I just enjoyed a lunch sponsored by The Aspen Group which featured Darren Whitehead, teaching pastor at Willow Creek Church. Darren listed the top 10 issues facing the church today. He based it on a survey from Lifeway.

Here are the 10, in reverse order.

1. Abortion
2. Homosexuality
3. Relevance in the church
4. Marriage
5. Apathy
6. Doctrine
7. Evangelism
8. Leadership
9. Discipleship
10. Prayer

I loved Darren’s description that in the image of the cross we find the essence of our calling. The vertical line reminds us that we are to help people be reconciled to God. The horizontal reminds us that we are to help people be reconciled to each other.

What would you add to this list?

Thanks to Kristin Ruther with the Aspen Group for a delightful meal and great challenge.

Related posts: 10 Ways NOT to Grow a Church

Never say NO.
Please everybody.
Don’t take a vacation.
Strategize first, pray later.
Act like you have it all together. (more…)

What defines ministry success? How do you know if your ministry or church is really successful?

I’ve served five churches, three in associate leadership positions and two as the senior pastor. In my first senior pastor position I started a church in a suburb of Atlanta. I envisioned myself as the south’s Rick Warren, a future mega-church pastor what would soon lead his own church growth conferences. 51 attended our first service. I was so successful that in six months I was able to bring that number down to 17, which included five members of my own family.

I was devastated. I didn’t quit though and after 14 years our church grew to about 500, certainly not a candidate for Outreach Magazine’s fastest growing churches.

For probably three quarters of my 30 years in ministry, Monday would be the best day of the week or the worst day. It depended on the attendance report. Good attendance and I felt valued. Low attendance (or attendance less than the previous year’s) and my day didn’t go so well

Now, 24 years after that heart crushing day when only 17 showed up at my church, I believe God is finally freeing me from the “success in numbers” mentality.

But, we still live in a culture that determines success if the numbers are up and to the right.

As I’ve dialogued with lay leaders in the churches I’ve served, I’ve often felt a not-so-subltle message that our church was doing poorly if the attendance and giving were not significantly up and to the right. I’ve discovered that often businessmen who have experienced success in their vocations (ie, their numbers went up and to the right) bring that same expectation into the church.

Unfortunately, this view often overshadows other very important ministry success measures such as spiritual health and the percentage of people who serve.

• Have you experienced this pressure from your leaders?
• If so, how have you managed it?

I’d love to hear from you.

Related post: 5 Reasons Churches Should often Celebrate Wins

I just read A Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Friedman. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read on leadership. It’s a slow read, but worth it.

The author was a Jewish counselor who wrote extensively on a counseling philosophy called Bowen Family Systems. The more I read about this way of looking at church leadership through ’systems’ eyes, the more I wish I had understood these principles 25 years ago. It would have saved me a lot of angst.

Friedman lists these 8 principles that leaders should practice when facing a crisis. I’ve paraphrased them here.

1. Don’t let the crisis become the axis around which your world revolves.
2. Develop a support system outside of your church such as counselors or other pastors.
3. Stay focused on long-term goals. (more…)

Each November I bring an annual “vision” message to explain the big picture for the coming year and hopefully motivate buy-in.

Related posts: Strategic Planning for Dummies

Recently we added a Saturday night service. As a result, I’ve seen my preaching improve. My staff has even remarked about the positive change they’ve seen.

First, my previous routine looked like this on Sunday mornings.

• Get up at an insanely early hour
• Spend 20 minutes on my stationary bike trying to wake myself up
• Review my message
• Take a shower and shave
• Rush to eat something
• Arrive at church in a rush for the service run through
• Preach two services feeling stressed
• Go home and take a nap

Now my Saturday routine looks like this.

• Sleep a bit later
• Mess around in the morning
• Eat a leisurely lunch
• Take a nap
• Review my message
• Arrive an hour early for the service run-through
• Preach one sermon with less pressure
• Go home, watch TV and go to bed

And Sunday …

• Sleep later
• Eat a leisurely breakfast
• Arrive an hour before the service to discuss any tweaks with my staff
• Feel very relaxed
• Preach at 2 services
• Go home and take a nap

As a result of this change, I’ve seen these benefits.

1. I’m much less stressed with preaching my first message on Saturday and thus less stressed for Sunday.
2. I’m more relaxed on Saturday which carries over into Sunday.
3. Because I’m more relaxed, I’m more able to be truly present with others before and after the services
4. Because I changed my day off to Mondays (vs Saturdays before) I mentally have something to look forward to the next day, that day of rest.

When we decided to start a Saturday service, we took eight months to research, prepare and recruit. We felt very concerned about how it might affect our margins. To our surprise, this change has done wonders for our energy and our margins.

If you are considering a Saturday night service, I don’t recommend it unless you do your homework. But if you do take that step, you may find some unexpected positive consequences as did we.

And, by the way, our attendance has jumped over 10% as well.

A nice mailer if you are considering such a service.

Also, Ten Keys to Starting a Saturday Night Service here.

As a pastor, Christmas and Easter tends to pump up my adrenalin because so many new people attend. Our church averages around 1100 each Sunday and when these holidays come, our attendance more than doubles during our special holiday weekend services and performances

This year our worship leader wrote a production that interwove themes of  the movie It’s a Wonder Life. It was original, went super well, and evoked lots of great comments. I’ve included a few pictures here.

From conversations with other pastors, their church’s attendance tends to jump on these days as well.

It’s cool to see a bunch of new faces, but in my experience, I don’t see that many people come to Christ on these holidays. I always clearly share the Gospel, lead people in a discreet prayer to trust Christ, and encourage them to note their decision on our guest card. A few do, but not in proportion to the increased attendance.

I’ve scratched my head each year wondering why we don’t see more conversions. As I’ve tried to figure out why, I seem to get more questions than answers.

• Since lots of the new people have not been in church in a long time, does the unfamiliarity with church tend to stifle commitments to Christ?
• Are people’s minds simply on other things?
• Do seekers need more exposure to the Gospel and more time for it to soak?
• Do seekers feel offended because someone asks for such a personal decision in such a short time?
• Do more people trust Christ than those who indicated  on the guest card that they did?
• Should I re-set my expectation for these holiday services to seed-planting rather than spiritual harvesting?

If you are a pastor, does your church experience the same thing during these holidays? Why do you think so?

Have you discovered anything that helps others cross the line of faith during these seasonal services?

If you don’t consider yourself a follower of Christ, do you have any thoughts?

I was (and still am a geek).

I graduated with an industrial engineering degree from Ga Tech with high honors.  That industrial engineering school has consistently ranked #1 in systems engineering (think efficiency experts).

I also earned two graduate level degrees from two seminaries. My engineering degree was by far my toughest degree.

That degree taught me to think systematically. I’ve added to my competency tool box many books on church planning plus two churches where I’ve served have engaged in year-long visioning processes with church consultants. So, I’m well versed and trained in the church visioning/planning process.

Recently, I read Will Mancini‘s seminal book on the subject, Church Unique-How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement.

…an outstanding read and a fresh approach to the church planning process. I highly recommend it.

In chapter one in a section called “Lost on the Way to Your Own DNA,” he lists subtle thinking patterns that can suffocate vibrant thinking. He coins these patterns, ‘thinkholes.’

I’ve listed them here with brief definitions.

• The ministry treadmill-busyness eliminates time for reflection…leads to just adding more programs
• The competency trap-presumption that past methods will continue to work decreases appetite for learning…leads to just working harder
• The needs based slippery slope-consumerism removes the need for discernment…leads to trying to make people happy
• The cultural whirlpool 1: BuzzChurch-innovation short circuits self-awareness…leads to just trying to be cutting edge
• The cultural whirlpool 2: StuckChurch-change outpaces the discipline for learning…leads to glorifying the past
• The conference maze: success increases the temptation to copycat…leads to just modeling best practices
• The denominational rut: resources disregard local uniqueness…leads to just protecting theology

At times I’ve been caught up in these thinkholes. How about you?

Do you agree that these issues can hinder effective ministry? What has helped you overcome them?

This morning in my quiet time I reflected over the past two Sunday services in our church. For some reason attendance was down compared to last year. The flu has hit and I’m sure that accounts for some absences. But, I’ve struggled with discouragement wondering what we could do differently to encourage people to attend. Unfortunately, I’m tempted too often to allow the church numbers game to regulate my inner peace.

As I mulled over my feelings, I read Psalm 27. Verse four goes like this.

One thing (my emphasis) I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

I’ve read that passage hundreds of times but this time the first two words struck me: ONE THING. As I felt like a not-so-successful pastor because numbers had drooped, I asked myself these questions.

• Charles, what is your ONE THING?
• Is your ONE THING to strive always to feel competent because your efforts brought more people to church?
• Is your ONE THING to always serve a church whose attendance graph is to the right and up?
• Is your ONE THING yourself?

I forced myself to ask these penetrating questions in light of David’s ONE THING. He wanted more than anything to know, follow, and be with his Lord. Do I really want what he wanted? I believe I do, but sometimes for a while other things supplant the ONE THING. These uncomfortable feelings make me evaluate if I’m keeping the right ONE THING.

I’m just guessing here, but I bet many if not most pastors face this same temptation.

What is your ONE THING today?