Top articles shared by Christians
A new web app called Zoecity.com launched last week that automatically lists the top articles viewed and shared by Christians (technically, re-launched.) Zoecity’s self-description is: “We track hundreds of Christian websites for the latest content.” Are you as curious as me what those 100s of Christian websites are?
I got to interview Colin Wong, the CEO of Zoecity today. Watch the video interview below [powered by wetoku; pardon the echo]:
My “aha” moment during the interview was this: as Zoecity.com bubbles-up the most popular content, it may or may not be the most important, but I think it does indicate what is most influential, or at the very least, what’s been read and/or shared by the most people. By the way, in the interview, Colin mentioned 2 articles, “Ouija board a controversial toy for tots” and “Tebow Super Bowl Ad Leads Viewers to ‘God Story’“.
You’ll notice in the right sidebar here at djchuang.com towards the bottom is a Zoecity widget, which shows the top 10 daily articles. And looking over at the Zoecity front page, there is a comment link under each item. Almost all of them have “0 Comments” right now. (Maybe that’ll change?)
How do you think knowing what’s the most popular today, this week, and this month, would be helpful to you?
live coverage from Verge Conference in Austin
2,000+ church leaders will converge in Austin this week at the sold-out VERGE missional church conference. Neil Cole describes Verge as “first of its kind in the missional church field.”
I’ll be there with the Verge Social Media Team, providing live coverage via various social media channels, and the team members’ websites + blogs + networks will host on-going conversations in a distributed fashion after the event.
The Verge team blog will link to all the latest — including announcement of the live video feed of main sessions. Live twitter tweets on twubs (below) + use official hashtag #verge10 + follow @djchuang247 for my live tweets.
Other intel’ about Verge ::
- [ Wednesday 2/3 @ 7:00pm ] #verge10 Tweetup, Kerbey Lane Cafe
(13435 Hwy 183 N Ste. 415, Austin, TX) - Deidox — great short films of compelling stories — is the official sponsor of the Cafe/Coffee Shop. They’ll have a booth and will be previewing several Deidox films, and giving away free Deidox DVD’s.
- [ Friday 2/5 @ 5:00pm ] World Vision Gospel Quest Dinner, BBQ Dinner by Rudy’s, Cost: $10. Limited seating.
- [ Saturday 2/6 @ 10:45am ] International Justice Mission Brunch with screening of new documentary, Cost: $10. Limited seating.
churches closing and pastors leaving
Question >> “do u know a place to get stats on how many churches close a day, month, year etc and the same on pastors and leaders leaving ministry?”
djchuang >> Good question. (And, in case you can’t tell, this question came in via a text message.)
The latest research on church attendance can be found in 
The American Church in Crisis by David T. Olson, with research based on data from 200,000+ churches. And, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, has analysis based on interviews with 35,000+ American adults.
Here’s some other statistics I found (so far):
Excerpted from this Christian Century 2008 article, Church-closing rate only one percent:
A new study finds that only 1 percent of U.S. religious congregations go out of existence each year, “which is among the lowest mortality rates ever observed for any type of organization,” according to an article to be published in the June issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Dave Olson’s research shows that in the 1990s about 3,200 churches closed each year–or 1.1 percent of U.S. Christian congregations. And, Olson added, “In the 2000s, it has been 3,700 a year.” [cf. graph]
American church statistics have reported [via Goodmanson]:
- In America, 3500 – 4000 churches close their doors each year
- Half of all churches last year did not add one new member through conversion growth
- Churches lose an estimated 2,765,000 people each year to nominalism and secularism
The 3,500-4,000 U.S. churches annual closure count is also cited by Ed Stetzer in “Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age.”
Excerpted from The Condition of the Church in America, complied by Andy McAdams [via #mmi, 2005]:
- 1,400 pastors in America leave the ministry monthly.
- Only 15% of churches in the United States are growing and just 2.2% of those are growing by conversion growth.
- 10,000 churches in America disappeared in a five-year period.
“Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.” [Source: “Death by Ministry" (slides + audio) by Darrin Patrick @ The Journey. It was re-published on Mark Driscoll's blog -- no longer available.]
One blog post attributed these findings to Shiloh Place Ministries (shilohplace.org), which drew its information from Focus on the Family, Ministries Today, Charisma Magazine, TNT Ministries, and other respected groups:
- 1,500 pastors leave the ministry permanently each month in America.
- 7,000 churches close each year in America.
A way to mentor like Jesus
Thanks to Chris Hornsby of Next Generation Mentoring, I got a review copy of Mentor Like Jesus, by Regi Campbell with Richard Chancy.
This book lays out a very clear mentoring process to reproduce leaders of a particular type. Regi Campbell is an entrepreneural leader and knows how to get results in the marketplace. The book unpacks his value for being strategic with time, finding what works, and adapting principles from Jesus’ process of disciple-making, in order to invest in next generation leaders who have high potential to impact the world. I can see how this book will be very useful to develop mentoring programs for churches, especially with book royalties going towards funding this purpose.
What the author means by mentoring may not be what some people mean by mentoring. This excerpt contrasts the typical commonly-held meaning of mentoring, and what Regi means by mentoring:
Traditionally, the mentoring relationship is almost always initiated by the mentoree. He has something he wants… a felt need… for guidance, wisdom, advice, or help. Most often these conversations get started around job stuff. The younger man needs advice or access to the older man’s network of contacts. Sometimes it’s a crisis at home… a breech with a wife or child; and the less experienced person wants to confide in someone who’s “been there, done that.” …
Now, is this a type of mentoring? Yes. Is it what Jesus did? No. Jesus initiated the mentoring relationship with His disciples… [p.120]
I don’t know how many people have described what Jesus did with his disciples as mentoring. I have heard of many people who describe what Jesus did as disciple-making or discipling. Certainly what Jesus did with his disciples has changed the world forever. If the goal is to change the world through intentional formative relationships, the terminology doesn’t matter.
One reviewer of Mentor Like Jesus noted the confusion of terms:
It’s no secret that the word “mentor” is a loaded term and can mean something wildly different for people. Some may think of a mentor as someone who meets with them weekly to speak about their professional lives, others may imagine someone on more of an on-call basis who gets together a few times a year. What are healthy expectations in a mentoring relationship?
And that’s what it is. Get clear expectations on both parties, the mentor and mentoree — do you want mentoring in the traditional sense or mentoring in the disciple-making sense?
This is a great book to get everyone on the same page for mentoring as disciple-making, to have a reproducible process that you can “add water and stir” and run with it to pour into leaders who change the world.
all kinds of spiritual formation going on
For followers of Jesus wanting a more transformational life, more people seem to be engaging in some kind of spiritual formation process. I’m finding a number of different programs and processes that are percolating in the evangelical world at large (though the concept has been around for Catholics for centuries.) Here’s a short list of ones that I’ve heard of, (mostly) in a chronological order of when I first heard of them:
- School of Spiritual Direction (via Larry Crabb)
- Renovare
- Dallas Willard on spiritual disciplines & formation
- TrueFaced (aka Leadership Catalyst)
- Institute for Spiritual Formation (Talbot School of Theology and Biola University)
- Cloud & Townsend
- the Association for Christian Character Development (ACCD)
- Soul Renovation Ministries
- Monvee
It seems to me that a slightly increasing number of church & ministry leaders are going after these spiritual & heart matters to help people be more like Jesus. Well, some of them say it that way. Others might use different language and terms. Each probably have their own “spiritual growth” model.
In my own thinking (at the time of this writing) I think there is overlap between any of these categories: spiritual formation, spiritual direction, personal coaching, mentoring, discipleship, sanctification…
And somewhat like brands of clothing, people may be fiercely loyal to the genre of spiritual formation that’s been most transformative for them. It’s not the kind of thing that people go comparison shopping for, and let’s hope it doesn’t become commoditized that way.
And, to let my own bias show, it’s not really about the content or exercises of a spiritual formation program. It’s about one’s response to the Holy Spirit, and more telling, the person’s willingness to give permission for (a few trusted) others to speak into their lives.
Why I think this to be the case — it’s an idea from Fierce Conversations, “All conversations are with myself, and sometimes they involve other people.” So when a person goes through exercises, even if guided, it’s all too easy to reinforce one’s own perceptions. Until someone else can call out and speak to the matters of the heart, and the blind spots, transformation rarely happens to the degree that it could.
how to really help the homeless
Got to visit the Los Angeles Mission today, downtown right in the heart of “skid row.” This was undoubtedly a sobering experience, and I think it’s the kind of place I need to go more often to keep myself sober and generous towards others in obvious need.
As one of several social-services providers, I learned how Los Angeles Mission helps a homeless person holistically — by providing food and shelter to those who’d consider going through their restoration program, and by walking along side of each person for a year to equip them with work & life skills plus a spiritual foundation. I was particularly impressed by the quality of their approach to intentionally rehabilitate the desparate lives of so many.
I think Los Angeles Mission has so many great stories to share about what they’re doing, lives that’ve been changed, and how their staff and volunteers is giving hope and healing to so many every year. One way they do that is provide computer training in this amazing computer lab, designed by the likes of a NASA mission control room. I shot this video clip to show you how a well-designed facility can inspire good work :
Through the generosity of donors, Los Angeles Mission has been able to provide more than a soup kitchen or doromitories, though they do that. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to meet good people today who are doing meaningful work and treating people with dignity and care. And, they’ve also got this practical video, 5 Ways to Help the Homeless. Watch the video for what you should do when you see a panhandler who is asking for money. You can do something. But, don’t give cash.
[update] Homeless advocate Mark Horvath (of www.invisiblepeople.tv) has alerted me that the aforementioned video is offensive, so I’ve removed link to video. This opens the pressing question — how do you really help the homeless?
generosity with a church building
I think there’s a smarter way to put older church buildings to good Kingdom use. Capital campaigns easily cost millions of dollars for churches that need to raise funds for new building facilities. Not easy to come by.
There’s another way to get facilities — renovate an older church building that’s gifted from an older declining congregation. (cf. Generosity from Generation to Generation)
I heard about a story of an older church gifting their building to a younger church, and I had to find out more. Watch this video interview with Isaac Park (@isaacpark) ::
What am amazing story in the heart of Durham, North Carolina! 95-year old Lakewood Baptist Church deeded its building to the younger Grace Mission Community Church and now cohabitate [sic] as 2 churches on 1 campus.
Granted, some older church buildings are located in a place where fewer people now live, so that real estate might not be useful for worship gatherings. I think those church buildings can still be generosity deeded over to a next generation of worshippers as good stewardship. Plus, a very tangible connection with the history of the saints upon whose shoulders we stand. Could be better outreach, too — Unchurched Prefer Cathedrals Over Contemporary Church Buildings.
Keeping it in the family (of God) sure beats cashing out a Christian church building to developers and turned into a luxury home or bookstore or or condos or event venue/ nightclub or apartments or into a Buddhist temple or mosque.