Many of my creative church friends believe that starting a new church from scratch sounds more appealing that serving a congregation with long-established patterns, a 1950s DNA, and sacred cows that nobody wants to send out to pasture.
Planting new churches is hard. Having said this, I hope you’ll join me at the Church Planters Academy in Minneapolis May 3-5 if God is calling you to start something new.
Serving established churches is hard. Having said this, I’ve witnessed some Tiny Steps Towards Transformation over the past few months:
- I preached in a lovely but struggling church recently, offering some words that – the pastor later shared – would have been totally rejected if I’d preached the same sermon 5 years ago. Hearing it in 2012 made them feel energized rather than angry or anxious. The wild and crazy message? That churches focusing on the ABCs (attendance, building, and cash) as their building blocks are dying. But the churches that are focusing on the NOPs (neighborhood, organizational structure, paradigm shift) are growing.
- At a church Session meeting recently, a new elder introduced herself by explaining how meaningful her ministry is. Nobody prompted her to describe her church work as ministry; she already saw it that way. Elder by elder described her/his work in that congregation as ministry. This would not be happening in a dying church.
- A church pastor nominating committee is looking at some creative models for ministry in their new pastoral leadership. “Maybe we’ll look at a co-pastor team,” they’ve shared. “We like the idea of a seasoned pastor working with a college or seminary student serving as partners in ministry.” We’re talking about a traditional, old-fashioned congregation here, but they are looking at fresh possibilities for leadership.
There are signs of hope for followers of Jesus all around.
The image is from Presbygrow.
A Church for Starving Artists 