10 Articles that will Help your Church Make Vision Real

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Thank you for making June another great month here at Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s great staying connected with you through social media and hearing that these articles have been helpful. So, thank you for connecting with me through the content on this blog! You made these the top posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

4 Bad Habits that Young Church Leaders Need to Break

Before you read this, please understand that I love and am for young leaders. After all, I was one once. But there are some really bad habits that young church leaders are exhibiting that need to be broken if they have any hope or chance of having the deep and broad Kingdom impact that they’re dreaming of.

10 Insider Focused Ministry Names

Still my all-time most popular post in 5+ years of blogging: The language we choose to use is important because it both reflects and builds culture at the same time. And one of the most obvious ways to tell if a church is insider focused or outsider focused is the language that they choose to use. It either says that the church is “inclusive” or “exclusive.”

How many Staff should your Church have on Staff?

Before you buy into the idea that you need another staff person at your church, think again. That just may be the worst decision you make at your church this year.

If it’s not on a Screen it’s not Multisite

It may be multi-congregational or even a family of churches, but it’s not a multisite church.

Why Crisis is a Leaders Best Friend

If you lead in a church long enough eventually you’re going to face a crisis. It may be a staff crisis, a financial crisis, a moral crisis, a personal crisis or even a crisis of faith. One of the differences between good church leaders and great church leaders is that while good church leaders manage through crisis a great church leader never lets a serious crisis go to waste.

Why Churches don’t Change

Churches don’t change. In fact most churches avoid changing at all cost, even if it means not growing. It’s so bad that I’ve seen churches choose to close their doors over choosing to change. Below are 6 common reasons I’ve observed why churches choose not to change. One of these might be why your church won’t change.

When is the Right Time to Restructure your Church Staff?

One of the most common lids to growth in a church is structure. It can free you up to move toward the vision that God has given your church or it can chain you to the past. Either way, it’s your choice. But how do you know if a restructure is in your future? These helpful tips below will help you get going in the right direction.

Managing the Tension between Culture and Control in a Multisite Church

When you break it down, there are only two core approaches to multisite alignment. You can either lead through culture or you can lead through control. Which approach is best for your multisite team? Understanding their five differences can help you decide:

Vision is a Destination NOT a Statement

Vision is a destination, not a statement. Many churches spend an incredible amount of time wordsmithing pithy vision statements instead of providing a clear picture of where they’re going. What a majority of churches view as their vision statement is usually a mission statement.

8 Reasons Why People Don’t Volunteer at your Church

I’ve never worked with a church that has said they don’t need more volunteers. But I’ve worked with a bunch of churches that have trouble getting people to volunteer and stay engaged volunteering. This is a critical issue for churches to figure out. The reason why this has to be a front-burner issue is because at the heart of it, volunteering is an essential component of the discipleship process in someone’s life. Plainly put, volunteering is discipleship. Understanding that, here are 8 reasons people aren’t volunteering in your church…and subsequently aren’t growing in their relationship with God.

Photo Credit: justin fain via Compfight cc

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Why Churches don’t Change

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Churches don’t change. In fact most churches avoid changing at all cost, even if it means not growing. It’s so bad that I’ve seen churches choose to close their doors over choosing to change. Below are 6 common reasons I’ve observed why churches choose not to change. One of these might be why your church won’t change.

Procrastination

Churches find themselves talking about the same issues they’ve been talking about for years. Instead of making decisions and doing the hard work of dealing with those issues they’re sitting around waiting on a silver bullet, innovative idea that will never come but if it did it would magically solve all of their problems.

Structure

Churches don’t change because their structure won’t allow it. They can’t make decisions in a timely manner because there are too many boards, committees, polity to wade through, and church votes to take to actually do anything.

Focus

Churches are more focused on taking care of the sheep then they are inviting new people to the family. They make decisions based on who they are trying to keep rather than who they’re trying to reach.

Desire

Churches don’t want to change. They like things the way they are. They like knowing everyone at church, they like singing the same songs, they like the warm blanket and safety and security of knowing what to expect. In a world that is constantly changing around them they pride themselves on never changing.

Money

Churches don’t change because of money. If they really did change then the people who are funding the church might leave and stop giving. So they keep things the way they are

Fear

Churches are afraid of leading through change. The tough thing about leadership is that eventually you have to lead. It takes real courage to receive criticism, some of it fanatical in a church setting, and keep moving in the direction the Lord has asked you to go.

Want to change your church? Engage the Unstuck Group and let us help you grow your impact through church consulting and coaching experiences designed to focus vision, strategy and action.

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Why Crisis is a Leaders Best Friend

Sunday, June 5, 2016

If you lead in a church long enough eventually you’re going to face a crisis. It may be a staff crisis, a financial crisis, a moral crisis, a personal crisis or even a crisis of faith. One of the differences between good church leaders and great church leaders is that while good church leaders manage through crisis a great church leader never lets a serious crisis go to waste.

1. Crisis is an Opportunity for Change

Crisis is neither good or bad, it’s simply an opportunity to change things. In fact the best leaders know how to create healthy crisis in order to build a sense of urgency within people and the organization that can lead to change and forward movement.

2. Crisis Defines Reality

Crisis is a barometer. It helps you understand where you are, what your strengths and weaknesses are as a church, a staff team, and a leader. But you have to be willing to see it. You have to be willing to avoid deflecting blame, criticism, and begin to listen and take personal responsibility. Crisis will show you what you’re really made of, and it will show you what your team and the organization you lead is made of as well.

3. Crisis puts a Spotlight on Leadership

When crisis hits, all eyes are on the leader. Crisis is an incredible opportunity for leaders to build trust by delivering results and following through.

4. Crisis is a Catalyst for Innovation

Crisis creates opportunity for innovation. New ideas thrive in crisis. Problem solvers come alive when pressure is applied and they’re faced with daunting circumstances.

5. Crisis Infuses Courage

Comfort is the enemy of courage. When things are going smoothly and everything is routine it takes very little courage (faith) to lead a church. Crisis jump starts the kind of courage it takes to lead a church.

Change doesn’t happen in a church that’s stuck simply because the leader says things must change. A crisis, or a perceived crisis, has to be great enough to provide enough pressure that will help everyone be ready for change.

Posted in Leadership

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Why Some Churches Win But Most Lose

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Not every church is winning. In fact Thom Rainer, President and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources has stated in his research that: “Eight out of ten of the approximately 400,000 churches in the United States are declining or have plateaued.”

There are a lot of reasons why 80% of churches in America aren’t winning and there’s no “silver bullet” fix. But there are a couple of things that winning churches consistently do that losing churches don’t.

1. They make Decisions based on Who they are trying to Reach Instead of Who they are trying to Keep

The primary filter for winning churches is “What can we do (short of sin) to reach people who are far from Jesus?” You may think that all these churches care about is evangelism and helping people meet Jesus (Is that so bad?), and that leads to the church being a mile wide and an inch deep. But surprisingly these churches are usually very sensitive to helping people who have recently said yes to following Jesus take their next steps in their spiritual journey with Him. If a church isn’t reaching new people then it’s already dying, it just hasn’t shown up yet.

2. They Embrace Change

Winning churches embrace change. They change their staff and organizational structure. They change their worship style. They change their strategies. They change what ministries they offer. They are incessantly tinkering to try and improve what they do to reach new people with the Gospel. They take big risks because they have a big God and they trust Him for big results. They are not afraid to try new things. They’re not afraid to fail.

3. They don’t just Shepherd People well they Lead People

While the staff at winning churches care deeply about people, they don’t view themselves as simply caretakers and they don’t view their role as simply taking care of people. They view themselves as leaders and feel a responsibility to lead people where Jesus wants them to go even if that means it’s going to be uncomfortable. After all, when was following Jesus ever comfortable?

4. They Help People take Steps not get into a Class

Most winning churches I’ve been around aren’t as interested in biblically educating people as they are challenging people to become obedient to the biblical knowledge they already have. They view discipleship as obedience not information. Winning churches have a clear plan to move people from guests to fully involved and people that say yes to Jesus to following Jesus. Their goal isn’t to simply get people into a class.

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Staffing

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Is your Church like Walmart?

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Walmart, with all of it’s success as a company, has continued to come under public criticism in recent years. A quick Google Search will provide a litany of articles about the company devaluing employees in order to pad bottom lines and the big box store “gobbling up” smaller local retailers when they move into a new community. It seems like every town in America has a Walmart. But with all of their expansion and financial success is Walmart headed in the right direction?

I recently read an article in Forbes that suggested despite all of their success the future looks bleak for Walmart. Past wins don’t necessitate future success. Here are a few highlights that made me think about churches that have experienced success in the past but are on the verge of of painful future. Most of them, like Walmart, will never see it coming. Will you?

1. Poor Staff Culture

The church naturally takes on and reflects the culture of the staff. If your church has a hard time keeping Staff, if Staff are viewed more as a commodity to be spent or allocated to get to the vision instead of people to be developed your staff culture will erode. Eventually eroding the culture of your church.

2. Majoring on the Minors

If your tendency is to micromanage when things don’t go according to plan instead of taking ownership and rethinking strategy, your church may very well be headed for decline.

3. More interested in Growth instead of following Jesus

Don’t misunderstand me, I am firmly in the camp that if you’re following Jesus your church will grow. Because Jesus wants His Church to grow. He’d rather more people know Him than less. But if you’re more fixated on growth than obedience to calling and following Jesus then you’re already drifting towards decline…it just hasn’t shown up yet.

4. Refusing to Change

It’s difficult and often painful to navigate change in a church setting. But what’s even more painful for everyone is to have Sr. Leaders refuse to change and doggedly remain steadfast in direction when all the signs point to a needed change in strategy.

5. Lack of Sober-mindedness

When you’ve accumulated a winning track record it’s possible to begin to believe your press clippings. Be careful though. All of those accolades can assist you in losing touch with reality and fuel an undisciplined pursuit of more. Be mindful that you remain courageous enough to listen to the truth and act accordingly.

Has your church become like Walmart? Is what used to work not working anymore? Are you in a growth stall? The Unstuck Group can help you define reality by using a proven method to assess the health of your church and build a new strategy for the future.

Posted in Leadership