Does Your Church Have a Sabbatical Leave Policy?

By Charles Arn

“I recommend that all full-time pastors and staff receive a three-month paid sabbatical every six or seven years.”

The role of pastor is extremely stressful. In effect, he/she is never off duty. This long-term stress takes a toll emotionally, spiritually and physically. Churches that want to keep their pastor for many years must provide him/her with a season of rest. I recommend that all full-time pastors and staff receive a three-month paid sabbatical every six or seven years.
The Battle Wounded …
Consider the following statistics[i]:

• 23 percent of pastors have been fired or pressured to resign at least once in their careers.
• 25 percent of pastors don’t know where to turn when they have a family or personal issue.
• 45 percent of pastors say that they have experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence.
• 56 percent of pastors’ spouses say that they have no close friends.
• 70 percent don’t have any close friends.
• 75 percent report severe stress causing anguish, worry, bewilderment, anger, depression, fear and alienation.
• 80 percent say they have insufficient time with their spouse.
• 80 percent believe that pastoral ministry affects their families negatively.
• 90 percent work more than 50 hours a week.
• 94 percent feel under pressure to have a perfect family.
• 1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to burnout, conflict or moral failure.

Time for Some R & R …
Universities and colleges have given professors sabbaticals for many years. Originally modeled on the biblical cycle of work and rest, professors receive a sabbatical for research, writing, travel and rest every seven years.
Many churches today find that by providing a regular sabbatical for their pastors, they are able to keep them for a longer period of time. And, as I mentioned in an earlier article here, there is a direct relationship between pastoral longevity and church growth.
Two Examples …
A number of books, articles, and examples are available to help you avoid re-inventing the wheel in developing a policy. Google: “pastoral sabbatical policy” and you will find over 3,700 hits. Here are two examples of churches’ sabbatical policies:
Example #1
Personal development leave is for professional growth that will benefit our church.

• Leave accrues at 1.5 weeks per year of service.
• A pastor must serve a minimum of two years before scheduling a study leave.
• All personal development leave must be scheduled and approved by the church Council. The Administrative Committee will make a recommendation based upon a review of all the pastor’s schedules and the purpose of the leave with the assurance that all ministries will be properly carried on.
• A pastor will serve a minimum of six months following the use of any personal development leave.
• Accrued personal development leave is forfeited when a pastor resigns. The church Council may waive this in the case of a tendered resignation.

Example #2
Sabbatical leave may be granted to full-time pastoral staff members for the pursuit of activities as approved by the Council of Elders. The following stipulations and requirements will apply:

• Sabbaticals may be approved for six months at the culmination of each seven years of full-time ministry at the church. Each staff member may apply vacation time earned to extend his/her leave to a maximum of one month.
• Full salary and benefits will be paid during the leave.
• A detailed proposal for use of a sabbatical leave will be presented to the Council of Elders at the time of application for leave. Applications should be presented six months prior to expected leave. The council has the right to deny leave for sabbaticals it feels does not meet its approval.
• The intent of sabbatical leave is to further the ministry of our church.
• Upon returning, the staff member taking a sabbatical leave will give a report to the Council of Elders on what was achieved during the leave.

Conclusion
Each year your church should put aside an amount equivalent to one-twelfth of the pastor’s annual salary to cover the salary during the sabbatical leave. The seventh year of a pastor’s tenure is often one of mental and spiritual fatigue. By allowing the pastor to take a three-month sabbatical at this time, the pastor’s life will be re-energized, which will have a positive impact on the church’s ministry, as well.  

Charles Arn is Visiting Professor of Outreach at the new Wesley Seminary (Marion, IN). He has written twelve books in the field of congregational health and growth, including What Every Pastor Should Know (2013) and Side Door (2013). More from Charles Arn or visit Charles at http://seminary.indwes.edu/

Lazy Busy: Unmasking the Deadly Sin of Sloth

By Tony Reinke

Provided by

 

“This is sloth at its deadly best: trying to preserve personal comforts through the candy of endless amusements.”

My children love the zoo. Surrounded by the concrete wilderness, there comes over them a sudden instinct to act and speak and even gyrate in ways that are animal-like. It’s an exercise in mimicry and communication.
Children love connecting with wild beasts—so they slam their little hands on the glass, rattle cages and make all those goofy noises. It’s an attempt to draw the notice of animals. And, of course, the beasts that respond are the crowd favorites.
Even if it’s just a lion simply staring into your eyes for three seconds through glass, that’s a chilling victory. That’s a connection that satisfies a child’s primitive longing to connect with a ferocious and deadly animal.

The Sloth

Not so with the sloth. The sloth is an ugly, gangly, hairy thing, with long legs and arms, and stretched, yellow claws. It just hugs a tree. Minds its own business. Bothered by nothing. Tuned into nothing. Sorry kids, there will be no engagement, no meeting of the minds. The sloth is napping. Again.
The Bible does not paint a more flattering picture of the sloth in our lives. The biblical images and slogans are unforgettable:

• If a man doesn’t work, neither should he eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
• “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways.” (Proverbs 6:6)
• The sluggard doesn’t get out of bed; he just flops like a wet fish—or a rusty door hinge. (Proverbs 26:14)
• The sluggard puts his hand in his food but lacks the motivation to get it to his face. (Proverbs 26:15)
• And like the old Minneapolis Metrodome in a historic blizzard, the sluggard’s roof sags and sinks down, and rain pours in on his head. (Ecclesiastes 10:18)

These are the common pictures of sloth: flat, idle, unresponsive.
Sloth devastates lives, slowly and subtly. And it hides in two misleading stereotypes.

Clarification #1: Sloth is a sin of desire.

It may not seem to be the case, but sloth is a sin of desire.

• Proverbs 13:4: “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing.”
• Proverbs 21:25–26: “The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. All day long he craves and craves.”

All of us are craving, desiring, wanting people, and no less is this true of the sloth.

Clarification #2: Slothfulness thrives in busyness.

This shocking manifestation of sloth is what I call the zombie. The slothful zombie may live a very busy life, but he does just enough to get things done, so he can get back to enjoying his comforts. Duties are what he performs, but comfort is what he craves. The zombie lives his routine in a fog, sleepwalking between weekends.
Frederick Buechner writes this of the zombie:

Sloth is not to be confused with laziness. A slothful man may be a very busy man. He is a man who goes through the motions, who flies on automatic pilot. Like a man with a bad head cold, he has mostly lost his sense of taste and smell … people come and go, but through glazed eyes he hardly notices them. He is letting things run their course. He is getting through his life.

Richard John Neuhaus defines contemporary sloth as “evenings without number obliterated by television, evenings neither of entertainment nor of education, but a narcotic defense against time and duty.”
This is sloth at its deadly best: trying to preserve personal comforts through the candy of endless amusements. Sloth is a chronic quest for worldly comfort that compounds boredom—boredom with God, boredom with people, boredom with life.
The most common species of slothfulness is “lazy busy”—a full schedule endured in a spiritual haze, begrudging interruptions, resenting needy people, driven by a craving for the next comfort. It is epidemic in our day.

Defining Sloth

Sloth is a craving for personal comfort at all costs. And it is costly:

• Sloth will cost you joy in God, in your daily routines.
• Sloth will blind you to how God designed vocation as a means for you to love others.
• Sloth will blind you to the needs you can fill.
• Sloth will cost you your love for the local church.
• Sloth will dull you with endless amusements.
• Sloth will blind you to your urgent need for Christ.
• Sloth will close your eyes to the wonder and beauty of Jesus Christ.
• Sloth will mute your worship.
• Sloth will rob you of true leisure and refreshment.
• Sloth will kill your richest joys.

The sloth is a comfort control-freak—an illusion of power that robs all our true joy.

Freed From Sloth

There is hope for a “lazy busy” sloth like me. I have hope because God hates my sloth.
Sloth tells me all things should work together for my comfort. God says, I will work all things together for your good (Romans 8:28). Huge difference.
Being comforted is not the same thing as being made comfortable. God is not in the business of making us comfortable. Eternally safe in Christ? Yes. Free from his wrath? Yes. Victorious over sin? Amen. But comfortable? No.
Human beings were never designed to flourish in a state of permanent vacation. That promise is a sham.
In love, God will remove comforts from our lives, which is the essence of trials. When we get overly comfortable with something, we start to sink into spiritual slumber. And then lightning falls from the sky. The comfort is taken away, and we are jolted back to spiritual alertness.
Through trials, God says, “I love you enough to remove the comforts you crave to make room for the joy in Christ you need.” God is in control. That’s our comfort.
The glorious truth is that in Christ we have been freed from the dominion of sloth. No longer does the addiction to comfort rule over us. No! We are free in Christ. We don’t sleep all day trying to find joy. That’s suicide. We don’t live in a zombie-like fog, just shuffling toward the next day off, the next vacation, the next escape. No! We are freed to enjoy Jesus now, in daily sacrifice.  

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Tony Reinke contributed a chapter on sloth in the book Killjoys: The Seven Deadly Sins. Electronic versions of the book are free of charge at desiringGod.org. Print copies are available through Amazon.
Killjoys was written to lead you deeper in love with our God and further into war against your sin. Pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust are woefully inadequate substitutes for the wonder, beauty and affection of God. This short message was part of the 2015 Conference for Pastors. Also in this series:

• Lust: You Can Say No to Porn
• Gluttony: America’s Most Tolerated Sin
• Greed: How to Fight Dragon-Sickness

Tony Reinke serves as the editorial and research assistant to C.J. Mahaney. He wrote a book called Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books (Crossway). It will be published in September 2011. In the book he addresses four main topics: (1) why Christians prioritize book reading in the first place, (2) how to personally select the best books to read, (3) tips and tricks on how to go about reading them, and (4) how to overcome common challenges to book reading. More from Tony Reinke or visit Tony at http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/

5 Reasons a Church or Organization Stops Growing

By Ron Edmondson

“God is ultimately in charge of a church’s growth.”

I was talking with a church recently that had explosive growth, but things have slowed. They wanted to know why they were not growing any longer.

Honestly, I don’t know. There are probably different reasons for every church that stops growing.
But this church is seeking answers. So I decided to share some thoughts to consider. And I’m sharing them here.
Obviously, God is ultimately in charge of a church’s growth. There are times when God is giving a season of rest and preparation for a church for something to come. In some situations, God may have even taken His hand from the church.
God is into church growth, however. I’m convinced He likes it when a church grows.
It’s our mission as believers to produce disciples, and our model example of the first-century church was a growing church, so outside the God factor, there are usually reasons for stagnation in a church. Because the church is an organization made up of people, these reasons are often similar to those you may find true as to why growth stalls in the life of an organization also.
In my experience, the are some common variables when growth stalls.

Here are five suggestions:

You get comfortable.
It’s OK to be comfortable, but when you hang out there too long, it can be dangerous because you stop trying new things to spur growth and excitement.
You quit dreaming.
Dreams inspire, challenge and grow people and organizations. What could the church accomplish to reach its community? You’ll never dream bigger than the dreams God has for you or your church.
You stop taking risks.
You can’t succeed at anything without a measure of risk. Playing it safe never grows anything. The call of God always involves risk-taking.
You start maintaining.
When you fall into the mode of protecting what you have, you’ll be less likely to encourage growth for fear of losing ground.
You fail to walk by faith.
Especially for the church—we are a faith-based organization. If you aren’t walking by faith in what you are doing, it is impossible to please God. (That’s biblical. Look it up!)
Those are my quick thoughts.
Obviously, there is so much more to this issue and to each one of these answers. These are general responses, and there are specific issues with every church or organization. Hopefully thinking through each of these as a paradigm for brainstorming may help trigger thoughts toward actions that can spur future growth.
But I’ve also learned that activity leads to activity. Maybe just having the discussions will begin to stir new momentum. Pray hard and ask God to stir big.
What would you add?  

Ron Edmondson is a pastor and church leader passionate about planting churches, helping established churches thrive, and assisting pastors and those in ministry think through leadership, strategy and life. Ron has over 20 years business experience, mostly as a self-employed business owner, and he's been helping church grow vocationally for over 10 years. More from Ron Edmondson or visit Ron at http://www.ronedmondson.com/

10 Joy-Stealers in Ministry

10 Joy-Stealers in Ministry (and How to Get It Back)

By Thom Rainer

 

“If we focus on these joy stealers, they will indeed take away our joy. But if we keep our focus on Christ, our joy can never be taken away.”

I know. There are many unhappy ministers in our local churches. Such is not a judgmental statement, but a statement of reality. Indeed, I count myself among those who have struggled with joy in ministry on more than one occasion.
In this post, I share 10 of the most common reasons pastors and other church staff members lose their joy in ministry. But I don’t want to just dwell on the negative. Next to each reason, I offer suggestions to counter these joy-stealers. Indeed, I have learned both the reasons for joy-stealers and the reasons joy returns largely from you readers. Over the past few years, you have been my teachers in many ways. I am so grateful for you.
What are the joy-stealers? Even more importantly, what are pastors and other church staff doing to recapture their joy? Here are 10 common responses.

1. Seeing the underbelly of Christian ministry. Christian ministry means working with sinners just like you and me. It’s often not a pretty sight to see what we see in local churches. And while we don’t condone sin, let’s learn to demonstrate grace and love like Jesus did and does.
2. Constant criticisms (“death by a thousand cuts”). I received my first criticism as a pastor on my third day of ministry. I was crushed. May we be men and women who seek to please God instead of people. And may He give us the strength to be godly and gracious when we do receive criticisms.
3. Fighting among Christians. A non-Christian recently told me that he has been observing Christians on blogs and social media the past several months. He said: “You Christians are some of the meanest people I’ve ever known.” Ouch. We will know Christlike joy when we act like Him, and not like the world.
4. Busyness that turns to prayerlessness. We will always lose our joy when we neglect our time in prayer. When we pray, we are connected to the Source of all joy. If we are too busy to pray, we are too busy.
5. Unreasonable work hours. Many in Christian ministry become workaholics to the detriment of their families and themselves. It is ultimately our choice and our responsibility to have a balanced life. When we don’t, the joy goes away.
6. Attacks on our family. This is an especially difficult joy-stealer, because we sometimes feel powerless when it happens. Be even more diligent in prayer to seek His wisdom. Let your family know they come first. Confront the perpetrator, if necessary. But do this all in a spirit of prayer and love.
7. Sour staff relations. Anecdotally, I believe this joy stealer is present in over half of our churches. It is your responsibility to be gracious, to be a reconciler and to be a peacemaker. If relationships are still sour, you have done all you can. Your joy comes from the Lord, not the other church staff.
8.  Inwardly focused church. A church that focuses most ministries and activities on the members and not those beyond the church becomes stale and self-serving. You must get your joy in the Lord by reaching out to others, regardless of what others in the church do.
9.  Lack of respect in the community and culture. Up until about 1990, most ministers were respected, if not revered, in their communities. That reality is shifting dramatically in most communities today. Remember again, your joy does not come from the approval of men and women in the community. 
10.  Entitlement mentality among some church members. A number of church members view the church as a country club where they pay dues to get what they want. Your responsibility as a minister in the church is to serve all people in the name of Christ. In doing so, you will find His joy. But that does not mean you have to yield to the demands of selfish whiners.
There are definitely two common themes in this article. First, ministry in the church is not easy. It’s been that way for 2,000 years. Second, if we focus on these joy-stealers, they will indeed take away our joy. But if we keep our focus on Christ, our joy can never be taken away.
Let me hear from you. What are some joy-stealers you have encountered in ministry? How did you get your joy back?  

Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources (LifeWay.com). Among his greatest joys are his family: his wife Nellie Jo; three sons, Sam, Art, and Jess; and six grandchildren. He was founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His many books include Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, The Unexpected Journey, and Breakout Churches. More from Thom Rainer or visit Thom at http://www.thomrainer.com

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Where Radical Multiplication Begins

Where Radical Multiplication Begins

4 soul-searching questions for leaders bent on moving from envisioned reality to tangible impact

Bill Couchenour

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A church with an addition strategy vs. a church with a multiplication strategy. The difference between the two is distinct.
Unfortunately, we have so few churches engaging in real multiplication that they’re difficult to find. Instead, we hold up churches that do addition really, really well and mistake that for multiplication. When we look at those churches that are best at addition, we see something that’s bigger, bolder and sometimes better–but not really different from other churches with an addition strategy.

What got us here…

We do have at least one way to distinguish between an addition-strategy church and one that’s experiencing radical multiplication. It’s the presence or absence of a mathematical term called an asymptote, which just means “limit” or “barrier”–the idea that in nature, each successive cycle of input effort must work even harder to produce the same output result as the previous cycle. The asymptote physically acts like a buffer or limit to suppress the output.
Take this concept to a church context. Say you’re employing a multisite strategy. The first limits you bump up against might be leadership capacity and finances. You push through those limits and successfully launch your first campus. Now you’re ready for your second and third site, but soon find that launching these sites requires even more effort than the first site. Again, you successfully push through that barrier; now you’re ready for your fourth site. But the fourth adds a whole other level of leadership and management complexity you never expected.
In other words, what got us to where we are now is not going to get us to where we need to go. With addition-growth, there will always be another barrier to confront and conquer.
But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if your church launched a multisite campus that, in turn, developed its own leaders that birthed another site and planted churches? And what if that granddaughter site began to birth campuses that birthed campuses and planted churches? Now, you’ve got real traction and viral impact. Because your church is multiplying itself without barriers or limits (in the absence of an asymptote), radical multiplication is taking place. Pretty beautiful idea, right? Makes me think of a church 2,000 years ago that spread like wildfire.
However, I don’t think this kind of radical multiplication going forward is just an idea or a previous anomaly. I actually think we’re looking at a coming reality.

The battle for a new reality

This new reality will first need to exist in the minds and hearts of leaders. To imagine and envision a new future, leaders must fundamentally challenge the underlying assumptions in today’s common approaches to growing the church.
Making this mental paradigm shift is only the first step leading to a stream of potential changes in how we release and deploy people for ministry; how we distribute resources; and how we measure success. And no doubt, these kinds of changes will spawn multiplication tensions. Wrestling with these resulting tensions is where the battle for a new reality of radical multiplication will be won or lost.
Consider this example from a multisite scenario. In all likelihood, a multisite church would value sending and releasing over gathering and accumulating people. But how well we do at gathering and accumulating is still the primary means of church effectiveness and impact, especially among media gatekeepers. The primary distinctions of churches appearing on Top 10, Top 50 and Top 100 lists include size (attendance) and growth rate. We don’t really measure a church’s sending capacity (although in most cases, sending will ultimately yield greater Kingdom impact). This skewed scoreboard creates tensions for the leader committed to multiplication. Just ask any of the eBook authors in Exponential’s multiplication series.
In his Exponential eBook, Flow, Larry Walkemeyer focuses in on the personal walls he had to get over to become a multiplying leader. Walkemeyer points out that wrestling with these internal questions raises internal questions:

• Am I willing to give up potential notoriety?
• Do I really believe God will provide for and sustain us if we send our best leaders?
• Can I be okay with other churches seemingly growing larger than us because our growth is measured differently?
• Am I willing to share my dominion?

These questions bring to the surface our personal struggles with pride and ego, fear and unbelief, competition and comparison, and authority and control.
But when that battle is fought and won in the minds and hearts of leaders, the envisioned reality becomes a tangible one with the potential to make a real difference for the Kingdom.
I like what Exponential Director Todd Wilson says in the Exponential eBook, Spark: Igniting a Culture of Multiplication. Addressing the multisite tension, he writes:
“Facing this tension requires some soul searching and hard questions about what model of multisite you plan to implement, as well as your ultimate goal in starting a new campus. If the new campus is, in reality, simply overflow rooms that further showcase or deploy your gifts, then you’re likely acting from an addition-growth paradigm.”
He goes on to say, “However, if your church is considering a new multisite location as a means to leverage the strength of the mother church whose goals include raising up new teaching; developing new indigenous leadership; creating new vision that addresses location-specific needs; and eventually starting a site or plant itself, then your church may be bucking the norm and innovating an approach that is more characteristic of multiplication.”
If you’re leading an expanding multisite church or considering multisite for your church, think about these paradigm differences and honestly evaluate the factors shaping and driving your strategy.
Are you ready for a new reality?

Bill Couchenour serves as director of distributed resources for Exponential.
At the upcoming conference EX East ’15, the pre-conference lab Radical Multisite hosted by multisite expert Jim Tomberlin will explore multisite as a strategy for multiplying a church.

2015 State of Atheism in America

March 24, 2015—This past year, Barna Group has spent a considerable amount of time studying the unchurched—those who have not attended church within the past six months.
Much of that research is collected in the new Barna project Churchless, edited by David Kinnaman and George Barna. One of the most remarkable findings is that unchurched people are not always unbelievers—in fact, most aren’t. The majority are non-practicing Christians: They claim Christianity as their faith, but they haven’t been to church in a long time.
But what about atheists and agnostics? Are their numbers on the rise? Are more and more of the unchurched becoming unbelievers, too?
Who Are the Atheists?
For reporting purposes at Barna, we often combine atheists and agnostics into one group, which we call skeptics. Skeptics either do not believe God exists (atheists) or are not sure God exists, but are open to the possibility (agnostics). Skeptics represent one-quarter of all unchurched adults (25%). Nearly one-third of skeptics have never attended a Christian church service in their lives (31%). That’s nearly double the proportion of “virgin unchurched” who are not skeptics (17%).

The profile of a typical skeptic is different today from a decade or two ago. Today’s skeptics, like their counterparts from two decades ago, are defined by their denial of or doubts about God’s existence. But that is about the only thing they have in common with the unchurched atheist or agnostic of yesteryear. Below are five demographic shifts among skeptics in the past two decades.
Five Demographic Shifts among Skeptics
They are younger. Skeptics today are, on average, younger than in the past. Twenty years ago, 18 percent of skeptics were under 30 years old. Today that proportion has nearly doubled to 34 percent—nearly one-quarter of the total U.S. population (23%, compared to 17% in 1991). By the same token, the proportion of skeptics who are 65 or older has been cut in half, down to just 7 percent of the segment.
They are more educated. Today’s skeptics tend to be better educated than in the past. Two decades ago, one-third of skeptics were college graduates, but today half of the group has a college degree.
More of them are women. Perhaps the biggest transition of all is the entry of millions of women into the skeptic ranks. In 1993 only 16 percent of atheists and agnostics were women. By 2013 that figure had nearly tripled to 43 percent. This enormous increase is not because the number of skeptic men has declined. In fact, men’s numbers have steadily increased over the last two decades—but not nearly as rapidly as among women.
They are more racially diverse. Religious skepticism has become more racially and ethnically inclusive. While whites represented 80 percent of all skeptics 20 years ago, that figure had dropped to 74 percent by 2013. This is largely a reflection of the increasing Hispanic and Asian adults among the skeptic cohort. Asian Americans, the least-Christian ethnic demographic in the United States, especially tend to embrace skepticism. While a growing number of skeptics are Hispanic, they still remain, along with Blacks, less likely than other ethnic groups to accept the idea of a world without God. White Americans, who constitute two-thirds of the country’s total population, are well above average in their embrace of atheism and agnosticism; they comprise three-quarters of the skeptic segment.
They are more dispersed regionally. In decades past, the Northeast and West were seen as isolated hotbeds of atheism and agnosticism. They still remain the areas where skeptics are more likely to live, but the skeptic population is now broadly dispersed across all regions.
In many ways, skeptics resemble the rest of America more than they once did. And their numbers are growing more quickly than anyone expected 20 years ago.

Three Components of Disbelief
Just as believers arrive at their belief in God by amassing a variety of information and experiences, skeptics piece together different inputs to draw their conclusions. According to our research, however, it seems the three primary components that lead to disbelief in God’s existence are 1) rejection of the Bible, 2) a lack of trust in the local church and 3) cultural reinforcement of a secular worldview.
Skeptics dismiss the idea that the Bible is holy or supernatural in any way. Two-thirds contend that it is simply a book of well-known stories and advice, written by humans and containing the same degree of authority and wisdom as any other self-help book. The remaining one-third are divided between those who believe the Bible is a historical document that contains the unique but not God-inspired accounts of events that happened in the past, and those who do not know what to make of the Bible but have decided it deserves no special treatment or consideration.
Given their antipathy or indifference toward the Bible, it is remarkable that six out of 10 skeptics own at least one copy. Most have read from it in the past, and a handful (almost exclusively agnostics) still read it at least once a month. The fact is, most skeptics have some firsthand experience with the Bible, and most had some regular exposure to it during their youth.

Read more about atheists and skeptics—and how to connect with them—in the Barna project Churchless

Churches have done little to convince skeptics to reevaluate. In fact, because more than two-thirds of skeptics have attended Christian churches in the past—most for an extended period of time—their dismissal of God, the Bible and churches is not theoretical in nature. Most skeptics think of Christian churches as:

• Groups of people who share a common physical space and have some common religious views, but are not personally connected to each other in meaningful or life-changing ways
• Organizations that add little, if any, value to their communities; their greatest value stems from the limited times they serve the needy in the community
• Organizations that stand for the wrong things—wars, preventing gay marriage and a woman’s freedom to control her body, sexual and physical violence perpetrated on people by religious authority figures, mixing religious beliefs with political policy and action
• Led by people who have not earned their positions of influence by proving their love of humankind, and are thus not deserving of trust

Many of these ideas are initiated, promoted and reinforced by celebrity personalities and media exposure. There has arisen a new stratum of anti-religion celebrity apologists that includes Bill Maher, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, Peter Singer, Woody Allen, Phillip Roth, Julia Sweeney and the late Christopher Hitchens. It’s a chicken-or-egg conundrum to identify which came first: the atheist celebrity or an uptick in the number of atheists. Whatever the case, atheism has shifted in the past 50 years from cultural anathema to something the “cooler” kids are doing.
Understanding Today’s “Post-Christian” Trends
While what’s happening among self-identified atheists and agnostics is an important measure of belief trends, which corresponds with the much-examined “rise of the ‘nones,’”it is also important to look at actual faith practices and attitudes. This is why, at Barna Group, we have developed a “post-Christian” metric that helps us look at multi-dimensional factors to describe the rich and variegated experience of spirituality and faith.
This metric is based on 15 different measures of identity, belief and behavior. To qualify as post-Christian, individuals meet 60 percent or more of the factors (nine or more out of 15 criteria). Highly post-Christian individuals meet 80 percent or more of the factors (12 or more of 15 criteria).
These factors include a variety of practices (prayer, donating to a church, volunteering at a church, reading the Bible, etc.) and beliefs (belief in God, prioritizing faith, beliefs about the Bible, commitment to Jesus, etc.). You can see all 15 factors in this infographic.
Based on Barna’s aggregate metric, nearly two-fifths of the nation’s adult population qualifies as post-Christian (38%). This includes one in 10 Americans who are highly post-Christian—lacking engagement in 80 percent or more of the measures of belief, practice and commitment. Another one-quarter is moderately post-Christian (28%), refraining from at least 60 percent of the factors.
Analyzing the nation’s post-Christian profile gives an important viewpoint on the population’s spiritual, moral and social future. While self-described atheism and agnosticism may be on the rise in America, the post-Christian metric reminds observers that most Americans remain connected in some way with Christianity.
What the Research Means
David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group, says, “The data show that some cities—and younger generations—are more gospel-resistant than others. It is increasingly common among Millennials to dismiss religion, God, churches, authority and tradition. For years, some observers have claimed colleges and universities are a breeding ground for anti-God sentiment. The data does lend support to the notion that college campuses are comfortable places for young people to abandon God and assume control of their own lives.
“Yet in spite of clear trends and obvious needs, our research suggests that most of the efforts of Christian ministries fail to reach much beyond the core of ‘Christianized’ America. It’s much easier to work with this already-sympathetic audience than to focus on the so-called ‘nones.’ And it’s no mystery why: Figuring out how to effectively engage skeptics is difficult. One of the unexpected results we uncovered is the limited influence of personal relationships on skeptics. They are considerably less relational and less engaged in social activities than the average American. Christians for whom ‘ministry is about relationships’ may be disappointed when they find that many skeptics are not as enamored of relational bonds as are those who are already a part of church life.
“But in giving his followers the Great Commission, Jesus didn’t mention anything about doing what is easy. New levels of courage and clarity will be required to connect beyond the Christianized majority.”
Hear David Kinnaman discuss trends in skepticism and atheism in a new CNN special report, “Atheists: Inside the World of Non-Believers” premiering tonight, March 24, at 9:00 EST.

Comment on this research and follow our work:
Twitter: @davidkinnaman | @roxyleestone | @ClintJenkin | @barnagroup
Facebook: Barna Group
About the Research
This research contains data from twenty surveys, encompassing interviews with more than 23,000 churched and unchurched adults. The number of unchurched adults involved was 8,220.
These surveys were done using random digit-dial telephone samples for landlines and listed cell phone samples for calls to mobile phones. Each of the studies entailed completing interviews with a minimum of 1,000 randomly chosen adults. The samples were developed to provide a reliable representation of the national population of people ages eighteen or older living within the forty-eight continental states. The estimated maximum sampling error for each survey of 1,000 adults was plus or minus 3.1%age points at the 95% confidence level; the maximum sampling error estimate diminished as sample size increased. The number of interviews completed with cell-phone owners was based on federal government estimates of the number of cell-only households.
The January 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 surveys also included samples of approximately 1,000 adults conducted online. Those studies relied on a research panel called KnowledgePanel®, created and maintained by Knowledge Networks. It is a probability-based online non-volunteer access panel. Panel members are recruited using a statistically valid sampling method with a published sample frame of residential addresses that covers approximately 97% of US households. Sampled non-Internet households, when recruited, are provided a netbook computer and free Internet service so they may also participate as online panel members. KnowledgePanel consists of about 50,000 adult members (ages eighteen and older) and includes persons living in cell- only households.
In all of these surveys regional and ethnic quotas were designed to ensure that the final group of adults inter- viewed reflected the distribution of adults nationwide and adequately represented the three primary ethnic groups within the United States (those groups that comprise at least 10% of the population: white, black, and Hispanic). Those quotas were based on current US Census Bureau data regarding the population. Additional quotas were employed to balance the gender of respondents included in the samples. Upon completion of a survey, the data were run and the demographic outcomes were compared to the census statistics on key demographic attributes. In some cases the full survey database was then statistically weighted to bring the database into closer approximation of the true population proportions.

study conducted in:	Total	Unchurched adult sample
January 2008	1,004	277
May 2008	1,003	331
July 2008	1,005	301
August 2008	1,005	305
October 2008	1,014	327
November 2008	1,198	299
July 2009	1,003	315
September 2009	1,004	284
January 2010	1,008	240
February 2010	1,005	305
August 2010	1,002	368
December 2010	1,022	311
January 2011	1,622	615
August 2011	1,007	324
January 2012	2,025	920
March 2012	1,020	386
April 2012	1,062	340
May 2012	1,009	371
November 2012	1,008	338
January 2013	2,083	952
January 2014	1,024	556

About Barna Group
Barna Group (which includes its research division, Barna Research Group) is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization under the umbrella of the Issachar Companies. Located in Ventura, California, Barna Group has been conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984.
If you would like to receive free e-mail notification of the release of each update on the latest research findings from Barna Group, you may subscribe to this free service at the Barna website (www.barna.org).
© Barna Group, 2015.

6 Mistakes to Avoid When Disciplining a Team Member

By Jamie Brown

 

Don’t do these things when correcting a member of your team.

One of the responsibilities of worship leaders is to build and cultivate a community of fellow musicians to help serve the congregation in leading worship. You can call that community a worship team, worship band, praise team, praise band, band or whatever term you come up with. Whatever you call it, it can be a great joy to lead this kind of community of fellow-musicians. It can also be really difficult.
Musicians have the infamous artistic temperament that makes them not only opinionated, and not only comfortable sharing those opinions, but turns those opinions into “rights.” Musicians then want to protect their rights and their territories against anyone who would seek to invade. Plus, they’re sinners like everyone else.
From time to time, if you’re a worship leader attempting to lead a healthy worship team, you will be faced with difficult situations when you’ll need to bring correction to one of your fellow musicians, or in more difficult situations, bring discipline. You will lose sleep over these situations, and you will want to avoid them. But sometimes it will be clear to you that you need to address an issue with a member of your team.
Here are six mistakes I’ve made, that you shouldn’t make, when disciplining or correcting a worship team member.
1. Interact Primarily Over Email
If at all possible, avoid the use of email from beginning to end. The more difficult the type of interaction, the more healthy it is. A face-to-face conversation is crucial. If that’s impossible, then a phone call. Under no circumstances should you interact over email. Emails can be so much more easily misinterpreted, misread, forwarded, blind-copied and saved forever. Pretend you’re handling this before the invention of the computer.
2. Insist on Meeting on Your Turf
Do not insist that the meeting take place on church property, or in your office. That’s your turf, not theirs, and it will immediately cause their defenses to go up. Not good. Find a neutral place, and a public place, for both of you. A coffee shop or a restaurant. This will level the playing field and increase the odds of a relaxed atmosphere.
3. Handle It All By Yourself
You have people over you. Take advantage of their covering. The single most stupid thing I’ve done when I’ve had to deal with a difficult issue is keep it from my pastor until it had blown up. Consult him, ask him what you should do, have your pastor in the meeting with you and keep him totally in the loop. Don’t put yourself in a position to take all the bullets or do/say something unwise. Use the covering God has put over you.
4. Let It Simmer
So a band member has a profanity-laced temper tantrum at rehearsal. The rest of the team is shocked. You’re shocked. They’re all wondering if you’re going to address it. Tension is building. Don’t let it simmer. You might not think stopping rehearsal is wise, but address it before the guy goes home. It might be easier in the short-term to let things slide, but in the long-term it will build tension and pressure in your team that will be unhealthy.
5. Don’t Know What Outcome You Want
On a scale of 1-5, 1 being minor correction (i.e., I can tell you didn’t practice one single bit and that’s why you ruined half of the songs) and 5 being major correction (i.e. ,I need to ask you to step down from the team for a while), you need to know what you want for the person. If you go into a meeting/conversation with the person without an acceptable outcome in mind, then you could very likely get trampled on.
6. Be Unwilling to Apologize
You’re not perfect. You don’t communicate with your team as well as you could. You lead a rehearsal on an empty stomach and say something mean-spirited to your drummer. You ask a singer to sing a song you know he or she can’t pull off. It could be anything. Be the first to apologize, the first to show contrition and humility, and genuinely ask forgiveness for things you’ve done wrong. Even if your apology isn’t reciprocated, you’ve done the right thing and will get a better night’s sleep even if the meeting doesn’t end the way you hoped.
It’s a great joy to lead a worship team. It’s also hard work. If you’re faithful and consistent in the hard things, then the joy, morale and unity on your team will increase. If you avoid the hard things, then no one will be happy.  

Jamie Brown is the Director of Worship and Arts at Truro Anglican Church in Fairfax, VA. Before coming to Truro, he served at The Falls Church Anglican for ten years. Born into a ministry family and leading worship since the age of twelve, Jamie is devoted to helping worship leaders lead well and seeing congregations engaged in Spirit-filled, Jesus-centered worship. He’s currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Religion through Reformed Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Catherine, have three little girls. Jamie regularly blogs at WorthilyMagnify.com and has released three worship albums: “A Thousand Amens,” “We Will Proclaim,” and “For Our Salvation.” More from Jamie Brown or visit Jamie at http://worthilymagnify.com/

A Pastor’s Struggle With Guilt

By Jarrod Jones

“So I try to take comfort by reminding myself that I’m not the Messiah to anyone.”

I think all pastors live with low-grade guilt. I know I do. I’ve searched in vain for a fellow pastor who has written on this sort of thing. So, I figured I’d take a swing at it.
I have low-grade guilt because I want to always be there for all people—especially all the people in the church I pastor. But I can’t. I want to attend every event, reply to every e-mail, return every call, visit every hospital, do every funeral, officiate every wedding, counsel all who struggle, meet with all who want to meet … but I can’t. Funny thing is, no one is pressuring me to do so (OK, maybe a few). It’s almost purely self-inflicted guilt.
Of course, I’ve encountered some who don’t understand. I received a letter awhile back from a couple who let me know in no uncertain terms that I was an “unapproachable pastor” that was hurting the church. So they were bidding Grace adieu and moving on to find another church home where they could have a relationship with the senior pastor. Then there was the guy who cornered me after a service, basically demanding a counseling meeting with me. When I pointed him to our campus pastor, he declared, “Oh, so you’re like the Pope!” And he let everybody on social media know his feelings, too.
On and on I could go. And for one who carries low-grade guilt about this sort of thing, comments like the above are an absolute knife to the chest … and a knife that is left there.
I’ve adopted Andy Stanley’s mantra to “do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.” Helpful, but doesn’t fully scratch that guilty itch. So I try to take comfort by reminding myself that I’m not the Messiah to anyone. Take heart, my pastor friend, neither are you. And you shouldn’t try to be. There is only one—Jesus. Even he set boundaries on how available he was to the masses (Luke 4:40-43).
I’ve observed that any pastor who tries to be the Messiah for all people in his church, even a small church, burns out in catastrophic ways emotionally, spiritually, physically, ministerially and maritally. Rarely does he survive and continue in ministry … or in his marriage.
I get to be the senior pastor of a church of four campuses and 2,500-ish people. I preach five services every weekend. I am a husband of one and a father of four who are 10 years old and younger. I am relieved that the majority of the Grace family understands my role and doesn’t pressure me to be a Messiah.
But still … that dang guilt.
So why am I writing this? Therapy, I guess. It’s yet another way to try to deal with this guilt. And hopefully my pastoral brothers out there find it strangely helpful. I don’t have many answers, but sometimes it’s encouraging to simply know one is not alone in the struggle.
Either way, here is my attempt to encourage you, my pastor-brother:
* Refuse to be the Messiah. Jesus already bled for the church. You don’t have to.
* Share your boundaries with people and stick to them. If you don’t, people will determine your boundaries for you.
* Best you can, develop a team of staff and volunteers, then delegate and entrust the folks and their needs to them. In fact, in a way folks may not understand, you are doing the best for them by doing so.
* Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.
* If you get kickback for not being there for everyone, entrust yourself to the Lord. If you want to explain yourself, do so. But don’t feel pressured to explain yourself to everyone. Some people will never be satisfied, no matter what you say or do. So don’t get sucked into that vortex.
* As a final straw, if the pressure to always be there is crushing you, and the church has developed a sense of entitlement that expects you to always be there, you might need to consider moving on. But no matter what you do, no matter where you go, that low-grade guilt will remain. Own it, but don’t let it own you.
Here is my encouragement to the church folk: Take it easy on your pastor. He loves you deeply, but he cannot be there for you and everyone else. Believe me, he LONGS to be there! In fact, he lives with deep-seated guilt that he can’t; and it’s guilt that might even wake him up at 2:00 a.m. I hope you’ll honor him and his limitations. And if he provides direction where you can receive love, care and needs met by other credible and qualified pastors/others (and perhaps even by pastors/others more gifted and qualified to meet your needs than him), trust his heart, his love for you, and take advantage of his direction.
Aah, this was therapeutic indeed … at least until tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!  

Jarrod Jones is the senior pastor of Grace Community Church in Orange County, NY. Grace is a multi-campus church with four locations and a total weekend attendance of approximately 2500. Jarrod is the author of three books: Worship (co-authored with singer/songwriter Joel Engle, 2004), The Backward Life: In Pursuit of an Uncommon Faith (Baker Publishing, 2006), and 13 Ways to Ruin Your Life (2008). He has also been a special guest on various television shows and contributed to numerous publications. Visit Jarrod at www.JarrodJones.com, then follow the links to find him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. More from Jarrod Jones or visit Jarrod at http://pastors.com

Open Roof Hospitality

By Melissa Kruger

Provided by

 

Sometimes when I’m reading through familiar texts of Scripture, one line from a passage stops me in my tracks. Often, it’s not necessarily the main point of the passage, but a truth hidden behind the larger story that the Lord uses to challenge me in new ways. Recently, I encountered this situation while reading the story of the paralytic brought to Jesus by his four friends and lowered through the roof (Mark 2:1-12).
The part of the story that caught my imagination was verse 4, “they removed the roof above him.” In the midst of reading, my thoughts drifted to the family who hosted this gathering in Capernaum (most likely Peter and his wife). What was on their minds as their home filled with people? Did Peter’s wife glance upward with incredulity as her roof was removed? Was she frustrated or fascinated? Did the four friends take the time to restore the opening they created? Or, in the midst of all the excitement, did they leave a gaping hole in the middle of the roof?
None of these questions is answered in the text. And by no means is hospitality the main point of the passage. Yet their faithfulness to open up their home made me stop and ponder this question: Do I have an “open roof policy” in my home? Am I willing for my home to be filled, refashioned and torn asunder so that people can meet with Jesus? Am I willing for carpet to be stained so that the laughter of children can be the music of my home? Am I willing to put aside my concern of impressing others so that I can focus on house-altering hospitality that points others to Jesus?

Faithful Example

My parents were a true example of people who used their home in unconventional ways to love others. When I was 4 years old, my Papaw (my mother’s father) came to live with our family. The doctors expected him to live for just a year. He exceeded their expectations and lived with us for 19 years. I cannot remember any childhood memories without him in our home.
Two years after he first came to live with us, Papaw fell and broke his hip. He could no longer manage the stairs to the guest room, so my parents refashioned our formal living room with a hospital bed, TV and table where I spent hours putting together puzzles with him. A few years later, his bother (my great uncle) also came to live with us. Diagnosed with cancer, Uncle Jimmy spent the last two years of his life in our home. My mother took him to chemo treatments, cared for his needs and provided him with the fellowship of family in his last days.
Our formal living room housed two hospital beds. As a child I never realized that this might be unusual (and a bit like the opening scene of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). I never heard my parents utter a word of complaint about the care they gave or the way their home was rearranged to lovingly provide for these men. By their example, they taught me the beauty of true hospitality.

Servant’s Heart

A hospitable home does not require exquisite taste or pristine perfection. It does not need a large dwelling or perfect situation. The term hospitable literally derives from the practice of washing the feet of any guest entering the home. At the heart of biblical hospitality is a humble willingness to serve others. It is not intended to show off what we have but to demonstrate whom we follow.
As we open our homes, we provide an opportunity for those who enter to encounter the love of Jesus. Perhaps they will hear his words in a Bible study hosted faithfully week after week. Perhaps they will see his kindness as a mom warmly welcomes children into her home, humbly cleaning up the muddy spots they leave behind. Perhaps they will experience his gentleness as one friend tenderly takes the time to sit and listen to the concerns of another.
Instead of focusing our efforts on perfecting our earthly homes, we would do well to set our hearts on the perfect home that awaits us in heaven. As we increasingly hope in our heavenly home, we become people who faithfully practice hospitality in our earthly tents. Romans 12:13 encourages us to “contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” We seek to invite others into our homes knowing that Jesus is among us, working modern-day miracles in our midst.  

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Melissa Kruger serves as Women's Ministry Coordinator at Uptown Church in Charlotte, North Carolina and is the author of The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World (Christian Focus, 2012). Her husband Mike is the president of Reformed Theological Seminary, and they have three children. More from Melissa Kruger or visit Melissa at http://thegospelcoalition.org

10 Practical Ideas for Engaging in Church Planting

Looking for ways to get involved in planting churches? Start with idea No. 1 and work your way to No. 10!

John Alwood and Dave Reynolds

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In the post below, PlantLB Interim Director John Alwood and Christian and Missionary Alliance multiplication leader Dave Reynolds focus on practical ways to help churches engage in planting–from baby steps of praying for a planter to a quantum leap of birthing and supporting a church. Reynolds will be speaking Tuesday morning at EX East ’15, leading the bonus session “The Greenhouse Church-Preparing Plants for the Field.” Alwood will be leading the Planting a New Church pre-conference at EX West ’15 in October.

Often times, I meet pastors and churches who love the idea of cross-tribal collaboration to plant churches, but don’t know where to start. The great thing about a church planting movement is that there are numerous ways to get in the game. Your church can begin by being a contributor and work up from there. Wherever you start, know that you and your church will receive the blessing of seeing new churches planted that reach people who may not otherwise meet Christ.
One of the things I love about PlantLB, is that it’s a collaboration between many different kinds of churches toward the same goal of planting more Christ-centered communities for the good of the city. It really is a Kingdom effort.
Several years ago, I read an article by my friend and multiplication leader, Dave Reynolds, on 10 ways that you and your church could engage in church planting. Over the years, it has served as a great guide. For this article, I’ve edited and tweaked his 10 ways a bit:
1. Pray intentionally for a planting couple and their team. This is probably the most practical and simple way for your church to get involved. You and your church can partner in this vital way by encouraging a new plant through prayer. Would your church consider “adopting” a local church planter and pray regularly and intentionally for that leader’s church?
2. Invite a planter to share the vision with your board/church. With a couple of the churches I started, I was able to not only gather a few core team members and some support dollars by doing this, but it was invaluable for the churches who had me come speak to cast a vision and the value of church planting–and that this mission we’re on is bigger than just us. Who are the planters in your vicinity? Consider this option as a great way to encourage them and benefit your people in the process.
3. Pick a planting couple and financially support them. Salaries are rarely stable or substantial in church planting. Sacrificial and generous giving from churches and individuals, up and above our regular offerings, is an amazing gesture of Christian unity. We dream of seeing a culture of collaboration strengthen among the many churches in Long Beach around new planters for the sake of supporting their work in our wonderful city.
4. Pick a church plant and give them a one-time gift (childcare equipment, A/V equipment, office supplies, computer, etc.). A new church always has equipment needs. The best thing to do is get on the phone or email with a church planter and ask about current needs, and then see what needs your church might be able to meet. When the last church I planted was about four years old, we really wanted to get involved in helping support another new church start. We had some extra sound equipment and projector that we were able to give a new local planter. I think they’re still using this equipment today for their Sunday worship gatherings!
5. Send a planting couple out to dinner or on an overnight retreat as a gift of encouragement. Planting is difficult and lonely work. The simple act of offering a gift like this to can really help encourage a planting couple in what God has called them to do. Plus, you never know what kind of friendship you might be able to build with a planter through a kind and generous gesture like this.
6. Encourage your congregation to hold a “baby church shower” for a church plant and give them gifts for their startup (office supplies, a/v equipment, etc.). Planters can put together a “registry” of specific items they need, if this is something your church would like to do.
7. Plan to build church planting as a line item into your 2016 budget. I know several churches in the Long Beach area that have adopted this practice, and the effects have been substantial. I talked to a church the other day that’s able to allocate 15 percent of its budget to the planting of new churches. Maybe you’re just starting to consider this. Begin next year with something smaller, like one to three percent of your budget. One of the best ways to start encouraging church planting as a value in your church is to talk about it consistently, share inspiring stories and start budgeting for it.
8. Partner with other churches in your area in planting a church. Our dream is that it will soon be normal, and even expected, for churches in our city to collaborate together for the purpose of planting more churches.
9. Send team members from your church to participate in a plant. Please consider sending your best, and not just pawn off the people who annoy you.
10. Develop and deploy a planter and team from your church to start a new work. If you’re thinking about the possibility of birthing a new church out of your church, it’s never too early to start talking and planning.
John Alwood recently took the position of director for Gospel.Ventures, a newly organized church-planting movement currently planting 50 churches. He also serves as interim director for Plant LB, which offers assessment support and coaching for planters in the Long Beach, California, area. He has been planting churches since the mid-90s in both the Pacific Northwest and in Southern California. John has planted multiple churches in various contexts, including rural, suburban, urban and some of the most politically liberal and conservative leaning cultures in the United States. 
Dave Reynolds serves as the national multiplication team leader for the Christian and Missionary Alliance and leads the Western Church Planting Alliance. Reynolds discovered ministry in what is now called a “greenhouse” (churches that intentionally raise up planters for the mission field) and went on to plant churches using principles he learned there. Dave and his wife Elena have planted two churches that have reached and baptized hundreds of people and reproduced multiple times. Dave played a key role in the development of church planting in the Northwest and Southwest areas of the United States. Dave and Elena have three sons.

Who Shares Your Church Multiplication Dreams and Burden for Your City?

Who Shares Your Church Multiplication Dreams and Burden for Your City?

When God begins to do a new thing, He raises up people with the same vision and heart. Pray for, identify and engage these leaders.

Dan Southerland

In their new eBook, More Than BBQ: How God Is Creating a Citywide Church Planting Movement in Kansas City, Dan Southerland and Troy McMahon reflect back on their experience of starting the network and share 10 specific steps they took to bring churches and planters together throughout the Kansas City area. Below, Southerland writes about the importance of praying for and then identifying like-minded leaders to come alongside you to walk out the vision. Download your copy of the FREE eBook to read all 10 steps.
I’m amazed at how often we make the fatal mistake in church planting of trying to do it alone. Going solo. Giving into rugged individualism is a huge error.
Scripture warns us about trying to live the Christian life alone:

Two are better than one, for if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Eph. 4:9-12, ESV)

 I believe this also to be true about planting a church. I know it to be true about starting a church-planting network. And it is ridiculously true about being part of a church-planting movement.
We overestimate what we can do alone.
We underestimate what we can do together.
Jesus does promise the individual Christ follower that we will never be alone. But He promises that when two or more are gathered in His name, He shows up in our midst. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be content with Jesus just being there. I want to see Him show up—and show off!
Before I moved to Kansas City, I had a quick conversation with Dave Ferguson at a conference he and NewThing were leading. We ran into each other between sessions.
“I hear you’re moving to Kansas City,” Dave said. “If you want to plant some new churches, you need to look up my best friend, Troy McMahon.”
“Church planting is in my soul. I will do that,” I told Dave.
That same afternoon, I sent Troy an email in April saying that I would be moving to town in August.
The first week I was in Kansas City, Troy and I connected. I made it an immediate, front-burner priority because I’m committed to church planting and wanted to surround myself with people who shared that passion. Troy is one of those people! He has become my best pastor buddy and my partner in trouble-making and church planting. Troy and I have discovered that we’re much more effective together than we are on our own.
After Troy and I got linked up at the hip, we began looking for a small group of others who were also passionate about church planting. Each of the leaders we found are Kansas City guys who are committed to church planting in Kansas City. We had found like-minded brothers!
Someone in your city shares your passion for church planting. That’s the way God works!
When God begins to do a new thing, He raises up multiple people with the same heart and the same burden. For example, He brought about the Reformation by giving the same burden to multiple leaders across Europe: Luther, Calvin, Know, Zwingli. He brought about the Seeker movement in the United States by raising up men with the same burden: Hybels, Warren, Anderson, Murren. Ask Him to raise up men and women with the burden for church planting in your city—and then find those leaders!
Our group grew from Troy and me to five guys who were all in (to now) 22 different churches. We’re two years old, but God has brought 22 churches into the fold. Go God!
Birds of a feather will flock together.
Leaders with a burden need other leaders with the same burden.
Dan Southerland leads the team’s teaching direction and content, maintaining healthy biblical theology, and communicating a clear vision for Westside Family Church. Having deep experience in developing innovative and high-profile churches, Dan has authored the breakthrough church development book, Transitioning. He earned his Ph.D in education from Southwestern Theological Seminary, and completed post-graduate studies at North Texas State University of South Florida, and Union Theological Seminary. He has shared his church leadership experiences with thousands of pastors worldwide. Dan has a passion for teaching, developing leaders, and sharing Jesus.