By: Carey Nieuwhof

You’ve probably learned a lot about yourself in the last year.

Crisis does that to you. Crisis isn’t just an accelerator, it’s a revealer, showing you some surprising things about yourself—some good, some not so good.

Since COVID struck, church leaders have seen more than a few addictions, wants and preferences revealed.

At this point, with only half of churches re-opened, and with most re-opened churches experiencing low attendance numbers compared to pre-COVID, it may be wise to take stock of what we’ve learned so far.

You never know how much you love something until it’s taken away. And for church leaders, some of our most dearly held ways of doing church were snatched away overnight.

Despite the fact that church leaders claim that the church never closed, many behaved like it did, bemoaning what was lost and racing to get back.

Despite the fact that church leaders claim that the church never closed, many behaved like it did, bemoaning what was lost and racing to get back.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

As the culture becomes more and more digital, mobile and home-centered (think work, school, shopping and more), the church needs to respond to keep reaching people.

If the people you’re trying to reach change, your strategy needs to change with them. Otherwise, you lose touch and become irrelevant. And while the Gospel is never irrelevant in a fast-moving culture, outdated models of church get old, fast.

If the church is going to thrive in the future, here are 5 addictions church leaders need to overcome.

While the Gospel is never irrelevant in a fast-moving culture, outdated models of church get old, fast.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

1. Buildings

Probably the first dependency to be revealed by the crisis is how facility-centric most approaches to ministry have been.

For a lot of pastors, losing access to a building felt like losing access to their ministry.

If you look at the filter through which almost all ministry has been run for decades (or centuries) it’s this: ministry happens in a central facility where people gather.

A very good question to ask is ‘why’?

For a lot of pastors, losing access to a building felt like losing access to their ministry. You have to ask why.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

While I completely agree the church needs to gather in person as well as online, gathering can happen in homes, smaller venues and a whole variety of places. The emerging idea that a church can be a church with hundreds or thousands of locations (i.e. peoples’ homes) is a really liberating idea.

While we’ll need facilities in the future, the idea that for ministry to happen it needs to take place in a public building officiated by church staff feels increasingly restrictive and anachronistic.

I’m not suggesting we should move to the house church movement as it’s existed in North American, which are disproportionately filled with insider-focused, disgruntled Christians who actively resist affiliating with others, but I do think it’s worth rethinking a more distributed and released church that can be more effective at reaching friends, neighbors, co-workers and communities.

In 2020, if coming to Christ means coming to your church in a set location and a set hour, you need a new strategy.

In 2020, if coming to Christ means coming to your church in a set location and a set hour, you need a new strategy.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

2. Packed Rooms

Look, I’ll lead with a confession here. I love packed rooms. Packed rooms at church. Packed rooms when I’m speaking somewhere.

I’ve spoken to empty rooms and to full rooms, and I’ll take a full room any time.

There’s a bit of a thrill when you run out of seats and people are standing at the back or sitting on the floor.

And, yes, those of us who love that kind of thing know exactly where you need to take the picture (from the back of the room) to make the room look even fuller than it is in real life.

And you know what the ugly underbelly of that is? Ego. (See point 3 below).

Look, I get it. Communicating without a crowd is a different art and science than communicating in front of a crowd. And there’s something about a sermon that gets richer when you’re interacting with real people. Sermons are more than just content drops.

But packed rooms don’t always mean full impact.

What if God’s plan for your church is bigger than the size of your room? What if the number of people you’re called to reach don’t fit in a room, no matter what size room you build?

If the size of your vision shrinks to the size of a room you can fill, you’ve missed the church’s mission.

If the size of your vision shrinks to the size of a room you can fill, you’ve missed the mission.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

3. Our Own Egos

Okay so I guess this is turning into a confession post.

Ego is a real struggle for most of us in leadership.

Some leader’s pride springs from narcissism. Far more leaders grow proud because of insecurity than by narcissism.

I know…you’re thinking…but I’m insecure. I feel bad about myself.

How can that be pride?

Well, if pride is an obsession with self, then (surprisingly) insecure people qualify as proud. After all, insecurity makes you think about you all the time.

So let’s play that into this moment. The future is so uncertain, and so foreign. And you’re asking yourself

Do I have what it takes to lead into tomorrow?

All my gifts and skills have been honed to work for what was, not for the future that’s emerging.

If I can get us back to where we were, I’ll feel good about myself again. 

You know what that is, right? Sure. It’s your ego. That’s all about you, not the mission.

As a Christian leader, you know that self is something you need to die to.

I have to die to self daily, hourly. Minute by minute.

But on the other side is a trust that is the only thing that can supplant the fear of the deep unknown.

When you die to yourself, something greater rises.

When you die to yourself, something greater rises.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

4. Budgets and Staffing Centered in the Last Era

If you want to see someone’s idols, just look at their bank account and calendar. Regardless of what you say publicly, your bank account and calendar reveal what you really value (and what you don’t).

The same is true for churches.

Look at most church budgets though, and try to find some line items related to digital ministry. You’ll come up empty-handed.

The vast majority of churches spend 99% of their staffing dollars on in-person gatherings.

Outreach and ministry online is usually tagged onto someone’s job description as an afterthought (if it’s listed at all), and the budget for digital ministry usually has to be scrounged from other line items.

The point here is that’s probably not a wise 21st-century strategy.

Increasingly, this will be the year many churches realize you can’t have a massive impact online when you spend 1% of your staffing resources on it.

The internet is the venue in which the entire community you are trying to reach lives. If you want to reach them there, spending 1% of your resources on it is likely not the smartest strategy.

Do you know of any church near you that’s spending 30% of its resources to reach people online?

Didn’t think so.

And we wonder why we don’t see more direct results from online outreach.

Mystery solved.

It’s hard to have a massive impact online when you spend 1% of your staffing and budget on it.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

5. Creating Your Own Truth

So many leaders have started spinning their own truth.

As a former President of the United States once said, “In my presidency, people were entitled to their own opinion. They were not entitled to their own facts.”

It seems pastors are increasingly falling for creating their own facts in this post-truth era. It’s so strange that church leaders who profess adherence to truth try to create their own truth when they don’t like the facts they’re facing.

It’s so strange that church leaders who profess adherence to truth try to create their own truth when they don’t like the facts they’re facing.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

You can’t make up truth, but we try.

I’ve had so many pastors tell me “Well, the coronavirus just isn’t an issue here” when thousands of people in their state are hospitalized.

I’ve had others tell me that people will return to church in droves, when the evidence points in the other direction. (Look, I hope they’re correct. I’m just not holding my breath. Here’s why.)

Truth is hard.

But wise leaders don’t deny the truth. The smartest leaders realize their approach isn’t working and adapt.

The more you deny reality, the crueler reality is to you.

Just ask anyone who went bankrupt or whose spouse walked on them because she just couldn’t handle being treated that way anymore.

The truth is your friend. Even the truth you don’t like. Especially the truth you don’t like.

The truth is your friend. Even the truth you don’t like. Especially the truth you don’t like.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

You Don’t Go As Far As Your Dream. You Go As Far As Your Team.

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

As Dharius Daniels says, you don’t go as far as your dream, you go as far as your team.

Lead a Better Team is my brand new, online, on-demand course that gives you a step-by-step strategy 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 the while freeing up time for you to do what you do best.

The best part? You’ll learn how you can do this even if you’re leading a virtual team.

Get instant access to Lead a Better Team here, and take your team to the next level.

Any Other Addictions? 

As hard as all this is, there’s a brighter future ahead if we embrace it.

What do you see?

Any other addictions you see or you’re weaning yourself off?

The post 5 Addictions Pastors Need To Overcome (To Grow Their Church In the Future) appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 5 Addictions Pastors Need To Overcome (To Grow Their Church In the Future)

The post 5 Addictions Pastors Need To Overcome (To Grow Their Church In the Future) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: Carey Nieuwhof

As a leader, you’ve likely looked back at a decision another church or organization made and thought to yourself, “how could they not have seen how bad that decision was…I mean, didn’t anybody realize where that would take them?”

And of course, the answer is no…they didn’t see it.

Which is the point of this post.

Five years from now, what will declining churches have done that pushed them into…well, decline? Because right now, their leaders are making the decisions that will lead them there.

Right now, in the midst of all this uncertainty, you’re making decisions that will shape the future. We all are.

How do you know you’re making the right ones?

As you look back over the last few decades, it’s not that hard to see that churches who refused to change, embraced blended worship (out of fear of offending people), didn’t make tough staffing calls, failed to plan for timely succession, got weird theologically or made a myriad of other unfortunate decisions generally faced decline rather than growth as their dominant story.

While the future is impossible to predict accurately and anyone who tells you they know where it’s all going is either lying or deluded, there are often clues as to what’s ahead.

So very tentatively—and with an openness to being very wrong—I want to offer 7 new characteristics of churches that will be in decline five years from now. I say new, because all of these factors are tied to real-time decision making that’s happening in light of the coronavirus, meaningful cultural change and the dislocation that has become life today.

Again, five years from now, we’ll see how accurate these were, but for those of us making decisions today, here are the characteristics and patterns to watch.

The decisions you make today impact the future you lead live tomorrow.

So, with all that said, here are 7 new characteristics of churches that will I suggest lead them into decline in the future.

The decisions you make today impact the future you lead live tomorrow.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

1. The leaders bet everything on a physical return to church

Is physical church coming back? You bet it is. As long as there are people, people are going to want to connect in person.

Is in-person church the whole future?

Well, that’s a very different question.

These are hardly perfect conditions, but the few leaders who are seeing 70% of their pre-COVID attendance back at in-person services are declaring victory.

I don’t want to rain on any parades, but when did reaching 30% fewer people became a win when there’s a world desperately in need of the Gospel?

I’m talking to a growing number of leaders who are seeing 20-40% as the new normal for physical attendance, and while that might indeed improve in the future, there’s also growing talk of sizable groups of people who have just disappeared from church altogether.

Indeed, according to the Barna Group, the number of pastors who believe their church will grow after the pandemic has dipped to 13% from a high of 34%. 33% see it being the same, and fully 49% believe it will be lower.

If that’s the case, churches that invest all of their time and energy on in-person gathering may not see the impact and reach they’re hoping for.

I outline more reasons I’m wary of wagering your entire future on in-person facility-based gatherings in these posts.

When Your Church Re-Opens, What Will Be Left and Who Will Still Come?

In-Person Attendance v. Online Attendance and the Emerging Trap of Doing Nothing Well

When did reaching 30% fewer people became a win when there’s a world desperately in need of the Gospel?

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

2. Success was measured by the number of people who attend physical locations

What you measure as a leader influences what you value.

For years, pastors (for better or worse) measure success by the number of people who attend weekend worship.

If that was a problem in the last, it will be an even bigger problem in the future.

If people engage with church differently via digital, home-based or community-based gatherings, the leader who defines success by worship attendance alone in a church building or campus will grow more and more frustrated.

What you measure as a leader influences what you value.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

So pick some new metrics. Measure what’s really happening online (this will help you do that). Count engagement. Figure out how to measure spiritual growth. Look at your actual impact, not just pure attendance numbers.

Although written pre-COVID, here a post that outlines 7 ways to grow engagement.

If growing churches in the future will be digital organizations with physical locations, then leaders who focus only on physical locations will see a tougher future.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

3. Online ministry is viewed as an afterthought or lesser form

It’s not that most churches won’t have an online ministry. Almost every church does now thanks to COVID-19.

It’s just that in the future, declining churches will see it either an afterthought or a lesser form of ministry.

I know there are genuine theological questions that have yet to be answered. And we’ll figure that out as we go along. If that statement bothers you, just read the New Testament. The Gospel moves forward, and the leaders figure out what it means in real-time.

It’s not that most churches won’t have an online ministry. It’s just that, in the future, declining churches in the future will see it either an afterthought or a lesser form of ministry.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

Meanwhile, people keep moving on.  People are living more digitally than ever, and most businesses continue to rethink their strategy in light of it, reducing physical locations and pivoting to online.

You can see online church as an obstacle or an opportunity. And everyone you want to reach is online, that makes it a pretty big opportunity.

Again, physical gathering will always plan a role in the future of the church, but wise churches will realize there is much opportunity beyond that.

You can see online church as an obstacle or an opportunity. And everyone you want to reach is online, that makes it a pretty big opportunity.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

4. All the feedback comes from their echo chamber

Leaders who are looking for ways to confirm their biases have never had more ways to do it.

Social media is designed to give you more of what you want, and, apparently, we love it that way.

So many pastors feel the pressure from their members to reopen and reopen fully. And that’s predictable. People always crave what they’ve known. In fact, even when it comes to food, you’ve never craved anything you haven’t tried.

You’ll also be highly motivated to return to the way things were because that’s what you know. And, as I shared here, those who succeeded most in the past are most motivated to preserve the past or recreate it.

All of which puts leaders at risk of listening only to their echo chamber.

Church people are going to love in-person worship because that’s all they’ve know. You are going to love it because that’s basically what you’ve led.

You are naturally surrounded by people who will tell you you’re right, that others are wrong, and the algorithm that controls your social media feed will automatically find you more content that agrees with you. Here’s the irony: in an online culture run by algorithms, you don’t actually get more choices, you get fewer.

In an online culture run by algorithms, you don’t actually get more choices, you get fewer.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

Wise leaders expose themselves to different voices: voices: outside voices, younger voices, varying opinions and voices beyond their field or discipline.

Different opinions lead to better decisions.

Leaders of declining churches surround themselves with like-minded voices and influences,  convinced they’re right and everyone else is wrong.

Leaders of declining churches surround themselves with like-minded voices and influences, convinced they’re right and everyone else is wrong.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

5. They quickly went back to 3 songs and a message as their service formats

Even pre-COVID, it was becoming clear that attractional churches were past peak and more charismatic churches were growing (here are 5 reasons why).  Recent research confirms that.

But the COVID disruption and mass move to online has meant most churches quickly discovered that what ‘worked’ in terms of in-person weekend services didn’t translate online, and many pivoted to shorter services, less music and more engaging, interactive formats to engage people.

Some pastors even hired YouTubers to help with message creation and delivery.

It’s still uncertain what the future design of church services online or in-person will reveal, but if this crisis is the accelerator and disruptor most think it is, then a return to a format that had stopped resonating deeply before is likely not the best move.

The key is to keep faithfully experimenting and exploring what helps people best connect with God.

What’s happened so far in the crisis isn’t innovation, it’s adaptation. Most of the innovation lies ahead.

If you’re already thinking, well, everyone I know likes it that way, see point 4 above and point 7 below.

What’s happened so far in the current crisis isn’t innovation, it’s adaptation. Most of the innovation lies ahead.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

6. The church building, not the home or community, was re-established as the sole locus of ministry

One thing this crisis has revealed is how facility-centric the dominant model of ministry has been for generations in the Western Church. Take away our buildings, and we’re all a little lost.

One trend developing before our eyes is the home as the new center of life. In the last six months, work, food preparation, entertainment, school, and shopping are now more home-based than ever.  And for 6 months, that’s been true of church.

Some of that will shift. Not all work will stay remote, but my guess is online shopping, working from home, take-out food, and entertainment will long term trend toward home-based ventures.

A few churches have already pivoted toward moving from a church with 5 locations to a church with hundreds or thousands of locations—those being peoples’ homes.

Wise church leaders will cooperate with this trend rather than compete with it.  They’ll get over their building addiction and the ego boost of full rooms and work on reaching people, which is kind of the point anyway.

In the future, dying churches will see their building—not the home and community—as the primary locus of ministry. Growing churches won’t.

In the future, dying churches will see their building—not the home and community—as the primary locus of ministry. Growing churches won’t.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

7. The leaders excluded Gen Z from the inner leadership circle

Whether you think generational difference are overblown or not, just because you have a 30-year-old on your staff doesn’t mean you’re ready for the next generation.

Gen Z is now graduating college and they’re distinguishing themselves from Millennials, sometimes giving Millennials the same slamming the rest of the culture gives Boomers. While this sounds trivial (and in many regards it is), every generation is defined by something a little different.

Gen Z is the first truly digital native generation to emerge, and their cultural formation is being shaped by all kinds of things like Corona-virus, racial justice, climate change and much more.

Plus, the oldest Gen Z was only 10-years-old when YouTube was born and 12 when the iPhone was launched. They have always consumed and created content differently than any other generation.

If you’re wondering how the thinking and experience between generations varies, enjoy this video of Fred and Tim Williams, twenty-two year-old twins hearing Phil Collins In the Air Tonight for the first time.

The average senior pastor is 57 these days. Surrounding yourself with leaders two or three generations below you and giving them actual influence, authority and responsibility is one of the best ways to keep you and your church young.

And if you’re worried they’re not ready of that kind of responsibility, neither were you when someone handed you the keys. Neither was I. We figured it out. They will too.

Mentoring doesn’t just happen older leader to younger leader; it happens the other way around too.

Once I turned 40, one of the best decisions I made was to keep young leaders at the senior leadership table.

Keeping young leaders around your leadership table is one of the best ways to keep the next generation in your church.

Mentoring doesn’t just happen older leader to younger leader; it happens the other way around too.

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

Help Your Team Crush Their Goals As You Move Into the Future (FREE TRAINING)

The future won’t be easy, and many leaders fear their team isn’t up to the challenge.

If you’re ready to change that, I have a simple strategy that will help your team crush their goals in a new free two-part teaching series.

The series consists of two short videos and two free PDF guides to help you hit objectives and create a better team culture.

This isn’t just another goal-setting methodology… there are so many great ways to go about setting goals. It’s a system you can use for real accountability so that you and your team actually hit the goals that you set.

On top of that, I’ll show you the 3-step process that completely transformed how I go about creating a healthy team culture.

Learn more and get free, instant access to the teaching series here.

What Are You Seeing?

I hope this is helpful. I am not saying I know the future. No one does.

But I think we have clues as to how decisions we make today impact the future we live tomorrow.

What do you see? What are some decisions leaders will regret five years down the road?

The post The NEW Characteristics of Churches That Will Be In Decline Five Years From Now  appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: The NEW Characteristics of Churches That Will Be In Decline Five Years From Now 

The post The NEW Characteristics of Churches That Will Be In Decline Five Years From Now  appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: It’s never been easier to avoid church, skip church or exit church than it is today.

And it has a lot of church leaders and Christians scrambling to figure out what’s happening, why it’s happening and what it all means.

Those are great questions.

On the positive side, a lot of the social stigma associated with ‘missing a Sunday’ is gone…and that’s not a bad thing. Self-righteousness and judgment should never have felt at home in church anyway.

On the other side, though, what’s actually going on?

Is it a good thing for Christians to rarely/never/infrequently attend church?

If you watch online, does it count? If you do your own thing, is that a good replacement?

In the last few decades a whole new set of questions has arisen that we’re not sure we have the answer to. Church leaders are scrambling. People are coming up with their own answers. And I’m trying to figure it out too.

Complete bias here: I’ve spent over two decades as church leader. I’m hardly impartial. And we’ve been fortunate to see our church reach a lot of people in an era where most churches have experienced plateaued or declining. And at least half of the people we’ve reached didn’t used to attend church.

But all that said (this is hard to admit), I’ve felt the impulses to question the value of church attendance too (I wrote this post on that here).

And a few months ago, I missed weekend services three weeks in a row due to travel. Truthfully, at first, I was relieved to get a week or two off. I chose alternatives (church online, personal devotions etc), but by week three I was aching to be back.

I missed gathering together in Jesus’ name.

I fully understand that church is not something you go to, it’s something you are.

You don’t go to church, you are the church. But the “you” in you are the church is plural (we are the church), not singular. And church is bigger than you.

You don’t go to church, you are the church. But the ‘you’ in you are the church is plural, not singular. Church is bigger than you.Click To Tweet

3 Things That Are True About Our Culture Right Now

There are at least three things that are true about our culture right now.

Spirituality Has Become An Individual Pursuit

First, spirituality is increasingly seen an individual pursuit, not a community activity.

Honestly, I get it. In a world that has gotten noiser, louder and angrier, there’s a part of me that wants to retreat into myself more every day.

Add to that the brokenness of true human community and unhealthy (or toxic) cultures, and it’s so much easier to say “I’m just going to figure this out on my own.” Which many people are trying to do.

I feel the pull too.

But I have to remind myself that for the most part, my desire to skip, pull away and do my own thing on my schedule isn’t solitude, it’s isolation. And while solitude is a gift from God, isolation is a tool of the enemy.

And there’s no faster way to render a community ineffective than to isolate its members.

While solitude is a gift from God, isolation is a tool of the enemy. There’s no faster way to render a community ineffective than to isolate its members. Click To Tweet

Attendance May Be A New Spiritual Discipline

Second, because of how withdrawn and individualistic we’re all becoming, I wonder if—in an age in which people are devoted mostly to themselves—the mere act of attending church is becoming a spiritual discipline.

Devoting yourselves publicly to God and to a wider community is a countercultural act.

In an age in which people are devoted mostly to themselves, maybe attending church becoming a spiritual discipline. Click To Tweet

Decreased Attendance Often Equals Decreased Devotion

Finally, there’s a paradox developing that I don’t hear many people talking about publicly, and that’s spiritual growth.

In my observation, rarely does decreased church attendance correspond to increased devotion.

Sure, there are popular bloggers, authors and podcasters who might claim it does, but get out onto the streets and have a conversation with many people who used to go to church that don’t anymore, and you’ll meet a lot of people whose faith hasn’t grown.

If anything, it’s diminished.

Rarely does decreased church attendance correspond to increased devotion.Click To Tweet

10 Things That Ain’t Church

So where does this leave us?

In an age where everyone is looking for alternatives to gathering together, here are 10 things that—helpful as they may be in some respect—aren’t church.

If it gets a bit feisty in the points below, just know it’s because I’m challenging the gravitational pull I feel sometimes in me and I see all the time around me.

So here goes. Here are 10 things that still ain’t church.

1. Watching church online

Watching church online has exploded in the last decade.

We have an online campus at our church, which I love, because for many people it’s a step into church can be if it’s a step back in if you’re  out of town or on vacation, but for too many people people church online is a step out of church.

It’s a step toward lower devotion, not greater devotion. And to less mission, not deeper mission.

If we’re really honest, for too many people church online is a step out of church, not into church. It’s a step toward lesser devotion, not greater devotion.Click To Tweet

Here’s a little exercise I want to propose. If you’re watching online because it’s easier (or honestly, you’re just lazy), get yourself into a real human community.

Yes, a real church is going to be worse than your online experience. You will have to sit next to people you don’t like and who aren’t like you.

You could get hurt. You’ll have to do something. And you may have to give.

And you’ll get into awkward conversations with people as you invite them to come with you. And you may damage the friendship as a result and feel all worried.

This is church. (Have you ever read 1 Corinthians? I mean really….)

Dating is easier than marriage. Especially first dating. But marriage is where the real reward is after you’ve disliked each other long enough to fall in love again and remember that in the midst of the mess God is writing a deeper, more powerful story than you could ever write on your own.

A C+ real life church experience is better than an A+ online church experience because real life is messy, and it’s going to force you grow.

So go find a real-life C+ church and get involved. And remember, you are not the solution to the C+ church’s problems. You’re part of the reason it’s a C+ church. So am I.

A C+ real life church experience is better than an A+ online church experience because real life is messy, and it’s going to force you grow. Click To Tweet

2. Listening to a podcast

If you want to 1.5x speed God into your life while you’re on a run or driving to work, go ahead.

I love podcasting, but in the end, what it gives you is information and not much more.

Podcasting (and church online) should function like online dating. Everyone I know who met online and fell in love gets married. You rarely meet someone who says “We met online, have been married for five years but we’ve never actually met.” Of course you meet, that’s the point.

And I think that’s the point church podcasts and church online…it leads to something greater. Real human interaction around a mission bigger than you.

But 1.5xing a sermon podcast every week probably only gives you a .5 dose of God.

1.5xing a sermon podcast every week probably only gives you a .5 dose of God. Click To Tweet

3. Virtual Pastors

Because there are thousands of churches online and thousands more who put their content online via podcasts, many people have multiple preachers they listen to and think of as their ‘pastors’.

It’s great that you’re listening,  or that you follow 10 megachurch pastors or local pastors on Instagram, but that’s not church.

You may have a charcuterie board of favourite speakers and feel full, but true discipleship is not measured by how much you know, it’s measured by how much you love, and how much that love flows out of you and into the lives of others.

True discipleship is not measured by how much you know, it’s measured by how much you love, and how much that love flows out of you and into the lives of others. Click To Tweet

4. That Charitable Thing You Started

We live in an amazing time where it’s easy to start almost anything you imagine, including a charity.

Charities are amazing, but they’re not church.

When the church gathers in worship, prayer, community, joins together on a mission to baptize people and grow people into the likeness of Christ…well that’s church.

I have a company outside the church that helps produce this blog, my podcast, books etc. Guess what? I think of it as a ministry, and it has huge ministry implications, but it’s not the church.

It never will be. Sure, we think of it in many ways as a ministry. And yes, we’re on mission to help leaders. But it ain’t church.

5. Coffee with friends

If you stop attending a local church, it’s easy to come up with substitutes for it, like having coffee (or meals, or whatever) with friends.

The early church didn’t change the world by gathering with friends for coffee.

By all means, be social. Hang out. Cultivate deep friendships. Hang out. Connect. But don’t fool yourself—that isn’t church either.

6. The Gathering at Your House

I understand that this one will be a little controversial, but most of the time, that gathering in your house ain’t church either.

Even if you gather to pray, study scripture, fellowship and celebrate communion, it may still not be the church. Why?

Too often house church functions as a community of people who are fleeing the church, who have been hurt by the church, or who are rejecting the local churches in their neighbourhood.

Rarely (I mean rarely, it’s not like it never happens) do I see a house church really embrace the full mission of the church, which would include evangelism  baptizing new disciples, community service, giving financially beyond itself and an outward focus that brings more people into the Kingdom.

If that happens—and occasionally it does—then that is church. The problem of course, is that when you embrace all of that, it won’t be long until you outgrow your living room…and you start gathering in public space because you can’t squeeze into a home anymore.

But if it’s just the eight of you year after year after year after year…it probably ain’t church.

7. A walk in the woods/on the beach

I love nature. My wife really loves nature.

Almost all of us feel closer to God in nature. And some personality types feel extremely close to God in nature—maybe even closer than they feel in church.

But your subjective feeling is no substitute for a timeless mission. God didn’t just call us to feel him. He calls us to serve him.

Your subjective feeling is no substitute for a timeless mission. God didn’t just call us to feel him. He calls us to serve him.Click To Tweet

8. Family devotions

I love my family. You love yours. And family devotions are wonderful.

When you’re on vacation, I get that you may do family devotions on a Sunday rather than a long drive into a local church.

But a steady diet of family devotions—even daily devotions—isn’t church because your family isn’t baptizing people, reaching out into the community, serving, or even moving beyond itself to engage the world for which Christ died.

Authentic mission has to go beyond you to someone else and embrace and include them.

Family devotions may be sincere and convenient, but they’re no substitute for the Kingdom of God.

9. Church surfing

Church shopping is one thing. But I’ve met a growing number of people who are doing what I can only call church surfing.

They may go to the 9 a.m. service at one church, and then sample the later service at another, and then they switch it up against next weekend, adding maybe a third church into the mix.

It’s like serial dating with no engagement, commitment or even investment.

Once again, it’s an expression of a consumer culture—take, but feel no obligation to give.

Of course, a significant life is rarely measured by what you consume. It’s measured by what you contribute.

Church surfing contributes almost nothing to the true mission of the church.

A significant life is rarely measured by what you consume. It’s measured by what you contribute. Click To Tweet

10. Anonymity

So let’s say you show up at the same church whenever you attend, but you sit in the back row, anonymously. You don’t engage, don’t serve, don’t invite, don’t join the mission. You just…sit.

That’s not much different than just consumption, except it’s analog, not digital.

It’s hard to build the future of the church on someone who consumes and never contributes. And it’s hard to build a meaningful, resilient life, when all you do is consume, not contribute.

So contribute. Serve. Invite. Give. Do community.

You’re called to be the church, not just attend one.

You’re called to be the church, not just attend one.Click To Tweet

Three Questions

If you find your church attendance declining or evaporating, ask yourself:

Are my current patterns leading me to greater devotion to Jesus?
Am I serving, inviting, giving and helping to make new disciples?
Is this really about me, or is it about seeing the Kingdom of God flourish and expand around me?

If you’re a church leader, I hope this helped frame or at least spark some thinking on what’s happening around us, within us and in our culture.

In an era where everything is become hyper-individualist and hyper-convenient, it’s wonderful to get together and participate in something that inconveniences me, challenges me, stretches me, grows me, makes me uncomfortable and does something great for the world in the name of Jesus.

When the early church did just that, it changed not only millions of lives, it changed history.

Want To Reach More People? (Introducing the Church Growth MasterClass)

I can’t make a church grow. You can’t make a church grow. Only God can do that.

But I believe you can position your church to grow.

You can knock down the barriers that keep you from growing. You can eliminate the things that keep your church from growing and implement some strategies that will help you reach far more people.

That’s what I’d love to help you do in my new online course, the Church Growth Masterclass.

You likely didn’t get into ministry to watch your church plateau or, worse yet, decline. Yet that’s where over 90% of churches find themselves today.

You’re not alone.

That’s why I put together the Church Growth Masterclass. It’s everything I wish I knew about church growth when I got into ministry more than 20 years ago.

In the Church Growth Masterclass I’ll help you and your team discover:

10 likely reasons your church isn’t growing
Why even committed church-goers aren’t attending as often as before (more than what we covered in this post)
How to tell if your church leaders are getting burned out
The five keys to your church better impacting millennials.
What to do when a church wants to grow … but not change

You can learn more and gain instant access to the course today.

And for a limited time, we have introductory pricing.

Check it out while you can still get in at the best rates.

What Do You See?

We live in a fascinating time and moment in history.

What are you sensing, learning and experiencing when it comes to church attendance?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

The post 10 Things That Ain’t Church (Some Thoughts On Irregular and Declining Church Attendance) appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 10 Things That Ain’t Church (Some Thoughts On Irregular and Declining Church Attendance)

The post 10 Things That Ain’t Church (Some Thoughts On Irregular and Declining Church Attendance) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Every week you host services at your church hoping to reach more people, which is admirable and appropriate.

The problem is that the culture is changing and never bothered to ask you permission.

In many ways, preachers are using a method that’s been around for centuries…if not millennia…which on the one hand is wonderful. The challenge is that culture is changing so rapidly, fewer and fewer people are hearing the message every year. At least that’s the case in many, if not most churches.

If you think that the cultural change is over, fasten your seat belts. It’s not showing any sign of decelerating any time soon.

Here are 7 things that are changing right now.

Wise leaders will see the change and respond. As we’ve said before, leaders who see the future can seize the future.

The problem for most preachers is that the culture is changing and never bothered to ask you…Click To Tweet

1. People Aren’t Automatically Coming to The Message Anymore

It’s almost singularly true that throughout human history to date, the only way to get the message was for people to assemble to hear it.

Just think about Jesus’ day: the crowds assembled to hear him. And in every century since then, that’s how it worked…

The post Declining Attendance and 7 Preaching Shifts That Are Happening Right Now appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: Declining Attendance and 7 Preaching Shifts That Are Happening Right Now

The post Declining Attendance and 7 Preaching Shifts That Are Happening Right Now appeared first on Passion for Planting.