Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, recently did an interview about how to run an organization. Churches are organizations, and I found his comments highlighted what many churches are lacking today.  Costolo equated the staffing of an organization to a good improvisational troop. To have a diverse and effective improv group, you need intellectuals and innovators. 

 The Innovators: According to Costolo, “these are your dropouts and visionaries.”  The people who say, “I need the freedom to think about this problem outside the limits of whatever constraints other people might operate under.”

 The Intellectuals: Dick goes on to say that this equally important group are the ones who “think in terms of measuring themselves and everyone around them with data.” 

His point is this: you need both on your team. And the leadership needs to listen to and accept any offering of ideas from both sides. Managers should respond to their employees’ perceptions, not ignore them. As Costolo said, “When we, as leaders, deny there’s an issue and reflexively defend the status quo, it creates misery for people.” It also nearly guarantees failure for your organization.  

Too many churches today rely on the same leaders who once lead them to greatness to get them out of their current hole.  What they fail to recognize is that these leaders are also the same ones who took them into that hole. Back in the day, they started on solid ground. Today, the soggy hole requires a completely different set of skill & knowledge sets in order to advance.  For most of these churches, it’s time to bring in a new group of advisers and staff members who think differently than the staus quo, and it’s time for leaders to listen to them.

All Praise Ministries can help you find innovators and Intellectuals for any and all of your staffing needs. If you’re having trouble getting your church back on solid ground, we want to hear from you. We can help.

The NEXT FREE CONSULTING TIP: 

GIVE UP!

Is your church focused on pointing people to Christ, or pointing people to a deeper relationship in Christ? Maybe your church does both well. Great. You’re a member of the extreme minority. Many established churches are losing members in record numbers. Here’s what All Praise Ministries believes is causing this trend:

Serving the members of the church over serving the lost in the community

When a church starts considering the needs of its members over the needs of the lost, it becomes complicit to the will of The Devil and the church WILL begin to shrink and sink. A church that caters to it’s membership and the saved is not a church. It is, at best, a seminary that teaches the saved how to remain so. The church God wants us to “run” on Earth –  the churches that will grow and thrive in the work of The Lord, will care for the lost, first and foremost. It will sacrifice tradition for new and effective ways to operate in today’s communities. 

In our dealings with churches all over the world, we find churches that lose more members than they gain each year. Most of these shrinking churches are holding on to something like pride, control, status, money, people, tradition or status quo.  In most cases, the same pastoral staff that got them into this current mess is the same staff trying to lead them out of it. Of course, that won’t work in most cases. So, what’s the answer for these diminishing churches?

Give up.

Yes, you read correctly. Give up. Here are 4 of the top 10 things we’ve discovered are driving churches into financial and spiritual bankruptcy-type situations. And it’s time to give them up:

1. Pride. Someone CAN and WILL do it better. And chances are it will be differently than your preferred method. Hire someone to lead you to the next level and then trust them to accomplish what you hired them to do.  There are many consultancies, like All Praise Ministries, that can help you find your way back to growth. But you have to be willing to let go of your Pride and admit you need help.

2. Control. If you’re a lead pastor reading this, it’s time to clearly identify and state your area of core competency to your leaders and hand over the reigns to everything else to them. Worship Leaders plan worship services. Youth pastors run the youth department. Finance Managers handle how and when to spend the money; every person has a skill set. Allow them to use it while you use yours. Listen to them. Trust them to make decisions FOR YOU! Are you a gifted communicator? (I hope so.) Then preach and teach. Let go of everything else.

3. Traditions. Here’s a test. Do you know how many people in your congregation today gave their heart to Christ in the last 12 months?  Through baptism or membership roles, do you know the number? If that number is less than 10% of your weekly attendance, chances are you are focused too heavily on your traditions. One church in 2011, with a weekly attendance of about 1200 spent a budget of 4.6 million and had a total of 15 baptisms. In contrast, a member of our All Praise team went on a mission trip for $3500 and led over 120 people to Christ. But to do so, he had to get out of the four walls of the church. Pastors, it’s time to get OUT of your comfort zones. Can the money being spent on Wednesday night chicken dinners and Senior nights at the nursing home, be better used by sending a street team out into your community with door hanger invitations and the message of Christ? We think so.

4. People. Sometimes, you just have to cut the chaff. This certainly applies to the people on staff who are not helping move the needle upward, but it also applies to members – givers & contributors – who’ve supported you through the ups and downs. Often, the problem is too many givers are supporting the down times. All Praise believes that if most givers would stop giving when they see the church moving backwards in the number of saved, most pastors would be quicker in making changes to how they serve the lost. Instead, the opposite is typically the case. The pastor of the failing church looks for ways to turn the ship without losing the contribution of those “kind enough” to fund the sinking ship. So more focus goes internally to the programs and care functions than into outreach. It’s a vicious circle that only spins out of control, eventually leading to each member on staff operating in drowning mode….taking everyone and everything around them down with the ship.

To learn more about how to right the ship, and to see the other 6 tips, send us a note or call us. We’ll help you come up with a plan….the question is, will you GIVE UP and work the plan?

I recently read an article in one of the national broadcast publications I receive that made me stop and consider its relevance in the Christian world, most specifically, to the church at large.  It was about how larger, successful companies understood the danger of status quo and what they do to avoid plateauing. It spoke about how they remain relevant in an ever-changing world. In short, the article said that great companies and organizations know the importance of cannibalizing themselves before other companies eat them up. Not really “church speak,” but allow me to share the association I made from this article.

First, let me say this; while many church leaders avoid publicly speaking in these terms, most of them understand that their church is absolutely in competition with the church down the street. It may not be crafted in an “eat you up” strategy, but make no mistake, churches that understand how to compete for the available demographic will put churches that don’t into financial stress – to a point where the lack-of-money will end up dictating their ministry decisions. The very place from which the devil wants us to operate -  on earthly terms, not heavenly.

Here’s what the article made me realize most vividly.  Change for the sake of change is important if you want to remain relevant and grow the value of your organization. Simply put, if the culture you’re trying to attract is changing (and they all change) then your method of reaching those people must change. Notice, I did not say the church’s message must change. But if we do not aggressively seek change and mold-breaking ways of operating and delivering our message, the decline in churches will continue at a faster and faster rate.

Working in the broadcast and marketing industry since the age of 12 (wow, 38 years can fly by when you enjoy what you do) I have seen companies launch, re-launch, and re-launch again. Often, because they’d fought change and fell behind, making a re-launch necessary for all the wrong reasons. But the MOST successful business re-launches were birthed from a conscious, intentional and singular purpose. They wanted to shake things up in order to be noticed by the new generation that was now in the bulls eye of their demographic profile.

One of the most famous re-launches was the New Coke project. Not only did Coca Cola have the vision to see the end result of their well-crafted hoax, but they had the sheer guts to change the very product that made them the #1 brand in the world. They re-launched it as something completely different. And while many people today argue that it wasn’t as much a vision as it was a mistake, it’s probably safe to say most of those people are not risk takers or visionaries. Coke calculated the benefits of change for the sake of change, in order to gain a larger share of the marketplace. And since taking that risk, has never relinquished their hold on #1.

Another truth from the business world that the church needs to consider is that revolutions, or large scale shifts in success, don’t happen with small, safe, incremental change or by making things only a little better, a little at a time.  Positive and successful revolutions happen by upsetting the status quo to the point of upsetting some of their core consumers who helped them get to the top, even though everything is currently working and productive. The author of the article puts it this way: “Revolutionary businesses seek ways to deliver their product to customers in better ways, and work to disrupt… to make their offer more attractive.”

What this means to the church is clear. We must stop trying to satisfy the traditions of our past at the expense of reaching the future.  Instead, we must start growing at the expense of those who resist growth, if that’s what it takes to reach the new generation. Too many pastors and church leaders are confused. They believe that traditions are equivalent to the message. Some have even blurred the line between traditions and the very Message of Jesus Christ. But God warns about this too often throughout scripture and his promise for demise is clear. We simply cannot worship tradition and expect to satisfy God.

I’ll conclude by saying that the traditions I’m speaking of are not always the same as Doctrines and tenants of faith. And we should continue to support the traditions that help us uphold the precepts of God, like: giving, taking care of widows and the hungry, observing the Sabbath, worshiping in spirit and truth, etc. But if we’re afraid to change how our message is delivered or packaged, then we will become to the lost what the Edsel became to the automotive consumer – irrelevant and more-of-the-same-ol. As most economists agree, Ford’s aim was right at first, but when the target moved, the company failed to move. Even though our message inside the church offers a better ride than any car on the market, no one will ever know unless we meet them where they are and entice them to open the door and step inside.  And that takes change, and the courage to make it. Whether you think it’s necessary or not, chances are, it is.

Side note: Anyone who knows me knows I’m a proponent of change. I have never fought it and try to always welcome it. I find it keeps me honest and on my toes. I used to have a boss that would say, “Smith, we’re not going to make a change just for the sake of making a change.” Notice I said, “used to have a boss…”