10 Rules of Thumb for Healthy Churches in America

by: Thom Rainer

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Using rules of thumb to gauge church health is problematic because they are, well, rules of thumb. There will always be exceptions, extenuating circumstances, and even disagreements on the right metrics.

I thus realize I am taking a risk when I publish these broad guidelines. There is the greater risk that someone will take these numbers as infallible and perfectly suited for his or her congregation. Please let wisdom prevail. So many factors, such as demographics, multiple sites, and history will always provide better insights than mere numbers.

Nevertheless, I provide you these ten rules of thumb as a starting point. You can then wisely discern how well and specifically they apply to your situation.

1. Number of acres needed for church site: one acre for every 125 in attendance. This ratio is based on useable acres. That number is affected by zoning requirements, water retention requirements, and property shape, to name a few.
2. Parking Spaces: one space for every 2 people in attendance.
3. Parking Area: 100 spaces for every acre used for parking.
4. Evangelistic effectiveness: 12 conversions per year for every 100 in average attendance. Different congregations used different terminology: conversions, baptisms, professions of faith, salvations, etc. In this metric, the number refers to those in the past year who became Christians and became active in that specific congregation.
5. Seating space per attendee: 27 inches. That number was 20 inches at one time. It has changed due to larger posteriors and greater cultural space desires.
6. Maximum capacity of a facility: 80% full. This old tried and true ratio is still good. When a facility is 80% full architecturally, it feels 100% full.
7. Retention effectiveness: For every 10 new members added per year, average worship attendance should increase by 7.
8. Effective giving; For every person in average attendance, including children and preschool, $26.00 in budget receipts. For example, a church with an average worship attendance of 100 should average at least $2,600 in weekly budget giving. This ratio is obviously greatly impacted by demographics.
9. Maximum debt payment budgeted: 33 percent of annual income for most churches. Up to 40 percent for fast-growing churches.
10. Maximum debt owed: 2.5 times the annual income of the church for the previous year.

So how do you evaluate these rules of thumb? How is your church doing? What would you recommend I change or add?

Read more from Thom here.

Tags: Church Health, Thom Rainer, Vision Frame

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Understanding Megachurches Part 3: Myths

by: Ed Stetzer

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So this week inadvertently turned into Megachurch Week on the blog. In the event you missed it, everything started  with some data on the continued growth of megachurches. Then, I shared a new infographic from Leadership Network on the financial health of megachurches.

Throughout the week, I’ve received blog comments, Facebook messages, tweets, and emails challenging the positive influence of several megachurches– some by name, some not. I get it. Some megachurches are not healthy environments. As I said Tuesday, I think some are quite terrible and fulfill every stereotype out there. Yet, there are also some great ones, and for that I am thankful. I want to understand them more and, when possible, to encourage them on their journey.

And while I encourage them, I’d also encourage those of you not pastoring or attending megachurches to do the same. Yes, there are some terrible megachurches. Just like there are some terrible churches that run 125 every week. But my job, and yours, is not to indiscriminately cast stones at every church that happens to be, or not to be, a certain size.

Wednesday evening I got an email from my friend Scott Thumma, one of the authors of the research I had quoted and one of the top megachurch researchers in the country, and I got an idea. Scott actually authored the book that debunks megachurch myths, appropriately titled Beyond Megachurch Myths. If you routinely deal with, work at, or attend a megachurch, I would encourage you to buy the book. It’s full of research, anecdotes, and stats and is written in a very accessible way.

Without further ado, here are the nine megachurch myths from Scott Thumma and Dave Travis and a little of my commentary about each of them. Keep in mind that these are their myths and I am commenting on them.

1 – All Megachurches Are Alike

Scott and Dave identified (and listed examples of: p. 31-38) at least four different streams of megachurches: Old Line/Program-Based (large FBC’s and other historic churches); Seeker (Saddleback, Willow Creek, etc.); Charismatic/Pastor-Focused (Church without Walls, Lakewood, Potter’s House); and New Wave/Re-Envisioned (NewSpring, Mars Hill Seattle, The Village).

If you are at all familiar with the church names or pastors of those churches, you know they are nothing alike. The same could be said of the church I pastor and any other church plant that meets in a movie theater like we do. Our size and surroundings may be similar, but our churches would likely be very different.

2 – Megachurches Are Just Too Big

“Of the 320,000 Christian churches, 60% of them have fewer than 100 participating adults and children (p. 45). And when surveyed, 64% of megachurch attendees knew as many or more people in the megachurch than they did at smaller churches (p. 46). 80% of attendees felt satisfied with the level of pastoral care they received (p. 47).”

Any church can “be too big.” But as our culture becomes increasingly urbanized and less rural, large churches become less intimidating– just as large cities became less intimidating for farmers in generations past. Simply put, obviously many people do not think they are too big.

3 – Megachurches Are Cults of Personality

Thumma writes “Pastors are often the center of attention whether the church is large or small…It is not surprising that megachurches are often identified by the names of their senior pastors. Any successful enterprise can come to be characterized by its leader. But it is unfortunate that this reality has led critics to suggest that megachurches are more about a pastor’s ego than about God’s kingdom (p. 55-56).”

We are often quick to criticize churches that grow under a certain pastor’s leadership, but good leaders will attract teams to work with them. Those teams will grow and, at times, the churches will become larger and larger– perhaps even a megachurch. That does not make it a cult of personality.

4 – Megachurches Are Only Concerned About Themselves and the Needs of Their Attendees

“72% of megachurches have partnered with other congregations to do international missions (p. 80). Because membership is spread across an expansive region and over multiple communities, megachurch social ministry may also be dispersed over a large area (p. 82).”

I ran an entire series last year on how megachurches can be– and often times are– missional in their practice and theology. From counseling ministries to food banks to substance abuse programs to thrift stores, megachurches can make dramatic impact in both their social and spiritual communities.

5 – Megachurches Water Down the Faith

“It is abundantly clear that some churches preach a prosperity gospel of kingdom theology or the acceptance of lifestyles and political positions with which many critics from different theological positions would find fault. However, the vast majority of megachurches have belief statements on paper and in practice that are clearly in line with orthodox Christian doctrines. Even more important, these churches’ organized programs and the values instilled into committed attendees show that this theology is promoted and lived out. (p. 98-99)”

I know big churches and small churches that water down the faith. However, stats show that large churches tend to have more orthodox beliefs and practices than any other size. When Scott and Dave researched what was emphasized in the religious practices of megachurches they found higher percentages of personal prayer, meditations, or devotions (51-42); personal Scripture study (54-47); and tithing or sacrificial giving (47-39).

6 – These Churches are Bad for Other Local Churches

“Individuals will always have disagreements with the actions and theology of certain megachurches and their pastors, but do smaller churches have reason to fear a megachurch the way a mom-and-pop general store might when rumors of Wal-Mart arise? Some of their concern might be justified, but we suggest that the benefits these congregations bring to other churches can outweigh the challenging situations they create.” (p. 119)

This is THE complaint/criticism that I receive more than any other when I write about megachurches. Several of you wrote in that the only reason they were growing was because they were “swapping sheep” from other local churches. Some even claimed stats that local church transfers accounted for anywhere from 60-95% of new members at megachurches. So I went digging for an accurate stat, and Scott has the only one I can find. In their 2009 report Not Who You Think They Are: A Profile of the People Who Attend America’s Megachurches, Scott, David Travis, and Warren Bird provide this breakdown:

Breakdown: 4% Organic; 6% Unchurched; 18% Dechurched; 28% Distant Transfer; 44% Local Transfer

So there it is– about 44% of new members at megachurches are from other local churches– not 60%, not 70%, and definitely not 95%. I hear people saying 90% and I agree that’s a myth. (But it is still way too high… just like so many other churches.)

I wish it were 0%, and every person that joined a megachurch was formerly without Christ, but the fact is that people do transfer between churches. Yet, I don’t know of any research or real evidence (beyond “but I KNOW it is true, Ed”) that megachurches transfer more out of local churches, destroying them while benefiting their own growth.

Actually, my friend (and church expert) George Hunter says that based on his lifelong observation, 80% of church growth (in churches of all sizes) is transfer from other churches. (If you add local and distant transfer, you don’t quite get to 80%, but it is close.) In other words, megachurches transfer like everyone else– but since they are bigger, perhaps we notice it more.

In 2009, our LifeWay Research study of Protestant church pastors revealed “49 percent of new attendees during the last five years have transferred from other congregations, while 32 percent were unchurched and 19 percent were children born to adults attending the church.”

Now these are self-reported numbers from pastors, who I would assume report a higher percentage of unchurched and a lower percentage of church transfers than would be true if we surveyed the actual attendees (as was done in the megachurch study cited above). But the picture here shows us what is true in all churches.

Way too many people transfer from between churches. But it also shows what is not provable– that megachurches are draining and destroying local churches on a widespread basis. Most churches grow by transfer, regardless of size.

There are some differences in how we classified the information and how Scott, David, and Warren did, but it is safe to say that on average, less than half of new church members– regardless of church size– come from other local churches. My guess is that megachurches attract more distant (new in town) transfers from other churches, but that is just a guess. Regardless, at this point, we just don’t have evidence that megachurches transfer people out of local churches at a higher rate than other churches.

Now, I understand that some have a very emotionally-vested perception that megachurches steal all the sheep from local churches. And maybe it was true at your church. But by and large, there is no statistical evidence that shows that megachurches are having a disproportionate impact on other local churches through transfer.

I want more unchurched being reached, but by and large with the information we have now, there is not evidence that megachurches transfer in more than other local churches– and in certain instances may do a little less.

For what it is worth, I’d love to see more research here to definitively answer the question, but at this point, someone’s hunch or angst does not make a trend or reality.

7 – Megachurches Are Full of People of the Same Race, Class, and Political Preference

“Many megachurches have intentionally adopted an inclusive vision that the church is for all people no matter what race or socioeconomic group. The leadership of these churches has a strong desire to cultivate an atmosphere of inclusion and embrace a wide diversity of people. This message is translated to the people in the pews.” (p. 138)

I honestly can’t imagine anyone believing this myth is true. When I look back at all of the megachurches I’ve been in over the years, many of them are most diverse than smaller churches– socially, economically, and ethnically. Maybe the splits aren’t even, but even still, they are much more diverse than most smaller churches. Most smaller churches are catching up, and I’m glad for it.

8 – Megachurches Grow Because of the Show

Thumma shows that while the worship service elements are important to the growth of megachurches, the greatest influence was the pastor and members’ active involvement in– and passion for– evangelism and integrating newcomers (p. 160).

In the circles in which I run, we call this closing the back door. A church can’t grow if someone walks out the back door every time you have someone walk in the front door. Assimilation is one of the major components of growing churches regardless of its size. An effective assimilation plan will help any church. When you have members– not just staff– who are committed to bringing people in the front door while closing the back door, churches grow quickly.

9 – The Megachurch Movement is Dying

Nope.

See this post.

So, long story short, there is a reason there is a book called Beyond Megachurch Myths. I hope you won’t spread them.

Read more from Ed here.

Tags: Ed Stetzer, Megachurch, Vision Frame

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Why Vision Casting Should be a Lifestyle for All Leaders in Your Church

by: Ron Edmondson

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The airline safety briefing card…

Doesn’t mean much to a frequent flier.

But to a first time flier…it’s gold.

Church, what can we learn from this?

Let me share a recent situation I witnessed that illustrated this principle for me.

I’ve learned my way around an airport over the years of traveling in business, government amd now ministry. So much so that I don’t listen to the directions very well. It gets me in trouble sometimes. i amost missed a flight recenlty because I didn’t hear a gate change. But, mostly, I pretty much know what they’re gonna say…or think I do.

Flight delay, right? I saw if coming.

Safety talk? I could recite it.

I’m like a steward runner up. If ever they can’t perform their duties I’m in.

“Ladies and gentleman, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the safety features of this Boeing Dc9.There’s a safety card in the seat in front of you…”

“Federal regulations require…blah, blah, blah, right?”

If you’ve traveled much…You know the drill.

But recently I was reminded why they do that every time. The same way. Always.

On our plane was one who had never flown before. Ever. He was in his sixties I would guess, but this was his first flight.

And he paid attention to everything. Everything. I watched him read the card. He looked around to “familiarize yourself with the exit signs”. He clung to every word of the steward. He was the model passenger.

Why? It was all new to him.

You see, everyone might be accustomed to the routine, but there’s always a chance, like for this guy, where it’s someone’s very first time.

It was also a great reminder for me as a church leader.

That’s the way it is for some who come to church…every Sunday.

Some could script things. Some could preach should I not be able to fulfill my duties. Some would probably actually prefer that.

But there’s always one (hopefully) who has never been here before. Perhaps ever.

Perhaps they’ve never been to any church…ever. They don’t speak our language of church.

As a pastor, I’ve always been concerned about that one.

And as I read the Bible,that seems like a Jesus characteristic too. He encouraged leaving the 99 found to seek and assist the 1 who was lost.

That’s why it’s important that we tell our vision.

Tell it clearly. It’s why we must explain things well. Very well. It’s why we must communicate basic information. Every week. Every time.

(Even if it’s boring to the rest of us…to someone…it’s gold!)

Thanks for the reminder U. S. Air. And that random guy who was flying for the first time. I hope it was a great experience for you.

Read more from Ron here.

Tags: Recasting Vision, Ron Edmondson, Vision Frame

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Why Doesn’t Your Church “Get with the Program”?

by: Trevin Wax

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It’s time for the Church to move into the 21st century.

Here’s an opportunity for the Church to revise its teaching and increase its reach among young people.

If the Church doesn’t change, it will get left behind.

Peppered throughout the news coverage of Pope Benedict’s resignation announcement are comments like these from “practicing Catholics” who are politicians or common Catholics interviewed on the street.

The subtext behind these statements is this: The Church needs to get with the program.

Now, as a Baptist, I have more than a few disagreements with the teaching of the Church of Rome – sola scriptura being the watershed issue from which flows a whole host of other doctrines and practices. Despite overtures from Pope Benedict on the doctrine of justification, Trent still stands (unfortunately).

But let’s go back to this notion of the Church “getting with the program.” First off, the idea that the global Church should cater to the whims of a shrinking number of North American Catholics betrays a stunning ethnocentrism and an imperialistic mindset among elites who, ironically, would consider themselves “multi-cultural.”

Beyond that, however, I find it interesting that evangelicals are facing the same kind of cultural pressures.

If a pastor won’t get with the program and recant his previous opposition to homosexuality, then he’s off the inaugural platform.

After all, we’re in the 21st century now! What’s this continued opposition to abortifacient drugs? What’s this old-fashioned idea that kids need a mom and a dad, not two of the same gender? For heaven’s sake, get your head out the clouds and put your feet on the ground!

What we see in these conversations are two overarching themes: authority and eschatology.

Authority

The first is the question of authority. The assumption behind the recent calls for the Catholic Church to change is that Christians belong to a purely human institution that can adjust and tweak its teachings at culture’s beck and call.

In other words, cultural consensus is the authority. When Christians are out of line, they ought to pressure their church to modify its teachings to comply with the newfound consensus.

But the catholic church (I’m using small “c” catholic now, to refer to the universal church, not the Church of Rome) is not a human organization. The proclamation of the church is that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord. We believe this to be objectively true. It is not a human label slapped onto a human institution, but a divine revelation taken up and carried by a people called out by God for His missionary purposes in the world.

I admire the way the Pope has answered critics who wonder why he hasn’t pushed for women priests, for example. Benedict responds:

The Church has “no authority” to ordain women. The point is not that we are saying that we don’t want to, but that we can’t.

Following (Christ) is an act of obedience. This obedience may be arduous in today’s situation. But it is important precisely for the Church to show that we are not a regime based on arbitrary rule. We cannot do what we want. Rather, the Lord has a will for us, a will to which we adhere, even though doing so is arduous and difficult in this culture and civilization.

Appealing to the authority of Christ is exactly the right road to take on these matters.

We operate from within a worldview in which Jesus Christ is the Lord who reigns over His people. Because He is King, we cannot tinker with His Word and then glibly go on as if the fundamental truth of our proclamation has remained unchanged. Once you bow to cultural consensus, your declaration of Christ’s lordship is meaningless.

It all comes down to this: Who’s in charge? Who is your authority? 

Eschatology

Then, there’s the eschatology pulsing through these conversations. Don’t make the mistake of relegating eschatology to the bargain bin filled with Left Behind books. We see eschatology all over the place.

Consider this comment: When will the church move into the 21st century? That question betrays a very clear notion of time and progress, the idea that history is moving somewhere.

But contrary to Piers Morgan’s view of the world, history is not moving in a solely upward direction, as we become more and more “enlightened” and free from the taboos of previous generations. The idea that the church must change because, after all, we are in a new day, and in this day and age, we don’t go for things like that… well, that kind of talk betrays a rival eschatology to that of the church. It puts the climax of history in the Enlightenment of the 1700′s and charts an upward progression.

To be sure, things have improved. Technological advances in the past thirty years alone are stunning. And yet, technological progress has its dark side. There is no end to our depravity. Nuclear bombs. Terrorism. Drone attacks. The list goes on.

The rival eschatology says, “The world is improving and the church is stuck in the past. Get it in gear, or get left behind.” Denominations fall all over themselves to follow suit and not run afoul of the cultural zeitgeist, only to discover their sanctuaries emptied of people and their pulpits emptied of power.

The world tells evangelicals (and Catholics, it seems), Jump on the bandwagon of cultural progress like all the mainline denominations have. Oh yes, and we can seen just how well that has worked out for them, can’t we?

“It is always easy to let the age have its head,” said G. K. Chesterton. “The difficult thing is to keep one’s own.”

We Have a Program

The reason the church can’t afford to “get with the program” is that we already have one. It’s called the Great Commission. It is the program given to us after Christ’s resurrection. We are to go into all the world to preach – however unpopular the message will be – to all nations. 

• Our message is powerful.
• Our mission is global.
• Our methods are adaptable.

But the program stands. King Jesus has summoned us and sent us out.

We are not beholden to the authority of “cultural consensus.” Neither are we living according to the fictional eschatological timetable concocted by those who have drunk deeply of Enlightenment philosophy without knowing it.

We are a resurrection people. The King has already given us a program. And that is why we can’t get with the world’s.

Read more from Trevin here.

Tags: Recasting Vision, Trevin Wax, Vision Frame

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The Pope Resigns and Strategic Quitting

by: Mike Gammill

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For the first time in 600 years, a Pope resigned.

On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI issued a letter of resignation stating, “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.” Click here for the full transcript of his resignation letter.

If the Pope can quit so can you. I am probably not talking about your job; I am definitely talking about ministry programs that aren’t bearing fruit.

Maybe they were fruitful once. Maybe they were fruitful for the guy down the street but never took off in your context. Or, maybe the fruit is dwarfed by the cost. Whatever your reasons for not quitting, let the Pope’s decision inspire you to consider the hidden upside of quitting.

Let’e be honest, nobody likes a quitter and pastors are loath to stop anything that was once done in the name of God. But let’s also keep it real: Jesus gave us a commission to go into all the nations and make disciples. If one of our ministries are using the time, talents, and treasures entrusted to us by God, but not bearing fruit, how will we explain ourselves when we stand before God?

To be clear, I am not advocating reckless abandonment: I am talking about strategic quitting. I propose you consider two economic principals involved in strategic quitting.

1. Sunk costs are the costs that you’ve already put into a project that make it hard to quit. These costs can be complex and dynamic in a ministry setting, but the reality behind sunk costs is that they are, well, sunk–the’re already spent. If the fruit isn’t there, we should consider moving on rather than repeating fruitless activity that continues to burn up more resources that could otherwise be redirected.

2. Opportunity cost counts the cost of an opportunity taken in terms of the value the related opportunity missed. In other words, for every dollar or moment you spend doing one thing, that dollar and moment could have been spent on something else. The value of that something else is the opportunity cost.

Strategic quitting is a part of visionary leadership. The Pope’s decision to resign leads the church forward. He had the maturity to trust his successors and freely yield the reigns of his power. Ultimately, he had the vision to see that a younger and more vital Bishop could be a better fit for the office and that by resigning he could break the calcification of tradition for the sake of his  church and all the Bishops of Rome who will follow him.

Jesus commissions us to makes disciples. Measuring only the success of our strategies (in numbers and dollars) or the busyness of our activities isn’t sufficient. We need to measure the fruitfulness of our ministry and be willing to strategically quit.

What and how can you strategically quit to lead upward? 

FYI…for a five minute podcast on sunk costs and opportunity costs from Marketplace click here.

Read more from Mike here.

Tags: Clarity, Recapturing Vision, Strategy, Vision Frame

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Think of Strategy as Daily Small Steps

by: Scott Belsky

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One thing that frustrates me about the word “strategy” is that it implies something big. Sure, strategy is both important and broad reaching, but it is really nothing more than a series of steps.

It’s the things you do (and don’t do) on a daily basis that, in aggregate, impact your team’s culture, productivity, and business model. So, when it comes to executing “strategy,” we should really just dive into the details of our day-to-day.

Herein lies the problem: The more efficient we are, the more difficult it is to change the steps we take every day.  Even with a big bold strategy in mind, we’re hesitant to take any unfamiliar steps in our workflow. For every decision we cite precedence, always opting for a familiar step – thus failing to charter new territory.

It is hard to take new steps because each one defies some rule or precedent for how we make day-to-day decisions.

Leaders of change recognize that a great strategy is made up of many steps that, on their own, don’t make sense and often break conventional norms. To innovate, you must advocate for and preserve the unordinary steps required to create something extraordinary.

The lesson here is that the “big idea” is the easy part. Large companies usually know where they need to go to stay on the cutting edge, but they don’t have the fortitude and flexibility to take the right steps to get there. The necessary steps are diverted by the usual steps, otherwise known as protocol. When you only take familiar steps, you don’t travel far.

A great strategy is made up of many steps that, on their own, don’t make sense.

As you seek to implement a bold new strategy, keep the following tips in mind:

• Eliminate the bias towards “precedent” when you’re building something new. New strategy warrants unprecedented action.
• Don’t let the new steps you must take be overridden by legal, branding, impatience, or other logistics. While it may seem easy to give in on the little details, any little turn off the road points you in a new direction. The only thing that should override strategy is better strategy.
• Keep reiterating “why” you’re pursuing change, and the consequences for not changing. Sometimes, especially in established businesses, the consequences of not changing are more motivating than the goals.

Tags: Scott Belsky, Strategy, Vision Frame

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Everything is an Experiment

by: Mark Batterson

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One of our core values at National Community Church is everything is an experiment. Let me try to unpack it.

We believe that there are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet.  Our theology doesn’t change, but our methodology does.  Have you ever noticed that there is no “order of service” in Scripture.  Why?  Because it would stifle creativity.  Yes, there are traditions and ordinances that every true church adheres too!  But every church has a unique churchprint.  And I believe we need lots of different kinds of churches because there are lots of different kinds of people!  The one common denominator is the gospel.

One of the great dangers of leadership is that at some point you can accumulate so much “know how” that you stop leading out of imagination and start leading out of memory. That’s when you stop creating the future and start repeating the past.  That’s the day you stop living and start dying.

There is a concept in the realm of science called critical realism.  Think of it as scientific humility. It’s the recognition that every theory is amendable because new discoveries are bound to be made.  Now, please don’t misunderstand.  I believe the canon of Scripture is closed. I believe it is the inspired Word of God.  I believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  And I am a sinner saved by grace.  Those truths are eternal and unchangeable.  But systematic theology is an oxymoron.  Too often it’s our attempt to control God by reducing Him to measurable and manageable terms. The moment you think you have God all figured out, you’ve created an idol.  He doesn’t fit within the tiny confines of our logical left-brains!  Yes, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  But God is also predictably unpredictable! He works in strange and mysterious ways.

My advice? Stay Humble. Stay Hungry.

I love the old axiom: live as if you’ll die tomorrow, but learn as if you will live forever! Living experimentally is simply learning as much as you can about as much as you can. You are always learning.  You are open to new ideas.  You are open to new experiences.  In the words of Albert Einstein, “Never lose a holy curiosity.”

Eight times the Psalmist says, “Sing to the Lord a new song.” I can’t remember the original citation, but I remember reading a study once that suggested that we stop thinking about the lyrics of a song after we’ve sung it thirty times.  That’s why we need to write new music.  Every new song is a musical experiment.  For what it’s worth, check out some of our NCC originals.

When we went multi-site, it was an experiment. Our cafe in Berlin is an experiment. So was our coffeehouse. So was the first series trailer we produced.  So is our free market system of small groups.  So is our staff structure. So is everything we tried for the first time!

I’m more afraid of missing opportunities than making mistakes. We need the freedom to fail.  In fact, if you haven’t failed lately it’s probably because you aren’t trying anything new!  I believe that experimentation is an expression of faith. It’s believing that there is a new way, a better way of doing something.  It’s striving toward excellence, which honors God.  And it’s giving expression to the infinitely creative Spirit that dwells within us and sanctifies our imaginative right-brains!

Everything is an experiment.

Read more from Mark here.

Tags: Core Values, Mark Batterson, National Community Church, Vision Frame

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Please Stop Herding Me

by: Geoff Surratt

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As I said in my previous post, I think the primary business of the church is the Moving Business. We are called to help people move from where they are to where God is calling them. Today I’d like to share a contrast and a prediction. First the contrast.

Moving vs Herding

We are in the Moving Business, not the Herding Business. The Herding Business gets the livestock to go where the leader decides they need to go. There is a pre-determined destination for the herd; the individual isn’t important. The goal is to move as many animals (members, attenders, cattle) from point A to point B as efficiently as possible.The challenge is to protect my herd from poachers, who have a different destination in mind, while moving them closer to my end point.

In the Moving Business the goal is to move the individual toward their destination, not necessarily the destination the leader chooses. Almost everyone has a different destination, so there is no “one size fits all” ministry package. The Moving Business is much slower and more complicated than the Herding Business. The Moving Business is only effective when the herd is broken down into much smaller groups with many more leaders; each individual needs a leader who will help them move toward their God-ordained destination. While connection to the herd is important, these smaller groups are where the actual moving is accomplished.

The Moving Business has huge, untapped potential

Jesus demonstrated the Moving Business approach when he called his first disciples. He pointed them toward their God-given destination as fishers of men and then spent three years teaching them to fish. Although Jesus attracted crowds and taught the masses, his primary focus was moving 12 men toward their God-given destinations. Jesus final act as he wrapped up his mission on earth in John 21 was reminding Peter of the primacy and individual nature of his mission.

John 21:22 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

The Moving Business has potential for exponential growth. People desperately want to know how to find the way to their God-given destination. Rick Warren sold 60 million copies of “Purpose Driven Live” because of this drive. Joel Osteen’s “Your Best Life Now” addressed the same topic from a different angle. Even “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne appeals to this desire. A church that delivers on the promise to help people discover and find their way to their true God-ordained destination won’t be able to contain the growth.

To see this kind of impact, however, a church has to change businesses. Educating, warehousing, entertaining and herding become secondary, and they refocus their energy and resources on the Moving Business. The key activity becomes equipping leaders to help people discover and move toward their God-given destination. The Moving Business is all-encompassing but hugely rewarding.

Read more from Geoff here.

Tags: Geoff Surratt, Recasting Vision, Vision Clarity, Vision Frame

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Eleven Things Your Church Can Learn from the Airport

by: Seth Godin

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[Of course, this post isn’t actually about airports].

I realized that I don’t dislike flying–I dislike airports. There are so many things we can learn from what they do wrong:

1. No one is in charge. The airport doesn’t appear to have a CEO, and if it does, you never see her, hear about her or interact with her in any way. When the person at the top doesn’t care, it filters down.
2. Problems persist because organizations defend their turf instead of embrace the problem. The TSA blames the facilities people, who blame someone else, and around and around. Only when the user’s problem is the driver of behavior (as opposed to maintaining power or the status quo) things change.
3. The food is aimed squarely at the (disappearing) middle of the market. People who like steamed meat and bags of chips never have a problem finding something to eat at an airport. Apparently, profit-maximizing vendors haven’t realized that we’re all a lot weirder than we used to be.
4. Like colleges, airports see customers as powerless transients. Hey, you’re going to be gone tomorrow, but they’ll still be here.
5. By removing slack, airlines create failure. In order to increase profit, airlines work hard to get the maximum number of flights out of each plane, each day. As a result, there are no spares, no downtime and no resilience. By assuming that their customer base prefers to save money, not anxiety, they create an anxiety-filled system.
6. The TSA is ruled by superstition, not fact. They act without data and put on a quite serious but ultimately useless bit of theater. Ten years later, the theater is now becoming an entrenched status quo, one that gets ever worse.
7. The ad hoc is forbidden. Imagine an airplane employee bringing in an extension cord and a power strip to deal with the daily occurrence of travelers hunched in the corner around a single outlet. Impossible. There is a bias toward permanent and improved, not quick and effective.
8. Everyone is treated the same. Effective organizations treat different people differently. While there’s some window dressing at the edges (I’m thinking of slightly faster first class lines and slightly more convenient motorized cars for seniors), in general, airports insist that the one size they’ve chosen to offer fit all.
9. There are plenty of potential bad surprises, but no good ones. You can have a flight be cancelled, be strip searched or even go to the wrong airport. But all possibility for delight has been removed. It wouldn’t take much to completely transform the experience from a chore to a delight.
10. They are sterile. Everyone who passes through leaves no trace, every morning starts anew. There are no connections between people, either fellow passengers or the staff. No one says, “welcome back,” and that’s honest, because no one feels particularly welcome.
11. No one is having any fun. Most people who work at airports have precisely the same demeanor as people who work at a cemetery. The system has become so industrialized that personal expression is apparently forbidden.

As we see at many organizations that end up like this, the airport mistakes its market domination for a you-have-no-choice monopoly (we do have a choice, we stay home). And in pursuit of reliable, predictable outcomes, these organizations dehumanize everything, pretending it will increase profits, when it actually does exactly the opposite.

Tags: Recasting Vision, Seth Godin, Vision Frame

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Telltale Signs of Being Out of Alignment

by: VRcurator

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You’ve probably had the experience of driving a car that is out-of-alignment. At slow speeds, the wobble may be just bothersome. But when you get up to highway speeds or faster, that wobble becomes violent enough that you think your car is going to come apart. In most cases, it’s a trip to the auto repair shop and it’s smooth sailing.

Churches can be out of alignment, too.

When it comes to churches who are in a visioning process, alignment is the critical work that must be done early in the rollout of vision. You don’t just hit the gas pedal when you see where God wants you to drive. You must work on the front end before you put the pedal to the medal. Unfortunately, some leaders don’t have the patience.

But consider the alternative: a car out of alignment limits your top speed and may be dangerous. For the church, being out of alignment means severe limitations to missional effectiveness and efficiency.

How do you know if your church is out of alignment?

Watch to this brief video as Kotter International consultants Randy Ottinger and Dennis Goin discuss some telltale signs of organizational misalignment.

See additional thoughts about organizational alignment here.

Tags: Alignment, John Kotter, Vision Frame

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