Missionary Renegade: "Leading Ideas: Top Articles of 2016" from Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, December 14, 2016

"Leading Ideas: Top Articles of 2016" from Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Top Leading Ideas Articles of 2016What Leading Ideas subjects are trending this year? We have assembled this list to give you another opportunity to glean insight and inspiration from the authors and articles most popular with our nearly 18,000 subscribers.

10 Ways to Reach Unchurched People at Christmas by Carey Nieuwhof
Pastor Carey Nieuwhof says unchurched people want to celebrate Christmas, so there is no better time to connect with friends and neighbors who rarely, if ever, go to church. He offers ten ways your church can be involved in the unique opportunity to reach people at Christmas.
Christmas provides a unique opportunity to reach people who no longer ordinarily attend church. What’s surprising is that many churches don’t really engage the Christmas celebration to make the impact it could. Over the years at our church, the Christmas services win hands-down for both overall attendance and attendance by unchurched people. Although, theologically, Christmas will never be bigger than Easter, practically, our Christmas outreach is always bigger than Easter simply because the culture is paying attention.
The biggest mistake many churches make each Christmas is to hold a quiet Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service for members and leave it at that.
Many Christians lament the culture’s disregard of Christ at Christmas, but I choose to see Christmas as an opportunity. This is no time for the church to be more cynical than the world, which still remembers something is different at Christmas, even if they’re not exactly sure what it is. Our culture pauses for Christmas in a way it pauses for little else throughout the year. TV and film celebrate Christmas in all of its expressions. Almost everyone decorates for it. At Christmas, the Western world comes as close to stopping as it ever does. I’m not sure there’s a better time to connect with friends and neighbors who rarely, if ever, go to church.
The biggest mistake many churches make each Christmas is to hold a quiet Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service for members and leave it at that. That makes Christmas the biggest missed opportunity of the year. Unchurched people want to celebrate Christmas. Here are ten ways your church can help them.
1. Hold multiple services
Not everyone can make it to your one service. Last year, we did five services over two days, December 23 and 24. Yes, those are long work days for staff and volunteers, but you can reap a harvest all year long from that investment.
2. Theme the event around the community, not around your church
For a few years now, we’ve called our Christmas Eve Services “Christmas Eve in Barrie” or “Christmas Eve in Orillia” (the cities in which we serve). Why? My theory is that’s how unchurched people think. They’ll be asking where they can celebrate Christmas in their city. Why shouldn’t your church be the one to help them figure that out? Chances are the URLs for ChristmasInYOURCITY.com are still available. Buy them today.
3. Hand out invitation cards
Make full color cards with details for people to hand to their friends. Last year we tied candy canes to the Instagram-like cards to make them easier to hand out to friends. It’s easier to invite a friend to something like Christmas than to a regular Sunday service.
4. Make posters
A few years ago we experimented with creating really beautiful posters advertising our Christmas Eve services. They popped up all over our cities in places like Starbucks, hockey arenas, community centers, and more.
5. Build a special Christmas website
Don’t just buy the URL address for your city; build a special site. Our team built two new websites last year for our two locations that are devoted only to Christmas Eve using our personalized URL addresses.
6. Use social media
If you don’t have the bandwidth to build fresh websites, do it for free using social media. Create a Facebook event or promoted posts. Use all your social media channels to get the word out. Encourage members to share with their friends. Last year we did a Photo Booth to create some fun Instagram moments with dressed up kids and people holding “Join us for Christmas Eve” signs.
7. Sell (free) tickets
Tickets, even free tickets, help create demand. They have also helped us manage fire code regulations. Eventbrite is an inexpensive and easy solution. Having tickets helps drive decisions and commitments to attending.
8. Love your community
Each year we focus on giving to our community through local food banks, raising money for local partner charities, and serving friends and family. It’s a way of not only giving back, but of capturing a community’s attention at a key time. A few years ago, our efforts made the front page of the local paper. Generosity makes an impression on unchurched people.
9. Invite them back
Every year, without sounding like a commercial (we hope), we invite people back for January. They get a card explaining the new sermon series and dates, times, and locations. We don’t usually have services the Sunday after Christmas, so we let them know that too. But we tell everyone they’re invited for the first Sunday in January. I know sending an invitation can sound basic, but you’re dealing with unchurched people. Unchurched people don’t know they’re invited unless you invite them. So invite them.
10. Plan a call to action
God’s grace is sovereign so God can do anything. But you need to do your part. Don’t let people walk away bored or with a big warm fuzzy. Challenge them. Almost every year, we give people an opportunity to surrender their lives to Jesus, and it’s amazing how many people do. For others, Christmas starts a journey for them that often ends with surrendering their lives to Christ.
Related Resources:

Add Off-Site Christmas Eve Services This Year by Mack Strange
Opening Doors on Christmas Eve by Brian Bauknight
Travelers’ Christmas Eve Service by Jessica Anschutz

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What Churches Do Young Adults Attend? by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lovett Weems examines the findings of a new report on engaging young adults and shares clues about the types of churches those ages 18-34 are most likely to attend. Perhaps the most important finding of the research is that the characteristics of churches with thriving young adult engagement are virtually the same factors that contribute to overall vitality and growth in a congregation.
What are the characteristics of congregations that attract young adults? A new report, Engaging Young Adults, by Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, draws on the American Congregations 2015 survey by Faith Communities Today. This research provides important clues about the types of churches young adults (18 to 34 years of age) are likely to attend today.
Who Are the Young Adult Attendees?
Young adults are present (at least one) in most congregations, though usually not in great numbers. One of the surprising findings of the research is that, overall, 70 percent of young adult participants are related by family to someone else in the congregation. While this is probably not the case for larger and growing young adult ministries, it is a good reminder that churches might begin their young adult efforts by looking close to home.
Churches wishing to reach young adults must have a passion and deliberate strategy for reaching young adults. But these efforts will not be successful if the church as a whole is not thriving. The churches that young adults are most attending are those that are appealing to others as well.
Young adults today marry much later than in the past. Of those ages 18-24, only nine percent were married in 2010, compared to 45 percent in 1960. Among those 25-34 years of age, 44 percent were married in 2010, compared to 82 percent in 1960. Young adults attending church tend to be married in disproportionate numbers, in that 57 percent are married. This is particularly true in new suburbs. However, the report makes clear that demography is critical to understanding young adult patterns since thriving young adult congregations in downtown urban areas or near universities often reach primarily single young adults.
Where Young Adults Attend
There are several general things we know about where young adults worship in greater numbers than is typical for most congregations. For example, the study considers a congregation with 15 percent participation by young adults as a “critical mass” church. Only one-third of congregations fit this standard. Such churches tend to be located in the South and West, often in downtown areas, newer suburbs, or larger cities, and less likely to be located in rural or older suburban areas.
Young adults are more likely to attend churches with an average worship attendance of 100 or more rather than smaller churches. This is an important finding for many denominations in which the number of churches with 100 or more in worship has been declining for almost four decades. While one can assume that larger churches do better because they have more financial resources, it is important to note that financial resources alone is not a significant variable compared to other factors reported previously. Money helps, but it is not the primary reason for success or failure in reaching young adults.
As one would expect, young adults tend to be found in churches located where there is the greatest growth of the young adult population. Yet, once again, a growing population of young adults is only moderately related to success in reaching young adults. For example, of churches located where there is the greatest growth in young adult population, fewer than 30 percent reached a critical mass of young adults.
Thriving Congregations
Perhaps the most important finding of this research is that the characteristics of churches with thriving young adult engagement are virtually the same as any thriving congregation. While it is clear that churches wishing to reach young adults must have a passion, strategy, leadership, and dedicated time focused on young adults (See “Lessons from Churches that Reach Young Adults,” Leading Ideas, August 3, 2016), it appears that a church could have all these things and still not be successful in reaching young adults if the church as a whole was not thriving. The churches that young adults are most attending are those that are appealing to others as well. Notice these ways in which the churches young adults attend are similar to thriving churches in general:
Better at incorporating newcomers into the congregation
More spiritually vital and alive
More caring and supportive of members
More willing to meet new challenges
More social justice oriented
Different from other congregations in their community
Worship
In churches where increasing numbers of young adults attend, worship is central and often seen as innovative in some ways. Young adults give worship high marks in the churches they choose to attend. Coupled with the quality of the worship is greater emphasis on reaching others through worship, incorporating technology, and often modeling diversity.
Participation beyond Worship
While worship is the primary way young adults participate in church, half of them engage in activities beyond worship. Again, this is a pattern that matches members of thriving congregations as a whole. This tends to point to a congregation with a strong mission that elicits passion and participation by all members well beyond the worship service. Young adults tend to worship where there are groups specifically designed for young adult fellowship. Community service also ranks high for young adult participation.
Conclusion
Young adults are far more present in congregations than some might expect, but the decision to attend church for young adults is a deliberate choice that in many ways is counter cultural, certainly among many of their peers. Churches that try to understand and respond to this large and talented cohort can be blessed by them as well as being a blessing in their lives.
The full report is available in a free pdf version at http://www.faithcommunitiestoday.org/sites/default/files/Engaging-Young-Adults-Report.pdf.
Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, author of Engaging Young Adults, is with the Center for Analytics, Research, and Data of the United Church of Christ.
Related Resources:

Lessons from Churches that Reach Young Adults by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Leading Ideas to Reach Young Adults by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
The New Welcome Video Tool Kit

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7 of John Wesley's Practices Can Change Hearts Today by Roger Ross
Roger Ross, author of the book Meet the Good People, looks to the Wesleyan Revival for examples of effective ways of sharing faith. He says seven methods John Wesley used to reach the unchurched in the 18th Century can be reshaped to reach people today, including prayer, popular music, small groups, and lay empowerment.
As a priest in the Church of England, John Wesley was distraught by the powerlessness of the church to reach the vast majority of British people. God’s spirit created such a holy discontent in Wesley’s heart that he abandoned conventional modes of ministry and experimented with several innovative approaches. To everyone’s surprise, spiritual revival broke out in England and beyond. If you’re like me, you may wonder, “If God could do that then, why not now?”
Seven practices emerged as characteristic of the early Methodist movement.
Be Devoted to Prayer
If you’re like me, you may wonder, “If God could do that then, why not now?”
Wesley rediscovered what the church of his day had forgotten: prayer releases the power of God. He called prayer “the grand means of drawing near to God” and found believing, persistent prayer to be the necessary first step to see God move. He modeled this conviction by devoting at least two hours a day to personal prayer and made fervent prayer a hallmark of the movement.
Go Where the People Are
When the love of Jesus Christ gripped Wesley’s heart, he knew he couldn’t keep it to himself. There had to be some way to reach the vast masses of people who would never darken a church door. Initially, Wesley was convinced the gospel could only be preached in the stained-glass setting of a church building. But with so few people attending church services, he was forced to consider other options. Reluctantly, Wesley began preaching in the open air. He would find a high spot on the edge of a city and speak to whoever would listen. Crowds of three, five, even ten thousand people would gather. Many of them were touched by the spirit of God and awakened to their spiritual state. A revival in England was born largely because Wesley was willing to take the gospel where the people were.
Speak Plain Truth
In Wesley’s day, the Church of England didn’t connect with the real lives of everyday people. Ironically, the ministry of Jesus was just the opposite. When Jesus spoke, “the common people heard him gladly.” Wesley longed to bridge the gap between real faith and real people. Although he was a highly educated Oxford fellow and deeply steeped in the Christian tradition, he refused to parade his scholarship. He chose to speak plain truth for plain people. He intentionally shaped his language so common people could gladly hear the gospel and respond.
Use the Music of the Culture
Gregorian chants in Latin and heavy German music were standard fare in church services in Wesley’s day. Although the words were meaningful, the music was a complete disconnect with the common people. It didn’t speak their heart language. In his travels, Wesley found that pre-Christian people connected most easily with the gospel when it came through their native culture. He encouraged his brother Charles to put gospel words to the popular tunes of the day, and it caught people’s hearts. Speaking in terms people could understand was part one of cracking the cultural code; music that touched the modern day soul was part two.
Place Everyone in a Small Group for Spiritual Growth
As Wesley began outdoor preaching in various sites around England, he soon noticed a troubling pattern. Without intentional support and encouragement, people who had moving, even ecstatic experiences of God while he was preaching would soon fall away from their newly awakened state. To provide responsible spiritual care, Wesley would only preach in venues where spiritually awakened people could be placed in small groups or “classes.” His goal was not to see people have a single encounter with God but to have them experience real, lasting life change through faith in Christ. Such transformation of heart and life happens best when people do life together with a handful of others who become a spiritual family.
Give the Ministry to the Laity
A team member who rides the bench and a Christian who sits in a pew share an eerie similarity – they both watch other people play. Christianity was never designed to be a spectator sport. As the early Methodist movement grew rapidly, Wesley soon took his mother’s advice and allowed laypersons, both men and women, to oversee classes (small groups) and preach in the society meetings (large groups). When he released the energies of the laity, the ministry multiplied even faster.
Use Mass Communication to Get the Word Out
In Wesley’s day, the mass communication tool was the printing press. Wesley wrote numerous sermons, treatises, tracts, and books that were distributed to a wide audience to fuel the movement. Thousands of people who never heard him speak came to know Christ and grow in Christ through his writings. Of course, today the Internet and social media enable anyone with web access to have a personal platform previously unimaginable.
Why Not Now?
The genius of the Wesleyan revival is found in the ways he engaged coldly indifferent people and turned them into warm-hearted disciples who changed the world. We can do that, too. We can recover the seven methods of the early Methodist movement that reached the unchurched masses of that day. If we will reshape these practices for a twenty-first century context and retool receptive individuals, groups, and churches to use them, a new wave of the spirit will be released.
This article is adapted from Roger’s book Meet the Goodpeople: Wesley’s 7 Ways to Share Faith (Abingdon Press, 2015) and used by permission. The book is available through Amazon

or Cokesbury.
Related Resources:

Lessons from Wesley for All Churches by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Taking Church to the Community Resource
50 Ways to Welcome New People

Read more.
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3 Common Communication Mistakes and How to Fix Them by Ryan Holck
Ryan Holck, an expert on church communication, says that leaders tend to throw so much information at their congregants that nothing sticks. There's also a tendency to use insider language while never addressing what people really want to know: "What's in it for me?" He shares some simple fixes for these common communication challenges.
We’ve got great ministry ideas, and we’re working hard to connect people, but something isn’t working. We assume the issue is the event or a lack of interest by the congregation. More often than not, the issue is actually a communication challenge. There are simple fixes to these communication challenges.
1. We Say Too Much
Congregations have limited bandwidth. We spend all week thinking about our ministry plans, but they haven’t. When we throw everything at them at once, nothing sticks. A typical listener can only take in so much information before they shut down and stop listening.
If your church is struggling with communication, don’t worry. Do this one simple thing: Say less, with greater clarity, in ways that connect with people.
The solution is to be intentional about what we share. Pick the top three to four things in the life of your church and share about them well. This is best done with a calendar so you aren’t caught off guard as events approach.
A good rule is that a ministry opportunity needs to relate to 50 percent of those in attendance for you to share about it in worship. If it doesn’t, you should find ways to share with just the people who need to hear it. For example, you would announce an upcoming women’s retreat, since it relates to 50 percent or more of Sunday morning attenders, but not a men’s woodworking class, which could be shared with interested people in other ways.
2. We Only Talk to Insiders
I recently found a “secret menu” for In-N-Out Burger, a California-based fast food chain. The menu includes creative ways to take their basic ingredients (burger, fries, and drinks) and switch them up. I’ve been going to In-N-Out for more than 20 years and had no idea that I can get grilled onions on my burger and my wife can have a Lemon-Up — a combination of lemonade and 7-Up. Why didn’t we know? Because they haven’t printed the information on the menu board. The menu is so simple; you have to know what to ask for or they will serve it like they always have.
Unfortunately, we treat our church guests much the same. We assume they understand the context of our church, and they do not. We announce events in ways insiders understand but guests don’t. For example, “Join us for Bible Study on Wednesday in the MPR.” Guests need to know more.
The solution is to answer the questions guests would be asking. Who is this event for? What time is it occurring? What is the full name of the location? Where would I find this room? Can my kids come too? So for example: Life can be confusing! Join our adult Bible study as we talk through practical ways to gain wisdom and understanding. Wednesdays, 7 pm, Main Office Lobby. Child-care is available by reservation.
3. We Share Details with No Heart
The power of the Gospel is its ability to connect people to God. These are people who want something more from the life they are living and don’t want to waste time on trivial things. Our guests come to church each week, and we fill them in on all the “exciting ways to get involved.” But they don’t connect.
Why? Because they approach every opportunity, subconsciously or not, with a mental question: “What’s in it for me?” They want to know what makes this opportunity something worth considering, and boring announcements with event details aren’t enough. People are hungry for the solutions God offers. It’s our responsibility to show them.
The solution is to highlight the benefit of attending and participating. Go beyond the details and present examples of life change in your ministry. Look at previous attenders, congregation members, and your community. Share the way God has used the ministry in the past and the difference it can make for those in similar situations.
One Simple Rule
If your church is struggling with these church communication mistakes, don’t worry. There is hope. You can reverse the trend by doing one thing:
Say Less + With Greater Clarity + In Ways That Connect With People
Do this consistently, and you will see growth in your congregation. Neglect it, and you will struggle to connect and retain new people.
This article is adapted from “3 Top Church Communication Mistakes and How to Fix Them” on the Church Tech Today website, June 3, 2016, and used by permission.
Related Resources:

Speak More Effectively by Asking Three Questions by Adam Hamilton

Eight Reasons People Aren’t Listening to Announcements by Rich Birch

Focusing Your Message by Ann A. Michel

Read more.
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Cool Church Isn't What It Used to Be by Carey Nieuwhof
In a rapidly changing culture, churches cannot stay relevant by simply adopting the latest trend, says Carey Nieuwhof, especially as indifference to church grows. The keys to rebirth include deep authenticity, a true sense of mission, healthy relationships, an innovative spirit, and perhaps most of all, a sense of hope that goes beyond the mundane.
For the last few decades, simply being a cooler church than the church down the road helped churches grow. Trade in the choir for a band. Add some lights, some sound, some haze, and you had a growing church. That time has recently come to a close. I’m not against churches having bands, lights, and creating a great environment. Not at all. In fact, the church I lead has all of the above; if you are going to gather people, gather well. My point is not that you shouldn’t, but that it’s no longer enough. So what’s changing?
We ignore the reality that what’s making growing churches grow is significantly deeper than the cool factor.
Cutting-edge keeps changing…fast. Constant connectivity online has sped up trends. What’s novel isn’t novel for long anymore. You used to have to hire experts, be in a certain circle, or do some travelling or sleuthing to find cool things. Now you just download an app, watch a video, stream a song, or follow whatever trend you’re passionate about in the moment. Trends are shorter, less interesting, and we’re all growing oh-so-bored with what’s novel. It’s harder than ever for churches to be cutting-edge because cutting-edge keeps changing.
Indifference to church has grown. As the percentage of unchurched adults in the U.S. has risen, indifference to the church has grown. Church leaders in places like Canada and other countries have felt the indifference for much longer. As churches changed their worship style and even architecture in recent times, having a cool church got you more traction than it does today. Here’s why: if people aren’t into church, it doesn’t matter how cool, hip, or trendy your church is; people won’t be that interested.
Imitation killed innovation. Because we live in a digital age when church leaders easily keep their fingers on the pulse of what other leading churches are doing, we also find ourselves living in an age of imitation. I’m not against borrowing great practices, but when churches imitate each other, we rarely borrow all the best practices. We just borrow the ones that have caught our imagination. We ignore the reality that what’s making growing churches grow is significantly deeper than the cool factor. And in the process of all that imitation, something even more important is lost: innovation.
Five Keys to Rebirth (The New Cool)
All around us is a rapidly changing culture, and when we ignore that culture, we do so at our peril. It is still a great idea to use the culture to reach the culture, but you definitely go beyond that. Here are five keys I see to a future of greater impact with Millennials.
I. Authentic Leadership and Connection
Sometimes the reason cool doesn’t connect is because underneath all that “cool” is an inauthenticity: people who have fallen for the lie that style trumps substance. Unchurched people and younger adults and teens are looking for authentic leadership and authentic connection. And, my goodness, if the church is anything, it should be a place of deep authenticity.
2. An Elevated Sense of Mission
The church has always been about something bigger than itself. At the center of our mission is Christ. While most organizations naturally drift toward an insider focus, church leaders must resist this at all costs. Not only is it antithetical to the true mission of the church, but a self-obsessed community is a turnoff to a young generation that is well aware of the needs in the world the church often ignores. You lose your narcissism when you lose yourself in a bigger mission. And a bigger mission is something Millennials are longing to give their lives to.
3. Hope
Christianity provides more hope than anything. I’m 100 percent behind making messages practical, applicable, and helpful. But sometimes the practical can tip too far. We recently heard from an unchurched woman in her mid-20s who had listened to a few of our messages and said, “Well, it’s great to know how to balance my personal finances … but I don’t really need God for that, do I?” To some extent, she’s right. As Millennials and young adults explore the Christian faith, there has to be practical theology, but there also has to be much more.
4. Elevated Community
I’m all for video walls if they help the mission, but no church will ever have the resources to entertain better than Hollywood. But even if the church did, what would be the point? God is in the people business. And the heart of Christianity is relationship — a right relationship with God, each other, and ourselves. It’s also fairly clear that younger adults and teens hunger for community perhaps more deeply than previous generations did. Moving forward, churches that elevate community and prioritize healthy relationships will fare much better in accomplishing their mission than those who don’t.
5. Experimentation
Experimentation is the key to innovation. In an age of imitation, innovation has to make a comeback. So how does a church experiment, particularly a church that has had success in the recent past or even in the present? The best approach is to do what you do now, but begin experimenting on the side to see what has the potential to make a significant impact in the future. Truthfully, I’m not sure anyone really knows what that is right now, which is why experimentation is even more important than we might initially think.
This article is adapted from his latest book, Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations That Will Help Your Church Grow, available from Amazon. Used by permission.
Related Resources:

Think Bigger: The Challenge of Reaching Millennials by David McAllister-Wilson
Reaching the Millennial Generation by Asa J. Lee
Millennials Seek Larger Framework to Understand God by Chris Folmsbee
The “Nones” and the Spirituality of Everyday Living by Keith Anderson

Missionary Renegade

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

"Leading Ideas: Top Articles of 2016" from Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, December 14, 2016

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