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Posted on August 12th, 2008 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Articles, Church Growth Articles.
Six Physical Factors That Affect Your Worship Service - Click here for Original Article
By Rick Warren
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Thu, Mar. 08 2007 10:04 AM EST
Facilities and physical environment have a lot to do with what happens in a weekend worship service. The shape of your building will shape your service. Walk into some buildings and your mood will instantly brighten. Walk into other buildings and you’ll feel depressed. The shape of a room can change a mood instantly; so can the temperature of room; so can the lighting in a room. Be aware of these factors and use them. Figure out what mood you want your service to project and then create it.
One of the problems we face in maintaining the church environment is that we tend to overlook defects after about four weeks. Once you become familiar with a building, you stop noticing what’s wrong with it. The defects and disorder don’t bother you as much as they did when you first noticed them. You become oblivious to the faded paint, the frayed carpet, the chipped pulpit, the outdated tract rack in the vestibule, the old bulletins left inside hymnals, the stack of stuff on the piano, and the burned-out light bulbs overhead.
Unfortunately, these things stand out immediately to visitors. They notice details.
One way to combat this tendency is to do an Environmental Impact Report on your church. Get a photographer to walk around your facilities and take pictures from the eyes of a visitor. Then show those pictures to your leaders and determine what needs to be changed. In particular here are some environmental factors you need to pay close attention to:
1. Lighting
Lighting has a profound effect on people’s moods. Inadequate lighting dampens the spirit of a service. Shadows across a speaker’s face reduce the impact of any message.
Most churches are far too dark. It may be our conditioning from all those years Christians worshiped in the catacombs! I’ve noticed that even churches with plenty of windows often cover them up. Somehow, churches have gotten the idea, maybe from funeral parlors, that dimming the lights creates a more “spiritual” mood. I completely disagree.
I believe that church buildings should be bright and full of light. God’s character is expressed in light. 1 John 1:5 says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” I believe churches should be the brightest public buildings. Light was the very first thing God created. God said, “Let there be light!” (Gen. 1:3) Today, I think God would like to say this to thousands of churches.
If you want to wake up your services, brighten up your environment. Take the curtains off your windows! Throw open the windows and doors! Turn on all the lights!
Here’s an experiment: This week secretly replace all the light bulbs in your worship center with twice the watts, then notice the change in mood in next Sunday’s service. You may have revival!
2. Sound
Invest in the best sound system you can afford. If you’re trying to cut costs, do it in some other area. Don’t skimp here. Saddleback grew for 15 years without our own building, but we’ve always had a state-of-the-art sound system.
It doesn’t matter how persuasive the message is if people can’t hear it in a pleasing manner. A tinny, fuzzy sound system can undermine the most gifted musician and incapacitate the most profound preacher. And nothing can destroy a holy moment faster than a loud blast of feedback!
If you are a pastor, insist that your church purchase a lavaliere microphone so you are not handcuffed to the pulpit. Movement while speaking maintains attention.
3. Seating
Both the comfort and the arrangement of your seating dramatically affect the mood of any service. The mind can only absorb what the seat can endure! Uncomfortable seating is a distraction that the Devil loves to use.
If you can get away replacing the pews, I’d advise it. In today’s culture the only places people are forced to sit on benches are in church and the cheap bleacher section at ball games. People expect to have their own, individual chairs.
Personal space is highly valued in our society. This is why box seats are prized at stadiums. If people are forced to sit too close to each other, they get very uncomfortable. There should be at least 18 inches between people if you’re using chairs and 21 inches between people if you’re using pews.
If you use moveable seats, set them up so people can see some of each other’s faces. It will dramatically improve how people respond to the service. If you are planting a new church always set up less chairs than you need. It’s encouraging to your people when additional chairs must be brought in as people arrive. On the other hand, it’s very discouraging to worship in a service when surrounded by empty chairs.
4. Temperature
As a pastor who has preached for years in un-air-conditioned gyms and unheated tents, I say this with the utmost conviction: The temperature can destroy the best planned service in a matter of minutes! When people are too hot or too cold they simply stop participating in a service. They mentally check-out and start hoping for everything to end quickly.
The most common mistake churches make regarding temperature is to allow the building to become too warm. Some usher sets the thermostat at a reasonable setting before the service without realizing that when the building is actually filled with a crowd, the body heat of all those people will raise the temperature substantially. By the time the air conditioning has cooled everything down, the service is nearly over.
Always set the thermostat several degrees cooler than what is comfortable before the service begins. Cool it down before the crowd gets there. The temperature will rise quite quickly once the service starts. Keeping the temperature on the cool side will keep the crowd awake.
5. Clean, safe nurseries
If you want to reach young families, you’ve got to have sanitized and safe nurseries. There should be no mop-buckets in the corners and the toys should be cleaned each week.
6. Clean restrooms
Visitors may forget your sermon but the memory of a foul smelling restroom lingers on … and on … and on! You can tell a lot about the morale of a church by checking out the quality of the restrooms.
The sad truth is that many churches need a completely new building. They’ll never reach their community in the building they’re using. One pastor told me in frustration that he was praying, “God, let the fire fall!”
When my friend, Larry Dewitt was called to pastor a church in Southern California he found a small, clap-board church building in a high-tech suburban area. Larry recognized that the age and style of the building was a barrier to reaching that community. He told the church leaders he’d accept the pastorate if they’d move out of the building and start holding services in a Hungry Tiger restaurant. The members agreed.
Today, after moving to different facilities, that church has grown to several thousand in attendance. It would have never grown that large if they’d stayed in their original building. The shoe must never tell the foot how big it can get.
For years Saddleback used high school campuses for our seeker services. In order to make the best of what we had to work with we organized two quality control crews. The first crew would come in before 6 a.m. and set up 42 different classrooms and a gymnasium. The set-up crew would diagram each classroom’s layout on the chalkboard before moving anything. That way everything could be reset in the right order by the take-down crew when they came in at 1 p.m. after all the services were over. Every classroom was vacuumed twice every Sunday – once at the beginning of the day and once after we’d finished using the rooms. It was hard work but part of the price of growth.
The goal in all that we do is the same as what Paul said in Titus 2:10 “… so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”
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Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America’s largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers. Copyright 2005 Pastors.com, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Articles, Church Growth Articles.
The Five Stages of Renewal in the Local Church - Click here for Original Article
By Rick Warren
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Wed, Jun. 25 2008 09:28 AM EDT
In the last three years, I’ve told you this several times: I believe God is preparing the church for another reformation. The first reformation focused on what the church believed; this one will focus on what it does.
For too long we’ve separated the Word of God from the work of God. As the church, we’re called to be the body of Christ – the whole body. We’re not just called to be the mouth of Christ, but the feet and hands as well.
Every time a new reformation has come, five renewals have preceded it. The awakening and reformation of the global church will begin with churches like yours. The same five renewals will precede this movement in your church.
1. Personal Renewal: It starts with the heart. If God is going to renew your church, he’ll begin it with you – and then it has to continue with the rest of your church. You might call it rededicating your life, being filled with the Spirit, or the “deeper life.” I don’t care what you call it. Just get it! Pastor, the bottom line is this – you need to fall in love with Jesus again. Do that and all of a sudden it’s not about religion and rituals; it’s about a relationship with Jesus. You realize that Jesus doesn’t just love you, but he likes you.
2. Relational Renewal: After you get right with God, you’ve got to get right with others. Jesus told us this. He told us to love God with all of our heart and then love others as ourselves. When you have relational renewal in your church, the gossip goes down and the joy goes up.
How do you know when a church has been through relational renewal? People hang around longer after the service. They want to spend time together. If people don’t want to hang around after your services, you have a performance not a church. The church is more than content; it’s a community.
3. Missional Renewal: This is when a church discovers what God wants it to do. We have a kingdom assignment. We’re not here just to bless one another. God wants to bless the world through us. Specifically, God has given the church five purposes – worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. Missional renewal happens when we focus our churches on these purposes. When your church gets personal, relational, and mission renewal, it can’t help but grow.
4. Cultural Renewal: In this stage, God renews the culture of the church. I’ve known pastors who have tried to change the culture of the church without going through the other three renewals. There’s a word for that – martyrdom. You cannot change the culture of the church. Only God can. But once the first three renewals have happened in the church, God will change the culture.
5. Structural Renewal: After your church has been through the first four renewals, it’s going to outgrow your current structure. No doubt about it. I’ve seen it happen at Saddleback. The structure that works for a church of 100 won’t work for a church of 250 and so on. There is no perfect structure in Scripture. Why? Every situation is different. We’ve got to structure our churches differently depending on our circumstances. We change structures just about every year at Saddleback. You can’t put new wine in old wineskins. As your church begins to get healthier and healthier, the structure has to change.
There’s a sixth renewal, but it doesn’t happen in the local church. Institutional renewal happens when Christianity’s institutions change. Institutions like seminaries and denominations are always the last ones to change; they never start the change process. Change always happens first in the local church. Institutions are there to preserve the change of the previous generation. Take a look at a tree. The growth of a tree is never on the trunk. It’s always on the new branches. Institutions are like trunks. They provide stability not innovation.
A great spiritual awakening is on the horizon. Will your church be a part of it? Be aware of these five stages of renewal. As a pastor, God has called you to be a catalyst in the renewal of your church. You can’t do that unless you know where your church is on its journey.
Exciting days are ahead of us!
______________________________________________
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America’s largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers. Copyright 2005 Pastors.com, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Articles, Blogs, Church Growth Articles.
What The Largest Churches Are Doing Right - Click here for the original article
John N. Vaughan
The 38-year history of megachurch growth speaks for itself:
How can pastors and other leaders of smaller churches digest the meaning of this phenomenal growth? Have megachurches found “secrets” to church growth that can always be replicated elsewhere? Have megachurch pastors watered down the gospel to make it attractive to seekers? Has God chosen to bless a tiny percentage of huge churches with exponential growth, while allowing the vast majority of churches to stagnate and decline?
In my work with Church Growth Today, I have been studying the phenomenon of the megachurch since 1984, and I’ve spent the last three years visiting 300 of the largest American and Canadian megachurches in 60 cities and 25 states and provinces. Like all churches, they have had their problems and crises. However, I have found them to be doing several things well. And the irony is that the things they do well can and should be done by churches of all sizes. What follows are seven of the ways megachurches have found to grow.
1. Unleash the church to serve others
Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, Iowa, has a ministry for hungry people in its city. This 4,800-attendance church meets in a worship center seating only 750 and meets in 10 weekend services. In one month, they delivered 205 dozen cookies and 1,024 complete lunches to hungry people who are not members of their church.
You may be a smaller church with limited resources. But what are you doing and what could you do? Can you make a dozen cookies? 10 dozen cookies? 20 dozen cookies? Look for the idea rather than just the amount given by the larger church.
Since its beginning, Horizon Christian Fellowship of San Diego has reached multitudes of homeless and unchurched people in its city. Attendees distribute tons of clothes and food to families and individuals both in their city and around the world. While their facility has no crosses, the worship center entrance displays photos of people from around the world. Behind the worship center speaker stand, in large scripted letters, is the name “Jesus.” His name is boldly and intentionally planted in full view to impact the minds and hearts of all who meet their people and visit their services.
Richmond Outreach Center of Richmond, Virginia, is led by Geronimo Aguilar, biker and former Los Angeles gang member. This inner city church started in 2001 with 21 people and now averages more than 4,000 people each weekend. The name of Jesus and the word “sin” are used unapologetically at this church that sees lives radically changed each week. The attendees have shaven heads, tattoos, “Bikers for Christ” vests, “Satan Sucks” T-shirts, and no-nonsense messages about Jesus. Twenty-four area churches that could never reach troubled teens and gang members as effectively as The ROC regularly support and refer youth and others as a community of churches.
2. Be an accessible pastor
The late Jerry Falwell once advised pastors to “walk slowly through the crowd.” Minutes of being accessible before and after services can save you hours in the office and on the phone.
When pastors simply stand still before and after worship services or in designated reception areas, members and visitors can share in a moment what could have been a 30-minute office visit. Even then most pastors of large churches still have members that may never meet them face to face or simply shake hands. For some people mere one-on-one direct eye contact and a smile can create a sense of acknowledgment that makes meeting with delegated staff members more acceptable.
Many members of larger churches have greater kingdom motivations than merely having the senior pastor shake their hands. Many left churches where that may have been about all they received. Even Jesus needed to multiply ministry through the disciples and spent most of his time with them.
3. Multiply leaders
Unless you’re able to multiply leaders, your ministry may well become a one-generation event or a curse to your successor. New leaders and new groups increase ownership in shared ministry that can allow continued growth during times of conflict and community transitions.
These viral converts, in sufficient number, ignite and invite great growth. Churches respond to the rate of numerical gain in new believers and members in different ways. In Acts 6:1 this multiplied growth resulted in both neglect and conflict that was resolved by the addition of both leaders and ministry.
Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of Hawaii’s New Hope Christian Fellowship (14,000 attendance), has masterfully demonstrated the vital role of multiplying leaders by leaders mentoring leaders. Mac Brunson, pastor of the 7,500-attendance First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, also leads a church that for decades had modeled the importance of multiplying Sunday school classes and new leaders.
As a pastor, do you focus on discipling people in general or leaders in particular? How can you multiply your impact by investing time and energy primarily in those who will lead ministries within your church and community?
4. Dream big — really big
Bill Bright often shared with Campus Crusade staff that minds and hearts are not inflamed by small ideas. Church leaders at First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, and First Assembly of God in Phoenix have influenced multitudes of former unchurched people (who now belong to their churches) and thousands of pastors in seminars to plan kingdom-size big.
When Albuquerque’s Legacy Church planned its Big Day for Sunday, March 16 of this year, the 4,000-attendance church set a big goal of 6,500 attendance and 250 new believers. That Sunday 8,192 attended and at least 290 became new believers.
You can plan big events even though they may not be able to draw thousands or hundreds. How can you bring a lot of people into your property for a family fun event, concern, comedy night, or special event? Creating a buzz in your church and community will do a lot to help people think of your church as a happening congregation.
5. Serve people you’ll never meet
Growing churches know that kingdom ministry is larger than their own ministries. Many decide to share their resources and influence by partnering with groups that already specialize and are connected locally, nationally, or globally for ministry.
Antioch Church of Overland Park, Kansas, has an on-site room dedicated specifically for food to be used for compassion ministry purposes. Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minnesota, uses a similar dedicated space.
Several churches, such as San Diego’s Horizon Christian Fellowship, have dedicated space for processing clothes to be distributed by missionaries in several countries as well as to people who are homeless in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
Lutheran Church of Hope, mentioned earlier, prepared a million meals for children in Uganda during Lent 2007. The meals were prepared by assembly lines of six members each that bagged vitamin-enriched rice and other foods. They partnered with Minnesota-based Kids Against Hunger as their food supply and distribution source. Depending on international supply and cost of rice, one 50-pound bag of rice can feed about 50 children.
Vineyard Anaheim Christian Fellowship, with about 1,500 attendance, has both storage (130 bays) and a processing warehouse (100 bays). Average food storage capacity at a time can range from 150,000 to 200,000 pounds. About 50 to 75 members serve to distribute approximately 2,000 pounds of food seven days a week to area families in need. The ministry is totally funded by members of the church.
The Rock Church, San Bernardino, receives food from various partners across America and seeds food into 46 other ministries. The church also served more than 813,000 people full meals in 2007. The church serves more than 300 homeless people each month. They provide full lunches and vast amounts of clothing, jackets, and blankets. More than 300 flu vaccinations were administered with a donation from the Department of Public Health. Free dental care is provided to more than 100 children once each year. Their monthly inner city Operation ReachOut, which takes free items and a message of hope, served about 900 children and youth last year. Their Winter Coat Exchange received more than 300 new coats in 2007 for redistribution to children. The Back to School Bash each year distributes more than 5,000 backpacks filled with school supplies and a new pair of shoes for each child.
The story of these churches is shared to assure you that you are not alone in your outreach and compassion efforts. Just as most of you did not know about them before you read it today, they don’t know about all that you are doing, and will do, in that special place where God has put you.
6. Get your focus off your facilities
Just when you think your buildings are large enough, as important as they are to ministry, you realize that you must discover more innovative ways of multiplying leaders and groups in your limited space.
In Luke 14:23, Jesus said, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (NKJV). He meant more than just the capacity of our classrooms and worship spaces. He was talking about multitudes and myriads (tens of thousands). In John 14:2-3 Jesus also said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions…” indicating both the location of his “house” and the magnitude as being “many mansions.” We are talking kingdom-size big.
American churches have had multi-site churches for at least 100 years, when First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, had about one-third of its Sunday morning attendance in off-campus sites. Third world megachurches have had multi-site churches for at least 20 years.
The church I attend, First Baptist Church of Bolivar, Missouri, with attend-ance of about 1,000 people each week, has had a second site for 10 years. We bought the oldest theater in town that had remained empty for more than a year. Our purpose for beginning the off-site was to reach people in our area that would probably never attend our church. The issue was not about space problems but about reaching people different from us.
Since the year 2000 there has been a popular awakening to the idea of multi-site church campuses. The result, whatever the motives of churches, is that many more people are now being reached through smaller “mansions.”
The 2007 Church Growth Today list of the 200 largest U.S. churches indicates that 55 of the 100 largest churches (7,100 to 46,300 attendance) report having multi-site campuses. Twelve of the 100 reported having five or more sites. The next 100 largest churches (attend-ance of 5,000 to 7,000) have an additional 42 churches with more than one campus. Three of these churches report having five or more sites.
7. Keep hoping, no matter what
One of the myths about America’s megachurches is that they all had easy growth. The truth is that there are churches among them that faced dreadful challenges and were about to close their doors. Some, like many smaller churches, did cease to exist.
Second Baptist Church of Houston, now the second largest church in the nation, had experienced devastating decline until Edwin Young (father of Ed Young) came as their pastor with part of the staff from his previous church. NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Michigan, was formerly Temple Baptist Church (Redford, Detroit) that had been in steep decline for three decades. Today NorthRidge is the largest church in Michigan.
Do what you can, with all that you can, with as many as you can, as soon as you can for the kingdom’s sake. You cannot do everything, but together we can all do more than we have done. Hopefully, you are more aware that megachurches, like smaller churches, have no monopoly on ideas, on growth, on pain, on opposition, or on God’s Holy Spirit.
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