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Church Growth

Church Shoppers: What Are They Looking For?

Why Would Someone Join Your Church?

It might help to actually ask ourselves this question. If people are seeking a faith community (and fewer people are) why would they choose your church?

Most churches are remarkably the same—at least at first glance. I write this with some authority, having visited 65 in the last two years. Congregational culture doesn’t seem to vary much.

  • Most churches think they are friendly.  
  • Most pastors think their message is worth listening to.  
  • Many pastors assume they are approachable.
  • Most churches aspire to excellent music. Some have capable and flamboyant organists. Others have just as capable lay ensembles leading worship.
  • Fewer churches offer educational offerings.
  • Fewer churches have youth or children. (This should be alarming to regional bodies!)
  • Service offerings are generally cookie cutter. A few embrace a cause.
    One congregation we visited had several service opportunities all centering on cancer. Will prospective members feel this must be their cause, too?
    Some have embraced sexual orientation causes. Will visitors feel that joining these congregations is making a statement on these issues?
    Many participate in Habitat for Humanity or popular Walkathons.
  • There seems to be less association with denominational service organizations. This was unintentionally encouraged when Lutheran social service agencies started currying favor for public dollars.
  • Many Lutheran churches we visited are just getting by with little sense that there is a future. 

What do visitors see when they walk through your doors? Is there a reason for them to return?

How we see ourselves matters. How others see us may matter more. Most people visiting a church are asking questions like these.

  • Will I feel welcome?
  • Will my whole family feel welcome?
  • Will my membership make a difference in my life?
  • Will I be able to participate with all my heart and soul and mind?

Our assumptions about why people choose to join a church can be very wrong.

Back in 1998, a Tanzanian family began attending Redeemer and asked to join. Bishop Almquist was interested in closing Redeemer. They had already seized a good bit of our money. We were discouraged from accepting new members. A synod representative actually visited this family and asked a rather presumptuous question. “Why would you want to join that church? Wouldn’t you be happier in a church with more people like you?”

That family made their own choice to join Redeemer and became the backbone of a new ministry. A decade later SEPA Synod, stuck in their prejudicial past, decided that the nearly 60 members with East African roots who had joined Redeemer since 1998 didn’t count. They claimed this mission outreach had been done without their oversight—although there is no requirement to check with SEPA before accepting new members. Why was a racial distinction made in a Church that claims to be EVANGELICAL?

In this scenario church leaders made an assumption. They assumed what might be best for Redeemer. Their vision for us was not our vision. We were judged on their assumptions.

Assumptions in today’s church beg to be challenged. Assumptions lead to status quo. The status quo in today’s church is decline.

Question everything. Explore.

If you want your congregation to stand out in some way, it would be helpful to know what other congregations in your region are doing.

Here’s a reality—

  • Few pastors ever hear other pastors preach.
  • Few choirs hear other choirs.
  • Most active church members have no time to visit other churches.
  • Most churches buy into the same curricula and purchase the same hymnals.

And so most muddle along, assuming they are doing a great job—living in their own bubble. They wonder why more people don’t become involved. They don’t really have a way to measure. The statistics they are able t0 gather reflect failure.

Here’s a suggestion.

Visit other churches. Send two or three members once a month to visit and report on what they learn. Visit churches in your own denomination. Cross denominations.

  • You may discover a need you can fill.
  • You may learn about a new resource or mission opportunity.
  • You might become allies in local projects.
  • You might begin to see yourselves through a visitor’s eyes.

If you want to learn about the world, travel. If you want to learn about the Church, visit.

25 Jun 2013

Transforming the Role of Clergy in the Future Church

Transformational Ministry Requires Structural Change

Part of the challenge facing today’s Church is that the role of clergy and how they relate to congregations must change. Changes have already occurred in the numerous short-term and part-time pastorates. This is likely to continue while our expectations remain in the past.

The monetary demands on congregations have grown while the source of funding has been steadily dwindling.

Clergy spent decades griping about being highly educated but poorly paid. They had a point, but the resolution of their complaints has put their services out of reach for many congregations.

“Too bad!” might be a quick response.

The fact is that every church that fails diminishes the mission of the whole Church. Small churches reach more people. The economics of fewer larger churches make economic sense but don’t really work.

Fewer recent college graduates are entering the ministry. Today, candidates for ministry are often mature adults. Some are nearing the end of their careers—drifting from a professional calling. As older servants of God, with established families, lifestyles, and debts, they are looking for economic security and as little disruption to their settled lives as possible. Since clergy often view themselves as CEOs, the pay expectations are the pay expectations of older professionals.

The talent pool in which all congregations fish for leaders is crowded with candidates who can make only part-time commitments within tight geographic parameters. The pool of available talent may not fit congregational needs. Yet it is the role of regional bodies to place their rostered leaders in their rostered churches. Lots of square pegs in fewer round holes. That translates to unhappy clergy and congregations. Conflict often results.

That’s one side of the equation.

On the other side of the equation—the congregational side—an ongoing revolution has been underway. People have stopped attending church. The Sunday morning worship demographic is upwards of 50+.

The younger demographic—the demographic absent from church—represents well-educated career people, whose varied expertise is hard for professional church leaders to recognize if it competes with their own.

This is only part of the picture.

The needs of congregations change so dramatically that they are difficult to define and fill when the need is greatest. Community demographics, once stable for generations, now shift every few years. Congregations using the “settled pastor” model can easily be left with beloved leadership that is unable to serve the changing neighborhood. Decline sets in and everyone is afraid to make changes. We are church people. Nobody likes to complain—even those charged with the welfare of the congregation.

It is fairly clear that most congregations can no longer afford a full-time theologian in residence. Even if they could, it might not be to their mission advantage. The skills of theologians are no longer a congregation’s most urgent imperative.

Theologians are trained in the art of preaching — pulpit to pew communication. Modern church leadership must concentrate on communication beyond pulpit to pew. The pews are nearly empty.

Communication in today’s world is person to person. Very pastoral.

Money spent on making sure a good sermon is provided to a dwindling number of listeners is money that cannot be spent on reaching the people who are not in church—a key mission.

Yet the pastor’s salary is the foundation of every church budget.

The power in the world has shifted to the individual. This changes the way individuals think. We are no longer wired to understand the need to gather on Sunday morning—especially if our presence in Church does not recognize our abilities.

This trend is not likely to reverse. The Church is going to have to adapt.

In the Church, we see a structure that cannot budge. It continues to make unrealistic demands on the few people who remain loyal.

It is disheartening to be a lay person in today’s Church.

The typical congregation of the future, large or small, needs communications experts, education experts and service providers. We need business and entrepreneurial skills. It will be the rare pastor who can fill every need. It is unlikely that the growing pool of second career clergy perceive these skills as part of the role they are adopting late in life. (It may very well be the demands for change in their first careers that inspired them to turn to the Church.)

The day is coming when clergy will not be called to one congregation long-term but to multiple calls defined by skill sets which they will provide to congregations only for as long as they are needed.. They may join teams of clergy with complementary skills. Congregational budgets will detail mission tasks and will no longer allocate a large sum to one pastor.

This is an economic necessity and it will further empower the laity.

And then the Church might be transformed.

19 Mar 2013

What Makes a Post Actionable?

2x2CategoryBarSMHow Can A Blog Be Actionable?

Yesterday’s post talked about the characteristics of a viral post — a post that readers share in large numbers. One of the characteristics is that a viral post is actionable.

An actionable post results in a reader doing something. When marketers use the term, they mean the reader either bought something or took a step towards buying something. Marketers have embraced blogging because they see it as a customer relations, customer retention and sales tool—all in one.

Churches have the same needs but use evangelical/ecclesiastic terminology.

Yet churches seem to be puzzled by the blogging genre. They tend to see a blog as an online musing . . . an extension of the sermon. It is so much more!

The easiest way to move away from this thinking and to begin to harness the power of the web is for churches to think in terms of writing blogs which prompt action.

In church terms, this could mean a number of things.

Here are some actions that could result from congregational blog posts:

  • A reader might subscribe to your blog or the congregational newsletter. Your congregation could then reach subscribers with a short message every day. (They probably won’t sign up to read sermons, though!) 2×2 has about 63 subscribers and another 100 or more who subscribe via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. We reach more than 500 new readers every week! (Imagine what we could do with a building!)
  • A reader might share your post with someone else. I occasionally send links to Pastor Swanson’s daily emails, 7 Minutes A Day. I find them to be inspirational and motivating and hope others will, too.
  • A reader might take some action they might not otherwise take. Pastor Swanson’s posts have prompted me to read more of the Bible and look at familiar Bible passages in a new light.
  • A reader might become interested in a new ministry. A congregation could blog about homelessness and inspire someone to do something about it.
  • A post might inspire someone to make a donation (sweat or dollars).
  • A post might inspire a new understanding or make a new connection. I can’t remember how our posts led us to ministry friendships with Christians in Kenya, Pakistan, and Sweden, but they did!
  • A post could spark an interest in personal growth. I was impressed with a captivating video of a young girl telling a Bible story. I shared it on our blog and was myself inspired to improve my storytelling skills.
  • A blog post can lead to new alliances. Our early posts on the value of Vacation Bible Schools created alliances with like-minded Christians in other areas of the United States.
  • A reader may comment on a post and that may spark an online conversation.
  • A reader just might be inspired to faith and salvation.

How A Blog Might Impact A Common Scenario

In yesterday’s post, I posed a scenario where a congregation became aware that their neighborhood was changing. A new and very different ethnic group was moving in and changing the demographic. This isn’t a stretch. It’s happening all over our city (Philadelphia). A common result within our denomination is to declare churches closed in changing neighborhoods. We can only guess that they feel their message will not fly with the changing demographic. (Actually, we are not guessing, that’s what our church was told by our regional body.) This is foreign to the biblical mission of the church—and unnecessary—especially if congregations use social media as a mission tool!

What if a congregation started blogging about the changes in the neighborhood in a way which fostered interaction between the settled population and the newcomers. If they did so regularly, it would be noticed within a few weeks. Doors would open. Introductions would be made. When the new population began to show an interest as neighbors, they would feel like they already know the people who sponsored such a welcoming blog.

Civic organizations would likely notice, too. The church would gain respect in the neighborhood. The voice of the Church might carry more weight. Mainline news might notice. The possibilities are endless.

Actionable blogs should be a goal of every congregation.

Many of these benefits can be achieved without a blog. But there is no denying that blogging amplifies the likelihood and the reach of ministry efforts. It is work. It is a new discipline. But it is exciting. Time must be carved out to learn new skills. But the potential for ministry is so much greater with a blog than without. Frankly, the time invested in blogging will steal time from ministry efforts which may be traditional but which are not resulting in church growth. No real loss.

One last thing!

An actionable post should end with what in business is termed a Call To Action. This can be as simple as posing a question. Or it could be a simple form.

Here’s our Call to Action!

If you’d like help getting started in social media or blogging, submit the brief form below. We’ll see if we can be of service or point you in a helpful direction.

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29 Jan 2013

Web 1 (Ready), Web 2 (Set), Web 3 (Go!)

This is the second in a short series of posts springboarding from an article in The Jewish Week, written by Rabbi Hayim Herring.

Lagging Behind the World We Hope to Reach

I attended a convocation of churches this weekend. About 20 churches met to celebrate the Reformation, conduct some business and listen to some teachings offered by their bishop.

Today, as I waited for Hurricane Sandy, I went through the delegate list and visited every church website — at least those that had websites.

The websites were without exception static “brochure” web sites. A couple were very nicely designed, with full presentations of their ministry. Several others were minimal sites provided by directory services. A few had Facebook websites but they had done nothing with them except list service times. I was the ninth visitor to one of them, which indicates how effective they are.

Only one provided content that might attract traffic from outside their existing community and that was minimal.

As the Web matures we are starting to identify its evolutionary stages.

Web 1 describes the early days of the web from the early 90s, when organizations struggled with clumsy html code to produce static pages with no interactivity. Using the web well meant hiring some help. Help with technology is not on the approved list of church expenses. Organists and sextons are expenses church people understand. Web masters? Not in the budget. Pity! Web masters have real potential to influence the growth of a church! This has become easier.

News flash: You no longer have to know code to create attractive sites. Anyone can do it.

The move to interactivity began about 2004 and has been mushrooming. This is Web 2. Unfortunately many churches are locked in the frustrations they encountered in the infant days of Web 1. If fear of code and technical ability is stopping your church from using the web, relax. The web has become almost as easy to use for originators of content as it is for consumers of content. It is becoming more powerful every day — and that’s no exaggeration.

We can now become involved with the people who visit our sites. Isn’t Involvement why churches exist?

Web 1 influenced the world. Web 2 changed the world.

Most churches are barely embracing Web 1. This failure is creating a widening gap between them and their communities. Catch up is going to be a tougher and tougher hurdle. Still, there is a hesitance to believe that the web can be of value to church mission.

This is foolish.

  • The web can connect your congregation’s members.
  • The web can connect your congregation to your community.
  • The web can connect you to other churches with similar or complementary missions.
  • The web can connect you to the world.

It has never been easier to go out into all the world, yet the Church is late to the airport!

Congregations were never meant to live in isolation, yet we often do — barely aware of what the congregation a few blocks away might be doing. We view other churches as competition, not potential partners.

We are defying our mission.

Rabbi Herring discusses this in the essay we referenced in two previous posts (1 and 2). He suggests that organizations, including religious organizations are poised to enter a third era of Web capabilities— Web 3.

Having lived in the interactive era of Web 2.0 for not quite a decade, we have an understanding about the nature of online community, the need for a vital organizational web presence and the requirement of interactive and dynamic communication with constituents. While still in its early evolutionary stages,

I’d like to suggest that we are already in transition to a Web 3.0 environment. Web 2.0 meant that Jewish organizations needed to replicate their bricks and mortar presence online. Bricks and mortar and bytes and click ran parallel to one another.

Web 3.0 means that defining principles of online social media, like collaboration, co-creation, improvisation and empowerment must now be practiced in the physical world. In other words, the characteristics of the web that enable individuals to self-direct their lives must now flow back into all organizational spaces: in someone’s home, on the web or inside institutional walls. This is definitely another paradigm shift for organizations.

Rabbi Herring’s observations are astute. Those few congregations that have embraced the power of the media are about to take their interactive and collaborative experiences and transform what goes on within their brick and mortar churches. It will be the elusive formula for transformation.

We at 2×2 are starting to dip our toes into this water, cooperating with some of the churches that correspond with us. It’s exciting, It’s a little scary. But it is invigorating and promising.

Those that haven’t bothered to understand Web 1 and are oblivious to Web 2 will not reap the benefits of Web 3.

Someone said recently . . .

Bragging today about avoiding the internet is like bragging you can’t read!

Hey, Church, it’s your choice!

photo credit: gualtiero via photopin cc (retouched)
29 Oct 2012

A Reformation (Transformation) Message

Things tend to need reforming along about the time that we are most satisfied.

We have been Lutherans for nearly 500 years. We know how things should work.

  • Every church should shall have a pastor.
  • Every congregation should maintain a building.
  • Every congregation should support an organ.
  • Every viable church should have 150 supporting members.
  • Members should tithe.
  • Parents should place the scriptures in the hands of their children and bring them into the fellowship of the people of God.
  • Christians should live in harmony.

The list used to be a little longer.

  • Every pastor should be male.
  • Women should wear hats in worship.
  • Children should be confirmed before they are welcomed to the Communion Table.

Today, the “shoulds” of church life are not the reality. They may never again be reality. Maybe they never were. And they always bear reexamination.

And so the Church presents a new “should.”

You should transform.

Just how we are to do this while worshiping the “shoulds”  of the past is left to us to figure out without much guidance.

Perhaps the first step in church transformation is to reexamine the list of “shoulds.”

Place that list next to Scripture to see which are mandated and which are manufactured for the convenience of leaders now or long, long ago.

That’s what Martin Luther did. We “should” emulate that!

28 Oct 2012

More Pastors; Fewer Preachers

Let’s face it. One of the biggest challenges for small churches (and that includes most churches) is meeting the costs of professional leadership. Salaries and perks are the bulk of the budget.

At the first sign of financial distress, what do most churches do? Call a part-time minister.

What is the priority of every part-time solo minister? Preparing for worship and Sunday morning.

Often, that’s about all a small congregation can negotiate from their leaders. It is the frequent source of conflict.

Sunday morning preaching alone does not grow a church, especially when the sermon is delivered to only a few dozen part-time listeners. But the pressure on congregational lay leaders is to grow and transform or else, while all the congregation’s resources are tied up satisfying the salary requirement for a requisite pastor—whether that pastor is helping the congregation grow or not.

This must change.

Education is coming to realize that the responsibilities of teachers are changing. There is no longer any need for thousands of biology teachers working to craft a lecture on photosynthesis when just one expert educator can thoroughly cover the topic online, complete with visuals and links to enhance the lesson. This role can be competitive to ensure quality, but duplication in every school district is no longer necessary. The old model for education, born of pre-Information Age traditions, will soon be obsolete and recalled as quaint.

It is projected that the typical class day will flip. Listening to lectures will be the homework. Class time will be spent with instructors facilitating discussions, problem-solving and projects—what used to be called “homework.”

Similar changes will benefit the Church. Small churches do not have to devote scarce resources to pay theologians to craft a sermon on the same topic as a several thousand other pastors. This model belongs to the ages.

It may once have been necessary when information was harder to come by and many members were illiterate. As the economic model of Church shifted to totally monetary compensation, it has been pricing small churches out of existence. This is a shame. Small faith communities still hold the greatest number of total denominational membership. People like small churches. Soon, only the privileged will be able to afford to live in Christian community. The Church will have defeated its own cause.

Today, we need more pastors and fewer preachers. We need comforters, advisors, peacemakers, innovators, advocates, teachers and leaders. Knowledge of scripture and church teaching is still important in performing these roles. But the expense of dedicating one full salary to every congregation for the primary purpose of filling a Sunday pulpit is imperiling the entire Church.

If small churches are to return to prosperity, they need hands-on pastoring more than expensive preaching. Just as in education, the Church must turn its priorities upside down. Thoughtful preaching can be provided online and delivered by anyone who can speak well. Professional staff will free a day or two for hands-on interaction in the community.

This is already beginning to take shape. Luther Seminary’s online preaching helps (www.workingpreacher.org) is a resource that covers each Sunday’s lessons from the Common Lectionary. Many seminary professors from varying traditions comment on the lessons, helping to free the time of hundreds of pastors. 2×2 fashions both its Daily Devotion and the weekly object lesson from this online discussion.

Meanwhile, online preaching is being honed to an art. The temptation for many preachers is to post their ten-page sermon manuscript on-line. These do not fit the habits of online readers.

Online preaching must conform to the new rhythm of modern life. Pastor Jon Swanson broadcasts a short devotional reading daily and elaborates more fully in his blogs. 7×7 (very short daily devotion) and 300 words a day (a longer—but still short—daily blog lesson). He is growing an enthusiastic following — including 2×2.

All of us pioneers in the social media world have analytics at our fingertips. We can test and hone our skills, using actual data. Pastors preaching in sanctuaries have to guess and wait a week to correct their course.

The role of ministers must change if ministry is to remain affordable to most congregations.

Now would be a good time to start.

23 Oct 2012

Imagine: A New Church for the New Age

2x2 is merging the First and Fifth Estates.The Church of the last five decades is doomed.

But that it is good news.

We have spent these post-World War years of prosperity building a model for success that only a small percentage of congregations can hope to sustain. Many congregations exist and serve amid this atmosphere of hopelessness. It is not uplifting.

There is no need to wallow in this failure, pointing blame at the people, society or the clergy.

It just doesn’t matter. The model of Church as contained in a building and managed by a person trained in theology is about to be replaced. It’s long impending doom is at last being recognized. It was born of an era when the larger church controlled wealth and a feudal mentality, providing for its support, was ingrained.

When we found ourselves living in capitalist, industrial, corporate economies, it all began to crumble. The maintenance expenses exceeded the means of the communities we intended to serve. People became less and less engaged as more and more was expected.

No need to mourn this passing! What is going to evolve is going to be so much better!

The changes will be enabled by the First Estate (the Church) harnessing the power of the Fifth Estate (the web).

Imagine.

Here are just a few ways the Church is going to be transformed.

STRUCTURE

OLD: A hierarchy manages all education, communication and publishing, assuring that doctrine and tradition are maintained.

NEW: Congregations will seek help beyond denominational lines. It will be readily available to them online at a fraction of the expense.

OLD: A hierarchy oversees the placement of qualified leaders, with long “settled” ministries being the measure of success, making sure their salaries and benefits meet prescribed standards. Meanwhile, these desirable, settled congregations are constantly urged to “transform.”

NEW: Congregations will forsake the single pastor model as poor use of their resources. They will seek qualified help for specific short-term challenges and form ongoing relationships with several pastors. Flexible teams of ministers will serve without affiliating with any one congregation.

MISSION

OLD: A centralized office seeks theologically trained candidates, immerses them in a culture, provides additional training, and places them and their families all over the world. Congregations participate by giving offerings. Missionaries return every few years and make a tour of congregations to solicit continued support.

NEW: Individual congregations will begin to make contact with like-spirited Christians all over the world online. Denomination will be reflected in their actions not in their management. Many members will correspond, share and pray for one another with weekly engagement. Members of all ages will be online pen pals with multiple Christian fellowships. Eventually, congregations will raise money to send a few members of the congregation to visit, strengthening bonds begun online. The network of online churches will crisscross the world.

WORSHIP

OLD: Large structures with a dedicated building, common liturgy and accepted “playlist” of hymns is replicated across the country every few miles. One certified theologian is given status to repeat the words of our Lord from the Bible. Church members participate in assigned roles. Their names are listed a month in advance in the bulletin.

NEW: The structure of worship will embrace many cultures. Multiple church members will lead. Sermons will be preached online by the best articulators of the Word. Local discussions will elaborate on the Word. Members will become accustomed to weekly, spontaneous participation. Published liturgies and hymnals will be passe.

EDUCATION

CURRENT: Sunday School begins at age three and ends at age nine with desperate attempts to fill in the gap between childhood and old age with confirmation, youth ministry, singles clubs, and adult forums, following expensive curricula supplied by church hierarchy. Less than five percent of the congregation participate.

NEW: Churches, via their web sites, will link members to meaningful online forums, supplementing them with local engagement either online or in church. Short daily learnings will replace hour-long classes. Congregations linked online will share their resources and traditions.

STEWARDSHIP

OLD: Church members are encouraged to pledge to the maintenance of their building and sustenance of their clergy. Regional bodies, seminaries, and various social service entities within the church beg for additional funds. The national church adds to the appeal for dollars supplied by the same small pool of people.

NEW: Church buildings will have to multi-task their usage in the community to afford their cost. Many communities will rent or borrow appropriate space in the neighborhood. Regional bodies will provide fewer direct services. Their staffs and budgets will be trimmed substantially. Church social service agencies will completely abandon church affiliation as they recognize that cord was cut when they began seeking public funding. Congregations will choose to support service agencies that resonate with their sense of mission, regardless of their affiliation with religion. This will be an opportunity for church members to personally witness in the secular environment.

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

OLD: Members are expected to attend worship regularly and to live within an easy commute of a church building.

NEW: Members can be anywhere in the world and participate in community online. Online statistics will be published along with membership and giving numbers.

TODAY

Much of this is already happening. 2×2 is part of this evolution revolution and already experiencing many of these transformations.

 

22 Oct 2012

First Estate, Meet the Fifth Estate: A New Reformation

The Fifth EstateIn the Church, we are still shaking off the dust of the Middle Ages. Back then, as always, there was a crying need to organize society, partly due to unparalleled spread and power of Christianity.

  • Who would have the power?
  • Who would control the wealth?
  • Who would protect the wealth and power?
  • Who would pay for everything?

There was tension between church leaders and the people they relied upon to protect their impressive assets. This ragtag group of warriors would be most effective and reliable if they were given some official status and a smidgen of power.

Somebody came up with the idea of “estates.”

The First Estate included the clergy. They controlled much of the wealth, demanding contributions of the faithful. They paid NO taxes.

The Second Estate included the warriors that were to become the nobility. They were willing to risk their lives to protect the Church, and so, they were allowed some very nice tracts of land and the power to get the general population to work for them. They paid NO taxes.

The Third Estate was everyone else—about 97% of the population. THEY paid taxes.

As for upward mobility—it was next to impossible to enter the Second Estate by any means other than birth or marriage. Is it any wonder that there was no shortage of clergy in the Middle Ages?

Then came the printing press. The Fourth Estate was born. It was soon recognized that anyone who owned a printing press held power that had to be respected (and controlled, if possible). The press became the Fourth Estate.

Along came America and the power of the press was given constitutional protection.

Today we stand at the threshold of new possibilities and the birth of the Fifth Estate. The term seems to have started in Canada, referring to the media. It is evolving to include the power that lies in the hands of millions of unfettered individuals (the same 97% who have been supporting the power structure of both Estates One and Two for a thousand years).

Enter the power of the blog—The Fifth Estate.

This is a new form of power— a bit like the press but rawer and more independent, uncontrolled by any structure and empowered as much by the low cost as the technology..

  • Blogs are available to all.
  • Blogs do not require wealth and backing.
  • Blogs can create their own following.
  • Blogs are immediate.
  • Blogs have no cumbersome internal power structures.
  • Blogs are not restricted by the costs of print, marketing and circulation.
  • Blogs are not beholding to advertising for revenue.
  • Blogs are controlled by everyone’s ability to respond if they disagree.
  • Blogs are protected by the same Bill of Rights that protects religion and the press.

Anyone can become a thought leader in this new world. You won’t need a title or fancy degree.

The Fifth Estate will outpower every other Estate.

We have already seen the Fifth Estate affect government and international relations—swaying elections, inciting rebellion, changing the world.

We are beginning to see the Fifth Estate change education with free and easy access to course material once available only to the privileged.

Business has changed. Publishing has changed.

Will the Fifth Estate change the First Estate—the Church?

It will…if we start using the power at our fingertips.

The Church’s resistance to change—which begins at the top—will hamper it. Leaders will try to protect the status quo, which is their expertise. They will continue to rely on outdated communication techniques—20-minute sermons in cavernous, empty sanctuaries, newsletters filled with fluff, feel good web sites that invite little interaction or thought leadership.

One day soon, the power of the Fifth Estate will force open the doors and windows that have been sealed for centuries. The change is not going to be dictated by the seminaries or bishops or even the clergy. It is going to come from the bottom up and it is going to be truly transforming.

Are we ready?

photo credit: BottleLeaf via photopin cc
21 Oct 2012

There is more to Mission than the Mission Statement

This series has addressed evangelism in terms used most often by people in marketing and advertising. Again:

Advertising is getting the word out.
Evangelism is getting the Word out.

We’ve concentrated in this series on branding, applying this term to a favorite strategy of church developers — beginning a ministry with the tactic of writing a Mission Statement.

Often that’s where this sort of evangelism program both begins and ends. The Mission Statement is written and it’s back to business as usual.

One of the leading voices in the marketing world is businessman Seth Godin. He recently presented a concept and granted permission to share it. So let’s take a look at what he has to say.

Seth Godin’s Acute Heptagram of Impact

According to Godin (who has initiated countless ventures and helps many more kick-start their dreams) all of these seven qualities must be present if a project is to succeed. The absence of even one can snuff out the light! I revised his Heptogram to make it make sense to me. The concepts crisscross as if you are drawing a star, but otherwise it is Seth’s.

Start at the top of the star. Godin says you can have a STRATEGY but if you do not define your TACTICS and if you lack the SKILLS to EXECUTE those tactics. the STRATEGY won’t matter. Your ability to garner support from sponsors or workers depends on your REPUTATION. Nothing mentioned so far matters if the DESIRE to succeed is not present and the individuals involved do not PERSIST. The biggest enemy of PERSISTENCE is FEAR. And with this, you return to STRATEGY, completing your seven-pointed star.

Each point on this Marketing Star applies to any Congregation engaged in forging a new mission.

  1. The strategy to create a Mission Statement is the tip of this seven-pointed star.
  2. Start to draw the star and you come to tactic. That is the Mission Statement!
  3. Keep drawing. You now need tp decide what skills and assets you already have or need to help you execute your Mission Statement.
  4. Cross over to reputation. If you have a problem with reputation, begin to address it immediately. It may take a while!
  5. Work with your membership to foster desire. Chances are your leaders understand the need to evangelize better than other church members. Leaders must find a way to communicate their enthusiasm to the rest of the congregation.
  6. Then you have to start working your plan. Chalk up some success. Address each failure (and you will have some).
  7. Don’t let fear of failure or making mistakes keep you from trying.

Godin claims that when things aren’t working, one or more of these elements are amiss. Often, he says, none of them are quite right. The biggest danger, he suggests, is the concentration on tactics before the full scope of the project is understood.

And that’s a problem with concentrating so hard on the Mission Statement that we miss everything else!

17 Oct 2012

Using Your Mission Statement to Strengthen Networks

We can’t do it all ourselves, but we live in a world where we like to think we can.

In the world of corporate marketing, the “brand” is sacred. Corporate branders would cringe to think of sending their customers to a competitor. They would take one of these approaches.

Convince the customer they are wrong for needing something they do not offer.

You like contemporary worship? Our liturgies are much richer and more meaningful! Take a seat and listen!

You are being bullied? We are so sorry, but our mission is more about feeding the hungry. Our food pantry is open on Tuesday and Friday afternoons! Stop by!

Promise an answer so far down the line that it is likely to be useless to the person in need today.  

You want youth programming? Come back in two years. We’re training someone right now in exactly what you are looking for.

This type of thinking can affect how congregations interpret their Mission Statements. Governing boards can start to weigh every challenge by measuring it against their published Mission Statement and what they are prepared to provide—not the actual needs of the neighborhood. The Mission Statement then becomes an excuse to turn a blind eye to the changing needs.

Part of the decline of the neighborhood church is that the church as a whole is unprepared for change. Denominational leaders strive to find long-term pastors for stable (they call them “settled”) positions. When this becomes problematic, lay people tend to pay the price.

Let’s learn from this failure. Do not use your Mission Statement as a rigid gatekeeper in approving every congregational venture. Instead, use  it as an indicator of how you need to change.

Also realize, that the approved Mission of your congregation may not resonate with each member. Similarly, visitors to your congregation may not care at all about your mission. Most people first attend church for personal reasons. They come to be healed. They come to have their needs met.

  • Don’t expect everyone to embrace your lofty words.
  • Make sure that all the good intentions in creating a Mission do not blind you to reality.
  • Seekers coming to your door may not seem to fit into your Mission.
  • Your sense of Mission must be flexible. Otherwise, you may be a congregation with a sense of mission but no one to serve.

This can happen at every level of Church life. A congregation can go to their Regional Body and ask for help with a challenge that their neighborhood has encountered. After all, when neighborhoods change, you can expect challenges to. But it is not uncommon for the response from leaders to be some form of “That’s not in our Mission.”

What they are saying is “We don’t know how to help you.” And that’s OK, but churches and denominations must be aware of the needs and be prepared to direct people to those who can help.

Today’s Mission needs are bigger than congregations of any size! It is inappropriate to turn seekers with problems away without hope. We have to start building networks for serving. We have to start thinking in terms of team.

If a need is beyond your ability to serve, help seekers find direction. Don’t just give them a phone number. Accompany them to the agency or office that can serve them. Personally introduce them to individuals with the expertise to help. Your personal attention will build your reputation in your changing neighborhood. By personally taking part in finding help, you will strengthen your own abilities.

You Mission must be active and flexible and ideally linked to other Christians and neighborhood organizations that can help.

Start building those networks!

16 Oct 2012