What are the side doors in your church?

Smaller churches spend a lot of time worrying about why people are not coming through the front doors of their churches each week. In the past these churches saw a number of visitors attend their church each year. Some of these visitors may have moved into the community while others were looking for a new church to attend. Regardless of the reasons for their visit, they came and some stayed. For at least the past two decades many churches have seen a steep drop-off in the number of visitors who show up at their front door on Sunday morning, and with the way many people feel about churches today that is unlikely to change.

What churches can do is to begin to open up the side doors into their church. In one of my favorite books on church leadership, What Every Pastor Should Know: 101 Indispensable Rules of Thumb for Leading Your Church, Gary McIntosh defines a side door as "A church-sponsored program, group, or activity in which a nonmember can become comfortably involved on a regular basis. It is an ongoing function in which a nonmember can develop meaningful and valued relationships with people in the church." These relationships are built around common interests that people have, and they can lead to effective evangelism and provide a safe way to introduce people to your church.

Almost any interest can provide a side-door into your church. There may be a group that enjoys bass fishing. Another group may enjoy quilting while a third group may be focused on recent widows or widowers. There could be groups of single moms or dads. Another group may ride motorcycles. Virtually anything can become a side-door into your church.

A few years ago I heard of a megachurch that had over 200 side-door groups meeting in their church building every week during the summer months. These groups led to amazing growth in the church, and much of that growth came from people who committed their lives to Christ as a result of the relationships they had with others in their group.

McIntosh suggests a good rule of thumb is that a church should create at least two side doors per year. To begin a side door find someone in your church that is passionate about something. Perhaps your church has someone who is passionate about quilting and would be willing to lead such a group. Bring a group together to brainstorm the idea to see if there is interest in such a group. I always suggest that churches make sure other churches in the area are not already doing what you are considering.  McIntosh says that if there are three persons willing to help begin a specific group then it's time to schedule when it will begin and to publicize it.

There are many people who have no interest in attending a worship service, but they are willing to be involved in some activity that happens to meet in your church. As they get to know some of the church members who are part of the group they find out that they are not such bad people after all (hopefully!). If they decide to attend a worship service they will now have someone there that they know and can sit with. In time, they may become a part of your congregation.

As the subtitle of this book says, it includes 101 rules of thumb that church leaders need to know. It is one of the most practical books on church ministry I have in my library, and I highly recommend you add it to yours.

Bivocational ministry training

Last week I attended two events hosted by local funeral homes for the ministers in our area. One of the amazing things I noticed was that six of the ministers attending were either graduates of our region's Church Leadership Institute or were about to complete that program. The Church Leadership Institute (CLI) is a program that our region developed around 2002 to train lay leaders, but we found that several of our bivocational ministers also enrolled in the program. In fact, we added an additional year (five courses) specifically designed for persons serving in bivocational roles to the original two-year program. Today, we have a number of our churches being served by graduates of our CLI program. One of the things I am most pleased about of my time as a Resource Minister in our region was that I had the opportunity to lead the team that designed this program and served as the director of CLI until my retirement.

CLI was never designed to replace seminary training, but it does provide some of our bivocational ministers with basic ministerial training to enable them to better serve their churches. A number of lay people in our churches have also completed CLI helping them to more effectively serve their churches as well.

For many years bivocational ministers have struggled to find training opportunities designed to speak to their specific needs. That's why I began writing books that addressed those needs and began to lead workshops and seminars built around the information in those books. I was very blessed to have an Executive Minister, Larry Mason and later Soozi Ford, who allowed me to lead these events across the US and Canada for various denominational groups.

The need to train our bivocational ministers is still needed. Their numbers are growing in almost every denomination. While some have seminary training, many of them do not. They desire training, but it has to fit within their already tight schedules and it has to speak specifically to their needs.

While I was serving in my judicatory role I had to limit the seminars and workshops I could do, but now that I am retired I am free to lead more training opportunities for these bivocational leaders. There are several topics that have been well received by past groups. These would include my most requested seminar "The Healthy Small Church," "Bivocational Ministry for the 21st Century" and others. I've also developed specific topics that were requested by the host denomination to better train their small church leaders in those areas.

If you are a denominational or judicatory leader I would love to work with you to help equip your bivocational ministers and small church leaders. Just contact me and we can discuss how I might be able to do that. If you are a bivocational minister or a lay leader in your church and would be interested in having me speak in your judicatory ask your denominational leadership to contact me. I know that now is when many denominations are making plans for their 2020 annual meetings and scheduling other training events so this is the time to get me on your schedule. I would love to work with your churches and their leadership.

Good leaders produce other good leaders

Leaders are responsible for many tasks within their organizations, but one of the most important things they do is to develop other leaders. As a judicatory leader I would often hear pastors complain that their churches lacked sufficient leaders with the maturity and spirituality they needed to properly serve as leaders in the churches. Unfortunately, such a complaint is actually an admission that the pastor had not done his or her job. Good leaders will produce other good leaders. Weak leaders produce only followers who are often unable or unwilling to become leaders.

Every church should have a leadership pipeline that is training and equipping future leaders for the church. Even a small, bivocational church can have a leadership pipeline. There may not be a large number of people going through that pipeline, but it will be a sufficient number to assure the church of strong, spiritual leadership in the future.

Pastors should constantly be on the lookout for potential leaders in their congregations. These may be new believers. They may be people who have moved into the neighborhood and began attending the church. They may be people who have renewed their commitment to God after years of being lukewarm in service. As these people are discovered it's important to give them responsibilities in line with their abilities and giftedness. Coach them as they begin serving in the church. In time elevate their responsibilities. Invest in these people. This means you give them extra time and training.

Within a few months after I rededicated my life to Christ as an adult our pastor asked if I would be the substitute Sunday school teacher for a new young adult class he was starting. Three months later I became the teacher of that class. I accepted other responsibilities in the church. One day as the pastor and I were driving to a training event he asked if I had ever felt that God might be calling me into the ministry. The answer was yes. We talked about that during the drive to the event and back home. The next Sunday he gave me a key to his study so I could use his library to study. A few months later he left the church, and shortly after that I requested the church grant me a license to preach which they did. As they say...the rest is history.

When I think of the many opportunities I've had in ministry I have to remember that it all began with a conversation on the way to a training event. My pastor had seen something in me that no one else had. He planted a seed in my mind which the Holy Spirit used to help me understand His will for my life. Now it is my responsibility to identify and raise up future leaders for the church, and I've tried to do that. In my 35 plus years of serving as a bivocational minister and working with others I can see a number of people who are serving in leadership roles in their churches at least partially due to my relationship with them.

If you are a leader in the church, how many other leaders have you produced? This seldom happens by accident. You normally have to be very intentional about identifying and developing these leaders. It requires a lot of prayer and a commitment of your time, but I can tell you that it is a very rewarding feeling when you see someone with whom you've invested your life step into a leadership role in the church.

Open, honest communication

Almost every troubled church I've been asked to help address their problems had one issue that was at the foundation of their problems. As I would talk with various groups and individuals within the church many of them would point to this problem: There was poor communication throughout the church. People didn't know what was going on within the leadership groups, and, as a result, they didn't trust their leaders. Never forget: When people do not know the facts they will make up their own facts which are often worse than the real ones.

In one church the trustees refused to share anything they were doing with the deacons. There was a major turf war going on in that church with the congregation caught in the middle. The pastor was being bounced around between the two groups like a ping-pong ball and lacked the leadership ability to resolve the problem.

Another church had a series of short-term pastorates. One finally admitted to me before leaving that the leadership had asked him to resign, and if he didn't tell the congregation they would give him a severance package. He followed their wishes. When I confronted one of the leaders about it he admitted the church had a lot of secrets. The church also lost a significant number of their membership. People aren't stupid. They know when things aren't right. So do church guests. Some churches wonder why their guests never return. It's because when they were there the first time they could sense there were problems.

While some churches intentionally withhold information or give out false information, many others simply do a poor job of communicating within the congregation. There's nothing intentional or diabolical. It's just poor leadership, but it will eventually lead to problems.

When working with churches in which people feel information is being withheld I always tell them that it is now impossible to over-communicate. If  leaders in such churches are not getting sick of giving out the same information over and over they probably are not communicating enough. To regain the trust of the congregation it is imperative that information be given out continuously through as many avenues as possible.

Not only is it essential that information be given out, there must be an environment within the church that allows such communication to be given without fear of reprisal. Not all information that should be shared with the larger church body is going to be well-received. An environment that encourages open communication and open conversation and discussion must exist or such communication will create more problems. Creating such an environment is the work of the leadership within the church.

Let me close this post with an example from outside the church world. As many of you know, I am also an auctioneer. Right now the prices that most furniture is bringing is very soft as are the prices for a number of items. When I explain that to potential clients some become frustrated, and even angry, with me. The sentimental value they have for some of their personal belongings is often much higher than the prices they will realize if they sell those items at auction. I have lost a number of auctions this year because I've communicated honestly with these people. Sometimes, they decide to donate their items to a charity, but most of the time they find another auctioneer to have their auction. I always tell these folks that I would rather they be disappointed in me now than after the auction when I give them a check for much less than they expected.

The same is true in the church. Sometimes the information we need to share with our congregations is not well received. I would rather the people be upset with the information than with me for withholding information from them. At least now, we can begin to discuss how to address the information that's been shared.

A church is only as healthy as the secrets it keeps. Open, honest communication is an essential element in a healthy church. Keep those lines of communication open and the trust factor in the church will remain high.

Unique challenges for bivocational ministers

In my book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide I discuss some of the unique challenges many bivocational ministers face. The number one challenge is that of time constraints. While every minister struggles with finding the time to do everything he or she needs to accomplish, bivocational ministers face the added problem of working another job. This may be a full-time or part-time job, but for those hours worked he or she cannot do any of the other things that may need to be done. It is always a challenge for a bivocational minister to balance the five primary areas of life we must address: our time with God, our time with family, our ministry, our other job and our own personal self-care.

A second common problem has to do with self-esteem issues. I can still remember when some people would look at me as a second-class minister since I wasn't fully-funded. It's very easy to allow yourself to start questioning yourself when others are questioning your commitment to God and to ministry. It's easy to repeat the mantra that we are only called to be faithful where we are, but it's also human to wonder why we are where we are. I still remember the day someone asked if I was full-time or part-time and I responded that I was a full-time bivocational minister.

One of the issues I often hear from bivocational ministers is the lack of support they feel from their denominations. I was coaching a bivocational pastor who voiced this complaint. We were discussing a problem in the church when I asked if he had contacted his denomination for help with it. He said no one from the denominational office was willing to work with his church because it was too small. I challenged him to call to confirm that, and at our next coaching session he said their judicatory representative was meeting with him and the church the following week. I never felt that I was not supported by our judicatory leaders as the bivocational pastor of a small, rural church, but I also know that many do feel that way, and in fact, are not well supported.

In a survey I conducted a few years ago with bivocational ministers in my denomination I found that their educational level ran the gamut from high school to holding a PhD. However, for the majority of them, their college and post-graduate degrees were not related to ministry but were in other fields of study. Many of them lacked basic ministerial and theological training. Those of you who know my story know that I began my pastoral ministry with only a high school education. It's tough to do quality ministry like that, but it's also difficult to pursue theological education while working, supporting a family and leading a church.

To compound the problem, it's also difficult to attend any type of continuing education opportunities. Most of them, unfortunately, are still held during the day when many bivocational ministers are working. Many of things that are presented in these training sessions apply more to larger churches than the traditional bivocational church so the pastors of these churches are reluctant to give up a vacation day in order to attend them. This makes it difficult for bivocational ministers to be aware of recent trends in ministry.

In the book I try to respond to these challenges. The book contains the stories of ten ministers I coached who faced most of these challenges and how they addressed them. If you are struggling with any of these challenges in your own ministry, you might find these stories helpful.

What is your church's myth?

One of the books I read on my recent vacation was Beyond the Ordinary: Spirituality for Church Leaders by Ben Campbell Johnson. In one chapter in this book he writes about the myths that every church has about itself and the power of those myths. He wrote, "Every church has a myth and lives and ministers in the power of it. The congregation interprets events in its life through this myth, this narrative it has constructed, and make strategic decisions according to the values of this mythic account of its corporate life." He later explains, "A church's myth is a narrative created by a congregation through its interpretation of the things that have happened to it. It is the story, based on its perception and interpretive imagination, out of which a particular church lives and ministers."

As a judicatory leader for fourteen years working with hundreds of churches I saw the truth of this played out in so many of these churches. While assisting one church in vision discernment a good discussion was occurring about one aspect of that vision when a member said, "Well, that sounds good, but you KNOW we can't do that." She went on to remind the group of something that had happened in the church years past that, to her at least, ruled out any possibility of doing what was being discussed. Amazingly, the others dropped the original discussion. The myth ruled over present opportunities in that church.

When I began as pastor of a small, rural church the average pastoral tenure of that church for many years was 12 months. I had been there for about six months when in a Sunday school class one of the deacons said that I would soon be leaving for a BETTER church. I was in the room and almost fell out of my chair. Part of the myth this church believed about itself was that it wasn't good enough to keep a pastor for more than a year, and it had become a self-fulfilling prophecy. They literally didn't know what to do when I passed the two-year mark. When I finished Bible school they were sure I would leave. I didn't. Probably when I finally did leave after 20 years in that church some were wondering if they would ever get rid of me!

I could give dozens of stories of how the myths churches hold about themselves hinder their current ministries and future ones.  It is important for a pastor to understand and appreciate the myths a church has before attempting to make any changes or he or she will find themselves trapped in the middle of a minefield. Spend some time with long-time members of the church and ask questions about past events. Know how they have got to where they are today and what they think is possible for the future.

Johnson writes that it is not only important for the pastor to know the stories that created the myths, it's important that the pastor embraces the myth even if it is not attractive. This is who they are so embrace it. Don't talk about their story; talk about "our" story. While recently serving as a transitional pastor I intentionally kept talking about "our" church. Everyone knew I would be leaving when a new pastor was called, but I wanted people to understand that while I was there it was "our" church, not just "your" church. I was part of that congregation, and as a result their stories were my stories. Especially in a smaller church, this is an important step into being seen as a part of the church.

Johnson goes on to suggest ways to help transform the myths that are not healthy for a church to continue to cling to. You'll need to read that for yourself and see what might work in your situation.

 Just remember, every church has stories that has led them to hold certain beliefs about who they are and what they are capable of doing. Effective leadership will understand those stories and the myths they produced within the congregation. Now, what is your church's myths?

Wonderful vacation

I've been off the grid for the past couple of weeks while my wife and I vacationed in Panama City Beach. Unlike some folks, I don't publish when I'm away from my house for extended times. I figure thieves get a lot of information from social media so I don't write anything about being away until I return home. However, I can now report that this vacation was great!

For one thing, we were away a full two weeks. We've had many one week vacations and a couple of 10 days, but this is the first time we spent an entire two weeks on vacation. It turned out to be very restful. Secondly, the weather was amazing. Not a drop of rain until the day we returned home (yesterday). Sunny skies and every day in the 80s and 90s.  It felt great until we got home yesterday evening in 50 degree weather.

Every day we either swam in the ocean or in one of the 11 pools in the condo complex in which we stayed. Most days we swam in both. The ocean was about a 3 minute golf cart ride from the condo so we went down there early many mornings just to watch the waves and the dolphins and then returned several evenings to watch the sunset.

We've made several trips to PCB, but this is the first time we've seen eagles flying over head. We saw two. A story in the local paper told about one man who took a picture of five of them flying over his home. Speaking of seeing things fly over, on two nights we watched the space station fly over. One night it was in view for six minutes and the next night we could see it for four minutes. I'm always fascinated watching it fly over knowing how high it is above the earth and how fast it is moving.

Although we ate several of our meals in the condo we had our fair share of fresh seafood meals in some of our favorite restaurants at PCB. Blackened grouper continues to be my favorite.

I did manage to get in some reading while there. I either finished reading or read Beyond the Ordinary: Spirituality for Church Leaders, Cash: The Autobiography of Johnny Cash, Crashing without Burning: Life After Failure, Merle Haggard: An Autobiography, and Winning with People by John Maxwell.

The condo we stayed in is being rented by our daughter and her family for a couple of months which means we spent time with her and three of our grandkids. That meant everything we did got to be shared with them which further means we got to make some great memories as a family.

Of course, the absolute best part of our time there was that we celebrated our 53rd anniversary. For many years we've gone to PCB to celebrate our anniversary, and every year it's better than before. I consider myself a very fortunate individual that Faye chose to say yes when I asked her to marry me.

I hope you found time to get away this year. If not, please set aside time on your calendar to do so next year. I've found that if you don't schedule such times, they often won't happen. You need time away from your church and/or your job. You'll find you'll return more energized and excited about what you do, and you'll make great memories that will last a lifetime.