Rich Enough?

There is an interesting story of the rich, young ruler that came to Jesus.

You likely know the story: A rich man comes to Jesus looking for affirmation of his faith. We all like affirmation and this certain man had much for which he would be proud for he said that he kept the commandments, he didn't murder or commit adultery. He said he wasn't a liar or defrauded anyone and he honored his father and mother (Mark 10:19-20).

Jesus had the opportunity at that time to remind him that adultery included lust and that murder including being angry with others which would have popped his balloon. Instead the Bible says that Jesus looked at him and loved him. Jesus did offer him something that was quite rare, he offered him the opportunity to become one of his disciples. "One thing you lack, He said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

There were very few that Jesus offered this opportunity. We know them all as Apostles.

The man went away however sad because of his unwillingness to part with his riches.

Perhaps he thought he wasn't rich enough.

That's the problem with earthly as opposed to heavenly riches. With the former, you can never be rich enough. The latter gives us the assurance and the affirmation that the rich man was looking for from Jesus. Jesus tells us that His assurance will come with these words, "Well done, good and faithful servant". (Matt 25:23)

Measure twice, cut once

I was never a very good carpenter. I didn’t have enough practice to be able to successfully cut a piece of wood to size. I was pretty good at following a pattern or a template, but typically the piece of wood was either too short or too long. Too-long slows you down, too-short wastes wood.

My father always had good advice for me. The advice was in carpentry, “Measure twice, cut once.

In the church, we need to follow the same advice. Actually, we need to just measure more. Developing some simple metrics for a church and watching some key indicators can tell you a lot. Church metrics are like business metrics. They provide key data for leaders for analysis and to monitor the organizations performance. All too often, church leaders are called to try to make a decision without some information that would really help them make better judgment calls.

What kinds of metrics are needed? Often churches keep track of attendance, giving, baptisms and perhaps even guests. If the church has a number of employees, some performance metrics are often used, perhaps an annual performance appraisal.

Metrics are never to be considered in the absolute, but always with regard to trends. For example, one weekend’s attendance doesn’t tell us anything, however, knowing that weekend attendance has been growing by 10 percent the past few years and has recently flattened out gives us much more information.

One of the questions I get from our church leaders is about the accuracy of the metrics. They are usually surprised when I tell them that absolute accuracy is not as important as consistency and timeliness. The key is constantly monitoring trends.

Attendance for example can vary from church to church. Some churches count just adults in a worship service, others count adults and children. I recommend that churches count everyone including volunteers, those parking cars and everyone on the stage. All of these methods can be fine metrics. As long as the count is being made the same way each week (and each service), church leadership has a tool to use that allows them to have information quicker, make adjustments when necessary and celebrate as appropriate.

Reprint from ChurchExecutive January 2011

Things the Church could learn from Disney

My wife and I just returned from Disney World. It was a great trip as we have three in our family with birthday's the beginning of February. Celebrating a child's birthday at Disney is magical.

As we drove home, we had the time to think about how well Disney handles crowds, how welcomed we felt when we arrived and how pleasant the experience was, regardless of the crowd, weather or line.

The church could learn a lot from Disney. Here is the brief list we compiled:

1) As people enter the church lot and find a place to park, why not have an area and an entrance dedicated to parents with children that will need to be checked in? Parents with children have some unique needs and special consideration. If we tailor the experience to them, it will be better than if we had to have them find their way through the crowds.

2) Speaking of parking, while many churches have gotten larger and parking more expansive, only a few churches with large parking lots have shuttles and golf carts to transport people in from the outer regions. I'm not going to recommend we name the lots "Goofy" and "Mickey" but "Matthew, Mark Luke and John" could be interesting location names.

3) Rarely is the church as crowded any Sunday as Disney is on an off-day. However, we could learn a lot about crowd management from Disney for our Easter and Christmas services. Moving people from the lobby to the auditorium in a queue or at least with smiling people pointing the direction may be a little too "Disneyesque" but likely would work. Also, filling the seats from the front to the back and blocking off areas that are not needed only makes sense, which is likely why we resist it so much in the church.

4) Disney didn't build a park or a ride to be able to accomodate 100% of the people that may want to experience it. They expect that the park or ride will be utilized over and over, and that people would be somewhat indifferent if they got a chance to ride it now or 30 minutes from now.

While many churches have decided to offer multiple services so that they better utilize (i.e. be better stewards of) the resources they have, many churches continue to have expensive and over-sized auditoriums. Many churches unfortunately have entire buildings that are utilized no more than a few hours on Sunday and perhaps a Wednesday evening.

5) Disney ensures that every greeter, every attendant, every security officer, every retail employee wear name tags. I found out that 'Monique' was from my home town because her home town was also printed on her name tag. Disney calls all of their employees "cast members" and all are trained to be knowledgable, courteous and helpful. If people don't know the names of the cast members that work at Disney, it has little downside. However Disney believes names are important in creating community.

Conversely, how many people attend church on a weekly basis with virtual strangers? They see many of the same people weekly and may smile politely but have no name to go with the face. The opportunity to use name tags is an important start with those that we call ushers, greeters and volunteers. Wearing name tags can apply as well however to literally everyone that attends on a regular basis. If we want to be a community, it likely starts with a name.

Leading Others to Lead

One of the greatest responsibilities of leadership is in developing other leaders.

Developing leaders is actually part of the discipleship process. In the church, we are called to make disciples, not members. To be a disciple of Jesus is actually to be a “life-long learner.” As leaders we need to present very clearly the Gospel of the kingdom and the teachings of Jesus, and we show by example how to become more like him by including how to lead others as well.

If we think of our new believers, congregants and volunteers as believers (or merely students) of Christianity rather than disciples, we may miss the larger opportunity and fail in our responsibility in leading them to lead. After all, a disciple is one that not only learns and believes, but also does.

Developing leaders is critical in leadership as it is critical in the growth of the church. Many studies have shown that once churches start to become “fully-staffed” they no longer passionately solicit their members and volunteers to assume key leadership positions. New believers and members either fail to grow further as leaders, or find other churches or ministries where their desires and passions are released and appreciated.

Many church growth advocates encourage healthy volunteer-leader to staffing levels. This encourages churches to maintain strong ‘high-capacity volunteer leaders to staff’ ratios or paid staff to adult attendees ratios. As with most ratios, the absolute ratio is not the determining factor of “health,” but the trend is key.

Leaders encourage new believers to grow in their faith by volunteering their time and efforts, and also by learning to lead the various ministry activities. We coach, mentor, encourage and celebrate these efforts as a key component in an individual’s personal discipleship journey. This journey is key in the numerical and spiritual growth of the local church.


by Ken Behr
Reprint from ChurchExecutive October 2010

Working the holiday

Yesterday we had three ‘Eve-of Christmas Eve’ Services. Today we’ll have seven more. All will be well attended; at a few we’ll be holding our breath to make sure everyone fits in the parking lots and our overflow rooms.

I love working and serving here on Christmas Eve. A few years ago I think I finally understood. I have the opportunity to serve in the most important institution ever; I play a part that is likely the most challenging and the same time rewarding of my entire adult life.

For those that know me, they will likely not understand as I’ve had some very challenging and rewarding job assignments in the past. However, for those that know me well, they will likely share my view that if Christ is truly Lord, and came just as the Bible teaches, then nothing else could be more important.

Just this past year, our Pastor read Ephesians 1:23. A verse that I’ve read before and appreciated but this time it was from the Message Bible and states: “The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”

I love the local church. Christ is the hope of the world and the local church is the body of Christ, the physical representation of His Kingdom until He comes in glory.

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Different

"The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love."

This is the beginning line of the "Advent Conspiracy", a website and a movement that has been advocating a different type of Christmas holiday the past two years.

Pastors and churches are being challenged to do Christmas different. To get back to the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is all about God's grace. If you are looking for a good Christmas verse, here's one:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.John 3:16–17 (NIV)

If we understand Christmas we understand the truth behind the teaching of Jesus that it is better to give than to receive.

Santa is likely a good cultural addition as long as we don't confuse Santa with Christ. The real gift at Christmas is the Christ-child. When our children were young, my wife and I decided to tell them the truth behind Santa. It was a great opportunity to celebrate a good man, a 4th. Century bishop who had a reputation for giving. While the fact that our children knew the truth horrified and shocked some of our friends, we felt our children were better off.

Our challenge continues to this day with our grandchildren. We want them to grow up knowing the story of Christ's birth. We will smile when they open their presents at Christmas and enjoy their toys as only children can. We will also encourage them as they grow to keep the story of promise, hope and revolutionary love close to their hearts.

Three things to remember if you are in ministry

Like many, I've attended more than a few "how to" seminars. I've been an active participant in seminars on everything from how to stay organized, how to do public speaking, motivate employees, run a successful fundraising campaign and open up a satellite church.

All of these seminars have one thing in common in their ability to list the top five or ten things that are necessary. I've always laughed when I thought of complying a 'list' of priorities when the very definition of a priority means that it needs to before or 'prior'. A list seems of ten or more seems to contradict the idea that anything is actually the priority or the most important.

I have however likely discovered three things to remember if you are in ministry. If you keep these things 'front and center', you'll have better days and restful nights. The three things are actually quite simple:

1. The organization you are a part of has been around over 2,000 years and Jesus said "the gates of hell will not prevail against it". You can help or hurt the mission but the mission is bigger than anyone of us.
   
   
2. Your most important tool in your tool bag is Prayer. It accomplishes more than everything else. Give it a try.
   
   
3. We win. Read the end of the book....Revelation 21:3 "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."