This post on influencing Gen Z is written by Shane Sanchez. Shane is The InsideOut Director for Gwinnett Church (a campus of North Point Ministries.) I recently interviewed Shane on ChurchPulse Weekly. You can listen to the interview here. 

By Shane Sanchez

Does the idea of influencing the next generation (Gen-Z) ever overwhelm you?

Chances are for the last decade you’ve spent time learning how your church can increase influence with millennials. You’ve tried new methods, and done your best to refine a ministry approach that connects with Generation Y. And just as you started feeling like you’re gaining traction with millennials, here comes Generation Z!

Pew defines Gen Z as individuals born between 1997-2012. What’s quickly becoming clear is that they are very different from older generations. Just look at these extraordinary insights from Barna’s Gen Z research project:

Gen Z is…

Recession Marked – Born in the midst of the early 2000’s recession.
Wi-Fi Enabled – Common Sense Media found that teens spend 9 hours a day online.
Multiracial – Most diverse generation in American history.
Gender Fluid – 48% say gender is based on “sex a person was born as”.
Post-Christians – 78% believe in the existence of God but only 41% attend weekly religious services (and that was before the COVID disruption).

If we’re going to influence a generation marked by recession, the attention economy, unprecedented diversity, identity fluidity, post-Christianity, and now a global pandemic, we’re going to need to try things we’ve never tried before.

If we’re going to influence a generation marked by recession, the attention economy, unprecedented diversity, identity fluidity, post-Christianity, and now a global pandemic, we’re going to need to try things we’ve never tried before. – @shanesanchez

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Well, good luck with that…

I’m kidding. I’m right there with you! In fact, I might be an eternal optimist but what I’m already seeing in the emerging generation causes me to believe that the best days of the local church are still ahead of us.

It’s easy to take Gen Z at face value and simply dismiss them due to attributes we don’t understand. However, dismissiveness doesn’t build disciples. As a millennial, I’ve heard plenty of knocks and dismissive generalities about my generation from pastors, thought leaders, and older adults. So here’s what I will ask on our behalf: Please don’t do the same thing to Gen Z. It’s time that we seek to understand what makes younger generations so unique and look at their attributes as opportunities for the gospel to work in new ways.

Dismissiveness doesn’t build disciples. – @shanesanchez

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If you seek to understand someone and assume to believe the best about them, it’s amazing how much influence you can gain with them.

Jesus took this approach with tax collectors, zealots, and prostitutes…at very least; we can do this with kids and teenagers.

This means that if you and I want to go where God is leading the church of the future, we have to choose to open our hearts and minds to methods that are built for a generation unlike any before.

Here are 3 foundational ideas to jumpstart your approach to influencing Gen Z:

Jesus looked to understand tax collectors, zealots, and prostitutes…at very least; we can do this with kids and teenagers. – @shanesanchez

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1. Develop a strategy that outlasts your personality.

It’s time for you and I to confront an underlying issue that has existed in next generation ministry for decades: the personality driven model. You know what this is. It’s the kind of kids or student ministry that dissipates as soon as the key leader moves on to another opportunity. We can do better.

The next generation doesn’t need more big personalities, they need leaders who think strategically.

There are plenty of charismatic YouTube stars and social media Influencers that can entertain and draw a crowd of kids and students to their platform…Gen Z doesn’t need ministry leaders to try to do the same.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be the fullest of who you are or that good old-fashioned charisma isn’t important in next generation ministry, I’m just saying that these things cannot be the only things.

If you think the effective church of the future will be able to hang on the personality or speaking ability of a person, you’re missing the point. For older generations, the charisma of leaders and “cool” factor of the experience was often times more than enough to pique interest. Yet, Generation Z is growing up with unrivaled access to the greatest entertainers on the planet.

Personality can’t be our knockout punch anymore.

Instead, we need to be leaders who put as much emphasis on strategy as we do charisma. We should be inspiring but we should also be focused on playing the long game of building a sustainable ministry. One that continues helping kids and teenagers own their faith, far beyond our tenures.

Are you building a ministry that will last beyond your personality? Are you hiring leaders for how they think or simply how they speak? The local church needs more leaders who are willing to dive into the deep end of strategy and have thoughtful and nuanced dialogue about the best methods, means, and models of the local church for the next generation.

If you don’t have a strategy or have been banking solely on personality, it’s time to start thinking strategically. Charisma has a place in leadership but it’s only as powerful and effective as it is coupled with an effective strategy.

How much time do you spend strategizing methods for a new version of the local church (like digital reach, implementing daily faith practices, and vocational discipleship) rather than just an upgraded version of the current one?

Ok, now that you’re thinking strategically, it’s important to consider the people who are making your strategy possible, the volunteers.

We need to be leaders who put as much emphasis on strategy as we do charisma. – @shanesanchez

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2. Build a system that attracts adult leaders that are worth following.

My pastor, Andy Stanley, has said that one of the biggest steps for someone exploring faith is “trusting a Christian”. What does it look like to build a volunteer system that is focused on finding, training, and supporting the kinds of small group leaders (SGLs) you want kids and students to trust and model their lives after? (Note: Groups aren’t going anywhere. 81% of Gen Z say that community is part of their “ideal church”.)

Let me ask you something: Are your current adult volunteers the kind of adults you want students to become someday?

I know we always need more volunteers, but what if the truth is that you need the right volunteers rather than just more of the mediocre ones? This may sound a bit harsh, but the next generation deserves adults worth following.

I can tell you from personal experience that I’ve seen small group leaders take kids away from church, leave leadership vacuums that kids dissolve in when they leave unexpectedly, and create drama that rivals that of 7th graders.

On the other hand, I’ve seen adult volunteers who have engaged entire families in the local church, helped kids navigate extreme crisis, and breathed momentum into the vision of the ministry. This is why doing the hard work of identifying, recruiting and developing adults worth following is so worth the effort.

Are your current adult volunteers the kind of adults you want students to become someday? – @shanesanchez

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Here are a couple of tips for building a system that attracts the right people:

Set a high bar

I truly believe that volunteers will rise to the level of expectations you set for them.

It’s why years ago our small group leader roles shifted from a year-by-year commitment to a 4-year commitment for high school leaders. Additionally we asked all of our SGLs to commit to embodying the principles laid out in the book, Lead Small. Yes, over the course of implementing new expectations, we saw about 80% turnover of our team. However, within a couple of years we re-staffed our SGL roles with quality, consistent, and mission-oriented leaders.

As I said earlier, the truth is, leaders will rise to the level of the bar you set…no matter how low or high that is. Our adult volunteers will almost always respect what we as ministry leaders expect and inspect. Don’t expect extraordinary results when you set ordinary expectations for volunteers.

Don’t expect extraordinary results when you set ordinary expectations for volunteers. – @shanesanchez

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Develop them spiritually

One of the most important roles for next-gen ministries of the future is to create volunteer systems that help adult leaders grow spiritually.

Many of the volunteers we’re recruiting nowadays are millennial adults. Millennials are the most biblically skeptical people on earth today (even more so than Gen Z).

This means that we can’t millennials to be biblically founded spiritual mentors for Gen Z by default. Instead, what if we started taking the spiritual development of our volunteers just as seriously as that of our kids and students? What if we gave our volunteers spiritual mentors? What if we created environments where they could build their theological foundation? Or what if we wrestled with and studied the Bible alongside them instead just hoping it happens as a part of their daily routine?

We have an opportunity to help Gen Z build a faith of their own, but we also know that we cannot do this alone. We need incredible adult small group leaders that kids and students can trust. When we set a high bar and choose to believe that fostering the spiritual growth of our leaders is our responsibility, we’ll start heading in the right direction.

3. Change your perception of parents.

Ok, let me talk about the elephant in the room. Kids and student ministry leaders just wished parents would care about the spiritual development of their children a little more.

Not to pick on student pastors (I am one), but Barna’s research shows that:

68% of youth pastors say their biggest struggle is parents who don’t prioritize their teen’s spiritual growth.

Maybe you feel this deeply. Well, you’re not alone. However, if you stop here you may also be missing one of the greatest opportunities for building a next gen strategy that reaches Gen Z. Here is another fascinating insight from Barna’s research:

4 out of 5 Christian teens say they can “share honest questions, struggles, and doubts with their parents”. (79%)

This is a really big deal. Christian teenagers feel incredibly safe sharing some of their most personal and pivotal perspectives with their parents. This means that it would be foolish for us to discount the influence of a parent in the spiritual formation of a child or teenager. So, if we want to be strategic about reaching Gen Z, we have to be strategic about including their parents on the journey.

If we are going to strategically prioritize parents we have to genuinely change our perceptions.

We must choose to believe that parents care about the faith of their kids.

If we make this assumption, it means we will also take the time to build a strategy for resourcing, supporting, and encouraging parents of kids and teenagers. There are so many ways we can act out the assumption that parents care about their kid’s faith. From resources that help them navigate social media with their children, to gift cards for a hot coffee on a weary day of parenting.

If we want to be strategic about reaching Gen Z, we have to be strategic about including their parents on the journey. – @shanesanchez

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So you’ve got people watching your church online. How do you turn them into engagers?nnnn

On October 8th, 2020, Carey Nieuwhof is hosting The Online Church Engagement Summit. It’s a free, 90-minute value-packed event where Levi Lusko, Nona Jones, and Bobby Gruenewald will give you their best practical strategies to turn viewers into engagers.nnnn

If you feel like you don’t even know where to begin, or if you’ve had success but want to reach and engage more people, this is for you and your team. nnnn

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The Online Church Engagement Summitnn

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So you’ve got people watching your church online. How do you turn them into engagers?nnnn

On October 8th, 2020, Carey Nieuwhof is hosting The Online Church Engagement Summit. It’s a free, 90-minute value-packed event where Levi Lusko, Nona Jones, and Bobby Gruenewald will give you their best practical strategies to turn viewers into engagers.nnnn

If you feel like you don’t even know where to begin, or if you’ve had success but want to reach and engage more people, this is for you and your team. nnnn

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What matters to you? 

These are 3 ideas to jumpstart your church’s influence with Gen Z but we could process 300 more. Continue the conversation by commenting with what you think matters most as we build ministries that will influence Gen Z.

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Source: 3 Ideas For Increasing Your Influence With Gen Z

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by Carey Nieuwhof: Oh to know then what you know now.

It never works that way, though, does it?

This past weekend, I celebrated a birthday. It was a good one. I spent much of the day being grateful, but it also made me realize how much I’ve learned over the years both about leadership and about life.

So much of what I now understand and see as true, I didn’t when I was 25. And had I known then what I know now, I could have saved myself quite a bit of frustration and heartache.

As Sherlock Holmes once said, it is easy to be wise after the event.

So, in the hopes of helping other leaders be wise beforehand, here are eight truths I didn’t know then that I most definitely know now.

…

The post 5 Things About Leadership My 25-Year-Old Self Never Would Have Believed appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 5 Things About Leadership My 25-Year-Old Self Never Would Have Believed

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by Carey Nieuwhof: The world is changing so fast it often feels impossible to keep up.

Technology is one thing.

But so many other things are changing too. Take cultural assumptions for example. What was true a few years ago—or more dangerously, what we tell ourselves is true—isn’t necessarily true anymore.

Few events in the world do a better job of letting people think about and experience the future than SXSW (pronounced South By Southwest) in Austin, Texas.

Personally, going to SXSW was a bucket list thing for me. But to go there for the first time as a speaker was completely over the top (I spoke to tech and start-up leaders about 7 success killers even top leaders miss, based on the insights in my book, Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the 7 Greatest Challenges No One Expects and Everyone Experiences.)

There are so many applications I took away from my four days at SXSW that apply to leaders in every field.

Here are 7 things I saw at SXSW about how the world’s changing.

1. Young adults will find the cash and time if the value’s high enough

One of the first things I noticed at SXSW was how young the crowd was. The average age may have been below thirty.

Which is interesting, because SXSW is not an inexpensive event. At all.

Registration starts in the low hundreds and rises quickly to well over $1000. And that’s just for admission. Add flights, hotels and meals to the bill, and you can drop three grand on attending before you know it. (Trust me, there are no bargain airfares, hotels or Airbnbs during SXSW).

It’s also not a small event. 75,000 people will attend this year’s SXSW, so it’s not like someone managed to get 150 27 year olds in the room. No, this attracted tens of thousands of young leaders from around the world.

Yet when I talk to a lot of leaders, and they complain that Millennials and Gen Z don’t give, don’t attend live events and don’t have any money for whatever they happen to be offering.

Apparently not.

Sure, companies ponied up for some attenders, but if that’s the only explanation, I would have expected a lot more 45-60 year old executives.

If you’re having trouble attracting the next generation, it’s likely because they don’t see value in what you’re offering.

Rather than blaming people for not embracing what you’re offering, offer something worth embracing.

If you’re a church leader like I am, the problem, of course, isn’t Jesus or the Gospel. But it may well be your approach to Jesus and the Gospel.

Rather than blaming people for not embracing what you’re offering, offer something worth embracing. Click To Tweet

2. Most organizations underestimate and underutilize young leaders

I spent most of my one-on-one time at SXSW talking to leaders age 30 and under.

Guess what they had in common? All of them were founders of new companies. One had bootstrapped his firm to 75 global employees. Two others were seeking another co-founder for their start up.

Another leader I spent an evening with is Brett Hagler, CEO and Co-founder of New Story who has raised millions of dollars to design the technology to 3-D print houses.

This summer, they’re going to Latin America to 3-D print entire communities. You read that right. They’re 3-D printing villages. (Check out Fast Company’s piece on this latest phase).  Brett is 29.

If your organization keeps 20-something leaders on the bench to learn, or only places them in junior roles, enjoy watching the future pass you by.

If your organization keeps 20-something leaders on the bench to learn, or only places them in junior roles, enjoy watching the future pass you by.Click To Tweet

3. Philosophers and Theologians Have to Catch Up To Engineers

Amy Webb gave a brilliant session on future tech trends. She highlighted just a few of the 300+ trends she notes in her 2019 report.

One thing that was clear from her report and others is that technology is advancing faster than our ability to know what to do with it.

Philosophers and theologians, to be sure, have some catching up to do.

Technology is advancing faster than our ability to know what to do with it. Which is an opportunity for philosophers and theologians.Click To Tweet

On everything from DeepFakes, to autonomous cars (do you program a car to choose to hit a pedestrian or alternatively crash into a cement wall, which may kill the driver?) to genetic engineering, we don’t really know what we’re doing to ourselves.

On DeepFaking, for example, consider this from Amy’s report (p.210…you can download it for free here):

Pair VR with the concept of DeepFake technology and you’ve got a frightening prospect: anyone could virtually take on an identity not their own, complete with a digitally projected physical appearance, voice, and movements indistinguish- able from those of the individual they are impersonating.

In a distant-future era, with VR constituting a majority of human experiences, and with such shapeshifting abilities at everyone’s fingertips, it will become increasingly less possible to verify the identities of those around us.

Distrust will infect all social interaction, along with the intense mental strain of living under constant threat of identity theft, if not loss of identity entirely. New authentication techniques will be imperative if we are to maintain sanity and order in society, and we will need to be constantly vigilant in verifying the identity of those we interact with.

The post-truth culture we live in just got more complicated. Technology is outstripping ethics, and in an era where consensus around ethics and morality is splintering, the field is ripe for theologians and philosophers to speak meaning into our present and future.

Or one more question before we leave this point: who exactly owns your DNA? If you think the answer is clear, think again, particularly if you used an DNA service to learn more about your health or ancestry.

The crisis we’re facing today isn’t a crisis of information or technology, it’s a crisis of meaning and ethics.

The crisis we’re facing today isn’t a crisis of information or technology, it’s a crisis of meaning and ethics. Click To Tweet

4. People Still Have Long Attention Spans and Deep Curiosity

So much for the idea that people have short attention spans.

No, people still have long attention spans and deep curiosity.

As we’ve seen with the surge in long-form podcasting, something I value as a podcaster myself,  humans don’t have the attention span of a goldfish after all. There’s a huge market for long-form, in-depth, nuanced, complex and honest dialogue.

And people’s curiosity runs deep. Deeper than you think. One of the features of SXSW is that people line up for talks…sometimes for hours.

So forget the idea that people have zero patience for great ideas and points of views.

Application? The problem with your messaging may not be that you’re shooting too high, it might be that you’re shooting too low.

The problem with your messaging may not be that you’re shooting too high, it might be that you’re shooting too low.Click To Tweet

And what about length?

Well sure, not every stays for all 11 days of the event. I was there for four, but easily could have stayed longer (and plan to next time).

Because our culture is so geared to choice and autonomy, what most of us who create content of any kind are learning is that 5 minutes of boring is five minutes too long. 60 minutes of fascinating isn’t nearly enough.

What most of us who create content of any kind are learning is that 5 minutes of boring is five minutes too long. 60 minutes of fascinating isn’t nearly enough.Click To Tweet

5. The companies who act like human beings are the companies that are going to make it in the future

One of the drop-the-mic moments that happened for me was in a session led by Minjae Ormes.

In it, one of the presenters shared this quote (source unknown): the companies who act like human beings are the companies that are going to make it in the future.

100%.

As life becomes more digitized, randomized and anonymous, people crave personal and real.

So when you think about your public interface, the more human you become, the more real you are, the more connection you’ll build.

You absolutely need the latest and best technology. But the more human you become, the better your chance for impact is.

The companies who act like human beings are the companies that are going to make it in the future.Click To Tweet

6. Sometimes authenticity gives you authority. Sometimes it doesn’t.

This one’s for communicators who like me, spend a lot of time speaking in front of Christians.

I speak at a church that specializes in reaching unchurched people, but it’s still church. Similarly in the conferences I do, whether that’s in the church conference world or business world, the audience often as a lot of Christians in it.

I just loved that this wasn’t the case at SXSW.

I do believe that authenticity is they key to preaching in a way that reaches our culture today.

Sure, people admire your strengths, but they resonate with your weaknesses, but I noticed something at SXSW that will make me change my approach the next time I’m in front of a group where almost no one shares my faith.

I usually lead with my vulnerabilities when I speak. I’ll talk about my weaknesses, a struggle I had or a mistake I made, and it builds instant rapport….in the church world. 

I spend a lot of time reading my audience when I speak, and what I sensed is that the vulnerability made some people uncomfortable. In the end, the authenticity resonated (I had a number of people from major corporations ask me if I did consulting because they don’t spend nearly enough time talking about it).

But here’s the pivot.

I think what the corporate audience was looking for was authority…what right do I have to speak into this space and what right do I have to speak to them?

After all, Christians (and pastors especially) don’t have a lot of credibility in the culture anymore.

Even though I didn’t lead by announcing I was a pastor (I shared that later in the talk), I realized I needed to establish authority earlier in the talk.

You can do that in a variety of ways:

Describing the problem you’ll address in a way that’s hyper-relevant to your audience
Telling a story that’s directly related to the subject your addressing.
Sharing data on why what you’re talking about matters.
Sharing your credentials on why you have expertise on a given topic.

The day after I spoke, I rewrote my talk, opening it with data on why the subject is so important, sharing what’s at stake and leading with the most pressing problem I sense the audience was leaning into. I moved the more personal, vulnerable things toward the end of the talk.

My big takeaway? In most Christian circles, authenticity gives you authority. When dealing with a non-Christian audience, authority gives you permission to be authentic.

The really sad part? Many Christians never get in front of truly unchurched audiences or people to even test that out.

In most Christian circles, authenticity gives you authority. When dealing with non-Christians, authority gives you permission to be authentic. Many Christians never get in front of truly unchurched audiences or people to test that out. Click To Tweet

7. Production and Branding Are Very Much Alive

There’s a debate about the peak of attractional churches, and I do think we’re moving into an era where real is the real deal.

But don’t let that convince you that branding, production, AVL and cool is dead.

There was an interesting paradox at SXSW. The branding for the event was everywhere. You couldn’t look left or right without seeing a banner, graphics or a step-and-repeat set up for selfies and photo-ups. Not to mention a decent merch counter.

So branding isn’t dead.

But it wasn’t drawing attention to itself. It’s almost as though branding is just something you do…it was baked-in, omni-present and almost like wallpaper.

That’s just where our culture is at right now.

There are two branding mistakes church leaders make.

First, is to put too much stock in it, as though better branding will be your salvation. Of course it won’t be. As ad legend David Ogilvie said, “Good marketing makes a bad product fail faster.” No, branding is just a part of life in 2019.

Which brings us to the second mistake: the tribe of church leaders who don’t brand who criticize churches that do. That’s also an error. Branding, good production and AVL can help you share your message in a relevant way.

The reason relevance still matters is simple: the culture doesn’t listen to people it deems irrelevant. Neither do you.

The reason relevance still matters is simple: the culture doesn’t listen to people it deems irrelevant. Neither do you.Click To Tweet

Get Better At Speaking Into The Culture

Speaking to the culture in a way that connects has never been more nuanced.

Which is why it was so good to create The Art of Better Preaching online, on demand course with Mark Clark. Mark and I are good friends, but have very different approaches and styles in our preaching. Both, by the grace of God, connect with people who don’t normally go to church.

We’d love to show you to preach in a way that connects, without selling out.

The Art of Better Preaching Course is a 12 session video training with a comprehensive, interactive workbook that will help you create, write, and deliver better sermons. The course contains the lessons Mark Clark (lead pastor of  Village Church, a growing mega-church in post-Christian Vancouver) and I have learned, taught, and used over decades of being professional communicators.

This is the complete course you need to start preaching better sermons, including:

7 preaching myths it’s time to bust forever
The 5 keys to preaching sermons to unchurched people (that will keep them coming back)
How to discover the power in the text (and use it to drive your sermon)
The specific characteristics of sermons that reach people in today’s world
Why you need to ditch your sermon notes (and how to do it far more easily than you think.)
How to keep your heart and mind fresh over the long run

And far more! Plus you get an interactive workbook and some bonus resources that will help you write amazing messages week after week.

In the Art of Better Preaching, Mark and I share everything we’ve learned about communicating in a way that will help your church grow without compromising biblical integrity. We cover detailed training on everything from interacting with the biblical text to delivering a talk without using notes, to writing killer bottom lines that people will remember for years.

Check it out today and gain instant access.

What Are You Seeing In Culture?

What changes are you seeing in culture?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

The post Young Leaders, DeepFakes and 7 Things I Learned at SXSW About How the World Is Changing (Again…) appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: Young Leaders, DeepFakes and 7 Things I Learned at SXSW About How the World Is Changing (Again…)

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by Carey Nieuwhof: Notice this lately?

If you look at almost any growing church led by younger leaders, it definitely tends toward the charismatic—expressive worship, more emotional delivery in preaching, an openness to the work and activity of the Holy Spirit, and generally a warmer, more enthusiastic and expressive gathering.

And…a lot of the churches that lean toward a more charismatic expression of their faith are filled with young adults and Millennials.

Meanwhile,  many leaders in attractional churches are finding it harder and harder to reach new people over the last few years. While not universally true, some have stopped growing, or at least seen a slower growth rate than say 5 or 10 years ago.

Please hear me. This is not “we’re right you’re wrong”. This is a learning together post. Actually, both the charismatic and attractional movements have contributed massively to reaching millions of people. There is much to learn from each other.

Critics have no place here, but learners do.

So what’s happening? Well, culture changes and what people respond to changes, too. The church should change with it.  While you should never change the mission of a church (it’s eternal), you should definitely adapt the method.

Churches who love the method more than the mission will die. It happened in the 1950s, in the 1970s, in the 1990s and it’s happening today. What was effective a decade ago isn’t always effective today. Leaders who live in the past end up dying to the future.

Churches who love the method more than the mission will die.Click To Tweet

While you could argue that there’s a major difference in theology between charismatic and non-charismatic churches, I don’t think the differences are that big for the purposes of this blog post anyway.

The big shift is happening in how churches express themselves on the weekend and conduct their weekend experiences, moving from:

anonymity to a sense of belonging
engagement of the heart, not just the head.
more variety of services than three songs and a message
more passionate expressions of worship
additional space during the service for prayer
more thought in the service to the engagement of emotions beyond “hey we’re excited you’re here” (welcome and upbeat music) and “here’s something to think about” (the message).

As I outline here, churches that miss cultural change become irrelevant. After all, the gap between how quickly you change and how quickly culture changes is called irrelevance.

Personally, I’m behind any church that’s doing a great job leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

So, in the interests of learning and growing together, here are 5 reasons more charismatic churches are growing, and attractional churches are moving past peak in the current culture.

Leaders who live in the past end up dying to the future.Click To Tweet

1. The Foyer Moved

One of the great (and helpful) assumptions behind creating attractional churches is that Sunday morning is the first experience with church.

Guess what? That’s no longer true.

Now, almost everyone who attends your church for the first time has already been to your church…online.

That’s the case whether you have a completely amazing online experience, a killer website and an on-point social media presence, or whether you have a website from 2008.

Trust me, people who are interested in Christianity or your church have already checked you out long before they visited you. And if you have an online service, they’ve been with you for at least a week, and sometimes months or beyond.

Not convinced they’re checking out your channels? Well, there is the internet. Trust me: if they have spiritual questions, they’ve googled their way to spiritual answers (good or bad answers) long before they set foot in your door.

All of which means…the foyer moved.

Almost everyone who attends your church for the first time has already been to your church…online. All of which means, the foyer moved.Click To Tweet

Over dinner recently, I had a great discussion about this with the senior leadership team at CrossPoint Nashville. We talked about how attractional church isn’t as effective as it used to be (both CrossPoint and Connexus, where I serve, have been changing along the lines of this post for a few years now), when CrossPoint’s Creative Arts Director,  Drew Powell,  simply stated that the foyer had moved. That completely crystallized something I was trying to put my finger on for years now. Thanks, Drew, for the clarity.

So yep, that’s it: the foyer moved.

The implication? When someone shows up at your church now, they’re likely to want a little more than they did a decade or two ago when their first visit was truly their first exposure to your church or to Christianity. They’re ready to go a little further somewhat faster because they’ve already taken their first step.

Will you still end up with some people at the back with the arms crossed wanting to hide out in the dark? Of course.

But you likely have more who want to sample something real, who want to experience something different, who are ready to engaging faster.

That doesn’t mean you should bring them into a complete insider experience that’s impossible to understand or access. But it does mean they’re likely hungrier for more than they were a decade ago.

When an unchurched person visits your church for the first time these days, they’re more likely to sample something real, want to experience something different, and are likely ready to engaging faster. Click To Tweet

2. People Want Transformation, Not Information

Attractional church has seen thousands, probably millions, of people move into an authentic relationship with Jesus. Please hear that.

But sometimes what we’ve done (I say “we” because I’ve done this) is we tend to share information about Jesus or Christianity when we preach or host services. There was a day when that was really helpful, and that’s still not an entirely bad instinct. Who, after all, wants to lose people completely?

But remember, we now have the full-on internet that swallows daily life whole. We are drowning in a sea of information.

Fast forward to church, and guess what? People aren’t looking for information. They’re looking for transformation.

When people come to your church these days, fewer are looking for information about God; they’re looking for an experience with God.

When people come to your church these days, fewer are looking for information about God; they’re looking for an experience with God. Click To Tweet

Today, information is everywhere. Transformation is scarce.

Too many people who have been to church know about God. Not enough know God.

Too many people who have been to church know about God. Not enough know God.Click To Tweet

3. Transcendent is Connecting More Than Immanent Right Now

Both the digital explosion and the cynicism of our age have left people hungering for a transcendent touch. Think about the explosive rise of porn. People are looking for intimacy, but of course, in porn, get just the opposite. They’re looking for more.

People are hungry for true community, deeper experiences, and authentic transcendence.

Which is why churches that are growing are focusing more and more on creating experiences that engage more than just the head on a Sunday…but also engage the heart and relationship.

In short, people don’t just want to know what’s true, they want to know what’s real. And what’s real is deeper than just an idea—it’s an experience.

They come looking for something bigger than themselves, and something frankly, bigger than us. They come looking for God.

It’s a shame is when people come to church looking for God and only find us.

It’s a shame is when people come to church looking for God and only find us.Click To Tweet

God, in his nature, is both immanent and transcendent. A few decades ago as the culture slipped away from church, focusing on the imminence of God brought many back.

But the cultural shifts of the last decade have left people (especially younger people) longing for the transcendent.

This should be no surprise because of course the heart naturally longs for God. Sometimes we just long for God a bit differently than our parents.

I think the best future churches will have content that leans toward the immanent—practical, helpful and digestible. Again, being completely obtuse and incomprehensible or insider-focused helps no one. And future churches will also offer experiences that feel transcendent…a sense that you had to be there to experience what happened.

The best churches will offer both because that reflects the character and nature of God and the character of the Christian church at its best. 

The human heart naturally longs for God. Sometimes we just long for God a bit differently than our parents.Click To Tweet

4. Downloadable Experiences Have Become Resistible Experiences

Church online is new, so we’re all trying to figure it out. Understood.

Some growing churches fuel inclusivity by not offering their services online (Hillsong is famous for this), and while I respect that, I think online provides a HUGE front door to everyone you’re trying to reach. Everyone you’re trying to reach with the love of Christ is online.

So how do you navigate that tension of having everything you do available online and in person? Why would people bother to come at all, is the question,

Fundamentally, the consumption of content is also leaving people hungering for greater community, greater experience and greater transcendence.

So here’s what many growing churches are doing: offering experiences that, when watched online, leave you longing for the real, in person thing.

How? Running through that list we started with, growing churches design their in-person experience to:

move people quickly from anonymity to a sense of belonging
focus on the engagement of the heart, not just the head, both in the message and the music and overall experience.
offer more variety of services than three songs and a message
facilitate more passionate expressions of worship
create moments and additional space during the service for prayer
put more thought in the service to the engaging a variety of emotions.

If everything your church does in the future feels downloadable, probably all you’ll get is a lot of downloads, not a lot of gathered people.

If what your church does touches the soul, people will continue to gather.

People are coming to church expecting to meet God. Don’t let them settle for meeting you or something they could have half-listened to while working out.

To put it simply, if people feel like they missed nothing when they missed church, they’ll keep missing church.

If everything your church does in the future feels downloadable, probably all you’ll get is a lot of downloads, not a lot of gathered people. People are coming to church expecting to meet God. Don’t let them settle for meeting you. Click To Tweet

5. Passion’s beating polish

If you’ve been around church world for the last few decades, it’s easy to think that you need polish to pull off effective ministry. Another $50,000 f0r lights or sound and you’ll be good.

To be sure, charismatic churches have some amazing production.

But if you’re sitting there thinking that you need a better soundboard, some new LEDs and a much better band to reach people, think again.

Passion is free. And passion beats polish.

The effective churches I’ve visited and seen recently by no means had the best lights, stage or production. Some had almost no stage and no lights, while others had a pretty decent package, but not nearly the level you see at some churches.

What did they all have in common? Passion.

When it comes to reaching the next generation, passion beats polish.

When it comes to reaching the next generation, passion beats polish. And passion is free.Click To Tweet

It’s not that polish is bad (I’m all for great environments and seeing people fully use their gifts to create amazing experiences) but I think polish falls flat unless accompanied by a raw passion that exudes from leaders who love connecting people with God.

In some of the growing churches I’ve personally visited, smaller facilities and stage sets were more than compensated for by preachers, worship leaders and team members who exuded passion for the mission.

One caveat: don’t fake passion—people can smell fake from a mile away. And don’t exaggerate it. Different people have different levels of passion.

But if yours has faded, rekindle it. Pray about. Evoke what’s in there, and bring it to church.

In an age where nothing seems real anymore, people are looking for authentic. Church, we have it.

In an age where nothing seems real anymore, people are looking for authentic. Church, we have it.Click To Tweet

A Few Reminders

A few notes before we finish up.

Weird Is Still Weird

The attractional movement has done a great job reminding all of us that we have guests in the room. And while the foyer may have moved, someone’s first Sunday is still a huge deal.

So that’s no excuse to be self-indulgently weird. Authentic doesn’t mean weird.

Emotionalism Won’t Win the Day

Another trend I’ve seen is that the next generation of preachers (under 40s) seem to preach more than they teach.

It’s always hard to define the exact difference between the two, but simply put, preaching speaks more to the heart, teaching speaks more to the head.

Preachers facilitate an experience. Teachers convey information.

I think the best pastors do both well.

Preaching without solid teaching can become emotionalism. Teaching without preaching can become intellectualism.

Preaching leads people to say ‘That’s right. I need to change.” Teaching can lead people to say “He’s right. That’s a good point.”

I default toward teaching so this is a challenge for me.

Preaching without solid teaching can become emotionalism. Teaching without preaching can become intellectualism.Click To Tweet

Remember The People You’re Trying to Reach

The church is still one of the few organizations that exists for the sake of its non-members.

Doubt that? Well, aren’t you glad someone didn’t decide the church was done before you were introduced to the love of Jesus.

For sure you need to care for the people you have, but never to the exclusion of the people you’re called to reach.

Churches that over-focus on the needs of insiders will eventually only have insiders. And when that happens, you missed the mission.

Churches that over-focus on the needs of insiders will eventually only have insiders. And when that happens, you missed the mission. Click To Tweet

Running Under 1000 in Attendance? Some Help….

For just a few more days, my Breaking 200 Without Breaking You Online Course is being offered at its lowest price ever.  You can click here to learn more and get instant access for you and your team.

It’s designed to help your church break through the growth barrier you’re stuck at, whether that barrier is 50, 100, 200, 300 or even 700.

Even mega-churches are using Breaking 200 to help 200-1000 attendance campuses grow past their growth barriers.

The course is designed to help churches that are reaching some new families but not really seeing an increase in overall attendance change that, so they engage the people they reach and move their mission forward.

Almost always, there are 8 invisible barriers that are holding churches back. I cover each of them in the course.

So why did I call the course Breaking 200? Because 200 is the attendance barrier 85% of churches never get past. And the barrier is so breakable.

I show you and your team exactly how to structure for growth. I know, because I led my team past the 50, 100, 200, 500, 800 and 1000 attendance barrier and beyond. I’d love to help yours.

And it’s designed so I can walk your entire leadership team or elder board through the issues. Each course comes with a dozen licenses so your team can do this TOGETHER.

Click here to learn more and get instant access for you and your team.

The current pricing is good only until Wednesday, November 7th at 12:00 midnight.

Thoughts?

What are you seeing in terms of churches that are reaching people and those that aren’t?

Play nice in the comments. I want this blog to be a place for thoughtful people to interact.

This is a place for learning, and if you’re a student, not a critic, I’d love to hear from you.

Scroll down and leave a comment.

The post 5 Reasons Charismatic Churches Are Growing (And Attractional Churches Are Past Peak) appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 5 Reasons Charismatic Churches Are Growing (And Attractional Churches Are Past Peak)

The post 5 Reasons Charismatic Churches Are Growing (And Attractional Churches Are Past Peak) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Rich Birch: Questions have a curious function in the life of a leader. A good question can often propel us forward more than a great answer. Our roles in leading our churches requires us to not only work in our ministry but to also take a step back and work on our ministry. That means that from time to time we need to step back and ask questions that we don’t normally ask about our ministry.

I know this can be hard to do during the weekly crunch of getting our services organized, caring for our community, and completing all the various tasks that we are called to do in our churches. To help you start conversations with your leadership team around the development of your church, I’ve put together this list of ten questions that I hope will help guide you to a deeper conversation, even if they’re just a jump-off point to new questions that might stir in you.

What’s happening this weekend at your church that’s compelling enough for people to drive to it?

We’re living in an increasingly isolated age. More than ever, people are experiencing the world from a virtual point of view. There was a time when you needed to actually get in a car and come over to a church if you wanted to hear great teaching or experience incredible worship music. These days, anyone who wants to learn and worship can simply download podcasts or connect via Facebook Live.

What is it that we’re doing that would invite people to walk away from their screens and actually interact face-to-face? I’m still a firm believer in the gathered body of Christ. I do think that there is something powerful about people getting together and worshiping and learning together. Not only are we living in an age where people are increasingly connected digitally, but for the first time since the advent of the car we are seeing an annual decline of people’s willingness to drive in their vehicles. [ref]

This presents a challenge since most of our ministries are based on the notion that people will drive across town to come to our churches this weekend. Your church needs to do things that transcend both the screen and are powerful enough to encourage people to get in their cars and come visit you.

Would you attend your church if you weren’t a paid staff member?

This is a convicting question for me. I can say there are weekends here and there that, if I’m honest, I’m not sure I’d attend church if I wasn’t being paid. Those days are usually in the middle of the summer when it’s super nice out, and I look out and think, “Wow, it would be great to go to the beach today.” However, over the long arc of my ministry I’ve been proud to serve in the churches that I have. I feel bad for people who serve in churches that they’re not excited to be a part of.

This question is as probing as it is a bit disturbing as it could reveal a betrayal in our hearts. If you’re in a place where you wouldn’t attend your church if you weren’t being paid to be there, I’d encourage you to reach out to friends for help and see if there’s a way to restore your passion for the mission to which God has called your church.

What is your succession plan?

Recently I was talking to an elderly church leader about the future of their church. While I found his energy and desire to keep reaching out and impacting the community inspiring, I was concerned because this leader didn’t seem to understand that his days in ministry were numbered. Many church leaders continue to work far beyond a date they maybe should in order to push the ministry forward. But the success of your church relies on you not only having a successor but the people who report to you having successors. Are the people on your team the kind of people who could end up replacing you (even with a short or long-term development plan)? What about the people that report to them? Succession plans need to not only cover an immediate, tragic situation but they need to work for the long term in order to move your leadership on to the next generation.

How is your church systematically increasing people’s generosity?

Finding ways to encourage your people to give generously to the mission is an important function of senior leadership in every church. In fact, in some circles it would be considered a normal part of your role to spend between 20-30% of your week thinking through how you’re encouraging people to be good stewards of what God has given them. The reality is that your ministry will function more effectively when your people’s generosity is increasing. Build the future of your church by finding ways to increase generosity such as:

Offering talks
Holding year-end campaigns
Launching major capital initiatives

A good long-term goal would be to grow your generosity at a faster rate than the growth of your church. This will create a flywheel effect that will ultimately help your church reach more people.

If your church closed its doors today, would anyone in town notice?

I recall a conversation I had years ago with a friend in the ministry. We had announced that we were launching a new campus for our multisite church in a new location. My friend said that his dream for our church was to see home values increase in that community simply because the value of our church was so widely recognized that our new campus would reflect in the financial value of those homes.

How is your church making a difference? How are you getting people out of their seats and into the streets? Prevailing churches are not just drawing people in to their big buildings, but they are also moving people out of those buildings and into the streets to serve the last, least, and lost of their communities.

Who are the young leaders that you are irrationally trusting to lead parts of the ministry?

Chances are, if you’re reading this and you’re reflecting on your own leadership, that there were leaders with seniority who irrationally trusted you with a portion of the ministry early on in your development. In fact, you know that they had no business passing on what they did to you. However, because they did your leadership developed, and you were able to make a difference and grow as a leader. Now it’s your turn to find young leaders to hand whole portions of the ministry over to; this is how we pass the ministry on to the next generation. If you want to move up, you’re going to have to give up. There are things that you’re doing that you frankly need to pass on to other people.

What reasons do your people give their friends about why they should attend your church?

Understanding what is unique about your church can be a difficult thing. I often think that we have a certain amount of nose blindness when it comes to our own churches; we see our church in the way we want to see it, rather than how our community sees it. One way to find an honest perspective on what sets your group apart is to learn what your people say when they invite their friends to come to your church.

Whatever it is that people are talking about is what your church should double down on and invest in more. What your people tell their friends about is most likely a unique aspect of your ministry that God is using! Understanding this uniqueness is vitally important as we look to make a difference in our community.

What is it you do that only you can do?

You’re probably doing too much. In fact, there’s probably a large portion of your to-do list this week that you simply should not be working on. You need to delegate. Chances are there’s about 20% of what you do that returns 80% of your results. My friend Carey Nieuwhof encourages people to focus 80% of their time on that 20% thing that brings 80% of the results.

Stop trying to do everything. Pick your best piece and run with that. Hand everything else off, delegate, or just let stuff fall off the plate. As you find what you’re called to do, improve at that, and exercise those gifts, you’d be amazed to what God will do in your church.

How can your church increase its evaluation culture?

Churches that make a difference don’t shy away from asking, “What are we doing well? And where do we need to grow?” Learning cultures within churches are at the very core of how God is driving those churches to be more effective.

It all starts by asking. Survey your team regularly and ask for feedback on what’s working and what isn’t. Encouraging every team member—whether they’re staff or volunteer—not to shy away from giving, receiving, or seeking feedback will develop the kind of culture that will help your church take steps forward. Our churches are simply not going to be more effective if we’re not able or willing to look at what we’re doing squarely in the face. Understand it and evaluate what’s working and what’s not.

Another part of an evaluation culture includes seeing metrics for what they are. Rather than just investigating how we feel about things we need to ask, “What numbers are telling us what is working effectively?”

Where is your church investing in research and development?

All of our churches need to have an R&D department or an area where we’re trying new things—things that we’re not sure are going to work. Maybe you’ll try:

An innovative new way to do announcements
New ways of inviting people in your community
A new social media platform
Experimenting with getting more people connected into groups

As we’re learning to take steps and try out things that may potentially fail, we’ll learn how to become more flexible as an organization. It has the potential to lead us to innovations that could change the world. When we look around at other church leaders who have gone before us, we see that we were able to benefit from their innovations. They were willing to try new things and make mistakes along the way of the trying process.

Bonus: Where are we looking for new inspiration?

Finally, being the kind of leader that’s open to questions is important for you as we go into the future. 94% of all churches in our country are losing ground against the growth of the communities they’re in. We need to stop looking at the models in front of us and instead look around for the new things that are happening.

It all comes down to putting yourself in contact with people who maybe aren’t from your immediate tribe or denomination. Look at the various approaches that God seems to be using; ask yourself what is it that is working there and how you could apply those lessons.

That’s a part of the reason why we do our weekly podcasts at unSeminary because we want to expose you to leaders in prevailing ministries. In so doing, we’re hoping it will provoke you to think differently about what you do and to take actions in a new direction.

Finally, bringing in an outside coach or outside voices to help your team get some perspective on ministry can be a vitally important function in painting a clearer picture of what’s happening within your church. Taking time to listen to people who are a bit farther down the road can give you clarity. Finding places and people who are willing to ask you questions that no one else is asking will ultimately help you and your church be stronger. What questions are you asking these days?

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Source: 10 Questions Church Leaders Should Be Asking (But Probably Aren’t) – unSeminary

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