by Carey Nieuwhof: So how relevant are you as a leader?

Any idea how you’d answer that accurately?

You can debate how important relevance is all day long (and many do), but the truth is irrelevant leaders make almost no impact on the people or causes around them.

Why is that?

Well, it’s not about being current or cool. Relevance matters for one reason: it’s permission to speak into the culture. Our culture has a habit of not listening to people it deems irrelevant.

Relevance simply gains you a hearing. It determines whether or not people pay attention to you or whether they ignore you.

Relevance matters for one reason: it’s permission to speak into the culture. Our culture has a habit of not listening to people it deems irrelevant. Click To Tweet

Relevance isn’t necessarily an age thing. You can be relevant at 65 and irrelevant at 25. It’s more a mindset than it is anything else.

One often ignored factor that can push you toward irrelevance is, paradoxically, success.

Leaders who are part of growing or large organizations are especially prone to irrelevance unless they guard against it.

In fact, as we’ve discussed here more than a few times, the great enemy of your future success is your current success because your success makes you conservative.

When you had nothing to lose, change was easy. Now that you have something to lose, change is that much harder.

Your past success doesn’t guarantee your future success.

So whether your organization has momentum or whether it’s losing steam, here are 5 signs you’re becoming an irrelevant leader.

Your past success doesn’t guarantee your future success. The greatest enemy of your future success is your current success because success makes you conservative.Click To Tweet

1. You increasingly think most new ideas are bad ideas

Hey, it’s easy to resist new ideas. But if you think back, there was a time when you were likely really open to new ideas.

But as you get older and wiser, and you’ve got a way of doing things.

The human mind is great at preserving the status quo. You can think of 10 reasons why a new idea won’t work, and you and your team never hesitate to list them.

The leadership graveyard is filled with the bodies of leaders who say “We haven’t done it that way before.”

Not every new idea is a great idea, but embracing no new ideas is a terrible idea.

When was the last time you embraced a radical new idea? If you can’t answer that question, you’re already in trouble.

Not every new idea is a great idea, but embracing no new ideas is a terrible idea.Click To Tweet

2. The copyright dates on your resources are from another era

Have you checked the copyright date on what you’re currently reading/watching/listening to lately?

There’s nothing wrong the classics. Whether that’s books, movies or music. Wise leaders always learn from the past.

It’s one thing to learn from the past. It’s another to freeze in it.

Without thinking much about it, irrelevant leaders freeze in a certain year. You’ve walked into some offices and thought “Wow, it’s 1998 in here.”

You’ve seen some strategies at work and said to yourself, “This feels like 2005”.

If you hope to speak into the culture of today, you need to understand what’s happening today. So even if you prefer the past, study the present.

It’s one thing to learn from the past. It’s another to freeze in it. Even if you prefer the past, study the present.Click To Tweet

3. Everyone on your team is your age

This isn’t so much a problem if you’re twenty-two and just starting out. To have a young leadership team of idealistic people is an awesome thing.

Sure, some wisdom wouldn’t hurt, but still, the world often gets changed by young leaders on a mission.

But what happens is that twenty-year-olds eventually turn 30. Fast forward a bit, and everyone on your senior leadership team is in their mid-fifties.

That’s a big issue.

Left uncorrected, organizations tend to age with their leader.

As a leader in my fifties, I’ve had to be incredibly intentional about surrounding myself with leaders in their 20s and 30s, something that really energizes me.

You may not have the chemistry or familiarity with younger leaders that you do with your peers who have been through life with you, but renewing the leadership table with younger leaders is critical.

It’s easy for older leaders to think that younger leaders are too young to lead.

You were too, once. And someone took a chance on you anyway. And you did some of your best work then too, didn’t you?

Left uncorrected, churches tend to age with their senior leader.Click To Tweet

4. Change makes you tired

Change is difficult at the best of times, but if even the sound of change makes you tired, it’s a sign that you’re becoming irrelevant.

It’s normal to default to the status quo. We all do.

A few years ago, my dentist told me I needed at least five crowns. The thought of that made me feel tired and broke all at once.

I got a bit of the work done but then took a break.

One afternoon I was eating some cereal and I noticed something that didn’t feel like cereal in my mouth. It was half a molar.

Guess where I went the next day?

Too often, that’s exactly how we approach change in the church. We wait until something breaks, and then we’ll try to fix it.

That may work with a tooth, but it’s a terrible strategy for leaders (okay, and for dentistry).

In our rapidly changing culture, waiting until something breaks to fix is one of the fastest ways to ensure you become irrelevant.

If change makes you tired, I promise you, the slow death of your organization will make you even more tired.

If change makes you tired, I promise you, the slow death of your organization will make you even more tired.Click To Tweet

5. Your dominant emotions toward to culture are negative

This is a loaded point…but it’s important.

If social media is any gauge of how many leaders feel about our culture, we’re in trouble.

And even if you’re not posting on your social media is ALL CAPS, telling the world how bad it is, your attitude still matters.

Negativity leaks.

Constantly criticizing people is no way to reach them.

As a Christian leader, I am constantly reminded that Jesus loved the world. He saw the mess, the brokenness, the godlessness and embraced us anyway.

Jesus loved the world enough to die for it.

You should care enough about the world to do the same.

Negativity leaks. Constantly criticizing people is no way to reach them.Click To Tweet

Multiply Your Leadership (And Time)

Find posts like this overwhelming because it leaves you wondering how on earth you’ll find time to do any of this?

When will you have time to read more? How can you find the time to restructure your organization? Or find the energy to lead change?

Let me help.

My approach to life and leadership changed radically for me over ten years ago when I figured out how to get time, energy and priorities working in my favour.

I’d love to help you free up hours each day to do the same thing. And I’ve helped over 5000 leaders do just that.

If you’re trying to find the time for what matters most in life, my High Impact Leader course, is my online, on-demand course designed to help you get time, energy and priorities working in your favour.

Many leaders who have taken it are recovering 3 productive hours a day.  That’s about 1000 hours of found time each year. That’s a lot of time for what matters most.

Here are what some alumni are saying about The High Impact Leader Course”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for providing the course again. It has absolutely made an impact in my life and family already that I can’t even describe.” – Joel Rowland, Clayton County, North Carolina

“Just wow.  Thank you, thank you.” Dave Campbell,  Sioux Falls South Dakota

“A game changer.” Pam Perkins,  Colorado Springs, Colorado

Curious? Want to beat overwhelm and have the time to reflect, rest and reinvent yourself?

Click here to learn more or get instant access.

Speaking of Relevance: Two Don’t-Miss Events This Fall

One of the best ways to stay relevant is to keep learning and growing.

Registration for two premiere events opens TODAY (Thursday June 13th).

Orange Tour 2019 with Reggie Joiner, Jon Acuff and many others will help you reach the next generation. Orange Tour is coming to 15 US cities this fall. I’ll be speaking in Irvine CA, Phoenix AZ and Austin TX.

You can register for Orange Tour here and get the best rates.

And Andy Stanley is heading to four cities this fall with his Irresistible Tour…picking up where his best selling book of the same name left-off.

Register today and get the best rates.

What Do You Think?

What do you see as signs of relevance or irrelevance?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

The post 5 Signs You’re Becoming an Irrelevant Leader appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 5 Signs You’re Becoming an Irrelevant Leader

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by Carey Nieuwhof: Everything has its season.

And the season of the cool church is, in many ways, coming to an end.

Recently, I wrote a post that generated a lot of discussion online and offline about why charismatic churches are growing and attractional churches are past peak. You can read that post here.

To drill down further, here’s more on what’s been happening as the culture changes around us.

So flip back a few decades…There was an era when simply being a cooler, more relevant church than the church down the road helped churches reach unchurched people.

There was a day when all you had to do was improve the church you led to gain traction.

Trade in the choir for a band. Turn the chancel into a platform. Add some lights, some sound, some haze. Get some great teaching in the room. And voila, you had a growing church.

But we’re quickly moving into a season where having a cool church is like having the best choir in town: it’s wonderful for the handful of people who still listen to choral music.

Somethings changing. And a hundreds of thousands of dollars in lights and great sound gear are probably not going to impact your community like they used to.

So what’s changing? Plenty.

…

The post Why Cool Church Doesn’t Work Anymore (More on the Future Church) appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: Why Cool Church Doesn’t Work Anymore (More on the Future Church)

The post Why Cool Church Doesn’t Work Anymore (More on the Future Church) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: You didn’t start out in leadership to give up early or never realize your potential, but admit it: you’ve seen it happen to leaders around you all the time.

The question is: is it happening to you?

It’s a great question to ask…and not enough leaders ask it.

There are challenges that almost everyone experiences but no one expects in life and leadership. And they’re the most deadly.

At age 18, no one says “I hope by the time I’m 35, I’m cynical, jaded and burned out,” but it happens all the time.

The questions is why.

Surprisingly, it’s rarely issues of skill, talent or ability that take down leaders and entrepreneurs or cap their growth. Often, it’s the soft issues that can sideline even the best leaders: things like cynicism, disconnectedness or even pride that just turn you into someone you never wanted to be.

And those are the issues almost no one ever sees coming. When you understand how they start…you can spot them before they take you out.

Here are 7 issues almost everyone experiences and none of us expect:

At age 18, no one says “I hope by the time I’m 35, I’m cynical, jaded and burned out.”Click To Tweet

1. Cynicism

You probably didn’t start out in life and leadership as a cynic. But if you’re like most people, you find yourself growing a little more cynical with every passing year.

Cynicism begins not because you don’t care but because you do care. It starts because you poured your heart into something and got little in return.

Cynicism begins not because you don’t care but because you do care.Click To Tweet

Or maybe you got something in return, but it was the opposite of what you desired. You fell in love, only to have that relationship dissolve. You threw your heart into your job, only to be told you were being let go. Or you were completely there for your mom, only to have her tell you you’re such a disappointment.

And you can’t help but think to yourself, What gives?

Most cynics are former optimists. You’d never know it now, but there was a time when they were hopeful, enthusiastic, and even cheerful. There’s something inside the human spirit that wants to hope, wants to think things will get better. Nearly everyone starts life with a positive outlook.

Most cynics are former optimists.Click To Tweet

As much as you may not want to admit it, cynicism is a choice. Life doesn’t make you cynical. You make you cynical.

Once-a-cynic doesn’t mean always-a-cynic. Not if you get Jesus involved.

Curious as to how cynical you’ve grown? Take this short quiz and find out.

Cynicism is a choice. Life doesn’t make you cynical. You make you cynical.Click To Tweet

2. Compromise

Most of us know people who have sold out, who’ve given in to the dark forces of greed, self-absorption, blind ambition, moral trade-offs, or ruthlessness. In the process, they threw integrity out the window.

And even if you don’t personally know someone who’s done this, a quick scan of the headlines on any given day will usually yield an athlete, a politician, or a business leader who has.

So how does a person get there?  Even if your family hasn’t forsaken you and it hasn’t cost you your job, you may sometimes look in the mirror with the sinking feeling that you didn’t do what you should have done and you’re not who you thought you’d be.

You know how compromise starts? Subtly.

You know how moral compromise starts? Subtly.Click To Tweet

There was that time when you weren’t 100 percent honest with a client, or maybe many clients. You could have kept the promise, but you didn’t. You haven’t told your wife about your porn problem, but you tell yourself it’s no big deal when you know deep down it’s ruining your intimacy with her.

Maybe you know you should be more present for your kids, but you hide behind your laptop because you just can’t handle the chaos of bedtime and don’t want yet another fight with your wife. Work is just easier. At least people respect you there.

The subtle compromises we make day after day—the half truths, the rationalizations, the excuses—create a gap between who we are and who we want to be. You’re not a terrible person, but you’re certainly not at your best either.

And if you got dead honest with yourself, you’d say that although you haven’t sold your soul to the devil, you’ve rented it.

A thousand little compromises leave you . . . compromised.

Although you haven’t sold your soul to the devil, you’ve rented it. That’s how compromise works.Click To Tweet

3. Disconnection

In the end, life and leadership is relational. It’s about your relationship with God and your relationship with people.

And since leadership is influence, it really depends on your ability to motivate people to a calling and cause beyond themselves, which again, depends on connection and relationship.

But something weird is happening in our culture. Technology is changing rapidly, and it seems to be changing us rapidly.

We live in a world where you can have five hundred friends and still feel isolated and abandoned. As a culture, the more connected we’ve become, the more isolated we’ve grown. This is our strange twenty-first-century paradox: we’re connected to more people than ever before and we’ve never felt more alone.

We’re connected to more people than ever before and we’ve never felt more alone.Click To Tweet

What it means for most of us is that a devious disconnect is underway. You and I are connecting with people, just not the people who are in the room with us. We’re having conversations, just not with the people we need to most. As a result, we’re sacrificing prime time to people we can’t hug or touch or see face to face. We might find ourselves paying more attention to someone we knew in college than the people closest to us right now.

And it’s making us feel very isolated. Nothing good happens in isolation. Solitude is a gift from God, but isolation is not—isolation is a tool of the Enemy.

If you wonder what can cap your leadership or take you out—being disconnected from the people you need to be connected to is a subtle but very real contender.

Nothing good happens in isolation. Solitude is a gift from God—isolation is a tool of the Enemy.Click To Tweet

4. Irrelevance

Irrelevance has a sting to it that catches many people off guard. The once-sharp leader is out of work at fifty and almost unemployable.

The preacher everybody listened to a decade ago speaks to a congregation that grows smaller and older with every passing year.

The entrepreneur who had several thriving businesses in his thirties now peddles ideas that just get blank stares—or, worse, looks of pity. The dad who coached Little League and whom kids adored now just sits at home anesthetized by the TV.

Irrelevance can be cruel as it silently squanders your influence. Most of us spend considerable energy and effort in our younger years trying to influence the people we care about and advance the causes that matter to us.

Irrelevance sabotages that influence. Without ever telling you why, people quietly dismiss you as someone who doesn’t quite get it. They write you off as quaint, outdated, and even insignificant.

Understanding the culture is a prerequisite to being able to influence it.Click To Tweet

Why is irrelevance a natural drift in almost all our lives? Here’s the problem: Culture never asks permission to change. It just changes.

And your ability to understand current culture so critical?

Simple. Relevance gains you permission to speak into the current culture.

People who don’t understand today’s culture will never be able to speak into it. Whether you agree with the culture or not, understanding it is a prerequisite to being able to influence it.

People who don’t understand today’s culture will never be able to speak into it. Click To Tweet

5. Pride

It’s so easy to spot pride. Okay, let me try that again. It’s so easy to spot pride in other people. There, that’s far more accurate.

You’re probably not a raging egomaniac or a diagnosed narcissist, but does that mean pride hasn’t snagged you?

Strangely, most of us don’t see ourselves as proud, yet many of us are. It should be no surprise that pride runs deep, because pride is, in many ways, the master sin. It’s the root of our rebellion against God, against others, and even against what’s best for us.

Here’s why pride is so universal: pride at its heart is an obsession with self.

Pride at its heart is an obsession with self.Click To Tweet

It generates the desire you feel to protect, project, manipulate, jockey, advance, pretend, inflate, and brag.

It’s so pervasive that, as Benjamin Franklin observed, if you ever reached the point of becoming humble, you might find yourself wanting to boast about how meek you are.

What’s so surprising is that pride most often shows up in the form of insecurity.

Insecurity makes people just as obsessed with themselves as narcissism does. All you can think about is you.

Insecure people are afraid to have smarter people in the room. They want to hog the spotlight because they’re afraid other people might be better than them. The insecure constantly compare themselves to other.

Why does it stunt your leadership? Because you’re so pre-occupied with yourself that you’ll never truly be able to advance others or even the mission. If you’re insecure, it’s all about you.

Insecurity makes people as obsessed with themselves as narcissism. All you can think about is you.Click To Tweet

6. Burnout

Burnout is almost an epidemic among church leaders today, and it’s increasingly common among business leaders as well.

Even young leaders are burning out. No longer is burnout an “I’ve been at this too long” kind of phenomenon.

Burnout is almost an epidemic among leaders today, even young leaders.Click To Tweet

The more people I meet and the more I look around our culture, the more I think there may be many people suffering from burnout or what I might call “low-grade burn- out.”

By that I mean the joy of life is gone, but the functions of life continue. You’re not dead, but you’re certainly not feeling fully alive.

The symptoms are not enough to stop people in their tracks, but they’re present enough to sap the meaning and wonder out of everyday life.

If you think you’re immune from burnout (I did…until I burned out), just remember that denial is an accelerator. Maybe you’re thinking you’re stronger than burnout. Chances are you’re not. Remember, you’ve got control until you fall off the cliff. Then all control is gone.

Or maybe you think you’re just tired or that the rules don’t apply to you. Well, good luck with that. Every day you remain in denial, you make burnout more likely, not less likely. Rather than care for yourself and deal with your issues, you push on, closer to the edge than ever.

Burnout isn’t inevitable, and it’s not final.

You don’t need to live this way, but too many leaders do.

If you think you’ll never burnout, just remember that denial is an accelerator.Click To Tweet

7. Emptiness

Of all the challenges that take out leaders and stunt their potential, emptiness seems like a weird one.

After all, the other 6 obviously impact your ability to live and lead well.

But what’s the deal with emptiness?

Empty is a feeling I’ve had more than once in my life, most particularly after a peak. It happened after I graduated from law school, after our church became one of the largest in our denomination, and after we finished a few multimillion-dollar building projects.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful. Very grateful. But feeling grateful doesn’t leave you feel full.

Feeling grateful doesn’t always leave you feel full.Click To Tweet

Feeling empty is something I’ve seen afflict a surprising number of successful people. It’s what causes lawyers making mountains of money to buy a lottery ticket and shout to their staff, “If I win this thing, you’ll never see my face again.”

In fact, the emptiness so many people experience in life is more intense in success than it is in failure. When you fail, you have nowhere to go but up. But when you’re up, when you’ve done what others have only dreamed of doing and you still don’t feel great . . . well, then what?

Most of us have this notion that Once I get to a certain place or achieve a certain thing, life will truly start in full, and I’ll finally be happy and whole. It just doesn’t work out that way. You graduate, but you find there’s still something inside you that says there has to be more.

You find the one, get married, and have kids. And it’s great, but still, what’s that thing inside that says there must be more? You land a job and then a career job and then your dream position, but still, there’s a quiet-but-real gnawing inside that says it’s not all you imagined it would be. You pick different markers—time off, vacations, and savings goals—but still the high continues to be short lived. Keep going, and before you know it, you’ve convinced yourself retirement will fill the hole nothing else has been able to fill.

It’s quite the game.

It’s also a game you lose.

You’ve done everything you know to do, everything that was supposed to bring you satisfaction, and you still can’t help but feel a bit empty. What gives?

Well, for starters, you need a mission that’s far bigger than you.

You aren’t the mission. Your job is to point people to the mission—a mission worth spending a major chunk of their lives working toward.

Give people a cause, a mission to make a difference in the world, a way to help others, and they will rally. Let them know their efforts have made a difference in someone else’s life, and they’ll look forward to getting themselves out of bed.

There is no end to the sad discontent of making you the mission of your life.

Every time you make you the mission of your life, you feel empty.

There is no end to the sad discontent of making you the mission of your life.Click To Tweet

Recognize Any Of These 7?

If you recognize yourself in this post, just know there’s help and there’s hope.

I tackle all seven issues in depth in my book, Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the 7 Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences. 

I’ve navigated all seven challenges in varying degrees, and in Didn’t See It Coming, I not only outline how each of these seven challenges show up in your life, I show you how to combat them and beat them.

There’s an antidote to each of the seven and some very practical steps you can take so issues like cynicism, pride, irrelevance and emptiness no longer define your present or your future.  And once you’ve burned out, you don’t need to stay burned out. You can thrive again, and I show you how.

You can pick up your copy of Didn’t See It Coming here (hardcover, AudioBook or Kindle) and once again (or for the first time) discover how to thrive in life leadership.

What’s Your Experience?

What’s been your experience with these 7 issues?

Comment below and let us know what’s helped you through them.

The post The 7 Most Likely Challenges To Take You Out or Stunt Your Growth As a Leader appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: The 7 Most Likely Challenges To Take You Out or Stunt Your Growth As a Leader

The post The 7 Most Likely Challenges To Take You Out or Stunt Your Growth As a Leader appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Ever feel like ministry is harder than it was a decade ago?

You’re not alone.

I am an eternal optimist when it comes to the church, but I agree that ministry is more challenging than it’s ever been.

Understanding why is key to figuring out what to do and how to respond.

You may or may not like the change in culture you see around you, but the fastest path to ineffectiveness in the church is to ignore the change you see around you.

The gap between how quickly things change and how quickly you change is called irrelevance.

So why is ministry a little more challenging than it used to be?

Here are 6 reasons…and a beacon of hope to guide us into a better future.

The gap between how quickly things change and how quickly you change is called irrelevance.Click To Tweet

1. The automatic return to church is long gone

There was an assumption in ministry (it still lingers in certain circles) that although young adults who grew up in the church might walk away for a season, they’ll come back as soon as they have kids. I heard a church leaders say this as recently as last month.

The research shows that’s just not true.

Ditto the assumption that unchurched people will turn to the church the moment they hit a bit crisis in their lives. They are just as likely to turn to a meditation app or yoga class as they are to a local church.

Unchurched people think about church about as much as the average Christian thinks about synagogue—rarely.

Unchurched people think about church as much as the average Christian thinks about synagogue.Click To Tweet

Will you occasionally have people who turn to the church in times of crisis? Of course. Or young families who come back? Absolutely.

But the exception is never the rule. It’s the exception.

But if you treat the exception like the rule, you’ll be deeply frustrated with your inability to realize your mission of reaching people with the Gospel.

Leaders who are waiting for young adults to automatically return to church will wait a long time.

Leaders who are waiting for young adults to automatically return to church will wait a long time.Click To Tweet

2. The gap between what Christians believe and the culture believes is bigger than ever

If you’ve sensed that the values many Christians hold are significantly different than the values our culture holds to, you would be right.

What Christians believe about sexuality, money, love, drugs, ethics and compassion are increasingly different from what our neighbours who don’t go to church believe.

So how do you bridge that gap?

Too many preachers just yell at the world for not believing what we believe.  Ditto for Christians on social media.

Not only is that a mistake; it’s a terrible strategy.

Guess what? Christians are supposed to be different than non-Christians. It shouldn’t surprise us that it’s happened.

Sharing why we believe what we believe in love is so much better than yelling at the world in hate.

Sharing why you believe what you believe in love is so much better than yelling at the world in…Click To Tweet

3. Christians are perceived as irrelevant

A few years ago I connected with a news anchor who has worked for the major TV networks in the US and Canada.

He was shocked that anyone under 50 attended church. He had no idea that there were still churches that were actually growing.

That attitude shouldn’t shock Christians, but it does.

I’ve been introducing myself as a pastor for two decades now. At first people seemed either impressed or dismissive. Some people were glad to see a younger leader in ministry. And many were open to checking out a church that was making changes.

There were always a few who showed disdain when I mentioned I was a pastor, often, I suspect, because they had had a negative experience with church.

Today when I introduce myself, I’m more often greeted by bewilderment or confusion than anything.

People just don’t seem to have a category for people who work at churches. It’s like people feel sorry for us.

Irrelevance is more difficult than relevance because it’s hard to find immediate common ground. You have to establish it from scratch, and often the easiest way to do that is to

But it also provides opportunity.  Imagine becoming known as the most radically loving group of people anyone has ever met.

Irrelevance is more difficult than relevance because there is no common ground.Click To Tweet

4. Fewer gifted people are entering ministry

This one really bothers me.

I talk to leaders every week who talk about how hard it is to find great leaders to staff their ministry.

Naturally, you should raise up leaders from within, and we do that.

But the truth is fewer and fewer bright, capable young adults are considering full time church ministry as an option.

A century ago, the best and the brightest flooded into ministry as easily as leaders today float into business, law, engineering, start-ups and medicine.

Today, drop by a top tier school and tell them you’re thinking about ministry and people will stare at you in disbelief. Sadly, sometimes so will your parents.

That’s heartbreaking.

Some people might say “Well, people just don’t feel called into ministry.” I get that, but I think it might be time rethink what it means to be called into ministry.

Similarly, I think many leaders who could make a huge contribution to ministry are in the business and start up space instead. I’d love to see more entrepreneurs enter ministry.

When you get the best leaders in a room, problems become easier to solve.

Fewer bright, gifted leaders are entering ministry. That’s heartbreaking.Click To Tweet

5. Contemporary churches are less rare than they used to be

In the 90s and early 2000s, churches that switched to better music, more relevant teaching and generally became more effective at what they did were few and far between.

Many early adopters who made changes like this would find themselves as the only church in their town/region/denomination that had adapted to a more contemporary form of church.

That’s not the case anymore.

Many churches that have adapted a contemporary form of worship or even a particular sub-style of church now find themselves in cities with other churches doing exactly the same thing.

When it comes to contemporary churches, what was once unique is now commonplace. What was innovative is now normal.

That’s not a bad thing. It’s just a thing. And it helps explain that what got you far a decade ago doesn’t take you as far today.

Cool church itself might even be dying, as I argue here. But again, that’s not a bad thing. Something far greater and more effective will emerge.

When it comes to contemporary churches, what was once innovative is now commonplace.Click To Tweet

6. The internet happened

Just over a decade ago, there were no smart phones and a meaningful percentage of people were still on dial-up.

No more.

Today, anyone can listen to any preacher or worship leader any time, anywhere, on any device, pretty much for free.

Courtesy of the internet, the local pastor is not the sole voice in a congregation’s life.

You and I are being compared against people who are often far more talented that we are. And again, that’s not a bad thing. It’s just a thing.

There will always be a role for a local communicator and pastor who knows his or her people and loves them. A powerful role.

But many in your church now have a handful of pastors and leaders they follow. Maybe dozens.

It’s just different.

Courtesy of the internet, the local pastor is no longer the sole voice in a congregation’s life.Click To Tweet

There’s Plenty of Hope

So, is it time to lament and console ourselves?

Not at all.

First of all, it’s Jesus’ church, not ours. God has more invested in the future of the church than any of us do.

The church will prevail because it’s His, not ours.

God has more invested in the future of the church than any of us do. Click To Tweet

The first step in solving a problem is diagnosing it, and hopefully this helps get us  up the field.

As I outlined in this post, great leaders never make excuses. Instead, they study the reasons things are the way they are, and then they make progress.

Where one leader sees obstacles, another sees opportunities.

I encourage you to see all of these as opportunities.

Where one leader sees obstacles, another sees opportunities. See the opportunity Click To Tweet

What does that look like? Well….

If you’re relying on the automatic return to church, stop that. Develop a strategy to reach the unreached.

Speak into the gap between what you believe and the culture believe with love, not with judgment.

If you’re seen as irrelevant, develop some common ground and even friendships with people who don’t understand why you do what you do.

Short leaders? Challenge some marketplace leaders to leave what they’re doing and serve full time in church leadership.

If lots of churches are doing what you’re doing and what you’re doing isn’t working for you, change what you’re doing.

Instead of feeling threatened by the internet, use it. We just completely redesigned our website at Connexus Church to become mobile optimal, added an online campus and made many more changes to reach the unchurched. Everyone who’s not in church is online. Go to them if they haven’t come to you.

Everyone who’s not in church is online. Go to them if they haven’t come to you.Click To Tweet

That’s what I’m learning these days about some of the challenges facing all church leaders.

I address numerous practical solutions in my book, Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations That Will Help Your Church Grow if you want more.

In the meantime, what are you seeing and how are you responding?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

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Source: 6 Things That Make Ministry Harder Than It Was A Decade Ago

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