Tag Archive - communication

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What’s Wrong With Big Churches? Part-2

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Some time ago I asked a simple question to the readers here at Helping Churches Make Vision Real, “What’s wrong with big churches?” As you can imagine I received some emotionally charged answers. But as I sifted through the responses there were 10 key issues that kept coming up.

In Part-1 of this post I briefly described each of these common criticisms of large churches with no added personal commentary, which I promised to add later. In this post I offer a few of my own thoughts and brief response to each of these top 10 complaints I received about large churches. If you want to understand my comments in context then read part-1 of the post.

#1 “It’s Difficult to Connect with People”

I’ve seen a lot of small seemingly friendly churches where it’s difficult to “break in” and connect. There is a big difference between being a friendly church and a church where you have friends. The key is does the church have a strategy to help guests take the next step towards involvement and discipleship?

#2 “The Pastor doesn’t Know Me”

One of the reasons that the average church in America has less than 80 people in attendance is because that’s the amount of people that one pastor can typically take care of by themselves. Jethro gave his son-in-law Moses some great advice in Exodus 18:13-26. Stop trying to do all of the work of leading God’s people alone. They shouldn’t all be coming to you. It’s bad for you and it’s bad for them. Learn to delegate and empower other leaders to join you and share the burden of leadership (paraphrase).

#3 “It’s all about the Budget and the Buildings”

Generosity is one of the key indicators of spiritual maturity. A church that doesn’t consistently talk about and lead their people to be generous is going to have a difficult time funding the expansion of the Gospel.

#4 “The Staff are always Changing”

In a growing church there are always going to be new staff added as a part of the growth. There will also naturally be staff that fit during a particular season who simply don’t have the capacity to lead in the next season of ministry as the church grows and a different skill-set is needed.

#5 “They only care about Numbers not Discipleship”

Simply put growth and numbers matter. Every number has a name and every name has a story. It’s important for churches to count people because people count. I’d rather see more people in a church than less people in a church and I’d rather see more people in heaven, than less people in heaven.

#6 “They Build Consumers not Disciples”

Spiritual maturity probably isn’t what you think it is. It’s not an emotional experience, an intellectual exercise, or acquiring more knowledge. Jesus tells a parable about two houses that were built, one on a foundation of sand and the other on a stone foundation. In both cases the builders heard the Word of God, but only one of the builders put what he heard into action. Could it be that spiritual depth according to the Scriptures is simply putting God’s Word into action? It’s not what you know it’s what you do with what you know.

#7 “They’ve turned the Church into a Business”

You’re right, the Church isn’t a business; it’s the body and bride of Christ. But that doesn’t mean that great financial stewardship, planning and strategies, structure, good operational or human resource practices are unbiblical. Read the book of Proverbs. The church hasn’t ripped off the business world; the business world has ripped off the book of Proverbs. It’s time we take it back and lead more wisely.

#8 “The Sermons are a Mile Wide & an Inch Deep”

Effective communicators understand how to take complex ideas and make them simple to understand and applicable to everyday life. Jesus was a master at this, and He was actually winsome in his approach. The Pharisees didn’t think Jesus was very deep either. They just thought He knew how to attract a crowd. You can’t do much with a crowd of people if you don’t know how to attract a crowd

#9 “All they care about is the Weekend Show”

The number 1 reason that people come to church in America is that a friend invites them. And research shows that 7 out of 10 people who don’t attend church in America have never been invited to church. Wow. The easiest way to share Jesus with the people that matter most to you is to invite them to a church that shares the Gospel and gives people the opportunity to respond and say yes to following Jesus.

#10 “They’re really Lousy at Communication”

I got nothing here…yes, churches are notorious for being lousy at communication. Not just large churches but all churches. Size just complicates and exasperates it. Check out this video interview I did with Tony Morgan to learn more about improving communication at your church.

Posted in Leadership

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The 5 Most Common Core Issues Facing the Church Today

Sunday, September 13, 2015

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Tony Morgan to discuss one of the Top 5 Core Issues Facing the Church Today. We discussed both internal and external communications.

You see at The Unstuck Group we’ve worked with a lot of churches in the last couple of years, and we’ve started seeing some trends in the core issues that keep coming up. So, we conducted a small research project to identify the top five most common core issues of the churches we’ve worked with in the last year.

When we work with a church on strategic planning using the StratOp process, the church ultimately discovers several “core issues” they believe are the most important things holding them back from being the church God has called them to be. After identifying those areas, they can make plans that will actually move them forward.

Here they are:

#1 Spiritual Formation

#2 Communications

#3 Mission/Vision

#4 Small Groups

#5 Leadership Development

Interested in learning more? You can follow this link to get the videos and further detail on how your church can dig into each of these 5 core issues.

Posted in Leadership

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10 Ways Your Church Can Leverage Periscope

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Ever since my wife and I went to the U2 show in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago and saw Periscope used on screen during the concert I’ve been experimenting a little bit with this new social media tool. Surprisingly I’ve found that there are some great applications for the local church.

1. Put your Staff Culture on Display

Do a quick scope of a Staff Meeting, Strategy Session, Teaching Team meeting, or walk around the church office and interview various team members about why they love working at the church.

2. Celebrate Volunteerism

Everybody knows that what you celebrate gets repeated. So why not do a quick scope each week of the “Volunteer of the Week?” Show them live in action and do a quick interview about the ministry they volunteer with and what they love about volunteering at your church.

3. Offer a Sneak Peak into a Small Group

Sometimes joining a Small Group can be a big step, even intimidating. Do a quick scope of a group live in action in someone’s home. Take the intimidation factor away by allowing people to see what’s it’s like before they go.

4. Communicate with Leaders

You can do a private scope and include the leaders you want to in the conversation. This is way better than a group text (I hate group texting)! Bonus: it stays up & available for 24 hours for those who missed it!

5. Humanize your Church Staff

Interview your Church Staff about them and their story. Not about leadership, not about the church, but their story.

6. Preview the Weekend Worship Services

Show a bit of the weekend rehearsal so people know what to expect, what they’re inviting their friends to, and why they don’t want to miss out.

7. Devotion

The church I serve at does a daily written devotion on our church app. But a church could just as easily do a scope of a daily devotional thought that’s available for 24 hours for everyone to check out.

8. Introduce People to the Church Facility

Give people a quick tour of the campus so guests know what to expect before they come. Where should they park, where should they check in their kids, how do they navigate the facility for the first time?

9. Promotion

You can use a quick scope to promote what’s going on at the church that week. It’s a quick, easy, culturally relevant way for people to opt in to communication and not get spam in their email inbox.

10. Have Fun!

Show the crazy antics that happen backstage with the band during the service, or the office pranks that happen in the workplace, or just the fun stuff you do as a staff team together. If you don’t have fun together as a team…well…this can be an excuse to start having some fun together! People want to be a part of something that’s fun!

There are probably more applications for churches to use Periscope than this, but this is what came to mind. What else would you add to the list? Leave a comment!

Posted in Creative Arts, Leadership

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Building an Effective Central Services Team in a Multisite Church Model

Sunday, May 17, 2015

If you’re leading in a multisite church or if you’re thinking about becoming a multisite church, at some point you’re going to have to make some big decisions about the role of your Central Service Team. Somewhere along the way you’re going to be faced with building a Central Service Team, Ministry Development Team or All Campus Staff Team…different churches attach a different label to it. But essentially it’s a centralized team of people tasked with supporting decentralized campuses that are geographically separated. Think of it as a matrix leadership model. The Central Service Team influences each campus while the Campus Pastors are responsible for the ministry on each of their respective campuses. Through learning from other great friends in the multisite world and facing this personally in the context I lead in, there are four (4) healthy perspectives of a great Central Services Team that I’ve discovered.

1. Content:

This team ensures that content is the same across campuses. This includes teaching on the stage during the weekend services, as well as content for Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry, Small Groups and so on. One of the powerful benefits of a multisite model is that great teaching can be delivered to each campus no matter their size or location. Instead of taking time to “recreate the wheel,” specific campus staff can focus their attention on leading volunteers, developing the ministries, and shepherding the congregation.

2. Consistency:

The Central Service Team is also tasked with working to make sure that ministry best practices are consistent on each campus. One of the other great strengths of a multisite model is the opportunity it brings to replicate learnings from innovation. As you launch new campuses in new communities you’re going to face unforeseen obstacles. Those obstacles will force you to innovate, and every campus will have the opportunity to benefit from it. Consistent ministry practice will allow you to ramp up efficiency, drive down cost, and allow newer campuses to learn from the mistakes of others who have gone before them.

3. Communication:

As you have more and more campuses, communication will have the tendency to become more and more difficult. That’s where your Central Service Team comes into play. They have the opportunity to develop the processes to keep everyone on the same page. Whether it’s the business department, the weekend worship team, kids ministry, small group, or missions. This team uses cascading communication strategies to help everyone stay on the same page, moving the same direction.

4. Consultant & Coach:

There are a couple of characteristics you’re looking for in a Central Services Team Member. But one of the most valuable to me is the ability to take on the posture of a coach or a consultant and to know when to do which. A consultant offers expert outside input and allows the individual to choose to implement or not. The consultant is not responsible for the implementation. Great coaches can see things the player can’t see while they’re on the field and they help the player break down game film and get better. It’s more hands on than consulting. Either way great consultants get invited back and recommended to others while players keep coming back to great coaches for input on their game. That’s what I’m looking for. People whose input and presence are welcomed by campus staff.

Photo Credit: kevin dooley via Compfight cc

Posted in Leadership

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What makes a Great Campus Pastor a Great Campus Pastor?

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Leading in a multisite setting I’m often asked by other church leaders, “What makes a great Campus Pastor a great Campus Pastor?” Often times when a church is thinking about moving to a multisite model the last thing they’re thinking about is who is going to be their next Campus Pastor. They’re stuck on logistics and most just assume they’ll stick an existing up and coming staff member on the next campus and hope for the best. That’s great IF you have the right person on the team already, but this can also be a fatal flaw. Trust me, I know and I’ve lived it. So here are 7 things I’m looking for when I’m looking for a Campus Pastor.

1. Relational Skills

They can influence people. They can influence people younger than themselves, they can influence their peers, and they can influence people older than themselves. Influence comes through trust and trust is given in the context of relationship. If they don’t have the relational skills to build trust with the congregation they’ll never be able to influence the congregation to move forward in a particular direction.

 2. Communication

They’re a good communicator. I’m not saying they have to be a good preacher, unless that’s how you are planning on handling the weekend teaching in your multisite model. But they have to be an effective communicator on stage, in large groups, in smaller groups, and one-on-one. A litmus test you can use to discover this is can they connect the mission/vision to funding? Can they talk about money from the stage and have people respond?

3. Lead Through Others

Great Campus Pastors don’t just delegate tasks they empower people. They don’t do everything themselves rather they get things done through other people. They know how to manage large multifaceted projects through robust teams and accomplish the stated goals. They know the team outperforms the individual every time.

4. Development

They don’t just lead through relationship they lead through development. In other words people don’t follow them just because they like them and enjoy them relationally but because they are developed into better leaders and better people by following them. They don’t just attract talent they develop talent.

5. Driven

They have a bias towards action. They are movement oriented and wake up every day thinking about moving things towards the vision.

6. They Deliver

They’ve already demonstrated the ability to deliver. They’ve built something from concept to completion; they’re not a novice. They’ve already done, what you want them to do. They know how to execute decisions and implement strategies.

 7. Culture

They don’t just know the mission, vision and values of the church but they live them out in their own lives. It’s not that they can simply repeat these things, but they deeply understand them, leading by making decisions through the lens of the core and unique identity of the church.

Interested in learning more about the role of a Campus Pastor? Check out this post: What is a Campus Pastor? Also you can take a look at a sample job description for a Campus Pastor here.

Photo Credit: kevin dooley via Compfight cc

Posted in Leadership
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