Preparing for 2023

Sunday will be the first day of a new year. Are you ready to lead your church in 2023? If you are one of the pastors who are still waiting for things to return to normal after Covid you are not ready to lead your church into the new year.  That normal no longer exists nor will it return. Much of what you learned in seminary for how to lead a church is now outdated and will do you little good. Leaders have to find a new normal because pre-covid days will not return to the church.

Thom Rainer wrote a very helpful little book in 2020 called The Post-Quarantine Church that should be required reading for all church leaders. At 111 pages it easily readable in a day or two, but I encourage you to spend more time than that with this book. As I read it I felt like the author clearly understood the changes Covid has brought to the church. In this post let me address just one chapter in the book, the one on doing ministry in a digital world.

Most smaller churches never considered putting their services online prior to the Covid quarantine. Suddenly, many of those churches began exploring how to stream their services on social media or on hastily developed web pages. Overnight many pastors became tele-evangelists! Rainer's organization estimates that more than 100,000 churches that never had an internet presence developed one during the pandemic. The church I now serve as Transitional Pastor would be included in that number. Churches had to learn a lot to begin streaming their services, and many of continue to learn how to improve that internet presence. 

Many churches probably assumed that once the quarantine was behind us we could forget streaming our services. Surprise! Many in our congregation never returned to live worship services but continue to faithfully watch our online services. While we may have once considered our digital ministry to be an emergency stopgap it is now being seen as an important part of our ministry. In fact, it is more than that. Rainer writes in this book, "As we move into the post-quarantine church era, the challenge is how best to reach people and serve them on the digital mission field." Beside that statement I wrote in the margin, "The digital world is a new mission field for the church."

The author suggests that churches realize that we are now dealing with three different groups. One is digital only, one is digitally transitioning, and the third is dual citizens. In addition, we continue to have those members who physically attend the worship services of our churches. If you are only focusing on those physically present each Sunday you are missing out on ministering to an important group of people.

As you prepare to lead your church into 2023 make sure you are considering all the groups Rainer has identified in this book. If you ignore the digital opportunities you now have you will miss an important group of individuals God has given you.

If you have not yet read this book you need to do so. You can order it through Amazon by clicking on the title above. Yes, I will receive a small payment if you do that, but if that bothers you let me know and I'll send you a check for those pennies I'll receive from Amazon. Have a great New Year!

2022 Reading List

 For the first time in my adult life this year I read more fiction books than non-fiction. The non-fiction books were all Star Wars related so I must admit to being a Star Wars nerd. They make good reading when one is standing in line at Wal-Mart, waiting for a meal to be served in a restaurant or while watching a ball game on TV. Fortunately, I did manage to read some other good books in 2022 and want to share the top six books that I read this year.

#6 - A Non-Anxious Presence by Mark Sayers. We live in a very chaotic world, and the church finds itself in the midst of that chaos. Few church leaders would question that the church is going through a transition time as we seem to be passing from one church era into another one. The author refers to this period as a gray zone, and it is in this gray zone that we must minister. None of us knows what the church will be like as it emerges from the gray zone, and this uncertainty makes many of us, pastors and lay people alike, nervous and concerned. One of the challenges of pastoral leadership to to lead in these gray zones. I found this book a very good guide for how to do that. The author also encourages us by writing, "gray zones are preciously the kinds of places that God seeds with renewal and rebirth." Believing that as I do makes it much easier to provide pastoral leadership during these uncertain times.

#5 - Intentional Churches by Bart Rendel and Doug Parks. One word that has been very meaningful to me in recent years is intentionality. I have grown weary of churches thinking they can continue to do what they've always done and somehow things will magically begin to improve. I feel the same way about individuals who drift through life never understanding why their lives do not improve. As the authors point out, intentional churches understand the vision God has for their church and take the steps to achieve that vision. Moving forward with purpose is always better than drifting with no sense of direction. They also point out that intentional churches needs intentional leaders. This includes both pastoral and lay leaders, and until these are intentional in their ministry approach, the church never will be.

#4 - Forward by David Jeremiah. I admit I am late to the David Jeremiah party. I've been watching his ministry on TV for the past few months and this is his first book I've read. I love his biblical approach to real life. Jeremiah points out that our best lives are ahead of us. That is especially encouraging to someone 74 years old, but it is one I readily accept! This is not only true of individuals; it is true of churches. I really loved this book.

#3 - Determined to Believe by John C. Lennox. One reason I read fewer non-fiction books this year is that I read more non-fiction books that took longer to read! This is one of those books. Not only was it 356 pages long, it was rich and deep requiring a lot of concentration on my part. Much of the church world is being challenged by the Calvinist-Arminian debate. I've read enough from both sides to know their proof-texts. Lennox moves beyond these to address the important issues regarding fatalism and freedom. Serious readers wanting to better understand this disagreement will want to study this book.

#2 - Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger. This is a reread of a book I read a couple of years ago. I was so impressed with it that I felt it important to read it again. He compares Christian leadership today to the Lewis and Clark expedition. Their purpose was to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, a trade route everyone knew was there. Imagine their surprise when they reaching the Rocky Mountains and found their canoes would not take them where they needed to go! Does this sound like the challenge facing today's church? What has got us here will not take us where we need to go. Lewis and Clark had to ditch their canoes and find new ways to continue their journey. So must the church. I love this book.

#1 - Historical Theology by Gregg R. Allison. I'll start the review by stating the book is 733 pages not counting the index and glossary of words. This was slow reading for me, but I'll admit I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box. Maybe you'll read it in a couple of days, but I doubt it. Allison follows the bestselling book Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. He traces the various components of Christian doctrine according to a topical-chronological arrangement. There are a lot of footnotes! The book leans towards a Calvinist approach to many of the doctrines, but not enough that is will be troubling to those who do not hold to that approach. No doubt this is a book that will be used in many seminaries as a text book, but it is accessible to most readers who will take the time to study it. It is well worth that time.

One of these days I've got to start cleaning out my library, but I don't have time right now. I've got more books coming in this week.

Christmas travel

 We left Monday morning to visit our son and his family in Austin, Texas. As always, we had a great time. While having a wonderful lunch of barbequed brisket, as you can only get in Texas, I got a notice that our flight for Thursday morning had been canceled. With the weather storm approaching I wasn't entirely surprised but was hopeful that the timing of our flights would keep us ahead of the storms. My son helped me schedule another flight for Friday morning, but he was certain that flight would also be canceled. He began to search for another flight on a different airline.

We found American Airlines had flights that would return us to Louisville, KY where our car was parked at the airport so we quickly booked it. We had little time to rush to the airport to catch the plane but managed to make it. Unfortunately, although we had booked seats together, when we printed our boarding passes my wife and I were on opposite ends of the plane. We flew into Charlotte and had about 10 minutes before our next plane began boarding. Although it was only a 50 minute flight from Charlotte to Louisville, there as a medical emergency on the plane. Fortunately, there were medical people traveling and they were able to attend to the emergency. We finally made it home about 2:00 AM.

Obviously, the back-up flight I had booked would have been canceled, and we likely would have been stuck in Austin until probably Monday at least before we could have found a flight out. Or, as we are now seeing on the news, it might have been much later. Our original flight was on Southwest, and we now know they are having serious problems. As much as we disliked missing out on one more evening with our son we made the smart move to catch a flight out ahead of the storm. Thousands of people are now stranded in airports and unlikely to be home for Christmas.

Southwest has given us refunds for the canceled flight and the one we canceled. Our next two trips to Austin are now paid for. American Airlines was wonderful in accommodating us and the other passengers on the flights we took with them. I know airlines get a lot of criticism, but I have to congratulate them based on our experience this week.

My wife and I were home for Christmas. Due to the road conditions our daughter and her family were not able to be here for Christmas, but everyone is safe. We want to thank God for providing us with a flight out ahead of the winter storm, and we want to pray for those who are stuck in airports and bus terminals unable to get home. We ask that you pray as well for those who need shelter in this horrific winter storm.

Building Size

 Several years ago I led a healthy church seminar in a church in Colorado as part of a series of seminars I was doing for that particular denomination. During lunch the pastor told me the church had been struggling for years. Like many churches, at one time the building was full nearly every week, but now attendance had fallen off. I believe he told me the sanctuary would seat 500-600 people, but their attendance now was around 60. He said it felt like the place was empty.

He had led the church to do something very wise. They had closed off much of the sanctuary so that there was now seating for around 200 people. The building didn't feel as empty now. He said this had improved the worship service and simply made the service more comfortable.

Whether he knew it or not, he was following a strategy that is important for a growing church. Growing churches have a worship attendance of about 65-80 percent of the building's capacity. If the building seems too empty it sends a message to any newcomers that this meeting must not be too important since there are so few people attending. This becomes one of the first impressions your guests will make and will be challenging to overcome.

On the other hand, if the church is too full, over 80% capacity, it makes it difficult for late-comers to find a place to sit. This is especially true for families as there may only be one or two seats available together. They may decide they would rather stay home than have to go through the discomfort of finding a place to sit. I think of a few churches I've seen who had to bring out chairs into the aisles to accommodate the people attending the service. It wasn't too long before those chairs didn't need to be brought out again. People simply stopped coming due to the discomfort the crowded sanctuary made them feel.

This does not apply to those special Sundays in which you expect larger crowds such as Easter, Christmas, and Mother's Day. It's OK to be overcrowded on those days, and you don't want to make changes that will make the church too large on the other Sundays.

So what can church do that is overcrowded?

• If you use chairs in the sanctuary you might be able to rearrange them to improve the seating capacity of the church. With pews you have less flexibility in this matter.
• You can set up seating in another part of the facility with the service broadcast in.
• You may be able to enlarge the sanctuary by knocking out walls and adding seats.
• You can start another service.
• You can build a new facility with more seating.

The worst thing you can do is to do nothing. The capacity of your sanctuary will determine the size your church will be. If you want your church to grow it's important for the sanctuary to be neither too empty nor too full.

Don't let parking determine the size of your church

Most church leaders can identify many reasons why their churches do not grow beyond a certain size, but one of the things they may not consider is that their parking is a major factor in determining how large a church can become. Church growth leaders suggest that a church should calculate that one parking space will provide for two worshipers. If a church has 50 off-street parking spaces that church will struggle to grow beyond about 100 worshipers. We also know that if a parking lot is 80% full, that lot is full. Guests especially will not spend a lot of time driving around a parking lot hoping to find a space. 

Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is to add additional parking spaces. However, that may not be easily done. Many churches find themselves landlocked and unable to enlarge their parking lot. They may not be able to purchase additional land from surrounding neighbors. If that's the case for your church, there are still some things you can do.

You might want to offer valet parking. People can pull up right in front of your entrance, hand their keys to an attendant and enter the church. This could be a major help to senior citizens who may not want to walk long distances. Your guests would appreciate not having to drive around an unfamiliar parking lot to find a space. Certainly, in bad weather this could be a huge blessing to those attending your services.

You might be able to arrange for off-site parking and provide a shuttle service. Many churches already own a van that could be used for this purpose. A bank or other business that is not normally open on Sunday could be approached for permission for members of the congregation to park there on Sundays. 

Adding a second worship service would make your existing parking available to more people. Service times would have to scheduled so people would be able to leave the parking lot in time for those in the second service to park. One important thing to note is that you are not making 100% of your parking lot available to those in both service. Probably only about 80 percent of your parking spaces would be available for the second service people.

Another option is to offer a worship service off-site from your main campus.  There are a variety of ways to do this, and numerous books are available to provide a church with a step-by-step way to go adding a second worship service in another location. Doing this will certainly relieve the parking pressure of your current situation.

When churches consider how they might begin to grow, few consider how that growth will impact the church and how the parking might hinder that growth. Your parking limitations do not have to limit the size of your church. We've offered several ways to add additional parking that can accommodate the growth a church might experience.

Outreach ministry for the Sunday school

I think it was in 1983 that I took a Christian Education class at what was then Boyce Bible School (now Boyce College). We were taught that the four primary purposes of Sunday school were reach - teach - win - develop. At that time, especially in Baptist churches, the Sunday school was the primary outreach tool for the church. This mindset has been largely lost in many of our churches today.

Rather than our Sunday school classes being outward focused, they are primarily inward focused. Few Sunday school classes have any kind of intentional outreach planned. They often serve more as social gatherings. The best of them offer quality Bible study, but there is little emphasis on growth or outreach in many Sunday schools.

One noted Christian educator has said that "Evangelism is the chief work of the Sunday school. In fact, Christian education cannot be Christian unless it is evangelistic. To fail here is to fail in our primary reason for existence." I think he's right so what we can do to help our Sunday school programs become more evangelistic.

In many churches the first step might be to start a new Sunday school class for adults. Studies find that most classes stop growing after about 18 months. The reason is that in that period of time the people in those classes have formed bonds with one another that make it difficult for new people to feel comfortable joining in. They know one another's children, what each person does for a living, they've shared personal histories with one another, and a new person knows none of this when he or she attends the class. Very quickly the new person can feel like an outsider and may be reluctant to return.

A church can identify a people group they want to start a class for. This might be young couples, persons with special interests or concerns or any group that your church feels called to reach. Identify two people who are willing to lead the class. Select a topic that would be of interest to the group you are wanting to reach. Begin to build a list of names of people that can be invited to the first class. This first class should be no longer than 8-12 weeks long. This way people do not feel like they are making a lifetime commitment to the class. If they wish it to continue longer, they can decide that later. Find good curriculum to use in the class. Personally invite those persons you've identified to attend.

This is where many churches make a major mistake. They might put a notice in the church bulletin or a flyer on the bulletin board and then wonder why no one shows up. Personally invite these individuals to the class. 

Once the class begins ask the participants if they know of others who might benefit from the material that is being covered. Chances are they do. If they are willing to provide you with the names and contact information you can invite them to the class. Of course, since they already have a relationship with these individuals you should ask them to invite them as well.

From the beginning it's important to build relationships within the group. You want the people to feel connected to the class and those attending it. These relationships will help determine whether or not this class will continue beyond the initial period.

As the class begins to end ask the participants if they want to continue meeting. If these steps are done right it is likely that this class will continue long-term. 

2023 will be a good time to begin adding classes and inviting your existing classes to become more focused on evangelism. Of course, some churches have eliminated Sunday school classes for small groups, and everything that has written here would apply to small groups as well.