Many people get upset when new, young families come in with kids, start worshipping at the church, but don’t always know how to act–at least in the eyes of the old guard (seasoned Christians). Instead of focusing on the thrilling reality that the church is actually reaching these people, people get hung up that these families don’t know how to act. I liken it to getting mad at a baby because it soils its diaper. It is kind of idiotic, when you think about it. Baby Christians don’t know how to act or, don’t act the same way as other people think they should. We tolerate our babies when they come into our families because we love them. Why don’t we tolerate these babies in Christ, even if they are new Christians who come disguised as 80-years-old–and don’t know how to act?

The truth is, mission is messy. It’s always messy and it’s always chaotic. The New Testament church was in total chaos. It would out of control–humanly speaking. It was not, however, out of the control of the Holy Spirit! The truth is, if we are going to see massive growth of the Christian Movement, we are going to have to live with the mess. It’s probably not what you want to hear, but it’s a fact!

There seems to be a lot of noise in church these days. I am not writing about high sound levels in worship or the din of endless chit chat. When I say there is noise in church today, I am writing about the acrostic N.O.I.S.E. which stands for No Other Interests Shall Exist.

As I work with churches I am finding that N.O.I.S.E. makers exist in almost every congregation. N.O.I.S.E. makers work quickly to undermine changes. They team up with anyone willing to listen to squelch out discussions that could eventually bring about change; unless, of course, the changes bring about something they enjoy or like. Bottom line there is a status quo they have worked for many years to establish and they will stop at nothing to protect it.

In extreme cases, N.O.I.S.E. makers will even allow themselves to be used as “bargaining chips” by making clear their intentions to leave the church should certain changes be implemented.

As sad as this has become, there is an even greater tragedy at work. “N.O.I.S.E. makers” often use God as leverage to win their case. They attach tag lines to their arguments like: “This new course of action is not honoring to God.” Or, “I’m sure God would not approve of this…”

While we have N.O.I.S.E. in our churches today, the challenge is nothing new. Actually It is historical phariseeism lived out in today’s culture. The Pharisees Jesus confronted would not tolerate Jesus’ teachings and “changes” to their status quo so they became N.O.I.S.E. makers and plotted to kill him.

Throughout history, the church has struggled to bring the timeless truth of Christ’s salvation to a constantly changing culture. It has struggled to make God honoring, appropriate changes. Furthermore, all the historical opposition has been touted under the banner of protecting God; as if God needs our protection.

St. Francis is quoted as saying, “The best way to protect the lion is to let the lion out of his cage.” Today, it is time for us to “protect” God by letting Him out of the religious cages in which we have placed Him. It is time to begin again the process of proclaiming the timeless truth of Christ’s Salvation in ways our un-churched culture can hear. In short: It’s time to turn down the N.O.I.S.E.

I was recently in the Pittsburgh area working at a church. Once again, I’m faced with a church that has a dilemma: it has been plateaued in worship attendance for ten years. There’s nothing overtly bad about this church that anybody can put their finger on. They have gained some members, but about equal to the natural attrition of those who move away, die, go into nursing homes, etc.

I call this a diagnosis from the perspective of the missing piece of the puzzle. In other words, there are no overt issues that keep this church stalled. Therefore, no one can “get it.” Here’s the deal in this case. We see it often:

1) The church lacks any vision or mission. It doesn’t really excite anyone enough to want to bring anyone to church.

2) Both worship services are blended. Blended services–regardless of what a few experts say–are bland, but they are subconsciously bland. In other words, they are good enough to be “holding tanks” for committed Christians who have the glue of the fellowship of the church. They aren’t, however, distinctive enough in style to ignite excitement for someone to invite a friend.

In interviews with people, if you press them hard enough and ask a lot of questions, ultimately you’ll get the same answer, “Well, our worship services are………bland!” You have to really dig to get this information. That is because it is subconscious. We recommended that they change their early service to a traditional service and their late service to a contemporary service. Eighteen months from now, in all likelihood, we’ll see this church in a growth pattern.

I was at a church in California, preaching and speaking at a Rally on a Sunday evening. This church has great worship! One of the elements of worship that really caught my attention was that each week in the church, they “pray through the previous week’s headlines.” They read a headline and a few key sentences about the issue and then they say “Lord in your mercy.” Then, the worship team leads one verse of a prayer-related song. Following that, they read a couple more headlines and say something like “Lord, we ask for your healing.” Then there is another verse of the song. This goes on for about 5 minutes. Wow! Do you think that helps Christianity appear relevant to the world we live in? It was a great experience!

Churches often think their name is “too sacred” to change.

I worked with an independent church for years and watched them grow and change their name THREE times in the last 10 years. And, I first met them just after they changed their name from Grace Baptist to Grace Bible Church. Then, during the last 10 years, it became Grace Fellowship. Now, it is Grace Gathering.

By the way, they’re right down the road from Martini Lutheran Church. I wonder…Martini–is that straight up or on the rocks? Whatever! I bet it’s very dry!

It seems like I see this all the time. Today I’m at a church in the northwestern metropolitan Detroit area and I see this again: active members are defined by those who have worshiped once in the past year. Inactive members are those who are not in the army or college and have not worshipped once in the last year. Are you kidding me? Here’s the problem: people are disengaged and re-engaged in other activities after ten weeks. If a church waits for a whole year and suddenly says, “Hey, Joe hasn’t been here for a year. We better follow up and see what is going on.” It’s way too late! It’s likely that Joe is long gone. Maybe he has gone to another church, or maybe never to be in a church again.

This is not new news. Years ago, a guy named John Savage wrote a book called Apathetic and Bored Church Members. He talked about the “drop out track.” By the looks of things, in our consulting work, not many people have read this book. He simply says that after ten weeks, people are doing something else. They have phased away from their “holy habit” of going to church. Make it seven weeks. Monitor people in church regularly so you know who is not there. When someone is missing, after seven weeks, pull the trigger—not shoot them, but to follow up. Not to nag them, but to ask them if something is wrong, if they are sick, if there are problems in the family, etc. Not to be nose, but to show you care. It’s not rocket science, but you better do it sooner than what most churches practice in follow up.

I have the opportunity to visit many churches of differing denominations and size. I am also blessed to coach one-on-one several pastors. Over this past week, something in common really was clear. Churches and pastors are dealing with one of two very common issues; either they have a front door where no-one is entering, or they have a back door where many are leaving. Here is some practical advice for the front door that needs fresh traffic.

For the front door that needs visitors, the fix is to provide events and encounters that encourage people from our community to check our ministry out. Here are some examples. One church this past weekend had a “wild game dinner.” About 260 people attended, of which only 25% were from the church, the rest were people from the community. There was lots of food! People brought their game dishes to share in potluck style. There were lots of door prizes! Several business from the area were approached and gave gift certificates and other items to be given away as door prizes. It seemed that nearly half of everyone attending got a door prize, including every child. There was a brief drama presented! Not an in your face “you need Jesus” drama, but one that clearly communicated a message of community. There was a brief message from the pastor! Yes, this one was clearly a gospel presentation using the acronym H-U-N-T. There were silent auctions; deer mount displays, and a couple of stories by hunters. Will anyone connect into the church body from this dinner? Possibly, but the odds are greater for this church than one who provides no event for a possible relationship encounter.

Another example comes from a church plant who last year sponsored 5 food plots for neighbors they previously had not met. They worked up a small area (5′ X 5′), planted seed, gave instructions for the care of the plants, and recipes for the harvest. The project gave the church people opportunity for several relationship encounters throughout the summer. Four of the five families visited the church and 2 now call this church “their church.” This summer, they have a goal of providing 100 food plots and as of now, have materials and volunteers to cover 75 of them. Most of the volunteers are people out of the community, not people from within the church! A local gardening club, several banks, & even the mayor’s office are participating. This is from a church that is only averaging 68 in worship attendance.

Another church participated in an elementary school fun fair. This event was not promoted by the church but by the school. The church took advantage of the community opportunity already planned and simply asked if they could serve in any way. As it turned out, not only could they assist, but they were invited to provide their own booth and encouraged to promote their church! They gave away balloons, popcorn, and information about their ministry to everyone who attended the event. As a result, the church had over 500 encounters with families out of the community who learned about the ministries of this smaller church (about 65 in attendance).

If you need to increase the traffic flow through the front door of your ministry, consider how you can provide events and/or encounters for people in your community to become aware of your ministry. One visitor recently confessed that she had driven by the church for several years but never noticed it, until she had an encounter with one of the members at the community event. When Jesus said “Go,” we often think that means door to door and it frightens us. Consider sponsoring an event that gives your community an opportunity to have an encounter with your members or your ministry. It”s not only fun, but a productive way of “going.”

How is the ministry at your church among teenagers? Student ministry is frequently a challenge in congregations. All too often, adults feel like they have to dream up activities to “entertain” the youth in a “Christian environment.” Increasingly, I see a good trend among high school students. They are open to serving. I was at a church a couple of weeks ago where all the high school students teach Sunday school, either during the early or late service of this large church in Ohio. They each have a mentor who is an adult and a mature Christian who not only works with them to teach Sunday school, but also throughout the week becomes their mentor, coach, discipler. They have some fun activities, of course. However, the interesting observation is that it is the service that has impacted the high school students the most. This has led to other areas where they are providing service including work in the inner-city cleaning up homes and trash in the streets, and annual trips to Mexico to help build ministry facilities for churches there. The idea of having students teach Sunday school reminds me of my own high school years. When I declared to my pastor that I wanted to become a pastor, he put me in a 5th grade Sunday school class as a teacher. At that point, I told him I didn’t know much about the Bible. He said, and I learned what this church in Ohio has discovered, when you teach the Bible, you learn it and perhaps in the best way. You also learn to be a servant to others. These high school kids are also a tremendous role model for the young children in the Sunday school to look up to them.

God literally has all resources available to Him, so if He has not released as many as you think you need, you must examine the reason why. But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere, which God apportions to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you (2 Cor. 10:13-15). To go outside of our appointed sphere or limit is rebellion against God. It is, in effect, a statement that you are God & reserve the right to find fault with God’s plans, substituting your own in their place.

What money reveals about people:

Many people think that having more money will solve problems & bring them what they want. Not so. Many of your limitations are designed by God to protect you. God, not money, is the answer to problems.

How you view God’s limits for yourself & your business can be a source of safety.

God uses money to reveal how much we look to Him as our ultimate source & problem solver, but He also uses it to teach us more about Himself & how He wants us to use better management skills.

Eight questions to ask when the lack of resources appears to be limiting your freedom, choices, & goals:

• Is God keeping me from expansion–or even paying my bills–because of a particular moral sin in my life?

• Is greed or materialism driving my desire for expansion? While God is not opposed to personal comfort or things that make the use of our time & energy more efficient, He does oppose greed & materialism.

• Is this new project–or the one I’ve been following since I last heard from God—in His perfect will for me or those associated with it? Do I care enough to fast & pray about this issue until I have an answer?

• Is God trying to protect me from something or someone in this project? What is it, or who is it? A lack of money is often a “red light” saying not only stop, but identifying the danger that is around you.

• Are you proceeding in this project God’s way? Is there biblical truth you are in danger of transgressing? How diligent have you been in searching God’s Word for economic or management principles that might apply to this problem?

• If God doesn’t supply the money when you want it–and in the form, you want it–are you willing to take matters into your own hands? Would you get the money any way possible? Is your ambition stronger than your recognition of God’s safety limits?

• Are you clear on the fact that God couldn’t care less about your money problem; instead, His concern is your maturity problem. Has profit become a goal instead of a fruit for you?

• Do you have enough management wealth & skills to properly steward this new expansion? If not, what skills or people will you need that you don’t have? Riches, which exceed your management skills, almost always destroy you.

There seems to be a great deal of discussion these days regarding church government. Small committees, large committees, lots of committees, no committees; the dialog goes on and on.

Can a church function in a “no committee” environment? If the lead pastor makes critical church decisions, is the church headed for chaotic closure? Is a church destined for doom if it never holds an annual meeting so members can vote on church business? Before you answer, consider the following real-life example.

A rapidly growing church in a growing community recently went through a shake up over their church government. From the beginning, they were organized as a Pastor-led church. There are no committees and no annual meetings. In fact, they don’t have formal membership. Rather, they ask people to become partners in the ministry of the church.

Over time, a small but vocal group became upset that they didn’t get to vote on church decisions. They eventually ended up leaving the church; taking a somewhat significant number of people with them. While this course of action is sadly disappointing, it was not nearly as devastating as you might think.

Because of their church government structure, instead of going through a long, highly visible and painful process; the church recovered rapidly without much incident. In fact, many of the people still attending the church are not even aware of what went on.

6 months after the incident you could hardly tell anything happened. 9 months after the incident, weekend attendance was higher than it had been prior to the group of people leaving. Today the church is still growing and making disciples.

It may be surprising to discover that many of the common forms of church government don’t work well in the 21st century. In fact, church government is one of the most significant challenges facing many churches today. However, broaching this subject can be tricky. In fact, if not handled correctly, discussions about changes in church government can destroy a congregation.

Church Doctor Consultants understand the transitional dynamics involved with changes in church Government. They welcome the opportunity to work with your congregation through a Church Government Consultation.

What is the structure of your church? Are you positioned for growth or for maintenance? Is the decision-making process pleasurable or painful? Whatever your answer, how your church is structured is more significant than you think.