Vital Signs

How friendly and welcoming is your congregation?

February 17, 2010

Bars, not church, best place to meet friends, says survey

by Kimberlee Hauss
Religion News Service

Americans say Starbucks, Chili’s and bars are better places than church to meet new friends, according to a new survey.

Restaurants, bars or pubs attract 18 percent of Americans as a place to meet people, while churches draw 16 percent and online venues like Facebook pull 11 percent, said the survey, released in late January by Group Publishing, a nondenominational Protestant publishing house in Colorado.

The online survey polled nearly 800 respondents, more than three-quarters of whom identified themselves as Christians, and has a plus or minus error rate of 4 percentage points.

Group Publishing commissioned the survey in order to “determine where the church ranks as compared to other ‘around-town’ venues when measuring the places, people and attributes that define friendly to Americans today.”

Why would people choose a restaurant or bar over church? Chris Howley, director of research of Group Publishing, said many people feel “compelled” to be in church. They go as a sense of obligation and therefore have no spiritual motivation for attending. The social atmosphere of a pub or restaurant draws people in without the feeling of obligation, he said.

The church may not be America’s favorite spot to meet new people, but it is one of the friendliest. Americans said church is the second-friendliest place in town, behind, unsurprisingly, home. Restaurants and bars came in third, followed by grocery stores and coffee shops.

While the results did not conclude churches are unfriendly, Howley said the results could have been better. In particular, pastors could be friendlier. A list of the friendliest people in town revealed a close friend at the top, followed by a family member, neighbor, co-worker, minister or religious leader.

The ‘friendly index’ of pastors was not much higher than hairstylists and store clerks, said Jon Vaughan, Group Publishing’s corporate marketing director.

Social media, the third favorite place to meet new people, may a new way to boost the friendly quotient.

“We don't think the church should see (social media) as a threat at all, but they should embrace the Internet. It’s a way to engage people and bring people in,” Howley said.

Vaughan concurs. “Since the Internet has become an integral element of our daily lives, pastors and church leaders must be more creative in facilitating social networking — both face-to-face and through the Web,” he said.

Once the data came in, Group Publishing examined the factors making a place “friendly” and offered insight to churches on how to create a more welcoming atmosphere. Among top factors constituting a friendly place were “making me feel like I belong” and “making me feel comfortable,” said the survey.

Building Deep Relationships - Building Church

Food for thought!

"While the dominant culture tells us that cell phones, beepers, fax machines, e-mail and Internet chat rooms and blogs have made face-to-face, person-to-person communication obsolete, organizers and leaders who regularly do the intense work of relational meetings understand that these disciplined conversations touch our depths in a unique and irreplaceable way, even if one never sees the other person again.  In relational meetings, the "why" questions so often avoided by people have a space in which to surface:  Why are things like they are; why am I doing what I do; why don't I spend more time on the things I say are most important to me?"

         The Power of Relational Action by Edward T. Chambers, ACTA Publications, 2009.

"People can be "connected" (Facebook) and still be lonely."

    "My Facebook Friends" by L. Gregory Jones, Christian Century, July 15, 2008.

Why Do People First Visit the Church They Join?  In her study of growing mainline Protestant congregations, Martha Grace Reese says "almost 60% of new members of evangelistic churches get their first because a person invited them, or because they know someone in the church.   Percentages are identical for both new Christians and Christians with a church background.  .... the one most effective thing you can do to get evangelism going in your church is to invite people to church!

         Unbinding the Gospel by Martha Grace Reese, Chalice Press, 2006.

God's Heart For Justice and The Poor!

Christians losing their way

By Richard Stearns and Lamar Vest
American Bible Society/World Vision

Rick Warren, perhaps the nation's best-known pastor, was stunned. "I went to Bible College, two seminaries and I got a doctorate. How did I miss this?" "This" is not some deep, hidden biblical code predicting the end of the world. It isn't a cipher that further elucidates the truth of the Trinity. It isn't even the formula for turning water into wine.

No, the thing that stunned Rick Warren was when he was struck for the first time by the sheer volume of verses in the Bible that express God's compassion for the poor and oppressed. Unfortunately, Warren isn't the only person of faith to be surprised by just how much God has to say about poverty and justice. Despite the fact that God's heart for the poor is mentioned in some 2,100 verses of Scripture, many of us simply miss it. In a recent survey of adults in America conducted by Harris Interactive, although 80 percent of adults claimed to be familiar with the Bible -- the best-selling book in history -- 46 percent think the Bible offers the most teachings on heaven, hell, adultery, pride or jealousy. In fact, there are more teachings on poverty than on any of those topics.

That's why when our organizations joined to create the new Poverty and Justice Bible, we made sure to select an unusual color -- orange -- for highlighting passages relating to poverty and justice. We wanted to stop people in their tracks. We wanted this simply highlighted Bible to act as God's megaphone revealing a heart for the poor, concern for the marginalized and compassion for the oppressed.

And yet, so often, issues of poverty and justice are seen as "policy problems" or "social issues" rather than a no-brainer mandate for Christians to "go and do likewise" (Luke1 10) as laid out so clearly in the parable of the Good Samaritan and made such sense to us even as children. How did Christianity drift so far from Jesus' mandate to care for the widows and orphans? How did "whatever you do for the least of these you do for me" get skewed--intentionally or not--to "what is the minimum required of me?"

It isn't that Christians aren't and haven't been involved in addressing issues of poverty and social justice. From the first days of Christianity, followers of Jesus have demonstrated distinct concern for the poor and the oppressed. The apostle Paul speaks in Acts about returning to Jerusalem to bring "gifts for the poor." The early Christians rescued abandoned children and stayed in plague-ridden cities to help the sick. Why? Because they knew what the Scriptures said and they knew that this was what they were supposed to do. When St. Francis leaped off his horse and embraced a leper, he was emulating what he'd read about Jesus.

Throughout history, Christians have had a strong, if sometimes inconsistent, record of battling social ills. While some used the Black Death as an opportunity for fear mongering, Christians were among the few to remain in disease-ravaged cities to care for the sick. While many Christians acquiesced to slavery, it was a Christian, William Wilberforce, who led the fight to end the British slave trade and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others joining alongside him who championed racial equality in the United States. While some sought to shame those suffering with AIDS, Christians from Franklin Graham to Bono have battled to offer practical help to those affected by the deadly disease.

The problem isn't that Christians aren't doing their share to address the ills of poverty and injustice. The problem is that we too often see our efforts as supplementary to our Christianity. Care for the poor and suffering should be at the core of our Christian faith because it is at the core of God's desire -- written large across the pages of the Bible.

The Bible isn't some outdated rulebook; it has something to say about everything from health care to public toilets. And while many government, not-for-profit and ministry-based programs do an excellent job, their existence isn't an excuse for individual Christians to do nothing. Only when we come to understand just how much the poor and oppressed matter to God will we begin to have a response to poverty and injustice that is worthy of God. Compassion should be a natural part of the Christian's DNA -- because it is so clearly in God's DNA. When it comes to compassion, concern, love and action for the poor and oppressed, God and the Bible -- not social policy and programs -- got there first.

Lamar Vest is president and CEO of The American Bible Society. Richard Stearns is president and CEO of World Vision, a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty.

On Faith :Guest Voices, Washington Post, December 14, 2009

 

A Christmas Message

My colleague Trey Hammond, Pastor of La Mesa Presbyterian Church wrote this article for his congregation's newsletter.  I like to share it with you -

 

            Blessings in this Christmas season! I hope you’ll celebrate the full twelve days of Christmas, until Epiphany on January 6^th.. By extending the Christmas horizon, we have the chance to let all the implications of the season inform our lives after some of the dust has settled from all the social obligations of the season.

            I remembered the Chesterton poem this Advent season as I participated in the Homeless Memorial Vigil last week at First United Methodist Church. This is a national vigil held near the winter solstice to remember those who perished while living on or near the streets. Sadly, there were 66 names this year in comparison to 48 last year, but even at the event several more names were added. Such a tragedy! The vigil includes a candlelit reading of the names of those being remembered.  

           There is also in the service an opportunity for remembrances. Poems are read, songs sung, and stories told to honor the dead. One woman came to speak of her son, who she remembered as a sweet young man who lost a battle with drugs. She came with a framed photo of him and there was not room on the lectern to set it. Just in front of the mike there was small manger, obviously a part of the Christmas decoration at the church, full of straw, but empty of the Christ child figure.  

          The woman placed the image of her son in the manger and talked about her love for him, his sufferings and hers, but brimmed with a deep faith that God loved him and had received his life. She also affirmed her own sense of God’s love in her life. She remembered that God is especially close to those on the edge of the world, that Jesus was born practically homeless, so he especially understood. It was a beautiful action and some heartfelt theology. God with us and us with God. That is what she spoke of, her son in Christ’s manger, and Christ with us in the vulnerable places of our lives. The meaning of the incarnation was crystal clear in that sanctuary for a community that often feels their homelessness places outside acceptance, even by the church. At Christmas, we are accepted, we are invited home, God is with us and we are welcomed. All of us! This loving mother placed her son in a manger as had a young mother long ago and they trusted that sacred place in the world would be resting place for their beloved. The were both right! I look forward to the day when we have created such a just, compassionate society that such vigils are no longer needed.

            I pray that this season will be as the poet suggests, “a place where humanity shall come home.” May all your gatherings and partings, your joys and longings, connect you with the God who loves us and is with us.

Christmas Blessings,

       Trey

New Resource for Smaller Membership Congregations

I spent part of last week leading a seminar on smaller membership congregations at Union Seminary, Richmond, Virginia campus.  I always enjoy getting together with church leaders who are passionate and love serving smaller membership congregations.   Smaller membership congregations need leaders who love and embrace the dynamics and challenges of small church life and ministry!  

The Small Church and Community Ministry Office has produced another new resource for smaller membership congregations.  Stepping Out In Faith tells the stories of nine smaller membership churches that have journeyed on a path leading to transformed congregational life—from the perspective of the congregation and pastor.  Spiritual discernment, changing demographics, pastoral leadership, and church building issues are addressed.   Discussion questions follow each story and the resource concludes with a Bible study.   You can order this resource from the resource page on our webpage at www.pcusa.org/smallchurch.

  

Congregational-Based Community Organizing - A Resource For Congregational and Community Renewal!

There has been a lot of bad press lately about community organizing work due to a few bad apples being reported.  For some folks, in their minds it seems that anyone who is associated with congregational based community organizing is somewhat evil or corrupt.   If we were to apply this same reasoning to the few bad apples who took the lending industry and our economy down or for the few clergy who have committed serious offense against their congregations, do we dare conclude that all who are associated with the church or lending industry are somewhat corrupt or evil?

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has been engaged with community organizing/congregational-based organizing work for over 50 years.   There are many Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations across the country who are engaged with their local congregation-based community organizations working faithfully to transform their congregations and communities.

One example of this is Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church that is active with Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN).  Check out this story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Grace Memorial Church 's partnership with PIIN to transform and build up their community -

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09244/994597-53.stm

 

 

Building Relationships

The following quote comes from a recent article from the Emerging Leadership initiative - "Out of the Culture:  A Process for Starting New Churches" -

"The first thing you must do to start a church out of the culture is build relationships - it's imperative.  Incarnational ministry has become one of the many labels in the 21st century American church - it's one an out of the culture church would wear proudly because incarnational ministry demands relationship.  The first thing a leader or group of people must do if they hope to make disciples in postmodern, post-Christian groups is build relationships.  These are not casual relationships; these are real life, share life with one another kinds of friendships. Church planters and their teams must pour themselves into people in their neighborhood, at the coffee shop, at work, on their teams or in their clubs.  Where they find open doors, they must forge friendships by opening their homes and intentionally and regularly doing life with the people they meet.  If your friends are not becoming the church you're starting, something is very wrong."

Reaching out with one's community and building relationships with one's neighbors are also key steps with the congregational redevelopment/renewal process.  Having a 1,000 friends on your Facebook or 1,000 followers on your tweeter network do not necessarily build deep and transforming relationships. 

So it is important whether you are doing new church development or church transformation work that you get out of your car, hit the streets and go out and meet and talk with your neighbors!

 

ADAPTIVE CHANGE VERSUS TECHNICAL CHANGE

September 28, 2009

Adaptation

Hudson: creating change environment challenges pastors, congregations

by Jerry L. Van Marter
Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — Most Presbyterian pastors are not adequately equipped to lead their congregations through the changes that are necessary to adapt to 21st century life, the Vocation Committee of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) was told here Sept. 24.

“Most people have a ‘change threshold’ — a point past which they just can’t handle it,” the Rev. Jill Hudson, middle governing bodies coordinator for the council and the Office of the General Assembly, said in a presentation she entitled “Barbecueing the Sacred Cows: creating the change environment.”

“So do congregations,” said Hudson, who has worked at all levels of the PC(USA) in the areas of leadership and congregational development, “but most pastors don’t really know where that threshold is or how to identify it.”

There are generally two types of change, Hudson told the committee — technical and adaptive. Technical changes are usually simple, easy to identify, can be fixed quickly and don’t require much new knowledge or skills-development. “They’re kind of like real life,” Hudson explained. “A light bulb burns out so you just replace the light bulb and go on.”

Adaptive change, however, which is needed in response to large-scale rapidly evolving conditions, is amorphous, requires new learnings and skills because solutions are not readily apparent, occurs much more slowly and may require new and/or additional leadership.

“I don’t mean to take a pot shot at seminaries,” Hudson said. “They do a fabulous job of preparing us for pastoral service and care. But pastors tend to come out of seminary prepared for technical, but not adaptive, change,” Hudson said.

Citing Kurt Lewin, one of the foremost thinkers on change theory, Hudson said the three steps in creating change in congregations are to:

• Unfreeze — establish a sense of urgency or necessity for change;
• Change — move from the old state to the new by changing attitudes and behaviors; and
• Refreeze — make the new attitudes and behaviors relatively permanent.

“Refreezing is the most neglected step,” Hudson said. “It’s like bending and stretching a rubber band — as soon as you stop bending and stretching it, it reverts back to its old shape. Real change in congregations happens in increments and seeps into the fabric of the [congregation’s] culture.”

There are many reasons why change fails in congregations, Hudson said. With change occurring in all aspects of 21st century life, churchgoers “desire predictability” and have “a high level of tolerance for ... the status quo,” she said.

Inadequate vision is another factor, Hudson said. “Pastors have been trained as managers, not leaders, and so have not been taught to think about articulating vision and molding it into mission strategy,” she said. “As a result, they don’t believe the vision is enough to carry the change they hope to effect.”

When a congregation’s leaders are successful in crafting a vision, it is usually “undercommunicated by a factor of between 10 and 100,” Hudson said. “Leaders are so sold tha they fail to adequately communicate the vision to church members. A congregation’s vision cannot be overcommunicated.”

Once resistance to change is overcome, patience becomes the problem, Hudson said. “Real change in a congregation takes a long time ... Patience doesn’t come easily in church organizations,” she said. “We either fail to celebrate ‘small wins’ ... or declare victory too soon.”

The pastor’s role differs from technical to adaptive change, Hudson said. While the pastor can be more directive in dealing with technical change, adaptive change calls for “diagnosing the condition and asking the right questions,” she said. “Too often we also expect the pastor to provide the answers as well.”

And while the pastor’s role in conflict situations is to “maintain order and suppress the overt conflict,” when it comes to leading adaptive change that will solve conflicts, the pastor must “expose the conflict, discuss it openly and let it emerge so it can be constructively resolved.”

Sometimes necessary change is so painful for some church members that they simply cannot remain part of the congregation. “At some point each individual has to make a decision to go or stay and then figure out a way to re-engage or disengage in the new life of the church,” she said.

“Our concern is always for the spiritual welfare of every individual,” Hudson continued. “Because for their own spiritual health, people must at times leave a congregation and find another, we need to help pastors learn how to help people leave in ways that are fully supportive of them.”

Resistance to change is normal, Hudson said. “If no resistance is present, it could mean that nothing is really being changed, or people are numb or uninterested, or everyone thinks alike, or resistance is underground — they’re just waiting it out,” she said.

People are going to resist change unless they see a clear payoff, Hudson said. “People are motivated toward what they will get from the change, not by what they are asked to get rid of,” she said.

“We have three choices with our people,” Hudson concluded — “We can increase the drivers for change. We can decrease the resisters. Or we can turn the resisters into drivers. That’s the best option.”

Food for thought

I like to share with you a few excerpts from a book I recently read - Turnaround and Beyond:  A Hopeful Future for Small Membership Churches by Ron Crandall, Abingdon, 2008.

Mr. Crandall cites the following factors impeding revitalization:

1. low congregational self-esteem

2. fear of change and taking risks

3. no vision for the future

4. an "us" versus "them" attitude

5. power cliques in the church

6. lack of finances and/or stewardship

7. apathy and burnout

8. pastors who don't lead

9. closed to "outsiders"

10. unwilling to work hard

Mr. Crandall then goes on to cite what helps churches to experience revitalization:

1. an atmosphere of love and acceptance

2. pastoral initiative

3. new programs and outreach ministries

4. alive, open, inviting worship

5. an attitude of faith and grace

6. a strong bible focus

7. an emphasiss on children and youth

8. hard work and a desire to grow

9. inviting friends to church

10. an evangelism emphasis

11. prayer

12. emphasis on gifts and discipleship

13. laypersons involved in visitation and ministry

14. blessing of God's spirit

15. the church location and growing community

16. special outreach and evangelistic events

17. using a strategic planning process

18. using new people in leadership

19. a pastor willing to stay

There are no surprises here.  I read a lot of books on congregational transformation and they basically all say the same and describe a similar process for revitalization.  More food for your thought! 

Passionate Leaders Wanted

"All ideas must have passionate advocates behind them."
—Thomas Davenport *, Professor, Babson College

 

I just read the wonderful story in the August 28, 2009 Presbyterian News Service about the Rev. Devon Ducheneau  and her passionate leadership and ministry with the two small churches she serves, Southpark and Westminster Presbyterian in Charlestown, West Virginal.  She knew that in order to survive, the two churches needed to turn their focus outward and embrace the community around them rather than continue as secluded islands.  The response by the congregation and the community has been great and mutually beneficial.  Read the rest of the story at http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09738.htm.

This story about Rev. Ducheneau and her ministry with Southpark and Westminster Presbyterians churches continues to confirm for me that when you have passionate leaders, positive changes can happen!   In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell says in his chapter, The Law of Buy-In, “that people buy into the leader, then the vision.”   He also says that “people don’t at first follow worthy causes.  They follow worthy leaders who promote causes they can believe in.”

Too many churches spend too much time talking about what they would like to do in reaching out with their communities.  They develop mission statements and plans but never implement them because they lack passionate leaders to lead.  If our churches want to experience transformation and renewal, then we need passionate leaders to step forth so that others will step up.