Are we wasting our time?

 I recently read a blot post written by someone I respect as a Christian leader. He has challenged me for years to think differently about the church. I've quoted him in some of my books. In his blog he stated his belief that 60-70 percent of pastors are wasting their time serving churches that have no chance of long-term survival. He correctly noted that 80-85 percent of churches in America are plateaued or dying, and many of them will not survive. I personally believe that the majority of those churches are dying, not plateaued. He does not believe that most of those churches will survive long term. Unfortunately, I've come to agree with him.

Several years ago when I served on regional staff in our denomination I would not have agreed with him. I was convinced that with the right pastoral leadership almost any church could be turned around. I now realize that, short of a miracle from God, some of these churches had no chance of survival. They had gone too far down the decline side of the bell curve. They had zero interest in outreach or discipleship. Their only goal was survival. Since then, some of those churches have closed their doors while others continue to hang on by a fingernail waiting for the miracle pastor who can save their church.

It hurts me to say this, but perhaps this church leader is right. Maybe a lot of pastors are wasting their time trying to save something that died a long time ago. While pastors spend their days putting out fires and seeking ways to serve their shrinking congregations, multitudes are dying without Christ. The Great Commission and the Great Commandment are ignored while we try to soothe the ruffled feathers of a patriarch in the church. Too many churches are trying to find the funds to remodel their kitchen while they have nothing in the budget for evangelism and discipleship.

My DMin project was coaching bivocational ministers for greater ministry effectiveness. In one coaching session with a pastor he had questions about an upcoming baptism. Since he seemed so concerned about the details I commented that he seemed very nervous about the baptism and asked why. He responded he wanted it to go well because it was the first baptism in that church in 50 years. I had to wonder what the previous pastors had done while serving that church. Perhaps they had wasted their time and the opportunities to present Jesus Christ to their community.

But, here was a young pastor who was not wasting his time. In our next coaching session he reported the baptism went well. After the service, the congregation marched down to a river bordering their town and baptized the person there. The parade of the congregation was noticed by some people in the community who followed them. They were able to hear the pastor explain the purpose and symbolism of baptism and witness the baptism itself. Several people heard the gospel that day without ever attending the church service. I do not know the long-term outcome of that baptism, but this young pastor sowed some powerful evangelistic seeds that day.

The church leader I quoted earlier would have probably looked at that small church that had gone 50 years without a baptism and determined the church had no chance of survival and any pastor who went there was wasting his or her time. Maybe we should not be so quick to judge that, and maybe that's not our call to make. After all, if God calls a person to serve a church He must have a purpose in doing so.

I realize there are some churches that will not survive. Churches close their doors every week. At some point, denominations and church leaders need to allow them to end their ministries and stop artificially propping them up. At the same time, there are some struggling churches who only need a pastor with a God-given vision to turn them around. Such pastors will not be wasting their time serving in that church. It will take time to pass that vision on to the congregation, and it will take time to implement the vision, but it will be time well spent. It will not be wasted.

Understanding the Life Cycle of a Church

In many of the conferences I've led for pastors I address the life cycle experienced by churches. Using a standard bell curve, I explain how churches go from birth to maturity to plateau to decline to death. I show how each of us personally are on a similar life cycle, and there isn't anything we can do about it. It's a natural process of life. However, churches can do something if they find themselves on the declining side of the life cycle. They can begin a new life cycle. 

The best place to begin a new life cycle is when it's still on the left side of the bell curve during the maturing or growth stage. However, many churches are not eager to change anything at that stage because things are going so well. The church is growing, new people are attending, baptisms are strong, the giving is up and people are excited about the church. Why change anything at that stage is a question often asked.

Well, for one thing, churches don't stay at that stage forever. It's great while it lasts, but at some point the church will begin to plateau or feel stuck. From that point the church enters a decline period which can soon lead to a survival mindset. When that happens the church becomes very risk-averse. They are protective of their finances. They circle the wagons fearful that they may be forced to close. Too often, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

One of the problems is that many churches enter the decline side of the life cycle and never realize it until they are far down that right side of the bell curve. Drastic action may have to be taken if the church is to survive, and that doesn't include circling the wagons. It involves becoming more aggressive about outreach and discipleship. It requires the church to become much more intentional about its ministries and forces them to eliminate those ministries that no longer produce results (which they should have done much sooner). It also forces people out of the mindset that if they just doing the same things that used to be effective, and do them harder, everything will be OK.

How do you start a new life cycle? You do it by starting new ministries. You seek God's vision for your church and begin to live into that vision. Your church may be 100 or even 200 years old, but essentially you are starting over again. You identify the persons God wants your church to reach, eliminate anything that will keep you from that and begin new ministries that will reach those individuals.

I live in a county of only about 32,000 people, but I keep seeing new churches pop up in rented spaces and business centers. While many of the churches in my community are dying, these new churches are thriving. God is still interested in seeking and saving those that are lost, and if the existing churches are not going to do that, He will raise up new churches that will.

Your church leadership should look at a bell curve. Start at the left side and write birth on the bottom. As you move up the left side write growth. When you get to the top write plateau. As the curve begins to move downward, write the word decline, and at the bottom write the word death. Where is your church on that bell curve? Where is it in it's life cycle? Be honest. What are your next steps?

Changing how we count what matters in church

 Every year denominations ask their churches to send in an annual report that will show how the church is doing. Questions usually revolve around average church attendance, Sunday school attendance, financial information and other things that are easy to count. The report will also ask for information on the pastor and other staff in the church. One year our church clerk came to me frustrated because there wasn't a place on the report for a bivocational pastor. She asked if she should put down that I was part-time, full-time or just what did I consider myself to be. I responded that I was a full-time bivocational pastor. She said there isn't an option for that on the report so I told her to put down anything she wanted. The fact is, most denominations do not have a good way to know how many bivocational pastors they have.

One of the problems with these reports is that they ask the wrong questions. Counting noses and nickels is not always the best way to identify the health of a church. With that mentality, the more noses and nickels you have to report the better the church is, and that is not always the case. This doesn't mean noses and nickels are not important. The noses represent people for whom Christ died, and more nickels often opens up more ministry opportunities.

What if the questions focused more on the development of people than questions about the institution? What if they asked how God was at work in the church the past year? What if they asked how many people felt like they had grown spiritually in the past year? What if they asked how many people were involved in ministry the past year, not serving on committees and boards, but actually involved in doing ministry in the community? Yes, these types of questions are harder to quantify than the others, but would they not better reflect the ministry of the church? Would they not better reflect the health of the church?

I have to admit that I am not hopeful that many denominations will change their annual reports to reflect these types of questions. It's easier to produce spreadsheets that just reflect numbers than to do the difficult work of interpreting the questions I suggested. But, pastors and church leaders can ask these questions of the churches they serve and make changes in their ministries that will increase the spiritual growth and development of those they serve. I suspect that growth will also result in the church seeing numerical growth as well.

Secrets and church health

While serving as a regional minister in our judicatory one of my churches had a series of pastoral changes in a short period of time. I found out from the second pastor that the leadership had fired him but told him to announce he was resigning, and they would provide him with a severance package. I heard the story and called the pastor to confirm it. He admitted it was true but begged me to not say anything because he and his family were able to live in the parsonage while he sought another church. I had previously heard similar stories about this church and its board.

To protect this pastor I waited until he moved to another church and left the parsonage before calling the head of the lay leadership. I asked if what I had been told was true, and he admitted it was. I then said that I felt this church had a lot of secrets that were being kept from the membership. After a long pause he admitted this was also true. He had just assumed his leadership position and assured me he was going to address it.

One of the problems in keeping secrets is that they really do not remain secrets for very long. People know when things are not right. I retired soon after this event occurred in this church and do not know how the church is doing today, but at the time they had lost over half of their congregation. I told that lay leader something I've told many congregations: A CHURCH IS ONLY AS HEALTHY AS THE SECRETS IT KEEPS.

How many churches have covered up pastoral affairs "for the sake of the ministry?" How many have covered up financial irregularities for the same supposed reason? How many church boards have fired the pastor and bribed him or her with financial incentives to announce to the congregation that they felt "led by the Lord to take another church?"

I repeat that a church will only be as healthy as the secrets it keeps. Some churches have a lot of bodies buried, and I'm not referring to the graveyard that surrounds the church. Board meetings are filled with anger, tension and fear that people will learn the secrets that are being maintained. 

When I was first saved I was a member of a church where the leaders wanted the pastor out. It was not uncommon to see the deacons and the pastor go into a room after a Sunday morning service for a meeting. After a few months, the pastor left. Sometime later I was chosen to be a deacon in that church and was elected secretary. When I received the secretary's record book I thought I would finally find out what went on in those meetings. However, when I opened the book I found that all the pages from that time period had been torn out. The church was not a healthy church, and it still wasn't when I left a couple of years later.

An unhealthy church can never be a growing church, and if it did grow, it would grow to be even more unhealthy. When people walk into an unhealthy church, they can feel the tension. While they may not know what's going on, they know something is not right in this church. 

It's never easy to publicly announce misconduct when it occurs, but it's necessary. Like a doctor telling patient he or she has cancer, it's not easy for the doctor but the patient must know there's a problem, and there's a treatment plan. As painful as it might be for a congregation to hear there's a problem, it's far better to announce it and offer a plan to address it. I will repeat: A church is only as healthy as the secrets it keeps. 

Change!

 Several years ago when I served as a Resource Minister for our Region I was meeting with a Pastor Search Committee. My first question in the initial meeting was always the same, "What do you want in your new pastor?" I asked the question even though I knew the answer would be one of two responses. They either wanted a pastor who would grow the church or a pastor who would grow their youth group. In the case of this church it was the first response. They wanted a pastor who would grow their church. I had never said this before, but this night I was a little bolder and responded, "So, you are telling me you want a pastor who will come here and change everything you are doing." The chairperson quickly said that was not what they wanted. I then told the committee, "You do know if you could grow your church by doing what you're already doing, you would already be growing. Since you are not growing, something has to change." The chairperson smiled at me and said, "Maybe we need to talk about this some more." I don't remember, but I don't think I was invited back to their future meetings.

Nearly every church wants to grow, but most of them want to do so without changing anything they are already doing. Church growth doesn't happen that way. Another church called me saying they had formed a church growth committee (a creature almost certain to not grow a church), and they wanted me to come and explain how they could grow without upsetting anyone in the church. I actually laughed on the phone and told the caller, "I'll save me a trip and you a meeting: You can't." They asked me to meet with them anyway, and we did have an honest discussion on the cost of growth.

Nobody enjoys change except small babies. Church leaders, including pastors, often dislike change because it disrupts what they are already doing. Change makes many members of the congregation uncomfortable because no one is sure what their role will be in the church system, or if they will even have a role. Others worry about what will change next. Sometimes church members will leave a church because they strongly dislike changes, and no one wants to lose members of the church. In yet a third church that asked me to speak to them about growth I mentioned that changes would have to be made, and one of the costs of change is the possibility that you might lose some people. Later, in a Q&A session, one older member of the church said she didn't know anyone in the church she was willing to give up. Others agreed with her, and nothing changed and the church continues to struggle.

The question is sometimes asked what needs to change. That depends on the church and its situation. It may be attitudes within the church. Perhaps the church needs to shift its focus from inward-looking to outward. The church may need to take steps to become a healthier congregation. It might take new leadership, both pastoral and lay. There are too many variables to say this needs to change and that needs to change. Each church must look at itself and determine what obstacles exist that are keeping people out. You may need to invite your denominational representative or another outside consultant to help you look at your current system. Remember...your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting.

Systems determine results

 One of the things I've learned in 40+ years of ministry is that your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting. This is not only true for churches but for every area of life as well: Family, Career, Physical and Mental Health, Personal Growth, Etc. We create systems in every area of our lives, and those systems then create us.

Many years ago, even before I began to serve as a minister, I was a member of a church that had a lot of parking lot meetings. At the time I didn't understand why that church always seemed to have problems, but it was because their system of dealing with issues was not to address them but to complain about them in the parking lot. That church always struggled with distrust and dissension. Later in my ministry as a judicatory minister I found many churches with the same broken system who could never understand why they always seemed to struggle.

Churches that win numbers of people to Christ and have a lot of baptisms have systems in place that make doing evangelism and outreach easy. Churches that bring in a lot of first-time guests have systems in place that is inviting to those who do not attend church. Churches that are financially secure have systems in place that promote stewardship. Churches that do none of these things have systems in place that make doing them difficult.

Pastor and author Nelson Searcy identifies 8 systems that should be operating at maximum efficiency in a healthy church. These are

• The Worship Planning System
• The Evangelism System
• The Assimilation System
• The Small Groups System
• The Ministry System AKA The Volunteer System
• The Stewardship System
• The Leadership System
• The Strategic System

If any area of a church's life is not working well it's important that the leadership look at their current system in that area. Identify the things that are limiting your effectiveness in that area and replace them with other things that will work. Until a broken system is fixed the church will never be healthy and will struggle to minister in that area of church life.

Turning walls into bridges

 During my doctoral studies I was blessed to have Dr. Elmer Towns teach two of my classes. The first class I took under Dr. Towns was on prayer. The second was on doing church in the 21st century. Both classes deeply impacted my life and ministry.

In the second class Dr. Towns was discussing the walls every church builds. These walls intentionally or unintentionally keep people out of our churches. He emphasized that every church had such walls, and then stood up, went around the room and asked each student how high the walls were around their church. He made each of us answer giving him a number between one and ten. Some admitted the walls surrounding their churches were rather high. Once every student answered he told us to tear down those walls and use them to build bridges into the communities God had given us. I'll never forget that discussion.

What are some of the potential walls that can be built up in a church? One wall I often encountered was the lack of hospitality in the church. Serving 14 years in regional ministry I had the opportunity to be in a different church nearly every week. Some of those churches were very welcoming to their guests; others made it very obvious they didn't care if we were there or not. "The friendliest church" in town often proved to be friendly only to the insiders. Studies reveal that guests usually decide whether to return or not within a few minutes after arriving at a church, even before the service begins. That decision is made on how well the church is prepared to receive guests and how they are treated once they are there.

Another wall in some churches is the worship service itself. I'm not making a comment about traditional versus contemporary services because I've been in churches were both were very well done. Regardless of the style of worship, some churches are simply boring. The music is uninspired; the messages lack sound biblical content, and everyone present seems they wished they were somewhere else. Such services are unlikely to bring hope and transformation to anyone.

A significant wall I've written elsewhere about is the controllers who exist in most churches. These people see themselves as guardians of the faith, but the only thing they are guarding is their positions and power in the church. They often drive away people faster than the church can bring them in. Working with conflicted churches in the past has provided me with numerous horror stories of controllers allowed to build huge bridges that keep people away from the church. To tear down the walls they build the church must first remove these people from their positions of authority.

The final wall I'll mention in this post is the wall of negativity. Some churches are better known for what they are against than what they are for. Their pastors address their weekly rant on whatever made the news the preceding week. I have visited churches where the pastor raged against the congregation, and was later told that was a normal Sunday in that church. I admit there was a time in my early ministry when I realized I had become fairly negative in my preaching. I realized I could say everything I wanted to say in a positive way or a negative way and committed that from that time forward I would become more positive in my preaching. People get beat up by life all week; they don't need to come to church for another round.

Once these walls have existed for some time we don't notice them any longer, but those outside our churches do. And our churches become known for them. Tearing down walls is costly and time-consuming, but it is the right thing to do. What walls exist in your church? Identify then, tear them down and begin to build bridges into your communities to reach people for Jesus Christ.

When leadership fails

We recently spent 10 days in Panama City Beach to celebrate our anniversary. We've done this almost every year for probably 20 years now. We have found many great restaurants that serve fresh seafood dinners, and most evenings we'll go to one to eat. I was surprised this year to find that many had closed permanently. Some might say that the Covid shut-down caused that, but you'll never convince me of that. The ones we went to were packed out every night with long lines waiting to get in. These restaurants certainly survived the Covid shut-down. How are they doing so well when other good restaurants down there did not? I think it is leadership. I told my family one evening that any restaurant that can't make it in that beach environment has nothing to blame but poor leadership. 

As I've written here many times, everything rises and falls on leadership. Even with all the competition from other excellent restaurants in PCB, with the millions of tourists who go there every year there is no reason that a well managed restaurant cannot do well in that environment. 

I look at our nation today and see all the problems that we have. I don't need to list them; you're aware of them. How has this great nation found itself in this condition? The answer is the same...poor leadership. I don't even refer to those holding national office as leaders anymore. They are office holders. They couldn't lead a two person parade let alone a nation. They get re-elected to office because people are too lazy, uninformed, or apathetic to vote them out of office and replace them with people who are truly interested in this country. The same thing can be said of many state and local people holding political office. Look at the states that are struggling and compare them to those that are doing well. The difference will be in the quality of their leadership. The same thing is true of cities. Don't say that the solution to the problem is term limits because we already have term limits. Every two years we have elections so there are plenty of opportunities to vote out those that are taking this country down the drain. All people have to do is study the candidates, see what they've done and vote for those that will be lead this country. If we took our responsibilities as citizens seriously few of those currently in office would still hold that office after their next election.

John Maxwell tells the story of having dinner with the president of a company that bought failing hotels. He asked the president what they did when they bought one of these hotels, and the response was that the first thing they did was fire the managers. Maxwell said he was surprised that they didn't try to talk to the managers or offer them training. When he asked about that the president said if they were any good their hotel wouldn't have failed. They fired the managers and brought in people who would provide the leadership needed to make the hotel successful. Remember this story during our next election.

Churches are no different. Many churches are struggling at the same time that some are doing very well. Again, the difference is in leadership. Leaders who have a vision will effectively lead their organizations. Those without a vision will not. Pastors who are committed to the Word of God and to ministering to their communities will have churches that will follow their example. God will bless such churches. Pastors and church leaders who are stuck doing the same things that haven't worked in 5 decades, who have little commitment to the Scriptures and who lack vision will see their churches continued to decline until they eventually close.

It must also be noted that there are some excellent pastors with great leadership abilities and vision who will find it impossible to lead their current churches out of decline. No matter how hard they work, they will find nothing but resistance from the congregation. Such pastors should realize that the seeds for failure were planted in those churches years earlier, and it is unlikely that those churches will survive. When pastors find themselves in such situations they need to seek God's guidance. Sometimes, given enough time even the most resistant church can be turned around. At other times it might be best to follow the advice Jesus gave His disciples and shake the dust off one's feet and move on to a healthier place. Only after much prayer can that decision be made wisely.

No church will ever close because it lacks ministry opportunities. We are told that a minimum of 80% of every county in the United States is unchurched. We have a huge mission field in our back yards. Whether we reach that mission field is a matter of leadership. Too often, churches get comfortable with the status quo. We may complain occasionally about the lower number of people attending our services, but we don't get upset enough about it to actually do anything. Things will only change when the leaders want it to change and are willing to capture a fresh vision from God for the church which will be supported by the church. 

What is the vision you have for your church?

Many people are glad to see 2020 come to an end. When someone mentioned to me how happy she was that this year was about over I asked her if she was certain that 2021 would be any better. We assume that turning the calendar over to a new year is going to make things any better. It's not likely that Covid-19 will disappear on January 1. It appears the nation will have new leadership in 2021, and that always brings about a measure of uncertainty. If 2020 has taught us anything it is that we can take nothing for granted and that we have much less control over our lives than we previously thought.

However, there is one thing we do not want to do, and that is to simply drift through 2021 and take whatever it gives us. We need a plan, a vision for ministry as we approach the new year. Admittedly, that vision may have to be altered occasionally as we are confronted with changes that occur, but it's much better to have a vision going forward than it is to not have one. What is your vision for your church for the coming year and beyond?

A vision gives us the ability to shape our future instead of just accepting whatever the future wants to give us. If I have a vision to be out of debt by the end of the year, and I've identified the steps needed to achieve that, I will live my life in a way that will enable me to get out of debt. 

The mission of the church is the same for every church. It is found in the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. The vision for the church is how will it go about fulfilling that mission, and that vision will be different for every church. Churches are made up of different people with different gifts ministering in different communities with different needs. Therefore, the vision will be different for each church.

Vison is not something that is simply determined by the leadership. The congregation needs to be involved in a vision discernment process. Out of that process we can prayerfully begin to discern what God's vison for the church is. His vision is the only one that really matters.

Without a vision our churches will be buffeted back and forth by the winds of change. With a vision we can be intentional and purposeful as we move into the new year. We have a destination in mind and a plan for how to achieve it.   

Church closures after the pandemic

The Christian Post recently published an article stating that as many as one in five churches could close in the next eighteen months due to the pandemic. This comes from research done by the Barna Group. The study found that although many churches handled things well when the pandemic started, things have not gone so well since the churches were able to open. Even when the doors opened, many people did not return. David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, said in the article that "the relationships that they thought were much deeper with people were actually not as deep as they expected."

Kinnaman notes that online attendance has increased and is likely to remain strong for the near future.  Digital ministry appears to be the wave of the future. However, this has an impact on churches as well. One impact is in the financial support churches are receiving. The National Association of Evangelicals have reported that nearly two-thirds of churches have seen a drop in giving since the pandemic began with nine percent of those churches experiencing a drop of 75 percent or more. Churches will have to look at more ways to receive tithes and offerings than merely passing the plate. For many of these churches, if they are to remain open and continue to offer the ministries they have offered previously, they are going to have to look at providing online giving opportunities.

Another impact will be felt as churches try to fill volunteer positions. With fewer people attending services there will be fewer people to serve in the positions traditionally found in many churches. Churches will have to examine new ways of structuring that will allow necessary ministries to continue with fewer people. This will likely force many churches to reduce the number of things they are doing and focus on doing only those ministries that are most productive.

With fewer people attending in person it will force churches to take a new look at how it disciples people. People who are not attending worship services are also not attending Sunday school or in-person small groups. These have been the primary instruments by which many churches have done discipleship. If churches are going to take the disciple-making element of the Great Commission seriously they will have to find creative ways of doing so.

Right now it is difficult to provide pastoral care in the ways it has traditionally been done. In most cases, pastors are not allowed in hospitals or nursing homes. Many people do not want visitors, even family members, in their homes. Telephone calls, text messages and emails are the primary means by which we can do pastoral care right now.  That may not change much for our online congregations even when things open up more. It will be easy for people to disappear unnoticed. Churches will have to work harder to stay in touch with members in order to know how best to serve them.

Those serving in staff positions will also be impacted by the increased numbers of online congregation members. With a decline in giving there is less money for staff salaries and benefits. With fewer people participating in person there is less need for people to provide leadership for youth ministries, music ministries, educational ministries. etc. What we may see in the future are staff persons serving as discipleship coordinators for the online congregation or people serving in positions we haven't even thought of staffing before. I believe we will definitely see more staff ministers serving bivocationally.

These are just some of the ways an increased online congregation will impact our churches. For those churches that cannot make the adjustments, many of them probably will be forced to close in the next few months. 

What happens when a church keeps secrets?

Once, while working with a troubled church in my role as a denominational minister, I discovered that the church leaders had not been truthful with the congregation in the matter. I had suspected the same thing happened in a previous situation in this church, but this time I had the evidence. I contacted one of the key lay leaders and confronted him with the information I had. He admitted it was true. I then said I had the feeling that this was standard procedure in this church and was one of the reasons why the church had lost so many members in recent years. He admitted this was not the first time this had happened.

A church is only as healthy as the secrets it keeps. When church leadership keeps information from the congregation problems will arise. Any time people are not told the facts about a situation they will make up their own facts. These can sometimes be worse than the truth and can easily take on a life of its own. The rumor mill begins to operate, first through the church and then into the community. If the church tries to do damage control by sharing the truth about the situation it then faces the risk of being asked why it didn't tell the truth in the first place.

Any time it is found that church leadership kept important information from the congregation or that it gave out false or incomplete information trust is broken. As I wrote last week, when trust is lost leaders cannot lead. People do not follow those they do not trust. If the pastor is the one at fault, there is a good chance the church will not trust the next pastor either. Even though he or she had nothing to do with the earlier deception the new pastor will have to jump additional hurdles to earn the trust of the congregation.

People vote with their feet and their checkbook when they believe trust has been violated. They may leave for a season or they may never return. Sometimes they drop out of church completely fearing that they will be deceived again at a new church. Sometimes people will remain in the church but give little or nothing to financially support the church. Some will give their money to parachurch ministries or to some other organization they trust and support.

Not only does the church lose some of its members, it also finds it difficult to reach out to new people. If the church is seen as having to try to cover up something the public will also react negatively. Many non-Christians already struggle to trust churches, and if they learn of an attempt by the church to cover up something they will be convinced their lack of trust was justified.

Admittedly, sometimes it's difficult to know how much information to share with the congregation. Sometimes there is the matter of confidentiality which must be protected in most situations. There may be the issue of needing to protect innocent parties who may have been impacted by the situation. When either of these are the case the leaders can explain that there are some details that cannot be shared for these reasons, but then without betraying confidentiality or innocent people the matter can be discussed honestly.

Such discussions are seldom pleasant, but it is far worse to have to admit later that in previous discussions leadership was being less than honest. Honest discussions about matters than impact the church help the church remain healthy and leads to growth. Trying to keep secrets from the congregation leads to an unhealthy environment in the church and often results in decline.

Why do young Christians leave the church?

David Kinnaman, in his book You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church . . . and Rethinking Faith, finds that there are six reasons why young Christians drop out of church. I found these to be very thought-provoking.

The first reason is that they find many churches to be overprotective. Young people are often entrepreneurial in their thinking and seek to find new ways of doing things. In contrast, many churches are quite risk-averse. These churches prefer the status quo in their thinking and ministries.

A second reason is young people consider the church to be rather shallow and boring. They believe the church seeks proof texts and familiar slogans in contrast to doing the more difficult work of thinking more deeply about faith and the real meaning of following Christ. They crave the challenge of thinking more deeply about their faith but do not find that challenge in many churches.

Many young people believe the church is antiscience. They have seen the advances science has made in improving the lives of many people, and yet what they hear in some churches makes them think science and faith are incompatible.

Young people seek freedom, and they believe the church is too repressive. This is especially true in the area of sexuality. The church needs to do better in offering healthy perspectives on human sexuality rather than focusing on the "thou shalt nots."

A fifth reason young people have left the church is they find it too exclusive. They have been raised to be open-minded and tolerant. Too often they have seen the church exclude people who do not fit a certain mold. Furthermore, young people struggle to understand why the Bible teaches that Christianity is the only way to God when so many of their non-Christian friends seem so spiritual.

Finally, young people often find the church is not a safe place to express doubts. They seldom, if ever, hear the older members of their churches express doubts about their faith so they believe it is not safe to do so. The church must do a better job of  hearing their doubts and answering their questions.

Kinnaman goes on to address each of these reasons in detail in succeeding chapters. I find it to be an important book for churches to study if they want to keep their young people.

I once worked with a church seeking a new pastor. In my first meeting, as I always did, I asked the committee what they wanted in their next pastor. They said they wanted a pastor who would grow a youth group in the church. To this day I am not sure why I said this because I had never said it before, but I responded, "Why do you think you can grow a youth group when you couldn't keep the young people you had?" I think I wanted to point out to them that if the church did not do some things differently, a new pastor would not be able to grow and sustain a group of young people in the church.

Are any of the above issues found in your church? If so, what needs to change? 

Toxic leadership can destroy a church

 In yesterday's post I stressed the importance of strong pastoral leadership in the church. However, it is possible for such leadership to become toxic and do great damage to a church.

The first church I worked with in its search for a new pastor was a small, rural church who had experienced a succession of toxic pastors. According to the congregation, when the previous pastor began his ministry he told some people they would no longer teach their Sunday school class and assigned a different teacher to teach those classes. He removed people from various boards and placed others in those positions. He ran the church as his personal fiefdom. By the time he left, the church was much smaller and those who remained were shell-shocked. Unfortunately, that was not the only church I found like that in my years of serving as a Resource Minister to our region.

Pastoral leadership must always be servant leadership. Some think that servant leadership cannot be strong leadership, but such people evidently never consider the ministry of Jesus. He was both a servant and a strong leader, and He should be the example every pastor should want to emulate.

Toxic leaders see themselves as CEOs of a church. They take a "My way or the highway" approach to every situation. No one dares question them. Their favorite Bible verse is "Touch not God's anointed." They tear into the congregation Sunday after Sunday and bully anyone who stands up against them. Too often churches allow them to get away with such behavior uncertain how to respond.

A church will never be healthy with toxic leadership. When a pastor exhibits some of the behavior described above the church leadership needs to address it immediately. The longer it continues the more damage it will cause. It's important that the leadership addresses it as a group. I watched as lay leaders one by one left a good church due to the unhealthy behavior of the pastor. Individually they would challenge him and then leave when he attacked them as troublemakers. I encouraged these leaders to talk to the pastor as a group, but they did not until a significant number of people had left the church. Only when the remaining leaders addressed the situation did the pastor leave. To date, the church has not recovered from the experience.

Sometimes a good pastor will allow some toxicity to enter his or her ministry. There are some signs a self-aware pastor can watch for to see if he or she is starting to become toxic. One is if the sermons begin to take on a hostile tone week after week. If all your sermons are doing is tearing people down, you cannot be building them up. A second sign is if the pastor begins to think that he or she is the only one in the church who can hear from God. A third sign is when the pastor must be right all the time. A healthy pastor will recognize that sometimes he or she is wrong. In such times the pastor must be willing to admit it and apologize if necessary. A fourth sign is when you find you are pushing your people rather than leading them. Some pastors feel they must force people to do what they want rather than lead them in the direction God wants to take them. A fifth sign is if the pastor begins to believe this is his or her church and the members exist to do the bidding of the pastor. We must never forget the church belongs to God. He has called us to shepherd His people, to serve them, to lead them and to love them.

Toxic pastors can be transformed into servant leaders if they are willing to address their problem. If they are unwilling, they will leave a trail of broken churches behind them until they are unable to find another church in which to minister. This is why it is so important that a church does its due diligence when seeking another pastor. Check as many references as possible including from previous churches in which the person ministered. A church can flourish with a strong servant leader, but it will suffer under the leadership of a toxic pastor.

Pastoral leadership is needed in many churches

 Studies consistently find that growing churches are almost always led by strong pastoral leadership. Unfortunately, too many pastors are not leaders. They have been trained to manage the existing system, not to lead the church into new ministries and new ways of serving. This lack of pastoral leadership is responsible for preventing churches from reaching their ministry potential. If pastoral leadership is so important, why do more pastors not provide that leadership? The reasons are many. Here are some.

Some churches will not permit the pastor to provide the necessary leadership. They are structured around boards and committees that make the decisions which are often finalized by a congregational vote. While this structure worked well in more settled times, in the twenty-first century things change so rapidly that the church must become more fluid in its decision making. Decisions need to be made quickly or opportunities will be missed. Churches need pastors who can lead their churches to respond quickly to ministry opportunities, and our churches need to be willing to follow their pastor's leadership to meet those needs.

Another reason some pastors don't lead is they are afraid of failing. Many are very risk-averse. They see failure as . . .well, failure. They believe that if they fail too many times the church will replace them. So, the less they lead the less likely it is that they will fail. Of course, that also means there is less chance that they church will succeed in its ministry. Leadership guru John Maxwell writes that entrepreneurs fail an average of 3.8 times before succeeding in business. Another leadership expert, Max Depree, claims that leaders are only right about half of the time. I think pastors afraid of risk need to study the life of the apostles. They refused to play it safe. They didn't always get it right. For instance, Paul and Barnabas got into a big fight over whether or not to take John Mark on a second missionary journey, but in the end it worked out well. Peter got rebuked by both Jesus and Paul for his impulsive behavior, but his ministry was highly effective. We need pastors who are not afraid to take risks and churches willing to allow them to take those risks. Playing it safe in the twenty-first century won't get it done.

A third reason some pastors don't lead is they don't know where they or the church is going. It's hard to lead when you don't know where you are going! Many pastors will admit they have no vision for their ministries. Even more bothersome is after they admit they don't have a vision for ministry, two years later they still don't have one. Vision gives direction and purpose to any group of people including churches. Christian psychologist Gary Collins writes, "If you think you can be a leader without being a visionary, forget it. No one will follow your lead if you don't know where you are going."

A fourth reason some pastors don't lead was alluded to in the first paragraph. They were trained to manage the status quo, not lead the church forward. Churches reward pastors for good management. We are rewarded for keeping the wheels greased and conflict down. Most seminaries train their students to be good managers because that is what most churches want. Unfortunately, that management-style of ministry does not lead to effective outreach and growth in the church. I have read that the typical seminary education will prepare a person to pastor a church of about 120 people. This is why the typical North American church averages about 75 people on Sunday morning and why few single-pastor churches grow beyond 120 in their worship services. If we want to see our churches grow our pastors have to develop their leadership skills.

Tomorrow's blog will address toxic leadership in the church. As important as pastoral leadership is to a church, toxic leadership is deadly to a congregation.

The Scriptures and Christianity

Ed Stetzer and Elmer Towns wrote a book listing several core doctrines that are essential to Christianity. One of those doctrines is the authority of the Scriptures. They wrote, "Take away the authority of the Bible, or the essential content of the Bible, and you no longer have Christianity." You may have a good organization or a belief system that does many good things, but you have something less than the Christian faith.

In my book The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision I wrote

Without an authoritative Bible, the church will be susceptible to a variety of popular, yet false beliefs. People will pick and choose which ideas to dismiss and which ideas to add until their "Christianity" is unrecognizable as the apostolic faith. Those who create their own version of Christianity in this way have no solid foundation upon which to offer truth because their source is considered unreliable and open to change with cultural trends. We are no longer anchored to truth when we believe one person's theology is just as true as another's no matter how those theologies may disagree. We need Scripture to settle theological disagreements and provide a trustworthy foundation for belief. Some have said the primary belief system in our postmodern world can be summed up in one word: "Whatever." Without an authoritative Bible, the same will be true of the church as well.

The first temptation mankind faced was to question the word of God. God specifically told Adam and Eve to not eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan comes along and asks "Has God said...?" causing Eve and then Adam to question God's clear word to them. It is a strategy he still uses today when he tries to create doubts in people's minds regarding the validity of the Scriptures. 

The apostle Paul cautioned young Timothy that there would come a time when people would not want to hear sound doctrine but would gather around them false teachers who would tickle their ears with pleasant messages (2 Timothy 4: 3-4). We are living in that time. In too many seminaries young people preparing for the ministry graduate doubting the truths found in the Scriptures. They are taught to trust more in science and philosophy than in the teaching of the Bible. As they assume pastoral ministries they began to teach these false doctrines to their congregations. The result is that many Christians struggle to believe basic biblical teaching. According to one study 21 percent of born-again Christians believe that the Bible teaches principles that should not be followed. Only 40 percent of these individuals believe that Satan is a real force, and only 62 percent believe that Jesus lived a sinless life on earth. In another survey conducted of clergy in mainline Protestant churches 67 percent lacked confidence in at least some aspects of the Scriptures.

Individual Christians will never live the life God has prepared for them if they do not accept biblical teaching as relevant and authoritative to their lives. We cannot pick and choose which Bible doctrines we want to accept and which ones we want to ignore.

Likewise, churches will never impact their communities for the Kingdom of God without a firm belief in the authority and infallibility of the Bible. Without such an understanding of Scriptures we have no firm foundation for our teaching, our practices or our ministries.

Signs of a healthy church

In my book The Healthy Small Church: Diagnosis and Treatment for the Big Issues I listed some of the signs of a healthy church. These include

• They have a positive self-image. They don't equate church size with church significance.
• The church shares a common vision that gives it a sense of purpose and unity.
• Although family ties are important, those who visit the church are warmly welcomed and affirmed.
• Church members understand the importance of faithful stewardship and financially support the ministry of the church.
• Ministry is understood to be the responsibility of all the members, not just the pastor and staff.
• People are encouraged to serve according to their spiritual gifts, not by their seniority in the church.

The reason I wrote that book is because I have seen unhealthy churches become healthy again, and I wanted to give churches and their leaders the tools to become healthier. Transforming an unhealthy church into a healthy one is never easy, but it's always worth the effort. It also doesn't happen quickly. As I've told many church leaders, your church did not become unhealthy overnight, and it won't become healthy overnight. Church health, like physical health, isn't permanent. If a person ignores symptoms of disease in the body they can become physically unhealthy very quickly. Likewise, if a church ignores symptoms  of disease it too can become unhealthy. The book was written to help churches diagnose various components of its ministry and structure to see if unhealthy habits were creeping in.

A healthy church will be a growing church. An unhealthy church can sometimes grow as well, but it will grow to become even more unhealthy. When an unhealthy church grows it becomes a hindrance to the Kingdom of God and can bring great harm to its members and to the community around it.

Church health is the responsibility of all the members of a church but especially that of its leaders. These leaders must be willing to ask the hard questions that determine just how healthy a church is and must be intentional about taking the necessary steps to bring healing to the church. Restoring health to a church often requires making significant changes to its structure and ministries, and these changes are seldom easy to make. It will require disciplined, intentional effort from the leaders to make these changes. As difficult as they might be to implement, it will be well worth it.

How would your church be different if all the qualities of a healthy church listed above were evident in your church? Does that sound like a church you would want to attend?

Starting a new ministry

As I posted on my FB page yesterday, next Sunday I will begin a new ministry as the Transitional Pastor of Westport Baptist Church in Westport, IN. This is a great church that I have known for a long time, and I feel honored to have been asked to serve them during this time of transition.

Having worked 14 years in a judicatory role I had the opportunity to work with many churches during their search for a new pastor. One of the things I learned was that many of them did not especially value that period of time in their church's life. Many of them wanted to shorten the time they were without their next pastor as much as possible not realizing the value this transitional time could bring to their church.

This is a time when churches can get reacquainted with themselves. Chances are the church and community have changed since they called their last pastor. People have moved in and out bringing different gifts to the church. As the community changed it may have brought new ministry opportunities to the church. This transition time give the church time to recognize these changes and respond to them.

It's also a time for healing. If the previous pastor had served the church for a number of years there is a sense of loss when he or she leaves. Sometimes the pastor leaves under less than ideal conditions, and there may be some anger felt in the congregation towards those they believe caused the pastor to leave. There is often some confusion about why God called the pastor away at this time. Regardless of why a former pastor leaves a church, some healing will need to take place before the next pastor is called. This interim period is the right time for this healing to occur. It's important that the church not call its next pastor until that healing happens or some of the anger and mistrust may be transferred to the new pastor which isn't fair.

Few churches have a sense of vision for what God wants them to be and do. This transitional time is an excellent opportunity for a church to spend some time discerning what that vision might be. Too many churches want to wait until the new pastor comes who will then, in their minds, tell them what their vision should be. That's a mistake. It's far better for a church to understand God's vision for their ministry before calling a new pastor. It's far more effective to be able to explain that vision to pastoral candidates during the interview process and then ask how they can help lead the church in fulfilling that vision.

If a church is a member of a denomination, this is an excellent time to build upon that relationship. As churches get involved in its various activities it's easy to get separated from the larger body of Christ. Association and denomination involvement can suffer. Most denominations provide a process they can use to help the church identify pastoral candidates. As the church works with their denominational representative it helps renew that relationship. This can be very healthy long-term for the church.

I find this transitional time can also be a great time to explore new ways of doing ministry. Churches can sometimes be willing to try something new when the transitional pastor is leading it because they do not  view it as permanent. When it works out well, it might become permanent, but if it doesn't work out so good at least their regular pastor won't get the blame for it.

It's easy to see why I prefer the term Transitional Pastor rather than interim Pastor. When done right the church isn't sitting around waiting to call a new pastor. The church is active, involved in ministry and transitioning into a new period of ministry. I'm looking forward to my time with this church and excited about this new opportunity God has given me. Please pray for us as we begin our life together. 

Do you prefer healing or excuses?

The story of the man at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5 amazes me. For 38 years he was there hoping to be the first in the water when the angel came to stir it that he might be healed of his affliction. Jesus appeared there one day and asked him a question, "Do you want to be healed?" On the surface it seems like a silly question. Who would not want to be healed? Why did Jesus think he had spent so much time near the pool? But, what is really amazing is that the man never answered the question. Instead, he offered an excuse: He had no one to put him in the pool.

I served 14 years as a judicatory leader in our denomination. When I retired I served over 130 churches. Many of them were unhealthy and some near death. Talking to church leaders I would often hear the same stories about how the church was getting older, young people left when they completed their education, they couldn't get young families to attend the church, their finances were dwindling, it was hard to find a pastor who would stay and numerous other excuses why their church was in the shape it was in. Frankly, in 14 years I found very few of these churches that wanted to be healed. They were more interested in offering excuses than in making the hard decisions to become a healthy, growing church again.

The reason I said that was because virtually none of them were willing to do anything that might help them heal. One pastor, recognizing the situation the church was in, called to tell me he felt the church had maybe 10 years left if it didn't do something. He asked me to speak to the church about a visioning process I could lead them in. I did speak to the church and explained a little about the process I would take them through. During that process they might identify some new things God was wanting to do in their church, but this would require change and change sometimes led people to leave. After the service we had a Q&A time where I tried to answer some questions. One older lady finally spoke up and admitted she had been in favor of what I was proposing until I said the church might lose some people in the process. She said, "As soon as I heard that I looked around and realized there wasn't anyone here I wanted to lose." That ended any further discussion, and the pastor resigned a few months later.

What this lady didn't understand was that she was saying that she was willing to lose entire generations of people in order to maintain the friendships she had in the church. She was willing to see her church die and close down in a few years just so she could visit with some friends once a week. Had Jesus asked her if she wanted to see her church healed, she would have been forced to say no, or like the man in the text, avoid the question and begin offering excuses why their church couldn't be healthy.

Healthy, growing churches look nothing like churches did in the 1950s. If this is the ideal that your church is striving towards, you need to understand that you are forsaking the Great Commission's mandate to take the gospel to the lost in 2020. Every generation is responsible for reaching its generation of unbelievers.

Perhaps you see your church as currently unhealthy. The question needs to be asked: Do you want be made well? If the answer is yes, then you need to identify the things that will help you become healthy and take the necessary stops to achieve that health.

My book The Healthy Small Church: Diagnosis and Treatment for the Big Issues has helped hundreds of smaller churches that wanted to become healthier. Some judicatory ministers have bought copies for every pastor in their region. Churches have bought copies for every family in their church and used it in their mid-week studies. Other churches have bought copies for their leadership and studied it together during their regular meetings. I've been invited to speak at a number of these churches who told me it helped change their church.

Whether you use my book or some other resource, it's vital that every church identify anything that keeps it from being healthy and growing and address it. Millions of unchurched people need us to share the gospel message so that they might experience the forgiveness and salvation of God as we have.

Don't let the past control the future

In the foyer of the church I pastored was a picture of a large group of men as they were building the church building in which we worshiped. They took the clay from an adjacent field to make the bricks they used to build the building. In front of the men stood a little boy. An older member of the church, then in his 80s, told me he was that little boy. His job was to take water to the men when they got thirsty. This picture represented an important part of the church's history.

Another story I often heard was how the church used to be overflowing with people to the point that in the warm months people would sit outside to join in the worship. The windows would be open, and people would sit in chairs to sing and hear the message. Those were the "good old days," but when I went there as pastor the church had discussed closing the church due to poor attendance.

Later, I became a judicatory leader, and I found in many of the smaller churches I served similar pictures to the one described above. These were often taken when the church had a "dinner-on-the-grounds." Some churches would have a series of these pictures lined up on the walls approaching the sanctuary. I would look at those pictures and wonder how all those people fit inside their building, and what had happened since then to cause the church to fall off so dramatically.

These pictures and histories are important to churches, but they must not be allowed to be the focus of the present congregation. When the past looks better to a church than does its future, the church is in trouble. I believe churches and pastors should honor the history of the church, but its focus must always be on its present ministry and its future. What God did in the past is wonderful, but He wants to do even greater things in the future of the church if the church will allow Him to do so.

Often, congregations believe if they could just go back in time, do things the way they were doing them when the church was filled and growing, that they could start growing again. That's not the answer. Look around at the churches that are reaching people for Christ today. None of them are doing the things that your church used to do. God is doing a new thing, and any church that wants to be revived and effective again must find out where God is moving and become part of that. We can't ask Him to bless the old things when He wants to do something new.

I love history, but sometimes I wonder if the pictures I've described above actually do harm to churches. They remind people of a past that will never be recaptured, and they distract the congregation from looking to the future and what God wants to do in them and through them in that future.

If you choose to let it, your future will be much greater than your past. Roughly 100 churches close their doors each week because they cannot see a future ministry. At the same time, in many of those same communities, we see new churches springing up because people do have a vision for ministry.

The challenge for many of our smaller churches is to decide if our past or our future will dominate our thinking. Will we be content to dwell on our past successes or will we continually seek a fresh vision from God for our future ministry? I encourage you to honor your past, but always be looking for what God has for you in the future.

Does your church need revitalization?

For many years we have been told that 80 percent of the churches in America are plateaued. I have argued that most of those churches are actually in decline. Churches do not stay on a plateau for long before they begin to slide down the decline side of their life cycle. These churches need to be revitalized in order to be useful to the Kingdom of God, but the longer they continue in decline the more difficult revitalization becomes.

In his book Revitalize, Andrew Davis provides us with the signs of a dying church that needs revitalization.

1. A low view of Scripture. This can often be seen in many of the church members having little knowledge of biblical teaching. They desire the milk of Scripture and reject the meat of biblical teaching.
2. They are man-centered, not God-centered. This church is more concerned about what people think of it than what God thinks.
3. Poor shepherding of members and no church discipline. Such churches have bloated membership lists of people who haven't attended in decades and no accountability for the behavior of its members.
4. Little evangelistic effort. These churches ignore the clear mandate given to the church by the Great Commission.
5. Disunity and bitter factions. This is often the result of controllers who see the church existing for their benefit. These ungodly leaders continue to sow seeds of discord in the church demanding to get their way.
6. Disrespect for godly leaders which results in short pastorates. These churches have little respect for godly leadership from their pastors which leads to a revolving-door pastorate. This is also often the result of allowing controllers to hold leadership positions and have a voice in the life of the church.
7. Disordered polity. Many churches are more concerned about following Robert's Rule of Order than the Bible. Worldly leadership practices have replaced biblical mandates.
8. Clinging to traditions with a stubborn unwillingness to change.  This can range from the music used in worship to dress requirements for leadership and everything in between. These churches talk more about their "glory days" than planning for the future.
9. Selfish spending patterns. Dying churches spend almost all their money on themselves with little earmarked for missions or evangelism.
10. Little zeal for corporate prayer. The old time prayer meetings in those churches that still have them are poorly attended and little prayer occurs beyond praying for the sick of the church.
11. Increasingly worldly doctrines and behaviors.  Dying churches avoid the controversial teachings of Scripture preferring to satisfy the politically-correct crowd. Members of these churches have a worldview that is based upon the philosophies of man, not biblical teachings.

If many of these sounds like your church it is a good sign that your church is dying and needs to be revitalized. The good news is that God wants your church to be healthy. Depending on the church, there are many things that may need to happen, but two are universal.

First, the church must regain a clear image of God and His holiness and power. Without that image, churches will continue to do their own thing. With that also needs to come a renewed relationship with Jesus Christ. The unchurched have no problems talking about God. They often struggle to talk about Jesus Christ. The same is true with nominal Christians. Our relationship with God is based upon having a personal relationship with Christ. Revitalization will not occur unless that relationship is renewed and central in all we do.

Secondly, we must recapture an awareness of the authority of the Scriptures. The Bible is not a book about God, but God's Word to us. It is not a book of suggestions and recommendations but a book that provides each of us with directions for how we are to live our lives. It is infallible in all it teaches, and a church that wishes to find new life must recognize its authority to speak into our lives.

Church revitalization is not easy, but in a majority of our churches it is necessary if these churches are to effectively be used by God. You may find the book mentioned above to be a helpful resource in your efforts to bring new life to your church.