By: Carey Nieuwhof

As you know, these are some of the most complex times in church leadership in decades.

As churches reopen their in-person gatherings, there’s one particular trap to watch out for.

The early indications are that in-person church attendance is lower than anyone expected. Most leaders I connect with who have reopened public worship say they are seeing between 10-40% of their former in-person attendance.

Whether that’s a temporary trend or something more permanent remains to be seen (sadly, I suspect lower in-person attendance is a more permanent trend), the reality is that almost everyone’s expectations of a great return to church have been dashed.

While so many leaders imagined that the first Sunday back would be like Chris Farley’s famous entrance on Letterman, that hope has given way to the tough reality of social distancing, the current inability to offer kids ministry, older or at-risk adults understandably staying away and a lot of people seeming to prefer digital church or non-attendance than in-person attendance.

Which leads into very real trap that’s emerging for church leaders. Most churches are now doing both in-person and online services as they reopen.

The trap: what if you end up doing neither well?

Regardless of your church size, that’s a very real trap for at least three reasons.

As hard as it is to acknowledge, in-person church attendance isn’t returning to pre-COVID levels any time soon. Click To Tweet

1. COVID Probably Accelerated Trends That Have Been Happening for Decades

While the full story of what happened to church post-COVID has yet to play out, I suspect that the disruption has accelerated at least two trends we’ve seen for decades.

First,  declining church attendance has been intensifying for decades.

Second, even Christians who attend church are attending less often.

So what does that mean?

Mybe the low numbers of in-person worship attendance isn’t just COVID related. Perhaps it’s an acceleration of the non-attendance trends the church has seen for decades.

Maybe the low numbers of in-person worship attendance isn’t just COVID related. Perhaps it’s an acceleration of the non-attendance trends the church has seen for decades. Click To Tweet

I certainly hope I’m wrong. In fact, I’d be delighted to be wrong.

I also realize I’m stepping on sensitive ground for church leaders who are already tired. But wise leaders don’t let their fatigue make decisions for them.

Whenever I suggest people won’t rush back to church, I get a string of comments and messages from church leaders who deny it, are angry about it, or argue incessantly that the church has always gathered and it will always gather.

I understand.

But denial isn’t a strategy. Or at least not a good one. Neither is anger.

And if this is, in fact, an intensification of trends that have been happening for decades, perhaps it’s time for a new strategy.

I outline some broad strokes for the future church in this post where I outline 7 new disruptive church trends.

Just know this (as hard as it is to admit): adopting a ‘they’re all going to come back just like before” mindset can land you right in the middle of the trap.

Denial isn’t a strategy. Wise leaders don’t let their fatigue make decisions for them. Click To Tweet

2. You’re Currently Staffed for Where You’re Seeing Low Returns

If it’s actually the case that in-person attendance numbers will continue to be lower even after COVID is completely a non-issue (which could be months or years from now), then that creates a challenge.

Namely, that many churches have the highest level of staff and budgets invested where they’re seeing the lowest returns.

Many churches have the highest level of staff and budgets invested where they’re seeing the lowest returns. Click To Tweet

Sure, in-person worship and gathering isn’t going away. As long as there are people, people will want to gather in person.

But in the same way almost every CEO is rethinking how much office space they really need in light of how well their teams are working from home, church leaders may want to rethink why they’re spending the vast majority of their time, budget and human resources at in-person services that very few people attend.

If this is indeed an acceleration of in-person attendance trends that have been in-play for decades, you could easily end up behaving like the CD salesperson in the age of Spotify or like a mall owner in the age of Amazon.

If your mission is to fill buildings, then keep going with your current strategy. But if your mission is to reach people, it might be time to rethink things.

If your mission is to fill buildings, then keep going with your current strategy. But if your mission is to reach people, it might be time to rethink things. Click To Tweet

3. You’re Deeply Understaffed for Where You’re Seeing the Highest Reach

The vast majority of churches pivoted to online quickly in March 2020 and saw a large attendance spike over previous levels.

After leaders figured out how to count more accurately and the novelty of online church sagged for leaders and congregants, most churches then saw a drop off in from their initial online attendance numbers (I share reasons as to why that happened here).

Consequently, when the option of resuming in-person worship again became available,  many leaders put all their effort back into that.

A few notes on this.

First, it’s probably wise to see where you’re currently getting the highest reach. My guess is that for many re-opened churches, the higher reach remains online.

Second, even if your in-person numbers are higher than your live-stream audience, take the time to add in the number of on-demand views you get for a message or service within the first week a service goes live. My guess is it at least matches your in-person attendance, and in most cases will be higher.

What’s strange is that experiencing higher online attendance than in-person attendance has been true for many churches long before COVID hit. It’s just that nobody was really paying attention to the trend or knew what to do with it if they noticed it.

Third, despite the fact that they’re reaching fewer people than ever in-person, many church leaders are pivoting back to putting 90-95% of their time and attention into in-person services.

To make it even more complicated, the necessary requirements of disinfecting, social distancing, touch-free experiences and a highly safe and secure environment mean that unprecedented levels of effort are going into in-person worship.

The big question is if the future is digital, why the lop-sided investment? Everyone you want to reach is online, and digital ministry scales in a way that physical ministry does not.

Digital ministry scales in a way that physical ministry does not.Click To Tweet

Again, I think in-person worship is here to stay. I think it’s necessary both theologically and practically. And yes, your physical gatherings may still grow once all the dust settles. All that being true, in-person services will still likely be your smaller footprint moving forward.

So…why invest the vast majority of your time, energy and money into the platform that has the lowest return and the lowest potential?

You can invest for the past or invest for the future, but personally, I’d be investing for the future.

Why invest the vast majority of your time, energy and money into the platform that has the lowest return and the lowest potential?Click To Tweet

Your Digital Ministry Is Just Getting Started

So what do you do?

As much as you have dreams, hopes and prayers that seem infinite, you and I both live within the constraints of limited time, energy and resources.

To really positions yourself well for the future, here are three suggestions.

First, staff your online ministry like it was real, because it is. As I outlined here (long before COVID) it was probably wise to start investing 30% of your staff resources in online ministry. Today that’s even more pressing.

You probably won’t have a big impact online when you spend 1% of your staffing resources on it.

You probably won’t have a big impact online when you spend 1% of your staffing resources on it.Click To Tweet

Second, treat the people you’re reaching online as though they’re real people, because they are.

Finally, some of the money you were going to put into physical ministry into better digital ministry.  (Hint, digital ministry doesn’t come even close to costing as much as physical ministry does. Here’s why.)

It’s not just new dollars that are needed. You can redeploy existing resources to have a better reach.

Treat the people you’re reaching online as though they’re real people, because they are. Click To Tweet

So here’s the thing about online church and online ministry:

You haven’t even really started yet.

The ‘innovation’ that happened in the first few months of lockdown wasn’t really innovation. It was adaptation.

The ‘innovation’ that happened in the first few months of lockdown wasn’t really innovation. It was adaptation.Click To Tweet

After a month of online church, a lot of church leaders settled into a pattern that would get them through the next few months and stopped experimenting.

Which means the innovation hasn’t even started yet.

If you’re really going to grow your mission, serve your people and reach new people, it’s going to take a lot of innovation and experimentation.

Which means you’ll need to stay curious and agile.

Positioning your church for strong digital ministry positions your church for the future. And if you really want to reach people, it’s the best strategy you have.

Positioning your church for strong digital ministry positions your church for the future. And if you really want to reach people, it’s the best strategy you have. Click To Tweet

Position Yourself to Thrive in the New Normal

Yes, there’s a ton of change happening right now.

Some organizations will survive, some will thrive, and others won’t make it.

I’d love for you to be one of the thrivers.

Who will thrive in the new normal? The future belongs to the pivoters.

How well positioned are you for future pivots?

My brand new online training, the 30-Day Pivot, will show you how to develop your agility as a leader and as an organization to position yourself for growth.

The 30-Day Pivot is a simple 3-step process you and your team can utilize every as often as every 30 days to respond to the change around you and capitalize on it.

In the 30-Day Pivot, you’ll learn:

A simple 3-step process your team can use to arrive at your next pivot in 90 minutes or less.
An approach that fosters team-generated innovation.
An implementation and evaluation framework that will help your team move quickly and accurately.

I’ve led teams through multiple pivots, and in the 30 Day Pivot, I show you the strategy and framework you need to make quick, accurate and responsive moves that can position your organization for growth, even in the midst of deep uncertainty and change.

Some organizations and churches will thrive in the new normal.

Others won’t.

While the future is uncertain, yours doesn’t have to be.

You can learn more and gain instant access to the 30 Day Pivot here.

What’s In Your Future?

I realize not everyone will agree with these ideas…but what do you think about the future?

What’s the best investment for your time, energy and resources?

The post In-Person Attendance v. Online Attendance and The Emerging Trap Of Doing Nothing Well appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: In-Person Attendance v. Online Attendance and The Emerging Trap Of Doing Nothing Well

The post In-Person Attendance v. Online Attendance and The Emerging Trap Of Doing Nothing Well appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: If you track attendance at your church (and who doesn’t), the vast majority of church leaders are tracking numbers that probably bother them.

That can lead into a death spiral of trying to drive greater attendance, only to discover more disappointment down the road.

The mission of the church is the same in every generation. But the methods we use—our strategy—has to change, as I outlined here.

So what’s one of the biggest changes we’re going to see?

Simple. If you want to see your church grow, stop trying to attract people and start trying to engage people.

In the future church, engagement is the new attendance.

Engagement is the new church attendance.Click To Tweet

If church leaders put as much effort into trying to engage people in the mission of the church as they used to (or still) put into trying to drive attendance, they would see a huge spike in both engagement and attendance.

Conversely, leaders who focused solely on attendance or misconstrue what engagement is will continue to see declining attendance.

At Connexus Church, where I serve as Founding and Teaching pastor, we’re seeing encouraging spikes in physical and online attendance (the two are not mutually exclusive) at established locations, our online campus and our new location.

The growth in the number of new unchurched people has come for sure by the grace of God, but also after almost five years of focusing on increasing engagement in these 7 ways. I also outlined why we made the shift and many people have made the shift in my book, Lasting Impact.

Church leaders, if you cared as much about engagement as you did about attendance, you’d likely see a spike in attendance as your mission grows and expands.

If you want your church to grow, stop trying to attract people. Start trying to engage people.Click To Tweet

So why is engagement the new attendance?

Here are 5 reasons.

1. Attendance Was Never the Goal

When did we get the idea that church attendance was the ultimate goal?

Flip back to New Testament days.

Jesus never said ‘Attend me.’ He said ‘Follow me.’

The only reason you would follow Jesus (in Jesus’ day) is because you were either intrigued by who he was and what he did, or because you had come to believe that he was who he said he was.

In other words, you were engaged.

You didn’t attend Jesus. You followed him.

Jesus didn’t say “Attend me.” He said “Follow me.”Click To Tweet

A similar dynamic emerged in the first-century church.

Early Christians didn’t attend church. They were the church.

If you look back at the genesis of the Jesus movement, the idea of attendance as a hallmark would have been completely foreign.

You only attended because you were engaged. Period.

Early Christians didn’t attend church. They were the church.Click To Tweet

2. Attendance Grows Out Of Engagement Anyway

As the Christian movement grew and it became the official religion of the Roman Empire, mere church ‘attendance’ became an option.

Fast forward to our lifetime, and even in growing, effective churches,  attendance had become an established path to engagement.

The big idea was this: come, and eventually you’ll get engaged.

That worked (quite effectively, actually) when people used to flock to church.

But in an era when the number of unchurched is constantly on the rise and even Christians don’t attend church as often anymore (here are 10 reasons for that), that strategy is becoming less and less effective.

Yet, many churches (even growing churches) are still counting on getting people to attend, hoping it drives engagement.

The shelf life of that strategy is limited because the number of people who want to attend church drops every year.

To say it clearly one more timne, in the future church attendance won’t drive engagement; engagement will drive attendance.

In the future church attendance won’t drive engagement; engagement will drive attendance.Click To Tweet

The new gooal is to get people engaged faster and to engage people more deeply in the true mission of the church.

In the future, the engaged will attend because, in large measure, only the engaged will remain.

In the future church, only the engaged will attend because only the engaged will remain.Click To Tweet

3. Trying To Attract People In A Post-Christian Culture Can Work Against The Mission

I am all for making church as attractive and accessible as possible.

But in the future if that’s your only approach (better lights, cooler vibe, hoping people will come), you will get diminishing results. (I wrote on the death and rebirth of cool church here.)

Why is that?

Well, as outlined above, when attendance was more normative and in some senses ‘automatic’ in our culture, attraction was a decent strategy.

Because people would go to church, creating a better church was a good approach.

But (and here’s the underbelly), it also fed into consumerism.

Consumerism has defined the last century of North American and Western culture.

To some extent, the attractional church has played into consumerism. Build something attractive and people will come.

Again, that strategy was very effective when people instinctively flocked to churches, not just in terms of numbers, but also in terms of baptisms and authentic faith-building. And you shouldn’t make your church inaccessible or unattractive on purpose. That’s just…weird.

But in the process, building attractive, relevant churches has had an unintended side-effect: people have come to evaluate church by what they get out of it, not by what they put into it.

That’s a mistake.

Along the way, discipleship has even been redefined in many circles to mean consumption of knowledge. The more you know, the more mature you are. I believe that’s a flawed approach (here’s why).

Authentic discipleship has always been about dying to self.  It’s about giving far more than it is about getting.

Again, I’m not slamming the attractional church. I’m all for building bridges to the culture, not erecting barriers.

Anyone who knows church knows that at the heart of every attractional church is a core of Christians who sacrifice—who give, who serve and who invite.

What’s exciting is that selflessness will move to the forefront in the future church because those who remain will be engaged in the mission.

It’s a mistake to evaluate church by what you get out of it, not what you put into it.Click To Tweet

4. Our Culture Is Ripe For An Alternative To Consuming

One of the frequent criticisms non-Christians levy at Christians is that we’re self-indulgent and hypocritical.

Those critiques are not without warrant.

As a more selfless church emerges (even excellent, selfless churches), that will drive more curiosity and interest from unchurched people.

While you can debate what Millennials really want out of life, there appears to be a growing attraction in our culture to rebel against consumerism,

People are longing for an alternative to life as they know it. The church is that alternative.

In the future church, Christians obsessed with giving away their lives will eclipse Christians obsessed with themselves and their preferences.

People are longing for an alternative to life as they know it. The church is that alternative.Click To Tweet

5. People Become The Most Passionate About The Things With Which They’re Most Involved

A final reason that engagement will drive future church growth is simply this: people become most passionate about the things with which they’re most involved.

Just talk to a football dad or a baseball mom. Or your foodie friend who just found yet another recipe. Or your triathlete friend who set another personal best.

People become most passionate about the things with which they’re most involved.Click To Tweet

Engagement fuels involvement. Involvement fuels passion. Passion fuels invitation.

That’s why your friend wants you to try that recipe, to watch the game with them and at least attempt a 5k.

Engagement leads to invitation. Invitation leads to unchurched people following Jesus.

In many ways, this can only be a good thing.

Engagement fuels involvement. Involvement fuels passion. Passion fuels invitation.Click To Tweet

Last Day for The High Impact Leader Course

Just a personal note to help you lead like never before.

The #1 question other leaders ask me is this: How do you get it all done (write a blog, host a major podcast, work full time, speak and write books AND have a decent family life with some actual hobbies).

I answered that question by creating The High Impact Leader Course.

In it, I’ll show you 100% customizable principles that will help you reach your highest level of leadership at work AND help you spend more time with your family.

The course can also help you thrive by helping you find healthy, sustainable rhythms that move your life and leadership to a new level.

Check it out here—encrollment closes TONIGHT (March 8, 2018) and this is the last time the course will be offered at this price point.

What Will You Get?

This 10-session online course will show you highly practical, proven strategies on how to finally get time, energy and priorities working in your favor. It includes 10 videos, an online workbook and 10 specific exercises that will help you create a personalized plan. Once you have that, you’ll be far more productive and accomplish the things you know are most important, but rarely have time for.

The course, which proceeds at your personal pace whenever you’re ready to tackle a unit, is designed to help you:

Get your most important priorities done early in the week, every week.

Spend more of your time at work doing the things that energize you. Spend less time doing the things that drain you.

Invest more of your time with the people who energize you and less time with the people who drain you.

Discover time to finally exercise, pursue a hobby,  launch a blog, start a podcast or write that book.

Actually be OFF when you have a day off.

Be far more focused on your family when you’re with your family.

Learn how to say no nicely, so you can free up time for the things you’re truly called to do.

In short, it’s designed to help get your life and leadership back, or maybe find them for the very first time. Plus we have a Facebook Group, calendar templates, a bonus time hacking resource and other extras that can help you get the most of it all.

Don’t miss out.

What Do You See?

What are you seeing about the decade’s old use-attendance-to-drive-engagement strategy?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The post 5 Reasons Why Engagement is the New Church Attendance appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 5 Reasons Why Engagement is the New Church Attendance

The post 5 Reasons Why Engagement is the New Church Attendance appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof:

If you’ve spent more than 10 minutes in church leadership, you’re aware of the tension that tracking church attendance creates inside you and around you.

Sure, for starters, the way other leaders talk about numbers is an easy gateway for criticism (He’s totally obsessed with numbers).

But it’s deeper than that. It’s easy to criticize what an obsession with attendance, giving and growth trends might be doing to another leader, but it’s more important to ask what tracking numbers might be doing to you.

Before you think that you’re immune from this or that “you don’t care about the numbers,” I’m not sure any of us gets a pass on this one.

Like many other leaders, I tend to be a little too obsessed with numbers. Some leaders say they don’t care about numbers at all, and if that’s you, just read to the end. There’s a danger there too.

Having been in church leadership for most of my adult life, tracking numbers has done a number on me too, both positively and negatively.

Here are 5 ways church attendance tracking can mess with your soul, whether you care about them or not.

1. You Feel Like God’s Only Happy With You When Your Church Is Growing

The basic thrust of the Gospel is this: your salvation doesn’t arise from how good you are, but on how good God is. Jesus didn’t come for you because you were awesome, but because you weren’t and he loved you anyway.

I have to admit there have been whole seasons where I’ve felt like God must be happy with me because things are going well, only to realize that—of course—that isn’t true.

But sometimes we leaders are like 3rd graders who show up with our report card hoping that we gain mom and dad’s approval by our good marks.

Look, you have God’s approval. That was settled on a hillside outside of Jerusalem two millennia ago and you gained it personally when you decided to place your trust in Christ.

God’s love for you in Christ is unconditional. His love for you is no different when your church is growing or when it’s stuck or even declining.

That understanding will give you the security you need to tackle whatever is ahead of you to further advance the mission of the church: whether that’s to build on a strong season or throw fresh energy into a tough season.

God doesn’t love you because of what you do, leaders. He just loves you.

God doesn’t love you because of what you do, leaders. He just loves you.Click To Tweet

2. Your Self-Esteem Rises and Falls With The Numbers

In the same way your relationship with God shouldn’t be impacted by trends in your church, your view of yourself also shouldn’t be impacted by them either. But it’s so hard to remember that.

Momentum distorts reality.

When you have momentum, you think you’re better than you are. When you don’t, you think you’re worse than you are.

In leadership, having a steady view of yourself is just as important as having a steady view of God.

Otherwise, everyone around you suffers. Your family will suffer. Your team will suffer. And of course, you’ll suffer.

If your self-esteem rises and falls with the numbers, you’ll be arrogant in the good seasons (and fail to address any underlying weaknesses) and despondent in the bad seasons (incapable of leading forward with humility and resolve).

Keep a steady view of God, and a steady view of yourself, and you’ll lead so much better.

Momentum distorts reality. When you have it, you think you’re better than you are.Click To Tweet

3. People Become a Means To An End

When you’re obsessed with numbers,  it’s so easy to start seeing people as a means to an end.

You can start viewing people through the lens of what they give you. When you do that, your heart goes dark and you start caring about all the wrong things.

People become a way of jacking up your numbers, increasing your fragile self-esteem or giving you bragging rights.

Leaders, there’s one reason people should matter to you: because they matter to God.

Leaders, people should matter to you because people matter to God.Click To Tweet

Over time, people will start to sense whether you care about them or whether you only care about what they give you.

Sadly, the world is full people who came to church looking for God but felt used in the process. Many have left church. Some are never coming back. That’s devastating.

If people become a means to an end, eventually you won’t have many people. And the people you do have will never know the kind of joy that’s possible in a healthy relationship with God and with each other.

If people become a means to an end, eventually you won’t have many people.Click To Tweet

4. Progress Becomes Your Idol

One of the greatest dangers you face as a driven leader is that progress will become your god.

I know for me, my fascination with the numbers is not as much an about the numbers as it is about progress. I just want to see progress in the mission, and that means that I love to see all the trends moving up and to the right.

But like most things, progress makes a wonderful servant and a terrible master.

Progress makes a wonderful servant and a terrible master. Click To Tweet

When I idolize progress and the numbers that go with it, I substitute what’s secondary for what’s primary.

And that’s just wrong.

Progress serves God. It isn’t God.

Progress serves God. It isn’t God. Click To Tweet

5. You Don’t Even Care Enough to Count

One final way that tracking trends and numbers messes with your soul is this: sometimes you just stop caring.

I have run into more than a few leaders who say “I don’t even track numbers anymore.” They wear it as a badge of honor.

Not tracking is almost as bad as tracking too closely. Because then, accomplishing your mission doesn’t matter at all.

You know what all those leaders have in common (at least in my experience)? They lead stagnant or declining churches.

I feel for them…I know what leading when you have no momentum is hard. I’ve been there.

But here’s what’s ultimately true: to stop counting is to stop caring.

When it comes to church attendance, to stop counting is to stop caring.Click To Tweet

People matter, whether you have a few or whether you have many. They matter whether you’re losing or whether you’re gaining.

The numbers tell you something. And even if they’re telling you something you don’t want to hear, as a leader you should listen.

Sure, you can create all kinds of justifications in your mind for not counting:

We don’t measure breadth, we measure depth.

It’s not about quantity. It’s about quality.

God disciplined King David for counting. There you go—counting is sinful. 

Everyone else has sold out. I haven’t.  

I get that. We have to be so careful how we handle what we measure. It is a soul issue.

But I can’t escape the sinking feeling that leaders who have stopped counting are either hiding their insecurity or have stopped caring.

Or at least let me put it this way: I know when I stop counting it will be because I’m trying to hide my insecurity or it will be a giant red flag that I’ve stopped caring.

If it’s insecurity that’s bothering you, get over it. Admitting the truth is the first step forward.

And if you’ve stopped caring—here’s the bigger question—why are you still leading?

If you’ve stopped caring, why are you still leading?Click To Tweet

How Do You Handle Numbers?

We all get owned by how we handle numbers, whether we pretend to care about them or not.

Idolizing big can be a thin mask for ego.

Idolizing small can be a thin mask for insecurity.

This is a really tricky conversation that owns most of us at some level.

How do you handle the fragile relationship we all have with numbers? What’s helping you?

Idolizing big can be a thin mask for ego. Idolizing small can be a thin mask for insecurity.Click To Tweet

The post 5 Ways Tracking Church Attendance Messes With Your Soul appeared first on Carey Nieuwhof.

Source: 5 Ways Tracking Church Attendance Messes With Your Soul

The post 5 Ways Tracking Church Attendance Messes With Your Soul appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof:

The trend is practically universal: fewer people are attending church every year.

You might have even asked the question yourself. Why bother?

There are many reasons why that’s happening (I outline 10 here), but I think it’s increasingly evident that it no longer makes sense to attend church.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of the church. But I get why more and more people have simply stopped attending. Let me explain.

In the fall of 2015, I transitioned out of the lead pastor role at our church and into a Founding and Teaching Pastor role (Here’s a piece on why and how I did it). I still carry about 30 Sundays a year of teaching and work on some senior level projects, but that leaves me much freer than I’ve ever been on a Sunday morning. Sure, sometimes I host the service or have other roles, but more often than I’ve ever experienced before, I’m free on a Sunday. Which means I’m often an attender. So I feel what the culture is feeling more than ever before.

And on those Sundays when I have no official role, I’m plagued with the question “Why go to church?”

After all, our church streams our services live online. I could literally watch live on any device I own anywhere. Plus we share the services on demand, so I could watch or listen any time during the week via our website or catch the message for free via podcast.

If your church doesn’t have an online experience, no worries, about a million others do. You can access almost any church you want, anywhere, anytime. Free.

Which brings us back to the question: Why attend church?

Increasingly, I’m convinced there’s no point to merely attending. You drive all the way in to connect with three or four songs, hear the message and then head home. All of that you could almost do by yourself in a much more convenient way. Slip on Spotify and grab the message via podcast or on demand and boom, you’re covered.

Drowning in Options

I wonder if in large measure that’s why the era of attending church is dying. Think about it.

Generations ago, the church was a social and cultural hub as well as a missional hub. In addition to faith reasons, people loved going to church because it was one of a handful of options available in a community as well as the main way (other than personal devotions) you connect with God.

We now live in a culture that’s drowning in options and has 24/7 access to anything Christian.

In fact, I can think of only two compelling reasons to go to church anymore.

You Don’t Attend Church. You Are the Church.

The main reason I gather with the church is because I am the church.

You don’t attend church. You are the church.

Merely attending church doesn’t make you much of a church because sitting in a back row consuming church doesn’t make you very good at being the church.

I think being the church has something to do with living your life for Christ, demonstrating God’s love by serving others and sharing your faith with people. That’s very different than consuming church in a back row, which you can just as easily do on your back deck.

The reason you would go to church today is that you’ve moved from being a consumer to being a contributor. You don’t just go to be served, you go to serve. There’s something deeply scriptural about that.

And before you think that you can do whatever you need to do as a Christian in the world without other Christians or without the church, here are couple of reasons I would disagree.

First, gathering together was Jesus’ idea, not ours. I outline that (and much more) here.

Second, listen to what this young mom had to say about her experience when she started skipping church because of the demands of parenting. Fascinating.

You are the church. Remember that. And the church is at it’s best when we engage in the mission God has given us.

You don’t attend church. You are the church.Click To Tweet

An Experience For the Sake of Those Not Yet in The Room

The second compelling reason to attend a Sunday morning gathering is that you’re bringing a friend with you or because you yourself are exploring Christianity.

I love being part of a church that is constantly designing experiences with those who are not yet in the room in mind.

One of the most exciting things about many growing churches today is they’ve become great at hosting experiences that unchurched people can access and ultimately love to attend. That’s what our church does well, and I love both bringing friends into it for the first time and being there to connect with other people bring their friends.

Spiritual maturity, after all, isn’t about how much you know. It’s about how much you love. And love that doesn’t flow out into the lives of other people isn’t love.

Spiritual maturity isn’t about how much you know. It’s about how much you love.Click To Tweet

A Dividing Line

So that’s it. Two good reasons to keep attending church.

First, you are the church, which means you’re engaged in the mission in some meaningful way.

And second, you’re creating space where everybody (regardless of their background) can hear and experience the news of Christ’s love for them.

But that also means we live in an age where attending church for attendance’s sake is dying. Fast.

And maybe that’s what we see happening around us. People who aren’t engaged in the mission are leaving the mission.

And while that’s sad, you can’t build the future of the church on passionless, disengaged people. Nor can you build it on consumers.

The future will be built on Christians who want to serve, share and engage the mission of the local church.

You can’t build the future of the church on passionless, disengaged people.Click To Tweet

Stop Pandering to the Consumers

As a church leader, what do you do in the midst of this?

Well first, stop pandering to the consumers—those who merely attend and won’t engage. Too many leaders spend their time trying to please people who complain much and contribute little.

They have enough options. And you will never be able to please everyone. So stop trying.

As my friend Reggie Joiner says, focus on who you want to reach, not who you want to keep.

Too many leaders try to please people who complain much and contribute little.Click To Tweet

Raise The Level of Engagement

Second, focus on engaging people in the mission of the church. Nothing is more exciting. Nothing will change the world more powerfully than the love of Christ shared with a world that so desperately needs it.

Here are 7 ways to get people more engaged in the mission of your church, so they make the move from merely attending church to being the church.

Keep Unchurched People Front and Center

Third, make sure your church is optimally positioned to accomplish its mission: reaching unchurched people with the love and hope of Christ.

That means everything you do needs to work in a way unchurched people can access. The best churches assume that every Sunday is someone’s first Sunday. We even have that saying mounted on a giant logo on the wall.

One good way to check whether your church is ready to reach the unchurched is to see if teenagers love your church services. Not your alternative service. Your main-open-the-doors-wide service.

If teenagers hate your church service, so will unchurched people.

Not sure if your church is truly positioned to reach unchurched people? These 9 signs will tell you.

If teenagers hate your church service, so will unchurched people. Click To Tweet

Maybe it’s not a bad thing in the end that the era of attending church is dying.

Please hear me, we need more churches. We need more, healthy churches. And we need churches that are doing a fantastic job at reaching people.

What we don’t need more of is churches where people merely attend and never engage.

Got any thoughts on what’s happening?

Scroll down and leave a comment.

The post Why Attending Church No Longer Makes Sense appeared first on Carey Nieuwhof.

Source: Why Attending Church No Longer Makes Sense

The post Why Attending Church No Longer Makes Sense appeared first on Passion for Planting.