Revitalize Your Church

Early in my ministry, I taped the following note to myself on my desk:  "If you go, they will come." In other words, if I go out to where people live Monday through Saturday, I'm much more likely to see them at church on Sunday morning. The view of the world is extremely limited from behind a desk.  Get out there and see the world from the other side.  (As a church grows, the increasing administrative responsibilities make this much more difficult - -though it is still essential for effective, transformational ministry.) In yesterday's sermon, Andreas Schroeter, missionary to the LCO Reservation who is soon departing for his home in Germany challenged us to be both missional and incarnational.  Missional means "joining Jesus in his mission field" and incarnational means "sharing your life and their culture." As my friend, Mike Engle recently noted, " The Gospels recorded 132 contacts Jesus had with people --  6 were in the Temple --  4...

An insightful article by Bill Eason about Don McGavran , the father of the church growth movement. I was privileged to sit under his teaching a few times during my days at Fuller.

Bill Easum on How to Have Three Easters a Year . What pastor wouldn't want that?

Pastor Daron Lindemann, A Wisconsin Synod Lutheran pastor, was quoted a couple of years ago in a Milwaukee Magazine article about the 50th aniversary of 7000 member Elmbrook Church: "In some ways, I'm jealous. But let's be honest. Nondenominational churches have a -- I don't want to say diluted -- but a broader belief system, so you can appeal to more people. . . Catholics and Lutherans have a specific belief system that appeals to a narrower base." Do you agree with Pastor Lindemann? Is a broad belief system the primary reason megachurches grow?

Here's an insightful post from George Bullard, regarding how the average tenure of members in a congregation determines the chances its future viability: Your congregation is more likely to exist ten years from now if the average tenure of membership or regular attendance of the active congregation is less than 15 years. If it is 15 to 25 years then its future vital existence is marginal to uncertain. When the average tenure is more than 25 years the long-term future vitality and even existence of the congregation is in doubt. More Here

Thought provoking article byStephen Gray: Ten Deadly Sins of a Dying Church

Thom Rainer, president of Lifeway Christian Resources, and former church consultant, shared four observations me made from his 500 consultations: First, our consultations focused much attention on matters of leadership . We found that many church leaders were in trouble because of poor leadership skills and poor interpersonal skills. Most of these leaders were well trained theologically and biblically, but they weren’t prepared to lead an organization or deal with people issues. Second, our team was often perplexed at the weak evangelistic endeavors of churches. It seemed in many congregations that the Great Commission was not taken seriously. It wasn’t that evangelistic efforts were done poorly; they weren’t done at all. Third, we saw that church leaders needed the eyes of an outsider . One of the most common components of our consultations was "the first-time guest." Someone on our team would make his or her first appearance at the church at a worship service. That person ...

I really appreciate my friend, Tom Harding, who pastors an innovate church, ALIVE (First Wesleyan Church in Central, South Carolina.) Taking an unusual approach to ministry, they are doing an outstanding job of reaching both the older generation as well as college students. Great article about their ministry here A — Adoring our God (worship) L — Loving our community (fellowship) I — Instructing believers (discipleship) V — Valuing the lost (outreach) E — Equipping for ministry (service) A church ALIVE is worth the drive! (Photo by Selton Ipock)

My Aussie friend, Wayne Field, wrote a great review of God Size Your Church , written by my blogger buddy John Jackson. Good stuff!! John's insights are very helpful (I wrote an endorsement in the front of the book) and Wayne's perspective is particularly enlightening. I think it's really cool that the three of us pastors from Reno, Nevada (John), Australind, Western Australia (Wayne), and Hayward, Wisconsin (Me) consider each other friends -- even though we've never met! Purchase God Size Your Church Here.

Gary Lamb, who pastors a thriving church in Canton, observed that there are two types of growing churches: Those who are consumed with doing church in a cool way Those who are consumed with doing church that reaches lost people They both end up doing similar things -- but with a different motive. I'd like to adjust it a just little bit and say, there are two types of churches in general: Those consumed with doing church Those consumed with BEING the church

Church Metrics is a new free resource to help churches keep tabs on attendance, giving, salvations and baptisms. Of course, these statistics, in themselves, do not show the whole picture. For instance, it is difficult to measure the depth of love, the strength of prayer and the heart of missional service. However, it is wise for church leaders to keep an eye on the measurable "dashboard indicators." If attendance, giving, salvations and baptisms are all going down, there's probably an issue somewhere that ought to be addressed.

Just finished Rob Stennett's new novel, The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher. (Zondervan) It's a funny, fast paced satire about an eager Denver realtor, Ryan Fisher, who expands his business by placing an ad in the "Christian Business Directory." In the process of building a "Christian market niche", he discovers the evangelical sub-culture -- which is completely foreign but somewhat attractive to him. After a few months of "churchianity" (and pretending to be a pastor) -- he decides to plant a church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, using his marketing, relational and business savvy. What follows is a humorous but indicting portrayal of American christianity, which raises a plethora of issues about effective leadership, church growth, manipulation, authenticity vs. pretending, and why people attend church in the first place. It was a great read and I couldn't put it down.

A great article by Ed Stetzer and Mike Norman: Producing a Comeback Church

Last year, an average of 57,821 people attended the 49 largest Wesleyan Churches. 55,755 people attended the smallest 1,210 Wesleyan Churches.

Updated: In 1969, Elmer Towns published a book highlighting the Ten Largest Sunday Schools in America (Back then, they measured the size of a congregation by Sunday School attendance.) Stumbling upon the Towns book a few months ago, I wondered what has happened to these churches over the four decades since this publication. I sent our fine intern, Becky Kavin, on a detective mission to discover how these congregations have fared. Here's what she found: 1. Akron Baptist Temple, Akron, OH 1968 -- 5762 2008 -- 2000 2. Highland Park Baptist Church, Chatanooga, TN 1968 -- 4821 2008 -- no response 3. First Baptist Church, Dallas, TX 1968 -- 4731 2008 -- 2600 4. First Baptist Church, Hammond, IN 1968 -- 3978 2008 -- 12,000 (did not respond -- this figure comes from Outreach Magazine) 5. Canton Baptist Temple, Canton, OH 1968 -- 3581 2008 -- 1500 6. Landmark Baptist Church, Cincinnati, OH 1968 -- 3540 2008 -- 1200 7. Temple Baptist Church, Detroit, MI (Now Northridge Church) 1968-- 3400 20...

Chuck Warnock had a great post recently on What You Can Learn About Church Growth from Your Garden.

Last night, I dreamed that the noted scholar and church growth authority, Elmer Towns, came to our church, and gave us a consultation for free! He was delighted when he observed our congregation, and was tremendously encouraging. "You have great people!! You have a great staff!! You have great opportunities all around you!! The sky's the limit!! You're going to need to expand your facilities soon! What an exciting place to serve the Lord! There are lots of unreached people in those woods! What are you waiting for? Go get them!!" Ol' Elmer sure had me pumped!! I was ready to charge hell with a water pistol. Then I woke up. I took the dream as a word from the Lord -- to have more faith, to think bigger, to be more excited about my work in Hayward, and to bring the love of Jesus to our whole commuity. This morning, I pulled Elmer's book of my shelf and started reading. I figure, if I visit him in the day -- maybe he'll come by again and visit me in my dre...

And speaking of mega-churches . . . this should not come as any surprise. Up here in the northwoods, everybody knows that all the hunters are looking to shoot the big buck. (Just watch how these churches respond. They won't fight back. I'm predicting they will demonstrate grace and love -- like Jesus would do.)

There are just over 1,300 megachurches in the United States, according to the most recent survey by Prof. Scott Thumma at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. These are churches that average at least 2,000 in weekly attendance. This is where they're located. Here's the link to see it better (New York Times.) Also, a fascinating article accompanying the map

Church consultant, George Bullard, has a fascinating chart, which shows the stages of a church's life. You can find it here. (You'll have to scroll down a few posts on the page.) Thought provoking!