Today’s blog post is by Tony Morgan. Tony is the founder and lead strategist of The Unstuck Group, a company that helps leaders grow healthy churches by guiding them through experiences that focus vision, strategy and action.

By Tony Morgan

If you’re familiar with any of my work, you probably can guess I really like numbers.

While numbers aren’t everything, without a baseline perspective, it’s hard to make decisions about ministry strategy. If you’re trying to discern whether or not a church is healthy, the numbers give you something consistent to review—an indication if all of the activity is producing the right results.

Many churches try to make changes and have no way to measure if those hard-fought changes are really having an impact—in a positive or a negative way, which is why I think it’s so important to be looking at what the numbers are telling us.  

Exactly two years ago, my team released the very first version of The Unstuck Church Report. It was designed to give church leaders an objective view of church health by highlighting the trends we’re seeing in 5 key areas of ministry across a wide variety and number of churches (Ministry Reach, Staffing and Leadership, Connection, Finances and Ministry Health).

What indicators can we look at to see if a church is healthy?

It’s easy in ministry for there to be a lot of anecdotal stories that illustrate how people feel about church or a specific ministry, but what about data to show where the Church is headed?

A few quarters ago, I even dissected the difference in growing and declining churches in each of the key areas. It was fascinating.

Each quarter, I like to share the data that stands out to me.

This quarter, there were three areas in particular that I want to dig into. These are the trends that jumped out at me.

While numbers aren’t everything, without a baseline perspective, it’s hard to make decisions about ministry strategy.Click To Tweet

1. The Front-Door Challenge

I wasn’t surprised to see this show up. When my team and I work with churches, this is something that we see often, and this is also a theme we’ve seen consistently in our quarterly reports.

For churches to maintain health and growth over time, the number of first-time guests over a 12-month period needs to be equal to or greater than their average weekly attendance. But, on average, we’re seeing churches of 1,000, as an example, average 490 first-time guests in one year.

If you dig into the report, you’ll see that ministry connection numbers are getting stronger, but also that churches are seeing fewer first-time guests. These numbers combined suggest churches really are dealing with more of a “front-door” than a “back-door” challenge.

I suggest reading what I wrote on Carey’s site last month. With an outside perspective, Connexus embraced this “front-door” challenge by pursuing an inviting culture and went all-in on becoming a church that’s passionate about seeing their friends, neighbors, and colleagues experience Jesus.

(A few years later, they’ve seen their number of new guests sky-rocket.)

The number of first-time guests over a 12-month period needs to be equal to or greater than their average weekly attendance. -@tonymorganliveClick To Tweet

2. An Increase in Group Engagement Isn’t Necessarily a Win

This quarter, we saw churches report that 64% of adults and students are in small groups, but only 44% of adults and students are engaged in volunteering.

On the surface, this may look like a win. Yes, it’s encouraging that so many people are connecting into small groups for community and Bible study. And that is a great way to connect with people and build relationships. My wife Emily and I have been involved in, or led, many small groups over the years.

However, our experience at The Unstuck Group has shown that people who volunteer are actually far more “engaged” in the mission of the church. Having people involved at that volunteer level impacts many aspects of church health, including frequency of worship attendance, invitations to new guests and giving, as examples.

If you’re trying to find ways to engage people and keep them engaged, it’s critical to build up the volunteer teams and leaders of those teams.

Serving together creates a deep, rich community environment worth pursuing. It gives people the option to “own” part of the mission of the church and put their gifts and talents to use. This is how God designed the Body of Christ to engage the mission…together.

If you’re trying to find ways to engage people and keep them engaged, it’s critical to build up the volunteer teams and leaders of those teams. -@tonymorganliveClick To Tweet

3. Governance Complexity and Declining Churches

Back when I wrote the article series on the differences in growing and declining churches, the same data stuck out to me.

Declining churches have twice as many committees.

Declining churches have twice as many committees. -@tonymorganliveClick To Tweet

Churches that have large decision-making boards and multiple additional committees generally struggle, but it should be no surprise.

The more people you have making decisions about what can or can’t happen in ministry, the fewer people you have actually doing ministry.

Growing churches have streamlined their governance structure to eliminate unnecessary committees and the meetings that go with them.

This allows these churches to be more nimble when it comes to decision-making. Tough decisions that impact the overall health of the church don’t get bogged down in various layers of bureaucracy.

It’s counterintuitive, but it can often be smaller churches that struggle with having more committees and boards than larger churches. If you lead at a small church, it might be time to reevaluate how your church governance is structured to make sure it is efficient and actually serving the church’s broader vision and mission.

The more people you have making decisions about what can or can’t happen in ministry, the fewer people you have actually doing ministry. -@tonymorganliveClick To Tweet

This data is just the beginning.

The Q4 2019 report holds some really compelling data on 15+ other metrics.

I really believe this tool can help you take some valuable steps towards health in your ministry. It’s invaluable to have data and benchmarks to measure your church’s health and see where other churches are today.

If you’re interested in reading the other metrics and learning about the trends we’re seeing, you can download the report here.

It’s invaluable to have data and benchmarks to measure your church’s health and see where other churches are today. -@tonymorganliveClick To Tweet

What Changes Do You Need To Make?

Getting a church growing or helping a church that’s reaching new people grow even further can seem daunting.

It doesn’t have to be.

Whether you’re a church that isn’t growing, has plateaued, or whether you wish your church was growing faster than it is, I’d love to help you breakthrough. That’s why I created the Church Growth Masterclass.

The Church Growth Masterclass is everything I wish I knew about church growth when I got into ministry more than 20 years ago.

The Masterclass includes a complete set of videos that you can play with your team, board or staff, PDF workbooks that will help you tackle the issues you’re facing, and bonus materials that will help you navigate the most pressing issues facing churches that want to reach their cities today.

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

Which of these metrics could you be doing better on?

I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below:

The post The Church Health Trends You Need to Be Looking At appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: The Church Health Trends You Need to Be Looking At

The post The Church Health Trends You Need to Be Looking At appeared first on Passion for Planting.

This is a guest blog post by Jenni Catron. Jenni is Founder and CEO of The 4Sight Group and is a member of my new Speaking Team. You can book Jenni to consult with your team or speak at your next event here.

By Jenni Catron

Someone may be holding back your team.

Someone may be impeding your growth.

Someone may be frustrating and demotivating your staff.

And quite possibly that someone is you.

Most leaders that I meet today intend to be good leaders. You value the importance of leadership, and you recognize the tremendous stewardship opportunity to pour into others, develop them, and rally them around a unified goal.

You work hard to recruit and assemble a great team of people that you enjoy doing life and work with.

The trouble is that for all your efforts to support, direct, inspire and lead, you may actually be doing the opposite of what you hope.

I learned this lesson in a very intense and demanding season. I was leading a large, fast-growing church.  We had an amazing team, and I had an even better Executive Team.

We should have been crushing it, and instead everyone, including me, was frustrated.

No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t seem to get momentum. We had constant communication breakdowns. Our staff and volunteers were apathetic, and morale was low.

While the external metrics looked good, behind the scenes there was tension and continual frustration. We all felt like we were spinning our wheels.

As the leader of the team, I knew I needed to get us together to figure out what was going on. We were better than this and I was committed to getting to the bottom of it.

I was so committed that I opened the meeting by saying, “Something isn’t working. We all feel it. It seems we don’t know what to do about it, and so we’re going to start with me. As the leader of this team, I need to take responsibility for our ineffectiveness. For the next hour, I want you to tell me where I am creating the confusion that is hindering our momentum.”

As you can imagine, it was dead quiet for a few minutes.  Eyes darting from person to person silently asking, “Is she serious or is this a trap?”

But I was serious and, with a little bit of coaxing, they began to share their frustrations and observations.  Their feedback was simple. “We need you to define what we need to do and clarify why we need to do it, then release us to figure out how.

That’s it? They actually needed less from me?

What they weren’t saying directly but they were clearly implying is that I was micro-managing details that I didn’t need to be a part of.

At first, I wanted to argue.  I wasn’t a micro-manager! I just cared deeply about the work we were doing and wanted to make sure everyone understood what we’ve done in the past and how we did it so they could more efficiently keep it moving.

That sounded great in my head,  but once I started to say it out loud, I realized the frustration I was creating.

I had unintentionally become a bottleneck in the organization.  Out of a desire to be helpful, thorough, efficient, and if I’m honest…to be right, I had neutered my team of the autonomy to figure out how to best accomplish the work.

The lesson for me that day was simple: Define the What.  Release the How.

I needed to release the How of our work so that our team could take the ideas further than I could by myself.

As leaders, we will find ourselves in similar moments throughout the different stages of organizational growth.  Before you create a bottleneck in your organization, consider these four reasons that you need to be continually releasing your team to do the How.

1) You may not actually know the best way to do it anymore.

If you’re the founding leader or long-tenured staff member, this will be extremely challenging.  Many leaders rise to responsibilities of leadership after having served in numerous different roles throughout the organization.

Your competence and experience got you to the position of leadership, but overly relying on that experience may be the thing that inhibits your continued growth.

Your competence and experience got you to the position of leadership, but overly relying on that experience may be the thing that inhibits your continued growth.Click To Tweet

The people closest to the challenge often have the most perspective on how to navigate it.

While you might have led a specific ministry or department in the past, it’s likely that you don’t know the best practices that will allow it to flourish today.

Your past experience doesn’t necessarily make you an expert today.

Your past experience doesn’t necessarily make you an expert today.Click To Tweet

2) It will challenge your team to bring fresh ideas.

When you direct every detail, you train your team to wait to be told what to do.  This creates passive team members that are reactive rather than proactive.

When you stop dictating the details, your team will be encouraged to think for themselves.  They will begin to have more ownership in their responsibilities.

The best ideas emerge from the people closest to the problem. Make sure you’re creating a culture that values problem-solving rather than problem-reacting.

The best ideas emerge from the people closest to the problem.Click To Tweet

3) It will stretch your team to do more.

Do you ever get frustrated with team members who do the bare minimum?

When team members lack the agency to direct their work, they become bored and complacent. They lack the energy and motivation to do more.

When team members feel empowered to make decisions and are valued for their ideas and initiative, their motivation grows.

When we release the How we release our teams to dream bigger. Rather than see the specific task, they see opportunity. If they see opportunity and believe they have an influence in making that opportunity happen, they will engage more deeply.

When team members feel empowered to make decisions and are valued for their ideas and initiative, their motivation grows.Click To Tweet

4) It will free you up to be focused on the future.

As the leader, we need you out ahead of the team planning the future direction. When you’re too busy directing How you don’t have the margin to be dreaming up the next What.

A good way to gauge whether you are focused on the What versus the How is to evaluate where you spend the bulk of your time. Is most of your time each week spent on responding to immediate issues or are you spending time planning out the months ahead?

I believe that senior leaders should spend the majority of their time on projects and plans at least three to six months in the future. If you’re not dedicating time to planning for the future, you’re likely spending too much time directing the how of the day-to-day.

When you spend your time and energy operating at the right altitude, you get to focus on the vision and direction for the future and your team has the freedom to make the day-to-day decisions they can and should make. Both of you win and both of you grow!

Define the What.  Release the How.  In doing so, you’ll elevate your leadership and empower your team.

When you’re too busy directing How, you don’t have the margin to be dreaming up the next What.Click To Tweet

Growth Is Hard, Here Is Everything I know: 

Getting a stuck church growing or helping a church that’s reaching new people grow even further can seem daunting.

It doesn’t have to be.

Whether you’re a church that isn’t growing, has plateaued, or whether you wish your church was growing faster than it is, I’d love to help you break through. That’s why I created the Church Growth Masterclass.

The Church Growth Masterclass is everything I wish I knew about church growth when I got into ministry more than 20 years ago.

Naturally, 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 the Church Growth Masterclass.

In the Church Growth Masterclass I’ll show you:

The 10 reasons your church isn’t growing
Why even committed church-goers aren’t attending as often as before
How to tell if your church leaders are getting burned out
The 5 keys to your church better impacting millennials.
What to do when a church wants to grow … but not change
5 essentials for church growth
5 disruptive church trends to watch—and how to respond
How to increase church attendance by increasing engagement.

The Masterclass includes a complete set of videos that you can play with your team, board or staff, PDF workbooks that will help you tackle the issues you’re facing, and bonus materials that will help you navigate the most pressing issues facing churches that want to reach their cities today.

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

What about your team?

Where are you dictating too many details? Where do you need to define the What, but release the How?  Scroll down and share with us in the comments!

The post How You’re Holding Back Your Team & 4 Reasons to Release Them appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: How You’re Holding Back Your Team & 4 Reasons to Release Them

The post How You’re Holding Back Your Team & 4 Reasons to Release Them appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Everything’s changing in the church and culture so fast, how do you respond? In this year’s Rethink Leadership Roundtable, Clay Scroggins and Brad Lomenick join Carey to talk about future trends in culture and the church, whether attractional church has peaked, the rise of charismatic churches and more.

Welcome to Episode 247 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.

Guest Links

BradLomenick.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

CNLP 181: Brad Lomenick on Trends in Church Attendance, Online Engagement, Cool Churches and Isolation in Leadership

CNLP 127: Jud Wilhite and Brad Lomenick Roundtable on Their Worst Mistakes and Best Decisions in Leadership

CNLP 074: The Future Church, Reaching Millennials and Our Biggest Mistakes in Leadership – A Candid Conversation with Geoff Surratt, Brad Lomenick and Carey Nieuwhof

CNLP 055: Brad Lomenick on the 3 Essential Components It Takes to Lead in Today’s Culture

CNLP 027: How to Know When It’s Time to Move on – An Honest Interview about Leadership, Personal Growth and Leaving before It’s Too Late with Brad Lomenick

ClayScroggins.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

CNLP 193: Clay Scroggins on How the Digital Disruption is Changing Everything for Churches and Businesses

CNLP 153: Clay Scroggins on How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge

CNLP 035: Leading Young at North Point – An Interview with Clay Scroggins

How to Lead in a World of Distraction: Maximizing Your Influence by Turning Down the Noise

Episode Links And Free Downloads

Rethink Leadership is a premier leadership event designed by senior leaders exclusively for lead, executive and campus pastors. Join me in Atlanta on May 1-3 for content, conversations and community unlike any other leadership event in the country. You’ll go home with more than ideas. You’ll go home with a fresh network working together to solve the biggest challenges facing your church and the Church. Register by March 31st to receive $20 off regular pricing.

Brad Lomenick’s Curated Content Email—New Things To Check Out

“5-Bullet Friday” — 5 Things I’ve Been Loving, Using, and Reading by Tim Ferriss

Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise by Horst Schulze

The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly

AR Will Spark the Next Big Tech Platform – Call It Mirrorworld by Kevin Kelly

CNLP 245: Jud Wilhite on Developing New Strategies to Reach Unchurched People, What’s Working and What’s Not, And How to Lead Out of Your Vulnerabilities and Insecurities

Take A Look Inside One Pastor’s Virtual Reality Church – Today.com

Starbucks Is Expanding Delivery To Even More Cities Next Month by Madison Flager

7 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2018 by Carey Nieuwhof

5 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2019 by Carey Nieuwhof

5 Reasons Charismatic Churches Are Growing (And Attractional Churches Are Past Peak) by Carey Nieuwhof

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

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

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

The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential by John Maxwell

3 Insights from this Episode

1.  The leaders of today and the future will be the curators

There is no shortage of information available to us in our modern world. You can become an expert on anything after a quick google. The leaders of the future will not necessarily be the leaders that create the newest and best content, but the leaders who can filter through all of the noise in our modern world and pull out the few helpful, practical bits of information.

You don’t have to be the one to write ten articles. You can write one and then link to 9 other articles and be just as helpful. People are looking for a helpful filter to view the world through. People need more content than one person can produce.

Check out Brad Lomenick’s curated list of trends: New Things To Check Out

2. The church has to shift from downloadable to transcendent experiences

If our services continue to be something that can be downloaded, they will. And people will continue to stop showing up on Sundays. How do we change this? If we can create an experience that transcends this world, that connects people to Jesus in ways that can not be repeated on a screen, then we will begin to keep people together.

The reason to gather “because it’s biblical” just isn’t working anymore. We have to find more and better reasons for people to prioritize physically gathering in community. We need to offer a better “why” as the Church. Carey’s church has begun connecting people into relationship much sooner to help people see what the church is truly about.

Another key shift with this change is a shift where churches are both attractive and experiencial. We have a lot of churches that can reach people through their heart, and we have a lot of churches that can reach people through their heads. We need churches that can do both. Life.Church is a great example of this right now.

3. The local church is replacing institutions as influencers.

You use to have to go to a record label to make a world-famous album. Now if you look at the iTunes top 100 Christian artist list you see just as many local church bands being featured as you are seeing major recording artists. You see the same trend in colleges. You are seeing more and more leadership training colleges within the local church and less and less major institutions.

You no longer need a million dollars to launch a viral program. Local churches like Elevation Worship, Bethel Music, and churches that have partnered with Southeastern University are putting these programs that were previously unavailable to the local church inside of local churches all over the world. This is a shift that will continue to evolve in the coming years.

Quotes from Episode 247

We are drowning in a sea of information. The crisis today is not a shortage of information, it’s a shortage of meaning. @cnieuwhofClick To Tweet

It’s easier to be an expert on something now, you can read a couple articles on something and sound like an expert. @clayscrogginsClick To Tweet

If your church experiences can be downloaded, they will. @clayscrogginsClick To Tweet

We don’t follow Jesus because we have to, we follow Jesus because we realize it’s better. @clayscrogginsClick To Tweet

When planning a service, you can manipulate or you can evoke. Never cross the line from evoking to manipulation. @cnieuwhofClick To Tweet

The leader of the future and the leader of now is really going to be the curator much more than the aggregator of content. @bradlomenickClick To Tweet

Smart leaders are always asking the question behind the question. @bradlomenickClick To Tweet

You don’t have to be the one to write ten articles. You can write one and then link to 9 other articles and be just as helpful. @bradlomenickClick To Tweet

The best leaders are the most emotionally healthy leaders, but you have to shut down the noise to get there. @clayscrogginsClick To Tweet

I want all of God. @bradlomenickClick To Tweet

Leadership is hard. If you are in the game, it is going to be tough. @clayscrogginsClick To Tweet

Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 247

Looking for a key quote? More of a reader?

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

Didn’t See It Coming Will Help You Solve the Problems Most Leaders Miss

If you want practical help overcoming some of the biggest challenges leaders face, my new book Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the 7 Greatest Challenges That Nobody Expects and Everyone Experiences tackles the seven core issues that take people out: cynicism, compromise, disconnectedness, irrelevance, pride, burnout, and the emptiness of success and provides strategies on how to combat each.

I wrote the book because no 18 year old sets out to be cynical, jaded and disconnected by age 35. Yet it happens all the time.

The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here’s what top leaders are saying about Didn’t See It Coming:

“Seriously, this may be the most important book you read this year.” Jud Wilhite, Lead Pastor, Central Church

“Powerful, personal, and highly readable. ” Brian Houston, Global Senior Pastor, Hillsong

“Whatever challenge you’re facing, whatever obstacle you’re hoping to overcome, whatever future you dream or imagine, there is something powerful for you here.” Andy Stanley, Founder, North Point Ministries

“Uncommonly perceptive and generous…You have to read this book.” Ann Voskamp, NYT bestselling author

“Masterful.” Reggie Joiner, CEO Orange

“Deep biblical insight, straightforward truth, and practical wisdom to help you grow.” Craig Groeschel, Pastor and NYT bestselling author

“This book is sure to help you.” Daniel H. Pink, NYT bestselling author

Over the years, one of the things I’ve enjoyed most about being a public speaker is having opportunities to hang out with Carey…It’s not a matter of if you’ll run into these challenges; it’s a matter of when. Be prepared by spending a little time with a leader who has already been there.” Jon Acuff, NYT best-selling author

“Nieuwhof’s book provides expert guidance…with an accuracy that pierces the heart.” Nancy Duarte, CEO Duarte Inc.

“A refreshingly transparent guide for all leaders in a wide variety of industries.” Bryan Miles, Co-Founder and CEO, BELAY

You can learn more and get your copy of Didn’t See It Coming here.

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.

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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?

The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts and leave us a brief review! You can do the same on Stitcher and on TuneIn as well.

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: Joel & Nina Schmidgall

Anyone who has been married for a while knows it can be difficult, but marriage is often harder than most couples signed up for. Joel and Nina Schmidgall talk about the struggles they themselves and the couples they work with face, and how prayer can help more than you think. Adapting the framework of Mark Batterson’s New York Time’s Best-selling book, The Circle Maker, Joel and Nina talk about how praying circles around your marriage can change your marriage for the better.

Subscribe for free now and you won’t miss Episode 248.

The post CNLP 247: Clay Scroggins and Brad Lomenick Roundtable On Future Trends, The Attractional Church, The Rise of Charismatic Churches, And The Most Difficult Parts of Leadership appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 247: Clay Scroggins and Brad Lomenick Roundtable On Future Trends, The Attractional Church, The Rise of Charismatic Churches, And The Most Difficult Parts of Leadership

The post CNLP 247: Clay Scroggins and Brad Lomenick Roundtable On Future Trends, The Attractional Church, The Rise of Charismatic Churches, And The Most Difficult Parts of Leadership appeared first on Passion for Planting.