Go to www.Transforming2012.info for more information and to register

Friday, May 25th

Focus: Transforming 2012: Pathways to Vital Ministry is a series of virtual experiences during a 24-hour period from Noon June 19th through Noon June 20th for congregational leaders around the themes of Discipleship, Growth, Missional Leadership Development, and Community Context.

Goal: To provide learning experiences for pastors, staff persons, congregational leaders that will inspire and empower their congregations for increased vitality and vibrancy as they seek to continually transform in response to the opportunities and challenges of 21st century ministry.

Format: Each topic will be presented as a 45 minute webinar by the presenter, then following a 15 minute break, a telephone dialogue will be available for the next 45 minutes where you can ask questions and interact with the presenter. For example, the first webinar will be presented by 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday for 45 minutes. Following a 15 minute break, at 1:00 p.m. participants can dialogue for up to 45 minutes with the presenter. Also, at 1:00 p.m. a new webinar will start so participants can choose to have dialogue or to connect with the next webinar.

Thursday, May 24th

One of the 11 webinars to be offered at Transforming 2012 is "Leading Congregations Through Crisis: Pursuing God's Purpose Through Perilous Times"by Greg Hunt. Greg is a seasoned pastor with a heart for congregational leaders. Though Directions, Inc. he serves people as they lead organizations, relationships and lives. Greg's newest book, Leading Congregations Through Crisis, is due out in July and can be pre-ordered by clicking HERE.

The webinar Greg will be leading addresses situational crises in congregations. Situational crises can strike a congregation at any time, and effective leadership can spell the difference as to whether things get better or worse. This webinar will draw on the experiences of congregational leaders and leaders from other fields to provide best-practices wisdom for leading before, during, and after a congregational crisis.

The webinar will be 45 minutes in length. Following a 15 minute break Greg will then be available on a telephone conference call to dialogue with interested persons. The PowerPoint Greg will be using will be available for sale for $9.99 during and after Transforming 2012.

Wednesday, May 23rd

What do you get for an Individual Registration of $49?

• Live access to your choice of 11 webinars.
• Live access to your choice of 11 telephone dialogues with presenters.
• Free access following the event to recordings of the  telephone dialogues with presenters.
• Opportunity to purchase the actual PowerPoint presentation used by 8 of the presenters.
• Low cost download of an eBook containing a sample chapter from 9 books authored by the presenters.
• Access to an online book store to purchase books used in the presentation at a discount.
• Early announcement and invitation to Transforming 2012 during the fall of 2012.
• Opportunity to participate in post-event coaching sessions.

What do you get for a Church Team Registration for $200?

• Access to all of the benefits of an Individual Registration for the pastor and an unlimited number of people from your congregation.
• Log in information for the webinars and teleconferences that can be used as a group in one location, or remotely as people may connect from their home, office, or a third place.

IMPORTANT! Register early. Each webinar is limited to 99 people!

Tuesday, May 22nd

Transforming 2012 will involve 11 webinars from Noon on Tuesday to Noon on Wednesday, June 19th-20th. One will be led by Cynthia Woolever on "Leadership That Fits Your Church: Finding a Mission and a Match".

Cynthia will present a 45 minute webinar, and then after a 15 minute break she will be on a telephone conference call to dialogue with interested participants. The PowerPoint she will use during the webinar will be for sale during and after the event for $9.99. The telephone dialogue will be recorded and available to registered participants to listen to later.

This webinar will review recent trends in pastoral ministry to show the diversity of leaders serving a range of congregational types. New research gives insights to pastors and lay leadership who want to strengthen their personal sense of satisfaction in ministry and the effectiveness of their congregational ministry.

Cynthia Woolever, research director of the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, has more than twenty years experience working with congregations, judicatories, and seminaries. Along with Deborah Bruce, manager of research services, Presbyterian Church, USA, Cynthia has recently written a book for the TCP Leadership Series with Chalice Press entitled Leadership That Fits Your Church. It will be available this fall.

People killing your congregation can be highly visible, or virtually unseen and unheard. They can be long-term members and people recently connected with your congregation. They can be younger persons as well as older persons. They can be lifelong Christians or new followers of Jesus Christ who are zealous about their faith. They can be the senor or solo pastor, a staff person, a leading layperson, or a matriarch or patriarch within the congregation.

Because three-fourth of all congregations are plateaued or declining in attendance, it could be that  whoever is undermining the health of your congregation has as their motive to save it, turnaround it around, or help your congregation be more vital and vibrant. They just do not know how to do it without also hurting the congregation along the way.

Never forget that among the people undermining the health of your congregation, it is possible that one of them is you. Continue reading this article with openness to this possibility.

The Story of a Congregational Killer

One of my most memorable stories about a layperson undermining the health of his congregation was Zachery Taylor. That is not his real name, but he did have the name of a former president of the United States. When I met Zachery he was 72 years old and had been attending his congregation since birth. He knew all the ins and outs of his congregation which at its height had more than 500 in attendance, but was now struggling with around 125 in attendance in a building that would accommodate its former size.

He so much wanted his congregation to be vital and vibrant. He loved it. He felt its unhealth deeply and personally. He was just overbearing in his approach to trying to help his congregation thrive. Several times each year he would be in a meeting where someone would make a suggestion that he perceived to be ridiculous. He would stand up, yell at them, challenge their commitment to the church as compared to his, and soon thereafter these people would leave the church. He had a lot of notches in his life journal where he had fired shots that helped kill his congregation.

The pastor, staff, and many lay leaders were afraid of Zachery. When I worked with his congregation on envisioning their future, I was well aware of Zachery and his antics. At a leadership retreat when the flow of the conversation moved in a direction radically different from Zachery’s viewpoint, he sought to take over the meeting from me. I was ready. I gently, firmly, and consistently confronted him to where he left the meeting. The congregational leadership were both in shock and grateful that someone would stand up to Zachery. It was a healing time for them.

They then made the decisions they felt to be God’s call upon them, put them into action, and within a short period of time could be characterized as a vital and vibrant congregation. Their killer had been disarmed. They had been freed to soar.

Oh that it would be that easy for every congregation! This is the exception rather than the rule. However, there are ways to recognize, get out in the open, and deal with those who are undermining the health of your congregation. First, let’s name some of them.

Not So Hidden People Undermining the Health of Congregations

After the first generation of a congregation’s life, an increasing number of not so hidden people may actually be trying to kill the congregation. These can be laypersons, staff, or the senior or solo pastor. These can be people connected with the congregation for short time or a long time. These can be young people or old people. These can be official leaders or unofficial influencers. These can be people with positive agendas or negative agendas.

Often they do not realize they are undermining the health of your congregation. Many times they think they are trying to save the congregation. Usually they are trying to remake the congregation in their image rather than allowing the congregation to be remade in God’s image.

Here are some types of not so hidden people I have observed over more than four decades of working with congregations in the second, third, four, and following generations of their journey. These are a compliment to the 20 hidden factors killing congregations offered in my article What’s Killing Our Congregation?

I offer 20 not so hidden people here. Who would you add? [Send me an e-mail at GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org with your ideas about these or other factors.]

1.    People in Denial: Many people are in denial that their congregation is no longer fueled and driven by God’s empowering vision for them as a congregation. In fact, they are not sure this is necessary. They have a good church with good people and good programs. They ask “what is it about this vision thing?” They believe the church is just fine, yet they are unintentionally undermining the health of their congregation.

2.    People Who are Apathetic: Over a number of years, people become comfortable with the way things are in their congregation. They enjoy predictable patterns, predictable worship, predictable holiday seasons focus around the liturgical calendar. The way things happen in the congregation feels good, and meets their need for stability. They will not take action to stop someone from undermining the health of their congregation.

3.    People Committed to the Traditions of the Past: One way to define a traditional congregation is that they enjoy the historic traditions of the church. They believe they are the keepers to the core ideology of the congregation. As such they have a responsibility to maintain the heritage and history of the congregation in a recognizable form. They are holding back your congregation.

4.    People Still Trying to Fulfill the Founding Mission: People who can remember when a congregation was started, have relatives that have constantly talked with them about the early years of the congregation, or people who had significant spiritual and emotional experiences during the first generation of a congregation, are often seeking to relive those days and complete a founding mission that was never realized. They are undermining the future health of your congregation.

5.    People Who Think Programs for Non-Adults Are the Answer: Many laypersons buy into the often stated idea that the preschool, children, and youth of today are the leaders of this congregation tomorrow. They also buy into the notion that if you reach children, then their parents will follow. This is partially true. The bigger issue is the need to focus on adult discipleship development. But that does not carry the same emotion as reaching children. However, the impact of reaching heads of households is geometrically greater. Adults help renew the core and extend the ministry.

6.    People Not Maturing as Disciples: When more than 50 percent of the average number of adults present on a typical Sunday for worship are not intentionally growing spiritually and emotionally as disciples, then it is an unhealthy sign in the congregation. Congregational killers may be people who are spiritually stale or stick, and their undermining actions are a cry for wholeness. When people are maturing spiritually and emotionally they are healthier and produce a healthier more vital and vibrant congregation.

7.    People with Closed Relationships: People who are part of cliques in a congregation tend to have blinders on about the congregation as a complete system. They see things primarily, perhaps even exclusively, from the perspective of their small group, close friends, people who have sat around them in worship for years, or a specific program of the congregation about which they have great passion.

8.    People with Shallow or Myopic Thinking: Continually moving a congregation forward is advanced science and art. It is complicated. Few people in a congregation understand how to do it. Too many people have shallow or myopic thinking about how a congregation ought to function. They take Hebrews 13:8 out of context [which talks about Christ being the same yesterday, today, and forever] and believe their church should not change, but should embrace the foci near and dear to their heart. They misunderstand the difference between simple church and simplistic church.

9.    People Who Manipulate the Congregation Based on Their Life Issues: Too many people play out their life issues in their congregation. They cannot seem to get a handle on their personal and family life, or control their work life, but they gain position or influence in their congregation and play out their need to be in control of something. Over my ministry career I have especially noticed this in people beginning in their 50s when they realize they are never going to get to where they feel they deserve to be in their career and other aspects of their lives. They get angry, and they express this anger within their congregation.

10.    People of Long Tenure: Similar to the people who are apathetic or want to worship the heritage of the church are people who have been in the congregation for a generation or more. They believe they have preferred stock in the organization, and that their vote ought to count as more than one vote. They believe people ought to listen to them because they have been around, given a lot of time to the congregation, and given a bunch of money—as if their money buys favor with God.

11.    People Committed Only to Attractional Approaches: Some people believe it is all about size and growth. They want their church to grow and be bigger. The lack of growth they believe is the failure of leadership; especially someone else’s leadership other than their leadership. If the church is not growing then there must be something wrong with the leadership. They fail to realize the complexity of growth, its causes, its sustainability, and how to count by households rather than individuals.

12.    People Captivated by a Churched Culture: Even in the Bible belt of the United States, much less the urban areas of Canada, the churched culture has diminished and may even be gone in some places. People who have been life-long churched culture people do not understand the innovations in ministry needed to reach people from a non-churched culture. So, they block innovation and style transitions and changes.

13.    People Committed to What the Community Once Was: Another characteristic of long tenure church members and people deeply committed to a churched culture is that they often remember the congregation community context the way it was. They believe that people will easily and naturally come to church if invited. They do not see that the demographics of the community context may have changed to the point that what the church offers is irrelevant, and does not meet the spiritual and social needs of the people.

14.    People Who Worship the Bible and Not the Triune God: Some people have an Islamic view of the Bible where the Word of God itself is sacred rather than a Christian view where the Word is made flesh. They make the Bible the fourth person of the Trinity. They worship what they understand—or misunderstand—the Bible to say, and cannot allow God’s Word to speak into the lives of people in a variety of ways. They often have a bounded faith.

15.    People Who Are Just Plain Dull: Life in Christ, and thus life in a congregational community, is intended to be exciting and joyous. Christians should continually celebrate as Easter People. When people connected with a congregation are just plain dull without any obvious joy in the Lord, they contribute to the death of congregations. They offer no evidence to spiritual seekers that life in Christ makes a positive difference in their lives.

16.    People Part of the Same Old Leadership: When the leadership systems of a congregation are closed to new members, people with different perspectives, and/or younger members, then those who lead can become stale in their leadership. If there are not open doors or windows for newer, younger, more diverse people to move deeper into the life and leadership of a congregation, they often look for another place where their value and worth is appreciated.

17.    People Who Believe Business Management is the Answer: A congregation is not an organization. It is a spiritual organism which is living, breathing, dynamic, and ever-changing. As such, business models do not allow congregations to soar with faith. People who attempt to make their congregation operate like a business limit the future of the congregation and often smother the congregation. While some principles of business are appropriate in a congregation, the overarching tone must be one of a Christ-centered, faith-based, spiritual community.

18.    People Devoted to Maintaining the Museum: When the facilities of the congregation, paying down debt, memorializing vast parts of the facilities, reserving portions of the facilities for one group or use so that it can be set up permanently like a museum display or attraction, then the people driving this are undermining the health of the congregation.

19.    People Who Hoard and Mismanage Money: When the priorities for the finances of the congregation move to supporting the maintenance of the facilities, and other places of fixed costs, and when the facilities and personal costs exceed 70 to 75 percent of the budget, then little money is left to do the real ministry of the congregation. People who empower and endorse this unbalanced approach to the use of tithes and offerings are undermining the health of their congregation.

20.    People Anxious About Their Eternity: People who are scared to die because they are not sure about their eternity, people who are afraid to allow too many changes in their congregation because it might displease God and negatively impact their eternity and people who underestimate the grace and unconditional love of God are undermining the health of their congregation.

Why Have I Identified These Not So Hidden People?

First, I have identified these people because one or more of these people might be you. If you can see yourself in any of these people, then with the help of the Triune God and your congregation you may be able to transition and change. That is my greatest hope for you as a Christian affiliated with a congregation. You can move from undermining the health of your congregation to empowering the health of your congregation.

Second, I have identified these people because there are so many of them in every congregation. We all need to realize a couple of things. One is that we are still very human even though we have redeemed by our relationship to God through Jesus Christ. Another is that we can help one another in a congregational community to move from being people who intentionally—but often unintentionally—undermine, to people who empower.

Third, the present and future ministry of many congregations has such great potential in the midst of the rule and reign of God kingdom that is worth the risk to raise these issues and characteristics of people who undermine the health of congregations. The hope is that intentional, positive decisions will be made by many individuals and congregations to move in a different direction.

What Should We Do About the Not So Hidden People Killing Our Church?

Thus far in this series of articles, we have dealt with the subject What’s Killing Our Congregation? and Who’s Killing Our Congregation. The next topic will be Pastoral Leadership Failure: What if it Really is the Pastor’s Fault?

We are working our way through this crucial topic. Stay tuned for more on this topic. In fact, let me know what you would like to know about this topic by connecting with me at GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org.

As these articles are completed you can find them at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org and www.BullardJournal.org.

Important Things to Know

George Bullard is a Ministry Colleague and the Strategic Coordinator with The Columbia Partnership. He is also executive director [General Secretary] of the North American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. He is the author of FaithSoaring Churches, Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation and Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict; published by Chalice Press and Lucas Park Books of St. Louis. With Chalice Press he is the Senior Editor for the TCP Leadership Series which now includes more than two dozen books.

The Columbia Partnership is a non-profit Christian ministry organization focused on transforming the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain Christ-centered ministry. Its current vision is to engage 2100 congregations in transformation annually by the end of 2017. Travel Free Learning is a sharing knowledge emphasis of TCP. For more information about products and services check out the web site at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, send an e-mail to Client.Care@TheColumbiaPartnership.org,
or call 803.622.0923.

Subscribe to the Travel Free Learning Articles: Text "TCP" to 22828

Posted via email from George Bullard's Posterous

Or, they may realize the underlining underlying spiritual, strategic, social, and structural health issues and redevelop forward in response to a new or renewed vision. This is possible as a Christ-centered, faith-based, spiritual community. This is not something that is ultimately possible for us as individuals. The ideal is that following the first generation of life, congregations will re-envision their future continually and effectively live into that vision as FaithSoaring Churches. However, that is an ideal realized by less than 20 percent of congregations at any given time.

What about the rest of us?

Hidden Factors Undermining the Health of Congregations

Once congregations reach the end of their first generation, what are the hidden factors undermining their health? As an overarching issue, let’s acknowledge that the lack of an empowering, God-inspired vision for future ministry that guides the journey of the congregation is the key foundational factor. Yet the vast majority of active people in a congregation can feel the lack of vision, so it is not totally hidden. They may not be able to identify that the factor lacking is vision, but they feel that something is missing. Captivating vision is, however, the most important factor—hidden or visible.

Here are hidden factors I have observed over more than four decades of working with congregations in the second, third, four, and following generations of their journey. I offer 20 hidden factors here. What ones would you add? [Send me an e-mail at GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org with your ideas about these or other factors.]

1. Denial: Many congregations are in denial they are no longer driven or fueled by a clear sense of vision. They believe the majority of things are doing well in the congregation. It is generally meeting their expectations. Nothing is wrong that needs to be addressed.

2. Comfort: The longer congregations are in existence, the more they are comfortable with the way things happen in their congregation. They have lost the prophetic, cutting edge nature of the vision they are seeking to fulfill. Good enough has become good enough. A subtle mediocrity has set in.

3. Tradition: The patterns and culture begin to harden like concrete once congregations have been in existence for a generation or more. Tradition is worshiped as beloved heritage. This is where the seven last words of the church come in: “We’ve never done it that way before.”

4. Mission: During the first generation, mission is often truly missional in nature, and is about what God is up to in and through the congregation. By the second generation, and following without intentional effort otherwise, mission can often become about the existing congregations and what they are doing.

5. Programs: In years past, denominations sold congregations on the idea that successful, growing programs always meant successful, growing churches. This was a partial truth. Too many congregations believe a focus on the right programs is the best future for them. Also a partial truth.

6. Discipleship: Too many congregations believe discipleship equates to head knowledge, when it is really a lifelong process of spiritual growth focused on the Triune God. Thus, many people connected with congregations never grow deep enough in their faith that it is evidenced by a Christ-like lifestyle.

7. Relationships: Deep relationships in a congregational community are important. Yet, too many people equate close relationships with a closed circle of relationships. The active participants of congregations have too many people with whom they only have face familiarity, not deep friendships.

8. Shallow: Too many conversations in congregations are shallow. We are afraid to go deep. We are afraid of being marginalized if we say what we really think about the Bible, theological issues, ethical dilemmas, or what makes up a moral or immoral lifestyle. Congregations need deep dialogue.

9. Life: Life happens. Life can be tough. Church is a place where we should deal with life issues. However, there is a really big difference between in humility bringing our life issues to a loving congregational community, and abusing a church because of our anger over our life issues.

10. Tenure: The longer the average person has been connected to a congregation, the more they see things primarily from their own perspective, or the perspective of their best friends. This leads to a lack of openness to transition, change, and innovation. The age of a person is not a factor.

11. Attractional: Congregations tend to be output based. As such, they want the growth numbers of the church to be better each year than the year before. They want to attract new people to provide leadership where needed, and to contribute generously to the church budget and any debt.

12. Churched: By their second generation many congregations are composed of people who come from a churched culture and do not understand the unchurched culture. Even if they became professing Christian during the past generation, they may have lost the perspective of the unchurched.

13. Demographics: The geographic context served by congregations often changes from generation to generation. The demographics within active congregations may not match the community context; if it ever did. Congregations can become disconnected from their context and not understand the people.

14. Drift: The theology, philosophy, methodology, and style of congregations can drift over the years. One day the long-term members realize this is not their congregation any more, and they seek to bring the congregation back from the abyss instead of seeking God in the present times.

15. Dull: Congregations can get stuck in place, lack innovation and creativity, and simply become dull. There is no excitement, glitter or pizzazz. As such they are unattractive to new people, and do not inspire existing participants to do more than to go through the motions of being and doing Church.

16. Leadership: Any system needs a fresh set of leaders stepping forward on a regular basis. Too many congregations do not have this. The same leaders have led with the same or similar style, and in the same or similar ways for too many years. Fresh ideas and approaches have few or no champions.

17. Management: When a congregation is beyond its first generation of life, and is not empowered by vision, a vacuum is created into which a management mindset settles in. These management people have the good of the church at heart, but forget a church is an organism and not an organization.

18. Museum: Because of the significant investment congregations make in their buildings, and the fact that many participants invested their personal financial resources in those buildings, keeping up the museum becomes a high priority for congregations. They become curators rather than creators.

19. Money: To keep up the museum and to have the staff congregations believe they need or deserve, an increasing percentage of budget allocations are spent on buildings and staff. When this gets over 70 percent of the budget, warning signals should go off. When over 80 percent, the crisis is huge.

20. Anxiety: Long-term, older members confuse Christ and the culture of congregations to the extent they may believe allowing congregations to change in any radical manner may deny the presence and direction of God. They fear it may even impact their personal eternity in a negative way.

Why Have I Identified These Hidden Factors?

The answer is quite simple: these types of hidden factors cause tens of thousands of congregations in North America to fail to transition, change, and transform following their first generation of life. They may have a fruitful, vital, and vibrant first generation, but instead of moving forward to an equally exciting second, third, fourth, or more generation, they become what I call “One Generation Congregations”. They live on the fumes and memories of the past. They call it heritage, and hope that tomorrow will bring a return of the characteristics of the first generation. They may never be captivated by an empowering vision again.

Further, I have identified these hidden factors to get them out in the open for dialogue, and to work on clarifying them, and building strategies to address them. When congregations can effectively address these and other hidden factors, they may create a readiness to soar with faith in the direction of God’s full kingdom potential for them.

What Should We Do About the Hidden Factors Killing Our Church?

That is next. I would not leave you hanging. Stay tuned for more on this topic. In fact, let me know what you would like to know about this topic by connecting with me at GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org.

Important Things to Know

George Bullard is a Ministry Colleague and the Strategic Coordinator with The Columbia Partnership. He is also executive director [General Secretary] of the North American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. He is the author of FaithSoaring Churches, Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation and Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict; published by Chalice Press and Lucas Park Books of St. Louis. With Chalice Press he is the Senior Editor for the TCP Leadership Series which now includes more than two dozen books.

The Columbia Partnership is a non-profit Christian ministry organization focused on transforming the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain Christ-centered ministry. Its current vision is to engage 2100 congregations in transformation annually by the end of 2017. Travel Free Learning is a sharing knowledge emphasis of TCP. For more information about products and services check out the web site at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, send an e-mail to Client.Care@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, or call 803.622.0923.

Subscribe to the Travel Free Learning Articles: Text "TCP" to 22828

Posted via email from George Bullard's Posterous