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Transformational Ministry

A Pastor’s Secret Transformation Weapon

The Children’s Sermon As Catalyst

A pastor may think that a children’s sermon is a waste of time. The children might be better off somewhere else, engaged in age appropriate activities.

The children’s sermon time is so much more. It is a golden opportunity to introduce change to your congregation.

Many pastors do little more than talk at the children—a watered down “trailer” of the 20-minute version about to come.

It is painfully obvious in many cases that the pastor has little experience talking to children. All those years of seminary study so you can expound to five-year-olds!

The children’s sermon is a time when you can communicate to everyone. Many adult Christians have not been well-schooled in church matters. This is an opportunity to not only reach the children but to review basic church teachings without “talking down” to the adults.

You can experiment in the few minutes you spend with the children. Few will object. It is a chance to create the experience modern worship so desperately needs—something that people will remember and talk about when they go home and off to work.

In the business world, this is called creating a “remarkable” experience. Business people know that their best advertisers (evangelists) are customers (congregants). They aim to provide the best service possible so that the customer/congregant talks about his or her experience.

Most worship services are fairly predictable in format and even in content. They are no doubt meaningful to the congregants, but few are anything anyone will talk about during the week or even remember a few days later. (Quick! What hymns did you sing in church last week?)

More people will be tuned in for a ten-minute children’s lesson than for the full 20-minute version. Use this opportunity to create a “remarkable” experience.

This is a pastor’s opportunity to introduce change without objection. Congregants may not even notice that the praise song you taught the children last week is the sermon hymn this week.

The children’s sermon is an excellent opportunity to introduce media, teach the kids (and adults) to move in liturgical dance, practice a new prayer technique, read a story or poem, or perform a little drama. Don’t put a stopwatch on the activity. Some sermons may be five minutes long. But if people are engaged, milk the moment.

Here is a list of guidelines.

  • Don’t treat the adults as passive bystanders. Engage them in music, question and answers, or other activities. Enlist their help. They will be more likely to step up to help the children then if you asked them to do something for their peers. Ask a choir member to lead or teach a new song, for example. Or have an usher explain what happens to the coins the children put into the offering plate. It will strengthen your congregation’s sense of community.
  • Don’t be afraid of repetition. Kids love it. Adults learn from it, too.
  • Don’t be afraid of interaction. Throw out a question to the adults. Better yet, have the children ask questions. Imagine one of your older members telling the story at work: “In church yesterday, a little girl asked me a question . . . .” 

It’s all about story-telling. We all love to tell the story. The children’s sermon can be the vehicle for congregational story-telling. And this can lead to transformation.

photo credit: Jenn Durfey via photo pin cc
07 Sep 2012

Transforming Congregations: Changing Attitudes

Discovering Our Target Demographics

Imagine this common scenario.

Your congregational leaders are meeting with representatives from your regional body or with paid consultants. You are part of the “congregational study” process.

Part of congregational studies is to examine demographic data. 

Now, listen for the words that will be used. It will be something like this: “Which group of people should we target.”

Our relationship with our community is defined with predatory language. TARGET.

The most common — almost universal — outcome of this discussion is “Let’s target families.” All churches want families. Our Ambassador visits reveal that few are achieving that goal.

In our mind’s eye, we still see families as Mom, Dad and a bunch of children to populate our Sunday Schools. We see income, we see longevity of relationship. These are the things the Church wants for its own survival. When we think in terms of targets, we reveal our self-interest.

Today, families are in disarray on one hand and inclusive beyond any old-fashioned measure on the other. Families are not a well-defined target!

What church goes through the congregational study and decides to TARGET the elderly, the poor, the immigrants, the homeless, the unemployed, or people with special needs? These are not populations with expendable income. Most are members of families but that’s not exactly what we are thinking when we define our goals.

There are congregations with inclusive ministries worth mentioning. Prince of Peace in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., for example, is developing programming for families who have members with autism and developmental delays. Their ministry did not grow out of the “congregational study.” It stemmed from a teaching/preaching series.

When we start to think of segments of our community as “prey,” we cloud our vision of God’s total Kingdom.

When we narrow the focus of ministry, we become, unconsciously unwelcoming to everyone else.

Redeemer experienced this once some 30 years ago. We asked our regional body for advice on dealing with people who were finding their way to our door from the state psychiatric hospital in our neighborhood. The answer we received was, “That’s not the synod’s emphasis (target) right now.”

Church people see ourselves as welcoming. If we are to be truly welcoming, we must adjust our attitudes and stop approaching our neighborhoods for what they can do for us, but for how we can serve them.

When they walk through our doors, they should not get the “once over” to see if they fit our ministry’s target demographic.

Every person who enters a church has a story. Every church should make some effort to learn something about that story before they leave. Then we will understand the demographics of our neighborhoods!

photo credit: emiliokuffer via photo pin cc

06 Sep 2012

Why Don’t More Churches Blog? Answer 2!


Here’s another answer to the question “Why don’t churches blog?”

Church leaders don’t understand the reach and impact of the internet or the new definition of community.

Congregations, by tradition, are geographically bound. For several decades, congregations which had support from people who lived some distance from the church building were criticized. Membership was considered “scattered.” The regional or centralized church didn’t care about this as long as offerings were flowing, but if there were any signs of fiscal trouble, a “scattered” congregation was in trouble with its judicatory.

Geography is no longer as important as it once was. There are definite benefits to physical community, but it is not the sole criterion.

Community is a group of people with common interests. People, today, are discovering people with common interests all over the world. Just because this was not possible from 35 A.D. to 1985 A.D. doesn’t mean it has no value in 2012 A.D.

Recognizing that the Church and its sense of community has changed WILL redefine Church and its structure of support and service.

2×2 is on the frontline exploring this new definition of Church. We are learning every day. Our effort, barely 18 months old, has taken our ministry to places we never imagined.

Our regional office considers us “scattered and diminished” and worthless.

Scattered? Not when they made this claim, but today, maybe. But now it doesn’t matter!

Diminished, not at all. 2×2 (Redeemer) is reaching more people every week than it ever reached on a weekly basis at any time in its history. We can prove it!

Some contacts are fickle accidents. Others are developing into true friendships. That’s really not so different than the neighborhood church that reaches many visitors with only a small percentage actually joining.

We made all of these connections by blogging daily on diverse subjects, analyzing the wealth of online data, and producing content that answered the needs revealed in search engine data.

We did it on a shoestring budget — less than $100 per year. We followed our own members’ interests and talents.

We’ve only just begun. We’re here to help and serve.

Contact us if you need help developing an online ministry.

05 Sep 2012

Making Innovation Part of Church Transformation

Reining in the Laity; Hobbling Transformation

The world of education is on the threshold of impressive innovation made possible by exploiting the capabilities of the internet and technology.

While hundreds of educators study educational methods and struggle to find new and better classroom practices, the Kahn Academy, a free online learning system provided to anyone with internet access, grew out of one man’s attempt to help a young cousin with math homework. It attracted the backing of Bill Gates and the attention of CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Religion, too, is in dire need of transformation. The need has been largely unanswered for decades, despite intense study among clergy.

The call for “transformation” is at least a decade old with little success.

The economy is causing small churches to focus on their own needs, sending less of their offerings to regional or central body. If something does not change, the regional and central church leaders will face extinction—but they don’t intend to be the first to go!

Church leaders are lost.

The Kahn Academy allows for a restructured classroom, making more teachers available to help more students. It is successfully restructuring the traditional classroom for a new era in education.

Google’s Eric Schmidt commented on Kahn Academy:

Many, many people think they are doing something new but they are not really changing the approach. Innovation never comes from the established institutions. It’s always a graduate student or a crazy person or somebody with a great vision.

We suspect that this is the big hiccup in transforming the church.

Church hierarchy is calling for transformation with no vision for change and an unwillingness to allow change without institutional oversight.

Change in the church is going to happen on the front line, where one or a few faithful people, with little loyalty to old ways, prayerfully try to solve problems.

Many small churches are the victims of regional leadership practicing what they call “triage.” Triage is a euphemism for neglect.

In some cases, congregations have had little or no leadership for a decade.

Left alone, dedicated lay people are free to experiment. They are not restricted by seminary education. They look for answers outside the usual parameters. Such small churches are ripe for change.

They face a major obstacle. The institutional church will be ready to step in and rein in “errant” lay workers. They will restore the old order and assign an approved pastor to help the congregation draft a stale, treacly mission statement—or they will flex their muscles and demand closure.

Redeemer was a small congregation engaged in such experimentation—and experiencing success. Our regional body, desperate for dollars, took the muscle-flexing route.

We are still experimenting with no support of any regional body . . . and still experiencing success.

Redeemer has visited 50 other congregations and we’ve seen similar lively efforts in small congregations. There is often a scent of fear hobbling their efforts. Will the regional body approve?

And that’s why transformation in the Church isn’t happening. God is trying to do something new . . . but the hierarchy won’t let anything happen that they can’t control and take credit for.

photo credit: Jeffrey K. Edwards via photo pin cc
03 Sep 2012

Niche Churches — Hmmm!

This is from a blog by the Rev. Larry Peters, a Lutheran pastor from Tennessee. He was commenting on the writings of Terry Mattingly.

If churches want to reach millions of independent-minded young Americans they should learn a thing or two from craft brewers. . . . It’s time, he said, for “craft churches” that reach niche audiences.

This is an astute observation. Small churches have been serving niches for some time.

Our Ambassador visits reveal that most churches, large or small, serve a niche, but probably with little intent!

The largest church we visited (non-Lutheran and twice the attendance of the largest Lutheran church we visited) was a congregation of 25-35-year-olds.

Birds of a feather . . .

Small churches know their niche. Any intention of being all things to all people, though tempting, is out of reach. Even if people wanted that kind of ministry, (and most mission statements sound like they do!), finding leadership is daunting.

Church leaders often view small churches as failures—undesirable places for pastors to serve. Part of this is economics. All churches must rise to the same budget expectations, which in the modern era have priced many communities out of the faith business. Pastors assigned to small churches often view their role as care-taking, never bothering with outreach. Some even use the offensive term “hospice ministry.”

Perhaps it’s time to seriously examine the economics of church.

People will make their church home where they can see their offerings and efforts at work. They will neither participate nor attend a church where they do not feel fully welcome.

We at Redeemer know the difference between being welcome to attend church and being welcome to participate. Our bishop made it clear that we are not welcome to participate in SEPA Synod. She seized our property and pledged to close our church and reopen it under new leadership. She wrote to us that current members could attend this new, improved Lutheran church but former members would not be permitted to participate. She unilaterally denied us vote or voice. When we started visiting churches she sent a letter to pastors warning them!

How’s that for a welcome statement!

Redeemer was welcoming East African immigrants who were moving into our community—not just to use our building, which is the more common outreach approach, but to join their traditions with ours. We saw our unique niche ministry as adding to the mosaic of the greater church.

But SEPA was determined that one population had to die before a new population could be fully welcomed. As Bishop Burkat said, “White Redeemer must be allowed to die, black Redeemer . . . we can put them anywhere.” Control of assets was the objective.

Religion is not supposed to be a spectator sport.

Part of the problem with niche ministries is that few pastors are trained to serve niche populations.

Defining a niche (while recognizing the likelihood that niches will change every decade or so) may not be such a bad idea. It will take decades to recognize and train leaders to actively serve niche ministries and not view them as “hospice” assignments.

Another problem with niche ministries is that the “niches” that are most in need (the ones the Bible talks about), often can’t support them.

The true mission of the church is defeated by cost—at least with today’s budget and funding expectations.

Meanwhile, rejected and criticized by our denomination, Redeemer has created a niche ministry. You are visiting it now. Today, two months into our third year, we are reaching more people every week than the largest church in our denomination’s local region. We are just getting started.

photo credit: Grant MacDonald via photo pin cc
29 Aug 2012

Practicing Happiness Techniques in Worship: Part 5 of 5

Random Acts of Kindness

The last of the five steps recommended by The Happiness Advantage author, Shawn Achor is to practice random acts of kindness. 

What fun!

Achor starts by explaining that this is as simple as smiling at the person you pass on the street or in a public hallway. He recommends the 10-5 rule. Make eye contact and smile at everyone who comes within 10 feet. Greet anyone who comes within five feet of you.

He claims remarkable results. The idea was tested by a hospital. The program was implemented over the objection of doctors who considered it beneath their dignity.

The result: happiness spread—even among the doctors who resisted. Soon, the hospital gained a reputation of being a pleasant place that people chose to visit and staff opted to stay even when offered more lucrative positions elsewhere.

Similarly, there is a management technique that grew from the hotel industry. If a guest brings you a problem, you own the problem until it is solved — even if it’s not your job. This can be effective in any setting. In most grocery stores, a customer who asks where they will find the canned vegetables is told, “Uh, try Aisle 8.” In a popular grocery store, the employee (who might be stocking shelves or coming back from break) answers a customer query like this: “I’ll show you! Please follow me!” It makes a difference.

How does this apply to church life?

Our Ambassador visits reveal friendliness is harder than it sounds. Sometimes we stand as wall flowers in the church narthex as people pass by never making eye contact.

The most genuinely friendly church we visited was a small congregation, St. Michael’s in Fishtown. People greeted us on the street before we entered. Virtually every member approached us. The service had a greeting section built into the worship service. Friendliness is part of their culture.

A larger church, St. Paul’s in Ardmore, had an official greeting station, staffed by volunteers. They met us as we entered the sanctuary and even offered us a mug filled with candy as we left.

Both are good options, but one makes “friendliness” the job of a few. The other weaves it into their entire church life.

Churches of any size can be awkward at the social graces. Not just the laity! Often, pastors make no attempt to circulate during fellowship, often staying in a hallway or the sanctuary chatting with just one or two members.

Achor’s ideas might help us get over that. Start by enlisting and training leaders. Modeling by the pastor and lay leaders will go a long way to making it part of a congregation’s culture.

In addition to the personal greeting there is the power of greeting cards. Redeemer uses cards. We send about three a week. Our Ambassadors usually follow visits with custom greeting cards. Think what a card in the mail means to leaders, students, homebound or elderly.

Random acts of kindness can be so simple. In one church visited by our Ambassadors an older woman made it her duty to sit near us and guide us through the service. It was a lovely gesture.

It is tempting to list some acts of kindness, but listing them makes them self-serving and diminishes their value as spontaneous and heartfelt. Start with eye contact and a word of greeting and let kindness flow.

Remember: give it three months before evaluating!

photo credit: Nina Matthews Photography via photo pin cc (retouched)

23 Aug 2012

Practicing Happiness Techniques in Worship: Part 3 of 5

Cat is stretching. Exercise!Exercise for Happiness

The third suggestion from Shawn Achor’s Happiness Advantage is EXERCISE.

That’s a tough one to apply to congregational life, but let’s not dismiss it too quickly.

We Lutherans are known for standing up and sitting down. Many churches kneel and there is meaning in the physical acts. We stand to address God and honor the Gospel. We kneel in penitence and contrition. But this hardly qualifies as exercise!

At summer church camp we recognize the importance of exercise, sort of! We gather in the morning at the flagpole or cross, greet one another with a joke, read a short scripture and say a prayer. But included in the mix we do a bit of calisthenics. They are silly versions of standard exercises. My favorite is “doing squat.” As effortless at these “exercises” are, they serve a purpose. They help the camp wake up, laugh together and bond for the day’s activities. There is power in just having fun together. Exercise is a good option for making that happen.

So how can congregations exercise? In the olden days (within memory), most congregations had group exercise — bowling, baseball or basketball. Churches banded together to form leagues, creating interdenominational fellowship. This idea could be revived. Redeemer sponsored a community morning walk which catered to the less able. It was held at the community park which covers the area of two or three blocks. Those who have difficulty getting outdoor exercise on their own, met, enjoyed one another’s company and did a few laps around the park with safety and support of numbers. Playground playdates for young families are another exercise option. Yoga classes might be popular. Or teach liturgical dance! What if your liturgical dancers invited the congregation to join them!? Assign them some movements they could do in place to add to the praise of dance.

Think of what exercise options might be helpful to your congregation. Your worship experience might change if people gather having been energized during the week through social and physical benefits of exercise.

If nothing else, you can always invite the congregation to give you one or two stretches before worship!

photo credit: Kong SG via photo pin cc
21 Aug 2012

Practicing Happiness Techniques in Worship: Part 1 of 5

Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage recommends five practices to help foster happiness.

  1. Start each day with “praise and thanksgiving.” Recognize three unique things for which you are grateful.
  2. Write a journal entry daily about something that brought you happiness.
  3. Exercise. 10 minutes per day.
  4. Meditate. 2 minutes per day.
  5. Practice random acts of kindness.

To start, choose just one and practice it religiously for 21 days, he says. It will make a difference.

Applying these ideas to church life may be a key to the “transformation” process which church leaders find so elusive! 

The daily part is hard to manage since Church people rarely gather daily. Find a way to make it a congregational habit. Use your web site to encourage members to take daily initiative personally.

Let’s start with Number 1:
Praise and thanksgiving.

Achor’s advice is start each day identifying three things worthy of praise and thanksgiving.

This should be a cinch for church people.

Redeemer, totally unaware of Achor’s research, began worship with a Praise section, which typically included a nonbiblical but religious reading, some art and the singing of a couple of praise hymns (old and new) before launching the liturgy.

Try this. Start your worship service by asking the congregation to name things for which they are thankful. You might even write them on a flip chart. Follow their list with a prayer and praise hymn (or two). (Beats a lengthy list of announcements!) Try singing hymns a capella or use minimal accompaniment. It is more intimate and develops a congregation’s “ear.” Lay people can lead this section of worship, developing congregational leadership skills.

Liturgies often begin with the confession and absolution, but there shouldn’t be anything innately wrong with a praise prelude performed by the entire congregation. If it won’t work in your tradition, insert the praise section after the absolution.

Use repetition.

Short hymns of praise can be repeated. Most modern praise hymns lend themselves to repetition as they typically have few verses.

Repetition goes against the short attention span of Americans, but it can be meaningful if practiced with enthusiasm. Repetition in worship has a long tradition (chanting, mantras).

Little children love repetition. Songs bring them joy! They haven’t yet learned stoic restraint! Redeemer practiced repetition during our children’s section of worship. If the children enjoyed a song. We sang it two or three times and the children returned to their seats pumped! Soon the adults were repeating hymns in Bible study!

Take requests!

Involve people in their own praise experience. Leaders will learn something about their congregations!

Give it time!

Try this for three months before evaluating.

According to Achor, implementing this one habit will be transformational, improving optimism and increasing success rates.

Please share any ideas you have for how to regularly offer praise and thanksgiving as a congregational transformational tool.

Here’s a quick recap.

  1. Begin every worship service with a praise section.
  2. Ask for praise “offerings” from the congregation. List them.
  3. Use hymns, poetry, prose, and art to enhance praise.
  4. Make the worship as organic as possible, coming from the people.
  5. Use minimal accompaniment.
  6. Don’t be afraid to repeat parts of worship that seem to be especially meaningful at the moment.
  7. Involve people in worship. Take requests.
19 Aug 2012

Valuing the Small Church for What It Is

Small churches are the Church’s secret weapon.
They just don’t know it!

Here’s the paradox of church work.

The mission is to reach all the world, right?

Only a small percentage of the world can afford to support “church” the way it is understood in the West. Even we in the West are having a tough time of it! Do we really welcome the ill and indigent to be part of the economic burden of Church?

The Church has set itself up for perpetual failure. It blames the few people who are supporting it for that failure. Result: morale is in the pits. Visitors sense gloom!

The people who still support neighborhood congregations are very good people. Passionate. Self-sacrificing. Dedicated beyond measure!

The Church, blinded by economics, saps as much from them as possible before exercising hierarchical powers — constitutional or not — throwing its strongest supporters to the curb (literally in Redeemer’s case!).

Forced church closings, where hierarchy self-righteously grabs assets is bad enough. When this is done by design it is downright sinful.

Church regional bodies have been taught to ignore struggling churches and wait them out. It’s right in the book used to train regional managers of various denominations (co-authored by SEPA’s own Bishop Claire Burkat).

“You do not have the luxury of giving everyone who asks for help whatever time you have available. Some tough decisions need to be made as to where your Regional Body is going to invest time, energy, and resources. Thinking in terms of TRIAGE is a most responsible thing to do at the present time. Congregations that will die within the next ten years should receive the least amount of time and attention. They should receive time that assists them to die with celebration and dignity. Offer these congregations a ‘caretaker’ pastor who would give them quality palliative care until they decide to close their doors.  It is the kind of tough-minded leadership that will be needed at the helm if your organization is to become a Transformational Regional Body.”

There it is in black and white. Don’t waste time and resources on congregations that will close in ten years (if you do nothing).

A decade is long enough to fight two world wars!

And so the premise for mission changes. This part is not written down in congregational mission statements.

Churches want people who can support the way things are. Even better if they could support the way things were. Property and the staff come first. Programming and mission a distant last.

What would happen if the Church concentrated — really concentrated — on small church ministry? What if they found a way to help congregations be small, proud and strong — as opposed to dictating ministry solutions that work only in larger settings.

Small churches still have one big thing going for them. People still tend to prefer smaller churches!

It’s up to the smaller churches to insist on a change in attitude. This may not be as hard as it seems. Together, small churches outnumber large churches.

Find your voice! While you still have one!

17 Aug 2012

What’s Missing from the Church? Emotion

“We are not thinking machines that feel;
rather, we are feeling machines that think.”

—Antonio Damasio

What does it take to mobilize a congregation?

The answer to this question is elusive. It is usually answered with formulaic responses presented by distant church leaders, many of whom have limited hands-on pastoral experience.

  • Get a good pastor. (Definition of this is never clear).
  • Write a mission statement. (The push to have mission statement is now a decade or more old. Has it made a difference?)
  • Target certain demographics. (Rather exclusive!)

Sometimes these approaches work. Not usually.

A congregation will not be mobilized until it feels. Emotion is fuel for action.

People don’t act based on the analytical part of their brains. They act based upon the emotional parts of their brains. In head vs heart, heart wins.

Churches are not good at handling emotion. Emotions can be so messy!

The cerebral approach permeates church life. We tend to turn up our noses at more demonstrative styles of worship. Soon, even hymns of joy are sung cerebrally, with every nose in the congregation buried in the hymnal!

Pastors are often cerebral in their approach to ministry. They are trained to read and analyze scripture. Applying that training to action is s rarer skill.

To appeal to the emotional is daring and dangerous, but it is the only way to get a congregation moving.

Congregational leaders must find ways to help worshipers feel again.

Too often in its history, the Church has relied on two emotions: FEAR and GUILT.

And we wonder why people stay away!

Here are some emotions that could change your congregational life for the better.

LOVE is powerful. Love is a verb. It is easy to talk about love and do nothing.

ANGER is a powerful emotion. Make sure anger is directed in unselfish ways, but don’t be afraid to encourage appropriate anger.

HOPE is an emotion. Hope is lost if people come to church week after week and nothing happens.

JOY is a powerful emotion. It demands expression. Foster joy. People are eager to come together when they can expect true joy. (View the boychoir video in the last post. Those boys come faithfully to rehearsals because they are encouraged to express joy. Compare the faces of the boy singers to the faces of the typical church choir!)

Warning! A church that takes an emotional approach to mission will experience conflict. It goes with the territory. Conflict, well-managed, can be a good thing. Both the Old and New Testaments are infused with conflict. If transformation is to be more than a buzzword, it must be expected, respected and embraced.

Learn to foster emotions—and the conflicts that go with them. Be prepared to use the dynamics of emotion to teach, motivate and change lives — including your congregation’s life!

16 Aug 2012