Bill Easums Observations

Church planters spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on starting a new church; work 70-80 hours a week putting butts in the seats. And when it comes to spending a couple of thousand a year for a coach, they balk.

I can’t tell you how many stories I could tell about church planters trying to go it alone without a coach to save a buck.  The stories are legion.

One tried to plant without anyone to lead worship. Another tried to rent without someone responsible for the set up and take down.  Another tried to do a capital campaign without outside help. The list goes on and on and on.

The same is true for pastor trying to transform or grow a church.  You hear stories of these great mega pastors who do it without help. The problem is not everyone is a super hero. Most of us need the wisdom of people who have gone before.  And if the truth be known, most mega church pastors had a coach somewhere in their history.

What a shame it is to try to save a buck when a coach is an investment in your future.  A good coach can save you many times over what you invest in them.

I remember brining Lyle Schaller into my church in 1982.  It changed the whole direction of my ministry. Then there was the time I brought in Kennon Callahan.  Both of them had a part in the growth of the church I served for 24 years.

Folks, get a coach!

Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com

I just started reading “The Long View” by Roger Parrott and the title of the first chapter caught my attention and says so much about why United Methodism (and many other groups) is in deep trouble. The chapter title is “Lead as if you’ll be there forever.”  In such a fast changing world one of the worse practices on earth is the way United Methodist pastors are moved around every few years.  It didn’t matter on the fronteir when the itinerant system was created, but today, short term pastors are one of the primary reasons the UMC has declined to the point that it is producing short term, short-sighted, leaders.

Consider what happens when the congregation knows the pastor won’t be with them long:

1. Why should we listen to him or her when we know they will be gone in a few years?
2. This is my church and I’ll do what I please.
3. How do we know we can trust this person?
4. Well, it’s just another program de jure.

Consider what goes on in the mind of the short term pastor.

1. There’s no use fighting that battle; I’ll just wait it out and move on.
2. Why should I try to turn this ship around; the next person will just grow it back to where it was.
3. I can’t wait to get out of here and get a real church.
4. As soon as I move I can start preaching the same sermons over again.
5. I wonder where I’ll be sent next year (its only 10 months till moving time).

Pastors, if you don’t do anything else – LEAD AS IF YOU’LL BE THERE FOREVER!

For a long time I’ve taught there are only two critical questions facing humankind:

1. What is it about my relationship to Christ that my neighbor needs to experience;
2. How can I rabidly share that relationship without coming off like a bigot?

Len Sweet and Frank Viola have made a major contribution to these two questions in their book, Jesus Manifesto. It’s a brilliant work of art.

The best way to know to showcase this art is by sharing a few of the quotes that captured my heart.

“The best way to combat conflict is to preach the unspeakable riches of Christ.”
“Jesus is seldom the main course (Speaking of most Christians).”
“Our goal is not to imitate Christ but to acknowledge that he dwells in us.”
“It’s not what Jesus would do but what is Christ doing through me.”
“Christlikeness is too small and cheap a dream.”
“The gospel is not the imitation of Christ; it is the impartation and implantation of Christ.”
“”Follow me’ is what separated Jesus from the other world religions.”
“Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.”
“Jesus Christ has never been a social activist or a moral philosopher. To pitch Him that way is to drain His glory and dilute His excellence.”
“We must never avoid social issues. But the distinctive mark of a Christian is that you don’t begin with a social or moral issue.”
“Jesus is never a cause.”
“But the social and political reform of the world through the powers that be has never been the agenda of the body of Christ.”
“We have too many people loving justice when they should be loving mercy – and doing justice.”
“Jesus was not known for His love of justice but for His love of mercy.”
“We would be wise to remember that the best we can do is change the world; only Jesus can save the world.”
“Our ‘hunger for justice’ is best turned into a hunger for the Just One, and going deeper in Him and in relationship with others.”

I could go on but you get the picture- the gospel is not about causes or imitating Christ or even being like Christ.  The gospel is about falling in love with the crucified beauty and glory of Christ in such a way that he lives in us. It’s not a matter of imitation- Christ actually lives in us- that is the hope of glory. It’s one thing to be on a crusade or to beat the drum of a cause or even to be in ministry because of some ill-founded belief that a cause is worth giving one’s life for; it’s a far different thing to give ones life to a love that is profound that it consumes the self with the presence of Christ.

This is a excellent book that could change the hearts of even the most calcified church member.

Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com

By Bill Easum

The average church in the U.S. is under a hundred in worship. Churches with less than 50 people in worship make up 40% of all churches in the U.S. The average age in these churches with less than 50 people in worship is over 65. Add to that less than 2% of these churches are growing and you have a formula for major disaster over the next fifteen years for 40% of all the churches in the U.S.

If there is to be any hope for the vast majority of these churches radical action must be undertaken within the next few years or most of them will go out of existence. So, I am suggesting a “Hail Mary Strategy” for these churches.  You get the image. It’s the last five seconds of the football game; your team is down by six points; and you are on your own 45 yard line.  Only a touchdown will allow you to win the game. So you call the play and launch the ball as high and as far as you can hoping beyond hope the ball will come to rest in the arms of your receiver somewhere over the goal line.

So the question is this – “Will the leaders of your church wake up to the fact that the church is in serious trouble and the only way to move it from survival to thriving is by starting over?”

Starting over means the following based on the “Hail Mary Strategy.”

• Find a way to have a full time pastor/planter who will commit for three years . I know you can’t afford this at the moment but you must find a way or you will continue to decline. A part time pastor does not have the time to do all that is necessary to restart a church.

• Suspend all of the present ways/policies/hidden agendas/system stories regarding decision making and day to day running the church and allow the pastor and a launch team to give direction to the church during the three years. This also means disbanding all of the existing committees and the Administrative Council.

• Do away with the present mission statement and come up with one that a six year old can remember as well as short enough to be written on a t-shirt.

• Allow the pastor to bring together and disciple/equip a re-launch team of a seven people and give them full authority to make all of the decisions for the next three years.  These people need to have four faith characteristics: one, a renewed belief in Jesus Christ and the mission of the church; two, a servant’s heart; three a deep compassion for the lost; and four, a more focused prayer effort.

• The pastor should be personally responsible for spending 80% of his or her time in the community, dreaming up ways to reach the unchurched, and responding to the visitors to worship. I’ve never seen a church this size grow without the pastor being the direct cause of the growth. Just think how it would change the church if the pastor personally brought in fifty new members over the next eighteen months?

• Begin an indigenous worship service designed specifically for people 25-50 which means rock music and tons of visuals.

• The pastor must find a musician who believes in the mission and is willing to give his or her time to developing the music and musicians for this service. I know you don’t have a clue how to do this but you get what you look for and if part of the 80% of the time the pastor is spending on the unchurched is devoted to finding this person the pastor will find them.  These people are out there waiting to be asked to play in worship rather in the bar scene.

• Send out six off-the-wall direct mail pieces to all the households with five miles of the church announcing the start of the new worship service.  These mail out pieces will focus on two things- a new service and a new sermon series designed to catch the imagination of the people under 50 years of age. It must not look churchy.

• Develop one or two signature ministries.  Churches with less than 300 in worship can only do one or two key ministries. I suggest one of these be a children’s ministry fashioned after Promise Land from Willow Creek. You will not be able to afford  to purchase it, but you can easily put your own program together once you understand the basics.

• Keep the present worship service intack for the present members. These folks have kept the church open all these years and need to be honored for their commitment. What I am suggesting in no way diminishes their past or future contributions to the God’s Kingdom.

• Have a capital fund drive to raise enough money to accomplish the above. One of the roles of the present members will be to “pray and pay” for what needs to be done to reach young adults for Christ and cause your church to thrive once again. With a solid plan in place you can probably borrow more from your bank.  This should be more than enough money to do what is necessary.  Now you see why I call this a “Hail Mary” strategy. But it works if you have the right planter/restart/pastor.

The one thing you know for sure; if you keep doing what you’ve been doing you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting. Surely you’re not satisfied with that.  So roll the dice; spend everything you have; and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, it just means you’ll close the doors a few years sooner and with a lot less grief.

www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com
www.BillEasum.com

Ever so often I read a book and say to myself  “I wish I had written that.”  So it is with Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne. It’s Larry’s best book to date and one of the best  books I’ve read on how to build strong, trusting Boards and Staffs.  Sticky Teams is a down to earth, no fluff, nuts and bolts book. It’s a quick read and practical to the bone.  Osborne shares many of his own mistakes and passes on the learning that came from them. I’ll say it again, “This is one book I wish I had written.”

Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com