So you entered into church leadership full of enthusiasm and fresh ideas.
And for a season, a lot of those ideas worked.
You saw your ministry grow, people come to faith and the mission advance.
But times change.
And—these days especially—culture is changing faster than ever before.
As a result, the shelf life of ideas, assumptions and approaches is shorter than it has ever been.
What used to work, doesn’t. Not anymore.
The challenge is to know what’s stopped working and what hasn’t.
Not everything that worked a decade ago in the church was great. But the truth is many churches saw growth anyway.
And that’s changing and will continue to change.
What got you here won’t get you there.
Here are 9 things that used to work in ministry a decade ago that aren’t nearly as effective as they used to be.
1. Relying on an automatic return to church
There was a day when you could fairly safely assume that once young adults got married and had a child, they would automatically come back to church.
Those days are gone or largely gone. (You can catch more about what’s changed in Episode 24 of my podcast where I interview David Kinnaman, President of Barna Group).
The average unchurched person doesn’t think about going to church anymore than the average Christian thinks about going to synagogue. It just doesn’t cross their mind.
Having an exceptional next generation ministry that reaches out to the community is critical.
Want a better way to impact families? I know of no better approach than this.
The Orange strategy is the strategy we use, and our kids’ ministry is the fastest growing ministry at our church.
You can’t assume families will reach out to you, so you need to reach out to them.
2. Appealing to people out of guilt or obligation
The number of people who feel guilty about not being in church on Sunday shrinks daily.
Ditto with the number of people who will serve at a church because they feel they should.
Interestingly enough, Jesus never appealed to people out of guilt or obligation. He invited people.
The future church will as well.
3. Simply being better than other churches
When people went to church, being a better church than other churches got you mileage.
Most people no longer go to church.
Saying “we have a better church” is kind of like saying “we have better, organic, locally grown watercress” at a burger cook-off.
Most people just aren’t going to buy.
Better isn’t going to get you the mileage it used to.
Different will.
The church is an alternative. And an alternative, clearly and effectively presented, will do far better than simply saying we’re better than something you weren’t interested in in the first place.
4. Gimmicks
So true confession. A decade ago we drove a car on stage to get people’s attention.
We also built elaborate sets for every series hoping it would captivate people.
And all of this did. For a season.
But I also came to realize that whatever you use to attract people is what you need to use to keep people.
‘Gimmicks’ every week get old fast.
If you play the ‘next Sunday will be better than last Sunday game,’ you eventually end up losing and lying (because it can’t be).
In addition, eventually people ask “So what? So what if next Sunday is a little bit better than last Sunday? What’s this all about anyway?”
Don’t get me wrong. We still have fun moments, powerful moments, surprising moments and memorable moments, but they’re moments.
We’ve stripped down our services and moved back to more of the basics: the Gospel, engaging moments and engaging messages.
We can sustain that. And the basics, done really well (with a little extra from time to time) really do engage people.
Why? Because Jesus, authentically and clearly presented, engages people.
5. Inauthentic leadership
People’s fake detectors are set at a higher level than ever.
In a culture that markets everything to death, people are longing for authenticity.
Fortunately, that’s the at the heart of the Gospel.
What has to die, of course, is the leader who acts like he or she has it all together: the plastic veneer we put on hoping nobody sees the real us.
Well, none of us has it all together. And while there shouldn’t be any gaping unaddressed character holes in your life, letting people see the real you (even if it scares you) is essential.
These days, letting people see you’re human is a prerequisite for ministry to fellow humans.
Bottom line of Part 1?
However you decide to stay current, you have to stay current.
What’s Not Working For You?
So let’s help each other. What’s no longer working for you that used to work?
Scroll down and leave a comment.
by Carey
