Tag Archives: Dr. Franklin Dumond

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September 18, 2014

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Congregrational Ministries, Leadership

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10 Growth Restricting Habits

By Franklin Dumond

While churches fail to grow for a number of reasons there are several habits that restrict growth. Habits that restrict growth, unlike obstacles that restrict growth, can be broken or relearned without official action by the congregation. That is to say that these habits are learned behaviors, not requirements mandated in the bylaws. Culture can be changed without a vote but new ways of thinking and acting take time to develop.Certain church habits can restrict the growth of your congregation.

Habits that often restrict growth include:

  1. Seating patterns. When the congregation huddles in the back one-third of the auditorium it not only emphasizes emptiness it also takes all the best seats that would often be preferred by visitors.
  2. Announcements. Need to be reduced or eliminated if a printed bulletin is being used. Announcements on the screen should run before and after worship not during. Verbal announcements should be limited to features that impact everyone. In a smaller church most information that cannot be written or projected can be transmitted by word of mouth. Announcements, if needed, should NEVER be used at the beginning or in the middle of a worship service.
  3. Proofing. The tendency these days to use projection systems and word processors that save files for future use introduces the need to be especially vigilant regarding errors. Errors in lyrics where words are misspelled or misused, or when stanzas do not match what is being sung, cannot be corrected just by saving the file for next time.
  4. Guest Friendly Atmosphere. Everything must be filtered through what a first time guest would expect/experience. If it is confusing or boring to the first time guest then it should not be said or done.
  5. Décor. Most church décor should be simplified and targeted more toward men with fewer flowers, ornaments, and pastels.
  6. Too many hats by too few people. Often willing volunteers are few and far between. Capable volunteers may then take on too many responsibilities, leaving them tired and frustrated while not providing a place for new folks to serve.
  7. Solo rather than team ministry. Capable volunteers forge ahead knowing it is easier to do it yourself. This results in solo ministry rather than team development and thus long term service by the same volunteers.
  8. Status Quo. Doing what we’ve always done out of habit (because we’ve always done it) rather than doing what we’ve always done because it works is a habit that restricts growth.
  9. Dust, clutter, decay. We get accustomed to dust, clutter, and decay but fresh eyes see it and often avoid return visits.
  10. Loss of Celebration in Worship. Where there is no celebration in worship a sense of duty and obligation makes growth unlikely.

In a follow-up post, I will suggest a few solutions for church leaders to use to change these habits.  (You can read those solutions here.)

What do you think? What habits have you noticed in congregations that restrict their growth potential?

 

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August 21, 2014

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Congregrational Ministries, Family, General Baptists

Family Does Matter

By Franklin Dumond

The concept of family continues to change in our secular culture. Despite the rapidly changing dimensions of nuclear family, however, a genuine sense of family continues to characterize our Christian gatherings. Bill Gaither wrote a description a generation ago that continues to be descriptive of local churches and other gatherings of like-minded believers: “You will notice we say brother and sister around here, it’s because we are family and these folks are so dear.”

During our recent international General Baptist gathering, the Mission & Ministry Summit, the sense of family could be felt everywhere. I saw it in at least four variations.

1. There was the atmosphere of a family reunion during hallway chats, shared meals, and photos exchanged by folks who had not seen each other recently and were now able to get reacquainted. During our new afternoon break in the exhibit hall and our reception in honor of our missionaries, even more of this family reunion atmosphere was present.

2. There was the discovery of new friends and acquaintances that added to the family connection. With several hundred church leaders present it was obvious that not everyone knew everyone else, but it is always amazing to find that we have so much in common—once we get acquainted.Summit Crowd Prayer

Since I travel throughout the denomination I am acquainted with several folks. It was my delight to introduce two of our pastors to one another late one evening. They were standing on either end of the lobby and as I walked by I realized “They are both originally from Canada and probably don’t know they form a Canadian caucus among General Baptists!” What a surprise to learn that they had both immigrated to the United States in the same year and had both become naturalized citizens in the South.

3. Family also shows itself in the shared tasks that require cooperation. As I lookedour GB family comes together to complete tasks around the exhibit hall before the Summit began I saw a group of folks organizing one of the T-shirt tables. Sitting on the floor, working at a table, or reaching into boxes I saw folks from several states sharing the load. Then, just next to Executive Director Clint Cook sat Jemima Prakash from India. She was just as busy folding and organizing T-shirts as everyone else was. Isn’t it incredible that our General Baptist family is international in scope?

The worship team that lead our main sessions showed that same sense of family cooperation. Musicians from four different churches each brought their gifts and talents and worked together to lead us in praise.

On Tuesday evening we joined as one large family to pray a blessing over our Summit Clint Prayermissionaries and church planters. These folks assembled at the front while we all crowded around them. I looked out at the crowd and noticed that joining in our prayers for these missionaries was Dr. David Cummings. He was our guest speaker from Australia, but on Tuesday evening he became part of the family as we prayed for God’s blessings on our missionary spokesmen.

I loved the way Moderator Elect Josh Carpenter summarized his experience in 1999. He attended the old General Association meetings that year for the first time. There, he admitted, he found a connection to the larger family of General Baptists.

Cousins of mine recently showed up at the family reunion. As one of them reported, “I baked my casserole and hurried to the meeting place.” She went on to say, “There sure seemed to be a different crowd this year and one of the ladies kept quizzing me about the family.” Finally she discovered she had the right place and had baked the proper casserole but had come one month early. She concluded her story with a quick laugh as she summarized the event by saying, “No wonder they asked so many questions!” Among General Baptists there is a common connection that binds us together—even if we arrive at the wrong time!

In an increasingly secular culture there will always be many dimensions to family, but among General Baptists there remains a deep sense of family. We remain connected by that core theology that Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man. Aren’t you glad he has included you in the family?

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July 8, 2014

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Congregrational Ministries, Leadership

4 Ways to Change the 80/20 Rule

By Franklin Dumond

Several versions of this important obituary have appeared. This one provides a fitting eulogy of this well-known member.

“Our church was saddened to learn recently of the death of one of our most valued members. After only a short illness Someone Else passed away.

Someone’s passing creates a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Else has been with us for many years and for all those years Someone did far more than a normal person’s share of the work. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend everyone agreed that Someone Else should do it. Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results. We often heard, “Someone Else can work with that group.”

It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the most generous givers in our church. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed Someone Else would make up the difference.

Someone Else was a wonderful person, sometimes appearing superhuman. Obviously everyone expected too much of Someone and now Someone Else is gone! Someone left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who will do what Someone Else did?

When you are asked to help this year, remember we can’t depend on Someone Else anymore.”

The important role of Someone Else is often undertaken by a small minority of those folks who attend a local church.  A popular rule of thumb is that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the members. One significant growth barrier in a smaller church is that a workforce of 20% is just too small to sustain current ministry, let alone add new ministry endeavors. For example, in a church of 50 the 20% workforce is only 10 people!

Here are four pretty simple, but effective, ways to change the 80/20 rule.cultivating volunteers must be intentional

1. Identify who is doing ministry. Pay particular attention to those who are double-dipping by undertaking more than one major ministry task and look carefully to find those often unnoticed servants who are busy behind the scenes.

2. Identify what ministry is being done. Pay particular attention to those ministry tasks that sustain the current program of the church and to those that engage the community. Look at the nominating committee report to see what assignments are being given. Check the church calendar to see what is happening.

3. Broaden your concept of who can do ministry. Once you have identified who is doing ministry start looking at who is not doing ministry. Many folks are very willing to help but they will not volunteer for a ministry assignment. Find a way to invite them to help on a short term basis. Use the strategy of “I do ministry—You watch me” then “You do ministry—I watch you” and finally “You do ministry and I cheer you on.”

4. Broaden your concept of what ministry is and how it can be done. Divide larger tasks into smaller units so more people can be involved. For example, fellowship events can involve a few volunteers showing up early and staying late or there could be a setup crew/person, a serving crew/person and a clean-up crew/person. One greeter could always be in place or several greeters could take turns one Sunday at a time.

Does every ministry have a prayer component? Organize folks who will pray for each class, for each servant, for each church program.  Jesus noticed in his day that the harvest was ready but the workers were few. Things haven’t changed all that much, have they?

Have you noticed other effective ways to change the 80/20 rule?  Click on ‘Leave A Comment’ at the top of this article to share your views and experiences with us!