RETHINK - MAKING A CULTURE SHIFT

 BY STEVE DUNN

The move from being a traditional and inward-focused church to an outward focused one requires a culture shift. As this is played out in the first decades of the 21st century it is done so against the backdrop of the shift in our nation from a churched culture to what some have called a post-Christian one. In particular, within the church you find yourself moving from a membership culture to a discipleship one. In a recent church council training session, I spoke of it in this way:

Rethink

Rethink who you are as a Christ-follower and as a leader

Don’t go to church - BE the Church

DISCIPLES not members

EXPECT something from God

REINVEST in ministry

ACT intergenerationally

ADVOCATE the Vision

GIVE to God first and give more

STOP pleasing people and please God

EMBRACE excellence and reject perfectionism

STOP saying me and proclaim we

(c) 2013 by Stephen L Dunn

5 REASONS NOT TO LEAVE

One of the difficulties of becoming an outward-focused church is that you must both cast a new vision and create a new culture capable of living out that vision.  Many a church has been defeated in this process because the catalyzing leader leaves before his or her work is done.  Rick Howerton has an excellent article on this dynamic.-steve

FIVE REASONS NOT TO LEAVE--EVEN IF YOU WANT TO

BY RICK HOWERTON 

Many of us tend to get itchy for new ministry challenges.

If you’re like me you’re a catalytic leader. That is, you were made by God to start something, pass it on to someone else, then move on to start something else. While this is an important responsibility, sometimes, those of us, no matter what our leadership style, may have a tendency to jump ship before God’s done with us in a particular setting.

I think there are at least five reasons to consider staying at the church you’re serving.

1. It takes time to accomplish a God-size vision.

Too many church leaders are called to a location with a vision in mind and leave before that vision has become a reality.
The vision is what drove them to their new position and they believed with all that was in them that they were to accomplish that vision for that church.

The problem… they jump ship before the vision has docked and the church they serve finds herself starting over with a new leader long before God’s expectations were completed.

2. You haven't mentored someone to pick up where you left off.

Great leaders are mentoring someone to take their place when they exit.
This assures the church that the ministry can continue on becoming all God meant her to be.

3. The grass really isn't greener when you shepherd different sheep.

Many church leaders leave a church because of a few difficult people.
There are some churches that have problem people and they are always going to make a staff member’s job hard, even painful. But for the most part, people are people and there will always be some in every setting that are going to be problematic.

Rather than leaving, it may be much wiser to learn to work with, around, or in spite of the few difficult people at the church you’re serving. You may just move to a new location to find there are a few problem people who are more problematic than the ones you just left.

4. A move will affect your family.

Too many pastors forget that their families are deeply affected with each move.

If God isn’t vividly calling you to a new location, just for the betterment of your spouse and children, stay put. They deserve it.

5. It takes time to realize the obstacles that stand in your way.

There are obstacles in any ministry situation. Those obstacles can’t be overcome until a ministry leader becomes aware of them. Some of those obstacles won’t even be on a minister’s radar screen for two to three years.

Taking off to another church starts the process of realizing these and removing them all over again.

Rick has one passion... To see “a biblical small group within walking distance of every person on the planet.” He is presently the Global Small Group Environmentalist at NavPress Publishing. Rick has authored or co-authored multiple books, studies, and leader training resources including Destination Community: Small Group Ministry Manual, The Gospel and the Truth: Living the Message of Jesus, Small Group Life Ministry Manual: A New Approach to Small Groups, Redeeming the Tears: a Journey Through Grief and Loss, Small Group Life: Kingdom, Small Group Kickoff Retreat: Experiential Training for Small Group Leaders, and Great Beginnings: Your First Small Group Study. Rick’s varied ministry experiences as a collegiate pastor, small group pastor, teaching pastor, full-time trainer and church consultant, as well as having been a successful church planter gives him a perspective of church life that is all-encompassing and multi-dimensional. Rick is a highly sought after communicator and trainer speaking at or leading training in forty settings annually. 

More from Rick Howerton or visit Rick at blogs.navpress.com/rickhowerton/

WILL MANCINI ON VISION VEHICLES

The Six Vehicles for Church Vision: How Many Are You Using?

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Every pastor wants to get people excited about God’s activity in the world through their local church. But not every pastor understands how to use the multiple vehicles at their disposal. 

The idea of vehicle is easy to understand. If a community is in desperate need of medical supplies, what vehicles are you going to use? A wheelbarrow or a 18-Wheeler or a C-130 cargo aircraft? And if you could, would you want five C-130’s or just one? You get the picture.

Keep in mind that the concepts we are covering are very powerful when implemented. The truth is that pastors have trucks in their fleet that have never seen drive time. The cost is high as the precious cargo of motivational kingdom fuel never dispenses to hearts and minds of their people. But get those rucks rollin and you will see things happen like you’ve never seen before!

This post is the second in a series on “Vehicles for Vision.” The first post dealt with a primary challenge on the subject- the default setting in the pastor’s mind that preaching is the primary vehicle for vision. It is the default mode because it is the easiest. After all, pastors are preparing messages every Sunday already and they don’t have to get other people involved in the delivery process. It’s simple and clean.
In that post we revealed that despite the important role of preaching, the primary vehicle is the church’s connecting environment. So let’s start there and continue our list:

Vehicle #1: The Connecting Environment. This is the primary vehicle because it is the most relationally intensive. Therefore most of the validation, understanding and appreciation takes place here. Don’t complicate this too much. If you have small groups or Sunday school or missional communities, I am suggesting that those leaders or facilitators and the environments that they create are crucial to the delivery of vision.

Vehicle #2: The Leadership Pipeline. If you understand the importance of vehicle one, you might be asking, “How does that actually work?” That’s a great question because it reveals an even more foundational vehicle. In fact, I consider it the prime mover. The leadership pipeline is the vehicle where vision is transferred from leaders to other leaders. It assumes a leadership development culture. It supposes there are time and places where only leaders meet to pray, dream, dialogue and train together. 

Vehicle #3: The Preaching Event. Now we get to everyone’s favorite. And this vehicle is important as it carries a special authority and motivational dynamic with the congregation at large. Preaching connects the vision to the Word of God, to the act of worship, and rallies the entire body of Christ together in a unique way.

Vehicle #4: The Structural Story. This is a meaningful piece that I look forward to unpacking with you. By structural story I mean everything from staff and volunteer position titles, to budget categories, to systems. It’s everything in the background; the supporting processes of the organization. And these  pieces will either make a random, static-like noise or work together to contribute to the story and the vision.

Vehicle #5: The Visual Brand. From screens and worship guides, to curriculum and websites, your church is creating visual palettes from which people are digesting information. It may be a church sign, or a e-mail from the pastor. Everything speaks. As we explore this often overlooked vehicle we will show how you can constantly reflect and reinforce your vision.

Vehicle #6 The Voice of Each One. The icing on the cake is always the word on the street. Vision transfers through people not paper. And the ultimate test is not how well vision was communicated leader to leader, but from a participant to participant. By that I mean, what does Joe attendee say to a co-workers after he’s visited your church for six months? There are important steps that you can take, to help the vision transfer on the front line. Do you know what they are?

As we continue the series we will explore each vehicle further. For now I would encourage you to evaluate your ministry. How many of these vehicles are you currently using?

BEING ABSENT FROM THE "BODY" BUT PRESENT WITH THE LORD

I was running the race last week and found two disturbing things at work.  First, I was running on empty. Physically I was tired and mentally I was slowing down. But mostly I was reacting to the tyranny of the urgent that always seems to be present in the life of a church leader.  In that situation I was not running according to the plan, following the vision, but simply running to keep from falling further behind.

Second, I was running ahead of the Lord.  I had just passed through an intense period of the summer when I was trying to squeeze in work, vacation, extra duties brought on by other peoples' vacations, and seeking to be ready to go when everyone else finished their vacations and once again was ready to go.  I was working along my agenda but it had been quite a while since I took the time to ask God whether I was still operating from His agenda.

Both are dangerous situations if you believe as I do that it is God's Church and His Holy Spirit is the true leader of the Church.  I may have title of Lead Pastor and others may expect me to lead; but leading without being clearly connected to God is a formula for frustration and failure.Part of my dilemma was that I have just two weeks until most of us take that last summer break called Labor Day. Then I and the church hit the ground running in a new church ministry year. 

There's that word running again.  You can run a marathon or a sprint but the first step is critical.  If you misstep or make that first step without being sure where you are going, you can stumble or even fall.  The race (or at least that leg of it) can be lost in that first step.  Being sure of where that first step needs to go is a necessary part of a runner's strategy.

For a church leader, the everyday business of the Body can be a distraction. Reports to write, people to visit, emergencies to handle, schedules to meet, meetings to attend, conversations to be had, questions to answer - all of these can consume a lot of time and energy. They can also be interruptions of bigger things. And if you're like me, each interruption requires some regrouping, refocusing and then a restart.  The still small voice of the Lord is easily lost in all this.

So last week when I paused to catch my breath, the Lord whispered, "You need some alone time with me."
It was not convenient. It did not fit easily into my already full dayplanner. It required some planning; but tomorrow I am heading out to be "present with the Lord."  There are some people who this will inconvenience. There are some items of business I will need to play catch up on.  Someone else will have the handle emergencies.  And I will miss some of the joy and satisfaction of sharing fellowship with the Body.

But by being absent from the "Body" for a few days without the distraction, I can be "present" with the Lord by giving Him my undivided, unhurried, uninterrupted attention.  And I know from past experience that I will be more assured and empowered to run the race He has set before me. And Lead Pastor, to help the church I serve run their race with the same faithfulness and fruitfulness. - Steve Dunn, Church of God of Landisville




So when

FOLLOWING GOD'S VISION

Will Macini in his blog, The Clarity Coach shares 10 things he has learned from 1o years of visioneering. For more from will go to the CLARITY COACH link on our home page.

• God still speaks

• If your vision is not stunningly unique, you probably don’t have one

• However clear the leader is, a surprising gap exists between the leader’s vision and the team’s clarity

• Leaders emotionally substitute two things for real vision: 1) simplistic answers (copycat vision) or 2) busyness (more is more)

• The easiest measure of sustained clarity is the ability to say “no” repeatedly, and feel good about it

• Followers need vision because the future is not here yet and their activity today lacks meaning

• The best way to know “what should be” is to do a better job knowing “what was,” “what is,” and “what could be”

• Vision moves through people not paper

• With a little training anyone can be an everyday visionary

• Vision dripping is more important than vision casting (#visiondrip)

WHAT IS YOUR VISION?

Faithful and fruitful churches operate from a clear and compelling vision. More than a mission statement and its program strategy, a vision describes the outcome that you are working for as a congregation in mission. So many churches try to operate by a vague vision, but the greater clarity you can have in identifying that vision, the better chance you have of realizing its accomplishment. Trying to operate with no vision is a formula for failure and unfaithfulness.

It is not without significance that Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where this is no vision, the people perish." The translation of this in The New International Version provides even greater clarity. "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint ..." Without vision, a people have no focus and dissipate the energy for vision accomplishment in peripheral ways and unimportant matters.

Now let's add one more dimension to the vision discussion. Churches need to embrace God-sized vision. They serve a great and awesome God. Too many times the people of God do not bring glory to God because they do not pursue the vision that God seeks to give them. Even if they bother to discover that vision, they sometimes places human boundaries on it because they are too enamored with its achievability by their own human resources. God does not depend upon our resources. He provides His resources to us and through us.

Do you have a vision and what is its source? If you vision can be achieved without God's empowerment, then the vision is probably not from God.