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Church Growth

Mission Work Then and Mission Work Now

God works mysterious wondersNot so many years past, mission work in far away places was something congregations knew about and supported but little more. It was impractical and impossible for congregational members to be directly involved in distant outreach.

Mission work was the realm of specially trained and denominationally sponsored missionaries who traveled to faraway places, often with their families. They either found work in foreign places and evangelized on the side (the tent-making approach) or worked full time — preaching, building hospitals and schools, gaining trust and creating Christian community.

The method was a choice driven by the philosophy of a denomination or sponsoring group. Christianity spread around the world, but it took decades to train native leadership to take over the “mission fields,” a popular term that became politically incorrect a couple of decades ago.

Back home, sponsoring congregations looked forward to periodic reports. Missionaries would return home, visit congregations with stories and photos, and raise support for future work.

That was then.

2×2 is discovering that it is now possible for congregations to become directly involved in mission efforts. We stumbled upon this mission. We put mission content on our website. For all we knew, there it would sit. But within a year faraway congregations found the content and contacted us. Today, congregations in Kenya and Pakistan correspond with 2×2 regularly. We learn about their ministries, share experiences, prayers and scriptures and offer ideas for ministry.

A few weeks ago, 2×2 sent an MP3 recording of a simple anthem we thought would translate well in any culture or language. One African church wrote to us this weekend to tell us their children learned the anthem from the recording and sang it in worship last Sunday.

Another congregation asked for ideas for Good Friday and later for a youth retreat. Another asked for help with a children’s curriculum.

We make it a policy to answer requests as best we can. When we have no answer from our own experience, we point to online resources.

But there’s more to it. We are learning from their ministries as well. The “mission field” includes us!

This was not possible ten years ago. Today, any congregation can expand its mission expression anywhere in the world. The role of regional and denominational offices is likely to change. They may begin to concentrate on helping congregations create and maintain direct connections.

Congregations are entering new territory and must “get over” the sense that mission work is only for the experts—an attitude we’ve encountered even in local outreach. This path was followed in the past because it was the only way possible. The danger we face today is to assume that this is the only proper way to reach out with the Gospel. Because top-down control was the only way then, does not mean it is the only way now.

There are signs that this transition will not come easily. Denominational leaders have invested a great deal in creating mission infrastructure that is becoming outdated. There will be challenges to be sure, but they must be met, because things are going to change. (Use the word “transform” if it helps!)

The Church is not experiencing anything exceptional. Every realm of society is learning the uncharted byroads of the information superhighway.

How this develops congregation to congregation remains to be seen as we explore new territory. Meanwhile, our suggestion is for congregations to keep it real.

  • Communication must be heartfelt and genuine with participants working to share actual experiences with credentials honestly presented. What your congregation cannot handle should be referred to those who can.
  • Explore possibilities but never assume patronizing or expert status.
  • Study the methods of the past. Learn from their vast experience and adapt.
  • Never publish anything about another faith fellowship without their knowledge and permission. You may make life difficult for Christians in cultures that do not encourage minority religions.
  • Make sure communication is two-way. Other cultures have a lot to teach us!
  • Be prepared for the energy of distant congregations to change your congregation’s perspective.
  • How will you find one another? Add helpful ministry content regularly to your congregation’s web site. Write in a way that search engines will find you. Wait. It may take months, God will work his wonders in mysterious ways.

God is doing something new, but if we stick to the old mission manuals, the Church will never be able to perceive it.

photo credit (retouched): Genista via photo pin cc

14 May 2012

Transform Your Church: Make Like a Preschooler


Where do we look for answers?Preschoolers may be your most valuable church members.

Preschoolers understand God. It comes naturally to them. A preschooler’s faith is pure. So much of religion involves the ability to embrace the imaginary, to befriend the unseen, to live day to day, trusting that all needs will be supplied.

All of this faith is wrapped up in the ability to ask questions. Simple questions. Obvious questions. Surprising questions. Questions for which adults are embarrassed to admit they don’t have sure answers.

By the time we drop out of Sunday School — and these days that’s at about age 10 — we like to think we have the answers. From that point on we avoid forums that might reveal our shortcomings. This has two results: we either become inactive or we begin to follow blindly. Who or what we follow can determine an entire congregation’s success or failure.

Some congregations look to their pastors for answers and accept decisions. This does not create healthy Christian community. Pastors change. Viewpoints change. Circumstances change. Today these changes shift with jackrabbit speed and unpredictability. Congregations must be able to ask and answer questions independently. This is a trait that must be nurtured.

How? Someone has to start — by asking questions!

Transformational change will not occur without fostering this congregational habit. Emulate your preschoolers.

There are six types of questions.

  1. Questions that clarify
    What are we asking? Why do we believe this?
    How does this relate to our faith or our lives?
  2. Questions that challenge assumptions
    Are we sure our church wants to grow? Are we ready for growth?
    What alternatives are there to the course we are about to take?
    Is this really what we want? Is this good for us?
  3. Questions that look for reasons and evidence
    Why are we considering this?
    What brought us to this discussion?
    Has this path been followed before? With what results?
  4. Questions that shift viewpoints
    Is this the only way to look at this issue?
    How would someone with a different background view this discussion?
    What would our foreparents think? What will our children think?
    Ask, why do we think this is a good idea? Is this even necessary?
    Play “devil’s advocate.”
  5. Questions that look for implications and consequences
    Let’s say we took the actions we are proposing.
    What good or bad will come of this?
    How will it affect us? How will it affect others? How will it affect the future?
    Are the potential outcomes in line with our beliefs and desires?
  6. Questions about the question
    What is the point of this discussion?
    Why are we asking these questions?
    What are the real issues behind the questions?
    Is this something we should be considering?
    Is this important? Is this necessary?
photo credit: HikingArtist.com via photo pin cc
11 May 2012

Let Go and Let God. It was never more possible!

Social Media is going to change the Church—whether or not the Church participates.

The Church is slow to embrace the power of this influence in our lives. It goes against the way the Church has worked for a very long time.

Trust and obey. Foundational words of faith. It means to trust and obey God, by the way.

Somehow the God part gets forgotten. Keeping Christians in line becomes an emphasis of anyone feeling empowered. The lines drawn by church leaders can be moving targets. Ideas change from century to century, decade to decade, and nowadays, year to year.

No one dares to quote the Bible to justify slavery anymore, but it worked for nearly 2000 years.

It worked when slaves had no voice.

Centuries of habit are going to be hard to break, but the time has come to trust the people of God. If we do something egregiously heretical, there are any number of forums for redress. There is no longer a need to monitor the thinking and voice of individual Christians.

We have always believed in this. It’s just been hard to practice.

We teach every three-year-old — Let your light shine.

Then we start to add the “buts” until their little lights are snuffed out.

The Church has never had more potential power. It can motivate and move EVERY member. You don’t have to roster us. You don’t have to qualify us. You don’t have to sort us out by race, age, status, or genitalia. We’ve been structuring our faith around such nonsense for a long time. Someday we are either going to laugh at our historical efforts to limit or exclude (thereby protecting power) — or hang our heads in shame.

This potential power of social media should spur our efforts to effectively share our faith outside the church. We are going to have to be part of the dialog outside our walls — because that’s where the conversations are taking place.

We have to be educators in many forums. We have to mix with the rest of the human race.

That approach has been taken before!

Let Go and Let God.

photo credit (retouched): crazyluca69 via photo pin cc

02 May 2012

How Hierarchies Threaten the Neighborhood Church

There was a time when small churches had little choice but to affiliate with larger church bodies. It was their only way of assuring access to quality leadership, resources, and to effectively reach out to the world at large.

Times have changed. Hierarchies have grown while supporting churches struggle. They are expensive. Congregations can’t afford them and are beginning to realize they are not as necessary as they once were.

During formational years, denominations are eager to sign up as many congregations as possible. As time passes, relationships change.

Meanwhile, the care and feeding of the hierarchy continues. Smallest neighborhood churches are in jeopardy.

The measure of a regional body is how it honors the promises made to the smallest congregations when they joined the denomination.

Some joined with as few as 20 charter members. Today, with 80 or more members they may be deemed not worth saving. Their property and assets? That’s a different story.

Few congregations ever set out to grow beyond a certain sociological level. Church experts call them family/parish/program or corporate categories. Family churches are happy being family churches. Program churches are not trying to be corporate churches.

The focus of most congregations is and always will be local. Sometimes congregations find themselves adding a new sanctuary or growing their staff. It is usually a reflection of neighborhood growth. Often significant growth never happens, but the church can still fulfill its mission in its neighborhood.

If growth is the goal, most neighborhood congregations are at a severe disadvantage. They have far fewer options in attracting professional leadership. Denominations even admit to assigning “caretaker” pastors with low expectations for ministry. This drains a congregation’s resources and self-esteem.

A pattern begins. Small congregations know they are not getting equal services. They withhold support.

But hierarchies accumulate more than wealth. They accumulate power. With dwindling support from small and neglected congregations, they begin to exert power. As part of the process, they equate the level of support they are receiving with the congregation’s viability. They try to get resources wherever they can and if the congregations choose to not support the regional body — well, watch out!

Regional bodies and church agencies start to look for ways to fund the structure they have become accustomed to. “Development Offices,” funded with the offerings of many churches, target donors — who are most likely members of the participating congregations. The word “mission” will be in all their promotional material. People are more likely to give to corporate “mission” than to corporate “rent.”

They are now in competition with their member congregations for offerings. They want a bigger piece of the church pie.

With the recent court ruling in southeastern Pennsylvania, church hierarchies — even those prohibited from taking church assets by their founding constitutions — can legally reach directly into the wallets of their congregations without their permission. They need only issue an “opinion” that the church is not viable. We at Redeemer, know how easy it is for leaders to reach that “opinion,” especially when the denomination is running a six-figure deficit budget.

In the end, this is self-defeating. Eventually, the regional expression of the denomination will be funded by a roster of churches — all in financial decline.

Eventually? Look at the church statistics.
Almost every church in SEPA Synod is in decline!

The success of the future church is still dependent on a presence in neighborhoods. That’s where most people attend church — where they live, vote, send their children to school, and where every other aspect of their lives has roots. It will always be this way. People are not attracted to church by the size of the parking lot but on how they fit in. Statistically, most Christians choose to join small churches.

That’s 2×2’s mission. We support small church ministries.

photo credit: Brother O’Mara via photo pin cc
27 Apr 2012

Seven Access Points for Churches Who Want to Grow

People promoting a message often talk about looking for seven access points — seven ways people can learn about their product or service. What can serve as “access points” for churches? Here are some possibilities.

Each access point is a link in a strong chain.

Worship

The first, most obvious (and often only) access point is the Sunday morning worship service. Good start. Is it effective for growing your church?

Is it participatory? Is everyone involved? Many professional entertainers point to their youthful experiences in church as the entry point to their life careers. This doesn’t happen if worship is presented in a static way with paid professionals providing all the leadership.

Child Care

Child care is a common access point for congregations. Judging from the number of children our Ambassadors encounter in church, it’s not working very well. It’s a good idea and churches should analyze their child care programs to make them effective as church access points not only for the children but for families.

Advertising

Advertising is a way of creating access. This was once an expensive proposition with little measurable return. The internet is changing that.

Newsletters may seem like an access point. They are not. Only church members read them.

Use of the internet has a better chance as serving as an access point, especially if churches use the internet to communicate with the unchurched. Social media makes this very possible. That includes everything from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest to Blogging and web sites. Very few churches have scratched the surface of this promising access point.

Media can be an access point. Some denominations have TV or radio programs. The old Davey and Goliath animated children’s programs from the 60s (or earlier) are still aired—complete with a scratchy rendition of the Reformation hymn at the end.

Service

Social service projects can be access points if the congregation can interact. Sponsoring social service projects without a human face attached does not promote the Christian message. Yet many religious social service agencies have followed the lure of government subsidies and lost their ability to convey their message. As hard as we work and as much money as church people contribute to social service agencies — and even with the immeasurable good they do — the message is lost.

Cultural Excellence

Cultural excellence can be access points. Church schools (pre-K through university) were once associated with religion. Many church-sponsored schools have focused on enrolments and bottom lines and abdicated their religious affiliation. Even the Catholic church with its traditional parish school system is struggling with this concept.

The arts can be cultural access points. Often churches host concerts. The more hands on a church makes their art offerings, the more effective they will be as access points.

Church Camping

Often overlooked or viewed as a quirky a la carte church offering, church camping is one of the most effective church access points. Church camps unabashedly teach and preach and work with the hearts and souls of campers who take the time (usually just five days) to leave the world behind and think about their relationships with God and the world. Church camps, with a purity of message, interest many in church vocations.

Small churches — get your members to camp! There are opportunities for all ages. Sponsor seekers.

Summer Programming

People make life changes in the summer. They relocate. They change jobs. They change schools. But many churches exist on short rations in the summer. Think about it. What opportunities to you offer that will attract people in transition?

Community Involvement

Encourage your members to be involved in community activities. Show your colors and get involved. Be front and center at community meetings. Volunteer as a church for community projects. Wear church t-shirts and send a crew to park clean-up day. Take a table at the local flea market.

Special Needs Interest Groups

People need help. Grieving people. The poor. The hungry. The sick. Elderly. The addicted. The mentally and physically challenged. Families. Youth. Caretakers. Care needers. So many potential access points for congregations!

We were looking for seven. That’s nine. Are there more?

27 Apr 2012

Hey, Church! Put on Your Listening Ears

A first rule in business is “Listen to Your Customer.” Good businesses are good listeners . . . and amazing responders.

The Church can learn from this.

Every time we are tempted to think we know what’s best for the people we hope will support our churches we should stop dead in our tracks and ask, “Is our ministry driven by their needs or by our needs.”

Are we listening?

Listening is humbling. It is admitting we don’t have all the answers.

We want people to accept us just as we are. That’s natural.

Strangers to church are looking for the same acceptance. We are equally needy.

And so we are on a treadmill. The Church keeps on churning out variations on the same themes, done pretty much the same way, by the same people . . . with the same results.

What we have is cinema’s iconic “failure to communicate.”

When people care enough to tell us exactly why the church has turned them off, we owe it to them to listen — not in a patronizing way. “Poor souls! They just don’t know how wrong they are.”

When we don’t listen, we don’t know what we are missing.

The modern church needs to listen to modern people.  If people are talking to us at all, that’s a sign that they care. If all we do is nod our heads and then criticize them as soon as their backs are turned, we will never be able to reach them.

And they will have proved their point.

An argument is always that we are not of the world. We are here to transform others—to follow the way. However, we are hoping to reach people who are of this world. God sent his Son from heaven to come to earth to be like us, to suffer and die. The only reason He had was that He cared about us. That’s how He approached transformation. The least we can do is listen.

Listen to objections. Find ways to overcome objections. Look for ways to help the entire congregation overcome objections.

Of course, some of the objections are nothing more than excuses. Keep listening until you find the real reason people prefer separation from God’s people.

You’ll be demonstrating that you care.

photo credit: The Pack via photo pin cc
26 Apr 2012

Getting Over the Fear of Facebook

If you want to drive the message of the Church, hop in. But you won't be the only car on the road.

Facebook remains an enigma to the Church.

The few churches using it seem to use it as nothing but a digital bulletin board.

There is power in Facebook. The power is twofold.

  1. Facebook can build relationships.
  2. Facebook has reach.

Building Relationships with Facebook

Jason Stambaugh of heartyourchurch.com talks about Facebook as the Weekday Bridge of the Church. It can be used to foster relationships that happen Monday through Saturday. Face-to-face encounters are invaluable, he recognizes. But the little midweek interchanges help to build the connections that make face-to-face interactions more possible, more frequent, and foster more tightly knit community.

The discussion will not be led or moderated as is the custom in the world of religion. That may be why the Church doesn’t understand it. There’s nothing stopping anyone from adding their two cents.

Part of the hesitance of the church to embrace Facebook is fear of losing control.

The fact is the Church lost control of its message a long time ago.

Yesterday, you could control your message with cumbersome qualifying hoops and censorship. Hard habits to break.

Today, the only way to control the message is to be part of the dialogue.

If you want to drive, hop in. But you won’t be the only car on the road!

The Incredible Reach of Facebook

Looking at rough and round numbers, the average Facebook user has nearly 200 friends (a number which continues to grow). Allowing for overlap, each of those friends adds another 100 or so to the network. So if your congregation has 50 people using Facebook during the week, your community has the potential to reach 10,000 people at the first tier of the network and 1,000,000 at the second tier of the network.

  • What is your Sunday attendance?
  • What is the circulation or readership of your parish newsletter?
  • What’s the circulation of your denominational magazine (which probably reaches only those already involved in Church)?

Just do the math and stop spinning your wheels.

photo credit: Stuck in Customs via photo pin cc

25 Apr 2012

Telling Your Church’s Story — the Real Story

During a recent panel discussion, a reporter explained the process of ferreting out the news. She described the many story pitches that come to her every week from enthusiastic, community-minded groups that are doing “worthy” things — but not “newsworthy” things.

Your walk for charity is not “news.” Lots of people are doing this — every weekend.

She went on to say that when an interested party calls, she begins to engage the caller in conversation about the upcoming event. The caller, with great passion begins to talk about the people, and suddenly, the reporter senses there is something newsworthy in telling the story about the people involved — not the event itself.

Church communicators can learn from this. Our story is often best told through our people. When we tell our church story we should focus on our people and their faith stories. If church makes a difference in their lives, it may make a difference in someone else’s life. You don’t have to use names (although it’s nice when you can). Tell the story of your people on their faith journey and you will be teaching the Gospel.

Facebook is a good place to tell the people side of your story.

One Maryland church applauded a 12-year-old member who made and served the congregation lunch after church one Sunday. It’s Facebook page encourages the readers to press the “Like” button on the story to show the young man how much his work is appreciated. (It’s in the scroll bar on the left of the linked page.) Just that one short note on their web page tells any reader that their church values and encourages the contributions of their young people. It is likely to be far more effective than any newsletter or bulletin kudo.

You can use the same technique in focusing on your members’ faith stories.

Tell your story . . and make it personal!

“I love to tell the story, for those who know it best,
seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.”

23 Apr 2012

9 Common Tactics for Church Growth — Good, Bad and Ugly

The Church has fallen on hard times. This is widely documented — no need to go into detail.

It’s hard to blame the world. The world was here long before the Church. Reaching the world has always been the challenge, yet we remain surprised that the world is not lining up at our doors, wallets in hand.

Today, however, after some mid-century prosperity, we’ve forgotten that the Church’s mission is to reach out. It is not the world’s job to embrace the Church. It’s our job to embrace the world.

We typically greet the challenge with a number of tactics. Some show initial success and then fade. Some are the foundations of long-term ministry. Some are a mixture of frequently used bad ideas. All the ideas below represent actual ministry tactics — for better or worse.

  1. We can pretend to be someone else.
    We can figure what the community wants and pretend to be the answer. You might gain some currency in your community but it is most likely temporary. Community interests change and will probably change just as you are getting the hang of yesterday’s priority. In chasing public demand, we often forget who we are and what we are about. We start to look for best ways to meet demands and that often means abandoning our mission. Religious social services, which routinely deny their connections to the Church so as not to jeopardize government subsidies are a prime example. Services are provided. The Church is buried.
  2. You can scale down ministry.
    This is a frequent road traveled by struggling congregations. It never works. When a congregation decides to go “part time” in its ministry, it projects failure. Any part-time solutions should from the beginning be approached as temporary measures. Clergy chosen for part-time ministries must be missionaries. They rarely are.
  3. You can hire more help.
    You want to reach families so you hire a youth minister. You want to tend to the elderly and sick so you hire a visitation pastor. Soon you have a budget that is out of control and threatening the congregation’s ability to conduct any ministry at all. This avenue is taken by individual congregations, regional bodies and even national denominations. Hiring someone and creating an additional monetary challenge may make us feel like we are addressing needs. By the time results are measured, the newly created positions are secured by custom whether or not they proved effective.
  4. You can copy the equally challenged.
    Churches are great at copying one another’s ministry ideas. However, they often copy before the results are tested. Result: failure is replicated. Individuality and creativity are lost. The church becomes less meaningful.
  5. We can form alliances to pool resources and diversify our talent pool.
    This idea needs more testing in the church. It is somewhat foreign to church structure which traditionally focuses all energy and resources on one leader and many followers. This worked well for the church when small, homogenous communities were the norm. The world is changing faster than the Church seems to be able to adapt. We need each other now more than ever.
  6. We can employ teamwork.
    This sounds like something churches would embrace but it actually hasn’t worked very well. We are all protective of our own territory in the church. The structure for alliances is fostered in theory but rarely used. Church bodies have congregations, social service agencies, missionary outreach, seminaries, schools and church camps. All are looking to the same membership to provide support, but often the major sources of support — individual congregants or congregations — have very little interaction with arms of the church. Congregations hope that members will remember them in their wills, but you can bet the regional offices, seminaries and social service agencies with funded development offices want a big piece of the same pie. Interaction in the church suffers. Congregations are the financial losers. The others, recipients of occasional windfalls, slowly erode their long-term foundation of support.
  7. We can become predators.
    This is a very real dynamic in today’s church. We don’t help struggling congregations when help is first needed, we wait for years as downward trends continue — and almost all congregation’s are experiencing downward statistics. Our inability to support one another in ministry forces congregations to close. The dice are rolled to divide assets. We need to find ways to help the weakest among us so that we can all be stronger. Survival of the fittest may work in nature, but it is not the foundation of the Gospel.
  8. We can live beyond our means.
    This tendency in the church has created predatory ministries. The terrible lessons are being learned slowly and at significant loss. When those with hierarchical power operate on deficit budgets, they jeopardize the ministries of their supporting congregations. It becomes easy to find fault with them and force them to close in ways that guarantee assets are turned over to them.
  9. We can return to our roots.
    We can study the evangelism techniques used by Christ and the apostles. There are good lessons in the scriptures. Why is it that this is often the last place we turn for help?
20 Apr 2012

Redeemer’s 2×2 Website Surpasses 5000 Visitors

Redeemer’s experimental congregational web site just tallied its 5000th first-time visitor.

Little Redeemer reaches more people every week than most large churches reach on Sunday morning.

Redeemer started 2x2virtualchurch.com in late February 2011.

The site was started as a mission vehicle when  Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seized our property.

Redeemer knows that small churches are capable of big ministry. The internet seemed to be a perfect vehicle for a congregation with no church building.

By the end of summer 2011, 2×2 had only a few dozen visits. We were posting sporadically — a few times a month.

We began posting daily.

We focused on three strengths of the congregation: Social Media, Children in Worship and Multicultural Ministry. The site also includes commentary on issues facing many neighborhood congregations today.

We learned to create content with others in mind.

We write interdenominationally, but we don’t hide our Lutheran roots.

We link to other related sites and engage in conversation in other religious forums—all things encouraged in this new communications medium.

Statistics guide our content development.

At Easter we posted a short play, written and produced by Redeemer a year before our doors were locked. It was downloaded 150 times. We responded to this interest by posting a Pentecost resource for small churches.

Much of our traffic comes from our ongoing exploration of Social Media topics.

Our Multicultural series did not attract as much attention, but it was reblogged — linked from other sites—more often. This tells us that there is intense if not broad interest.

Several seminaries posted articles from our website for discussion. One of our recent posts was broadcast by a retweeting engine.

We now have more than 80 followers who subscribe daily via Facebook, Twitter or direct email feed. An additional 30-80 visitors per day represent every state in the Union and more than 70 countries with just shy of 1000 visitors a month. As that number continues to grow, we expect to have between 12,000 and 20,000 readers by the end of our second year.

Our highest international traffic comes from Canada, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, South Africa, and Australia. Traffic is growing in the mid-East and Africa.

There are interesting, inexplicable spikes in readership. One day we had 26 readers in the Bahamas! The very next day we had 16 readers from the Netherlands.

We hear regularly from small mission congregations in Pakistan and Kenya and support one another with ministry ideas and prayer.

We are encountering Christians from many denominations — some of them represent very large ministries. We learn of interesting projects and try to help by providing links. A college student in Texas, who has created a ministry recycling VBS materials, gets a few daily visitors from 2×2 links.

Redeemer may be one of the most active and growing congregations in Southeastern Pennsylvania—even if we are shunned by our own denomination. SEPA justifies its actions in East Falls with accusations of lack of mission focus. There is no lack of mission focus at Redeemer. We are just using a very wide-angle lens!

We will be glad to make a presentation to SEPA Synod Assembly on our growing experience in web ministry. Just contact us!

Redeemer is not closed;
 we are locked out of God’s House by SEPA Synod.

photo credit: Absolute Chaos via photopin cc (retouched)
17 Apr 2012