necessity, in my opinion. If you want to develop healthy disciples who make more healthy disciples, a healthy small group ministry is required.

But they are challenging, as is anything that requires deep, intimate relationships. So what makes them work. One of the most glaring issues we have seen in the creation of healthy small group culture within churches is leadership.

The Priest of Priests

I think one of the great challenges in the church today is that of “clergification.” Let me explain what I mean by that.

Most of the people reading this are Protestant, and one of the keys of the Reformation was the focus on what would eventually be called the priesthood of believers. This is a key theological position within Protestantism—we do not need a priest for access to God. (I do understand and appreciate that some traditions see the pastor as having important functions related to the the ordinances or sacraments, so I am talking in general about spiritual access to God and the importance of community.)

The problem is that while it is held broadly theologically, it is not necessarily held in practice. Many churches are set up as if some remarkably gifted, talented, or trained leader must teach and explain the Bible in order for the people to understand it.

Most churches have created an environment in which, if someone needs to understand the gospel, the leader has to be the one to explain it. We don’t hold theologically to the necessity of a priest, but we do functionally.

We act as though people cannot approach or understand God themselves.

I’m not unaware of that challenge of individualism, which is why I prefer the plural priesthood of believers. Yet, it is important to note that there is an undeniable tendency inherent in human nature to turn over our religious commitment or devotion or obligations, as we see them, to our religious hierarchies.

In effect, we create priests to carry out the religious rituals. This is the common trajectory for most churches, even in churches that are not theologically liturgical or sacramental. The acts of our faith become centralized on the clergy, hence, “clergification.”

I believe in biblical offices in the church. I believe that “pastor” is one of those offices, and some people might not agree, and some think there are more. Our ecclesiology determines those things, but we don’t have to agree on this to agree on the broader point.

Regardless of our conclusions on those matters of theology and practice, I believe that if we honestly assess the current situation we can (should) all agree that too much of the ministry and mission of the church has been centralized into the clergy. The result is hindering the life and ministry of our churches.

Discipleship and Clergy

Part of the discipleship deficit that exists in our churches is there because clergy has become the religious shopkeepers who provide the religious goods and services necessary to our faith. The people come to them as customers instead of co-laborers.

In order to engage small group community well and counteract the deficit we’ve created, we must work toward the de-clergification of the work of our churches and embrace the empowerment of a new breed of leaders.

Declergify

I’m not asking you to cast aside your leaders and leadership models on a whim. Also, I am definitely not, in this small article, encouraging you to change a well-thought theological view of your clergy. I’m encouraging you to not unintentionally clergify your ministry to the detriment of your service and discipleship.

I am simply encouraging you to prayerfully consider how your leadership structures might actually be impeding the ministry and disciple-making processes of your churches.

Consider how you might empower new leaders to begin to engage people within the church in small group community and how new leaders just might spring out of those groups, as well.

> Read more from Ed.

Tags: Discipleship, Ed Stetzer, Small Groups, leadership structure

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Don’t Lose Clarity in Your Church Communications

by: Rich Birch

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Clarity is the highest goal of all church communications. Our role is to cut through the clutter and deliver the message we are giving with as much precision as possible. In order to do that we employ a wide variety of tactics to persuade people towards the goals that we’ve set. In an effort to persuade our communications can slip to a place where they stop being clear and become just clever. We can become too self-impressed with how we’re communicating the message that the content of the message is lost.

Here are a handful of times that I’ve seen churches lose clarity when communicating with their community:

• Family Ministry Environment Names // When a first time guest sees the names of your kid’s and student’s ministries do they make sense? If I have an infant do I take them to “WhizBangLand” or “GrowUpGang”? Too many churches employ clever ministry names that don’t make sense to people outside of the church. It’s the ultimate insider focused tactic to use names that are not self-evident to guests. Make sure people can clearly understand the signage and printed materials about your family ministry environments without having to interpret what they mean.

• Campus Location Labeling // Too often churches attempt to be clever by naming campuses using relative locations to the original campus … Crossroads Church North, St. Paul’s East … the problem is that naming convention assumes that the new campus is a small satellite of something larger. Quickly after you launch people will attend the new location that have never been to the original campus … when you use a naming convention that points back to the first location it diminishes the work in the new campus. Pick an approach to labeling the new location that casts vision for the community for want to reach … Crossroad Church Essex County, St. Paul’s Uptown.

• Graphic Design // Can I speak to the graphic designers for a minute? There is a difference between something looking amazing and it communicating clearly. Most of the great art I’ve ever seen is ambiguous and hard to understand what the artist is saying. The fact that I need to wrestle with the meaning of the piece is what makes it art. Your role as a graphic designer is to use elements of design to communicate a message. Communication leads … art follows. It would be prettier to have the super slender font on that flyer … but people wouldn’t understand that it’s talking about. This isn’t a tension to be managed … communication comes before beauty … function before form.

• Next Steps // Once people start attending your church for a while they will be looking for their next steps to getting connected. Often I’ve seen churches call their first steps for new people some fancy name that just doesn’t make sense on the surface … Discovery Class, Engage, Connection. By definition, people who are new to your church don’t have any sense of your “integration process” and are just wondering what they should do first. At our church we call this environment First Step because we want it to be the first thing people who when they come to our church. This is also the case when you ask people to take any sort of “next step” in their spiritual journey. Make the right next step obvious and clear.

• Financial Reporting // Report your finances in a way that can be easily understood by “non-financial” people. Use plain language, simple charts and clear commentary when talking about the financial state of the church. Financials are not self-evident to most people. We need to provide simple commentary that helps people benchmark what is happening in the life of the church. Bold clarity in this area will build trust with your donors and ultimately encourage them to give more to your ministry. If people don’t understand this part of what happens at your church they will be less likely to give. Active obfuscation of the truth is the shortest route to financial ruin of a church.

• Online Calls to Action // Your church’s website probably has too many options on it. When people arrive at your site what do you want them to “do”? Are you focusing their attention on just a few next steps rather than a wide variety of options? Every ministry wants to be “featured” on your site … but if you “feature” them all you will just generate clutter and noise for your guests. Often we use our websites to move people to action in our church … asking them to donate, join a small group, volunteer for a team, connect with our team, etc … but when we pile on the “calls to action” each new ask erodes the impact of the last.

> Read more from Rich.

Tags: Church Communication, Clarity in communication, Rich Birch, church communications

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God’s Vision Frame

by: Rob Tims

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If you’re a friend of Auxano, you are likely well versed in the Church Unique Vision Frame. Its five components define every church’s DNA and create a platform for all vision casting.

1. Mission – a clear and concise statement that describes what the church is ultimately supposed to be doing
2. Values – shared convictions that guide the actions and reveal the strengths of the church
3. Strategy – the process or picture that demonstrates how the church will accomplish its mission at the broadest level
4. Measures – a set of attributes in an individual’s life that reflect accomplishment of the church’s mandate.
5. Vision Proper – the living language that anticipates and illustrates God’s better intermediate future for the church

This same tool that gives churches clarity for their mission is also helpful for understanding God’s unfolding plan of redemption for His created world. But whereas a church’s Vision Frame uses different words and phrases to possess and communicate clarity for a given period of time, God’s Vision Frame has only one phrase for each component for all of time: the Cross. God’s mission is the Cross. God’s value is the Cross. His strategy is the Cross. The Cross defines the attributes or qualities of His followers, and nothing illustrates the future God has for His people better than the Cross.

From the beginning, Scripture tells the story of the Cross. The tree of life, the serpent’s fatal wound, and the shedding of blood to provide covering for Adam and Eve are among the earliest references (Genesis 1-3). Abraham’s ceremonial covenant (Genesis 15), the provision of a substitute for Isaac (Genesis 22), the Passover in Egypt (Exodus 12), the bronze serpent with Moses (Numbers 21) and many other narratives shed even more light on the coming Cross of Christ, to say nothing of prophecies like that of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant (i.e., Isaiah 53).

Given the centrality of the Cross in the Old Testament, we are not surprised to see that same focus throughout the New Testament. Though the Gospel writers differ in their approach, the core of their message is the same: “that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, be killed, and rise after three days” (Mark 8:31, HCSB). Combined, the gospel writers record nearly 20 allusions or direct statements about the Cross.

Because the Cross is central to the gospel, the stories that tell of its spread, along with the letters and sermons that make up the bulk of the New Testament, all keep the Cross central. The very thing that one would think would diminish Jesus’ credibility (a violent, grotesque, and shameful public execution) was the very thing Peter, Stephen, Paul, and many others preached and wrote about prolifically, either as evangelists to the lost or as encouragers to the struggling faithful.

• Throughout the narrative of Scripture, we see God’s clear mission: the Cross.
• Throughout the narrative of Scripture, we see a conviction toward one thing: the Cross.
• Throughout the narrative of Scripture, we see all things revolving around one thing: the Cross.
• Throughout the narrative of Scripture, all of our behaviors and qualities are measured against one thing: the Cross.
• Throughout the narrative of Scripture, we see that God has nothing better for us than giving us Himself through one thing: the Cross.

So the Church Unique Vision Frame is not only a powerful way of understanding your church’s mission, but also a helpful tool for understanding God’s unfolding plan of redemption for His created world. This is because any biblical church’s Vision Frame is always operating under the premise of God’s Vision Frame. Whatever our mission, values, strategy, measures, and vision proper may be, they will always be subservient to the Cross.

It is one thing to know this, yet it is another to effectively communicate it to the church you serve. To that end, here are three simple but effective ways to ensure the church you serve is operating according to its Vision Frame within the greater context of God’s Vision Frame.

1. Preach the language. Pulpits, lecterns, music stands, and high-top tables will always rank highly among the most effective means of communication, but all too rarely do preachers and teachers use God’s Vision and the church’s Vision Frame to frame their messages. Embrace that weekly teaching time to show how your unique vision relates to God’s sole mission.
2. Live the language. The apostle Paul unequivocally states that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2). Too often we assume that mind renewal occurs in a classroom, when the reality is that much of our transformation takes place as we experience and share what we are learning. Use the evangelistic and missional experiences you and your people have as a means of connecting them to your Vision Frame and God’s Vision Frame.
3. Study the language. An often overlooked yet powerful opportunity for reinforcing the church’s and God’s Vision Frame into the congregation is through a regular small group gathering for fellowship and Bible study. The problem is that these groups are often dependent upon volunteer leaders, people who often do not know the Vision Frames to the same degree as the church staff. That’s why we recommend smallgroup.com, a custom Bible study tool that gives you and your group leaders access to a vast and growing library of studies you can customize for your group. With smallgroup.com, you can incorporate the language of your Vision Frame and God’s Vision Frame into the fabric of every study your groups complete. Group leaders can be quickly and easily equipped with a study that truly speaks the language of your church and more deeply imbeds your core values into its people.

The Church Unique Vision Frame is a powerful way of understanding your church’s mission and a helpful tool for understanding God’s unfolding plan of redemption for His created world.

How will you go about infusing this truth into the people you serve?

> Learn more about smallgroup.com

Tags: Church Unique Vision Frame, Lifeway Small Groups, The Cross, Vision Frame, small group

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Planning Takes Too Long

by: Dave Bair

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“Planning takes too long. Let’s just get started.”

For most of us, the joy of a project is in the result: the finished product. We may even feel too busy to go through the process of creating a clear plan, wanting to ‘hit the ground running’. But how do you know if you’re running in the right direction? When we start coaching a new church to implement a change, we make a plan. Usually this is a pretty detailed plan with lots of tasks, dependent steps, dates … the whole bit. We often get feedback that this planning process takes too long and they just want to get started. But in my mind, planning equals speed. I know that sounds contradictory, but the key is whether you are in a hurry to start, or to finish. 

What’s the Hurry?

If you are in a hurry to start a project, then planning is indeed a waste and should be ignored. However, let’s first ask what is driving us to be in a hurry.  Here are some common reasons we hear: 

• I have to show ____ I am making progress.
• If we have a plan, we will be forced to follow it, and I want to be more flexible.
• I am new here and need to show them I know what I am doing.
• You just can’t plan this type of work.
• I am an action-oriented person. All this talking just wears me out.

None of those hold water in my mind; they are excuses. There is a time, when exploring a brand new thing nobody has ever done, that plans can be fairly  vague and loose. In fact, sometimes projects are entering into such an unknown territory that making a meaningful plan can be a waste of your time. However, those cases are the exception, not the rule. 

How Does Planning Make Us Faster?

There are four key benefits to a solid plan.

A good plan clarifies direction, scope, and the value of a project before you begin. How many times have you started a project that seemed like a good idea, only to realize halfway through that you can’t even remember why the project was so important? Planning allows you to firm up those reasons and success criteria early. Sometimes creating a plan helps you to realize the project isn’t even worth doing. You just saved yourself and your team a ton of time! The last thing any of us needs in our busy lives is a project we shouldn’t be doing.

A good plan helps us stay focused. This is my favorite reason to make a plan, because I can get so easily distracted. I need tools to help me think only about what is relevant right now. Debating about the color of the carpet in the new sanctuary is not worthwhile when you should be focused on the location of the new building and buying the land.

A good plan helps us to avoid rework. Have you ever heard the phrase “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing over again”? While I have always enjoyed that adage, It bothers me that we behave that way so frequently. Think of the time and costs associated with having to go back and redo something — you could have avoided that rework if you had a good plan. A plan should help you do work in the ‘right’ order. Some tasks can be accomplished any time; others have steps that have to be completed first before moving to the next. A planned workflow can help you be efficient and continue to make progress toward your goal. Think of your new church building: pouring the foundation before you have decided where the electrical and plumbing go would be a real mistake. You would have to tear it out and pour more concrete later when you really had a design. In fact, I worked with a church that failed to think about how they were going to run sound and video cables between the stage and the sound booth, so had to tear up concrete in the floor to lay down cables and then come back and repair the floor.

A good plan show us progress. A plan with some milestones in it allows us to track our progress. That progress status is used to do three things that tend to increase motivation, resources, and speed. 

1. Communicate project status. Sharing with the organization, “We are 30% done on this and we estimate being complete in October” builds clarity and reminds others you are still working and progressing.
2. Celebrate your progress. Some steps are more difficult than others, and when you celebrate completing a difficult challenge, it builds morale within our team. “Yahoo — we reached the end of the design phase!” An encouraged team is more motivated  to focus on the work.
3. Compete for resources. In this world of limited time and resources, we often have to fight to keep the resources we secured at the beginning of the project. Sometimes this can be true in the capital campaign as well. “We still need Bob on our team. Look at all he has done and what other tasks are assigned to him.” Plus this is not only true for human resources but financial commitments as well. At the launch of the project, people committed to give to support it, but if you don’t keep them in the loop on the progress you are making, you run the risk of their getting distracted and putting their money elsewhere. 

Be willing to focus on the outcome you want before starting. Think of that project you are hesitating to start. Make a quick plan … just enough to get started. If this is a big project, find yourself some project management software and someone to drive it.

> Read more from Dave.

Tags: Church Community Builder, Dave Bair, Planning

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11 Secrets Church Leaders Are Struggling With

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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Leadership is a journey…a journey that’s probably different than you thought it would be before you stepped into leadership.

When I was young, I always thought leaders had it all figured out. That the uncertainty would one day disappear once I had more life and leadership under my belt.

But as you eventually learn, it doesn’t really work that way.

In fact, I think most leaders struggle more than they let on. I know personally, at one point or another, I’ve struggled in each of the areas listed below. But, at the time, because I didn’t want to tell anyone how I really felt, I kept mostly quiet.

Looking back, I realize for too long I kept far too much of it to myself.

You know what keeping it to yourself does, right? It leaves you isolated. And the silence gives fear power—power it should never have.

11 Secrets Most Church Leaders Won’t Tell You

Just to let you know you’re not alone, and to break the power of darkness by cracking some daylight, here are 11 secrets most leaders won’t tell you:

1. I’m less secure than I appear

The together exterior doesn’t always match the fragile interior.

Security is a journey for sure…a tough one. Most people don’t like insecure leaders. But insecurity is a trap…the more insecure you are, the more you resist telling anyone you’re insecure. And the more they dislike you.

If it helps, I outline 5 signs you’re an insecure leader in this post, and 5 ways to become a more secure leader here.

I think the best way to start dealing with your insecurity is to admit it, and deal with it. Counsellors’ offices and best friends are great places to start with that by the way. So is prayer.

2. Getting close to God isn’t easy

There’s a particular pressure on pastors and church leaders to have a ‘great’ relationship with God.

But the truth is, our relationship is just like anyone else’s relationship with God. It has ups and downs. Even as a church leader, you go through dry seasons. Okay, maybeespecially as a church leader, you go through dry seasons spiritually.

I think church leaders struggle with God in different ways than most people. I outline those ways here.

3. I’m lonelier than I let on

Leadership is complex and involves going through seasons of unpopularity. It also involves making tough calls that can make you the goat, or at least feel like a goat.

Add to that the fact that most of us who are driven type leaders don’t do relationships easily, and sometimes it’s lonelier than it needs to be.

4. It’s hard at home sometimes

Let’s just say it. Our Instagrams lie. It’s not always easy at home.

It’s gotten better over the years, but there have been seasons in my leadership where my family got too much of my unfiltered stress. Not fair. Not fair at all. But true.

Home is hard. Work is hard. Put the two together in an ill-thought through combination and it can be lethal. I really believe that, in the long run, everything rides on how you lead at home.

5. The criticism hurts

We pretend the criticism doesn’t hurt, but it does, whether we admit it or not.

We put our poker faces on, but deep down it stings.

Tell God. Tell somebody. And don’t let your family bear the brunt of it every time.

There are ways to make criticism sting less, but acknowledging it hurts is a great first step.

6. I’m afraid to ask for what I really want

I’ve usually been pretty forward in my leadership and I’m grateful for an incredibly honest dialogue I have with my staff and elder team where I serve.

But there are seasons where I’ve been afraid to ask for what I really want. And even as I type those words I think “That sounds so selfish.”

But sometimes you just need a vacation. Or, especially when your family is young and you’re just starting out, you need a raise. Or you need more staff. Or you need someone to have your back. Or you need a friend. You’re just afraid to ask.

You know what I’ve found? Almost every time I’ve asked, someone said “Why didn’t you ask sooner? We’d love to help.”

See what secrets and silence do?

7. I’ve thought about leaving even though I’m staying

You’ve thought about leaving, even though you’re staying…true? Of course it’s true, unless you just started last Tuesday, and even then…

Everyone goes through seasons of doubt and questions about the future.

But when you sit in silence with this one for too long, you end up waffling. Not staying, but not leaving either. You end up putting in half an effort, and you’re half the leader you could be.

Brad Lomenick offers some great insight in Episode 27 of my podcast about how to know when it’s time to go, and I outlined 5 signs it’s time to move on in this post.

8. My secret job is nothing like this job

One of the reasons leadership is hard is because you deal with so many intangibles. It’s brain work. People management. Conflict management. Getting people to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.

On bad days, many leaders I know dream of doing something entirely different. For a season, my escape job was to stack boxes in a warehouse. Because at least if you moved a box, it stayed moved.

9. I feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing

Eventually you reach a level of leadership, either because you’ve been at it long enough or because whatever you’re leading got big enough, that you realize there are no clear answers. There just aren’t.

You surrounded yourself with the smartest people you could and you realize that even the smart people don’t know what to do. That’s where real leadership begins—when you feel like you don’t really know what you’re doing, but you keep doing anyway.

That’s how history gets changed. You were just the last person standing, even though inside it felt like sheer confusion.

10. People seem to believe in me more than I believe in myself some days

When you’ve been through #9 enough times, you will be ready to give up believing in yourself. But you look around and realize other people keep believing in you. That’s exactly what you need. You’re likely leading very well if enough of the good people keep believing in you.

So when you stop believing in you, keep believing in the people who believe in you.

11. I thought we would have made more progress by now

You don’t want to say it out loud, but you really do think you would have made more progress by now.

You look at all the overnight successes and think “How come that wasn’t me?” This only works, of course, until you look more closely at the overnight successes only to realize almost all of them were 5-15 years in the making.

The fact that your vision is bigger than your reality is paradoxically a sign that you’re a good leader.

So keep being mildly disappointed, because it will always spur you on to more.

And one day when it’s over you’ll look back and be amazed at how much you actually accomplished.

> Read more from Carey.

Tags: Carey Nieuwhof, Leadership Secrets, Leadership Struggles, church leaders

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10 Ways Buzzwords Are Undermining Your Leadership

by: Philip Nation

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On several occasions when teaching, I’ve noted the difference between buzzwords and leadership. In fact, I think that a key facet of leadership is knowing the difference between a strategy and a collection of buzzwords. In the corporate world, there are a multitude of buzzwords (and phrases) that need to fall out of existence. And, yes, I’m an offending party on several of these.

• Learnings
• Synergistic
• Guru
• Bandwidth
• Thinking outside of the box
• Let’s talk offline
• Deep dive
• Granular
• Come-to-Jesus moment

The list could go on and on. For those who lead in the church, we have a completely other set of buzzwords. The sad thing is that many of the words have an important meaning. Nevertheless, they have become junk-drawer terms that are applied to everything and often come to mean nothing. A short list would be:

• Postmodern
• Missional
• Relevant
• Contemporary
• Gifting
• Resonate
• Gospel

A few of these terms are important to me. They might be important to you. And, yes, I just put “Gospel” on the list. The reason is not that the biblical term has lost its meaning but that it has been so widely applied that others have lost a sense of its meaning. The three questions I have are simple: “When you use that term, what do you mean?” and “Do the people listening to you understand what you are saying?” and “Do they now understand enough to follow where you are leading?” It is a lesson that was driven home for me when I recently traveled to teach at the Kiev Theological Seminary. When leading, we must know these facts.

• Just because you speak does not mean that they heard you.
• Just because they nodded their heads in affirmation does not mean they understand.
• Just because they said they understand does not mean that they agree.
• Just because they agree does not mean that they will do it.

So, as I consider the power and the bane of buzzwords, I would offer these 10 thoughts.

1. Buzzwords begin as a rallying cry and end as words too broadly applied. Leadership constantly looks for fresh ways to keep the movement alive.
2. Buzzwords are a poor substitute for the real content. Leadership offers a vocabulary of meaningful dialogue.
3. Buzzwords give a false sense of momentum when stagnation is the reality. Leadership identifies stagnation and tackles it.
4. Buzzwords are an easy way to say nothing when those who follow you need to hear something. Leadership shows the willingness to have the difficult conversations.
5. Buzzwords kill the meaning of a movement. Leadership continues to give life to a movement.
6. Buzzwords are the escape hatch for the speaker who is unprepared. Leadership finds a way to be the most prepared person in the movement.
7. Buzzwords provide a facade of being knowledgeable. Leadership actually learns.
8. Buzzwords give false hope of a possible future. Leadership tells a beautiful and detailed story of what can be.
9. Buzzwords are big ideas boiled down to the lowest common denominator of thought. Leadership offers everyone a way to access the big ideas and bring understanding to them.
10. Buzzwords make important words eventually seem disposable. Leadership redeems the important meaning of words and phrases.

Read more from Philip here.

Tags: Attention, Language, Philip Nation

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5 Keys for Building Ministry Momentum

by: Rich Birch

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There are seasons in your ministry when you can feel momentum happening … it seems like things are just flowing a little easier and the energy of the church is pushing the ministry forward. I’ve lead in ministries where the momentum is tangible … every step does seem to be easier than the one before.

However, I’ve also lead in contexts where we don’t have momentum … everything seems to be an uphill push. In a church without momentum every step is more difficult than the one before. Gaining and keeping momentum is a difficult process for church leaders.

Here are a few dynamics that I’ve observed about momentum through my years of ministry leadership.

• 150 Weekends // We all want things to turn around quickly at our churches … but in my experience sustained momentum takes about 3 years to generate. It doesn’t happen in a month or a season or even a year. Distracted leaders have a hard time generating momentum in their churches because they are always pursuing the next shiny object. Your church is getting the results from the efforts it has been focusing on for the last few years. Does your leadership team have the perseverance to focus over an extended period of time?
• Focus. Focus. Focus. // By definition you can’t gain momentum in wide variety of areas. You need to be focus your time, effort and energy on just a few things. Looking to improve the musical worship portion of your weekend experiences? You’ll need to think and act about that every week and almost ignore other areas. Have you narrowed the focus of your church leadership enough so it’s understood what you are trying to push forward? 
• You’ll Need to Be Unpopular // To gain momentum unlike any other church you know … you’ll need to do stuff that no-one else is doing. You’ll need to make decisions and calls that might seem counter intuitive because innovation is the road less traveled. Most churches don’t have momentum … so you’ll need to do things that most churches aren’t doing. People will question what you are doing … why you aren’t like every other church around you. What are you thinking about trying that seems a bit crazy that might just help push forward your church?
• Obsess About the Details // Small wins matters. Someone needs to keep their eye on what happens regularly in the details of your church. Sustained momentum is created by 1,000,000 small things all pushing the same direction … each of those little things pushes towards the end goal of moving the church forward. Have you inspired, informed and empowered your team to get the details right at your church?
• Iterate towards Innovation // Chances are that the areas that you are trying to gain momentum in that other churches have already spend a bunch of time figuring out. Rather than dreaming up what you think you should learn from other churches who have already solved the issue. Talk with them and understand the mistakes they’ve made along the road. Don’t just copy and paste from their church to yours … but adopt their practices and modify them to fit your culture. Which churches should you spend time learning from this year?

Read more from Rich here.

Tags: Momentum, Rich Birch

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