Today, it is not unusual for me to hear from more conservative church leaders that declining church numbers may be a good sign because it is an indication that the numbers reflect true regenerate members. But, for the purpose of this brief article, let’s assume that attendance growth is a positive indicator. Presumably more people are hearing the gospel and being discipled when a church is growing.

It is in that context that I hear almost every week from church leaders whose churches seem stuck at some level of attendance: 100, 200, 500, 800, and so on. I even got a call a year ago from a church where the pastor was concerned that attendance was stuck at 7,000!

After 25 years of consulting and researching local congregations, I have found four common approaches churches take to break attendance barriers regardless of size. There are certainly more than four possibilities, but allow me to evaluate these four more common approaches.

1. Create new groups.

These groups may be home groups, small groups that meet in coffee houses, Sunday school classes, ministry groups, and others. Church leaders are intentional about creating groups on an ongoing basis. They typically have goals for the number of groups they start.

Evaluation: Frankly, I have seen great success with this strategy (and recently wrote about this strategy). I would speculate that as many as eight out of ten churches that strategically create new groups grow to new attendance levels. The mystery to me is why most churches don’t have this strategy.

2. Create new worship services.

A church moves from one service to two, or from two to three, or even more. The move is typically precipitated by one or more services running out of space.

Evaluation: Most of the time the new service does aid the church in breaking attendance barriers. But, keep in mind, the church was most likely growing already until it ran out of space. The new service simply takes the lid off so the church can continue to grow. I would caution a church, however, about moving to an additional worship service if it’s not already in a growth mode. The worship center can seem vacuous if one non-growing group is split into two non-growing groups.

3. Create new venues.

This principle is similar to adding worship services, but the church uses a different facility for the new service. That new facility may actually be a new campus. It may be an ethnic service meeting in the church facilities in a different room than the worship center. It may be a merged church from another location. The possibilities are many.

Evaluation: The results thus far are positive. As a church adds a new venue, there is a natural increase in attendance. The multi-campus form of this new venue is growing in use and popularity with mostly good results. We are still a few years away from being able to measure the mid-term impact of new venues on growth. I would be willing to speculate that the results will be very positive.

4. Have a major event.

The church’s strategy is to have one or more events that will create sufficient excitement for members to invite those who aren’t attending church. That event may be tied to a major holiday such as Easter, Fourth of July, or Christmas. It may be tied to a significant tradition in a church. The plan is to get people to attend who would not regularly attend.

Evaluation: I have studied a few hundred churches that use the big event as their major growth strategy, and the results are not good. Attendance tends to rise for a few weeks on and after the event, but then it settles down to previous patterns. Churches can spend a lot of money on big events, but I hardly ever see a church break an attendance barrier consistently, even with those large amounts of resources dedicated to it.

What successful approaches have you seen to break attendance barriers? What do you think of these approaches I have highlighted? Why do churches not create new groups regularly and strategically when it has proven to be the most effective method for growth and for breaking attendance barriers?

I have read that as many as one billion tweets are sent every 2-3 days. That’s amazing, especially for an application that began less than a decade ago.

I, too, use Twitter (@clawlessjr), but sometimes I’m surprised by what seemingly insignificant information others share. “Got up early this morning.” “On my way to the store to buy bread.” “Reading a book.” “Working out.” “Raking the leaves.” “To the office – many meetings today.” “Tired this morning.” “Can’t sleep.” On and on the text messages go. To be honest, I’m just waiting for someone to let me know when he is having a bowel movement – and that kind of sharing becomes the norm. Nothing, it seems, is private in a twittering world.

But, maybe that’s not all bad.

Sure, some privacy is important. The physical joys of marriage are meant to be enjoyed privately. Not every confession of sin should be spoken so publicly that additional problems are created. Some prayer needs are so deeply felt that sharing them with more than a few people is emotionally draining. Ministry often requires us to hold information responsibly, being careful not to make publicly known what is shared privately.

On the other hand, too much privacy sometimes results in tragedy. You know the story—a follower of Jesus falls into sin, hides it, and soon finds himself/herself entangled in a sinful mess. This course of sin should not surprise us, as it began with Adam and Eve and has continued since then. Having wrongly chosen to eat from the forbidden fruit, the first human beings hid themselves (Gen. 3:8). Indeed, they were so deceived that they thought they could hide “from the presence of the Lord God”—as if that were even possible! The enemy so ensnares us in his web of deceit that we somehow believe that God Himself does not know what we do in private.

Having studied spiritual warfare and the enemy’s strategies for many years, I have watched far too many men and women mess up in their spiritual walk. What I have never seen, though, are believers who just “wake up” on the other side of sin, as if they unexpectedly and unconsciously find themselves there. Instead, what I have seen is the believer who makes one wrong choice that leads to another wrong choice … that leads to even more wrong choices … and eventually to a fall. Almost always, secrecy marks the downward process somewhere:

• pretending I am faithful in my practice of spiritual disciplines
• viewing Internet pornography when nobody else is around
• counseling alone a member of the opposite gender
• finding it easier and easier to lie to my spouse about anything
• hiding text and email messages so no one reads my communication with that particular person
• meeting alone to have lunch with that person who is attractive to me
• finding excuses to avoid planned accountability meetings

Moral failure almost always involves our covering up secrets, even while convincing ourselves that our actions are acceptable. The result is ultimately spiritual disaster. And—lest we find ourselves arrogantly inattentive to the warning signals—only fools think they immune to the possibility of falling.

How do we remain faithful when a very real, supernatural enemy seeks to lure us into the darkness?

Here is one step in the process: make sure that somebody who loves us ALWAYS knows where we are and what we’re doing.

If we are never in a place, never in a situation, and never with a person that demands our hiding, the likelihood of our falling decreases significantly.

Sound complicated? Perhaps, but I don’t think so. Call your spouse or email him/her when you get to work. Get in touch with him/her when you go to lunch and when you return to work. Let him/her know when you head home. If you are running an errand and get detoured, let your spouse know. Frankly, you might even find that talking more with your spouse is good for your marriage.

Or, if you are not married, find someone of the same gender to carry out this accountability role for you. The cost of falling is simply too big of a price to pay for any of us to give ourselves permission to live secret lives.

In fact, I probably need to rethink my opinion about Twitter. If using Twitter makes it more difficult to hide, it’s likely a smart move for Christian leaders to start sending tweets about everything we do.

Chuck Lawless currently serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Seminary.

You can connect with Dr. Lawless on both Twitter and Facebook.

So I was curious. With the sermon being essential and paramount to the health of a church, just how long does a pastor preach each sermon? I went to Twitter to find out. Though a Twitter survey is not scientific, I was amazed at the quantity of the responses. Pastors began responding in great volume at almost the point I asked the question.

Of course, my methodology begs the question: Does a pastor really know the length of his own sermon? Though further research would be needed to provide a definitive answer, I do believe most pastors watch the clock rather carefully. In those cases on our Twitter survey where a church member and pastor from the same church responded, there were absolutely no differences in the length of sermon time each reported.

Most of the respondents gave me a time range. In each of those cases, I took the midpoint of the range they gave me. Here are the results, mostly in increments of five minutes:

Less than 15 minutes — 1%

15 to 20 minutes — 1%

21 to 25 minutes — 5%

26 to 30 minutes — 18%

31 to 35 minutes — 23%

36 to 40 minutes — 18%

41 to 45 minutes — 26%

46 to 50 minutes — 1%

51 to 55 minutes — 4%

56 to 60 minutes — 1%

More than 60 minutes — 1%

Here are some quick observations:

• Very few pastors are preaching a very short sermon or a very long sermon. Only 2% preach a sermon that lasts less than 20 minutes. And only 2% preach a sermon that goes over 55 minutes.
• Most pastors preach sermons lasting in a relatively small range: from 26 minutes to 45 minutes. Of those reporting, 85% of the sermons fell in that time range.
• The median of all the times reported was 36 minutes. That means that 50% of the sermons were shorter than 36 minutes, and 50% were longer than 36 minutes.
• Among the laypersons who offered comments, six out of ten thought the length of the pastor’s sermon was just right. Four out of ten thought the sermon was too long. None thought the sermon was too short.
• Some pastors would like to preach longer, but they are constrained by radio, television, multiple services, or pressure from church members. I do not have an estimate of how many pastors would like to preach longer than they currently do.

What do you think of these sermon times? What would you like to change? Why do you think over eight out of ten sermons fall within a relatively short time frame? Let me hear from you.

Pastor: Rev. Steve Saunders

Worship Times: 10:00 AM (Central Time)

Fast Facts: This year Edgefield Baptist Church will celebrate 146 years of ministry and outreach to the Edgefield and East Nashville area. Please pray that the Lord continues to show the church ways they can interact with their community.

Pray that the children’s and student ministries will experience the blessings of God as they seek to reach this inner city community. Pray for the upcoming BackYard Kids Club activities and for the children who will be reached for Christ. Also pray for the students who will be attending Centrifuge camp this week.

In all things, pray that Edgefield’s worship will honor God, proclaim Christ, and be led by the Spirit.

Website: www.edgefieldbaptist.org

“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well.

On Being Selfish, Not Really Interested in Others

I remember a rather outspoken evangelical Christian young woman I worked with – I’d just moved to town, and we went to a movie together. Each week she invited me to her church, and I didn’t want to offend her by saying “No thanks.” As it was, I had Buddhist activities one Sunday and I was mentoring a young girl two other Sundays, but that theoretically left a Sunday open. We only worked together for 3 months, and it never worked out. I went to a different job.

She showed up there one night, and jumped right to the church invite. No “Hey, how’ve you been? Haven’t seen you in a while!” Nope – just “Do you want to come to church with me this weekend?” Since I was on to her game, I decided to play. I said, “Sure, I’ll go to church with you, because I’m interested in seeing what you’re interested in. That’s what friends do, after all. And I’m sure you’ll want to come with me to a Buddhist meeting to see what I’m interested in, right?”

“Oh no!” she replied. “I just love the Lord so much!”

“Well,” I said, “then there’s no point in me going to your church because I’m not interested in either becoming a Christian or joining your church.” I never saw her again.

That’s how far Christian friendship extends – I’ve seen it over and over and over. Christians look at everyone else as if they’ve got targets painted on their foreheads. Nobody likes being hunted down or treated like someone else’s project. We don’t need to drop all our beliefs just to accept yours, and we don’t need to become more like you just to be acceptable people, worthy of being regarded as people instead of targets. Love does not seek to create clones of itself. Selfishness does.

On Being Self-centered and Judgmental

Keep your religious beliefs to yourself. If I have any interest in what you believe, I’ll ask you. And if I don’t ask you, then go right ahead and assume that your “witnessing” will be unwelcome. I’m sure that you like whatever you believe very much, and I’m very happy that you like it. However, just as your favorite flavor of ice cream is not necessarily going to be mine, I wish you would assume that I’m just as content with my own beliefs (or lack thereof) as you are with yours. Why not ask me first what *I* believe? Why not show an interest in what’s interesting to me instead of expecting me to always be interested in what YOU’RE interested in? Christians are so selfish and self-centered! Tell me – when was the last time an atheist rang your doorbell to tell you about his worldview? The reason the world hates Christians is because they behave badly, they’re rude, boorish, arrogant, conceited, full of themselves, ignorant, and judgmental. Go ahead – accuse me of being judgmental now. Doesn’t matter – I don’t claim to follow a belief system that has actual rules AGAINST being judgmental, so it’s *fine* for me to be!

On Being Unwilling to Develop True Friendships with Non-Christians

As a mother of young children in a homeschooling environment, we found ourselves surrounded by Christians. Of course, the kids would become friends and we moms would chat while they played. Without a single exception, this “acquaintanceship” only progressed to the point that I had to make it clear that no, I would not acceptjesusasmypersonalsavior, and no, I would not be attending their church. Then the Christians never called again, and I was left to explain to my sad children why their new friends wouldn’t be playing with them any more.

When my son was just 6, the boys down the street told him he was not allowed to play with them because he wasn’t a Christian. I went down to see what was going on (because my 4-yr-old daughter was going to go down there and teach those boys a lesson!) and I confirmed that what my son had reported was indeed what they’d said. And the mother of one was right out in the front yard, 25 feet from me, pretending to be very focused on trimming some plants. She never said a word.

Finally, the 6-yr-old girl across the street told my kids, ages 7 and 9, that if they weren’t Christians, they would be going to hell. She certainly learned the “Good News”. And you Christians wonder why we non-Christians avoid you?? HINT: It’s not because we’re intimidated by your awesomeness and are just sitting here, pining for you, wishing you would like us. We already know you don’t.

Your Response?

Frankly, I found these comments painfully true for many of us. Though my first reaction was one of defensiveness, the more I read them, the more I realize that this women has identified many of us Christians too clearly.

What do you think? What is your response?

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In this week’s episode, we explore the six levels of leadership found in my book Breakout Churches. Originally based on Jim Collins’ Good to Great, Breakout Churches explores the reasons churches moved from decline to breakout growth. One common factor in breakout growth was outstanding leadership.

When we finished processing the data for the book, we found a distinct correlation between the 6 levels of leadership and characteristics found in the first seven chapters of Acts:

• Acts 1: The Called Leader
• Acts 2: The Contributing Leader
• Acts 3: The Outwardly-Focused Leader
• Acts 4: The Passionate Leader
• Acts 5: The Bold Leader
• Acts 6/7: The Legacy Leader

Acts 6/7 leadership is desperately needed. May we all strive to become Acts 6/7 leaders by God’s grace and for His glory.

Episode Sponsor

This week’s podcast is brought to you by Breakout Churches. This book furnishes both principles and examples to show how you as a pastor or church leader can help your church break out of the status quo into unprecedented fruitfulness. Of the thousands of churches examined in the study, thirteen met the criteria for a “breakout church.” All of them experienced both a period of struggle and a time of sustained breakout growth under the same pastor’s leadership. Transitioning from mediocrity to excellence over several years, they grew to have an impact on the entire community.  Visit LifeWay.com or your local Christian bookstore to get your copy today.

Listener Questions

From Caleb - What would you say to a young leader in a church that shows many signs of being in decline? As a pastor in his 20s on staff with 4 other older (some much older) pastors how do I influence the culture when my position does not lend itself to influence? When does the time come to invest my energy in another ministry rather than in a culture of a declining church?

From Joseph – Is a leadership position meant for everyone?

From Ken - How do you motivate church leaders, like deacons who have been in a rut for many years, only taking care of the “business” part of the church?

Feedback

If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free autographed copy of I Am a Church Member.

Resources in This Episode

• Breakout Churches by Thom Rainer
• I Am a Church Member by Thom Rainer
• Good to Great by Jim Collins

We are all busy. But many times, there is simply no way to avoid what appears on our daily calendar. We can organize and delegate, but we are still busy. Michel points out that it’s not the busyness that gets to us but our perspective on it which can be harmful.

12 Steps to Strong Sermon Illustrations — Eric McKiddie

Sermon illustrations can help a sermon, and they can also sink a sermon. Here are 12 tips from Eric for using sermon illustrations effectively.

Three Big Questions On the Mind of Every Pastor This Summer — Ronnie Floyd

Summertime is often challenging for churches. Families are out of town, giving drops, age-level ministries are having more events than normal, and volunteers are often unavailable. In this post, Ronnie examines three areas many churches struggle with during the summer.

7 Most Exciting Things a Pastor Experiences — Ron Edmondson

I had a great time earlier this week recording an upcoming episode of Rainer on Leadership with Ron. In the episode, we talked about blogging, and Ron’s propensity for lists. Here’s a recent list of exciting pastoral experiences Ron shared on his site.

Five Myths About Reading & How to Put Them to Death — Robert Bruce

I’m an avid reader. As such, I’ve heard many of these excuses from several people.

Happy Father’s Day

There was still much hallway talk and other informal conversation about the low attendance of this annual meeting—slightly above 5,000 registered messengers. Pundits will be analyzing and speculating about this matter for weeks to come. I did talk to several who attended the meetings; I will give you their responses in this post.

For now here is a snapshot of some of the issues that caught my attention on the second and final day of the convention.

• The resolution on the Boy Scouts was the item that had the media’s attention. Here is the key phrase of the resolution voted by the convention: “Resolved, that the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Houston, Texas, June 11-12, 2013, express our continued opposition to and disappointment in the decision of the Boy Scouts of America to change its membership policy.”
• Great quote #1 at SBC: “We need to spend as much time declaring the faith as we do defending the faith.” Tom Elliff, President, International Mission Board
• Great quote #2 at SBC: “The bottom line is if your theology is not breaking your heart for lost souls, you have a bad, defective theology.” Danny Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
• Great quote #3 at SBC: “The person who has everything minus Jesus actually has nothing.” Danny Akin.
• While the highlight of the first day was the report of the North American Mission Board, one of the great highlights of the second day was the report of the International Mission Board (IMB) by Tom Elliff. His broken heart for the lostness of the world is clear and contagious.
• In 2012, there were 337,385 professions of faith in Christ through the work of the IMB missionaries.
• We have 4,874 international missionaries on the field.
• IMB missionaries were involved in 24,073 new church plants.
• We are making progress reaching the world’s 3,041 unengaged, unreached people groups. Southern Baptists engaged 133 people groups in 2012 alone.
• Danny Akin’s convention sermon was incredible. The great thing about Dr. Akin is his heart and transparency. The man you see on the podium and the big screens is no different than the man I know personally. He’s the real deal. And his passion for the Great Commission is the real deal.
• Thank you, Dr. Al Mohler, for honoring me as 2013 alumnus of the year at Southern Seminary. The words you spoke about me at the seminary luncheon at the SBC annual meeting were humbling for me. Your decision to bring me to Southern as your first academic hire 20 years ago changed my life for the better. I will forever be grateful to you.
• Some of my favorite moments were both planned and unplanned meetings with pastors. I love these pastors and their great hearts. I am honored to serve them in whatever manner God leads.
• I asked about 25 young pastors and staff persons why they thought the attendance of the annual meeting continues to decline, reaching new modern lows in Houston this week. The responses were uniform. They gave one of two related answers. First, these leaders say that their peers are not motivated to give so much time to a two-day business meeting. Second, they are weary of the negativity and nitpicking that has taken place in recent conventions. I followed up by asking if money was a factor. They said that these pastors are more than willing to pay the expense if the benefits are worth the costs. Their peers do not deem the annual meeting of the SBC a worthwhile investment, they told me.

Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to share with you my perspectives on our denomination’s annual meeting. It’s now time to head to the airport and get back to Nashville. According to my calendar, I’ll have two nights in my own bed before I hit the road again.

In 1972 Walter Shurden wrote Not a Silent People, a book about the controversies that have shaped the Southern Baptist Convention. We do have a reputation for arguing about major issues, not-so-major issues, minor issues, trivial issues, insignificant issues, and absurd issues.

At least we are consistent.

The tenor of this annual meeting, however, is more placid than usual. Sure, you can always count of some of the business, motions and questions to raise eyebrows, get a scattering of “amens,’ elicit chuckles, and largely induce yawns. And, for certain, there are some serious matters brought to the floor as well.

My observations about the first day are largely positive. Much of my perspective is related to the morning presentation by Kevin Ezell and the North American Mission Board. Under Kevin’s keen leadership, he got us focused on those things that really matter. He provided a great start to SBC 2013.

Here are a few of my random observations:

• Total messenger count is around 5,000. While there are a number of people present who aren’t messengers, this number is unusually low for an annual meeting that is held in a southern or southwestern location. The low number can be partly explained by a non-contested presidential election. That does not explain fully, however, the unusually low attendance,
• Kevin Ezell got our focus right when he reminded us that we can’t continue to deny we have many sick and dying churches. We must increase the birthrate of churches and decrease the death rate.
• Southern Baptists started 929 new churches in 2012. Over the past ten years, however, an average of 1,000 churches a year have closed.
• Westboro Baptist Church (which is neither Baptist nor a church) had protestors present. That’s probably a good thing. It helps the world know that they have NO relationship to Southern Baptists.
• Fred Luter was his usual effective and gracious self. Southern Baptists are blessed to have him as our leader and spokesman. His evening message was powerful. He was elected to a second term unopposed. I don’t think we fully grasp what a great gift he is to Southern Baptists and the evangelical world.
• I actually am beginning to have a bit of hope that we might just start working together more on the Great Commission. It seems we are growing weary of the divisions and divisive talk. There is a hunger for us to unite for the sake of the gospel. Though Houston will not be marked as a remarkable convention from an attendance perspective, perhaps it will be the marker of a renewed era of focusing on those things that really matter.
• LifeWay has a robot at the exhibit hall. Just sayin’ . . .

One more report to follow tomorrow. See you then.

As a seminary professor, I work with young leaders. They have passion, vision, energy, and zeal. They understand the importance of social justice and global outreach. In both the church world and the business world, I have met young leaders who give me hope for the future.

I have learned the most, though, from leaders who have been long-term leaders. To be honest, I have seen far too many young leaders quickly lose their integrity and sacrifice their leadership influence. Too many start well but do not end well.

That’s why I so enjoy talking to leaders who have led for years, if not for decades. Admittedly, these findings are anecdotal, but here are ten common characteristics of those long-term leaders from whom I have learned.

1. They begin with a determination to finish well. I have not yet met a leader who led well over the course of time by accident. Instead, they decide up front that they will run the race with the end goal in mind. They establish appropriate boundaries to maintain their integrity, and they continually push themselves to improve.
2. They always have a vision bigger than they are. Regardless of their age, these leaders do not settle for maintenance mode. Their vision is so big – so “God-sized,” in theological terms – that relaxing makes little sense as long as more remains to be accomplished. Nor do these leaders ever want to fail morally or ethically; their task matters too much to let that happen.
3. They take care of themselves spiritually. I realize this point sounds cliché, but it is nevertheless valid. These leaders understand that what they do behind the scenes matters. They read the Scriptures, pray, study, worship, fellowship—and lead out of the overflow of their walk with God.
4. They take care of themselves physically. Again, this point is obvious yet significant. The long-lasting leaders I have met eat properly, exercise regularly, and sleep well. They cannot avoid the effects of aging, but they don’t contribute to poor health by making bad decisions. I confess I have much to learn here.
5. They invest in their family.  My experiences reveal a common pattern: leaders who last are good spouses and parents. They work hard at their profession, but not at the expense of their family. Indeed, their relationships keep them grounded; nothing they gain through their work is worth harming their loved ones.
6. They treat people well. To put it simply, these leaders are nice people. They respect others, including those who disagree with them. They are seldom rude or impatient. Long track records of strong, healthy relationships give them credibility as they lead over many years. Some of these leaders are so kind that I have never heard a negative word about them.
7. They share the workload. These leaders delegate well without shirking their responsibility to lead through influence and vision casting. They have learned that failing to share the work is not only exhausting, but it is also arrogant. In fact, it is nothing less than idolatry of the self.
8. They do not let discouragement set in.  It’s not that they don’t get discouraged; it’s just that they don’t wallow in that emotion. They deal with fires of conflict before they become consuming. They do not like failure, but they know failure is seldom the end of the story. Sometimes, accountability partners have permission to challenge them when they seem emotionally down.
9. They have genuine friends.  Their friendships may not be numerous, but they are nevertheless real. Because they have friends, these leaders know they always have a support system. Regardless of what leadership challenges they face, they know they are not alone.
10. They have learned to laugh. Some of the best long-term leaders I know are also the ones who most readily laugh. Somehow, they are deadly serious without taking themselves too seriously. They can put their followers at ease even while they cast a vision with life-changing ramifications.

I’m grateful for what I’ve learned from leaders who last. Give us your insights so today’s young leaders might remain strong leaders for years to come.

What have you learned from leaders who have led well for years?