Strategic Planning | Coaching Churches

Category Archive: Strategic Planning

COVID-19 Is Changing The Way Believers Connect

Posted by on April 5, 2020

The mentality of I can’t wait until things get back to the way they used to be is not going to work for church leaders. It will never be the same again. That does mean it has to be a bad thing but for it to be good we must proactively lead. We have feared virtual church to the point that we have not leveraged the power of technology to help us complete our mission. Casting a vision of how to connect believers during the week for faith instead of fun will be a game changer. This post by Leah Davenport is worth the read:

“When it comes to adoption of new communication technologies, the church has typically been at the forefront. The first book ever printed on Gutenberg’s press was the Bible, after all. Beginning in the 1950s and 60s Billy Graham took the format of the tent revival global by utilizing satellite broadcast technology. A cursory glance at the app store or Youtube will yield dozens of Bible reading apps, plans, and sermon podcasts. And yet until recent events, churches still revolved mostly around the weekly rhythm of in-person services on Sundays and weeknight Bible studies.”

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What Will The Post-Coronavirus Church Look Like

Posted by on March 29, 2020

I sincerely believe that one of the lasting lessons of any disruption is that things will never be the same again. We can return to the ways of doing church that were effective in making disciples. However, we should as church leaders use this time to make any change that will help us be more effective in reaching and equipping people. This post by Thom Rainer is excellent:

“Church leaders and members are rightly giving much attention to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. In-person church services are being canceled. Small groups are meeting digitally, if at all. Church leaders are urging members to support the church financially through digital giving. Churches are preparing ways to minister to their communities in the midst of the pandemic.

I am grateful for the responses and for the caring hearts of so many church members. In the midst of a major challenge, it is heartwarming and reassuring to see many people who really care.

But the coronavirus will move past its pandemic state at some point in the future. I am fascinated to see what our churches will look like on “the other side.” Here are eight likely developments:”

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The Trap Of Tradition

Posted by on March 15, 2020

Some traditions are very good and should be maintained because they provide important reminders of things that still matter. The still matters is the hard part because at some point in time the tradition becomes more important than the people involved. In church life, our message is sacred but our methods should always be changing. Why, because contextualization teaches us to never let the methods step on the ability of the people to hear the message. Ed Stetzer is always great and this post is not exception:

“Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.” -Jaroslav Pelikan

They can create shared memories that remind those who participate in them of important events or truths.

Family Traditions

In the summers when my daughters were a little younger we had a standing appointment on Saturdays. We used to go to Cracker Barrel and make the rounds of the garage sales nearby to see if anyone else’s junk should be our junk.”

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9 Reasons Our Families And Friends Don’t Believe The Gospel

Posted by on March 7, 2020

The gospel by its very nature is good news. Maybe we need to remind ourselves as Christian leaders why. What is the problem we are solving and the need we are meeting? Ultimately, security and significance can only come through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We must constantly be sharing with each person the right amount of grace and truth so they can see how much the Father loves them. This post by Chuck Lawless is a good reminder:

“Southeastern Seminary, where I teach, is emphasizing “Who’s Your One” this semester. We want all of our administration, faculty, staff, and students to seek to pray for and share the gospel with at least one person during the next couple of months. Based on my years of sharing Christ with family members and friends, here are my thoughts about why folks struggle with believing the gospel.”

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We Need Prophets, Not Partisans

Posted by on March 5, 2020

Christians must understand that the stewardship of the gospel is significantly more important than the government. We are citizens of another country and our calling is to represent Christ as His ambassadors. We care deeply about many social issues but none of them rise to the level of the ministry of redemption we have been given. This post by Brett McCracken is an important read:

“We live in “all or nothing,” “us or them” times. You’re either all with us—toeing the party line on every front—or you’re with them. You’re either trustworthy because you agree with us on everything, or you’re totally untrustworthy and a dangerous threat—even if simply because you dissent from us 5 percent of the time.”

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4 Responses To Cultural Change

Posted by on February 2, 2020

I can identify with Lot in that my spirit is tormented as I live in this increasingly toxic culture. On the one hand I want to run away and hide and the next minute I want to scream at someone. I have learned that the culture is clearly not our friend as Christians but it is not our enemy either. Ed Stetzer is spot on again:

“As followers of Christ, we won’t always fit into the world in which we live. In fact, we’ll often find ourselves going against the flow of popular culture in certain areas of life. It’s necessary for us to have a solid biblical foundation to stand on in the midst of a rapidly shifting cultural landscape.

We need to know how the eternal Word of God shapes our understanding of current issues and how we can share the gospel compassionately and courageously with the people around us.

Here are four possible responses to cultural change.”

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The Rise Of The Dones: The Done With Church Population

Posted by on January 28, 2020

There can be no doubt based on our own personal experience and great research by Barna and others, that the majority of three entire generations are not coming to church. The days of build it and they will come are over in this post-christian America. Another very alarming trend is those who were once active in church are indeed done and are not coming back. This post by Thom Schultz is a must read for all church leaders:

“John is one of the Dones even though he’s every pastor’s dream member. He’s a life-long believer, well-studied in the Bible, gives generously and leads others passionately.

But last year he dropped out of church. He didn’t switch to the other church down the road. He dropped out completely. His departure wasn’t the result of an ugly encounter with a staff person or another member. It wasn’t triggered by any single event.”

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3 Reasons We Shouldn’t Reject Leadership Culture

Posted by on January 12, 2020

The sad reality is that more churches die because of leadership failures than theological arguments. Some leaders are too passive and insecure, which eventually means the church will never change and die. Other leaders are like dictators and believe they alone have the word from God. The vicious cycle is that most churches then overreact and shift the leadership culture to compensate for their pain. This becomes unbiblical and eventually the pain of the past is so great there is no hope for the future. I highly recommend this post by Ed Stetzer:

“I think leadership is an important issue that’s often overlooked. I know… you think I’m crazy. Leadership resources and speakers abound. But there’s a reason the best place to find leadership books is at a Goodwill or some other thrift store. Yep.

Secondhand stores are like leadership book archive vaults. Why? Well, there seems to be a pendulum that swings… and has swung. In the 1980’s there was much talk about leadership and there was a lot of people writing on it, speaking on it, and just great prominence on it. Leadership theories and ideas were influencing the church and the church was, in many ways, being shaped by that.”

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Cursing The Darkness

Posted by on March 24, 2019

As we enter this post-Christian period in America, I am deeply concerned that we still do not understand why we are increasingly ineffective in making disciples. I hear everything blamed from emerging churches, seeker services, contemporary worship, reformed theology, postmodernism and watered down preaching just to name a few.

We certainly will never be able to solve the problem if we can not accurately diagnose the cause. We must stop cursing the darkness and talking about everything that is wrong and start shinning the light about what is right.

We must start with the simple truth that the people who are not attending church are significantly culturally different from the people who are. This means that all pastors in America must become missional in their methodology in order to reach new people or our churches will die.

The days of build it and they will come through transfer growth are over forever and in the end that is a very good thing.

We must stop preaching that the culture is our enemy. It is simply the context in which we have been called to do ministry. As a necessary reminder the modern culture with all its logic and reason was no friend to the gospel because it produced humanism and evolution.

I am extremely excited about the next generation and their passion for community, integrity, spirituality and service. We need compassion for their lostness but respect for their uniqueness.

It is our responsibility to understand them if we want to reach them and not require them to become like us if they want to come to Christ.

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Major New Research On Declining, Plateaued, And Growing Churches

Posted by on March 10, 2019

The reality that the North American church is in serious trouble is not new information. However, the continuing downward trends should cause even more concern than in the past. It is clearly time to admit we need dramatic change in methodology and passionate prayer for God to move again. This post by Rainer is a must read:

I am grateful to Exponential for engaging LifeWay Research to discern current levels of church health according to a number of factors. While worship attendance trends over a three-year period were a primary indicator of health in this study, the Exponential research also included conversions, income, and staffing in the data.

In addition to the categorization of churches as declining/subtracting (Level 1), plateauing (Level 2), and growing/adding (Level 3), the study looked at two other supplemental categories. A Level 4 (reproducing) church places a high value and priority on starting new churches. A level 5 (multiplying) church takes church planting to multiple generations of congregations.