Category Archives: Turnaround 2020

Turnaround 2020 - 7 Steps to Turnaround in a Rural or Small Town Setting
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November 21, 2017

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Church Growth, Turnaround 2020

Turnaround 2020 – 7 Steps to Turnaround in a Rural or Small Town Setting

1. Bloom where you are planted.

Understand your community and your potential.  This potential may be defined by seating capacity or parking capacity but is most often defined by relational capacity.  The potential in many rural, small town settings is tied to relationships not to geographic location.

2. Teach and model relentlessly inviting people to church.

Capitalize on the relationships folks already have with friends, family members or co-workers by teaching and encouraging them to invite.  The key to developing a culture of invitation is relentless, on-going, never-ending, personal invitations to “come with me.”

3. Improve your hospitality.

More than offering coffee and pastries, learn to welcome people.  Avoid the holy huddles of close friends who carry on animated conversations among themselves but who exclude newcomers.  The greatest strength of a smaller church is the depth of friendship and relationship that is shared.  The greatest weakness of a smaller church is that we are so close to one another that we unintentionally exclude new folks from our circle of friendship.

4. Review your worship services from the perspective of the first-time guest.

Can a first-time guest understand what we are doing and why?  Be user-friendly.  In one congregation the keyboardist was excellent and the worship leader had a clear baritone voice that was easy to follow.  Nevertheless worship was frustrated by his habit of only announcing page numbers just as he began the first line leaving little time to find the page before the first lines were already past.  In another setting with hymnals in use but with no printed order of service, the worship leader only announced page numbers once.  This did encourage congregational interaction, however, since everyone who missed the number turned to the people around them for follow up information.

5. Review sermon content and communication idiosyncrasies.

Sermon content should be developed so that the first-time, unchurched guest can clearly comprehend the message.  Avoid church code language and theological terms that are not defined in simple, conversational terms.  Deal with real life application of the Scripture.  First time guests are ready to deal with the deep, hard questions of life if they are developed with real life language and illustration.

Have someone you trust help you find consistent grammar errors, nuisance habits that detract from the message and any tendencies to stray from the message to explore tangents that come from stream of consciousness not from the discipline of Spirit led study and preparation.

6. Proof read everything and update/correct regularly.

The most notorious offenders here are bulletin files and PowerPoint slides that are saved and reused.  Often once an error makes it into these templates it is never corrected but is instead copied forward.

Printed communication must give attention to spelling names correctly, presenting locations accurately and using code language rarely.  For example you could write:

VBS planning at Linda’s on Monday

Or you could re-write:

Vacation Bible School planning will meet at Linda Jones’ home (123 Any Street) at 7 p.m. on Monday the 15th.

7. Invest in missionary causes out of commitment to the Great Commission not out of tradition or denominational loyalty.

Partner with the Lord to reach people in other settings as well as reaching people in your own setting.

Jumpstart Turnaround 2020JUMPSTART YOUR MINISTRY:  Identify one of these steps that warrants attention first.

Establish a timeline to work on it in the next 4-6 weeks.
I will address step number______ and will begin to work on it _______________, 2017.

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November 14, 2017

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Church Growth, Turnaround 2020

Turnaround 2020 – Four Key Steps in Turnaround

First Step in Turnaround—the most evangelistic task you can undertake

Identify your attendance baseline with a chart/graph of weekly worship attendance. Overlay 2-3 years with a different colored line for each year on the same graph to identify trends.

A General Observation—There will be Highs and Lows.  Not everyone attends every week so there will be fluctuations from week to week and from season to season.

Another Observation—Spring and Fall Spikes are likely.  This remains a tendency in most churches where Easter/Mother’s Day traditions likely generate a larger attendance.  In the same way often in the Fall there will be a higher attendance pattern prior to the Holidays.

When you establish your multi-year chart you will discover your church’s attendance culture indicated by the trend lines on the chart.

Second Step in Turnaround—making your record keeping more personal.

List all those people who attend worship at least once every 6-8 weeks.
Be sure to collect:  Name, Address, Cell phone, E-mail, Facebook

This identifies the crowd and prepares you to evangelize and disciple them.

  • COMMUNITY – A Community person is committed to NOT ATTENDING church.
  • CROWD – A Crowd person is committed to ATTENDING church—at least once in awhile.
  • CONGREGATION – A Congregation person is committed to a SMALL GROUP
  • COMMITTED – A Committed person is committed to HABITS necessary for spiritual growth.
  • CORE – A Core person is committed to MINISTRY

Third Step in Turnaround

Consider total weekly participation if you offer more than Sunday Morning Worship. Check Class Rosters, Program Attendance (Wednesday night, etc.) and Worship Attendance to compile an overall weekly attendance. This is not cumulative weekly where one person is counted for every event they attend.  Overall weekly attendance counts each person only one time only even if they attend 10-12 different events per week.

Fourth Step in Turnaround

Connecting with the Crowd — Everyone needs to be invited to some all-church entry point function frequently enough so that you stay on their radar but not so frequently as to become a nuisance.

The power of a generic post card.  They told me about it 5 years after I left the church.  A 30-something young lady came to the church traumatized by a cancer diagnosis that was grim.  She returned to the church because “they sent me a personal invitation”.  She explained that she had moved a couple of times in the previous few years but that she always returned that invitation to her refrigerator. The pastors lead her to faith in Christ and comforted her in her last months. They showed be that personal invitation.  It was a simple card stock post card invitation we had printed on our copier and mailed bulk rate but it was part of a plan that worked.

Crowd Connections by using a Communication Plan

  1. Develop a mailing list/contact list
  2. Use that mailing/contact list to connect with everyone on a regular schedule.
  3. Social Media Platforms assist here.
  4. Special Occasion Connections that can bolster high attendance trends need special attention.
  5. Make Guest Connections a priority by considering Nelson Searcy’s Fusion or Tyler Smith’s TextinChurch.

JUMPSTART YOUR MINISTRY:  Develop a Comprehensive List of all Attenders and Use it!

Jumpstart Turnaround 2020Phone Tree—my mother-in-law was part of the largest Sunday School class that weekly produced the largest offering for the church budget in a large Southern Baptist church.  Every Saturday class leaders took turns connecting with everyone by a simple phone call “Have you had a good week?”  “Will you be in class tomorrow?”  When will it be your turn next to help with refreshments?”

What if a monthly phone tree process was used so that 10 or 12 volunteers could make 6-8 calls each to encourage everyone to attend on a particular Sunday?

Turnaround 2020 - Invite, connect, disciple, send
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November 7, 2017

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Church Growth, Turnaround 2020

Turnaround 2020 – Invite, Connect, Disciple, Send!

Connecting with those who attend as guests is crucial for effective Turnaround.  These connections must be meaningful and personal but they must also be effective and institutional.

Meaningful and personal connections probably begin long before the guest arrives on the parking lot.  To reach unchurched people in the 21st century the first meaningful and personal connection they experience will generally be in the invitation they receive from a friend or family member.

This meaningful and personal connection will be reinforced on the parking lot if outdoor greeters are in place on a well-marked, properly maintained parking area.

Meaningful and personal connections extend to the interior greeters and hosts/hostesses who cheerfully welcome those who attend while also assisting guests to find essential features such as the nursery, children’s ministry, the elevator, the worship center, etc.

Meaningful and personal connections also extend to the atmosphere of the worship center.  This atmosphere will be enhanced by cleanliness, appropriate lighting and contemporary color schemes.  Many established churches have beautiful wood work, attractive stained glass and other architectural features that can enhance the worship setting.  Sometimes something as simple as the ministry of cords management can de-clutter the platform and thus give a more pleasant atmosphere.

Connections, however, must also be effective and institutional.  Three broad areas of connection involve the greeting time, church music and the sermon.

Many established churches thrive on a prolonged greeting time built into the worship experience.  It is not uncommon for this greeting time to last for several minutes.  In this time regular attenders carry on animated, friendly conversations with most everyone who attends.  Guests, however, are generally at a loss in this time frame since they have no history with the larger congregation.  This can leave them isolated and alone.  Many church guests find this prolonged greeting time one of the most awkward, even distasteful, parts of the worship experience.

Since most people who come to church wish to feel welcome it may be wise to use a greeting time approach of “Just say Hi!”  One pastor routinely uses this line, “Don’t sit down until you greet the folks around you.  Shake a hand and say ‘I’m glad you came today!’”  When the next feature of the worship service begins promptly the greeting time stays focused and guests feel welcomed not isolated.

Church music also provides a connecting point.  Music style is not nearly as important as singability of the songs selected.  Traditional music still works as do a number of contemporary music styles.  The key to effective music is not the style of music but the singability of the songs selected, the quality of the musicians who accompany and the absence of extended monologues by worship leaders.

Singability Questions

  • Will people go away singing to themselves one or more of the songs selected?
  • Are the songs in a lower key that is within range of most untrained voices?
  • Is the language in the songs understandable to the uninitiated?

Quality of Music Questions

  • Do musicians rehearse in advance of the service?
  • Do rehearsals include the folks running the projection system?
  • Can participants clearly follow the melody line of the music so the untrained singer can sing along with the instrument and the leader?

Absence of Monologues by Worship Leaders Questions

  • Does the worship leader give essential information to guide the worshippers?  This particularly includes standing and sitting instructions.  In a hymnal driven setting it may include announcing page numbers if those have not been printed in the worship guide.
  • Do the platform leaders lead worship or use their platform time to provide unnecessary detail about their personal lives or other current events?

Connecting to people with the sermon.  The average worship service in the United States last approximately 75 minutes.  In this time frame the largest portion of time is given to preaching.  A few questions may clarify how well the sermon connects to the sermon hearers, especially to the unchurched who attend as guests.

  • The preacher’s voice:  Is it so quiet and subdued that it becomes a monotone easily ignored?  Is it so loud and animated that it is unintelligible?  The voice of the preacher is controlled by the preacher according to I Corinthians 14:9-11.
  • References to the Bible:  Are key Bible passages identified by page number in the Pew Bible, printed in the sermon outline or included in the projected slides?
  • Clarity of Thought:  Is the main thought clearly demonstrated in the content of the message?  Can the preacher avoid rambling additions that do not advance the central thought?
  • Application to Life:  Does the message address real life issues with a clear call for a next step or follow-up actions?

 

JUMPSTART YOUR MINISTRY:  The Mystery Worshipper

Jumpstart Turnaround 2020One means to gain insight on how well worship connects to guests is to use a Mystery Worshipper.  This person is recruited in advance to attend a worship service and then to offer a reaction to the experience.  For more details see the Mystery Worshipper checklist found at www.Turnaround2020.net.