4 Ideas to Help Engage Preteens in Worship

April 10, 2018

We started a preteen ministry five years ago. We branded the ministry, moved into a designated space, and created unique programming that we felt would reach this unique age group. After five years, we’re still adapting and learning about what works…especially in the area of worship.

Engaging preteens in worship can be difficult. There’s a lot that goes into creating worship opportunities that really connect them to who God is and lead them to worship in a way that is comfortable for this admittedly awkward stage of life.

We’re still learning (and constantly changing), but we wanted to share four ideas to help engage preteens in worship. These are all things that we have tried over the last five years and had some success. If you’re struggling to get them engaged or keep their attention during worship, try one or all of these ideas and let me know how it goes.

4 Ideas to Help Engage Preteens in Worship

1. Change the Order of Service

Instead of starting the service or large group time with music, change things up by starting with a game or with group activity. Preteens may already start in small groups or be enjoying games as they hangout, but this idea calls for something different. Changing the order of service means calling preteens to worship as you normally would, but inserting a game or group activity at the point when they would’ve expected the music to begin. It could be wild and messy, or it could be sitting down in a group to take turns answering a question related to the lesson topic. The key is to get them engaged with adults and peers. This engagement will help them to be alert and engage quickly when the time of singing begins. This is our most recent strategy, and we’ve already seen some positive results.

2. Change the Way You Lead Them in Worship

If preteens are struggling to sing, consider leading them to worship in a different way. Preteens are often lacking in the self-confidence it takes to sing out in front of their peers. To help prime the worship pump, consider using another form of worship to engage preteens. You could use stations where preteens could pray specific prayers, use art supplies to draw a picture representing a passage of Scripture or song lyric, or write their own lyrics to a song that they would like to offer to God. You might still lead or play worship songs over the kids as they worship in different ways. Encourage them to sing as well if they feel led to do so while they participate in the other forms of worship.

3. Allow Them to Be Involved in the Service Planning

Adolescence is a time of gaining independence. Preteens want the chance to share their ideas and preferences, and they love to have responsibility. Use this to your advantage by asking preteens to help in the service planning. Conduct a survey or poll to ask preteens what they like/don’t like about the worship time. Ask them what songs they most connect with or what songs they wish were a part of the music time. Ask them what distractions keep them from worshiping and how they think those could be best minimized.

Form a team of preteens to meet regularly and brainstorm creative worship experiences for the preteen ministry. Ask them to submit songs, service ideas, even different locations for worship time. Take their ideas and put them into practice. The ideas may not all work, but preteens will definitely be more engaged with a service that incorporates their ideas.

4. Let Them Lead

If you get them involved in planning the service, take the next step and unleash them to actually lead the service. If you have a preteen who is learning guitar, allow them the opportunity to play along with worship. If you have preteens who love to sing, put them on stage—with or without a microphone—to lead with their gifts. If they’re not musically inclined, give them opportunities to lead in worship by reading Scripture, praying for the group or sharing a testimony.

Preteens leading other preteens in worship really is an amazing thing to watch. The preteens in the audience may be initially shocked by the unusual site of their peers “on stage,” but they will immediately be more attentive to the song lyrics and other elements of the service.

What ideas can you share about engaging preteens in worship?

This article originally appeared here.

7 Startling Facts: An Up Close Look at Church Attendance in America

Outreach Magazine

April 10, 2018

What’s the latest on church attendance in America?

1. Less than 20 percent of Americans regularly attend church—half of what the pollsters report.

While Gallup polls and other statisticians have turned in the same percentage—about 40 percent of the population—of average weekend church attendees for the past 70 years, a different sort of research paints quite a disparate picture of how many Christians in American attend a local church on any given Sunday.

Initially prompted to discover how church plants in America were really doing, Olson, director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church (covchurch.org), began collecting data in the late ’80s, gradually expanding his research to encompass overall attendance trends in the church. In his study, he tracked the annual church attendance of more than 200,000 individual Orthodox Christian churches (the accepted U.S. church universe is 330,000). To determine church attendance at the remaining 100,000-plus Orthodox Christian churches, he used statistical models, which included multiplying a church’s membership number by the denomination’s membership-to-attendance ratio.

The Numbers

His findings reveal that the actual rate of church attendance from head counts is less than half of the 40 percent the pollsters report. Numbers from actual counts of people in Orthodox Christian churches (Catholic, mainline and evangelical) show that in 2004, 17.7 percent of the population attended a Christian church on any given weekend.

Another study published in 2005 in The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion by sociologists C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler—known for their scholarly research on the church—backs up his findings. Their report reveals that the actual number of people worshiping each week is closer to Olson’s 17.7 percent figure—52 million people instead of the pollster-reported 132 million (40 percent).

“We knew that over the past 30 to 40 years, denominations had increasingly reported a decline in their numbers,” Marler says. “Even a still-growing denomination like the Southern Baptist Convention had reported slowed growth. Most of the mainline denominations were all reporting a net loss over the past 30 years. And at the same time, the Gallup polls had remained stable. It didn’t make sense.”

The Halo Effect

What Hadaway and Marler, along with Mark Chaves, author of the “National Congregations Study,” discovered was at play is what researchers call “the halo effect”—the difference between what people tell pollsters and what people actually do. Americans tend to over-report socially desirable behavior like voting and attending church and under-report socially undesirable behavior like drinking.

Gallup Poll Editor in Chief Frank Newport agrees that the halo effect factors into poll results. During a Gallup telephone survey of a random sampling of about 1,000 Americans nationwide, interviewers ask respondents questions such as, “In the last seven days, did you attend a church service, excluding weddings and funerals?” to determine their church-going habits.

“When people try to reconstruct their own behavior, particularly more frequently occurring on-and-off behavior, it is more difficult, especially in a telephone interview scenario,” Newport says. But he stands behind Gallup’s 40 percent figure: “I’ve been reviewing [U.S. church attendance] carefully,” he says. “No matter how we ask the question to people, we get roughly 40 percent of Americans who present themselves as regular church attendees.” He adds, however, that if you were to freeze the United States on any Sunday morning, you may find fewer than 40 percent of the country’s adults actually in churches.

“Although about 40 percent of Americans are regular church attendees, it doesn’t necessarily mean 40 percent are in church on any given Sunday,” he explains. “The most regular church attendee gets sick or sleeps in. The other reason may be Christians who tell us they go to church but are worshipping in non-traditional ways, such as small groups, Christians meeting in gyms or school libraries.”

A Disconnect

In another study surveying the growth of U.S. Protestants, Marler and Hadaway discovered that while the majority of Christians they interviewed don’t belong to a local church, they still identify with their church roots. “Never mind the fact that they attend church less than 12 times a year,” Marler observes. “We estimate that 78 million Protestants are in that place. Ask most pastors what percentage of inactive members they have—they”ll say anything from 40–60 percent.”

Even with a broader definition of church attendance, classifying a regular attendee as someone who shows up at least three out of every eight Sundays, only 23–25 percent of Americans would fit this category. Olson notes that an additional million church attendees would increase the percentage from 17.7 percent to only 18 percent. “You”d have to find 80 million more people that churches forgot to count to get to 40 percent.”

Clearly, a disconnect between what Americans say and what they actually do has created a sense of a resilient church culture when, in fact, it may not exist.

5 Non-Negotiables for Brand New Groups

Ben Reed

April 10, 2018

In the last week, I’ve had multiple pastors ask this question. Maybe it’s one you’re asking, too.

How do I structure my first small group meeting?

I think that pastors are asking it for a couple of reasons:

1. They don’t have small groups in their local church.

They’re trying to get groups off of the ground, and don’t have a template for how a group should launch.

2. They have small groups in their local church, but they want to ensure, as much as possible, that their personal small group succeeds.

I get that. You’re the pastor, and if your group “fails,” it reflects badly on you, who point people to the life-changing power of community. If your group “fails,” does “community” really work? (Hint: The answer is that yes, it does still work…but you may just need to think critically about the dynamics of a small group.)

The way that you structure your first few meetings will set the tone for the rest of your group’s life. Getting off to a slow start is a massive hindrance to success because relationships aren’t well-formed, group becomes “difficult” for people to attend, and most won’t see it as worth the trouble.

There are a few key principles to keep in mind as you launch your group. Whether that’s a singles group, a couples group or anything in between, keeping these in mind is important to your group’s short-term and long-term success.

5 Non-Negotiables in Launching Your Small Group

1. Know what the “win” is for your group.

If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, you’ll never know if you hit it. Define the “win” for your group, and keep those front and center as you launch. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter tremendously (obviously within biblical parameters) what that win is…just that you define it. Define that win and go hard after it. *If you don’t know what the win is for your group, have a conversation with your groups pastor…if you don’t have a groups pastor, talk with your lead pastor for direction.

2. Incorporate “fun” into your group.

You may lead a phenomenal Bible study…but if people don’t feel like they’re having “fun,” they won’t come back. Don’t believe me? No problem…just test it out. Don’t laugh or play a game or have any fun, and see if people come back. After you’ve tried that, and your group has dissolved to one, come on back and read this again. The reality is that people can get great Bible studies anywhere: podcasts, books, blogs and forums. They can’t get a real, authentic, enjoyable relationship with people from a podcast, though. I’ve written about this more extensively HERE and HERE.

3. Incorporate “serving” into your group.

If you don’t launch with a focus on serving together, your group won’t naturally gravitate toward it. You have to build this as a value into your group. Whether your goal is once/week, once/month or once/quarter, set some goals and offer some ideas for the group to chew on. Maybe it’ll be a ministry you believe in. Maybe it’s something in your neighborhood. Maybe it’s something that someone else in the group is passionate about. That’s not as important as building in the idea of serving your community.

4. Share your faith story.

Sharing your faith story, and encouraging others to do the same, is essential to building healthy community. If, in the first eight weeks of your group, you haven’t done this, your group will feel stale and cold. Lecturers have no need to share their story…but small group leaders do! This is a vital step to building authentic community.

5. Share responsibility.

Don’t hoard the responsibilities you’ve been entrusted with in leading your group. It’s important that everything gets done, but you don’t need to do everything. In fact, if you do everything, you’ll burnout. You’ll also not equip others to lead and use their gifts and resources, which should be a role of all group leaders…equipping others to do the work of the ministry by fleshing out their gifts.

When you’re ready to launch your group, keep these five non-negotiables handy.

Question: Do you lead a small group? What am I missing? Anything you would add?

20 Hidden Killers in Your Ministry

George Bullard

April 10, 2018

Life is fragile. But you know that.

All of us who are more than a generation old realize the physical and mental sharpness of our childhood and youth has diminished. It may not be obvious when we are 20-something or 30-something, but it is there. It becomes more obvious when we are 40-something and 50-something and still trying to trying to push ourselves like we were much younger.

By the time we are 60-something and 70-something, the aging process is in full swing. Many of the symptoms of our aging have been present for decades, but they are just now having an obvious impact on us that we cannot overcome by just working harder. We must work smarter and choose carefully those things to which we commit ourselves. Health conditions that were not obvious in earlier decades are now part of our daily concern and actions.

If we make it to 80-something or 90-something, for the vast majority of us, health and life expectancy issues are not only a primary concern for us, but often for our family who love us and have a responsibility to help care for us.

Is the Same Pattern True for Congregations?

Absolutely! The patterns are clear.

Congregations often thrive for the first generation of their lives. At some point when they are 20-something, their founding dream or vision wanes. If they do not intervene in their own journey in response to the spiritual nudge of the Triune God, the vitality and vibrancy of their congregation will diminish incrementally for the succeeding decades, and they will approach death at some future date.

Or they may realize the underlying spiritual, strategic, social and structural health issues and redevelop forward in response to a new or renewed vision. This is possible as a Christ-centered, faith-based, spiritual community. This is not something that is ultimately possible for us as individuals.

The ideal is that following the first generation of life, congregations will re-envision their future continually and effectively live into that vision as FaithSoaring churches. However, that is an ideal realized by less than 20 percent of congregations at any given time.

What about the rest of us?

Hidden Factors Undermining the Health of Congregations

Pastors: Get All the Education You Can, Then Never Mention It Again!

Joe McKeever

April 10, 2018

“Beware of Pharisees. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi. But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers; and do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders, for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant.” Matthew 23

Pastor, given a choice—and you always have a choice—try not to look and act like a Pharisee. For my money, the best way—the very best way in the universe—is to use this phrase: “When I got my doctorate…”

I’m not sure why that sets me off, but it does. And I haven’t the slightest idea whether it’s only me or the rest of the universe.

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, that phrase is completely unnecessary and is inserted only to call attention to oneself, to make sure the hearers fall to their knees in abject horror. “Oh my, you have a doctorate?! You must be of superior intelligence, far beyond most mortals.” “Forgive me for thinking you put your pants on one leg at a time!”

The plain truth is there are people with earned doctorates who scarcely know how to sign their name or use the telephone.

The chairman of a search committee said to me, “Should we be concerned that this preacher does not have a doctorate?” I said, “My friend, I know people with doctorates who have a hard time putting two sentences together. Those degrees are easy to come by these days and are vastly over-rated. Pay attention to the pastor’s preaching, listen to his conversation, and get to know the man. But ignore the absence of a doctorate.”

Two years later, that chairman went out of his way to thank me. That pastor, whom they had called to their church, is doing splendid work far beyond anything they had a right to expect. And they call him by the finest title I’ve ever known: “Pastor.”

If you are the preacher, get all the education you can, by all means. And then, never mention it again. Never. Mention. It. Again.

Here’s another good text…

“Two men went up into the temple to pray… The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself: ‘God, I thank Thee that I have written yet another book, as I was telling my publisher just today. I thank Thee that I have a doctor’s degree, unlike these lesser mortals, and am addressed as Doctor, even by my wife. I thank Thee that I have all these framed certificates on my wall which inform even casual visitors that I am someone special, far above the hoi polloi. You are so good to me, Lord. I couldn’t have done it without You. Perhaps.” (Okay. This is my corrupted—and very contemporary—version of Luke 18:10-12.)

Have you ever heard of a preacher insisting that he be called Doctor? “I worked hard for that degree and I have a right to be called that.”

This is not someone you wish to know further. His ego is out of control at the very time his inferiority complex is in the driver’s seat. Get out of his way before you get run over.

“Call me Billy.”

I’d give a dollar to know how many people Billy Graham said that to over his life of nearly a century. But I’ll tell you one thing: Few people did.

Even though Dr. Billy Graham’s doctorate was honorary—many colleges and seminaries honored themselves by awarding him such degrees—he deserved that title as much as anyone we know.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that the listing of degrees and the parading of titles are often artificial boosts to the fragile ego and they erect unnecessary barriers between people.

Religious leaders seem to have loved their inflated titles from the beginning. Jesus cautioned His people, “Do not be called rabbi, father or leader” (Matthew 23:8-10).

No one calls me Rabbi. The word means “teacher” and implies an exalted teacher. (It’s great to honor a teacher; just don’t seek it.)

No one calls me Father, although three call me “Dad” or “Pop,” and eight call me “Grandpa Joe.”

No one calls me Leader. Germany called Hitler that, I understand.

Rabbi, father and leader were the big three in Jesus’ day.

I recognize that the letter of the law here would probably be a wrong interpretation of what our Lord said, and the spirit of the law is the point (2 Corinthians 3:6). So, I am not suggesting we get hung up on those specific words. Personally, I have no problem with the Catholic worshiper calling his priest “father.” Or, for that matter, I have no problem with someone addressing you as “Doctor” if it fits.

Just don’t require or encourage it.

I Just Want to Be Happy

Regi Campbell

April 10, 2018

How many times have you heard someone say, “But I just want to be happy!” Or even said it yourself?

“I’d be happy if I could lose another 10 pounds, but I hate starving all the time!”

“I love the people I work with, but I’m so unhappy with my job.”

“I can’t stand this apartment anymore… I want a house!”

“I’ll never be happy here. Don’t you see how people look at me?”

“I don’t get squat from attending my church, but I’m not going through ripping my wife away from her Bible study friends. I just want her to be happy!”

It’s like happiness is something we trade for. “I’ll give up (fill in the blank) in return for being happy.” But it never seems to work out, does it?

Three things make us unhappy…

Not getting something we want
Not getting to do what we want to do
Not having people think what we want them to think

Anxiety comes from unmet expectations, and all three of these ‘unhappies’ start with expectations…for ourselves, other people or God. We, humans, create a never-ending stream of expectations.

Even when we get what we think we want, we’re not happy for long. Or down deep. No sooner than we get the ‘thing’ we want, we want something else. The thing we want to do might make us happy for a little while, but stuff changes, something new appears and happiness fades. And getting people’s approval is never certain and as fickle as a housefly. “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do,” said Eleanor Roosevelt.

Happy is “a state of well-being, a pleasurable or satisfying experience.” It comes from the same root word as ‘haphazard.’ It connotes random. Spurious. Here and there. Unpredictable.

But the word ‘joy’…which comes from the word ‘rejoice,’ means “to feel great delight, to welcome or to be glad.” Depending on the translation, the Bible uses the words ‘happy’ and ‘happiness’ about 30 times, while ‘joy’ and ‘rejoice’ appear over 300 times.

For me, joy rides on two things: love and hope. It first came when I grasped that I was loved…like really loved…by my Heavenly Father. And it hasn’t left since. I have an irrevocable hope because I know that I will always be loved. Personally. By the God of the universe. He knows my name! And He loves me. Individually. Amazing, huh?

The only sure cure for anxiety is a grateful heart. And for the Jesus-follower who ‘gets it,’ gratitude is the default setting of the heart. Grasping how much God loves us, how He forgives us, how He’s always there for us…that’s the source of real joy. And that joy isn’t dependent on our circumstances. It’s available 24/7/365. Not haphazard. It’s there for every Jesus-follower.

Scripture: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Mentor Tip: If you catch your guys saying things that start with “If only I…” or “I’ll be happy when…” jump in and remind them that as Jesus-followers, we’re not looking for happiness…we’re resting in the joy that comes from knowing we’re loved.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Overcome Bitterness: For Your Own Health and Peace

Bob Ditmer

April 10, 2018

Do you know how to overcome bitterness? Research suggests constant bitterness can have negative effects on our physical health. Bitterness may predict adverse changes in metabolism, immune system function, and organ function.

The Bible tells us the same.

But overcoming bitterness can be hard. Maybe you’ve tried everything to get past the hurt.

Efforts at biblical reconciliation may or may not have been fruitful but they definitely aren’t satisfying.

You’re just really angry and can’t let it go. You can’t let it go because what happened wasn’t right. In fact, it’s downright wrong. In this video, John Piper says that’s true— and deadly.

How to Overcome Bitterness

So he offers three suggestions for how to overcome bitterness.

First, admit that the bitterness has a hold on you. The bitterness is not a figment of your imagination, it’s real and it’s deep. Don’t bury it, acknowledge the problem.

Second, pray about it. Ask God to take the bitterness away.

And finally, what Piper calls his primary point, trust the promises of God. That promise comes from Romans 12:19: “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”

Piper say that is “a tailor made, blood-bought promise.”

The promise is that God will lift from you the suicidal load of vengeance and carry it to the cross or to Hell and “you can’t improve on either of those.”

If the load goes to the cross, it’s been handled by the grace of God. Refusing to forgive what God has forgiven dishonors God. And his death canceled out every sin ever committed.

If God’s vengeance is handled in Hell, it’s a torment that is eternal. Piper said that’s why Hell is an important reality.

How Long Does It Take to Trust in Christ?

Greg Laurie

April 9, 2018

Have you ever lost anything in the ocean? You can pretty much kiss it goodbye. You probably won’t ever see it again.

Years ago I was scuba diving, and I was cruising along at about 15 feet below the surface. I could see the ocean floor, which was about 30 feet below the surface. I went out a little further, and the ocean floor dropped to 60 feet. I went to a depth of 30 feet and ventured out even further, until the ocean floor was at about 80 feet below the surface. Then I came to a ledge that dropped off, and I could no longer see the bottom of the ocean. I took one look into that dark abyss, turned around and went back the way I came. That is a long way down. If you drop something there, you will never see it again.

The Bible says of God, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19 NKJV). God will take our sin and throw it into the deepest part of the sea. He will take our iniquities and cast them into the depths of the ocean. God also promises, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12 NKJV). Isn’t that good news? God will forgive your sin. He will forget your sin. We should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget. It is forgiven.

The Bible tells the story of two thieves on the cross. They were being crucified on the same day Jesus was. The word thief the Bible uses is a much more intense word. They were not just men who stole things. They probably were murderers and insurrectionists revolting against Roman tyranny. That is why Rome would hang people like that on crosses.

Here was this man, hanging on a cross, and next to him was Jesus Christ. That thief was hanging there because of his own sins. Jesus was hanging there because of the sins of others. The crowd began to mock Christ, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35 NKJV). Both criminals joined in this chorus of mockery at first, but then Jesus said something that amazed one of them: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (verse 34 NKJV). The man looked at Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (verse 42 NKJV). He believed on the spot.

You can believe in Jesus that quickly. It doesn’t take a year. It doesn’t take a month. It doesn’t take a week. It can happen in an instant.

The thief was hopeless up to that point, but he found hope. Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (verse 43 NKJV). Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Can you imagine how his heart must have leaped with joy?

Have you lost hope today? It has been said that man can live 40 days without food, three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only one second without hope. Jesus Christ can give you hope today, just like he gave to the thief on the cross.

He had what we might call a deathbed conversion. Some say, “I’ll wait until my deathbed, and then I’ll believe in Jesus.” What makes them think they will have the luxury of a deathbed conversion? Sometimes death comes without warning. The Bible says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27 NKJV). Death will come for everyone. One out of every one person will die. And life can end unexpectedly.

There was a man known as Saul who was, in many ways, one of the most evil men who ever lived. He was a heavy-duty sinner. Ironically, Saul of Tarsus was a religious man. He was part of an elite religious group called the Sanhedrin, which made rulings that affected the whole nation. Saul made it his business to hunt down followers of Jesus and put them to death.

One day a young man named Stephen was brought before him. Stephen was fearless, and he stood up in front of Saul and the other members of the Sanhedrin and began to lay out the gospel without any shame or fear. As he spoke, they got really angry. In fact, they were so angry they put their fingers in their ears and started screaming. (You know your message isn’t going over well when people start doing that.) Yet Stephen kept speaking. The Bible says that his face shined like an angel. The command was given to execute Stephen by stoning. As the rocks were hurtled at Stephen’s body, he cried out, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60 NKJV). It sounded like Jesus on the cross. It enraged Saul that someone could die like that.

Stephen wasn’t afraid to die. Death for the believer is not the end; it is just a continuation of life in another place. This does not mean that Christians walk around with some kind of death wish. I don’t think anyone loves life more than Christians. What is great is that we don’t need drugs or alcohol to make life fulfilling. We have a relationship with God.

But when that day comes (and it will) the Christian will be ready. As the apostle Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) said, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 NKJV). That is the hope of the follower of Jesus Christ. And only those who are prepared to die are really ready to live.

This article originally appeared here.

What’s the “Fun Level” of Your Small Group?

Joel Comiskey

April 9, 2018

Celyce and I spoke in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, recently. On the way back to our hotel each night, we noticed blocks and blocks of open-air bars and restaurants with young people filling entire streets with drinking, partying and have a good time. People are wired to have fun! Of course, worldly fun and pleasure without Christ leads to destruction and death. But shouldn’t Christian fellowship be a joyous experience? Shouldn’t it be an exciting Spirit-filled time with a loving heavenly Father who calls us by his name into an eternal family?

When is the last time your group had wholesome fun together? I mean laughed together, ate together and just had a good time together. Sometimes groups can do everything right: excellent cell lessons, everyone showing up on time, orderly schedules, great cell reporting and precise multiplication goals. But one thing is missing: fun. The group is boring, dry and uninviting. The leader is so serious (and sometimes controlling) that people don’t feel relaxed, free and alive. The members attend out of duty, rather than delight.

Psalm 126: 2 says, “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’” Is your group filled with laughter? What emotions characterize your group? Notice what Proverbs 17:22 says, ”A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Many people today are medicated to dull the pain of depression, bitterness and injury. The best remedy for many hurting people is a small group of joyful people who hold, hug, laugh and love, warmth, and a family atmosphere.

Take a moment to reflect on the “fun level” of your small group? What can you do to lighten the atmosphere? Here are some suggestions:

Start with a meal together
Have an ice-breaker cell group—several members shares an ice-breaker. Invite non-Christians. Recently my group went out to an inexpensive restaurant and each of us brought an icebreaker. We laughed and had a good time.
Watch a periodic Christian movie at someone’s home. And perhaps you could even start with a barbecue?

Many people in the small group come from a serious day at work, and they’ve felt pressure, insecurity and frustration. Give them a chance to warm up with an interesting, fun-filled icebreaker. Don’t move on too quickly.

For March, let’s blog about having fun in the small group. If you’d like to receive this blog in your email, click here. We’ll write 15 blogs this month on the following topics:

Week 1 (March 11-17): The biblical base for having fun. How God uses fun fellowship to build community.
Week 2 (March 18-24): How to have fun. What are some practical suggestions to have fun together?
Week 3 (March 25-31): Maintaining a balance. The cell group is not primarily a social gathering. And God gives joy when a group is making disciples who make disciples who are hungry for God’s Word, evangelism and prayer. So while going forward in cell ministry, it’s always a good idea tt check the joy level and at times to stop and have fun together.

Share the level of fun in your group here.

This article originally appeared here.

Best Practices in Elder Selection & Development

Beth Colletti

April 9, 2018

I’m excited to have Pastor Phil Taylor with us this week. He is the executive pastor at Mosaic Church in Winter Garden, Florida.

Phil is with us today to talk about the elder development process at Mosaic and how you can implement it into your own church.

• Two-year eldership development. When Phil came to Mosaic five years ago, one of their biggest needs was leadership and eldership development and so they decided to build a two-year elder development program. Since a lot of the men who become elders are not formally trained at the seminary level, the process involves a lot of reading about theology, spiritual life, marriage, prayer, Church history and so on. The two-year process is broken into the first year being the book learning side and the second year the more practical side. During the first year the group meets every month, and the second year they meet every other month.

• First 15 Focus. Part of the training process is called the First 15 Focus. When the group meets, the first 15 minutes will be focused on something related to the life of the church. The hospitality director may come in and talk about why they do hospitality services they way the church does it. The youth director may come in and talk about the youth activities and areas the church has. It gives the men a thorough look and understanding of the church during their training time.

• Pre-requisites before the requisites. Phil explains that when it comes to elder selection, Mosaic does not pursue people to fill this role, but rather lets interested persons approach them. It’s important that the men who come forward feel called to serve in this role, rather than feeling pressured by a pastor to do so. Before men who come forward are even considered for the two-year development program though, there are certain pre-requisites that must be met. For example, an individual must have read the entire Bible at least once in the last two years. This is an obstacle to a surprising number of people. Once all the pre-requisites are met, the two-year training begins. Not everyone makes it to the training program, and many don’t complete it. But those who do understand their responsibility as an elder and are committed to the role they are called to serve in.

• Shepherd the people. Mosaic has elders for life, but not all elders work the same way. Some elders are directional elders and others are shepherding elders. The directional elders have the bigger role of coming together to work on decisions for the church such as salaries for the executive team. But for all elders of any position the primary job is to actively shepherd the people of the church.

• Let the program evolve over time. At first, the trainees would receive all of the information at once at the very beginning—if someone said they were interested in being an elder, Phil would give them a file that contained the pre-requisite list, the application, the reading list, everything. But he found that gave the assumption that they were automatically accepted into the elder program without any additional consideration or work on their part. It works best to distribute content in parts and see how committed the men are along the way. Another important part of the process is to involve the wives. Include the wife in the interviews to help determine whether it really is the husband who wants to be an elder and not his wife pushing him into doing it. It’s very important there is vision alignment from both the husband and wife. There are also questions in the application process for the wife to answer.

• Help for backstage pastors. Phil kept getting asked for the papers on his elder process and then asked to meet with people to go over the process in more detail. He realized that there were a lot of books on being an elder, but no one was going into a lot of detail on the process of training an elder for their role. So he took his process and annotated it into a book that explains each step along the way. Eldership Development: From Application To Affirmation is the second book in the Backstage Pastor series, which are practical books for pastors who spend more time behind the scenes than they do on the stage.

You can learn more about Mosaic Church at their website www.thisismosaic.org or email Phil at philt@thisismosaic.org. You can find the Backstage Pastors series on Amazon.

This article originally appeared here.

3 Things Every Pastor Needs to Clearly Communicate Their Vision

Brian Dodd

April 9, 2018

The ability to clearly communicate is a must-have skill for any pastor or leader in business, academia, non-profit or your family. This is because there comes a time in every leader’s life when they must stand up and say, “This is where we are going! Follow me!”

Shawn Lovejoy, the CEO of Courage To Lead, is one of my favorite leaders. In addition to being a great friend, Shawn is one of the best pastoral coaches I have ever met. In particular, if you are wanting to be an emotionally, physically, mentally and organizationally healthy pastor, no one will help you more than Shawn.

Before giving you some insights from Shawn on communicating vision, I want to make you aware of a FREE coaching session he and his team are offering pastors. Click HERE or on the image above to sign up for your complimentary coaching. Trust me, Shawn will make you better.

Now, onto Shawn’s thoughts. The following are 3 Things Every Pastor Needs to Clearly Communicate Their Vision:

Leadership and vision go hand in hand. Therefore, leadership must begin with a clear vision: whether it be for our personal life, our family or organization. If people around us don’t know where we’re going and where we’re trying to take them, they will have a hard time making the journey.

A clear vision communicates three things:

1. Why we’re here: our purpose.

What “business” are we in? Why do we exist? Why am I married? Why do we have children? What is the purpose of our parenting? Why is our church here? What is the primary goal of this company?

A clear vision should express a higher purpose for a greater good that gives meaning to each person’s efforts. A clear purpose provides direction.

2. Where we’re going: a picture of the future.

Where are we going? What will our future look like if we accomplish our purpose? A clear picture provides motivation.

3. What guides us along the way: what we value.

What do I stand for? What’s important around here? What governs our character and relationships? Values protect and provide guard rails.

Without clear vision, we’ll never end up where we want to be, much less where we need to be; and neither will anyone else!

This article originally appeared here.

6 Surprising Things Your Kids Think…But Don’t Say

Andrew Linder

April 9, 2018

No matter how good of a family life you may think you have, there are almost always some things that your kids are thinking that they may never verbalize.

Here are six things that are true, but that you might be surprised to hear if your kids told you.

Please listen to their voice in their open letter to you…

Mom & Dad,

I may never tell you these things out loud, but I think about them and they come from my heart. Quite honestly, I’d be a little bit embarrassed to admit these things verbally, but I still believe them.

1. “I don’t always like your rules, but I’m thankful for them.”

I usually try to make you think I despise all your rules, but I actually want them. Rules create boundaries for me and boundaries give me protection and security. I need and want both.

2. “You really get on my nerves sometimes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Sometimes you just seem so “old school” in the way you think and act. It irritates me because you’re not always as up to speed on the latest fashions and technology. But, if I’m honest, I kind of like you that way.

3. “I hate it when you both fight, but I love it when you make up.”

It really bothers me when you two raise your voices at each other or are obviously at odds because of the silent treatment. It makes me feel insecure and I begin to question what I might have done wrong to cause you to be that way. However, it does me good to see you make up. Even though I tell you it’s gross and to “go get a room,” it really does make me feel secure and loved to see you loving on one another.

4. “Sometimes when I ask for something, I wish you’d tell me no.”

I don’t just want you to be my friend, I need you to be my authority. I know it sounds weird, but instead of always telling me yes to what I want in order to please me, it would actually make me feel better if you would at least sometimes tell me no. It reminds me that you’re the one in charge and not the other way around, and that despite what I want, you want something even better for me.

5. “I may act like I’m too old for it, but I still like being hugged and tucked in at night.”

I may put on the front that I don’t want you to hug me in public or give me a kiss before I go to bed at night, but I’m going to wonder why you didn’t when I grow up and have kids of my own. As long as I’m still living in your house, I still like your physical affection.

6. “I may be embarrassed, but it still means the world to me when you say I love you.”

I may specifically tell you not to embarrass me in front of my friends and to absolutely never say “I love you” when others are around, but please do it anyway from time to time. I might never say it out loud, but I actually like being publicly reminded of your love.

Mom and Dad, I may never tell you these things, but they’re true. I hope that you know it even though you may never hear me say it.

I love you, and I love the way you love me.

Signed,
Your Child

4 Things All Christians Can Agree to Do

Ronnie Floyd

April 9, 2018

Division abounds in almost every segment of America. Sadly, it exists even between Christians and in most churches. For too long, disunity has triumphed in our nation. It is time for this to come to an end.

Our greatest hope lies only in Jesus Christ, His Gospel, and the advancement of this Good News message reaching every corner of America and across this world.

While we call out to God for His Church to be revived by the Spirit and come together in unity and simultaneously pray extraordinarily for the next Great Spiritual Awakening in America, I want to ask you to consider these four actions for all Christians right now.

1. Rest in the Lord

Resting in the Lord is not lying down; it is trusting in the Lord. Jesus is still Lord and God is still on the throne. One day, every leader in our nation, from the most unrecognized part of American society to the members of the highest court of our land, will stand in front of the Highest Court of Eternity, God Himself, and give an account to Him. They will not be alone. Each of us will give an account of our lives to God.

A call to action is important, but at times we also need to pause. We need to get before God. Rest in Him. Our God has all things under control.

2. Come Together in Unity

Followers of Christ need each other more than ever before. While certain secondary doctrinal differences will exist, we need to unite around the beliefs that:

The Bible is God’s infallible Word; it is Truth without any mixture of error.
Jesus is the Son of God and the hope of the world; therefore, salvation is faith alone in Christ alone.
We must focus our lives, churches and futures on taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in America and across the world.

We need to stop fighting over secondary issues and rise up together to become the spiritual light in this darkening America and World.

3. Prepare for the Future

What will the church become in the future of America? Will we lose our freedom or have it affirmed?

We need to prepare for the future realistically, but also with great hope. Regardless of the present cultural tide that is rising in direct opposition to the ways of God, we are a gospel people committed to Christ alone.

Our future is not in the hands of the United States government; our future is in the Hands of our Sovereign God.

We need to prepare future generations spiritually and vocationally for what God wants them to be and how He wants them to live for Him.

4. Pray Like Never Before for the Next Great Spiritual Awakening

Minute by minute, day by day, a stronger conviction is growing that America must have the next Great Spiritual Awakening in our generation. Without a mighty revival in the church and an awakening in the land that will result in millions coming to Christ, we are facing days that will become darker and more difficult.

Yet, I am abounding with greater hope than ever before. I believe God wants greatly to awaken the sleeping giant called the church!

The alarm clock is going off in our nation and this is not the time to push the snooze button. I do not believe the church will sleep through this season in America.

We need a mighty, nationwide movement of prayer to take place now. Prayer precedes every great movement of God biblically and historically.

Rise together now, stand upon God’s Word unashamedly, forward the message of the gospel exponentially, and pray relentlessly every day for the next Great Spiritual Awakening in America.

I choose to believe God.

This article originally appeared here.

7 Reasons Young Adults Quit Church

Christian Piatt

April 9, 2018

From time to time, I revisit the question: Why are young adults walking away from religion? Although the answer(s) vary from person to person, there are some general trends that I think apply in most cases.

In the list below, when I refer to “we,” “I” or “me,” I’m referring to younger adults in general and not necessarily myself.

#1 – We’ve Been Hurt

I can actually include myself in this one personally. Sometimes, the hurtful act is specific, like when my youth leader threw a Bible at me for asking the wrong questions. Sometimes, it’s rhetorical, either from the pulpit, in a small group study or over a meal. Sometimes, it’s physical, taking the form of sexual abuse or the like.

But millions claim a wound they can trace back to church that has never healed. Why? In part, because the church rarely seeks forgiveness.

#2 – Young Adults Life/College and Church Don’t Seem to Mix

There are the obvious things, like scheduling activities on Sunday mornings (hint: young people tend to go out on Saturday nights), but there’s more to it.

In college, and before that by our parents, we’re taught to explore the world, broaden our horizons, think critically, question everything and figure out who we are as individuals. Though there’s value in this, it’s hyper-individualistic. But church is more about community.

In many ways, it represents, fairly or not, sameness, conformity and a “check your brain at the door” ethos. This stands in opposition to what the world is telling us is important at this time in life.

Perhaps an emphasis on a year of community service after high school would be a natural bridge to ameliorate some of this narcissism we’re building in to ourselves.

The Curious Growth of Life.Church

Megan Briggs

April 9, 2018

Craig Groeschel leads the largest church in the country, but he doesn’t like to dwell on Life.Church’s size. In an interview with The Oklahoman, it’s apparent he’s done some unconventional things that have led to unprecedented growth.

“We’re grateful for the growth God has blessed us with, but hesitate to put too much weight on it or to talk about it publicly,” Groeschel told The Oklahoman.

Throughout the interview, Groeschel identified four things Life.Church did as it grew—whether these were intentional decisions to spur growth or not is unclear, but these tactics certainly worked for them.

The Multi-Site Platform

Life.Church was potentially the first major church in the U.S. to use an approach we now recognize as multi-site, and according to Groeschel, it wasn’t premeditated. He says once the church grew beyond its seating and service time capacity, someone had the “crazy idea” of meeting in more than one location. Groeschel recalls traveling across town each Sunday to lead the services at multiple locations. However, his son’s birth, which occurred on a Saturday evening, caused the church to reconsider the in-person multi-site approach that they could no longer sustain. Groeschel says a video recording of the sermon from Saturday night broadcasted to the subsequent sites the next day “worked surprisingly well” and the church adopted this newfound approach later that year.

Measuring Success by Service

Groeschel articulates a question every pastor—of small and large churches alike—faces when asked about the “success” of his or her church. “How do you accurately gauge if people are growing closer to God?” Groeschel ponders. His question is refreshing in light of the last few decades where churches generally have been preoccupied with numbers and programs.

Groeschel explains the way he and his staff measure growth is different than measuring attendance week to week. “We believe that using our gifts to serve is one thing that helps us grow spiritually. So we measure the number of people who are engaged in serving—both in the church and in the community.” Additionally, they measure how many people are in small groups and how many newcomers the church is hosting.

Giving the Bible (App) Away

Carla Hinton of the Oklahoman asked Groeschel about the “irrational generosity” Life.Church is striving for. In a 2015 interview with Outreach Magazine, Groeschel shared he is proud of the fact that the church tells their members “they can take cash out of the offering if they have a need.”

Life.Church’s exposure is eclipsed by its YouVersion Bible app, which has been downloaded on over 300 million devices to date. Groeschel recalls launching the app outside the church walls at a time when the church was “financially strapped.” Facing the decision whether to charge for the app or not, the church decided to give it away for free, hoping God would bless their contribution. “The value of generosity is core to who we are,” Groeschel explains, clearly not regretting the church’s decision on this matter.

Failing First

Hinton also asked about Groeschel’s roots in the United Methodist Church. For the first five years of Groeschel’s ministry, he served at First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. Before serving on staff at that first church, though, Groeschel came face to face with failure. He was “declined for ordination” the first time he sought it. The failure didn’t deter him, though. “I learned not to give up,” Groeschel tells Hinton. “This setback helped me to become more humble, more teachable and more resilient. Now, I’m not nearly as afraid to fail.”

Inside the traditional church “box” of the UMC is where Groeschel learned to think innovatively. As he told Outreach Magazine, “true creativity is often born within constraints and limitations—inside the box.” This resilience and innovation have served Groeschel well over the years. Life.Church has been around for over 20 years now, and at points has seen attendance of over 100,000 people in one weekend.

As to whether Life.Church will maintain its “largest church” in the U.S. status in the years to come, that doesn’t seem to be Groeschel’s main focus. In a 2017 interview with ChurchLeaders, Groeschel told us “My goal is not to hit home runs every week; my goal is to faithfully deliver consistent, engaging truth.”

Researchers Answer: Why Are Women More Religious?

Bob Ditmer

April 9, 2018

Women’s generally greater level of religiosity has been observed by scholars for decades; it has shown up in surveys going back as far as the 1930s. But not until the 1980s did academics begin a concerted effort to find an explanation for the phenomenon.

The most recent study on religiosity by gender came in the Pew Research Center’s 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study. It found more than 7 in 10 U.S. Christian women (72 percent) say religion is “very important” in their lives, compared with 62 percent of the country’s Christian men. Roughly 8 in 10 Christian women also say they are absolutely certain God exists and that the Bible is the word of God, compared with about 7 in 10 men who make the same claim.

Roughly three-quarters (74 percent) of Christian women say they pray at least daily, compared with 6 in 10 men (60 percent).

A similar dynamic is evident when it comes to church attendance. Christian women say they attend religious services at higher rates than Christian men.

Women and religion affected by workforce participation

One explanation for the gender gap is credited to labor force participation. Scholars have found that in the U.S. and other predominantly Christian countries, working people attend religious services less often than those outside the labor force. The number of women in the workforce has been increasing steadily since the 1960s. Today, just over half of women work full time, compared with around 70 percent of men

The theory was bolstered in a 2016 study that found between the mid 1980s through the late 1990s, the share of women working full-time increased while women’s worship attendance declined.

Another theory that might explain religious service attendance trends points to the large gains in women’s educational attainment in recent decades. The idea that highly educated people are less religious, on average, than those with less education has been a part of the public discourse for decades. According to data from 2014, women age 25-34 were significantly more likely than their male counterparts to have completed a bachelor’s degree—38 percent versus 31 percent.

Biology impacts women and religion

Some researchers point to biology. Sociologists John P. Hoffman and Alan S. Miller noted that men appear to have a greater innate tendency to take risks, and therefore are more willing than women to gamble that they will not face punishment in the afterlife. As a result, men are less religious. Since women are generally more risk-averse, this theory posits, they turn to religion to avoid eternal punishment or to secure a place in heaven. Building on those findings, sociologist Rodney Star explained testosterone is the reason men are more willing to take risks.

British sociologists Marta Trzebiatowska and Steve Bruce concluded in their book, Why are Women more Religious than Men? that the gender gap is not the result of biology but is rather the consequence of important social differences—responsibility for managing birth, child‐rearing and death, for example, and attitudes to the body, illness and health—overlapping and reinforcing each other. In the West, the gender gap is exaggerated because the social changes that undermined the plausibility of religion bore most heavily on men first.

They also pointed out that women dominate the world of ‘New Age’ spirituality and are far more superstitious than men.

Still other scholars said their research finds women may be more religious because they face more “existential insecurity”—a lack of economic stability and physical safety–prompting them to seek a sense of safety and well-being that comes from religion.

Researchers Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart said their findings give further confirmation that security is strongly related to feelings that God is important in people’s lives. “The religious gender gap is less about sex per se, but more about the way that many women’s lives are more vulnerable to problems of endemic poverty, debt, poor health, old age and lack of physical safety, all of which mean that women give higher priority to security—and religion.”

Update: Robert Morris Out of Hospital

Bob Ditmer

April 9, 2018

Update April 16, 2018

Yesterday, Pastor Robert Morris was released from the hospital. Morris’s wife, Debbie, posted an update to her Instagram account, showing a picture of Morris sitting upright. “We are out of the hospital! @psrobertmorris fell asleep sitting up while I was getting us settled. A week ago, I wasn’t sure if I would have this luxury. So to say I am grateful, well….that is an understatement. God is so good!” Morris writes.

Morris underwent multiple surgeries to stop internal bleeding caused by complications from a previous surgery to remove multiple hernias.

Update April 12, 2018

Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris continues to improve from complications following surgery. His wife Debbie is keeping church members updated on his progress. She wrote this week that Robert had his doctors are pleased with his progress although he is still having trouble sleeping.

She asks for continued prayer:
– for his levels to continue to improve.
– that there are no setbacks.
– He is able to get up and walk.

Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris is resting comfortably after surgeons were able to stop bleeding following complications from surgery last Monday.

Yesterday, Morris was taken by helicopter to the hospital. Doctors initially thought he had an infection following his operation and discovered he had internal bleeding. CT results revealed he had a blood vessel bleeding in his abdomen and a blood clot the size of a cantaloupe. Doctors successfully stopped the internal bleeding.

The church, and Morris’s wife, Debbie, have been using social media to keep the Dallas multisite congregation apprised of Morris’ condition and several times asked for prayer.

The Facebook posts from Debbie showed pictures of the helicopter that took Morris to the hospital and images of his hospital room and multiple IV drips. Debbie wrote on Twitter, “At one point during the night I counted 9 different drip lines going into @psrobertmorris. I am grateful for the love and prayers that are dripping hope into our hearts. Pray for his blood pressure to stay in a normal range. Pray for continued improvement. Thanks to all of you for being the family of God.”

The most recent Facebook post read:

“The surgeons were able to stop the bleeding and Pastor Robert is stable. Praise God! The doctors will perform an angiogram later this morning to make sure there are no other sources of bleeding. Please continue to pray for our amazing leader and his family! We are blown away with your support. Thank you, family.”

Gateway church was the focus of a New York Times article last month about race relations in the church titled A Quiet Exodus: Why Black Worshipers Are Leaving White Evangelical Churches. It featured a black member of Gateway who decided to leave the church claiming Morris didn’t speak enough about the police shootings of African-Americans.

Morris and his wife founded Gateway church in 1999 and today the church has an an estimated weekly attendance of 36,000.

He is also the author of several books on spirituality and military history.

5 Tell-Tale Signs Your Church Is Geared to Insiders, Not Outsiders

Carey Nieuwhof

April 8, 2018

Pretty much every church leader I talk to says they long to reach their community. After all, the church is one of the only missions on the planet that exists for the sake of its non-members. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a welcoming church?

But there’s a strange tension to which leaders are often blind: As much as they say they want to reach outsiders, their services and the entire organization are geared toward insiders. As a result, when someone they’re trying to reach shows up, it’s easy for them to feel like they don’t fit in or like this church simply isn’t for them. And most leaders simply miss the signs that this is the case. So they scratch their heads and wonder why outsiders don’t flock toward their church.

The truth is there’s a gravitational pull inside almost every church to sacrifice the church’s mission by catering to the church’s members.

And while you can’t ignore the needs of your members, there’s a strange paradox that’s true about spiritual maturity: The best way to become spiritually mature is to stop focusing on your needs and begin focusing on Christ and others. Some church leaders drown in the sink-hole of trying to satisfy the escalating demands of their unpleasable members while they watch the real mission go up in flames.

Worse, others think they’re geared to outsiders when in reality, they’re not. At least not really. They’ve given in to the subtle but relentless pull of the needs of insiders.

Not a Welcoming Church

With that in mind, here are five tell-tale signs your church is geared to insiders, and is not a welcoming church, despite your best intentions.

1. Long Announcements

I know this is a weird one to start with, but really, how long are your announcements?

If they’re longer than three minutes, you’re probably geared toward insiders more than you realize.

The purpose of a welcome is to welcome people, not announce 18 things.

Churches often feel the tension of announcements as their church grows. If you have a church of 30, there’s probably not much going on. But if you’re a church of 300, you feel the pressure of everyone trying to get their message across.

What about really big churches, you ask? Well, you’ll likely never get to 3,000 if you don’t solve this problem first.

Why is this such a trap for smaller and mid-sized churches? Here’s why. Leaders feel torn, trying to please everyone, and so they cave to the ‘one more announcement’ syndrome because they fear the wrath of whoever they left out.

5 Tips to Creating Landing Pages for Your Church Website

Brad Vos

April 8, 2018

Jane just moved to a new town. She grew up in a Lutheran church and would like to get connected with a similar church in her new town. Jane does a quick search online to check out her options. While your church isn’t Lutheran, your denomination has similar historical roots or worship practices. There are very few Lutheran churches in your area, so you might be the best fit for her. How can she find this out?

Carlos has become convinced that expositional style preaching is important. His current church preaches topically. Carlos types “expositional preaching” and your city in the search engine. How can your church be more likely to appear in his search results since your pastor is an expositional preacher?

The answer to both of these questions is landing pages. The term landing page often applies to page advertisers use to get you to buy their product or service. These pages target the terms you searched for or an online advertisement you clicked on.

Churches can also use landing pages to help people connect with their body of believers. Many people like Carlos and Jane are looking for specific things (keywords) related to church. They may be looking for a particular denomination (Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist), a theological perspective (reformed, Arminian), style of preaching (topical or expositional), or worship (contemporary, traditional, liturgical). Your church might be a good fit. They just don’t know this. Your landing page can help them make this connection.

I pastor a Christian Reformed church. If someone searches online for a reformed church, we should be a top result because there are only a few in our area. Our denomination has some strong similarities to some Presbyterians and Lutheran denominations. We have folks from those backgrounds who are a part of our congregations. Search engines, and people looking for these kinds of churches might not understand these similarities. I use a landing page to build a stronger connection for them.

Here are the important components to use to maximize your chances of search engines finding you.

Page Web Address: You want the landing page web address to include the keyword you want to highlight. yourchurchdomain.org/keyword or yourchurchdomain.com/keyword-phrase.
Page Title: Your page title or heading should also highlight the keyword. Questions or a brief statement are all you need. Are you looking for a Presbyterian Church? Expositional preaching is important to our church.
Image or video: Include an image or video that focuses on the keyword or has a similar feel to your homepage. It could be a short video of your pastor explaining the similarities between your church and the denomination you are trying to highlight. It could also be an image that relates to the keyword. A good example might be the pastor preaching for expositional preaching or the worship team singing for contemporary worship.
Brief Description: It is also important to include a brief paragraph that connects your church to the keyword. Tell your audience why the topic is important or how you are connected to their search term. Be honest If you aren’t a part of a denomination make that clear, but phrase things in a positive way so that people feel welcome.
Call To Action: Use a button or text linked to another page on your website that encourages people to investigate your church more. “Click here if you want to learn about our church!”

One final word of caution, don’t go overboard with landing pages. Too many landing pages will dilute your message and make search engines think your website is spam. Find one or two denominations that are similar to your church. Highlight a few things that make your church unique. If you are at a loss for where to begin, ask your first-time guests what they searched for to find your church and recent members what attracted them to your church.

Church landing pages can be a powerful tool to help people find your church. A little work can help searchers make a connection to your church they wouldn’t have otherwise made.

This article originally appeared here.

Shifting Blame: Digging Deeper on the Question of Church Attendance and Family Ministry

Christina Embree

April 8, 2018

It’s no secret. Attendance at church across the board is down…depending on what metric you use and what statistics you look at. But for the most part, it’s safe to say that regular weekly attendance in a church building is in a downward spiral. Some studies show than the average “regular attender” at church only comes once or twice per month and obviously, this affects the attendance of children and youth as well. Having been down this road in a number of different ministry settings, I’m always struck by the reasons that are given by those in children, youth and family ministry for why attendance is down.

“Sports are to blame.” And let’s be honest, team sports, especially travel ball, are one reason. Practices and games no longer get put on hold for Sundays and Wednesday nights so if a child joins a team, they will likely be asked to be with the team on those days at some point.

“Parents are to blame.” The common line is that parents no longer value church and therefore church is seen as optional while other things require commitment. In fact, just today I saw a tweet that read, “The most common parenting perspective fail I see played out on a regular basis: church should be convenient but sports require sacrifice,” which is a combination of the two observations above.

“Church is optional.” Some have pointed to the fact that church attendance is sometimes used as a disciplinary tool (i.e., Didn’t do your homework? No church for you!) while others comment on how school is a priority but church is not.

There’s a lot of blame being doled out for why things are the way they are. But is it possible that the criticism we often shift outward also needs to be directed inward?

Instead of blaming sports and ballet and parents and society and school and (fill in the blank), it seems it would be wise for us, the church, to look inward and ask,

“Why is it so easy to leave? How have we created an environment that implies consistency is not necessary, that commitment is optional, and “church” is a thing of convenience?

I believe if we take the time to honestly critique ourselves, we will find that we must share part of the blame for the shift in church attendance and necessity.

Church as an Event

I’ll never forget hearing the phrase, “Make Sunday morning the best hour of their week!” encouraging ministers to focus all of their attention on making that Sunday morning hour so popping, so exciting, so over-the-top memorable and fun, that kids couldn’t wait to come back.

However, the trade-off for that is that we had to create programs that appealed primarily to the senses and not necessarily to the soul and spirit. That’s why the approach of using church attendance as discipline is an easy “punishment” to dole out.

Church as Competition

A friend was talking to me the other day about church programming and marketing and made the statement, “When will the church realize we don’t have to compete with the world, that we really can’t compete with the world? We have a totally different thing to offer.”

And that’s just it. Our churches, funded nearly entirely by donations, cannot compete with concerts and movies and malls filled with all the things. We can’t compete with Instagram and Snapchat and Twitter feeds. We can’t compete with multi-billion dollar ad campaigns and streamlined marketing plans. And we don’t need to. It’s not a competition. We aren’t going to win people back to church by being the newest, coolest thing on the block. We are not in competition with the world OR with each other. We have Jesus. We have community. We have truth. It’s not a competition.

Church as a Building

My husband has pointed out quite frequently that if you look at the history of the word church, it changes over time. The simplest explanation is that in the New Testament, “church” was “ekklesia,” which translates to “a gathering of people called out.” Over time, as buildings were built for those people to meet in, the German word “kirche” took the place for church and it referred to the building. So when we ask, “Did you go to church?” we usually mean, “Did you go to a building?” But the reality is, church isn’t a building.

We all know that in our head, but when we measure things like “church attendance” we are looking specifically to people being in a kirche not people living in ekklesia. And when we invite people to church, we invite them to a place, but, as my husband often points out, we should be inviting them into our lives. If church is a building, it’s easy to miss a week or two. If church is community, it’s much harder to skip out.

Church as Age-Segregated Silos

We don’t see each other and so we don’t miss each other. We don’t know one another’s names or what our lives look like outside of Sunday morning, so we can’t check in on one another through the week and ask how things are going. We don’t pray together. We don’t worship together. And we don’t share life together.

And we can give all the reasons in the world why that is OK and best and most convenient for all, but the reality is, the consequence of consistently segregating the generations from one another has led to a breakdown in community and a lack of intergenerational relationships from which discipleship and mentorship flow.

I’m sure there are many more things we could add to this list. I’m sure that some of them are particular to individual faith communities. I’m also sure it is easier to blame sports and school than to look inwardly at ourselves and ask hard questions about how we, the church, have contributed to the lackadaisical attitude toward regular attendance and consistent community.

But what if we did? What if instead of focusing the blame elsewhere, we determined to look to ourselves first and to do what we could to create a community, an ekklesia, that was focused not so much on attendance as discipleship, not so much on programming as relationship, not so much on a building and a time as a people and a way of life.

What if we started with our church?

This article originally appeared here.

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