Tag Archive - courage

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5 Characteristics of Churches that Change

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Over the past 7 years working with the Unstuck Group I’ve consulted with all kinds of churches. Small churches, large churches, single site churches and multisite churches, churches that are denominationally entrenched and non-denominational churches, urban churches, rural churches and yes suburban churches.

Many of those churches have gone on to get unstuck and produce all kinds of great fruit, seeing many people meet Jesus and experiencing a reinvigorated season of ministry.

Unfortunately, not every church gets unstuck, but for those that do there are some common characteristics that I’ve observed.

Personal Ownership

Churches that change and get unstuck take personal ownership. They don’t blame previous leaders, they don’t blame the economy, they don’t blame what’s happening in their community, they don’t blame the people attending the church, and they don’t even blame the devil. Churches that change get to the point where they stop making excuses for not growing and reaching new people for Jesus. These churches don’t play the role of a victim. These church leaders intuitively know that you can’t change what you can’t control…and they know you can’t control much…but you can control your attitude, your effort, and your approach. These churches are willing to change all three of those things.

Justice Oriented

Somewhere along the line the leaders of churches that experience real genuine change acquire a holy discontent with the status quo. They begin to see that staying where they are and doing things the way they’ve been doing them would actually be wrong. Maybe even sinful. A sense of justice rises up in them prompting them forward to a new future with a different approach that produces different results.

Courage

Churches that actually change understand that change is going to be difficult. They know that it’s going to be painful. They know that not everyone is going to go with them on this new journey to reach people far from Jesus. They often times even admit that it’s going to be a bit scary. They simply have the courage to do it anyway.

Action Oriented

Often times these churches have gotten stuck because they’ve been risk adverse or more oriented towards keeping people they already have happy as opposed to doing new things to reach new people. Every church that I’ve seen change and get unstuck has adopted a new approach that has required them to take new action.

Strong Point Leadership

Something that I consistently see in churches that get unstuck and change is that they’re led by strong Sr. Pastors. Now don’t hear what I’m not saying. They’re not all led by dynamic communicators or incredibly gifted leaders. But they are led by Sr. Pastors who are strong and are willing to leverage whatever gifts God has given them to move the ball forward. Often times that simply means that they’ve accumulated relational trust over a long period of time and they’re willing to cash that trust in to move the church forward. Instead of riding off quietly into the sunset they’re willing to go out with their guns blazing so to speak.

Posted in Leadership

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How Church People can Wreck a Church Plant

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

New churches reach new people, right? That’s the prevailing thought. Unfortunately, the prevailing thought doesn’t always prevail. I’ve talked to plenty of church planters who were excited to plant and reach new people in a new community only to open their doors and find their new church flooded with disgruntled church people who left their old church hoping that this new church would be more of what they want and meet their needs better.

There’s a lot wrong with that picture, and it would take a much higher word count than I have to use in this short blog post to fully unpack. Perhaps the biggest hurdle to overcome in that scenario (which is super common by the way) is that all of those people coming from other churches are coming with their own agenda and expectations of what they want from you.

So, what do you do when your new church plant is flooded with disgruntled church people from other churches that hope you’re going to be the perfect new church for them (by the way some people make a career out of that…it’s called church hopping)?

Be Clear about the Vision

Vision both attracts and repels at the same time. The clearer you can be with unique vision that God has given you, the more likely it is that the right people will stay, and the right people will go. Don’t be naïve, there are, “the right people,” for both of those options. They key is consistently and creatively weaving your vision into everything you do so people are confronted with it early and often. The earlier they opt in or opt out the better off you will be and the better off they will be. If your vision is to build a church of disgruntled church folks and try to make them happy, then by all means embrace them (and let me be the first one to say good luck). But if the vision is to reach people who are unfamiliar with Jesus with the Gospel, then let them go, and let them go quickly.

Be Courageous

Courage is the prerequisite for Biblical leadership. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to say yes to following Jesus and lead other people to go there with you. Humility is the other side of that coin by the way, in fact humility is courage before it’s needed. As a planter you’re going to need a significant amount of courage to lead yourself and others somewhere you’ve never been. It takes courage to say no to people when everyone thinks they know what the next best step for the church is or the next great ministry you should start. Especially when fear wells up in you that people may leave if you don’t appease them. It will require courage to say no to good opportunities in order to say yes to the best opportunities and it will require courage to say no to short cuts that may get you somewhere quickly but erode your leadership in the long run.

Be Slow to Appoint Leadership

Go slow, go slow, go slow, go slow. Don’t appoint a leader too quickly, especially in the early moments and years of a plant. It takes time to build culture and create owners instead of fans. The earlier you invite new people to be on a Board or prominent leadership role the more likely those people are going to come with their own agendas and have the potential to highjack the vision. You’d be wiser to invite outside trusted pastors to serve on an external board until you have time to establish the culture and develop internal board members. You’d also be wise to spend time developing a core team of people prior to launch who will serve as ministry volunteers and leaders.

Posted in Leadership

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What Separates Good Church Leaders from Great Church Leaders

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Leadership can’t be taught in a classroom, it can’t be learned by ready books, it can’t be developed by sitting around drinking coffee (or whatever your favorite beverage of choice is) and pontificating about leadership ideas, and it certainly can’t be acquired by arm chair quarterbacking other leaders.

The Bible teaches us that leadership is actually a spiritual gift. A spiritual gift that isn’t given to everyone. But even among church leaders there is a difference between good ones and great ones.

Over the past 20+ years of full-time ministry and 5+ years of consulting with churches and coaching church leaders around the country there are a few characteristics that I’ve observed that separate good church leaders from great church leaders.

*Note: I’m working with the basic assumption that these church leaders demonstrate character and are personally following Jesus.  

Courage

Great church leaders have the courage to do the right thing even when it’s unpopular or difficult. They’re willing to make difficult decisions, or experience difficult outcomes for the sake of the mission.

Timing

Great church leaders understand sequencing and the art of timing. They’re playing chess not checkers. They understand when the timing is right to implement change and who to involve in that change.

Determination

Great church leaders don’t give up. They are determined to stick with things even when they don’t go well. They get back up when they fail (yes even great church leaders fail sometimes). They’re in it for the long haul and often times simply outlast their critics.

Inspiration

Great church leaders have the unique ability to persuade others to join them in the vision God has given them. They inspire people to take action and get personally involved.

Inner Circle

Great church leaders surround themselves with other great leaders. They don’t lead alone. They don’t lead alone because they’re chasing something that is bigger than one person can do alone. Not only does it take a team, but it takes a great team. Great church leaders attract great team members because they aren’t intimidated by other great leaders.

Posted in Leadership

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Bringing your Blind Spots into Focus

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Have you ever experienced someone talking on speakerphone or face-timing in public? This has happened to me twice lately. In both cases not only was it distracting and rude to everyone around these people but they were totally unaware of how obnoxious their behavior was and how others perceived them in the moment.

That’s usually how blind spots work. They show up at work, at home, in our casual friendships, and in our most meaningful relationships. Everyone sees them but us. That’s why they’re called blind spots. But just because you have them, doesn’t mean you can’t bring those blind spots into focus. Here’s a couple tips to try out this week.

Get Outside Help

If you really want to begin to bring your blind spots into focus you’re going to need help. You can’t do this alone, because you don’t live on the other side of you. You know your thoughts, intentions, and motivations. You know what you mean when you do what you do. Others just experience what you do. Ask other people that you trust and who know you and aren’t afraid to tell you the truth what your blind spots are…and then don’t fight back…just listen.

Humility

Discovering your blind spots requires humility. It means listening more than talking. It means looking introspectively at you instead of at others. It means working on you instead of a project or your team. And it inherently means you’re going to have to come face to face with some things about yourself that aren’t going to be pleasant or easy to face down.

Pay Attention to Pain

Pain is an incredible gift from God. It tells us that something is wrong and needs to change. When you experience pain in a relationship or at work one of the most important questions you can ask yourself is, “What did I do to contribute to this problem?”

“Rule of 3’s”

If someone tells you something once, it’s easy to brush it off as his or her isolated opinion of one unique interaction with you. If a theme gets developed and it comes up more than once, say three times, then pay attention to it. Maybe it’s not everybody else maybe it’s you.

Courage

Once you’ve been made aware of a blind spot you have a choice, and the choice hinges on courage. You can choose to ignore it or you can choose to do something about it. But be warned, if it’s really a blind spot it’s going to be really tough to work on, because it’s not going to come natural. That’s why it’s a blind spot. But without courage you don’t simply choose to be blind you choose to stay blind.

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Staffing

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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.

Posted in Leadership
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