Posts Tagged ‘church’
How to survive big changes in a church
Through my work with Leadership Network, I’ve had incredible times to connect with church leaders all around the United States, and even a few around the world. I love to connect people to people and people to resources. The resource I want to connect you with is this new book by Scott Wilson, Steering Through Chaos: Mapping a Clear Direction for Your Church in the Midst of Transition and Change.
Scott Wilson is pastor of The Oaks Fellowship just south of Dallas. I first met him in Dallas at the Multi-Site Churches Leadership Community that I’m a part of managing, along with the church’s leaders, which included Justin Lathrop. What I love is the inviting vibe of their leaders, doing amazing things (by the grace of God) as a fast-growing church while also being personable, relational, and accessible. That’s what came through to me in my interactions with Scott and Justin, and this came through in Scott’s new book too. (cf. Download a sample chapter of Steering Through Chaos)
Watch this video of Scott Wilson talk about the book (cf. extended version):
What caught my attention with Steering Through Chaos were these things:
(1) Scott quotes so many other people in this book, like a synthesis of all that he’s gleaned from other church leaders! I didn’t fact-check, but the acknowledgements section would be dozens of pages if he were to list all the names of leaders mentioned in the book!
(2) Scott shares his own story of going through a massive church transition, that included relocation, building campaign, leadership transitions, personal challenges, and managing healthy relationships. This narrative approach sure makes the underlying principles much more understandable and practical. Yes, this book covers a lot of ground.
(3) The book speaks to personal health. In an early chapter, the author lists a stress chart to honestly show the reality of what changes do to people, and doesn’t ignore or overlook this in the name of being “spiritual” or bieng a “leader.” Being emotionally healthy is vital for short-term and long-term success, for both personal and organizational health. And, it means getting the help you need, whether a life coach, counselor, or whatever. I’m glad this is weaved in throughout the book.
(4) I love the way Scott has learned to pastor in that relational kind of way while still being a visionary leader. It’s not easy to keep moving towards finishing a task or reaching a goal, while also bringing people along. The book describes how Scott met personally with a hundred key leaders in preparation for a big church change, listening to their concerns and asking for their prayers. In similar fashion, big decisions are made with a unanimous concensus of the leadership team. Not easy to do in a church of any size, much less a larger kind of church with attendance in the thousands. I don’t think he wrote it, but the concept of “leaving no one behind” is very attractive to me and I think that’s the way it ought to be.
(5) Being spiritual. Unlike other leadership endeavors, the work of church leadership is a spiritual one. So the book weaves in the spiritual dependency & discerning aspects along with the personal, relational. and organizational aspects too. I prefer to say it’s holistic, though you could say comprehensive, too.
Lausanne Conversation Gatherings on issues facing the global church
The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization is taking place in South Africa this October. While most of us won’t be able to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, to attend this Congress (which seems to be a much weightier word than “conference”), there are 2 ways for people to participate: (1) the Conversation Gatherings, (2) the GlobalLink. Looks like an impressive list of church leaders are meeting up.
The Conversation Gatherings are local FREE 2-hour events and anyone is welcomed to participate. Please do register online so they can know you’re coming. These are 5 dates scheduled in Southern California (see the list for all 12 locations):
18 March 2010: Azusa Pacific University (Azusa)
Topics: Future of the Global Church; Race, Power, and Evangelism
Panelists: Brenda Salter McNeil, Brad Lomenick, Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Wes Stafford, Joni Eareckson Tada
30 March 2010: Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena)
Topics: Culture Making — The Role of Christians in the World
Panelists: Jim Belcher, Doug Birdsall, Margaret Feinberg, Michael S. Horton, Richard Mouw, Kara Eckmann Powell, Rich Van Pelt
14 April 2010: Generate at Crossroads Church (Corona)
Topics: Christians and Their Impact on Culture, The Future of the Global Church
Panelists: Charles Lee (moderator), Tony Wood, Jeff Shinabarger, Margaret Feinberg, Rich Van Pelt
14 April 2010: NewSong Community Church (Irvine)
10 June 2010: Saddleback Community Church (Lake Forest)
The second way to get engaged in these global issues is thru GlobalLink. Each GlobaLink site will have some live-streaming video of Cape Town events and additional conference materials. No locations have been announced yet, far as I can tell.
[update] Also see Charles Lee’s 12 Cities 12 Conversations (A New World Church Conversation) which points to a whole website & blog www.12cities12conversations.com
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.
READ MORE …
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.
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.