6 Indicators You’re Leading an Insider Focused Church

Tag Archive - giving

6 Indicators You’re Leading an Insider Focused Church

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

How do you know if you’re leading an insider-focused church? Here are 6 indicators that you and your team can use to evaluate your church:

#1 Language

The language you choose to use is important because it both reflects and builds culture at the same time. There are all kinds of ways this goes wrong in churches. Coming up with cool names and brands for ministries that mean nothing to people outside the church, sub-branding things to death, and mentioning people from stage by name without explaining who they are just a couple of them. Two big principles to keep in mind when it comes to the language you choose to use in your church are: clear always trumps cute or cool and you’re always better off just calling things what they are.

#2 High giving-per-head

It may sound counter-intuitive but in growing outsider focused churches I consistently see giving-per-head numbers around $20-$30 per person. In churches that are stuck and insider focused it’s not uncommon to see giving-per-head numbers between $30-$50 per person.

#3 No Way-finding

At one church I visited I had no idea where to take my children. Everyone else seemed to know where to go but us. When we asked for help we were told to go to the “B-Building.” While the person who helped us was polite and came off as genuinely interested in helping us I had no idea what or where the “B-Building” was. Even worse there was no signage directing us to the “B-Building” or anything else for that matter. You’d be amazed how well placed, clear, directional signage and calling things what they are (i.e. Children’s Center, Student Center, Office, Worship Center) can help guests find their way on your campus.

#4 No clear Spiritual Maturity Pathway

Most churches are hoping that people outside of the faith will somehow miraculously jump in on what the church is already doing for existing members of the church. The problem is that just doesn’t happen. Have you clearly defined what you want people to look like who are walking with Jesus and created clear steps for them to get there?

#5 Few Baptisms/Conversions

Insider focused churches have a tendency to criticize growing churches, as if to say “They are doing something wrong and aren’t preaching the Word.” Essentially saying that if they were doing things “right” and “preaching the Word” they wouldn’t be growing.

#6 Poor Guest Services

My first week attending a church that I had recently gone on staff at we showed up trying to discover where to take my children for the Children’s Ministry (are you sensing a theme here?). A Children’s Staff Member shouted and pointed from down the hallway. There was no one to help us get where we needed to go, including that staff member who kept walking the other direction after they had yelled at us. The ironic thing is they had a great children’s ministry. Developing a culture of guest services in your church begins with developing a culture of guest services among your staff.

If none of those ideas resonate with you, here’s something that should push you towards taking a serious look at evaluating the church you’re leading. Don’t forget that you can still be growing and be insider focused; it’s called being the best Christian show in town.

Posted in Leadership

3 Reasons People don’t Give to your Church

Sunday, March 17, 2013

A few months back I did a series of posts on 6 big ideas about “Engaging the Givers in your Church.” And just like there are real actionable steps that churches can take to engage givers, there are also things that churches do to repel givers. More often than not they’re doing these things and they don’t even know it. So below are three guaranteed generosity killers that are running rampant in churches today.

1. Ingratitude

You’d be surprised how infrequently churches take the time to say thank you to people who financially support the ministry. And you’d probably also be as equally surprised how far a simple thank you will go. Here are a few suggestions you can put into action this week to change that: 1) Make sure every time a person gives for the first time to the ministry of your church that they get a letter to acknowledge their gift and say thank you. 2) Each week send a handwritten personal note to each person who gives a generous gift to the ministry. 3) Say thank you from the stage and celebrate the generosity of your church when they’re generous. When you don’t say thank you what you’re saying is you don’t care.

2. Waste, or the Perception of Waste

When people feel that their financial gift and sacrifice is being used in a wasteful manner they will pull their funding in a heartbeat. What I’m not saying is that everything should be value engineered, that isn’t the highest goal. But when funds aren’t used in a strategic manner that clearly advances the mission, that’s wasteful. No doubt having the right tool for the job is important. But don’t confuse the fact that extravagance is not the same thing as excellence.

3. Duplicity

When you say you are going to use a particular offering for one need and then turn around and use it for something else you break trust. And trust is the foundation for leadership. Simply put, people don’t give to ministries that don’t have a high level of trust in.

What else have you seen churches do that discourage giving? What would you add to the list? Leave a comment!

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

Engaging the Givers in your Church Part-2

Monday, January 14, 2013

Yesterday I posted the first three ideas and principles in this list to help you engage the givers at your church more effectively. Below are the next three as well as some recommended resources to help you along the way!

4. Personal Touch

Please hear me clearly; this conversation isn’t about wanting something from people. This is about wanting something for them. This is about investing yourself in people, and that doesn’t happen from a distance, but rather up close and personal. For a giver to trust a church with their money is a sacred thing. And people trust people before they trust an organization or a church. This is why you need to intentionally spend time with givers. Trust is built up close and over time. Simply put people trust someone they can touch more than someone they sit in a big room and listen to.

5. Give them Specific Projects to give to

People who have the ability to give significant financial gifts to advance the ministry of your church are looking for a return on their investment, and rightfully so. In every other area of their professional lives they are making wise and strategic decisions about where to invest their resources. Rarely do they blindly give money hoping for a good return without investigating how it is going to be used or what it is going to be spent on. Give them the opportunity to give to specific and strategic projects that advance the mission of the church where they will see the result and return on their investment. People don’t give to general pleas, but specific projects.

6. Remember Giving is a Gift

In the church we often have plans to develop and help place people in an area where they can use their gifting to advance the ministry of building the Kingdom. An obvious example would be utilizing someone who has a teaching gift in a teaching role. The Scriptures teach us that giving is actually a gift. In Romans 12:6-8 the Apostle Paul writes the following:

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

This means that there are some people who have this gift in your church, and some who don’t. I’m not saying every believer shouldn’t be generous. For example: just because your gift isn’t evangelism doesn’t mean as a believer you shouldn’t share your faith. The point is how are you identifying, developing, and putting people with this gift in your church in a position to use and be successful advancing the mission of the church with their gift of giving?

Looking for resources to help you engage givers more effectively at your church? Here are two great organizations that partner with churches to help build a culture of generosity and two great books that every church leader should read about generosity.

Generis Generis is a team of experienced guides who walk with churches and ministries of all shapes, sizes and personalities to develop generosity – a generosity that permeates the culture. They have been guides for churches and Kingdom focused non-profits in matters of stewardship, generosity and fundraising since 1989 (which means they have some success and experience behind them).

Giving Rocket Giving Rocket helps churches have more money for ministry by increasing church giving. They help you fund your vision, not with guilt built into the worship service, campaigns that take over the calendar or fundraisers that act like Band-Aids. They are all about increasing regular church offering – the kind of giving that makes ministry happen every week. Check out their site for great resources, consulting, and coaching opportunities.

And now the Amazon links (what would we do without Amazon?) for the two books I mentioned: Funded and Free and Contagious Generosity

Posted in Leadership

9 practical steps you can take to teach your children that life is not all about them

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

This past Sunday in the middle of almost 3,000 people from Cornerstone serving all over our community, my family made their way over to a hangar with about 500 other people to be a part of packing over 140,000 meals that are shipping to Haiti right now. We tossed Lincoln (our 2 year old) on my back in one of those hiking back deals for kids and Lisa, Kennedy, Mia, and I started cranking out the meals. The moment absolutely melted my heart as a dad, because it provided a brief snapshot of what could be. I mean just think, my kids might actually grow up thinking that it is normal to serve God and put other people first in life. That’s something I can get a little excited about.

If you’re a parent you know that teaching your children that life is not all about them and building a culture of servanthood in your family is no easy task. Kids naturally think that life is all about them, and by the way, most adults that I’ve met do too. This innate idea gets reinforced by the messages they receive in our culture through media, advertising, sports, and education among other things. Not to mention that most of us lead our families in a child centric fashion.

So in an effort to change the trajectory of our families, below are a handful of ideas and practical steps that we can take to integrate an attitude of service into our families. And who knows, we might be surprised by what could happen if we simply live an others oriented life and invite our children into that.

Posted in Family, Spiritual Formation, Volunteers