By unSeminary: Thanks for tuning in to this week’s unSeminary podcast. We’re excited to be talking with Vivienne Bechtold, the Director of Studio and Leadership Development at Crossroads Church in Ohio. Crossroads has been one of the fastest growing churches in the country for several years, but this growth hasn’t happened without being intentional about reaching those who are far from Jesus. Listen in as Vivienne shares how Crossroads has used data to make informed decisions about how to be increasingly effective at drawing more people into a relationship with Christ.

Use data for marketing. // Most churches try to collect some sort of information from the people who visit or attend. However if you don’t dig into that data, you won’t know how it can help you understand your audience better. Vivienne has spent 27 years in the marketing industry and now runs Studio, an internal agency at Crossroads that interprets data, handles research, design, marketing, social media and other digital products for the church. Their ultimate goal is to help the church more effectively reach people who are far from God. Learning to market to people using the data you collect isn’t just about numbers, but about being curious about people and the insights behind the numbers.Understand who you’re reaching. // Initially Crossroads didn’t have a team handling their data and marketing, but rather started with two people that would do focus groups and one-on-ones to gather research on what attendees were looking for. The church then built an analytics team that mined that data about who was coming, what areas they were coming from, what their demographics were, and so on. Using these insights, Crossroads started to put together a picture of who was drawn to the church and what they needed. This information led to them targeting a group of a dozen 25 to 35 year old men who didn’t go to Crossroads. Church staff went to where these people hung out, interviewed some of them, and invited them to attend two services and then offer feedback on their experiences.Implement changes. // The information Crossroads received from these new guests helped them to see the Sunday experience from the perspective of a visitor. As a result, they were aware of what people connected with and what turned them off. They made changes in training their teams how to recognize new people, right from the parking lot, so they could serve guests better. Crossroads also altered the order of their service. Rather than starting with worship, they started with something that would help connect people coming in with what was going to happen the rest of the time. Seekers often didn’t understand the value of worship and instead wanted to hear a message, so the church wanted to make sure their visitors stayed to hear the teaching.Your strongest marketing tool. // Crossroads discovered that when their people knew the topic of an upcoming message, or some sound bites that would be interesting to their friends, they were much more likely to invite others to church. When your people invite their friends or family to church, it is the most powerful marketing strategy you can use. Empower your people to share about the church and what is coming up in a sermon series by providing tools for social media or email that can be shared. Consider direct mail pieces leading up to Easter or Christmas and work with the natural dynamics of how people interact with your church.Use data to rebrand. // Churches tend to plateau after 20 years and in order to get over that, they need to reinvent themselves. Crossroads found that the seekers coming to their church today were different than ones from 25 years ago, and generally had no experience with church at all. So the church began to ask how to be relevant to these people today and reevaluated its branding. Crossroads realized their branding was very corporate and wanted it to be more unfiltered, fun and and fearless, which better represented what the church had grown into. So Crossroads rebranded in 2020 to better capture who they were as well as target that group of 25-35 year old men they are trying to keep in mind. The rebrand includes new colors and visuals, but also new vocabulary that everyday people use. Crossroads talks about themselves as “Spiritual Outfitters” that equip and guide you through this adventure that you were made for as you follow God. Consider your church’s current branding and if it’s serving to help reach the people you are targeting.Look to the future. // As we continue to collect data and process our learnings from 2020, it can inform changes we need to make for the future. One lesson is that first impressions can happen a lot of different places, including online, and when people do show up in person, they are looking to connect more quickly. Pay attention to when people want to watch sermons online. For some, Sunday mornings may now mean family time. Are your people more likely to listen to a message and participate in worship online, but come to a physical location for groups or service opportunities? The pandemic was a time of isolation so think about how can you help people engage and serve together when they attend church at your physical location.

To learn more about Crossroads Church, you can visit them at www.crossroads.net or download their app at www.crossroads.net/app. If your church is considering a rebrand, check out the book “What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest” by Denise Lee Yohn.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Chemistry Staffing

It’s important for church leaders to pursue the right fit for the right position, which helps determine a long-term, healthy fit. It all starts with properly assessing the applicant’s resumé. Download Chemistry Staffing’s Resumé Screening Playbook and walk through a screening process that will help you discover which candidates to focus on.

Source: Leveraging Research to Drive Design & Communication Insights at Crossroads Church with Vivienne Bechtold

The post Leveraging Research to Drive Design & Communication Insights at Crossroads Church with Vivienne Bechtold appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Carey Nieuwhof: Simon Sinek unpacks his back story, including how his grandfather shaped him, how ADHD impacted his leadership and how a deep, personal crisis led to him developing the ideas behind Start With Why.

Simon also talks about how existential flex is so important in a post-pandemic world, and why the church keeps losing ground.

Welcome to Episode 417 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Plus, in this episode’s What I’m Thinking About segment, Carey talks about what the Church needs to do to stay relevant.

Guest Links

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Website

Episode Links

Pro Media Fire

Imagine waking up WOWED by the beautiful content you see on your social media platforms all week long.

Instagram and Facebook Stories filled with excitement. Custom graphics and animation to stop the scroll.

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A Brand Discovery
Confirm Pro Media Fire Knows Your Brand
A Hands-Off – Done For You Social Media Management Solution

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You can save time, grow online and be proud of your brand, without doing any work. Let the pros handle your social media while you focus on the mission.

Book your FREE consultation today at promediafire.com/growth.

World Vision

This has been an incredibly difficult season for those pastoring church congregations. Many of you—church leaders—are caring for the souls of struggling congregants only to find yourselves burnt out and in need of your own soul care.

Our partner, World Vision, is called to serve the most vulnerable around the world, but also feels called to serve the Bride of Christ. And that includes caring for YOU—shepherds of the flock.

So, World Vision has partnered with Danielle Strickland to provide a practical resource called Soul Care Prayer Postures.

In this FREE web series, Danielle will share rhythms and practices to help create space for God to tend to YOUR soul, and get tools you can use as you lead others.

The Church is a force for good in the world, and World Vision’s heart is for the Bride of Christ to be healthy and mobilized to be the church outside the four walls!

Sign up for the FREE web series today by going to worldvision.org/carey.

Conversation Links

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

Together is Better by Simon Sinek

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek

Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe – TED Talk by Simon Sinek

How to Discover Your “Why” in Difficult Times – TED Talk by Simon Sinek

How Great Leaders Inspire Action – TED Talk by Simon Sinek

Church Attendance is Dying. Here’s What’s Next by Carey Nieuwhof

Get Carey’s Content Straight to Your Inbox

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Insights From Simon

1. True success comes from the combination of 3 things: 

When asked what led to his success, Simon outlined an interesting framework about what causes true, repeatable success. He’s found that it’s a combination of 3 things: Talent, Hard Work, and Luck. When those 3 things meet, you’re setting yourself up for repeatable success throughout your life.

2. When approaching your work, start with your why.

So many businesses and organizations focus on what they’re doing, and how they’re doing it, but they don’t focus on “why” enough. In his book, Start With Why Simon takes a deep dive into why your “why” is so important, and how to find what you or your business’ “why” is.

3. The Church’s inability to change is causing its own irrelevance.

Simon points out that a large portion of the church is behaving similar to how the music industry behaved as iTunes disrupted them. People didn’t stop listening to music, they just changed how they listened. Similarly, It’s not that people are losing their spirituality, it’s that they just aren’t turning to the Church for answers.

Quotes from Episode 417

It’s not that people are losing their spirituality, it’s that the church is losing its relevance. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

The responsibility of a church is not to get people in the pews. The responsibility of the church is to spread the gospel. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

People are spiritual and in search of community, in search of belief, in search of belonging, in search of hope, and in search of vision. They’re not getting it, and so they’re looking for it in other places. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

The church, as an industry, unfortunately looks a lot like a lot of other old-fashioned industries which is, ‘This is the way we’ve always done it.’ @simonsinekClick To Tweet

The solutions we find to the challenges we have when we’re children become our strengths as adults. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

There’s a formula for success, this zero-sum formula, which is talent, something innate, hard work, and then luck. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

We all have innate things in us, like the strengths we build when we’re kids, and if we invest in building on those talents, they become even stronger. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

We see the world through different lenses because of our childhoods and our upbringings. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

I am living proof that in adversity comes opportunity, and in hardship comes renewal and rebirth. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

I didn’t set out to tell anybody anything. I set out to share something that had profoundly changed my life and my view of the world. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

As a species, we are constantly searching for explanation. The most confounding things are things that seem to lack explanation. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

A why comes from the past. It’s where we come from, it is objective, and it never changes your whole life. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

I imagine a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are and end the day fulfilled by the work that they do. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

The obsession with the finite game means we see more and are more short term-ism. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

Finite-mindedness dominates business theory and political theory of the day. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

Wall Street breaks economies because they are making decisions for the good of themselves in a finite manner, rather than allowing companies and allowing executives to make decisions that are for the good of the whole. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

Existential flexibility is the capacity to make a 180 degree strategic shift in order to better advance your cause. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

If you don’t have the just cause and you don’t have the trusting teams, that existential flex will probably fail. @simonsinekClick To Tweet

In the future church, the church is going to meet anytime, anywhere, sometimes.Click To Tweet

Consumer Christianity isn’t about what you bring to the mission, it’s about what you squeeze out of it.Click To Tweet

Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 417

Looking for a key quote? More of a reader?

Read or download a free PDF transcript of this episode here.

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Is Your Church Ready For Future Evangelism? Take The Free Church Outreach Assessment To Find Out.

Almost every church leader wants to grow their church by reaching more people.

As culture continues to change rapidly into a post-Christian era, though, itu2019s left many leaders feeling like theyu2019re not accomplishing their mission. For too many churches, things arenu2019t going as hoped.

After you complete the assessment, youu2019ll receive a detailed breakdown of your results and get access to a free teaching series that will help you take practical steps forward in each of the five areas.

When youu2019re done, youu2019ll be far more equipped to accomplish your mission.

Donu2019t be discouraged. You can still reach people.

Take the Church Outreach Assessment now!”,”container_class”:””,”element_class”:””,”wrap_styles_border”:0,”wrap_styles_width”:””,”wrap_styles_margin”:””,”wrap_styles_padding”:””,”wrap_styles_float”:””,”wrap_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”label_styles_border”:””,”label_styles_width”:””,”label_styles_font-size”:””,”label_styles_margin”:””,”label_styles_padding”:””,”label_styles_float”:””,”label_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”element_styles_border”:””,”element_styles_width”:””,”element_styles_font-size”:””,”element_styles_margin”:””,”element_styles_padding”:””,”element_styles_float”:””,”element_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”cellcid”:”c8551″,”key”:”the_pivot_ready_cheat_sheet_1602862985838″,”drawerDisabled”:false,”wrap_styles_background-color”:””,”wrap_styles_border-style”:””,”wrap_styles_border-color”:””,”wrap_styles_display”:”block”,”field_label”:””,”field_key”:”the_pivot_ready_cheat_sheet_1602862985838″,”id”:”1023_1″,”beforeField”:””,”afterField”:””,”value”:”

Is Your Church Ready For Future Evangelism? Take The Free Church Outreach Assessment To Find Out.

Almost every church leader wants to grow their church by reaching more people.

As culture continues to change rapidly into a post-Christian era, though, itu2019s left many leaders feeling like theyu2019re not accomplishing their mission. For too many churches, things arenu2019t going as hoped.

After you complete the assessment, youu2019ll receive a detailed breakdown of your results and get access to a free teaching series that will help you take practical steps forward in each of the five areas.

When youu2019re done, youu2019ll be far more equipped to accomplish your mission.

Donu2019t be discouraged. You can still reach people.

Take the Church Outreach Assessment now!”,”label_pos”:”above”,”parentType”:”html”,”element_templates”:[“html”,”input”],”old_classname”:””,”wrap_template”:”wrap”}];nfForms.push(form);

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Select episodes of this podcast are now on YouTube. Our YouTube Channel gives you a chance to watch some episodes, not just listen.

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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review

Hopefully, this episode has helped you lead like never before. That’s my goal. If you appreciated it, could you share the love?

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Your ratings and reviews help us place the podcast in front of new leaders and listeners. Your feedback also lets me know how I can better serve you.

Thank you for being so awesome.

Next Episode: Tony Morgan

Tony Morgan returns to the podcast to share the latest data on church attendance trends, best and worst practices for creating a digital strategy, and how to track online metrics that actually matter so you can connect with people who find you online.

Subscribe for free now so you won’t miss Episode 418.

The post CNLP 417: Simon Sinek on Why the Church is Losing Ground, the Importance of Existential Flex and How Deep, Personal Crisis Spawned Start With Why appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 417: Simon Sinek on Why the Church is Losing Ground, the Importance of Existential Flex and How Deep, Personal Crisis Spawned Start With Why

The post CNLP 417: Simon Sinek on Why the Church is Losing Ground, the Importance of Existential Flex and How Deep, Personal Crisis Spawned Start With Why appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Carey Nieuwhof: Francis Chan has become convicted that division in the church is escalating and causing deep harm. He also thinks it’s tied to the desire for celebrity and influence so many leaders have.

Francis also talks about racial division and his experience as an Asian-American who has been the target of discrimination.

Welcome to Episode 413 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Plus, in this episode’s What I’m Thinking About segment, Carey shares a few thoughts on unity, division and the Church.

Guest Links

Instagram | Twitter | Website

Episode Links

Pro Media Fire

Are you getting ready to hire a creative or digital staff member at your church?

You have two options:

Hire an internal staff member that is an expert one or two main areas.
Hire Pro Media Fire and get an entire team of experts for less than the cost of a professional staff hire.

With Pro Media Fire, you save on employee taxes and health insurance with internal staff. And, turnover becomes a thing of the past with a team that handles all your creative and digital needs.

The choice is yours—hire one person, or get an entire team of professionals providing digital strategy and a creative framework to help your church grow online. Teams win championships!

Book your free digital strategy session today at promediafire.com/churchgrowth.

Generis

Most churches have experienced stability in giving over the last year—that is some of the best news the team at Generis has heard during the pandemic.

But, a new concern is growing—will the other shoe drop in 2021? Will the economy shift? Will giving begin to trend down?

The truth is, whether it is next month, next year, or in five years, a shoe will drop, the economy will shift, and there will always be a new mission, need, or challenge that will require resources. It’s just a part of the natural ebb and flow of church finance. So, wouldn’t it be great if you could be prepared by understanding how healthy your church is no matter what financial reality you might face?

The team at Generis is offering a FREE opportunity for church leaders of this podcast to do exactly that with their Generosity Pulse Report.

Think of the Generosity Pulse Report as a quick snapshot of the health of your culture of stewardship and giving. Wouldn’t it be super helpful to know where you stand today, identify what needs improvement, and what you can do to move the needle on greater generosity?

No matter what lies ahead with the economy, giving or that other shoe…now is a great time for financial clarity, and Generis can help you achieve it.

Schedule your FREE Generosity Pulse Report today, an exclusive offer for listeners of this podcast, by going to generis.com/carey.

Conversation Links

Until Unity by Francis Chan

Erasing Hell by Francis Chan

You and Me Forever by Francis Chan and Lisa Chan

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Letters to the Church by Francis Chan

Forgotten God by Francis Chan

CNLP 313: Francis Chan Clarifies What’s Next for Him, Talks About the Impact of Social Media on Real People, Apologizes for the Confusion, and Talks About the Future of the U.S. Church

CNLP 218: Francis Chan on Battling Pride and Fame, Why He Left His Megachurch, and his Airbnb Church Experiment

ChurchPulse Weekly, Episode 038: Francis Chan, Part 1

Carey on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

After the U.S. Election: 3 Things the Culture Needs Right Now That the Church Can Give by Carey Nieuwhof

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Insights From Francis

1. When it comes to racial justice, be quick to listen

During the interview, Francis talked about how he has been somewhat unaware of the depths of the struggles of the Native American people in America until a few days before the time of recording.  He’d went and stayed the night on a reservation. Going there, seeing how they live, and asking questions about them opened his eyes to their struggle.

He thinks that this year has started a listening and learning process for many similar to what he experienced, and would encourage all of us to lean in and listen to those with a different experience than us.

2. As Christian leaders, decreasing our own name is a great way forward

When Francis was serving the underground church in China, a Chinese pastor told him:

“You Americans keep thinking that you have to become popular to have an impact. But in China and the underground church, it was those who were most hidden that had the most impact, the greatest impact, because we couldn’t be found.”

This made Francis ask himself, “Could it be possible that me being quieter, and in the presence of God and doing more things that are unseen, will actually have a greater impact in lifting up the name of Jesus?”

As a Christian leader, ask yourself whose name you are working to increase. Yours, or Christ’s?

3. The Western Church is being deeply damaged by division and outrage

So much of the Western church has been hijacked by ideology, political division and outrage. This has caused pastors to blacklist each other, entire denominations to split repeatedly and nearly an entire generation to walk away from the church.

This isn’t helping the gospel reach more people. If we’re going to move forward, we need to move forward together—even if we disagree.

Quotes from Episode 413

No one ever hears the apology as loudly as they hear that initial biting, angry thought. @crazyloveClick To Tweet

If you feel nothing for people outside of your little circle, I’ve got to question whether the Spirit is in you. @crazyloveClick To Tweet

I think most leaders in America are thinking, ‘I must increase so that He can increase.’ We think it’s up to us. @crazyloveClick To Tweet

I had a very casual attitude towards Christian unity, and I think it’s because it just felt like it was impossible. @crazyloveClick To Tweet

I thought I was pretty sensitive to the Black Lives Matter movement. But you really can’t understand it ’til it’s you. @crazyloveClick To Tweet

It was the first time it really hit me and hurt me and it’s like, ‘So just because of my nationality?’ It was devastating. @crazyloveClick To Tweet

Anyone who pursues unity will be accused of, ‘Oh, you just want unity at the expense of truth.’ Well, would it be possible that you want both? @crazyloveClick To Tweet

Could it be possible that me being quieter, and being in the presence of God and doing more things that are unseen, will actually have a greater impact in lifting up the name of Jesus? @crazyloveClick To Tweet

It’s easier to be divisive than it is to be unifying.Click To Tweet

A blaming culture needs a confessing church.Click To Tweet

You’ll never address what you don’t confess.Click To Tweet

A divided nation needs a united church.Click To Tweet

If God has all the same opinions you do, you’re probably not worshiping God.Click To Tweet

In a divided culture, Christians should be the help and the hope, not the hate.Click To Tweet

Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 413

Looking for a key quote? More of a reader?

Read or download a free PDF transcript of this episode here.

WHAT WILL IMPACTFUL PREACHING LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE? 

Every time I preach, there are 10 things I check to make sure that my sermon is ready to go.

I outline those 10 things inside the Preaching Cheat Sheet.

If you want a step-by-step process to craft clear sermons that are relevant to your audience, this is for you.

The Preaching Cheat Sheet is just one small part of Mark Clark and I’s course The Art Of Better Preaching. If you want world class-training that will make your preaching better, you can find more information here.

Watch Back Episodes of The Podcast on YouTube

Select episodes of this podcast are now on YouTube. Our YouTube Channel gives you a chance to watch some episodes, not just listen.

SUBSCRIBED YET?

Subscribe for free and never miss out on wisdom from world-class leaders like Brian Houston, Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Nancy Duarte, Henry Cloud, Patrick Lencioni, Francis Chan, Ann Voskamp, Erwin McManus and many others.

Subscribe using your favorite podcast app via

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Next Episode: Tim Keller

Tim Keller shares some personal reflections about his recent battle with pancreatic cancer and how it’s causing him to rethink his beliefs about God and suffering, drawing him even more deeply into truths he used to only partially understand. Tim also reflects on what a year of crisis has done to the church, and shares some thoughts on the future of the church, how culture has changed in the last year, and what needs to happen next.

Subscribe for free now so you won’t miss Episode 414.

The post CNLP 413: Francis Chan on Escalating Division, Asian Hate, and Why Influence in the Church Can’t Come from Self-Promotion appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 413: Francis Chan on Escalating Division, Asian Hate, and Why Influence in the Church Can’t Come from Self-Promotion

The post CNLP 413: Francis Chan on Escalating Division, Asian Hate, and Why Influence in the Church Can’t Come from Self-Promotion appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Today’s post is written by Jim Sheppard. Jim is CEO & Principal of Generis, a consulting firm passionate about helping churches accelerate generosity towards their God-inspired vision.

By Jim Sheppard

Money and the church. It’s an awkward relationship. Have you noticed that?

If I had to guess, I would say that there is no topic that is more on the minds of senior pastors on Monday mornings and less on their minds as they plan sermons. This is not a critique, just an observation.

The conversation about money and giving in the church has become taboo. We don’t talk about it; and yet, all of the church leaders I know want to see giving increase. They want their people to become more generous with their finances, loosen their grip on money, and give back to the One who has provided it all in the first place.

To add to the tension, a lot of pastors fear playing into the stereotype that the church is all about money. So they never talk about money or wait until they need it. That’s a mistake.

The reason you need to talk about money is more about what you want for people than what you want from them. People argue about money every day, and you can help them win with it.

In addition, without casting an authentic vision about money, many will never release the gift of generosity in their life. Giving is a discipleship issue that too many church leaders ignore.

If you truly want to see church members embrace biblical generosity, you have to talk about it openly. You need to normalize the giving conversation and take the awkward out of it.

It starts with the acknowledgement that giving is first and foremost a spiritual issue, not financial. Our giving back to God for the work He wants to do in this world is a reflection of who He is in our lives. It shows our worship and reverence.

Giving is first and foremost a spiritual issue, not financial. – Jim SheppardClick To Tweet

That is why we give to God. It’s not to fund the church budget or advance projects. Those are merely secondary effects of what happens when we give to God’s work in and through the church.

This is where we often get it wrong and add to the awkwardness. We communicate that the main reason we want the people in our church to give is so that our church finances will flourish. That’s not it. That is not the primary reason we want our people to give. We want our people to give so that they can experience what it does for them when they give to God’s work. Our giving to God is meant to transform us!

When we treat the spiritual discipline of generosity as an exercise in fundraising – we end up nominalizing what God intended as a means to grow us.

Teaching about giving is an integral part of making disciples.

All of the church leaders I know want to make more disciples. Therefore, we have to teach and equip our people on giving if we are really serious about making disciples.

Most of the people in our churches have no idea of the spiritual implication of managing (or not managing) well the money and possessions that have been entrusted to them. For us to take the awkwardness out of it, our focus must be on growing givers’ hearts.

A couple of leading voices in the American church have spoken to this and it bears mentioning here.

In the second message of the series Money Talks that Andy Stanley preached in February 2019, he says it this way. “Until Jesus is first in your finances, Jesus isn’t first. You’re not a follower. You’re a user. And Judas tried that.”

That sounds direct but it is hard to argue. If we have put Jesus first in other areas of our lives but we have not done so with our money and possessions, we have missed it. We have not fully put Jesus first.

The issue gets compounded because we are not good at self-assessing. We think we are more generous than we really are.

Tim Keller, in a talk he gave at a Generous Giving gathering some years ago, says it well in this excerpt. “…Nobody thinks they’re greedy. Nobody. In all my years as a minister, I have heard almost every kind of confession. Nobody has ever come to me and said, ‘I spend too much money on myself.’ Nobody has ever done that. But here is what I want you to consider. If Jesus talks about greed and materialism 10 or 20 times more than he talks about other sins, and he says that nobody ever thinks they’re doing it. Then we should start with a working hypothesis that it is probably a problem for me.”

Giving is a spiritual issue. If we want to develop cultures of generosity in our churches, we have to own this. We can’t just hope it will change. We have to do something if we want to see it change.

Until Jesus is first in your finances, Jesus isn’t first. You’re not a follower. You’re a user. And Judas tried that. – @AndyStanleyClick To Tweet

Five Areas To Address When Taking The Awkward out of the Giving Conversation

So, where do we start? There are five areas where I would recommend we start:

1. Regularly Teach Biblical Generosity

The senior leader must teach on generosity and stewardship on a regular basis. A series every now and then is helpful, but also consider other means. When generosity comes up in the text of a passage you are using to make another point, take time to cover the generosity point in the text.

Perhaps the single best way to teach regularly is through the offering moment. The few minutes before you receive the offering in service each week is a key time to teach on the importance of what is happening.

If you want a step-by-step plan to accelerate generosity in your church, you can download one for free here.

The few minutes before you receive the offering in service each week is a key time to teach on the importance of what is happening. – Jim SheppardClick To Tweet

2. Model Generosity – In Your Own Life and In Others

Share examples of people who have seen transformation in their own lives when it comes to giving. For people who are not faithful givers, they don’t know what it looks like. They need examples and encouragement. Seeing the journey of someone else accomplishes both.

One thing I hear often when I bring this up is the idea that this is not a topic we are supposed to share about in public. They say, “don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing.” Without going into a long explanation of the text, that is not a prohibition against sharing one’s giving story. If it were, Jesus would not have talked about letting your light shine before men that they might see your good works.

The key here is to be careful about the motive in sharing. Give credit to God for the increase in your heart’s capacity to give. That’s the real story here!

3. Celebrate Mission Advancement

Encourage your church by calling attention to victories in mission advancement due to giving. This is probably the most overlooked element of encouraging generosity.

Think of a time when you made a significant appeal to the people of your church and they rose up and met it. Did you celebrate it? I don’t mean patting yourselves on the back and congratulating each other, I mean giving thanks to God for the move of His Spirit among your people, and the response of obedience in His people.

If you haven’t been doing it, make sure you do it next time you ask and your people respond.

4. Make Generosity a Priority, a Mark of Discipleship

Specifically identify giving and generosity as one of the marks of discipleship in your church.

Churches prioritize that which they have identified as important. Values get prioritized. Many times, the values a church establishes are connected to marks of discipleship. Prayer, service, leading, and Bible study are frequently on the list of things a church considers the marks of discipleship.

Did you notice which one is not in the list? Giving and generosity. Maybe church leaders just assume if you do the other things, you will be a generous giver. This is not a good strategy.

I have been around hundreds of churches as a consultant and I’ll just say that’s not my experience. It doesn’t just happen. It has to be specifically addressed. Making generosity one of the church’s marks of discipleship is a way to ensure that it happens.

5. Have a Generosity Champion at the table with your lead team

This is a voice to make sure generosity and giving are prioritized. This is probably the biggest single idea of the five mentioned here, and likely the one most leaders have not considered.

It is easy for giving and generosity to take a back seat to other priorities church leaders are addressing at any given time. This is understandable when something really pressing comes along, but it should be the exception, not the norm.

Generosity should be like a thread that is woven into the fabric of the church. Not siloed, but owned by every leader on the team.

A Generosity Champion, whether a staff member or a key lay person, will keep it on the table at all times.

Generosity should be like a thread that is woven into the fabric of the church. Not siloed, but owned by every leader on the team. – Jim SheppardClick To Tweet

Where do we go from here?

We have to solve this. The stakes are high on two fronts.

1. The people in our churches are spiritually malnourished when it comes to money and possessions.

When we talk about making disciples, we have to be committed to addressing all the areas of discipleship. Teaching in the area of money and possessions is the most neglected one. In a culture that is as materialistic as America, our understanding of money and possessions and how it fits into our faith perspective is critical.

Jesus was concerned about it two thousand years ago. He knew that money had the potential to be another god to us.

In Luke 16, he clearly pointed out that money has the potential to cause us to worship at that altar instead of the altar of Almighty God.

This is a powerful teaching and we tend to blow past it. It speaks to the need to provide spiritual nourishment in the area of money and possessions.

2. Our churches are being limited in the pursuit of their God-given mission and mandate by the lack of sufficient financial resources.

In a country as affluent as America, there is no reason for our churches to have to limit their ministry because of financial resources. Yes, there are churches that are in economically challenged areas. But that is not the norm.

The best research we have indicates giving among believers is somewhere in the range of 2.5% of their income. Think about that. If believers in America gave just half a tithe (10% of their income), it would double the level of giving to churches. The impact of the ministry of the American church would be significantly expanded.

Only by growing givers’ hearts and loosening the grip on what God has provided will we make meaningful progress.

There’s too much at stake.

Let’s commit ourselves to removing the awkwardness and normalizing the giving conversation. For our people and for our churches.

What if you could take the weirdness out of the giving conversation at your church?

The Generis team has been helping churches do this for years.

We’d love to offer you a totally free conversation about how you can build a culture that embraces generosity like never before.

Normalize the giving conversation in your church and accelerate greater generosity towards your God-inspired vision starting today!

You can schedule a complimentary discovery session with a Generosity Strategist here: https://resources.generis.com/carey

How do you currently talk about giving? 

I’d love to know what strategies you’re trying.

Leave a comment below and let us know!

The post The Awkward Relationship Between Money and The Church…And What You Can Do About It appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: The Awkward Relationship Between Money and The Church…And What You Can Do About It

The post The Awkward Relationship Between Money and The Church…And What You Can Do About It appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By unSeminary.com: Welcome to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Renaut van der Riet from Mosaic Church in the Orlando, Florida area. Passionate about making the gospel beautiful however they can, Mosaic is continually pursuing how they can serve each other and how they can serve their community. This heart has led to tremendous growth in seasons, which also has exposed areas where the church needs to work on its health.

As church leaders, we run into trouble when we become obsessed with measuring the health of our churches by the size of our churches, as our culture pressures us to do. But fruitfulness is the biblical measurement for what indicates health. Listen in as Renaut shares how to stay healthy as a leader and a church while you are growing.

Stop growth for the sake of health. // Stopping growth momentum or slowing it down for a season can be a huge fear for churches. We may feel that we have to keep it going no matter what, even if it’s negatively affecting the broader health of the church and staff. Ultimately, growth without health will not be sustainable. Many large churches will grow and grow and grow only to then crash and burn, or have a major staff turnover. During one of Mosaic’s growth spurts where they doubled in size in a season, they found their DNA became diluted and they needed to pull back to work on their health and culture.Regular commitment to exposure. // When the pace of growth is going fast, things can look great in public so we assume that it is also going well behind the scenes. The reality is, when things are growing fast some things will fall through the cracks or not get the attention they need. That eventually erodes health without our even noticing it. Combat this drift by having regular evaluations of both your leadership and infrastructure so you can bring issues into the light and address them before they get out of control.Show your truth. // Secrets and shadows should be our greatest fear as ministry leaders. Just as we need to bring issues in our ministry into the light, we need to be honest about the state of our souls. As Renaut notes, the sooner we share our deficits, the sooner we’re free because then there’s nothing for people to find out! Whether you’re on stage in front of your church, or working with your staff, be honest about your shortcomings. Pastors’ lives are as messy and imperfect as anyone else’s. Let in the light on your life to protect yourself from making really big mistakes down the road.More fruitful, more health. // The bible doesn’t say: the bigger the church, the healthier the church. Rather fruitfulness is an indicator of health. We have created this belief that if you pastor a big church, you are a better leader. But that’s simply not true. Leading a church is a bit like gardening where each of us are given a plant to care for, and each individual plant is very different from other kinds. Each plant has unique challenges in its care and also gifts to offer. Be thankful that each different church can learn from each other and has something different to contribute to God’s mission.  Cultivate healthy intimacy. // As church leaders, if we become obsessed with our positions, then church becomes an idol. As a result we won’t want our souls to be exposed to the light and an obsession with growth will override our church’s health, eventually causing things to fall flat. When church leaders fail, we see that intimacy with God, their spouse and biblical community has been eroded over time. It’s important to learn how to continually cultivate these areas of intimacy to stay in the light. Find What is Missing. // To help with these challenges, Jimmy Dodd of PastorServe and Renaut authored a book, “What Great Ministry Leaders Get Right: Six Core Competencies You Need to Succeed in Your Calling“. The book teaches church leaders how to care for their own souls well, how to care for their families well, how to not make the church an idol in their life, and how to cultivate good friendships, encouraging healthy relational intimacy. For years this material has been taught at Mosaic Church to their interns, volunteers, staff, and ministry leaders in order to cultivate health in the church as it grows.

You can learn more about Mosaic Church at thisismosaic.org.

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Carey Nieuwhof

Leadership has felt pretty uncertain and divisive this past year. How do you make decisions when the future isn’t predictable and your team has different opinions?Download the FREE Pivot Ready Cheat Sheet to get help making progress and gaining clarity through rapid change and disruption. It will give you a framework that effective and resilient leaders use to make decisions and take action.

Source: Working at Health while Facilitating for Growth with Renaut van der Riet

The post Working at Health while Facilitating for Growth with Renaut van der Riet appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Carey Nieuwhof: Craig Groeschel returns to talk about what he’s learned in the last year about church attendance, how to lead your team well when everyone has strong (and divergent) opinions, why he’s gone 100% in on digital church and 100% in on physical church, and how he’s winning the war in his mind.

Welcome to Episode 397 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Plus, in this episode’s What I’m Thinking About segment, Carey talks about disruptive church trends that will rule 2021 (part 1).

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Convoy of Hope

Convoy of Hope is a Christian humanitarian organization that exists to bring hope to the hungry through feeding initiatives, disaster response, women’s empowerment and agricultural training, empowering others to live with greater independence and freedom from poverty, disease and hunger.

In 2020, Convoy of Hope delivered 150 million meals to those affected by COVID-19, all in partnership with the local church.

Thousands of churches around the U.S. partner with Convoy of Hope to help those in need in their local community. You and your church can, too.

Convoy is one of the most trusted non-profit Christian humanitarian organizations in the world. They take your dollars and stretch it into 6 dollars because of their partnerships with companies like Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, Culligan, Nestle Water, Bass Pro Shops and more.

You can bring hope to the hurting and hungry by texting COH to 68828, or visit convoyofhope.org to donate.

Conversation Links

Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschel

The Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast

Life.Church

Dangerous Prayers by Craig Groeschel

Divine Direction by Craig Groeschel

Hope in the Dark by Craig Groeschel

Liking Jesus by Craig Groeschel

CNLP 173: Craig Groeschel Deconstructs His Approach to Preaching, Leadership, Success, the Future and More

CNLP 319: Craig Groeschel on What He’s Learning From His Performance Coach, How to Handle High Demand Leadership, and How to Avoid Entitlement in Leadership

CNLP 052: How Craig Groeschel Stays Healthy, Relevant and Passionate in Ministry

CNLP 228: Craig Groeschel on Handling the Pain That Comes with Life and Leadership, How God Can Redeem Self-Inflicted Pain and Bring Hope in the Dark of Personal Suffering

CNLP 207: Bobby Gruenewald on Leveraging First Mover Advantage, Innovation, AI, Technology and the Future Church

8 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2021 (The Rise of the Post-Pandemic Church) by Carey Nieuwhof

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Insights From Craig

1. As a leader, you can have extreme views but you need extreme empathy for those who disagree

The COVID-19 pandemic has likely revealed how far apart the views of some of your staff are. Mask or no mask, gather or not, all of these issues are highly-polarized, and as a leader, you need to be able to speak to and empathize with people on both extremes. If you can’t respect other people’s views, you’ll never be able to lead them.

2. Truly engaging people online takes a lot more work

There’s a lot to question when it comes to online attendance and results. Do online views count? Yes. But how you count them and how you engage with those viewers on a deeper level is difficult to know. Both Carey and Craig tend to be conservative in how they count online numbers and think you need to go beyond just views.

3. Go in 100% on online and 100% on in-person

As you build out the future of your church, there is opportunity both online and in-person. To capitalize on both places, Craig and his team are going 100% in on online and 100% in on in-person church services. He recommends that you be honest about the strengths and weaknesses of both ways to gather.

4. When it comes to models, be FOR what you are but not against what you aren’t

So many pastors cast stones at churches that don’t share the same model as them. Craig points out that there are strengths to large gatherings and strengths to micro-gatherings. Moving forward, be positive about the model that’s working for you, but don’t be against the model that you isn’t.

5. To have a great organization, get over your preferences

Over the years, Craig has learned that if he wants their organization to grow, he needs to be willing to give up more of his preferences for the sake of empowering others to make those decisions. He’s learned this through a lot of pain and anonymous 360 reviews. The longer he’s led, the less confident in his own preferences he’s become.

Quotes from Episode 397

Your life and leadership are always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

Be what you are without being against what you’re not. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

If you’re small minded, you’re always going to have a limited impact. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

Online is a higher priority, and it should be for everyone doing any form of ministry and leadership moving forward. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

If you don’t like what you have, change the way you think. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

Whatever you lead is a reflection of the thoughts you think. People may not ever hear you say it or think your inner dialogue, but they’re going to feel it. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

To have a great organization, you have to get over your preferences. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

We have to fight as leaders not to be overly optimistic or overly discouraged, but just tell the truth. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

You have to lead with grace, understanding and an explanation. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

Crisis leadership is not as hard as you think. There are some basics: You have to communicate over and over again. You have to bring the why behind everything that you’re doing. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

If we value the church gathering, then we may still stream our content but our strategy of how we engage people needs to be different. @craiggroeschelClick To Tweet

The number of people participating in the mission who are not in the building on a Sunday will surpass the number of people participating in the mission.Click To Tweet

In the post-pandemic church, your most engaged people may not be in the room.Click To Tweet

In the post-pandemic church, growing churches will shift their focus from gathering to connecting.Click To Tweet

Some pastors will try to fill auditoriums while others focus on fulfilling the mission.Click To Tweet

Full auditoriums do not guarantee a fulfilled mission.Click To Tweet

Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 397

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Help Your Team Crush Their Goals As You Move Into The Future

It’s never been more important for your organization to hit your goals. It’s also never been more difficult.

Lead a Better Team is the step-by-step approach to:

Get far better results with the same team
Create a system of accountability so you can actually achieve the goals you set; and
Boost the performance of your staff so you can stop micromanaging

All while freeing up time for you to do what you do best.

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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review

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Thank you for being so awesome.

Next Episode: Christy Nockels

Christy Nockels has been singing in front of tens of thousands of people since she was 19. She shares the best and hardest parts of life on the road, how she dealt with a life-altering bout of burnout, how to work with your spouse and what she thinks the future of live events and the music industry might look like.

Subscribe for free now so you won’t miss Episode 398.

The post CNLP 397: Craig Groeschel on the Future of Church Attendance, How to Lead Well When Everyone Has Different Opinions, and on Winning the War in Your Mind appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 397: Craig Groeschel on the Future of Church Attendance, How to Lead Well When Everyone Has Different Opinions, and on Winning the War in Your Mind

The post CNLP 397: Craig Groeschel on the Future of Church Attendance, How to Lead Well When Everyone Has Different Opinions, and on Winning the War in Your Mind appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Carey Nieuwhof: What will drive future church growth in the post-pandemic era?

It’s an important question to ask, because for most church leaders the pandemic has been a question of adaptation and survival, both personal and organizational.

The pandemic has been both discouraging and frustration for many church leaders.

Not only are the return-to-church numbers remarkably low,  but there’s evidence as many as 1 in 5 people dropped out of church in 2020 (see this post on the new exodus for why so many suddenly left the church).

There’s no question that many habits and patterns are being reset right now, but with every obstacle comes opportunity.

So what’s going to accelerate the growth of the future church?

Time, of course, will tell, but here are five things that will in all likelihood help churches accelerate growth into the future.

1. A Focus on the Core Mission

Before the global crisis hit in 2020, most churches were struggling, but so was church. Liberal and conservative churches were transfixed on politics and ideas (more than the core message of Christianity) were often struggling to reach new people.

Even attractional churches, which made up the majority of growing churches in the last two decades, were finding growth much harder than it used to be. (I wrote more about why here.)

If there’s one trend to watch moving forward, it’s that America likely accelerated its journey into becoming a post-modern, post-Christian culture.

Which means the future church will have to stand as an alternative to the culture, not an echo of it.

The future church will have to stand as an alternative to the culture, not an echo of it.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

As a result, in the future church:

Cool won’t cut it

Hype won’t cut it

Fun won’t cut it.

Real will.

A focus on the core purpose of church: introducing people to a relationship with Christ, with each other and life-changing discipleship, will be the one thing that church can offer that the world doesn’t.

Churches that focus on this will grow. Churches that get lost in politics, ideology, hype or anything off mission won’t—at least not the long term.

In the future church, cool won’t cut it. Hype won’t cut it. Fun won’t cut it. Real will.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

2. An Actual Experience

So what kind of experience will help people move into an authentic faith?

For years, churches have grown through delivering great content. And trust me, excellent preaching still matters.

The problem is that great content is no longer scarce.

What used to drive church attendance—join us in the building at 10 a.m. for a brand new series—will no longer do so, because everyone now knows whatever message you’re preaching will be live-streamed or available later on demand.

And if your message isn’t, no worries. They can choose from a million others that are. For free. Here’s more on the new scarcity and why content alone won’t cut it in the future.

Our culture is drowning in a sea of information.

When people come to church, they’re not just looking for information—they’re looking for transformation.

Sure, people definitely need some information, but fewer are looking for information about God; they’re looking for an experience of God.

When people come to church, they’re not just looking for information—they’re looking for transformation. They’re not looking for information about God; they’re looking for an experience of God.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

Today, information is everywhere. Transformation is scarce.

What does this mean?

Churches that focus on something more than head knowledge in their services or a ‘fun’ experience will likely see greater traction than those that don’t. Even pre-pandemic, churches that had a more charismatic, emotional experience were growing when many other churches weren’t.

In addition, churches that have a clear path into discipleship…that get people engaging their faith or at least experiencing it, will see greater success than churches that invite you to merely attend.

Today, information is everywhere. Transformation is scarce.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

3. Community and Connection

Content used to be a competitive advantage. For the most part, it isn’t any more.

What is deeply scarce right now are community and connection.

A year into the pandemic, people are more isolated than ever. That’s playing out the crisis in mental health, rising addictions and the fractionalized tribes we’ve seen form in our culture.

Authentic, loving and genuine community are more scarce than they have ever been in our lifetime.

Every church should be running to fill that hole.

Community means connecting people to each other in groups, serving, friendship and relationships.

Nobody should be able to out-community the local church.

Connection means that even for those joining online or attending in person for the first time, the primary job becomes connecting with them and then helping them find connection with each other.

In the same way the purpose of a dating app isn’t to get people to connect with the app, but with each other, the goal of the church should be to get people to connect with one another, not just the senior leader. I realize that’s not a great analogy, but you get the point, right?

Moving forward, the competitive advantage of the local church isn’t content, it’s community and connection.

Moving forward, the competitive advantage of the local church isn’t content, it’s community and connection.

Click to Tweet

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4. Church Online

What happens to online church once we’re move into a post-pandemic world?

Simple…it becomes your front door and side door, and as a result, becomes the greatest opportunity for you to reach new people (front door) and keep people in your church connected (side door).

In the pre-digital era, it took a lot to get someone to come to your church for the first time.

They had to gather the family, dress up (at least out of their PJs), show up and set aside hours for a first time experience. In a Christian culture, that was far easier and less intimidating than it is in a post-Christian culture.

The good news about church online is that the cost of entry is almost nothing to a first-time guest. Just one click and they’re with you.

In the future, wise leaders will realize that this is the best way to reach people, and if you develop a great way to meet people, connect with them and move them into relationship and a discipleship path, you’ll see significant growth.

The other opportunity for church online is its ability to act as a side door for people who are away for the weekend (or a season).

Again, in the pre-digital era, if you were gone…you missed everything. Now you don’t have to miss a thing.

So a robust digital presence moving forward can result in both greater growth and deeper engagement.

Plus digital church scales in a way that physical church doesn’t.

The old thinking was (and still is in many cases) that you’re competing with your in-person services by having a great online experience. That’s scarcity thinking at its finest.

You’re not competing with yourself by investing in a digital future, you’re expanding your mission.

Digital church scales in a way that physical church doesn’t. You’re not competing with yourself by investing in a digital future, you’re expanding your mission.

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5. Agility

One of the biggest temptations for all of us when the post-pandemic era arrives will be to take our foot off the accelerator, find a method that works and lock it in.

That might be a fatal mistake.

The era of set-it-and-forget it strategy is over.

In all likelihood, culture will continue to morph and change quickly. The pace of change will continue unabated, and that will create the need to stay agile.

The gap between how quickly you change and how quickly the culture changes is called irrelevance.

Too many leaders sacrifice the mission in the name of finding predictable methods. Agile leaders are willing to continually sacrifice methods to advance the mission.

Too many leaders sacrifice the mission in the name of finding predictable methods. Agile leaders are willing to continually sacrifice methods to advance the mission.

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I realize that sounds exhausting, and here’s some encouragement (and advice) on how to hang in there for the long haul.

What you’ll realize though is that remaining agile, open and ready to change is one of the greatest strength you can have moving forward.

And ultimately, agility is far less exhausting than decline is.

The era of set-it-and-forget it strategy is over. Agility is far less exhausting than decline is.

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What Do You See?

What do you see as you look to the future?

Anything you’re seeing that’s getting traction as you move into the future?

The post 5 Post-Pandemic Church Growth Accelerators appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 5 Post-Pandemic Church Growth Accelerators

The post 5 Post-Pandemic Church Growth Accelerators appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By unSeminary: Thanks for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Drew Sherman, lead pastor of Compass Christian Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Compass has four physical locations as well as an online campus and is one of the fastest growing churches in the country.

The most fruitful seasons of our lives are usually not the easiest seasons. For many people 2020 may have been one of the hardest years they experienced, but it may also be the year they learned the most. Listen in as Drew Sherman shares how to take hold of teachable moments for your congregation, move forward to thrive, and cast vision for the future.

Foster connection. // Churches today must be a “both/and” church, not “either/or.” Online services aren’t any less important than in-person services and the church needs to invest heavily in both. Connect with the online crowd too and bring attendees from both types of services together into one congregation through programs and events, such as outreach in your community. Cast vision for the future. // Compass Christian Church currently has a generosity initiative underway called “Unstoppable”. This initiative was planned before the pandemic and they knew they couldn’t let the coronavirus stop it from moving forward! Right now is the time to cast vision for the future. People are stuck in neutral, just trying to survive, so it’s important to give them a vision for what your church is going to be doing next. Even if some activities may be on hold right now, you don’t have to pause everything. Keep moving forward and your church can thrive.Grow in the hard times. // Generally the most fruitful seasons of a person’s life are not the easiest seasons. 2020 was the hardest year of many people’s lives, but in some ways it might be the year they learn the most. Don’t let the pain of this season be wasted. What is your church, staff, and congregation learning during this time? Rather than looking at 2020 as a throwaway year, think about the many teachable moments for your people and lean into them.Pay attention to your team. // Some of your staff may be better than ever during this season while others may be drained and need coaching and counseling. A lot of this depletion can point back to how over the years we’ve ignored the value of soul-care. Provide pastoral care for your staff, listen to them, and teach and encourage them to care for their souls. Remember that hurry and love are not compatible.Reevaluate and shift. // There’s never been a better time to reevaluate staff and programs and do some shifting. You may have the right people on the bus, but they need to be moved to different seats. If you had a ministry, strategy or event that wasn’t working well prior to COVID, don’t restart it. It’s time to kill those sacred cows. Transition to more of a simple church model that is focused on mission. Eliminate things that don’t support your mission and remember that complexity is the enemy of clarity.Enhance online services. // Don’t become overly focused on getting your pre-COVID in-person congregation back. A certain percentage of people may never return and if you have a solid online ministry, others may stay online. Rather than fighting this trend, explore creating house churches or micro-sites. Ask what a digital disciple looks like. Can you become a fully devoted follower if you’re just committed to online church? Don’t just broadcast your in-person service to serve people online, but create an online experience. Lastly, remember that all the oppression, trials, and obstacles in the book of Acts led to the early church growing and enlarging their circle. Churches today need to think similarly.

You can learn more about Compass Christian Church at www.compass.church.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Carey Nieuwhof

Leadership has felt pretty uncertain and divisive this past year. How do you make decisions when the future isn’t predictable and your team has different opinions?Download the FREE Pivot Ready Cheat Sheet to get help making progress and gaining clarity through rapid change and disruption. It will give you a framework that effective and resilient leaders use to make decisions and take action.

Source: Lessons From Casting Vision & Pushing Forward During the Pandemic with Drew Sherman

The post Lessons From Casting Vision & Pushing Forward During the Pandemic with Drew Sherman appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By unSeminary: Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to be talking with Kyle and Justeina Brownlee from Xperience Church in Ohio.

At Xperience Church, going beyond their walls to serve their community isn’t just something they do, it’s who they are. Listen in as Kyle and Justeina share about how to build a culture of meeting the needs of your community both practically and spiritually.

Look beyond the walls. // Kyle and Justeina worked to plant Xperience Church back in 2012 with the help of the Association of Related Churches. They ended up in the rural community of Defiance, OH and didn’t realize community service would become such a big part of their church’s culture. When a church is just starting to get established and grow, it’s easy to get focused on what’s going on inside the walls and forget about going beyond the walls. At the same time, Kyle says that if we have encountered God’s love—a love that never fails—it’s part of our calling to go share that love with others. Focus on actual needs. // Xperience Church didn’t want to wait for people to come to them; they wanted to be intentional about going to people who needed reaching. And that began with identifying needs in their community. Do your homework and be very intentional about going out into the community and asking what are the needs. Reach out to government officials, schools, city parks and other nonprofits. Rather than doing what’s easiest to serve people in your city, do what is really needed. Each community has different needs, environments, and cultural focuses so take a look at the specific needs around you.Partner with others. // Most cities have organizations that meet needs within their communities. Check in your area to find what nonprofits already exist and what’s working. Ask how you can join and support them rather than creating something new to compete with them. The church grows more rapidly when we learn to partner and support. Xperience Church reached out to another church in a rougher part of town to support work that they were already doing and it turned into a beautiful partnership where the churches would adopt certain neighborhoods and serve them with meals. Adopt a Block was so successful that the Chief of Police contacted them and told them that crime had actually gone down in the neighborhood.Hand-up instead of handout. // Early on Kyle admits that serving the community was also part of marketing their church plant to attract people to it. But as time went on and they engaged in more service opportunities, he realized it didn’t matter. If people got plugged into another church in the area, the Kingdom was winning. Outreaches became about not just giving people a handout, but about giving people a hand-up so they would never go back to that place they were in. Focus on loving people and connecting them to God, even if they don’t start attending your church. Meeting the physical needs in your community will open the door to meeting spiritual needs.Start serving. // The first few years after their establishment, Xperience Church would gather their church and volunteers once a year for a big Serve Day to work on multiple projects around the city. This event began to plant the seeds for future opportunities at the church. They learned that some projects went over great while others didn’t bear fruit because they weren’t serving actual needs in the community. Over time the city took notice and expressed needing more from the church and so they started doing outreaches more regularly. This became the foundation for their current serve culture – they taught people within the church how to get outside the walls and also facilitated opportunities.Creating a base camp. // The Dream Center in Defiance grew out of these cumulative opportunities. Now the Dream Center is their base camp for addressing needs in the community. Some of the unique issues they address include a workforce program where high school students can come and learn about trades to prepare for a job. They also have a car program where volunteers service cars for single moms and widows. Additionally they have first Saturday serves and tackle different projects each month. To discern what sort of projects you could tackle, ask yourself what resources and skills God has placed in your congregation, and how can those things be paired with the needs of your community.Create a culture of community outreach. // If you want your church to move more in this direction, but aren’t sure where to begin, start by praying and asking God what He’s leading you toward. Plant seeds in your congregation by talking about serving in sermon series. Lastly, ask God for open doors and contacts so that you can start reaching out whether it’s to other nonprofits, school systems, or the city.

You can learn more about Xperience Church at www.xchurch.tv.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Industries

Doing Church in a Rented Facility can be a Challenge.

Questions about Multisiting or Portability?Click here to connect with our Multisite Specialist for a free evaluation.

Source: Connection Between Community Service & Church Growth with Kyle & Justeina Brownlee

The post Connection Between Community Service & Church Growth with Kyle & Justeina Brownlee appeared first on Passion for Planting.

This post is written by Dillon Smith, a Gen Z team member at Carey Nieuwhof Communications.

By Dillon Smith

Even before the pandemic struck, the western church has been filling fewer and fewer stadiums over the last few decades.

As Gordon Macdonald talked about in this interview, the days of Billy Graham’s evangelistic crusades where he packed out arenas are long over.

According to Gordon:

“Billy Graham’s way of saying the gospel doesn’t work anymore. Bill Bright’s doesn’t work anymore. So get ready for something new.”

Sadly, I think we’ve needed a whole new evangelism strategy for the last 10-20 years, and COVID-19 is finally forcing us to figure out what it should be.

So, in an age where…

The Gospel isn’t filling very many stadiums,
Sunday morning church attendance is at all-time lows,
and our best evangelism strategies are producing diminishing returns,

…what can your church do to reach more people?

As a young church leader who has had the privilege of working closely with Carey Nieuwhof and seeing behind the scenes of A LOT of churches and church models, I see 5 promising options:

We’ve needed a whole new evangelism strategy for the last 10-20 years, and COVID is finally forcing us to figure out what it should be. – @Dillon_M_Smith

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1. Online influencers that talk about their faith

In case you haven’t noticed, It’s pretty difficult to grow a following on YouTube. Especially if you’re a church.

Why is that?

I’ve spent the last year and a half trying to figure out why some content is performing well online, and other content isn’t.

What I’ve realized is that there are 2 types of binge-worthy content that will allow you to grow a massive following online.

Those 2 types of content are:

Entertaining Content

This would include channels that are based on gaming, sports, comedy, and a long list of other things that we would classify as entertaining.

Helpful Content

This would include channels that are based around “How-to” videos, educational videos, makeup tutorials (Which are HUGE on YouTube,) and anything else that makes the viewer feel like they have learned something new from watching.

If a channel can consistently produce one of these types of content, it has the potential to become huge.

Sadly, many online church services aren’t densely packed with helpful or entertaining content, and that’s one reason why they aren’t growing.

Many preachers, myself included, take 35 minutes to solve a problem that a different Youtube video would only take 10 minutes to solve. This is likely one reason why our YouTube channels aren’t growing.

But, there are a lot of Christian influencers that have built a massive following based on some other helpful or entertaining topic.

And when they talk about their faith, millions of (mostly young) people are watching.

Some examples: 

One of the world’s largest YouTube Channels is called DudePerfect.

Because of their early start in YouTube, and explosive growth, they have 54 MILLION YouTube Subscribers today. (And that’s just their main channel.)

That’s huge, and as you follow them for the entertaining videos, eventually you hear them talk about their faith, and how it’s the most important thing in their lives.

So, just by creating entertaining YouTube videos, they’ve been able to talk about Jesus to tens of millions of people. It’s easy to see how God is using them.

Another example is Matt Carriker of DemolitionRanch, OffTheRanch, and VetRanch.

He has 15 Million Subscribers across his 3 channels and has built a very personal relationship with his followers through his OffTheRanch vlog channel.

Anyone who’s followed him for a while knows that he has had a few tragic deaths in his friends and family recently. The closest of which has been the passing of his little brother Mark.

In the video titled “Rest In Peace Little Brother”, Matt talks about why his entire family got baptized during his Brother’s cancer journey.

This 33-minute video has been seen 4.5 Million times by Matt’s followers.

Essentially, Matt preached the gospel to 4.5 MILLION people even though his YouTube Channels have nothing to do with the Church or faith.

Forward-thinking churches should see online Christian influencers as a part of their evangelism strategy.

Whether it’s creating great content online yourselves or partnering with online influencers in your area that already have a following, you can’t afford to miss this opportunity.

Forward-thinking churches should see online Christian influencers as a part of their evangelism strategy. – @Dillon_M_Smith

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2. Multiplying churches reaching college-age people

This one isn’t so much an “evangelism” strategy as it is a “stop losing so many teenage Christians when they go to college” strategy, but I’m including it anyway.

There are very few church models that give me as much hope as churches that are focused on multiplication. And that “multiplication” effect is amplified further if they’re actively reaching college-age students.

I don’t have enough room to explain exactly how the model works, but the best example of this that I’ve seen is CityLight Church in Omaha, Nebraska.

They’ve planted 10 churches over the last 10 years, and have reached thousands of people with the gospel.

You can listen to an interview with Chris Hruska, their lead pastor here.
Or, you can listen to Carey’s recent ChurchPulse Weekly interview with their newest church plant here.

Here’s the bottom line: Millions of Christians are becoming stagnant in stagnant churches. Multiplication-focused churches might hold the key to solving this problem.

Millions of Christians are becoming stagnant in stagnant churches. Multiplication-focused churches might hold the key to solving this problem. – @Dillon_M_Smith

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3. Apologetics online

Today’s young people are taking their hardest questions to Google, not their parents, friends, or pastors.

So as they begin to ask serious questions like “Is there a God?” “Why do I need to believe in God?” or “Which God is the real God?” they end up typing it into a search bar rather than asking a person.

And what is your Church doing about this?

…

Most churches have no clue what to do about this.

But there is a massive opportunity here. According to VidIQ, 5400 people search “Is there a god?” on YouTube every month.

What if your church was on that first page of results?

Now here’s a warning:

When you try to answer this question, you’re competing with the world’s best minds because their video will pop up next in the “recommended” section right after yours.

So, whether you create the video yourself, or you send your people to your favorite apologist’s video, make sure your video and argument stands a chance at competing with Steven Hawking or Sam Harris.

Today’s young people are taking their hardest questions to Google, not their parents, friends, or pastors. – @Dillon_M_Smith

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4. Calling people to unity (because technology is dividing us)

The internet is becoming a more and more divided place.

I know you know that. Just look at what happened with the election.

Because of all of the things we’ve seen online, the US (where I live) is more divided and destabilized than it ever has been since the civil war.

To find out why, we have to look at the algorithms that run our social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.

Because they want more ad revenue, these algorithms are prioritizing whatever content that keeps you on their platform the longest.

Sadly, the content that keeps people engaged the longest (and gets them to see the most ads) is proving to be whatever content is more and more extreme.

Tristan Harris does an outstanding job of explaining this on The Joe Rogan Experience here.

So why is this an opportunity for the church?

Roughly 40 million people have seen Tristan Harris’ Netflix Documentary The Social Dilemma.

That’s 40 million people whose eyes have been opened to the dangers of social media and division online.

If you start producing intentionally unifying content, some of these people will take notice, and they will be quick to share your unifying content and tell their friends about what you’re doing.

We at Carey Nieuwhof Communications are “trying to create a place for the good people on the internet.” Your church can and should be doing the same.

5. Felt-need marketing

This might be the most doable of these 5 options for your church. And most churches are doing this already on a small scale.

But here’s what’s true about every single person that you’re trying to reach:

They have needs.

Whether it’s financial, mental, relational, or spiritual needs, your community has them. Your church should be helping them with those needs.

But, as Carey has pointed out for years, most churches have been answering questions that nobody in their community is asking.

When you write sermons and produce resources that help people with specific problems and then market those sermons to your community, you’re practicing “felt-need marketing.”

And if you want to start bringing new people into your church, you need your communities to know about the felt-needs that you can help them solve.

So what Christian organizations are doing this well? Look at organizations like Griefshare, Alcoholics Anonymous, or Dave Ramsey and Ramsey Solutions.

These organizations see a need and are filling it. Your church can do the same.

If you want to start bringing new people into your church, you need your community to know about the felt-needs that you can help them solve. @Dillon_M_Smith

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There are 2 major ways that your church needs to be broadcasting the felt-needs that you can help with:

Word-of-mouth/person-to-person marketing based on your weekly services

Rich Birch does a phenomenal job of outlining how a church can do this well here.

Using digital ad space and social media to reach people with specific struggles.

Some larger churches can afford to hire a digital marketing/social media agency to run these ads for them. But the majority of churches don’t have 10’s of thousands of dollars to spare.

Many of the more normal-sized US-based churches are putting their resources together into a nation-wide ad campaign called GlooConnect.

Here’s a bit more information about them:

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TURN ONLINE VIEWERS INTO REAL RELATIONSHIPSn

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Ever wondered how to turn a viewer into a real relationship? n

Every day, people visit your church website and access your content, but few ever really identify. n

GlooConnect is a solution that gives people showing interest in your church online an opportunity to connect with your church. n

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GlooConnect lets you pastor and focus on what you do best. No additional staff. No complex tech. Plus, it’s way more cost effective than doing it on your own. n

Get started in as little as 15 minutes and make 2021 a year of unprecedented growth for your church by joining GlooConnect today: n

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TURN ONLINE VIEWERS INTO REAL RELATIONSHIPSn

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Ever wondered how to turn a viewer into a real relationship? n

Every day, people visit your church website and access your content, but few ever really identify. n

GlooConnect is a solution that gives people showing interest in your church online an opportunity to connect with your church. n

It will help your church: nnGet a steady stream of introductions to people that are ready to connect nBuild relationships with the people visiting your church’s websitenSupport people who are looking for guidance and hope through life’s challengesnParticipate in done-for-you digital campaigns to reach people in your community nn

GlooConnect lets you pastor and focus on what you do best. No additional staff. No complex tech. Plus, it’s way more cost effective than doing it on your own. n

Get started in as little as 15 minutes and make 2021 a year of unprecedented growth for your church by joining GlooConnect today: n

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Which of these things will you try? 

This list isn’t exhaustive, but I think these are 5 strong contenders for the church’s next evangelism strategy.

Also, I’d love for you to leave a comment below talking about which of these you’d like to try!

The post The Western Church Needs A New Evangelism Strategy: 5 Promising Options appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: The Western Church Needs A New Evangelism Strategy: 5 Promising Options

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