Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Leadership and the Small Membership Church by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.Understanding the unique leadership context of smaller congregations is vital to the future of the church, says Lovett H. Weems, Jr. Leaders of small churches need to be sensitive to their unique history and culture, while also bearing hope for the future.
According to the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, the average worship attendance of a U.S. church is 90 persons; thus the majority of churches are “small” by the often-used definition of a hundred or fewer in worship.
Small congregations can be extremely vital and effective faith communities. Sensitivity to their special characteristics will help a leader be more effective in assisting them to achieve that potential.
I have always been close to the concerns of smaller congregations. I grew up in a rural Mississippi church that was part of a three-point circuit. I spent the early years of my ministry in similar circuits or in open country and small town churches. As a seminary president, I worked with student pastors and denominational leaders who served a preponderance of small membership churches. Over the years, I have learned some lessons about leadership and small membership churches.The importance of history
History is important everywhere; but it seems to be more important in the small membership church, where yesterday often seems more important than tomorrow. As Anthony Pappas says, “For small church people time goes the ‘wrong’ way.… It goes toward the good that was, or that was thought to be.” (Entering the World of the Small Church, Alban, 1988) He goes on to say: “Effective small church leaders will not use bold, new paint or pie-in-the-sky visions of the New Jerusalem … or babble on about a Bright New Tomorrow. They will speak quietly about who we are on the basis of who we always have been, about how we can become even more of who we are, about what was good about the ‘good old days,’ about how we can keep that good alive in our midst today.” Small church leaders must become church history buffs, clearly linking a future vision to historical memory.
The importance of culture
Cultures are distinctive within individual churches. Even on a three- or four-point circuit where the churches are only a few miles apart and have identical demographic profiles, there is a different church culture present in each congregation. One must get in touch with this culture.
No leader can have the attitude “This is how I do my ministry,” and then proceed to do things that way regardless of the cultural context of the congregation. A pastor brings in values, but they must be held alongside the values of the congregation. The pastor may need to learn to do things against her or his natural inclination because it is what God is calling for in the setting. Entering religious leadership is not about “doing one’s own thing” with many different folks. Rather, it is about being God’s servant. To do that requires taking a congregation’s particular culture very seriously.
Change is often viewed negatively
Denham Grierson concludes that churches generally live either in the past or in the future, but have difficulty living as if they could influence their own situation in the present time. (Transforming a People of God, 1984) So most churches will do what poet Paul Valery describes as “backsliding into the future.” Small membership churches tend to be interested in maintenance, not transformation. Typically change has not been a friend for the small membership church. Pastoral changes may have brought unwelcome variations to the worship services through the years. Political and economic changes may have had unfavorable impacts, as well. Persons in such congregations often have negative feelings about change that their pastors do not understand. Endurance is enough of a struggle for the small membership church. Pappas says, “To add to the burden of endurance the burden of responsibility for change is often crushing, not liberating.”
Leading “in the middle”
To be a leader is to live in the middle — in the tension between a future vision and the current reality. This tension is inherent if a leader becomes the steward of God’s vision for the congregation. One cannot give in to the current reality and abandon the vision to which God is calling the church. Nor can one simply lift up the vision and ignore the realities. To be a leader means to stay with the tension. It also means to stay with the people. Remember, people in the small membership church often are people who are living on the edge — geographically, economically, theologically, and culturally. They know whether you are living with them or not.
Live into new thinking
The small membership church is not always a rational organization. Pappas points out that this does not mean that people are incapable of being rational; but they may not have found rationality a very helpful tool. The small church is often, as Pappas says, a reflexive organization, rather than a reflective one. It is probably not realistic to expect everyone to approve something before anything can be done. Yet there are those few people who, with the pastor, are willing to see a new vision and approach it as something that is in continuity with the past. The approach to change is likely to be incremental, perhaps starting with a trial period. Rather than expecting people to “think their way into doing something new,” Pappas suggests giving people a chance to “live their way into change.”
Importance of hope
Clergy and lay leaders in small membership churches have a key assignment — to be bearers of hope. People who have lost hope cannot lead others to God’s preferred future. One of the major things that holds back planning for the future is that change has been experienced as a negative, making people uncertain about the prospects for a better future. But if people can have some hope, can taste some small victories, then there is a fresh kind of energy that comes with that hope.
Small congregations can be extremely vital and effective faith communities. Sensitivity to their special characteristics will help a leader be more effective in assisting them to achieve that potential.
Related Resources:
- The Case of a Small Church in an Oversized Building by Lewis A. Parks
- Eleven Characteristics of Effective Smaller Churches by David R. Ray
- A New Way to View Vitality in Smaller Congregations by Lewis A. Parks
A Better Way to Do Stewardship Testimonies by Nate BernekingNate Berneking says testimonies about giving and money are powerful when done well, but disastrous when done poorly. He outlines how an interview approach to testimony can keep things focused and on track.
Talking about giving and money through testimonies in church can be powerful. But as a pastor who has frequently attempted them, I can honestly say that they work great when done well, and are disastrous when done poorly. Sometimes these testimonies take the form of a leader taking the mic in worship, speaking of how much he or she loves the church, how badly the church needs more money, and how hopeful he or she is that others will start giving in the same way. People uncomfortable with speaking in front of groups stammer around, lose their place, and confuse listeners. If you’re a pastor or leader who has responsibility for worship, please don’t allow that. Don’t do it to people, and don’t do it to the speaker.
We began to make people more comfortable in talking about generosity. Such talk is the beginning of the vulnerability needed for a congregation to really grow, mature, and become more generous.
Those who’ve not been trained to speak and develop a solid theology of generosity simply aren’t equipped. They need help. Instead of just asking someone to talk about giving in church, try an interview. More critically, practice the interview with the person.After many failed attempts at creating an environment rich in congregational testimony, I started taking ten minutes of worship (all out of my sermon), setting up two tall chairs in the chancel or on the stage, and inviting a person into a conversation in front of the church. We’d rehearse it the week before. I’d start with questions like, “Why don’t you share a little about your family and how long you’ve been coming to the church?” I’d then get specific. “One ministry in particular has made you very passionate. Could you share a little of that?” Finally, I’d turn to generosity. “You’ve not only been giving your time to that ministry, but you’ve been giving generously to the church as a whole. Could you say why you do that? I’d end by turning it back to the congregation. “How do you think your giving is supporting God’s work?” Or “What is your greatest hope for what God might do with the gifts you give?” or even better, “How do you feel your life is better because of your generosity?
I always had a target I wanted the person to hit, and I always helped them make sure they hit it. I didn’t invent the target; the person(s) being interviewed did. Though sometimes I made suggestions. We worked out the target in rehearsal or advance conversations. I knew what they were going to say before they said it, and because of that, if they got nervous, I could help them. In those sort of testimonial interviews, we held up miraculous transformations that had taken or were taking place. I was able to highlight amazing things that other people were doing, often without anyone else in the congregation knowing they were doing it.
When you have the resources, video works even better. Strong emotions can be evoked with music, and the kernel of a person’s testimony can be distilled and presented in obvious ways. The church I last served was just on the cusp of having sufficient resources to do video well. Usually, we’d produce quality video for special Sundays, using interviews through the year. In taking that strategy, we began to make people more comfortable in talking about generosity. Such talk is the beginning of the vulnerability needed for a congregation to really grow, mature, and become more generous.
Talking about money is the only way to name our edges that need growth. Small groups, open talk of finances and generosity, and healthy information discussions can all follow testimonies, enhancing growth and leading toward greater health.
Excerpted from The Vile Practices of Church Leadership: Finance and Administration (Abingdon Press, 2017) by Nate Berneking. Used by permission. The book is available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Related Resources
- 50 Ways to Improve Your Annual Stewardship Campaign a free resource from the Lewis Center
- Overcoming the Fear of Talking About Money by Cathy Abbott
- 7 Key Questions for Fundraising with Spiritual Integrity by Ann A. Michel
The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Locating "living edges" is always a key task for a leader. Where is there life, energy, and power? What characteristics do the living edges have in common? A question used by Dean Russell H. Richey of Candler School of Theology to locate such living edges is:
- Where is your church most fully, vibrantly, effectively itself and its Lord's?
5 Indices of Health and Vitality for Small to Mid-sized CongregationsIn "To the Point: A New Way to View Small Church Vitality," small church expert Dr. Lew Parks describes five indices of health and vitality for small to mid-sized congregations that contribute to "dynamic equilibrium."
Editor’s note: This is adapted from an article by Dr. Lewis A. Parks which appeared in Leading Ideas on October 14, 2015. This To the Point version has been edited for brevity and is accompanied by a one-page PDF that may be downloaded and shared with others.
I spend my working days as a pastor trying to name reality for my congregation as we wind a precarious way between the heights of aspiration and the depths of self-criticism. We know that we are supposed to be the tree planted by streams of living water that brings forth fruit in due season (Psalms 1:3), but some days feel more like the tree given one last chance (Luke 13:8). We would sing the songs of hope but keep hitting sour notes like the loss of a critical mass of young adults or another expensive repair to our big old building.
We are not going to turn it around overnight. And we are not going to have to close in the morning. So where are we? And what are we going to do here? I have found it helpful to describe a dynamic equilibrium for this congregation and other small to mid-sized congregations I have served, and then to hold that condition before them as a measure of vitality. Dynamic equilibrium suggests that the congregation is a complex organism with staying power, but an organism with certain key indicators of health or decline.
The congregation maintains vital worship of God. There are contexts where maintenance is not a bad word and this is one of them. Season after season the People of God gather in this place to honor God with their praise and prayers, to attend to the word, to be exposed to the water, bread, and cup. The Spirit is already there making Christ present. A little cooperation with the Spirit on the part of those gathered, a little striving for excellence, a little freedom to express local religious creativity, and all things sprinkled with lots of hospitality will sustain the discipleship of the congregation throughout the week.
The congregation is a surrogate family. Terrell is one of the homeless persons who migrated from the weekday ministries to our worship service. He is known by name. He tells his stories of life on the road. He watches and imitates the steps of worship. He finds shelter and affirmation in the sanctuary. But is he really so different from others there? There are only a handful of multi-generational households present in our worship; most are single adults, single adults raising children, single adults caring for aging parents, or just single adults. So they too are looking for a place to be known by name, to share their hearts and their resources, and to be enveloped in the warmth of family-like ties.
The congregation is a blessing to the community where it finds itself. The social location of the church in its community may have changed. The demographics in a three-mile radius may be less than promising. The pastor and a good many members drive in from a distance. The chill winds of a fortress mentality blow around the building. Unless relocation is on the table, the congregation must summon energy for local extroversion. “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7). The church that is in touch with the community narrative and incorporates its narrative into that one with well-targeted ministries has a future.
The congregation maintains its building for holy space and mission. I try to remember two things from the wonderful story of Francis of Assisi’s call from God in the dilapidated Church of St. Damian: “Do you not see that my house is in ruins? Go and restore it for me.” (1) It became a powerful metaphor for his life’s work. (2) He went back and repaired that building! A church in dynamic equilibrium attends to its properties. It appreciates the blank canvas for creative local expression it has been given. It addresses obstacles to hospitality, the creeping issues of safety, the upgrades that would improve ministry and mission.
The congregation passes the faith to the coming generations. From God’s promise of descendants to Abram and Sarai, to Paul’s coaching of Timothy, the Bible clearly favors an intergenerational faith. “One generation shall laud your works to another,” says the Psalmist (145:4). If I would place one element slightly above the others it would be this. If you have ever known someone who was the last person in their family line, you know the threat presently experienced in many smaller congregations. Grandparents bring three quarters of our children. And we rarely have enough children present at one time for group activity. Still we must attend to the children we have, calling them by name, teaching the faith with a one-room-school model, encouraging their active participation in the worship.
There are other worthy dramas for congregations besides “grow bigger.” One is sustaining a dynamic equilibrium by applying pressure to key points of vulnerability of this Spirit-animated organism.
Dr. Lewis A. Parks, pastor and professor, is author of Preaching in the Small Membership Church (Abingdon Press, 2009).
Download a PDF to share with others.Read more now.
What Next Faithful Step is God Calling Your Church to Take?Discovering God's Future for Your Church is a turn-key tool kit to help your congregation discern and implement God's vision for its future. The resource guides your church in discovering clues to your vision in your history and culture, your current congregational strengths and weaknesses, and the needs of your surrounding community. The tool kit features videos, leader's guides, discussion exercises, planning tools, handouts, diagrams, worksheets, and more.
Learn more and watch an introductory video now.
Quotable Leadership:
A new generation may seek fixer-uppers as potential homes, but not as their church. (Lewis A. Parks)
50 Ways to Improve Your Annual Stewardship CampaignThis free resource in our popular 50 Ways series provides effective strategies for improving your stewardship campaign. Topics include: plan carefully; structure your campaign to acknowledge unique giving patterns; know what motivates people to give; ask in effective ways; follow-up; and more.
50 Ways to Improve Your Annual Stewardship Campaign
Church members who make pledges give substantially more than those who do not, and congregations that seek annual financial commitments have significantly higher levels of overall giving. These 50 tips will help you maximize giving by improving your annual financial campaign.
Engage your leaders and members
- Choose a time of year when the congregation can focus its attention on stewardship and when there is a high probability of connecting with the most people. The annual financial campaign should be on the calendar a year in advance and planned with as much attention to detail as Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve.
- Pick a new theme every year for your stewardship campaign. Taking the time to be creative and innovative may encourage your members to take the time to reflect on their giving.
- Be strategic in building a leadership team. Involve a large group of people to build their sense of responsibility for the outcome. Include persons from different age groups and different ministry areas. A faithful giver (preferably someone who tithes) should head your annual stewardship campaign.
- Be sure that the generous givers of the congregation are well represented on the stewardship team and other groups related to the church’s funding, just as you would be sure to include those most active in other ministry areas as you plan for those ministries.
- Do not hesitate to ask church leaders to make their pledges first as a sign of their commitment and as an encouragement to the larger congregation.
- Orchestrate a comprehensive communication strategy to focus attention on stewardship during your campaign. Use every available means — sermons, music, testimony, newsletter articles, study programs, bulletin boards, banners, etc.
Plan carefully
- Remember — and communicate — that the annual budget is about ministry and mission, not dollars. Prepare the budget with great care, being sensitive to giving trends. Set ambitious but realistic goals.
- Define your purpose and set goals. Set priorities and sequence activities in appropriate ways. Be efficient and realistic in making assignments. Be logical about how you allocate your time and efforts in relation to expected outcomes.
- Establish a realistic timeline. In larger churches, planning and implementing the annual commitment campaign can take six months or more. Use benchmark dates to keep on track.
- Avoid the temptation to rush to the final steps without spending adequate time and attention on the foundational steps that normally determine success or failure.
- Know that developing a congregation of faithful givers does not happen only through a stewardship drive. Develop a year-round approach to stewardship education.
- Appreciate that fund raising is incremental. The most important determinant of how much you can raise this year is what you raised last year.
Approach solicitation with a healthy frame of mind
- Never be apologetic or feel guilty about stewardship appeals. Campaign leaders are not asking for themselves. Their willingness to approach others about giving is an expression of their deep commitment to the church. The vast majority of those being asked will respond in ways that honor that commitment.
- Remember that there is a great deal of “money looking for mission” and that many people are seeking ways to use their resources to advance their values and do God’s will.
- Remember that people give to many things, so do not assume that people will give all their charitable giving to the church. You need to make your case.
- Emphasize that stewardship is about faithfulness to God, not obligation to the church. Stress the giver’s joy in giving rather than the church’s need to receive.
Structure your campaign to acknowledge unique giving patterns
- Know that every church has a “giving pyramid” with a small percentage of donors contributing a large proportion of what is given; for not all people have the same resources to give, and not all people are at the same level of spiritual maturity. Most money will come from larger gifts.
- Analyze giving histories and membership data in your congregation to determine where your people are on your pyramid.
- Track pledges and giving by age “decades” (younger than 20s, 20s, 30s, 40s, etc.) so you can assess giving patterns across age groups.
- Determine what percentage of giving comes from those aged 70 and above. You may be vulnerable if this percentage is high and getting higher each year.
- Focus on those currently giving. Most of the giving, including increases, will come from those already giving.
- Be realistic in your expectations from those who are not currently giving. New donors are much more difficult to reach, are less likely to respond, and will give less than those already giving.
- Know that one approach will not fit everyone in the church. What is appropriate for the spiritually mature member who demonstrates faithfulness may not be appropriate for a newer or relatively inactive member who has never given. Think of relating to people “as they have lifted their hands.”
- Think in terms of “concentric circles” with your committed core (active members who are strong givers) in the center.
- Expand the circles, then, to includes actives who are likely to move up in giving because of their income, level of engagement, and current giving; new members since last year; those who attend or participate but do not give; and inactives who do not participate or give.
- Have multiple goals with these realities in mind — a comprehensive effort that invites everyone to give along with a focused effort on the relatively few likely to give the most. Seek to increase the number of pledgers and to increase the giving of those who already give.
- Set giving targets to help people get a figure in mind. People normally do not give more than they are asked. Set different giving ranges for different categories of givers.
- Provide a “Step Up” plan to encourage everyone to grow in giving.
- Make each part of the plan as personal as possible and appropriate.
Know what motivates people to give
- Know that people give from a mixture of motives. Few give out of a clear spiritual rationale. Most do not have a well-planned or consistent approach to giving.
- People will “protect themselves.” You do not need to guard them against over-giving!
- Appreciate that people want care in the use of their money, but procedures and documentation do not tend to be motivators for giving except in the negative.
- Remember that people are likely to continue giving once they begin.
- Nurture relationships. People give based more on credibility and relationships than on the merits of the cause.
Ask in effective ways
- Take the initiative. If you want money, you must ask for it. Many never give because they were never asked nor given compelling reasons to do so.
- Use the most personal approach possible. A personalized letter is better than a form letter, a hand-written note better than a letter, a phone call better than a note. A one-on-one visit is best of all! If you cannot visit everyone, start at the top of your pyramid.
- Be positive in everything you communicate about giving. Eliminate negative references.
- Never divide the budget by the number of church families or members and say, “If everyone gave just …” Those who give little will not give more, but some who give more may give less
- Most people do not give to support budgets. They give to support people and programs.
- Build your message around mission. Relate everything to the church’s vision and purpose.
- Prepare a “Ministry Impact Budget” to use in your campaign. Rather than presenting “line items,” this budget should interpret ministry and mission in ways that are meaningful to your membership (worship ministries, educational ministries, outreach ministries, etc.).
- Always, however, make the accounting version available to anyone requesting it.
- Use groups in your church to reinforce your campaign efforts. Prepare group study materials related to your campaign theme. Ask group leaders to help in contacting their members.
- Know that congregations that seek annual pledges have a higher level of giving than congregations that do not ask for annual commitments.
- Make giving by automatic withdrawal simple to choose when people make their pledges.
- In all pledge requests, acknowledge that some may be in a “financial jam.” Ask them to commit what they can and not to let their inability to give more keep them from church.
Follow-up
- Do not think of a Commitment Sunday as the end of the campaign. It is an important celebration and punctuation point, but much work needs to happen after that day to reach those who have not responded.
- Follow every successful solicitation with a meaningful gesture of appreciation.
- Do not forget to seek commitments between campaign periods, especially from new members.
- Be sensitive to members’ desire and need to make year-end gifts. Communicate any deadlines for year-end giving positively, focusing on all the ways a person can give in a hectic time of the year. Do not make it hard for people to give.
Download a PDF of this page to share with others.
Learn How to Make Your Annual Financial Campaign More Effective
Church members who pledge give 30 percent more than those who do not, and congregations that seek annual financial commitments have significantly higher levels of overall giving. With Optimizing Annual Financial Campaignsyou will learn to reap the harvest of generosity through best practices to make your annual financial campaign more effective. The resource includes engaging video presentations, written materials, and supplemental materials. Learn more now.
Early-bird Registration Ends Tuesday for "More Church Leaders | Stronger Church Leaders" Conference and Live StreamSaturday, November 4, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Eastern
Churches with vital, growing ministries learn to leverage leadership potential within their congregations. At More Church Leaders | Stronger Church Leaders you will learn strategies to identify and support new leaders and build and maintain effective ministry teams. Clergy and lay leaders, in churches both large and small, will discover a more synergistic and fruitful way of being in ministry together. Save with early-bird registration through October 10.
Learn more and register now.
Editor: Dr. Ann A. Michel
Copyright © 2004-2017 Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Connect with the Lewis Center:
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment