The Convenient Church

Before you cry pragmatic, James Emery White is a top notch theologian and cultural observer.  Our leadership are discussing the implications of this article.

I once heard someone make the accusation that churches today are making attending all about convenience. 

I thought to myself, “And the problem with that is?”

What is the alternative? Purposefully making it inconvenient?

A new study from the Pew Research Center has revealed just how much convenience actually matters.

Digging into how people choose a new church, they discovered the obvious reasons: high quality messages, feeling welcomed/friendliness, style of worship.

But, in addition, what stood out was the importance of raw convenience. Seven out of every ten people said that location was critical. This ranked as more important than children’s ministry, whether they had friends/family attending, or the appeal of volunteer opportunities.

And what made finding the new church easy?

Convenience. 

The majority of those who found the task of finding a new church trouble-free “indicated that their new congregation was conveniently located and easy to get to.” This was cited more frequently than being invited by a friend or finding information easily gained through a website.  

Digging further, Pew found that among those whose church attendance had waned, the number one reason was…yep, convenience. The most commonly offered reasons had to do with “practical concerns, including many who say they are too busy to attend or cite other practical difficulties with getting to a church.”

There’s much in such studies to remember. In a large survey of this kind, it’s important to isolate the growing number of “nones” who are much less likely to look for a new church at all. And as a result, convenience will not be the primary factor; personal invitations will. It’s also important to note varying demographics, such as the increase in online investigation among younger generations.

But let’s not quibble. The headline is too important to ignore. We know that the quality of a church’s teaching matters; we know that friendliness is key. But have we spent enough time thinking through raw convenience through the eyes of those not already signed on to attending?

I doubt it.

So let’s think about it. Specifically, let’s look at four areas directly related to convenience for every church:

1. Location

The physical location of a church is critical. Is it easy to find? Is it easy to drive to, even for those within a 15-minute drive? 

Many years ago, in our church planting phase, Meck moved from an elementary school to a high school. It was a great facility, and only 10 minutes or so from where we had been meeting.

It was a disaster.

We didn’t just plateau, we declined. We moved after just nine months and instantly began to grow again. What happened? The high school was buried back in a research park far from the flow of traffic. But even more decisive was the vast number of traffic lights you had to go through from major residential areas to get to the school. It was just a pain to drive there. 

Lesson learned.

The 80-acre campus we eventually bought was intentionally in the heart of our area’s residential growth and within one mile of an interstate loop around the city. 

If your location is a disaster, you have options. You can sell and relocate. You can also go multi-site, bringing the church to within 15 minutes of varying pockets of your mission field. Along with our original campus, we’ve added additional campuses to make attending Meck even easier (and we hope to launch two more in 2017).

2. Service Days/Times

If you are still holding down the fort on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m., and Sunday mornings at 11 alone, you have one hook in the water. If you add services at other times and on other days, you are putting lots of hooks in the water. More hooks = more fish.

At Meck, we have Saturday and Sunday services at multiple times. We also offer an internet campus with a slate of service days and times. 

It works.

3. Coming, Parking, Leaving

I don’t care how good your location is or how many service times/days you offer, you can still lose the convenience war if it’s hard to enter the parking lot, to park, and then to leave.

Just think of the good will and feeling that is lost if, at the end of a service, it takes 15 minutes just to exit the parking lot. Or if, when guests arrive, they have to circle around forever to find a place to park.

At Meck, we hire police officers to speed up entering our campuses and to expedite the exit process. An entire parking team is devoted to quickly and efficiently guiding cars into parking spaces. We’ve studied – extensively – the best routes to enter and exit, which lots to fill first, and how best to navigate the flow of people walking from their cars so as not to disrupt those still in transit.

Recently, we implemented an additional strategy because of (ouch!) complaints. Our North Charlotte Campus had grown so large that while we were handling our campus lot well, a nearby intersection was getting jammed, delaying people on their way to church. So we received permission to hire an additional police officer to manage that intersection to ease congestion and make coming to Meck as convenient as possible.

4. Logistics of Attendance

Finally, there are the raw logistics of attendance. Meaning, things like: registering your child and dropping them off for their class; finding a seat in the auditorium; being able to easily find information about the church; knowing where to go once inside the building.

Here are five essentials to address the logistics of attendance:

1.   Have a centralized area for information (we call ours the “Connection Center”).

2.   Have ample signage, high enough to be seen in the midst of a crowd, for EVERYTHING.

3.   Put up directional signs in a two-mile radius around your campus every weekend that will guide a first-time guest to your location.

4.   Use computers and wireless technology for children’s ministry check-in to expedite the process, along with multiple lines and stations around the building (and consider having escorts for first-time guests to take them to their child’s class).

5.   Once your auditorium reaches 80% capacity, it’s time to build or add a service or a new site. (It’s been quipped that the only people who like overcrowded auditoriums are speakers and worship leaders.)

Sound like a lot of work? It is. But then again, you are welcome to the alternative.

James Emery White

5 DISTINGUISHING MARKS OF A FRUITFUL CHURCH

Great post from Jared Wilson.

I follow the ongoing pastoral and missiological discussions about “faithfulness vs. fruitfulness” from a bemused distance. I do believe that a church’s faithfulness to the mission of God is itself success, regardless of the “results.” And I also believe that a faithful church will be a fruitful church. But when some begin defining fruitfulness in quantifiable ways — decisions, attendance, etc. — I see more pragmatism and less Bible.

Does this mean I don’t think we should look for results? No. It just means I think we should look differently for results. I think measuring a church’s fruitfulness is not as simple as how many hands get raised during an invitation or how many parking spots are filled.

In 1741, the great Jonathan Edwards first published his now-classic book The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. In this important work, Edwards is analyzing and synthesizing all he’s experienced in the revivals of his day (chronicled most notably in A Narrative of Surprising Conversions and An Account of the Revival of Religion in Northampton 1740-1742). He wants to know — what are the signs that a genuine move of God is taking place?

What, in other words, are the true evidences of Spiritual fruitfulness?

Interestingly enough, he prefaces his list of “distinguishing marks” with a list of things that may or may not be signs of a genuine move of God. It’s a curious collection — including things like charismatic experiences, the stirring up of emotions, and the fiery preaching of hell — and Edwards is saying that these things might be good things in many instances, but they do not themselves authenticate a work of God. A work of God may have charismatic experiences, stirring up of emotions, and the like, but it also may not. (He also lists some negative things — like errors and counterfeits — that he says do not necessarily disprove a work of God, since he reasons that a genuine move of God is likely to have Satan actively trying to derail it.)

I think we ought to apply Edwards’s strong reasoning to the ecclesiological landscape today. What are the signs of actual fruitfulness? How do we know our church is a growing part of something God is blessing?

Well, first, let’s look, as Edwards did, at some things that may or may not accompany a genuine move of God.

Marks of Neutrality – These May or May Not Authenticate a Church’s Fruitfulness

1. A steady accumulation of decisions or responses during Sunday invitations.

We have all seen the pastors touting their weekly catch on social media. Many people do hear the gospel and respond genuinely in this way. And yet, this kind of evangelistic strategy has been employed by evangelicals for the last 50 years, and we still face a discernible drought of mature Christianity in the West and a steady decline in evangelical numbers. The discipleship processes in so many of these “count the hands” churches seems to top out at the counting of the hands. Something isn’t adding up. Even Spurgeon commented on this practice, routine even in his day. No, what we can say is this — people coming to know Christ is always a good thing, no matter what kind of church they’re in, no matter the method by which they heard the gospel. But this does not itself sanctify methods. And a simple counting of “decisions” does not itself prove genuine fruitfulness because a (genuine) decision is itself only the first tiny bud of a life of fruit.

2. Large attendance.

It is wearying to need to repeat this, but American evangelicals love bigness, so we have to keep saying it: a lot of people is itself not a sign of faithfulness. It is another neutral sign. A lot of people coming to a church can be a good thing. There is nothing inherently wrong with a big church! But nor is there anything inherently right about it. One of the largest churches in North America is a church where Christ crucified is not routinely preached. Further, the Mormons have big churches. We need only look to the political realm for a fitting analogy: a lot of people supporting something does not mean that that something is doing something right!

3. Emotional experiences.

Here we track with Edwards again. Edwards rightly says that true worship often engages worshipers on an emotional level. It would be strange for a genuine love of Jesus not to make human beings feel something. But in many churches, the emphasis is on the emotional experience. This is why they advertise their music as “exciting,” “vibrant,” or the all-too-familiar “relevant.” These adjectives communicate that the worship is for the worshiper, which is another way of revealing that it is the worshiper the worshiper is worshiping. So it’s not a bad thing to get emotional in church. But it’s not in itself a sign that your church is doing something right.

So there we have 3 neutral signs, none of which are reliable indicators of genuine fruitfulness. A fruitful church may witness many conversions, growing attendance, and intense emotional engagement — or it may not. What, then, ought we to look for as signs of Spiritual fruitfulness? I happen to think Edwards’s “distinguishing marks of a work of the Spirit of God” hold up rather well.

Distinguishing Marks of A Fruitful Church

1. A Growing Esteem for Jesus Christ

How do you measure this? How do you know if a church is focused on the glory of Jesus Christ? Well, I think you start with the most visible communications. In sermon and song, is Jesus the focal point? Are the sermons preached making Jesus a bit player, an add-on at invitation time, a quotable hero? Or do they promote his finished work as the only hope of mankind? Do the messages labor more intently in the Law or do they delight more intently in the gospel? Are people getting a steady dose of five things to do or are they walking away understanding that the essential message of Christianity is that the work of salvation is done?

Musically, is the church focused more on creating an experience or adoring the Creator? Do the songs tell the story of the gospel? Are people the star of the show, or is Jesus? Does the church speak in vague generalities about hope, peace, light, etc. without constantly making the connection that Jesus is the embodiment of these virtues?

Do the people of the church speak more highly of Jesus than simply doing good or knowing the right doctrine? Do the pastors exhibit high esteem of Jesus? Are they Jesusy people?

If the church is not ensuring Jesus is explicitly and persistently the point, it is not fruitful. And conversely, if a church is ensuring Jesus is explicitly and persistently the point, it is being fruitful, since ongoing worship of Jesus is a fruit of the new birth.

2. A Discernible Spirit of Repentance

Is the church, first, preaching the dangers and horrors of sin? And then, in its preaching of the gospel, are people responding to the Spirit’s conviction and comfort with repentance? Do people own and confess their sin? Is there an air of humility about the place or an air of swagger? Are the pastors bullies? Are the people narcissists? Is appropriate church discipline practiced, gentle but direct? Is there a spirit of gossip in the place or of transparency? Is the church programming built around production values or honest intimacy with the Lord?

Are the people good repenters? That’s a real sign of genuine fruitfulness.

3. A Dogged Devotion to the Word of God

A lot of churches say they are “Bible-based,” by which they mean they will quote some Bible verses in the sermon. Or you can take a look at their small group offerings and see most of them are built around special interests, hobbies, or personal demographics. But fruitful churches love God’s word. They preach from it as if doing so gives oxygen. They study it with determination and intensity. They believe the word of God is sufficient and powerful and authoritative. You might even see people carrying their Bibles to the worship gathering!

Edwards says that a mark of a true move of God is high esteem of the Scriptures. I fear this mark is much missing in too many evangelical churches that admittedly use the Bible but aren’t effectively esteeming it.

4. An Interest in Theology and Doctrine

Yes, knowledge apart from grace simply puffs up, but this does not make knowledge disposable. Edwards says that the people of God will love the things of God. They will search out his ways, following the trails of doctrine in the Scriptures straight to the throne. In our day, it is common to see emotion/experience set at odds with doctrine/theology, and so it is quite common to see churches that have devoted themselves to one while keeping the other at arm’s length. But just as unfruitful as a church that’s all head knowledge and no heart is a church that’s all feelings and no depth. Some pastors even publicly mock theology or denigrate Bible study. But the church has not endured for 2,000 years on “spiritual feelings.”

The Lord himself says that true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth. We cannot jettison the truth for a dominating “spirit.” And in fact, as Edwards says, the work of the true Spirit “operates as a spirit of truth, leading persons to truth, convincing them of those things that are true.”

5. An Evident Love for God and Love for Neighbor

Exactly as it sounds. True fruitfulness is evidenced chiefly in obedience to the commands of God, the greatest of which is loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. If a church appears to exist only for the sake of its own survival, only for the sake of its own enterprise, only for the sake of its own internal experiences, no matter how big it gets, it is not likely fruitful but more likely swollen.

Fruitful churches may or may not see steady conversions but they will have a steady outward heart of service and compassion for the world outside their doors.

Measuring the Spirit

Obviously, these five things are harder to quantify than simply counting hands and bodies. I think this is why we (lazily?) tend to equate hands and bodies with fruitfulness. But I want to make the provocative claim that a church can be Spiritually fruitful without seeing many or frequent conversions, without bursting at the seams attendance-wise, without creating “worship experiences” that stir people emotionally and imaginatively. Seeing those things can be good when done from the right place. But they are not themselves indicators of genuine fruit.

Yes, the early church counted. It’s totally fine to count. But we don’t see the kind of emphasis on high attendance and decision-producing that exists today in the pages of the New Testament. We see faithfulness. And we see fruit (“in season”) and sometimes we don’t (“out of season”). The job of the church is not to succeed but to be faithful. If you are not seeing much evangelistic fruit, in other words, be careful that it is not because you are being evangelistically disobedient!

Here are some good diagnostic questions to help us go deeper in our church measurements. I have adapted them from my book The Prodigal Church:
1. Are those being baptized continuing to walk in the faith a year later? Two years? Three years?
2. How many of our people are being trained to personally disciple others?

3. What percentage of our weekend attendees are engaged in community groups? Evangelism? Community service?

4. How many of our people could articulate the biblical gospel?

5. What is the reputation of our church in the community?

6. Are our people graduating into other grades and classes demonstrating a growing understanding of theology and a growing walk with Christ?

In Galatians 5, Paul contrasts a list of bad behaviors with good qualities. The fruit of the Spirit. These are much harder to measure than an accumulation of good deeds, but they are a much better indicator of spiritual growth. One thing we keep seeing in the Scriptures is how character, disposition, quality, being is consistently emphasized over behavior, position, quantity, and doing. The former is much harder to measure, yes, but shouldn’t this make sense? The Holy Spirit is not so easily sized-up.

Seven Things Church Members Should Say to Guests in a Worship Service

Great suggestions from Thom Rainer

. . .
One of the more common questions I’m asked relates to growth barriers. For example, church leaders may want to know how to move past the 150-attendance level of the past five years. Or other leaders desire to know how to break though financial giving barriers.
Those questions are tough because they often presume a brief response to be adequate. In reality, there are many theological and methodological issues at work in growth barriers. Today, I am looking at a very basic barrier: lack of friendliness to church guests.
In a previous blog post, I noted things we should not say to a guest in our worship services. In today’s post I look at the positive perspective: seven things we should say to guests.

1. “Thank you for being here.” It’s just that basic. I have heard from numerous church guests who returned because they were simply told “thank you.”
   
2. “Let me help you with that.” If you see someone struggling with umbrellas, young children, diaper bags, purses, and other items, a gesture to hold something for them is a huge positive. Of course, this comment is appropriate for member to member as well.
   
3. “Please take my seat.” I actually heard that comment twice in a church where I was speaking in the Nashville area. The first comment came from a member to a young family of five who were trying to find a place to sit together.
   
4. “Here is my email address. Please let me know if I can help in any way.” Of course, this comment must be used with discretion, but it can be a hugely positive message to a guest.
   
5. “Can I show you where you need to go?” Even in smaller churches, guests will not know where to find the nursery, restrooms, and small group meeting areas. You can usually tell when a guest does not know where he or she is to go.
   
6. “Let me introduce you to ___________.” The return rate of guests is always higher if they meet other people. A church member may have the opportunity to introduce the guest to the pastor, other church staff, and other members of the church.
   
7. “Would you join us for lunch?” I saved this question for last for two reasons. First, the situation must obviously be appropriate before you offer the invitation. Second, I have seen this approach have the highest guest return rate of any one factor. What if your church members sought to invite different guests 6 to 12 times a year? The burden would not be great; but the impact would be huge.
   

Let’s look at one example of breaking attendance barriers by saying the right things to guests. Presume your church has two first-time guests a week. Over the course of a year, the church would have 100 first-time guests. With most of the members being genuinely guest friendly, you could see half of those guests become active members. Attendance could thus increase by as much as 50 persons every year.
Good interaction with guests is a huge step toward breaking attendance barriers, but it is obviously not the only step. We are launching a new subscription ministry called Church Answers. One of the three resources you will get every month is called “Breaking Barriers.” We are so excited about the response so far. You can register here. But registration closes in a few days, so hurry.

The Dependence of the Church on God's Word

The Church is the creation of God by his Word.  Moreover, God's new Creation (the Church) is as dependent upon his word as his old creation (the universe).  Not only has he brought it into being by his Word, but he maintains and sustains it, reforms and renews it through the same Word.  The Word of God is the sceptre by which Christ rules the Church and the food with which he nourishes it. John Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 109.

Small Business Tips: 5 Steps to Building Great Customer Relationships

This is for developing your small business but applies to churches also! Found this at crowdSPIRNG.

You started a business and slowly, surely you have been acquiring new customers. They buy your products, they pay their bills. And they bring you their problems. Not the kind of problems they share at home with their spouse or on the couch with their shrink. Rather they share the problems they have with whatever it is you sold them. They want you to do it differently. They want their money back. They can’t make your website work. Customers inevitably run into issues and expect that you will help them find resolution.

And really there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, your customer’s problems represent a major opportunity for you to build a relationship with them, surprise and delight them, and build a great reputation and engender strong word-of-mouth. How can you do this? It’s simple, really; building great relationships with customers is little different from building relationships with friends. It is a mater of spending time, paying attention, listening and responding. It works the same with customer relations; just like you learn to appreciate your new friends as you spend more time with them and get to know them better, you’ll build lasting connections with your customers, too.

Here are 5 straightforward things you can do to build strong ties, encourage word-of-mouth and create relationships that will last!

Strike fast. First things first: attack. Whether a new customer walks into your shop or a new visitor loads a page on your site, this is the moment to begin the magic. Say hello, whether in person or via a banner or pop-up and have a smile on your face whether that face is physical or digital. It is critical that you begin the process immediately in order to let the new customer know that you are available, accessible, and interested in them as a person. If you are a service provider look for ways to educate the visitor about what you do and the values with which you do it; if you are bricks and mortar retail, be a welcoming presence so they feel comfortable asking questions; and if you are a web-based business make sure that your contact us information is front and center.

Follow up. Be sure to follow your initial introduction with a kind “May I help you find something?” or a “Welcome aboard” email if they register on your site. Studies have shown clearly that the follow-up is the most important step in building a lasting relationship. It is important that you not be annoying or overbearing in these communications, but a special offer, or simply a nice, personalized email goes a very long way to building those warm/fuzzy feelings.

Know them. Whether you get to know about the people who buy your products or services by talking with them and asking them about themselves, or by gleaning their data from their web visits, it is essential that you try to learn about your customers as people. They are, after all, individuals with different values, priorities, and needs and you can only serve them well if you know a bit about them. Keep track of their buying data so that you can offer them the things they want, survey them so that you can ask specific questions, send them offers so you can better understand what they find important.

Solve their problems. Whatever it takes is what you’ll need to do in order to build that relationship and create that great word-of-mouth buzz. Listen to their suggestions, make returns and credits a breeze, and when they ask you for your help with something, do it fast! If a customer calls you or writes you, get back to them as soon as you can. If someone calls, be sure to pick up the phone or call them back as soon as possible. And if someone walks in the store – greet them with a smile and ask how you can be of help.

Ask them to come back. When they leave your shop, shoot them a “Have a nice day and see you soon.” When they haven’t been on your site for a while, shoot them a “We miss you” email. The point is to stay in touch and try to remain top of mind with your customers; you want them thinking about you, talking about you, and coming back to you soon. Remember that business is a 2-way street; you are dependent on your customers for their business and they on you for the service you provide or the products you sell. Build a strong, mutually beneficial relationship and they will come back over and over and over!

Seven Helpful Hints After Seven Months Of Visiting Churches

An article by Thom S. Rainer I found at Pastors.com.

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I’ve been on the road a bit more than usual. My job as CEO of LifeWay requires that I spend most of my time in Nashville, but I do get out to speak and preach frequently. These past seven months have been unusually heavy travel times for a myriad of reasons, but I have tried to make the most of my trips.

Though I’ve not been a church consultant for several years, I do seem to see churches through consultant’s eyes. That reality has been especially apparent as I visited many churches during the past seven months. So, even if I am the guest preacher, I enter the church grounds as a guest. I drive my own rental car, and I have to find parking and entrances just like everyone else.

So what I have found these past seven months? I could give you a fairly extensive consultation report about the churches, but I prefer to distill my words into just a few helpful hints. Each of these issues clearly needed addressing in most of the churches I visited.

1. Please have plentiful signage on the outside and inside. You can easily forget that we first-time guests don’t have a clue where to park or where to enter. Most of the churches did not help us either. In one church the signage was so bad, I was uncertain if I was still on church property. Take another look at all your signage from the perspective of a first-time guest.
2. Many of your websites are terrible. Please make them user friendly. I want to see the worship times clearly on the home page. I want to be able to find the church’s physical address. I want to know what the church believes. I found out a lot more about potluck meals and senior trips than I did doctrine and worship times. Most of the websites were designed for those who knew a lot about the church.
3. Show me where guests park. I recently humorously chastised a pastor for not having parking spots for guests. He thought he had me when he took me to a place that had 12 guests parking places. I then asked him how a first-time guest would locate these spots. His meager response was telling: “Oh.”
4. Most of us will need to find a restroom. Please make them clear and obvious. Okay, that especially applies to someone my age. It seems like, in many churches, we have hidden restrooms so well that even Indiana Jones couldn’t find them. I am thankful for a church member who gave me clear directions to the restroom; I just wish it had been the men’s room.
5. Show me how to follow along in the Bible. I am the exception among most guests in that I always bring a Bible. But I watch preachers closely as they begin to preach from a particular biblical text. Very few told me to turn to a pew Bible. Some did put the text on the screen; that was helpful. Most made little effort to help guests follow along with the specific passage that was being preached.
6. Help me to know how to connect to a small group. You will likely lose members who attend worship only. You will likely keep those members who are in small groups or Sunday school classes. It’s that important. Since it’s that important, it should be mentioned in every worship service, particularly for first-time guests. It was mentioned in only two worship services of the churches I attended over the past seven months.
7. Help me know how to join the church. As a first time guest, it is not likely I will join the church my first visit. But I do want to know how someone joins the church. I would like to know the process for membership. I only heard that information from one of the churches I visited.

Though I became a bit road weary, I loved my recent excursions to churches ranging from 80 in attendance to megachurches. Indeed, I do love local churches. But many of them could make it a little easier and a little more pleasant next time I visit—or, more importantly, the next time someone from their community visits.

What do you think of my seven hints? Are they helpful? What would you add?