Leadership cultivation is vital to the long-term health and growth of any church. Let’s define it: leadership development is having and executing some process for cultivating and growing gifts of leadership for the equipping of the Body for ministry.

Most churches value the ” involvement ” of the Body. However, relatively few churches have a process for involving people in ways that match them well with a ministry. We should desire more than meeting of our church’s needs through people. A better approach is to equip and release the Body for ministry according to their gifting and passion because it’s God’s desire. As we do, the needs of the church will be met. The problem with involvement fairs and things like that is they are an extremely blunt instrument for ” equipping ” the Body. In fact, no equipping is taking place. We are not ” equipping ” the Body. We are ” signing up ” the Body.

Equipping can happen in several ways. Here are three we use at New Vintage Church:

1. One-on-one. Here, we spend time with people we recognize have a passion for a particular area of ministry. The leader of that ministry (whether staff or not) spends time mentoring/equipping the individual.
2. Leadership Pathway. Once a month or every six weeks, we offer a Saturday morning breakfast or alternative experience where we do nothing but talk leadership with those interested in attending. It’s really helpful in surfacing people who possess the Romans 12:8 gift of leadership. Sometimes we read books, often we listen to a presenter, often we simply discuss. We aim it all at equipping people to lead ministries in ways consistent with our church’s mission, values and strategy.
3. On the Job. Some types of ministry don’t need to be talked about as much as they need to be tried. For things like facilities, hospitality, etc. We might offer a 10-20-minute crash-course and turn people loose. I wouldn’t recommend this in many areas of ministry churches frequently do so: communion meditations, ” leading singing,” leading a small group, etc.

Your process doesn’t have to match ours. But, have some process. Leadership cultivation is one of the most important things we can do for the long-term health of our churches. From among those fields will come a harvest of future ministry leaders, deacons, elders, and ministers. We will also have fulfilled our biblical calling of equipping the Body (Eph. 4) rather than signing up the Body for things they may not desire and are not equipped for.

We’re just getting started at New Vintage Church. However, we view it as an integral part of our future.

Do you agree leadership cultivation is vitally important to the church? How does your congregation do it? Alternatively, why doesn’t your congregation do it?

Here are some things I’m thinking about this Friday:

• At NVC, we are launching a new initiative called the Leadership Pathway, which we hope will cultivate leaders over time. I’m really looking forward to seeing it unfold over the years. It’s really important that churches have some long-term leadership development plan.
•  I cannot wait for baseball season to begin. The National League is up for grabs–only Philadelphia stands out among the rest.
•  There is very little excuse for leaders to not do everything they can to develop themselves. We’ve never had more access to good leaders and the information they have.
•  I remain puzzled by anti-growth church leaders. It isn’t right to assume everyone interested in growth has sold out to American values of “prosperity” rather than Jesus’ Kingdom values of humility and downward mobility. At times, such thinking can sound more like self-righteousness than humility.
• While church health is still preeminent in my mind, three things (at least) cause me to remain very interested in church growth:

1. Jesus came to seek and save what was lost—and the death He asks us to die is to ourselves—not for our churches to go under. In Scripture, the decline/death of a church is also a sign of God’s judgment. Persecution, calling those with ” itching ” ears to repentance, etc., are reasons for what you might call a biblical decline. However, we don’t have much persecution here in America. We do have a lot of division, legalism, lukewarmness, immorality, and other things that bring warnings of lampstand removal from the One who has the seven lampstands in His hand. Having said that, the reason for decline may vary from church to church.
2. God cares about numbers because ” numbers ” are people and people matter to God. This I believe is why there is a book of the Bible called, ” Numbers, ” and even at Pentecost, people are counted. God loves people—not numbers.
3. Overwhelmingly, pictures given of the Church’s future are victorious (see Revelation, etc.), though that victory comes through dying to self and steadfastness through suffering or other trials of this life. To desire the church’s growth is to desire something God created the church for. He desires all to come to repentance in Christ’s Name and chose the Church as His primary vehicle for that purpose. How then, could He champion the decline/demise of churches who  are faithful to His cause? I don’t think He does. Neither do I think every church that grows does so because of God’s blessing. However, I think many probably do.

• Black pepper sunflower seeds may be the death of me.
• I forgot how tiring it was to have a 2-year-old.
• Coaching girls’ softball is awesome. It’s an exercise in patience, but there is little I enjoy more than watching a player improve or watching the team gel. Team sports help us learn things that equip us well for life later.
• Today, I’m particularly thankful for chaplains and those who work in “high-grief” ministries. Blessings to all of you who stand with the grieving.

What’s on your mind this Friday?

Disclaimer: I am not the world’s funniest man. I am not the world’s most creative preacher. However, I do value humor and am committed to it as a tool for God’s purposes in the lives of people. Disclaimer #2: I am NOT advocating the church turning into a comedy club.

However…

Tuesday’s post seemed to strike a chord, and some people may have read it and thought, “But I’m not a funny person. Furthermore, no one at our church laughs. In fact, none of us even know anyone that laughs.”

Come on! Everyone laughs. In their own way, everyone is funny.

Nevertheless, churches must create cultures where laughter is at home. You do so gradually, with great care and intentionality. Also, before such a culture can be created, church leaders need to make it a part of their life.

Here are some ways I’ve tried to do this over the years:

1. Go to Bed Laughing. For most of my adult life, I’ve tried to end the day laughing. Don’t watch the news or something depressing before you go to bed. I usually watch the monologue and first sketch of one of the late night comedians (I’ve been a Leno and Conan guy). Conan is more of a physical and random comedian. Jay is more straight joking. I simply DVR each episode, and watch the episodes the next night at a sane bedtime. Or, I’ll log on to certain web-sites (YouTube, etc.) and watch YouTube-style videos by searching “Funniest ____.” I have a weak spot for news anchor blunders I will also admit to watching Saturday Night Live, The Office, Community, and other comedies. It’s amazing how much simply watching these shows helps me recognize 1) what others find funny, and 2) how to see the funny in the world.

2. Listen to Humorous Preachers. Four of the funniest preachers I know are Jeff Walling, Stephen Furtick, Patrick Mead, and Wayne Smith. They are funny in person, in the pulpit, and on social media. On my Mt. Rushmore of humorous preachers, Jeff Walling is the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. God just flat-out gifted Jeff with the ability to double everyone over with laughter while inserting the double-edged sword of the Word simultaneously. Patrick Mead’s tweets are hilarious. He is the Christian Bad Banana. Wayne Smith has 60 years of George Burns-like humor that endears him to everyone who hears him. Listen to them or others that feed your soul.

3. Be Willing to Take Risks–just not the wrong risks. Telling a funny story in the pulpit or showing a funny video has it’s risks. In my experience, it usually pays off IF, IF, IF, you are discriminating with timing and content. Don’t feel like you need to do it every week. Have a sense of propriety about it. Keep the bar high for what gets admitted, and make sure it has a point.

Here’s a video we made but didn’t use as an opener for a series on prayer. It was quite funny–classic movie scenes of prayer. But, it was too long, was just off the message mark, and at the end of the day–a hair over the line. You may disagree, but, it’s hear for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy “Great Moments in Prayer,” at your leisure.

4. Ask, “What’s Funny About This?” Jeff Walling once taught me to ask that among other questions about biblical text. That has really stuck with me over the years. Here’s how it might work: If you are preaching on the story of two houses built on two different foundations from Matthew 7, take the building imagery Scripture provides you and ask yourself, “What’s funny about this text?” On the one hand, not much. On the other hand, it’s a story about two men given the same instructions who choose to build two different ways. There are some things to work with in the illustration department.

I have a particular story about building a play set for our kids with my father I love to tell. We built it in such a way that when we were finished half of the nuts and bolts were left…and what happened to that play set was classic. It’s true, it’s humorous, and it’s on target with the message of the text–the one who hears what Jesus says and does it . Where did it come from? Life + asking the question, “What’s funny about this?”

5. Understand Humor is the Means and Not the End. I covered this in the previous post, but I want to reiterate: humor enriches your church and helps the message stick. Heck, it’s just fun, too. But, it isn’t the end. The Gospel is the end. Use it as a tool…nothing more, understanding it is one of the most valuable tools you have.

One of the best places to break out humor is for announcements. Here are a couple of examples of where we’ve pushed the envelope…and it paid off huge. Admittedly, I nearly nixed both of these. But, I was bullied into letting them through–and they were both huge hits with the congregation (I’ve deliberately chosen lower-tech videos hoping you’ll believe any church really can do this). They won’t win any Oscars, but they are funny…especially given when they were shown (at the peak of the popularity of their respective spoofs). Warning: these are pushes of the envelope. They are not typical. Having said that…

One is an announcement for the ladies retreat–a spoof on the well-known Old Spice commercials featuring a well-known, single man in the church. The second is a simple announcement for a men’s breakfast.  The man in the video is an elder and a minister to Spanish-Speakers of 25 years in the church. Everyone knows and loves him. Incidentally, one of the best ways to help your church embrace humor is to see well-respected members of the church starring in stuff. Incidentally, both of these debuted on Wednesday nights during my time at North County. Enjoy these.

If you attended New Vintage Church on any given Sunday, my hope would be that you would come out having learned something substantial, felt something powerful, decided to change something, resolved to live differently, and yes…laughed a bit.

Again, these are only suggestions. Tell me what your church has done to cultivate a culture that welcomes humor.

Note: Give the guy in the picture above a break. He’s 125 years old (literally).

Humor Test: Do you find the video below funny or sad? Possible use for something on running the race?

When God led us to start New Vintage Church, we resolved to keep it fun. We wanted laughter to be commonplace. Our staff meetings are characterized by laughter–lots of it. We love to make fun of one another and be made fun of. We regularly enjoy watching/listening to comedy and tend to find what’s funny in nearly every situation. We love to make humorous videos to illustrate message concepts or make announcements. We. Love. To. Laugh.

Mission? That is always to be taken seriously–and we do at NVC. In fact, we can take it so seriously we need laughter all the more. Mission is better pursued with laughter. It keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously–while we take God’s mission seriously.

Without fail, whenever I’ve traveled as a speaker/consultant outside of my church home, I’ve noticed a correlation between laughter and church health. Churches that don’t laugh much (or where laughter is discouraged) tend to have more conflict and more fragile community than those comfortable with laughter.

Here are four reasons to keep church fun:

1. Having fun together builds community. Praying together, serving together, mourning together, worshiping together–all of these help bond Christians to one another. So does laughter. Having fun together connects people in a way nothing else can.

2. It enhances your church’s “friendliness.” People like flying Southwest because they are obviously having fun as they go about their job. Here’s a question: Do people who visit your church leave sensing your people like each other? They will grant you love each-other for a while because they assume Christians love one another. Like? That’s another matter. Who wants to join a community that doesn’t like each other?

3. Providing opportunities for laughter is a form of pastoral care. Have you ever heard someone say, after laughing, “Oh…I needed that.” Life is extremely heavy these days. We need to remember that, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Prov. 17:22). In it’s own way, laughter feeds cheerfulness of heart. If joy (a prominent theme in Scripture) is a Fruit of the Spirit, perhaps laughter can be thought of as a fruit of joy.

4. Laughter as witness. Wouldn’t it be something if we could say:

“Our mouths were filled with laughter, 
   our tongues with songs of joy. 
Then it was said among the nations, 
   “The LORD has done great things for them.” 
The LORD has done great things for us, 
   and we are filled with joy.” (Psalms 126:2-3)

I know the humor police may be nearby, exclaiming, “What about lament?” “Worship isn’t about entertainment,” and other things. So, let’s add our caveats here. Obviously lament has it’s place, and of course worship isn’t about ‘entertainment’ (whatever one means by that). However, having been to hundreds of churches, I’ve never seen one where laughter had an inappropriate place. I’ve been to many in which it had virtually none.

Laughter is a good thing. It’s a godly thing. It will bless your church.

Note: D.J. Iverson, Youth Minister at New Vintage Church, created the ad above for our forthcoming Nerf War Youth Ministry event. The elderly lady pictured is Mae. She attends New Vintage and, yes, the photo is real. When April comes…she’s going down in Nerf War.

For the last several years I and many of my colleagues have tried desperately to heighten the Church’s awareness that ministry (often the best ministry) happens outside the church-building walls. We’ve also suggested that a fully clogged church calendar doesn’t serve the purposes of ministry best. In fact, it can leave little room for real spiritual growth or service in the community.

Churches have engaged in “The Church Has Left the Building” or “Faith that Works” campaigns in which the church shuts down the building on a Sunday and spends the day serving the community. You may have heard or read that “We just need to get out of the building and serve.” Or, “We need to go where the people are.” True enough.

Churches can become temple-oriented rather than mission-oriented. Certainly, “attractional” ministry is increasingly difficult to sustain and can cultivate consumerism.

Nevertheless…

For many struggling churches, the problem is usually not that too much attention has been paid to what goes on inside the building. On the contrary, the problem is that not even close to enough attention has been paid to what takes place inside the building. Such is evident in decaying facilities, assemblies that are mechanical and thrown together, strained fellowship, and no clear sense of congregational mission.

Such a church is unlikely to be missional in a Starbucks or soup kitchen any more than they are in a building. While serving in the community can help refocus a church in some unique ways, it can also mask deep issues that need to be dealt with. A family that is dysfunctional doesn’t stop being dysfunctional because they change addresses.

Neither do churches.

It’s OK for a church to shock-treat itself, and it’s nearly always a good thing to pick up the basin and towel. However, service should be more than conduit for avoiding problems no one wants to deal with–like a father who throws himself into work to avoid dealing with trouble at home.

In addition, like it or not, people in our culture looking for God still tend to begin with a church building, not a Starbucks. It is true that some will go to Starbucks that might never darken the door of a church building. The reverse is also true–and probably tenfold. To this day, when people’s marriages hit the reef, when a teen is in rebellion, or when people sense a deep need for God, they try to find a church. So, what goes on “at the building” still matters a ton–whether we like it or not.

Thus, one good test of our “missionality” is our “attractionalness.” The question though isn’t, are we “attractive” to searchers, but “do we care enough about the searchers God sends us to put effort into how we do things now?” If not, it’s right to question whether we’ll care much about them out there either.

Contrary to popular belief, the greatest community impact churches are also generally great attractional churches. This is because they care genuinely about lost people, whether they are “out there” or “in here.” They pay attention to the environments they create at their facility, in their assembly, and when the church hits the streets because they care about those in need of a Savior.

So, if you run a “The Church has Left the Building” campaign, more power to you. Just make sure you understand the building isn’t really the problem. It could be the church is the problem, because the church is the church whether they are in the building or not.

So, let’s pay attention to both our “being” and our “going” at the same time. We should, because they are linked whether we like it or not. It may be the first step in being more missional is becoming more attractional – in attitude.

And, vice-versa. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Thoughts?

For those of you interested in sharpening your ministry skills, Pepperdine University is beginning a new series of online ministry workshops you won’t want to miss.

The workshops will take place LIVE online from 11:00AM – 11:30AM PST on the dates listed below. These multimedia presentations will be roughly 15-20 minutes with some Q & A time at the end.

Here are the dates, presenters, and topics for the first several:

• Mike Cope - 2/23/12 - When a Child Dies: Ministering to Those in Grief
• Tim Pownall - 3/22/12 - Redeeming Church Conflicts
• Alan Beard - 4/19/12 - Like this Webinar
• Tim Spivey - 5/24/12 Hiring Well – Building a Healthy Church Staff
• Connie Horton - 6/26/12 Where is God in This? Stress and Coping from a Christian worldview

I think these live webinars are going to be terrific and wanted to pass the word onto you so you can get them on your calendar now. I’m thankful for Pepperdine University and it’s commitment to strengthening the local church.

I know at least the first webinar with Mike Cope will be limited to the first 100 participants. If you don’t get in, the session will be recorded and posted on the Church Relations web site. Click here to register now.

It’s the season for diseases. Flu, colds, bronchitis, you name it–it’s out there. Those who make it through the season without getting sick are generally those who take care of their bodies in such a way their immune systems remain strong enough to fight off exposure to disease. However, there is another way in which we fight off disease.

The flu shot. The polio vaccine. Inoculation.

Inoculation is “the placement of something that will grow or reproduce, and is most commonly used in respect of the introduction of a serum, vaccine, or antigenic substance into the body of a human or animal, especially to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease.”

While churches don’t want to intentionally introduce disease into the system, most have some element of disease in their system all the time. It’s the nature of the church. We are human beings with sinful natures in need of transformation, repentance, forgiveness. Even leaders bring disease into the church without recognizing it.

Whether a church Body ultimately finds itself sick or whether proper handling of the disease continues to build the immune system of the church is a matter of proper response. Exposure to disease is part of ministry. Obviously, we’re talking about sinful behavior, viral behavior–expressing itself in symptoms like critical spirit, division, apathy, immorality and the like.

Healthy churches understand the importance of health and the importance of inoculation. In ministry inoculation is the recognition of disease and dealing with it in such a way the Body emerges from the experience healthier and more immune to dangerous disease than before.

1. Acknowledge your church isn’t completely healthy. Ever. As long as there are people in the church, sin will be present.
2. Recognize the behavior, not the person, is the source of disease that threatens the health of the Body. People can change their behavior.
3. Accept responsibility for the health of the church. One thing we see in the letters to the seven churches from Revelation is not only Jesus’ Lordship, but His expectation that churches correct sinful attitudes and behaviors. The good news is Jesus also provides us the spiritual resources to deal with these problems according to His will.
4. Deal with it early. This doesn’t mean you break out a bazooka to kill a horse fly–creating leadership crises over every mildly critical comment. It means you don’t let problems grow. When we deal with problems early, the response  can be minimal. If it grows, you’ll have to deal with it more aggressively–and the problem will escalate.
5. Deal with it firmly and biblically. Somewhere, freedom of expression became a civil right in the minds of many Christians. That’s America, not the Kingdom. In the Kingdom, it’s out of the heart the mouth speaks. In the Kingdom, we are told: “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” Titus 3:10-11. This doesn’t mean we should try to control every thought people have. Rather, it means we recognize viral behavior and seek to correct it according to biblical norms.
6. Choose health over “peace.” Many churches avoid conflict thinking they are “peacemaking” when in reality they are simply making cold war the relational norm in the church. They have peace like Israel and Iran have peace now
7. Choose health over size. You will inevitably lose some people if dealing with conflict in this way is new to your church. If it’s chemotherapy and not inoculation that must take place for the Body to be restored to health…expect to lose some people. However, healthy churches will grow. It’s the nature of the Kingdom. Nothing, NOTHING will help your church grow over time like perennial health. This doesn’t mean every growing church is healthy. However, I am suggesting that Jesus blesses churches committed to keeping His Bride as unblemished as possible in our broken world. He also wants to redeem what is lost. Many churches like to think of themselves as being “pruned” when in reality Christ is moving their lampstand. However, I also know of numerous churches that turned around quickly and permanently after an initial period of decline by removing or correcting unhealthy ministry leaders, small group leaders, elders, and ministers.

By God’s grace, stay healthy. If you’re sick, by God’s grace, get healthy. It makes all the difference. Our congregations aren’t in a disease-free world. However, the Body grows stronger and healthier by learning to deal with disease properly.

Last last week, the Christian Chronicle reported a loss of 102,138 members of Churches of Christ since 2003. They report:

“The total number of adherents — which includes members and their children — in the nation’s historically a cappella congregations stands at 1,554,579, according to 21st Century Christian’s new statistical data sheet. That’s down 6.2 percent from the 1,656,717 adherents reported in 2003 — less than a decade ago. Another striking number: 708 fewer Churches of Christ in the U.S. in the last nine years. The nation’s 12,447 congregations represent a 5.4 percent decline since 2003.”

This helpful information simply adds weight to what many have noticed over the last several years. As striking as the numbers are, what I’ve found more striking is the response of many since. Some have an appropriate response–serious reflection on what the numbers mean and why they exist. Others have been ambivalent, or worse–smug about them. The approach seems to be, “Well good riddance to them anyway. Jesus said some would fall away. And remember what Paul said about “itching ears” in the last days, don’t you?”

I will admit having a hard time respecting that way of thinking. Churches of Christ have blamed others for their problems for too long, and until we are ready to look in the mirror and ask hard questions, I don’t expect much to change. Until the pain of change is preferable to the pain of non-change, status quo is, sadly, likely to continue.

It isn’t that all of sudden within the last decade, hundreds of churches (despite a renewed emphasis on church planting) and more than a hundred thousand Christians just decided to have their ears itched, seek out “entertainment,” or became “disloyal.” 6.3% in less than a decade. Let that sink in… 6.3% in less than a decade. These numbers are self-reported by churches, meaning these numbers likely paint a rosier picture than really exists.

Now that we’re all depressed are we willing to consider the idea that we have something to do with our problems? What if it’s not culture–other Christian tribes seem to reach people and “culture” has always been pagan. Why is ours so different? It’s also unlikely that we are being “pruned.” We are under no persecution.

Our primary enemy is us.

This doesn’t mean it’s all our fault or that hope is lost. It means we need to own this.

One thing is common to renewal movements: Humility. Until we can humble ourselves enough to acknowledge and repent of what ails us, we need not hold our breath waiting for renewal. One piece of good news is–the whole Movement need not change for you or your congregation to change.

So, let’s start with us. God will take it from there.

Question: Why aren’t some in Churches of Christ willing to own the decline?

Note: They are a bit dated now, but you can read the Turnaround Fellowship posts (10 parts), beginning with this one from January 3, 2010. Here are the links to the others:

• Leadership, part 1
• Leadership, part 2
• Flexibility and Nimbleness
• Generosity Toward the Local Church
• Abundance Mentality/Cooperation
• Increased Supply of Capable Leaders
• Increased Care/Attention Toward Sunday Assemblies
• Increased Ministry Skill, part 1
• Increased Ministry Skill, part 2

There are also a set of Turnaround Church posts you can access by searching for “Turnaround Churches” in the search bar above.

May God bless you and your congregation.