NEW EYE-OPENING NATIONAL CHURCH STATS

Before the quarantine, the median worship attendance was 65. Today it is 55. In 2000, the median worship attendance was 137. In 2010 it was 105. In 2020 it was 65. Today it is 55. Median worship attendance has declined by 60% in two decades.

1. The occupancy rate of worship centers was 33% before the quarantine. Today it is 28%. The median size of a worship center is 200. If the church has more than one service, the occupancy rate is even lower.
   

2. The median year of church founding was 1950 before the quarantine. That has not changed. Simply stated, we have not started enough churches to move the median founding date significantly in many years. New churches and new sites are imperative strategies for churches today.
   

3. The median income of churches was $120,000 before the quarantine. That has not changed.
   

4. The percentage of churches with an attendance under 100 before the quarantine was 65%. Today it is 75%. As a point of comparison, the percentage of churches with an attendance under 100 in 2000 was 45%. We are fast becoming a nation of small churches.

Developing Leaders

Listen, nothing is going to work in your church if EVERYTHING has to go through you.

Like sands sifting through an hourglass, you will become the middle squeeze that slows everything down.

In Numbers 11, Moses grew frustrated in leadership. He even started to see his people as a BURDEN instead of a BLESSING!

If that's you, it's time to develop more leaders:

• Carve out strategic time to take out an emerging leader for coffee and pour into them.

• Film a quick 2 minute video on one big idea and post it in a private Facebook Group for your invite-only leaders.

• Remember that when I do a job for others, I take a job from others!

If you're waiting around for "the right people" to appear in your church, well, keep waiting.

Because the nasty little secret is that "the right people" are actually FOUND and DEVELOPED!

You can do it, I can help.

Hit me up at https://ChurchGrowth.Network and see what God can do through you!

PUTTING DOWN THE HAMMER

Reading Luke at the moment. Gotta love Jesus.

Puts down the hammer aged 30 (Luke 3:23) and, in his distinctive northern accent announces he's the long hoped for Messiah (4:21). He's like a car mechanic from rural Ukraine telling the crowd he's destined for world domination.

In Luke 5 he starts recruiting for his kingdom and heads straight for the docks to head hunt a few unsuccessful fishermen, next a leper, then a paralysed man, then the most despised wretch in the region, a tax collector. The religious authorities object but he brushes them off.

"I'm not here to police spiritual health," he says, "I'm a doctor for the sick." And on he goes, doing his rounds, healing the sick, forgiving sinners, lifting the lowly and blasting the lofty. They eventually catch up with him and do their worst but he doesn't make a peep.

He spreads his arms to the world, bleeds for his enemies, prays "Father, forgive" and he's dead and buried aged 33. Turns out though the Jesus movement did not die. Far from it. Turns out a carpenter from Nazareth has done exactly what he said he'd do: take over the world.

Don't know if you believe in miracles but 'water into wine' has nothing on this. How do you turn godforsaken execution into world domination? Whatever you think of miracles, Jesus has pulled off a marvel far greater than water into wine.

Christianity rose from death in the first century. To believe that Christ himself rose is not to add to the list of improbable events you affirm. It is to explain events that would otherwise be baffling. The man on that cross has built our world—we can see that culturally.

We live inside that miracle today. And Christians say: He made our world because he is Maker. And what a Maker!—a carpenter from Nazareth surrounded by nobodies and no-hopers. But his movement grows today. He's still recruiting. Pick up Luke and read. The Doctor will see you.

- Glen Scrivener

LOVING THE DYING

Last Spring I started serving as a Hospice Chaplain in addition to serving at Life Church. With my ADHD, choosing to do chaplaincy visitations is not my strongest gifting. It’s part of a huge shift I’ve intentionally made in my life and leadership.

My reasons for serving the terminally ill and dying in this way is two-fold. The first reason is because I have felt deeply challenged by Bob Goff to live out Matthew 25: “Love is sacrifice and commitment. Jesus wants us to love hungry people, thirsty people, naked people, sick people, strange people and people in jail. That’s it. That’s what I’m trying to do. It’s a weird business card. I want to help people.”

One way Amber have lived this out over the years is by adopting five infants and creating a new kind of family. Now I am embracing hospice chaplaincy to also live out Matthew 25 in my own life. By holding the hand of an elderly, declining patient with Alzheimer’s, I am (hopefully) being Jesus to them in their final weeks of life.

The second reason for this big shift in my life springs out of my own struggles with depression and loneliness. Over the past two years, all of my closest friends have either died or ditched me. Literally. It’s been brutal. As I’ve sought God in prayer and through Scripture during this season of being alone, I’ve sensed the Spirit telling me to focus on others who truly experience deep loneliness: the dying.

What I’ve discovered along the way is that we all can slow down and spend time listening to people who are not like us, especially when they are unable to leave their homes or their assisted-living facilities. There is a special grace to be experienced in simply being present for patients and compassionately listening.

I hope that this small new endeavor spreads love and hope into the lives of those facing hospice care in our area. And I hope to find healing in my own heart as I continue to extend a hand in love.

3 WAYS TO BECOME AN INSPIRATIONAL LEADER

Are you an inspirational leader?
There are three steps you can take right now to become more inspirational:

#1 = Lead with the why
People need to know the purpose behind the work. Particularly over the past few years, team members have determined that they want to give their lives to something that matters.

#2 = Celebrate progress
Look back. Make sure everyone on the team knows that you see what they’ve done well.
It’s easy to point out flaws (and, for certain, we should coach our team and help make everyone better at what they do), but true leadership entails so much more.

#3 = Encourage the team
That is, breathe life into them. Be the wind in their sails.
Remind them that you are for them— both personally and professionally.

4 THINGS WE OWE OUR TEAM

We often think about what our team owes us -- what we expect from them.

But there are four things we owe them, as well:

1) GRACE: Not expecting them to be perfect.

2) HONESTY: Shooting straight and being transparent.

3) PROPER PLACEMENT: A place where they can thrive.

4) PRAYER: This opens our hearts to them and provides wisdom and insight to love them.

IMPROVISE - ADAPT - OVERCOME

Marines get stuff done.
They face impossible missions yet always prevail.

2 Timothy 2:1-6 tells leaders to think like a Marine.

During a recent Leadership Coaching Session, I shared 8 Leadership Lessons from the Marine Corp: Common Sense Principles for Success.

I hope these 8 Leadership Lessons encourage you and your team to fearlessly lead your church to grow!

KEEPING IT R.E.A.L.

KEEPING IT R.E.A.L.

I recently learned this acronym from a leader I’ve looked up to for as long as I can remember. He says that everything he does, he does through the lens of R.E.A.L. It stands for Relationship, Equipping, Attitude, and Leadership. Let’s explore how to lead and live life through this lens.

R - Relationship
VALUE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS
All of life flows from relationships. You can’t do life RIGHT if you do people WRONG. Protect your relationships, treat everyone with kindness, and make it easy for others to be your friend.

E - Equipping
LIVE A LIFE OF EQUIPPING OTHERS
Your values must be aligned with your behavior. You can say equipping people is your value, but how are you showing it? Remember, you are equipped to resource people!

A - Attitude
SURRENDER YOUR ATTITUDE TO JESUS
We’ve heard it before, but it’s so true - your attitude determines your altitude. Ask yourself today: am I known for having a great attitude?

L - Leadership
BE A LEADER THAT EMPOWERS OTHERS
Everything rises and falls on leadership. Work to build leaders, not followers. Leaders are built when they are empowered and given authority. Successful leadership says more about the leader when they are gone than when they are present.

Ask yourself: how am I doing in these 4 areas?
I know I have work to do in each one, but I’m making the choice to lead from the lens of R.E.A.L.!