April 24, 2007
What Is Your Church's Conversion Ratio?
Thom and Sam Ranier, writing in the January-February issue of Outreach Magazine, talk about a church's conversion ratio as one way to tell if a church is evangelistically healthy. Their research indicates that an evangelistically healthy church maintains an annual ratio of at least 20:1. That means that it takes 20 people within that church to win one person. They further state that of the estimated 400,000 US churches, only 3.5% are effective evangelistically. That means that four churches out of 100 maintain a conversion ratio of 20:1 or better.
The nation's population is now 300 million. If only 3.5% of the churches are healthy in evangelism, there is only one healthy evangelistic church for every 21,400 persons in the United States. (Outreach Magazine, Outreach Inc., 2230 Oak Ridge Way, Vista, CO 92081, January-February, 2007 issue, page 16. NOTE: You might want to subscribe to this magazine.)
One of our emphases on healthy churches is that they are effective in their evangelism as evidenced by influencing unchurched persons to place their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus says in Luke 19:10 that he came to seek and save the lost. A lot of churches are proud that they are fundamental, conservative and evangelistic, but they never really reach many unchurched, unsaved persons. I hear of wonderful altar services where Christians pray and make commitments to a deeper life. But rarely does the deeper life result in their leading lost people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. To me, and I think I've said this before in this blog, that spiritual depth is not measured by what you know, but whether you are using what you know to make new disciples for Jesus.
So, how are you doing in your outreach?
April 20, 2007
SFD #2
There was something that I wanted to say and just forgot, so here is a little add-on to yesterday's SFD (Single Focused Determination) post.
What distracts us? I am sure we could develop quite a list. But after developing that list, most of the things would be good, decent things. Satan knows better than to try to distract most of us by suggesting something evil, bad, or unchristian. So he tries to get us so busy with so many good things that we do not focus on the best things.
Most of the distractions are good things, but developing a SFD upon that which is best helps us prioritize our day-to-day pressures and demands on our time. It seems to me that being able to identify from our to-do lists those items that are "best" is a sure way to live a life with SFD.
What do you think?
April 19, 2007
Do you have SFD?
A few weeks ago EJ and I were in Wheaton, Ill., with our granddaughter celebrating here sixth birthday. She had received an Ant Farm as a gift at Christmas but hadn't sent for the ants until just before her birthday. The ants arrived the same day we did. What excitement to open a package of ants and turn them loose in the ant farm.
Most of the ant farms I had seen consisted of sand, but not this one. It had a blue translucent gel material that had been developed by NASA. It seems they took some ants into space to see how they reacted to weightlessness and they needed a medium they could live in safely in space. So, this gel was developed. Anyway, we turned them loose. What an amazing sight.
The ants began running around the case in which they were placed. It looked like they were totally disorganized. But soon it became apparent that was not the case. Little balls of the blue gel began piling up on the surface. Looking closer, you could see the ants beginning to make their tunnels. There was an organization after all. Some did the digging with their mouth, laying aside small pieces of the gel, while others picked up the gel and took it away to pile it up out of the way of their tunnel. They worked and ran their little legs off to build their tunnels.
Within just a few hours they have dug 3-4 inches deep in two different tunnels. By the next morning they were connecting the tunnels. By he third day they had built additional tunnels, connected them, and built what looked like escape routes. And all the while, to a casual observer it looked like frantic, unorganized running here and there. But that wasn't the case at all. Those ants had Single Focused Determination (SFD). There was a synergistic team work, they worked in anticipation of future needs, they had initiative and motivation. There was a task to do and they did it.
Do you have SFD? Does your church have SFD? What should be the SFD of a local church?
A lot of distractions come to the life of the church. If we are not absolutely clear about our purpose/mission, we will become side-tracked by the distractions. I think it is possible to work hard without fulfilling any purpose/mission. I think I see churches doing that all the time.
It happens when we begin seeing activity as the purpose/mission of our church. We think we are successful because we had all these activities. But activity is not success. Fulfilling the purpose/mission is success. So the question is really, after all the activity, was there a SFD to accomplish the purpose/mission? An SFD asks not, "What can we do," but rather, "What should we do?" An SFD doesn't count activities, time and money, but measures how well we fulfill our purpose/mission. And it really takes an SFD to a purpose/mission if you are to accomplish what you say is important.
Those little ants were not deterred when we picked up their container. They were not deterred when we pressed our faces close to the sides. They were not deterred when a little six-year-old carried the thing around the house. They were not deterred when eight other children arrived for a birthday party and gathered around the ants screaming and laughing. They were not deterred! Why? They had SFD...a Single Focused Determination to accomplish their purpose/mission.
"Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest" (Proverbs 6:6-7).
April 18, 2007
The Resources Behind the Covenant
Here is another question that has come to me.
What are we getting if we sign the National Church Covenant?
I have been a licensed minister in this denomination since 1964. There is nothing in the covenant that I did not agree to when I was licensed and then ordained. It is odd to me that some pastors want to object to signing, but they still want to keep their license. The covenant is not just a one-way street, from the church to Huntington. There also must be a path back to the church from Huntington.
I really do believe that the denominational office exists as a resource to the local church. We exist for you, not the other way around. We provide some services, such as:
- In-depth weekend church assessments.
- Mentoring/coaching of senior leaders, church elders, boards, and staff.
- Helping pastors network.
- Leadership development (i.e. seminars and conferences).
- Pastoral placement services.
- Church multiplication/church planting.
- Counseling for pastors.
- Full service bookstore.
- Models of effective ministry.
- Helping pastors network with other like-minded churches.
- Helping churches and pastors partner with other churches in Global Ministry opportunities.
Most of the resources that we provide come with no cost attached. If you are participating by sending your 3.5%, our service to you is simply your "tax dollars at work." The only resource for which there is a cost is the material you order from our bookstore.
April 17, 2007
Triple R Trivia
In case you are curious, my initials are RRR, thus triple R. In case you're not curious, just don't bother reading this!
Anyway, here are two questions that came to my attention through the grapevine.
How available are you to our church?
I am as available as you want me to be. In other words, every church that has contacted me over the past two years with a request for my service received a response. Whether it was a phone conversation or a visit to a church, I have tried to be available. Now, my style is not to push myself into a church, but rather to respond to invitations and try to work out a mutually agreeable date. I heard someone say a long time ago, "If I'm too big for the small churches, then I'm too small for the large churches." I agree with that.
I realize I must provide balance to my job. A great deal of administration needs to happen at my desk. But part of the balance is being available to our churches. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not asking to come to any church, but merely responding to a question regarding my availability. I am simply a servant of the church. Now, make no mistake about it: if I come to your church, I will cast the vision God has given me for this denomination. If you don't know what that is by now, read the previous blog entry.
What if I am at a church that is not growing. Will I be replaced, moved, etc.? Do I have any job security?
It is no secret by now that I really do want to see the Church of the United Brethren grow. Does that mean that every church will grow? Probably not. Some are in very poor locations for growth, and if relocation is not feasible, then probably there will be no growth. Some are controlled by "church bosses" who are more interested in getting their way than reaching lost people. Unless the power block can be broken, probably there will be no growth. If you are a pastor at one of these churches and you are content to stay in that situation, then you'll probably be left alone.
What I really have a hard time understanding is why a pastor would be content to be in a situation like that. If you are, and you think you could lead a church to growth by reaching unchurched, then let me know. I'll try to get you slotted in a situation where you can make that happen.
If you are in a church that really would like to grow but your pastoral leadership is not making that happen, let me know. We will either work with the pastor to refocus the ministry to reach unchurched people or we will find another pastor.
I have come to the conclusion that not only are there churches that don't want to grow, but some pastors don't care if their church grows or not. I hope these two are together, because they deserve each other. But if there are pastors that really want to lead a growing ministry or if there are churches that really would like to have a growing ministry, I am committed to trying to resource both so that it can happen.
I guess here is my bottom line: if the church is not growing and the congregation and pastor are okay with that, I probably won't interfere. But if the church is not growing and either the congregation or pastor is not content with that, I will work to resource the church and/or restation the pastor. Of course, there are always cases where the pastor and congregation have a hard time getting along, be it personality, vision conflict, ineptness, poor performance, etc. Those would have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
But again, my bottom line is that I'd like to see as many of our churches as possible be growing by reaching the unchurched. I am not all that interested in growing by taking sheep from someone else's sheepfold.
I hope that answers some of the questions that have come to me "round about." By the way. I am pretty approachable. If you have a question, call me or email me.
Church Growth
I believe that healthy churches grow. I do not believe that every growing church is necessarily a healthy church. But healthy churches grow!
Tom Blaylock, our Director of Church Multiplication, recently sent me a review of the book, The Forgotten Ways, by Alan Hirsch. The author lists church growth principles if you want to grow a contemporary church. I don't believe he was referring to worship style, but simply a church in this contemporary society. He says there are several things you must do and constantly improve upon:
- Expand the building to allow for growth.
- Ensure excellent preaching in a contemporary style dealing with subjects that relate to the life of the hearers.
- Develop an inspiring worship experience by having an excellent band and positive worship leaders.
- Have excellent parking.
- Ensure excellent programs for children and youth (do so and people will put up with less elsewhere in the-mix).
- Develop a good program of cell groups built around a Christian education model to ensure pastoral care and a sense of community.
- Make sure that next week is better than last week, to keep people coming.
This might be a good checklist to evaluate your local church's ministry.
Just in case you have missed it, the vision of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ is to become a movement of churches that are changing their communities by seeing the unchurched become fully devoted followers of Jesus. To become a movement of churches that are growing because they are effectively reaching the unchurched. To become a movement of churches that are committed more to reaching the unchurched than they are to being churches filled with consumers. To become a movement of churches that are willing to risk everything to reach the unchurched, rather than be safe little communities that never risk anything. To become churches that resemble maternity wards rather than Intensive Care Units.
I said this before and I'll say it again, and again, and again until we get it: this is not about being big churches. Size is not the issue. Rather, the issue is effectiveness in reaching unchurched and seeing them become fully devoted followers of Jesus. Friends, we have little of this taking place within the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
But I sense a new, fresh breeze of the Holy Spirit beginning to blow across our Church. Some churches are getting it and doing something about it. We have churches that are doing it right, and they are not super churches. They are churches that were just like yours until they became convicted of their disobedience to God and the Great Commission.
Listen, if your church needs assistance in becoming a church that reaches the unchurched, I am willing to roll out the resources of this office to help you. If you're really not serious about making the changes necessary to reach unchurched, don't bother. But if you are, if you and your church are beginning to feel that holy discontent that you should be doing more but you don't know how, I think we can help you get refocused in your vision and mission. And the first step might just be making that call for help. Call my office at 260-356-2312 or email me.
Saddness
Just when you think nothing could happen that would shock you, something happens that is a tremendous shock. Of course I am talking about the shootings at Virginia Tech. While I don't know anyone who was shot, it still caused me a sense of great grief when I heard the news. We live in such a violent and depraved culture. My thoughts and prayers go out for the families and friends of those shot. I trust that you too will join me in praying for the families and friends as well as the administration and faculty of Virginia Tech.
Thank You!
April 9, 2007
Registrations Surpass 700!
Registrations for the US National Conference now stand at 715, which is pretty incredible. Unfortunately, this means we outgrew the accommodations available at Sawmill Creek. However, a number of hotels are located within just a few miles, and we have secured rooms from several different hotels (two of which have their own waterparks!).
If you still need to register, contact Administrative Assistant Marsha Biard about lodging. The rates vary, depending on the motel. Contact Marsha by email or by calling our toll-free number: 888-622-3019.
Thus far, people from 123 of our 210 United States churches have registered (plus two churches in Canada).
A number of churches have either not submitted the National Church Covenant, have not submitted their 2006 report, or have not reported their election results. Here's a list of those churches. If you feel your church is listed here by mistake, let us know. If it's listed there and not by mistake...then Bishop Ramsey is waiting to hear from you.