Thursday, August 9, 2018

Leading Ideas: 5 Lies We Like to Tell About Church Growth & Planning for a Strong Finish to Your Stewardship Campaign Lewis Center for Church Leadership in Washington, D.C., United States

Leading Ideas: 5 Lies We Like to Tell About Church Growth & Planning for a Strong Finish to Your Stewardship Campaign Lewis Center for Church Leadership in Washington, D.C., United States
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Church consultant Dan Hotchkiss exposes some of the reassuring lies that cause many churches to stagnate at a comfortable size while ignoring well-established truths about church growth. Growth, he says, requires doing something new.
Some churches grow, and others shrink. Most oscillate for decades around a size they find comfortable. Whether your church is trying to achieve escape velocity from its comfortable size zone or struggling to stay within it, you need to know what growth requires. Unfortunately, we often soothe each other by ignoring well-established facts about church growth and telling reassuring lies. Here are a few of the most common:Church growth does not proceed from working harder or more diligently at what you are already doing. Growth means doing something new.
1. Friendly churches grow.
Declining churches often marvel at how many visitors show up once and don’t return. “But we’re so friendly!” Like most lies we tell ourselves, this one has a grain of truth in it: a visitor who gets a friendly greeting is more likely to return. But most church consultants know that the more vehemently leaders say their church is friendly, the more likely it will feel quite cold to visitors.
When people say, “Our church is friendly,” generally they mean, “My friends are here.” Visitors to “friendly” churches see the backs of people’s heads — heads gathered into tight, impenetrable groups of friends. Churches that excel at hospitality are more apt to give themselves a B+ or C– in the friendliness department — and appreciate that hospitality takes effort.
2. Growth is not about numbers.
I have looked at lots of numbers over 20 years as a consultant. One of the consistent patterns is that churches are more diligent about keeping records of attendance, membership, and giving when the numbers rise than when they fall.
In periods of decline, clergy and lay leaders say, “We don’t play the numbers game” and “We are interested in quality, not quantity.” These attitudes are comforting and vaguely spiritual-sounding, but if what you are doing is worthwhile for 50 people, why wouldn’t it be twice as good to do it for 100?
We pay attention to the things we measure, and a congregation that does not keep and regularly read and talk about its numbers is not likely to do what it must to keep those numbers healthy.
3. Our children are our future.
I first heard this one in the 1980s, when I served a church in southeast Florida where lots of churches had big, empty education wings. In that context, churches could thrive for decades without attracting families with children, thanks to an endless supply of new old people.
Even in communities with lots of children, the chief benefit of having a strong young people’s ministry is not because “our” children will grow up to join “our” church. How many adult members of your church grew up in your Sunday school? Thanks to mobility, intermarriage, and competition from new congregations, if it’s more than five percent, you’re the exception.
Having a strong ministry with youth and children is important for your congregation’s growth, not because your children will grow up to join your church, but because a strong children’s program is the key to attracting your fair share of other people’s children. Congregations grow because they engage people now, not decades in the future.
4. We grow one new member at a time.
Churches oscillate around comfortable sizes because that is how many people they have space for. “Space” comes in various forms. In order of importance, the chief types of capacity that limit growth appear to be: seating, parking, worship style, adult social and program space, education space, and leadership style.
Seating starts to limit congregation size when it’s about 80 percent full, on average. Parking matters most in suburbs, less in rural towns and bigger cities. Adult social and program space is critical, especially for churches that aspire to be communities of faith instead of merely audiences. Education space, sadly, is the least important limiting factor for church growth. While parents are far pickier today about where they will leave their children than they used to be, they still tolerate more crowding in the Sunday school than in the pews or parking lot.
One of the main ways leaders limit growth is to insist that newcomers conform to ways of “joining” that belong to the size the church is now, rather than the size it hopes to become. You can learn more about this from my book Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership, Second Edition, Inside the Large Congregation by Susan Beaumont, and Raising the Roof: The Pastoral-to-Program Size Transition by Alice Mann.
5. Our church wants to grow.
In many churches, especially stable or declining ones, leaders act surprised if you ask whether they want growth. “Of course we do!” they say. This is the biggest lie of all, and the most innocent. Consider what it means to want your church to grow. For established members, growth means taking away the church they love and replacing it with something that feels strange and alien. Leaders in a small church might not qualify as leaders in a big one. Everybody knows me in a small church, but a big church has many people — maybe even the pastor — who don’t know who I am.
No one who understands what growth involves would “want” it, in the sense that we “want” pleasure or consumer goods. The only reason a sane person would want a church to grow is because they believe it has something of importance to offer other people. For that goal, some people will accept the hard work, sacrifice, and inconvenience growth requires.
Church growth does not proceed from working harder or more diligently at what you are already doing. Growth means doing something new. And the first step toward doing something new is to quit kidding yourself about what you are doing now.
The article originally appeared in Perspectives, the electronic newsletter of the Congregational Consulting Group. Used by permission.
Related Resources:
About Author
Dan Hotchkiss, long-time senior consultant for the Alban Institute, now consults independently on strategic planning, board governance, and staff development. He can be reached through the Congregational Consulting Group. His most recent book is Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership, Second Edition.
Read more now.
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff says the success of a pledge drive depends in large part on reaching givers who require a bit more encouragement. So, even after Commitment Sunday has come and gone, you need a plan for critical but often overlooked steps such as following up with those who don't initially respond and thanking those who do.
Heading into the fall of the year, many churches are planning their annual stewardship campaign or pledge drive — drafting letters, printing pledge cards, writing sermons, preparing testimonies, hosting special get-togethers — all orchestrated to culminate when church members offer up their pledges or estimates of giving, often in the context of a Commitment Sunday worship service.Your stewardship campaign will be more fruitful if you learn to think of Commitment Sunday not as the endpoint, but as the beginning of a critical period of follow-up, acknowledgement, and continuing communication.
It’s easy to think the job is done once you’ve crossed this supposed finish line. But no matter how good your plan or compelling your stewardship message, some sizable percent of your congregation isn’t going to respond to your initial appeal. The success of your campaign depends in large part on bringing these givers who require a bit more encouragement into the fold. So, even after Commitment Sunday has come and gone, it’s important to keep up the drumbeat, follow up with those who don’t initially respond to your pledge appeal, and thank and acknowledge those who do.
These critical steps at the backend of a commitment campaign can easily fall by the wayside, especially with Advent and Christmas coming close on the heels of a fall commitment period. The best way to assure a strong finish to your campaign is to plan ahead and build strategies for follow-up and acknowledgement into your campaign timeline.
Keep up the drumbeat
I’ve been in churches where there is a strong pattern of communication leading up to Commitment Sunday, and then the page turns to the next thing on the congregation’s agenda, and there is little if any additional communication about stewardship. To finish strong, you need a strategy for updating the congregation on the campaign’s progress, celebrating success, thanking those who make financial commitments, and reminding those who have not that you still need their participation.
Follow up
Decide in advance how you will reach out to late responders in the days and weeks after Commitment Sunday. If you plan to send a reminder letter or email, draft the message ahead of time so it can be sent out promptly. Personal contacts such as notes, phone calls, or follow-up visit are also effective ways to follow up with potential pledgers. But since these strategies require more time and effort, you may want to employ them further down the line when your follow-up list is shorter.
Even if you need to contact people repeatedly, avoid shaming or treating them like deadbeats. A positive, invitational appeal is always a more effective approach to any kind of fundraising than one based on obligation or institutional need.
Say thanks
Saying thank you promptly and regularly is one of the simplest and most effective things a church can do to cultivate generosity. And one of the important junctures for thanking your donors is as they make their pledges. As you plan your campaign, put a system in place ahead of time for how you will thank and acknowledge financial commitments.
One approach is to preprint some simple some note cards with a generic message of thanks to which your pastor or campaign chair can add a brief handwritten note. If you preaddress a set of envelopes for everyone from whom you are soliciting a pledge, it is easier to get these notes in the mail within a day or two of receiving someone’s pledge.
If you plan to send a more formal acknowledgement letter, draft in advance three variants — one for those who are continuing their pledges at the same level, one for those who have increased their pledges, and one for those pledging for the first time.
Your stewardship campaign will be more fruitful if you learn to think of Commitment Sunday not as the endpoint, but as the beginning of a critical period of follow-up, acknowledgement, and continuing communication that can bring new people into the circle of giving and lay the groundwork for enhanced generosity.
Related Resources:
Optimizing Your Annual Financial Campaign Video Tool Kit
Crafting Better Commitment Campaign Messages by Ann A. Michel
A Better Way to Do Stewardship Testimonies by Nate Berneking
Funding Giving Stewardship
About Author
Ann A. Michel is associate director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary and teaches in the areas of stewardship and leadership. She is also the author of Synergy: A Leadership Guide for Church Staff and Volunteers(Abingdon, 2017), available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Read more now.

The Right Question:
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Rick Warren says that many churches are asking the wrong question: "What will make our church grow?" He suggests that the right question is:
  • What is keeping our church from growing?
Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.
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 the Optimizing Annual Financial Campaigns Video Tool Kit,you will learn to reap the harvest of generosity through best practices to make your annual financial campaign more effective.
Learn more and watch introductory videos.
Strong and growing congregations typically have a very high percentage of people who are actively involved in learning, serving, and leading. These 50 tips will help your congregation increase active engagement.
 to Increase Active Engagement
Strong and growing congregations typically have a very high percentage of people who are actively involved in learning, serving, and leading. These 50 tips will help your congregation increase active engagement.
Motivate
1. Lift up lay involvement as Christian ministry, not volunteer work.
2. Explain the rationale for church activities. 
3. Remind people why what they are doing is important. Connect service opportunities to the larger vision of the church.
4.Communicate clearly the expectation of active participation when people join the church.
5. Reinforce the expectation of participation regularly from the pulpit.
6. Encourage persons to serve where they have gifts and passions. Make spiritual gifts assessments available and make use of the results.
7. Help congregants understand the time they give to ministries as an expression of stewardship.
8. Teach stewardship of time to counteract “busyness.” Just as with financial stewardship, persons need to make giving time to the church a priority, not an afterthought. 
9. Encourage “first fruits” commitments of time.
10. Know that those who give the most time to the church also give the most financially.
Communicate
11. Prepare a comprehensive listing of ministry opportunities with descriptions and contact information. Keep it up to date.
12. Develop job descriptions for key roles. Keep them up to date.
13. Create an attractive flyer or “one pager” for each ministry that tells its story and how to get connected.
14. Lift up a different ministry in worship each week, celebrating its accomplishments and recognizing participants.
15. Tell the story of what your church is doing together in ministry. Document activities with photos and journals. 
16. Encourage participants to share their testimony.
17. Report the results of your ministries and lift up success stories.
18. Have an information center that is a visible connection point for visitors and others who want to learn about ministries. Staff it on Sunday morning.
Organize
19. Develop a system or data base for member participation. Record interests, skills, spiritual gifts, leadership roles, etc.
20. Develop a leadership team for lay mobilization. In some churches, this takes the place of a traditional nominating committee.
21. Start new ministry teams and groups often. Despite their best intentions, ongoing groups have a tendency to become cliquish. Newcomers are far more likely to feel comfortable joining something new.
22. Review the schedule and format of church activities and events. 
23. Try new approaches that might appeal to those not yet active, for example weekday breakfasts, downtown lunch gatherings, weekend retreats, etc.
24. Ask of every ministry: “Does it meet a need?” “Does it make Disciples?”
25. Be mindful of the need to sunset ministries or groups that no longer serve their purpose. Don’t invest energy in trying to keep a dying program alive.
26. Avoid pet projects that only involve a few people.
Connect
27. Relationships are key. Most people serve because they are asked. Personal invitations are the most effective method of getting someone involved.
28. Make worship a primary portal for involvement. Have a participation form in the worship bulletin every Sunday listing immediate opportunities to serve.
29. Make getting started easy. Create easy entry points — short-term service opportunities requiring a minimal commitment. Allows people to jump in and get their feet wet.
30. Have an intentional system that helps all new attendees and members become involved in groups and activities very soon after they start coming to church.
31. Interview new members. Have them complete an interest survey.
32. Avoid mentor, sponsor, or buddy programs for newcomers. Although commonly used, they are seldom effective.
33. Work toward having each church member/attendee involved in at least one small group — Bible study, affinity group, or ministry team.
34. Remember that choirs, service teams, and even administrative committees are also “small groups.” Train leaders to make these experiences spirituality formative, rather than exclusivelytask-oriented.
35. Emphasize small group participation during Lent. Choose a Lenten study curriculum for use by all small groups in the church. Publicize this study opportunity widely and use the Lenten period to recruit new participants into the small groups.
36. Link study group topics to sermon series.
37. Assess whether “pen and paper” recruitment methods, such as time and talent surveys or pledge cards, are effective in your congregation or whether a more interactive approach is desirable.
38. Use your annual stewardship campaign as a way of generating commitment to activities.
39. Have a ministry fair or open house to connect people with groups and ministry teams.
40. Organize a “Great Day of Service” and invite people to commit a single day to helping with ministry projects. Showcase your ongoing work. Encourage people to bring friends.
41. Provide opportunities for families to be in ministry together, especially parents and children.
42. Follow up with church members periodically — especially the less active — to take their pulse and ask, “How are things going?”
43. Recognize that sometimes people need a break. Give permission to say “no” when necessary.
44. Understand that Christian service occurs through vehicles other than church programs.
Empower people to serve beyond the church.
Equip and Affirm
45. Provide training for ministry participants and leaders. Reinforce their role as ministers and servant leaders. Teach them to interpret and communicate their experiences through the lens of discipleship.
46. Help leaders and participants appreciate how service in the church differs from responsibilities in secular settings.
47. Conduct an annual retreat for leaders.
48. Intentionally include newcomers in leadership.
48. Reinforce the need for openness in leadership roles with a rotation system.
Experienced leaders should be encouraged to recruit a co-leader and mentor that person.
Encourage church members to think of their involvements in the context of their personal spiritual growth. Help them chart a deliberate plan for spiritual growth.
49Move away from the “committee“ mindset, to the more collaborative and interactive “ministry team“ mindset.
50. Make time for affirmation and appreciation. Develop a systematic plan to publicly recognize all groups and ministries teams over the course of the year.
Say “thank you“ often.
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What can you do when 20 percent of your congregation does 80 percent of the learning, serving, and leading? The Increasing Active Engagement Tool Kit includes videos, narrated presentations, outlines of key points, and supplementary materials to help you get and keep people involved and engaged. 
Churches with vital, growing ministries learn to leverage leadership potential within their congregations. With More Church Leaders | Stronger Church Leaders you will learn strategies to identify and support new leaders and build and maintain effective ministry. The tool kit includes engaging videos, presentations, and supplemental materials to help you discover a more synergistic and fruitful way of being in ministry together. 
Learn more and watch video previews now.
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Snapchat is most likely the social media network of choice for youth in your church. "The fun, casual nature of Snapchat lets you build the kind of intimate relationships people claim can never happen online," write Rev. Wil Ranney in MyCom newsletter for United Methodist Communications.
Learn why you should consider using Snapchat.
Quotable Leadership:
The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leader and followers. Leaders, followers, and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership. (Garry Wills)
Worship attendance matters. In Overflow, authors Lovett Weems and Tom Berlin share research-based insights, tactical ideas, and practices that lead to increased attendance. They instruct church leaders on the importance of paying attention to factors critical to worship growth and demonstrate new approaches to worship planning.
Learn more now.
Editor: Dr. Ann A. Michel
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