Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Lewis Center for Church Leadership from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washingrton, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 22 August 2018Leading Ideas: Welcoming Change Begins with You, Podcast: Transformative Power of Church-School Partnerships, and 4 Tips for Launching a Church-School Partnership

Lewis Center for Church Leadership from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washingrton, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 22 August 2018Leading Ideas: Welcoming Change Begins with You, Podcast: Transformative Power of Church-School Partnerships, and 4 Tips for Launching a Church-School Partnership
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Simple habits of congregational life, such as always sitting in the same pew or greeting the same people after worship, might seem normal and innocuous. But they can be unwelcoming and off-putting to newcomers. The good news is, simple steps to disrupt these habits can make a big difference to visitors and these changes can begin with you!
We are all creatures of habit. We get up at a certain time. We sit in assigned seats at the family dinner table. We park our car on a particular side in the driveway. Such habits are engrained in congregational life, as well. We tend to sit in the same pew every Sunday. We greet the same people every week. We get anxious if the service is not finished at the appointed time.While certain habits seem like small things to us, they may not seem so inconsequential to outsiders unfamiliar with our patterns. Congregants don’t perceive that they have done anything wrong or different. But to the outsider, these habits come off as inhospitable.
While these habits seem like small things to us, they may not be so inconsequential to outsiders unfamiliar with our patterns. Imagine visiting an unfamiliar church, taking an empty seat, and having someone glare at you or comment, “That’s where I typically sit.” Imagine that during the greeting time no one pays you any attention. Congregants don’t perceive that they have done anything wrong or different. But to the outsider, these habits come off as inhospitable.
There are times we need to disrupt our usual habits in order to be more sensitive to newcomers. Here are a few simple suggestions.
1. Change seats.
This may be one of the most challenging things for regular church-goers to do. We all have a favorite place we like to sit at home, at work, and at church. But at church, a new individual will have no idea that an empty pew is your customary seat. Resolving to sit in a different place each month can prevent us from developing the habit of always sitting in the same seat. For many of us this will be uncomfortable because we like the certainty that comes with knowing where we will seat each week and who will be sitting around us. In terms of hospitality, it means we won’t get upset if we see someone in “our” seat because we don’t have an assigned seat. The simple change of disrupting our pattern of sitting in the same seat can make a big difference to visitors.
2. Plan to arrive on time.
Some of us plan to arrive late for worship because we prefer to skip the announcements, or we just want to hear the preaching. While everyone runs a bit late on occasion, no one should slip into the habit of arriving late on purpose. Think of the perception it creates for a visitor if 25 percent of the congregation is habitually late. Disrupting the habit of arriving late can change the way others see your commitment to the worship experience and the whole community of faith. Arriving in time to catch the announcements helps you know what’s going on in the life of the church and being present for the whole service respects how all of worship, not just preaching, moves us toward experiencing God.
3. Greet newcomers.
When it comes time to pass the peace or when we shake hands with people at the end of the service, we tend to greet those we know the best. It’s an opportunity to catch up with friends we may not have seen since the previous Sunday. But how would you feel if you were visiting a congregation and a few people are polite to you, but never really engage because they are busy talking to people they know? In truth, there are probably members of the congregation, in addition to visitors, we could get to know better if we disrupted the habit of only greeting the few people we know well.
4. Stop watching time.
Many of us like things to be timely. We want things to start and end on time. But in worship, we have to avoid being so focused on the clock that we miss being in fellowship with God. What message does it send to visitors if congregants stare at their watches when the choir or sermon goes a bit long? Please don’t take this as an excuse to ignore the importance of a timely, well-paced worship experience. But I do believe we can become so focused on time that we miss what God has for us in that moment. We must disrupt our tendency to focus on the clock rather than God.
Habits like sitting in the same seat, arriving late, greeting the same people and watching time seem like small things. Yet changing these small things can make a big difference in your hospitality to visitors. And the change can begin with you!
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About Author
F. Douglas Powe, Jr., is director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership and holds the James C. Logan Chair in Evangelism (an E. Stanley Jones Professorship) at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.
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Episode 17
Leading Ideas Talks Podcast: "The Transformative Power of Church-School Partnerships"
Thinking of launching a church-school partnership? Or looking to strengthen an existing partnership? In this episode Jake McGlothin, author of The Mission-Minded Guide to Church and School Partnerships, speaks with Lewis Center Associate Director Ann A. Michel about how churches can build effective, transformative relationships with children and teachers in their community.
Listen now.
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center Staff outlines four ways a church can lay a solid foundation for a church-school partnership before jumping in headfirst. Listening, learning, establishing trust, and building solid relationships are key first steps.
Many congregations find that reaching out to their local schools is an important way to serve children and their families and strengthen ties with the broader community. In fact, the idea has become so popular that some churches jump into this work without first laying the proper foundation. The following steps will help your congregation get off on the right foot when initiating a church-school partnership.Ultimately, trust comes if your church follows through on its commitments and shows a willingness to stay engaged over the long haul. Neither school nor church is well served if you launch an overly ambitious plan but cannot deliver.
1. Set aside any agenda or preset ideas.
Some congregations get excited about a particular approach to engaging their local school, such as tutoring or providing weekend meals, without first determining whether that type of help is wanted or needed. It’s important to begin with an open mind, setting aside any agenda or preset ideas about what is needed.
2. Listen and learn.
Before launching a partnership, invest time learning about the schools in your area and the needs of students. Look online for basic demographic information and performance statistics. Make an appointment for a group from your church to visit your local school to observe what’s happening. Hold conversations with teachers, social workers, guidance counselors, athletic directors, and the school nurse to get a sense of the most pressing needs within the school and among students and their families. Ask simply, “How can we help?” And be willing to listen.
This type of exploration can guide you toward the most helpful type of engagement, educate your congregation about the reality on the ground, and build momentum and support for getting involved.
3. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
If programs to support school needs already exist in your community, school district, or interfaith networks, explore whether it’s possible to partner with another group or work through an existing channel. This increases the efficacy of your work and demonstrates that you are not in it for yourself. If you decide to go it on your own, start small. You might begin by focusing on just one classroom, grade, or subject area, rather than a whole school.
4. Build relationships and trust.
Relationships are the backbone of any successful mission partnership. So, it’s important to get to know the principal, head of school, or chief administrator and stay in regular communication. Showing up at school activities and events — such as games, performances and fundraisers — demonstrates your interest and support. And it is a way to get acquainted with students and their families. Plugging into the network of room parents or attending PTA meetings is another way to stay abreast of school needs and issues, demonstrate concern, and build relationships with parents and teachers.
Ultimately, trust comes if your church follows through on its commitments and shows a willingness to stay engaged over the long haul. Neither school nor church is well served if you launch an overly ambitious plan but cannot deliver.
By engaging local schools in meaningful and impactful ways, churches can build bridges of hope within their community that can lead to stronger schools and stronger churches. But this outcome is more likely, if you take the necessary steps to get a church-school partnership off to a strong start.
Related Resources:
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The Right Question:
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
These questions can help a congregation align its vision to its mission field, according to Kay Kotan and Blake Bradford.
  • Who are we as a congregation now?
  • Who is our neighbor?
  • What is the gap between our congregation and our mission field?
  • What must we do, give up, and/or change to reach our neighbors for Christ?
Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.
Learn How to Partner with Your Local School
If your congregation is considering a school-focused initiative, start planning with theEngaging Local Schools Tool Kit. Through videos, presentations, and supplemental materials, this resource guides your congregation in considering questions that are critical to the success of a school-focused service initiative.
Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
How can you best help new leaders in your church get started? More effectively invite people to be leaders? Make meetings matter? Support and affirm existing leaders? Learn the answers to these questions and more in 50 Ways to Multiply Your Church's Leadership Capacity.
50 Ways to Multiply Your Church’s Leadership Capacity
This free 50 Ways resource provides strategies to identify and support new leaders and build and maintain effective ministry teams.
Make it easy for new leaders to get started
1. Consider ways to divide responsibilities among two or more individuals. Job sharing makes it easier for people to say “yes” and gets more people involved.
2. Ask existing leaders to invite someone new to partner with them as a way of easing someone new into a leadership role.
3. Invite people to join a team or take on a responsibility on a trial basis. Trial periods let everyone get a feel for things and allow for a graceful exit if it’s not a good fit.
4. Be honest about the time commitment required when someone steps into a new role. Vague expectations are off-putting and scary to potential leaders.
5. Avoid open-ended terms of service. No one wants to risk being saddled with a job forever. And term limits incentivize the search for the next leader.
6. Communicate a clear pathway for people to get involved in ministries and progress into leadership.
7. Maintain clear and up-to-date job descriptions. Ask leaders to keep good records that will allow the next person to hit the ground running.
8. Don’t assume simple tasks are always the best starting place. High-capacity people will only give their time to meaningful, challenging responsibilities.
9. Initiate new groups and programs regularly because they are more attractive and welcoming to new people than long-standing structures, which can be cliquish.
Build on the power of relationships
10. Schedule one-on-one conversations with prospective leaders to strengthen your interpersonal bonds and get to know their interests, gifts, and passions.
11. Make a special effort to get to know new people in your congregation or your neighborhood.
12. Think of your small groups as leadership incubators and their leaders as scouts. It’s often within the relational bonds of a small group that individuals experience spiritual growth and discover their gifts and callings.
13. Capitalize on the power of personal invitations. People are most motivated to do something when asked personally by someone they know.
14. Exploit the power of networks. Think beyond the people you know personally to those people your friends and acquaintances know.
Think beyond the usual suspects
15. Cast a wide net when looking for new leaders. Thumb through the whole church roster to think of people who might not otherwise come to mind.
16. Don’t limit your search to church members or attendees. Inviting someone from outside your church into a meaningful leadership role can be a great way of introducing them to your church’s mission.
17. Signal your openness to new people by displaying younger and more diverse leaders in visible roles, such as worship leadership or staff roles.
Invite people effectively
18. Maintain a bold, confident manner when asking someone to do something. Being reticent, uncertain, or apologetic is counterproductive.
19. Stay positive. Appeals to guilt or desperation motivate few, and communicate that your ministry is struggling or marginal. People want to be part of something vibrant and hopeful, not something that is spiraling downward.
20. Don’t rely on a single approach to recruiting people. Different people respond to different kinds of appeals, so mix it up occasionally.
Help people discover their gifts
21. Provide opportunities for people to explore their spiritual gifts through classes, gift inventories, and other structured means of gift discovery.
22. Avoid pigeonholing people according to their professional skills. An accountant may have spiritual gifts for teaching and a teacher may be spiritually gifted for administration.
23. Practice the “ICNU” approach. Train yourself and others to notice people’s gifts and then start a conversation with “Here is what I see in you….”
24. Think beyond people’s current capabilities. Imagine what they might become and help them learn to see areas of giftedness they don’t yet recognize in themselves.
25. Encourage every member of your church to listen for God’s call on their lives. Too often laypersons think that God’s call does not extend to them.
Delegate and empower
26. Encourage long-standing leaders to make space for new people by stepping aside and relinquishing control, while still collaborating and providing support.
27. Give new leaders the flexibility to innovate and implement goals creatively in service of the church’s overall mission and vision.
28. Equip people with what they need to succeed in a new leadership role — resources, information, training, affirmation, etc.
29. Support people in what they want to do rather than only trying to find new people to do what you need them to do.
Mentor new leaders
30. Know that informal mentoring is often a more effective way of preparing new leaders than formal leadership training.
31. Encourage existing leaders to invite someone new to “come alongside” and learn by observing, helping, and debriefing while on the job.
32. Embrace a mutual mentoring approach in which seasoned leaders share their wisdom while also seeking input and fresh perspectives from newer, younger people.
Develop a culture of team leadership
33. Rather than looking to an individual to manage a project, ask if it’s an opportunity to create a team.
34. Structure teams so that each member has a distinct and vital role. Commitment and accountability are enhanced when each team member knows their contribution is essential to the team’s success.
35. Multiply your teams and the number of team leaders by subdividing tasks and creating new teams when a job grows too large to be accomplished by a reasonably sized group.
36. Reinforce the expectation that a team leader’s role is not to do the work on behalf of the group, but rather facilitate and coordinate the work and maintain a healthy group dynamic.
Make meetings matter
37. Clarify the purpose of every meeting so that the group can accomplish what most needs to be done.
38. Think of a meeting agenda as a game plan for accomplishing the meeting’s purpose. In crafting your agenda ask, “Who needs to be at the table?” “What information is needed in advance?” “What key questions need to be addressed?”
39. Conduct meetings in a way that maximizes opportunities for everyone to participate meaningfully, because boredom results when participants are placed in a passive role.
40. Honor people’s time by keeping meetings to a reasonable length of time. When setting the agenda, be realistic about what the group can accomplish, watch the clock, and keep things moving along.
41. Drive decisions by listening for consensus and having the courage to act, rather than endlessly discussing things or letting a few dissenting voices derail the process.
42. Before adjourning, clarify what the group has decided and what each individual has agreed to do. This will help you monitor follow-through and achieve your goals.
Support and affirm existing leaders
43. Communicate regularly with leaders to maintain a healthy flow of information and honor their contribution by keeping them in the know.
44. Keep attentive to signs of possible burnout among your current leaders. Check in with leaders regularly and listen to their concerns.
45. Be realistic about the overall scope of your congregation’s programming. Don’t overload the calendar or schedule competing events that overtax your leaders’ time and energy.
46. Celebrate and affirm the work that has been accomplished — in worship, in social media, in the church newsletter, etc.
47. Say thank you regularly and often. Personal notes, public recognition, and informal words of thanks go a long way to make leaders feel appreciated.
Inspire people
48. Preach and teach regularly about the call to Christian service. Leadership in the church is more than volunteer work. It’s ministry. It’s a calling.
49. Stay grounded in your own faith and commitment to serve. People are most motivated to help whenasked by someone whose commitment they admire.
50. Always find ways of pointing people back to the ultimate purpose of the church’s mission because at the end of the day, people want to be connected to what matters.
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Learn Much More with the “More Church Leaders | Stronger Church Leaders” Video Tool Kit
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 to Increase Active Engagement
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.
Learn more and watch introductory videos today.
Read now and download free.
Support the Lewis Center
Leading Ideas is made possible by contributions to the Lewis Center for Church Leadership from readers like you. Thank you.
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Free Video: "Why Giving Matters and Clues for Improving It"
Learn to encourage the spiritual gift of giving with this eight-minute video by Lewis Center Senior Consultant Lovett H. Weems, Jr. It provides an overview of the importance of congregational giving and ways you can improve it.
Watch now.
Quotable Leadership:
In our well-meaning attempts to be committed people of faith, we must avoid creating the God that picks us -- just us -- over another. Our task is to stay out of God's way. (Sharon M. K. Kugler)
Adult Small Group Study: "Religion and Science -- Pathways to Truth"
Is it possible to be a Christian and take science seriously? Must we choose between God and science? The nine lessons in this essential and inspiring course offer a positive alternative: a way to live in today's world as scientifically informed believers.Religion and Science is ideal for your congregation's small groups, adult Bible studies, and Sunday School classes.
Learn more and order now.
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