Lessons from Netflix: Church Leaders Who Can See the Future Can Seize the Future

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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Netflix and other on-demand video providers, have already changed the culture more than you think.

And they’ve probably changed you more than you think.

Remember the good old days, back in say, 2007,  when people would gather around a set together to watch a TV show live when it was first broadcast?

Barely, right?

Whenever culture shifts, church leaders should pay attention.

Prudent leaders are taking notes now, because while the change will come later in the church (it always does), change is inevitable and it will be unkind to the unprepared.

5 Things Netflix Is Showing Church Leaders About the Future

So what can we learn from this? Plenty.

While it’s hard to say exactly how things will play out, the shifts are significant enough that you can begin to craft a strategy now. All of which serves the larger purpose of reaching your community with the message of Christ.

Respond, and you won’t be left wondering what happened.

Ignore the change, and you’ll be like an encyclopedia salesperson wondering why no one wants to answer the door anymore.

Church leaders who see the future can seize the future.

So, here are 5 things ways the changes Netflix (and the like) have brought about will impact the future church:

1. Live, simultaneous viewing is waning

About the only thing many people watch live now is sports, particularly if you monitor the viewing habits of people under 40.

Even regular shows people track with are often DVR’d so people can skip through commercials. Personally, even though I’m over 40, I rarely watch network television, but when I do, I’ll record a show and start watching it 15-20 minutes late so I can skip through the commercials.

A few implications for church leaders:

1. Will once on Sunday seem strange? People are increasingly used to listening to your content on their schedule. If your main draw on Sunday morning is the message, offering it only once live on Sunday will not resonate as much in the future as it has in the past.  While this might not mean adding more services (extra services with 12 people each attending is not compelling), it does force you to reconsider what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
2. Relationships and mission will be more powerful than singing and speaking. The gathering of the church at its best has always been about more than just a service or even a message on Sunday. The church is community on a common mission in which relationships with insiders and outsiders are central.

Churches that elevate relationship—both for new attenders and regular attenders—will see far more effectiveness in the future than churches that don’t.

In fact, you might even see more people drawn to your services not just for the services, but for the relationships and for a chance to make a difference working together on a common mission that makes a difference.

If all you do is sing and speak on a Sunday, it will become harder and harder to gather a crowd.

If you want to read more about the importance of relationships on Sunday and how to respond to declining attendance, this post on 7 Ways To Respond As People Who Attend Church Attend Less Oftencan help.

 2. Watching is becoming personal, individual and portable

Like you, I now consume content on multiple devices. I can watch TV, movies and Netflix on my phone, iPad, laptop, desktop or TV.

And, like you, I simply pick up where I left off. Stop a show at 33:23 on one device and pick up at 33:24 on another, whenever you want. Start at the gym, finish in the car or on the back deck.

Recently Netflix began to allow subscribers to create individual users on a common account so your kids or spouse can watch what they’re watching and you can watch what you’re watching without messing up each other’s feed. As a result, various members of a household may be watching the same series, but will be at different places in a series.

The implication for church leaders is that one more shift from the communal to the individual is happening.

So what on earth does that mean?

Great question, because it tears at the fabric of what the church is about—a community.

Some thoughts:

1. It’s an opportunity for people to access your content the same way. Like many churches, a few years ago we created an app for Connexus that allows people to stream messages whenever and wherever they want across devices. Our content is available on our website as well, in addition to via podcast. Accessing your messages will become more personal, individual and portable. Embrace it. I realize that this sometimes mean people will watch online rather than attend, but it’s also a great way to spread the message more quickly than otherwise. People who love what you do will share it with their friends and talk about it on social media.
2.  Still call people to something greater. As people’s experience of content consumption on an individual level becomes more prevalent, the need for community still won’t go away.

We’re more connected than ever as a culture, and many people are more lonely than ever.

As much as people want individualized access to content, they also want to be part of something bigger than themselves. Mission-driven, mission-focused and relationally rich churches will call draw in people longing for something bigger and more significant than themselves.

Churches can call people to something far greater than themselves. So do it!

3. There’s a market for binge watching

Binge watching is increasingly normal. Although it may have started back in the 80s or 90s when people lined up VCR tapes or DVDs and watched them in a marathon session, now it’s just far too easy to press ‘play’ from your couch without ever getting up.

Since Netflix streams entire series commercial free, you can easily power through several seasons of Suits, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones or House of Cards in a day or even a week.

New seasons of series are now being released all at once rather than episode by episode (week after week) as in the past, again resulting in binge watching for many viewers.

The implications for church leaders are actually quite good on this one.

People will consume really great content in marathons, including yours. Your audio podcast could become a place where people go through entire series in short spans of time on their commute or while working out. Your video podcast could become the subject of binge viewing. Ditto with your website. Some churches like North Point are even building microsites around each series, like this one.

Bottom line? Make sure your content is accessible in the easiest forms possible for people to access.

4. Great stories are alive and valued

It’s fairly widely accepted that the best content being produced these days is not coming from Hollywood or even network TV, but from specialty channels like AMC, Comedy Central, USA network and Netflix itself.

Shows like Madmen, Breaking Bad and others win the ratings wars because of their rich plot lines, complex characters and willingness to take a viewer seriously. They don’t dumb down.

Many critics believe TV has become what movies used to be: a forum in which great stories are told.

The church, as I think most readers of this blog might agree, sits on the very best message on the planet.

The implication: tell the story….well.

The Gospel has always been about God’s story intersecting with the human story. The church is uniquely positioned to tell the best story of all.

So do it, well.

Clearly people are looking for a better story. Church leaders need to bring it to them.

5. People will pay for something they don’t use, until one day, they won’t

I realize I pay almost $100 a month for something I almost never use—network TV. I rarely watch it anymore.

I hold out and pay the monthly bill because I might watch the World Series or the Superbowl. I don’t like the illegal options (I don’t do illegal downloads) and watching live sports in Canada legally without subscription TV is more difficult than in the US.

But seriously…$1200 a year in case I might watch something? I could almost fly to the World Series for that.

For the first time in the US, traditional television subscriptions declined year over year as people cut the cord.

This is only going to accelerate.

If your entire church model is built on people coming together at set times to ‘consume’ content, how long will it be until people eventually wake up and realize they are paying for something they rarely ‘use’?

This is a bit of hyperbole, of course, when it comes to the church. Because the church is SO much more than a common gathering around content. Except that sometimes it’s not. It should be, but it’s not.

If you are simply try to attract people to a one hour event that people increasingly don’t attend, you will always struggle financially. People will support something they don’t attend until one day, they won’t.

The good news? Mission-centered, mission-focused churches will not be impacted by this. A church that has a white-hot sense of mission will almost always have the resources it needs to do what the church is called to do. But churches who want to prop up what used to sort-of-work, won’t.

So focus on your mission. Focus on your purpose.

Call people to something greater than themselves.

Personally, I’m fascinated by these cultural shifts and would love to hear your take on what you see happening and how you are responding or think the church should respond.

>> Read more from Carey here.

Tags: Carey Nieuwhof, Future

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Why Having the Right People is Better Than Simply Having More People

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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You spend a lot of your time trying to grow your ministry.

When it comes to the mission of the church, it seems almost unthinkable to reach fewer people. Eternity hangs in the balance. And every person represents a potentially transformed life.

The desire to grow is also part of human nature…isn’t it?

In any organization, none of us really want to reach fewer people or have less impact. And yet sometimes, one of the best things you can do to become even more effective at accomplishing your mission is to invite people to leave.

It might kill you to entertain the thought of people leaving (it still kills a part of me).

But hang on.

I believe you’ll be a better leader and your organization will be more effective if you can embrace this truth.

But I realize it’s completely counterintuitive.

That Feeling in the Pit of Your Stomach…

Like you, it bothers me every time someone leaves.

When I first started in ministry, it hurt so much every time someone left. I felt like I had let them down, like I left the church down, like I had failed. I also felt as though if I had been a better leader, I would have been able to keep them.

For a season it hurt so much I pretended I didn’t care any more. But I did. I do. I realize some of this is irrational and much of it might be unhealthy, but it hurts when someone goes. However, if you let it fester, you’ll begin to live in fear all the time. In fact, you can end up with people-pleasing as your main goal. You will lead in a way that you hope is going to prevent the greatest number of people from leaving.

That’s a terrible strategy.

The moment you begin to focus more on who you want to keep rather than who you want to reach, you put the mission in danger.

7 Reasons You Should Invite (Some) People to Leave Your Church

I think the lessons I’ve learned from my little blog experiment and 19 years of leadership have taught me some things about allowing people to leave your church or your organization. None of this (I hope) is motivated by ego or a closed leadership style. It’s just that too many people in the church—and in many organizations—are afraid to lead. And it costs everybody.

So here are 7 reasons you should invite some people to leave your church:

1. Unaligned people cost you something.

People who don’t care about your church or organization cost you something. Energy. Time. Frustration. Malaise. A lack of momentum. People who are not aligned with your mission and vision always cost something. Why pay? Why not make room for more people who are aligned?

2. Having the right people is better than simply having people

Having more people is not better than having the right people. As this Inc. article shows, the financial costs of hiring the wrong person can be astounding. Before you have more people, you need the right people. The right people are people capable of taking on leadership, who are aligned around a common mission, vision, strategy and values, and who have the character to withstand the tests of leadership. Get these people in place, and amazing things happen.

3. Some people will find a better fit elsewhere.

Releasing people doesn’t have to be a sea of nastiness. In fact if it is, you’re doing it wrong. Think of it this way: if someone isn’t passionate about your organization’s purpose, they will actually be better off somewhere else. I tell people that all the time. We are not a church for everybody. THE church is for everyone. But your church isn’t. You’re one part of a much bigger body. You alone will not reach your entire city. We need each other as church leaders. You’ll be serving people by letting them find a better fit, and finding like minded people will help you accomplish your mission more effectively. Seriously, some people will honestly thrive in a different environment than yours. Why not celebrate that? Let them go. You don’t own the Kingdom.

If you struggle with this idea that the church isn’t for everyone, I wrote this post for you. 

4. Disengaged people can be disengaged elsewhere.

 Here’s the reality. Not everyone is ready to engage. If you’ve got disengaged people, let them be disengaged elsewhere. They can not serve, not give, and not invite friends at some other church. They don’t have to take up space in yours. Particularly in a growing church where space is at a premium (as it often is at our church), we can’t really afford to long term people who are not going to engage in the mission. I have all the time in the world for new people who are taking the time to explore faith. I have less time for ‘mature’ Christians who won’t roll up their sleeves and engage the mission (while we’re at it, we should rethink our definition of maturity).

5. A Few Aligned People Can Change the World.

I used to say we could do more with 300 aligned people than with 3000 unaligned people. Then one year, in a tough season for us as a church plant, we shrank down to almost 300 adults – far smaller than what we were two years earlier. We became so focused on our mission and particular strategy—and pursued it in a portable setting without all the trappings of other churches—that many people left. It was a tough tough season. But as I outlined in this post, those who stayed got aligned. Our mission became focused. Now, a few years later, we’re bigger than at any time in our history and most of our growth is coming from previously unchurched people. People are passionate about our mission. When you’re tempted to simply do whatever it takes to keep people, remember that a few aligned people can change the world. Jesus did it with 12.

6. Those who stay will feel honored and relieved.

 You’ve got great people at your church. You really do. When you clarify your focus and lead, great people generally follow. I’m assuming here that you have a God-given vision that’s affirmed by some capable and wise people around you. But many people will thank you for cutting through the ambiguity and double-mindedness and leading. When you cut unaligned people loose, the aligned will always thank you.

7. You’ll be blown away by how enthusiastic some of your people really are.

Over time, if your vision and direction are solid, you will see enthusiasm grow. People will get passionate about your mission. You will be amazed at how much synergy there is a group of people moving forward together. When the voices of the critics go silent (because they leave), you will finally hear the voice of enthusiasm. I realize few people talk about this in the church. And I realize it’s controversial.

What are you learning?

What keeps you from releasing people?

>> Read more from Carey.

Tags: Carey Nieuwhof, Leadership Engine, When people leave

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Start with 3 Prerequisites to Make Change in Your Church Not Just Possible, but Transformational

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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One of the most common questions I hear from church leaders is “How long will it take my church to change?”

It’s such a great question because change sometimes feels, well, impossible.

• You hear a constant stream of complaints
• You’ve run into too many people who like things the way they are now (or the way they were a long time ago)
• You’ve got too many friends who got hurt badly trying to lead change
• The committees keep meeting and they keep stalling
• You’re starting to feel like Moses in the desert with no Promised Land in sight

I get that, I’ve been there.

But don’t get discouraged. Change—even radical change—is possible.

A Change From Dying Slowly to Growing Rapidly

I’ve led change in a local church for 18 years with the many of the same core group of people I started with when I was a seminary grad.

18 years ago, I began ministry with three small mainline churches whose total average attendance was less than 50. They churches were about as traditional as churches get: century old buildings, organs, choirs, committees, few kids and zero growth.

Within 5 years we had sold all three buildings and merged the three churches into a new church with a new name and a new mission. In the process, we changed the structure of leadership, engineered a radical overhaul of the style of worship, moved to an elementary school and launched a building campaign. In the process, we grew to over 10 times our original size.

Then almost 6 years ago, a core of us left the denomination we were a part of. We left a nearly paid for building to start again in neighbouring communities as Connexus, launching two locations at once. We moved from a permanent building to rented facilities and planted as a North Point Strategic Partner. Now, we’re able to reach more people than ever before, and 60% of the people who walk in our door come from an unchurched background. This has helped us realize our vision to be a church that unchurched people love to attend.

I realize, that’s a lot of change. Have we lost people? Of course.

But we have reached many more. And many didn’t leave. Some have been with us through the entire 18 year journey.

I share those things not to boast—God receives the credit—but to let you know that change is possible. Radical change is possible.

It Even Happens in Vegas

Your church doesn’t have to be stalled or dying to experience the benefits of change.

One of the best examples of this is how Jud Whilite took over the senior pastor role at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas after Gene Appel had led it from 400 to over 8000 in attendance. If you follow church world at all, those transitions don’t always go well (that’s an understatement). How do you build on that? Under Jud’s leadership, Central has become a distinctly different church and grown even more.

It changed. And reached more people.

Change won’t make peace with the status quo. Change bridges the gap between what is and what could be.

Three Prerequisites for Change

Before you start engineering change, there are at least three prerequisites:

1. A clear and compelling vision, mission and strategy. Most people have a vision and mission, but few have a strategy. Mission answers the question of what we’re called to do. Vision answers why we’re called to do it. But strategy is about how we will accomplish it. Strategy is often the difference between success and failure. And please, understand, I’m talking about embarking on good change here—godly, biblical, wise and courageous change that will result in a mission being accomplished.  Not some whim of a dictator like leader.

2. A team committed to bringing about the change. You can’t do this alone. You need at least a handful of people committed to the change. People who will pray with you and help broker the change. You can usually find them. You just have to look.

3. A deep resolve. Are people go to enthusiastically embrace even good change? Many will not, but most will—if you know how to lead them. Leading Change Without Losing It is a guide to help leaders navigate the nerve-wracking opposition that comes with change.

A Reasonable Time Frame for Change

So how fast can you change? While times will vary, here’s what I believe is a reasonable timeframe for change based on an organization that is currently not on a path way to change:

12-18 Month Prep Period. Again, assuming you are going to bring up change in a change resistant culture, it might take you 12-18 months to get the prerequisites outlined above in place. If you have a change-friendly context, you might be able to do this in 3-6 months. Either way, you’ll need to cast vision for change, create a vision, mission and strategy that will lead your church forward and share it all enough that is owned by at least a small group of people other than yourself (in our church of 50, we had maybe a dozen truly onboard to start).  One thing you can start changing in this window is your attitude. You can preach better, bring hope to meetings and inspire people. Attitude is something always in your control.

The goal of this prep period is to cast as clear and compelling picture as you can of who you are going to be and what you’re going to look like 5 years from now.

Then break the change down into short term (One year), medium term (2-3 years) and long term (3-5 year) goals.

Year 1. Year one is the time to get some quick wins under your belt. Move to a better curriculum. Preach better series. Introduce some new music. Change your meeting structure or frequency. Paint something. Pick some changes that are easy to make and will result in a better experience now.  Remember, these are clear steps that are going to help you get to your five year goal, not just random and unstrategic changes.

2-3 Years. Choose some structural changes you want to make. We reformed our governance structure, made initial plans to sell our historic buildings, started introducing new musicians and a band (as we moved away from traditional music), introduced some new spiritual growth initiatives and moved our kids ministry to where we wanted it to be. You need to start laying the structural support system for change now or by the time you get to year 5, your change won’t be sustainable.

4-5 Years. Make your final changes. For us, it meant that our transformation is Sunday service style, governance, structure and more was complete. The last 10% is always the hardest, so don’t quit. Don’t overestimate what you can accomplish in 1 year, but don’t underestimate what you can accomplish in 5.

5+ Years. Keep changing. You’re never done. And now you’ve got new issues to solve and anticipate that didn’t exist when you started. So keep going.

A Final Word on Change v. Transformation

You can create a lot of change in 5 years. But when does transformation happen?

I believe transformation happens when

>The changes you make become embedded in the organizational culture. What was new has become normal. People assume it’s just going to be this way. And what was novel is now a foundation for all future decisions. The change has become a part of your organizational culture.

>Most people no longer want to go back; they want to move forward. I say most people, because you’ll always have the dissenters. But most people want to move forward. They’re excited. Their vision has moved from being about the past to now embracing the present and future. The best is yet to come, and you can feel it.

So exactly when does transformation happen?

I believe transformation happens somewhere between Year 5 and Year 7.

Once you’ve made the change, have demonstrated that you’re not turning back, and you’ve begun to see some of the benefits of change (you’re healthier and likely growing), then the shift in values and culture happens —almost silently. You know it’s a new day when people can’t imagine going back to the way they once were.

And that is an incredible reward for those who navigate change. Not to mention to the people who will benefit from your renewed mission.

What have you learned about change? What stumbling blocks or change-accelerants have you discovered?

Read more from Carey here.

Tags: Carey Nieuwhof, Change, Transformation, Vision, Vision casting

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3 Costs to Constant Ministry Imitation

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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If you’re like me, you like to track with people who are ahead of you in age and stage, and probably ahead of you in their level of ‘success’.

Chances are you do this in real life (I hope you have mentors) but you also do this online. Thanks to social media, smart phones, tablets and access to anything anywhere all the time, almost everyone tracks with some ‘celebrity’ type leader.

Please hear me. This is a great way of learning and growing.  I do it too.

But have you ever found yourself imitating others—in style, in content and in strategy?

Do that often enough and guess what happens?

You’ll kill something God given inside.

In fact, you’ll eventually stop innovating.

Ultimately, imitation kills innovation.

Is Imitation Always Bad? Well, No

Imitation isn’t all bad.  There are instances when imitation is just wise and expedient.  Here are a few:

• When someone else has done something better than you could and you are free to use their material, strategy or approach.
• When someone has figured out a smarter, faster way to get things done.
• No one on your team has the creativity to create a better mousetrap.

But imitation as a habit can be a big mistake, not to mention soul killing.

But Now the Shadow Side

Imitate long enough, and imitate hard enough, and there won’t be much innovation left in you or your organization.  And for those of us who are Christians, there may not be much of God’s voice left in you either.

If you only listen to others, you will eventually stop listening to God.

And let’s take that a step further.

While this doesn’t always happen, just level with me. When you follow someone who is a better leader, better communicator or better writer than you, it stirs up some envy, doesn’t it?

If it doesn’t for you, as much as I hate to admit it, it does for me from time to time. And when that happens, I need to confess it and address it.

Envying someone else’s gifts will cause you to neglect your own.

3 Ways Imitation Kills Innovation

So what does constant imitation kill?  More than you might think. Let’s look specifically at three ways innovation suffers at the hands of imitation.

Constant imitation:

1. Kills your unique voice.

If you are always trying to be someone else, you will never be yourself. And that’s a shame, because God actually created you.

It’s not that you shouldn’t learn from others (you really can’t learn all by yourself anyway), it’s just that you should stop trying to be someone else. So just stop that. Develop your own voice. Learn from others, but be yourself.

2. Stifles Your creativity.

Some of the best ideas you’ll ever have seem dumb when you first have them. And sometimes they stay dumb. But often they don’t…what’s crazy to begin with can become powerfully effective.

6 years ago a group of us left an almost paid for building to start a new non-denominational church that was 100% portable. A year after I sat down with a colleague I really respected and he told me he thought we were crazy when he first heard of the idea. Why leave what’s safe to move into the unknown? Truthfully, I hadn’t thought about it that way until he mentioned it. Glad I didn’t. We weren’t imitating anyone at the time…we were just doing what we believed we were called to do. And 6 years later, I’m so glad we did it.

3. Stunts your true potential. 

Imitators are always one or two steps behind. They have to wait for the next product, approach or strategy to be revealed. Then they madly copy.

If you are always imitating, your trajectory will never be greater than the person you’re copying. Ever. It will always be a shadow of theirs.

Remember too, that the last thing the innovator you’re copying thought about when creating what you’re looking at was “Now what should I imitate next?”

Innovation is messy, uncertain, scary and fraught with failure. Which is why it’s so much easier to imitate. And so less rewarding.

So…two questions for you personally:

• What (or who) are you imitating?
• How much time do you spend innovating or trying something new?

And now a question for commenters: How do you straddle the tension between learning from someone and imitating them?

Read more from Carey here.

Tags: Carey Nieuwhof, Imitation, ministry innovation

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5 Ministry Trends to Watch in 2014

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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Sometimes you can dismiss a trend as a fad. Like Crocs, the Harlem Shake, or flash mobs.

At other times to dismiss a trend is just a mistake.

As in every era, some of today’s trends will become tomorrow’s reality.

Innovative leaders aren’t afraid to embrace change and to be some of the first in on the shifts they see around them.

In that spirit, here are 5 trends you’ll no longer be able to dismiss in 2014.

Read more from Carey here.

Tags: Carey Nieuwhof, Ministry Trends, trends

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