Budgeting and Staffing the Simple Church

The Simple Church idea revolutionized how churches view their disciple-making process. First, the what becomes the how – a clear process flows from what disciples look like. Key programs are then placed along the process. Next, ministries are united around this process. Last, anything outside the process is eliminated.

Being a new pastor at an established church, I have begun learning all our ministries. Many of them are excellent. But my responsibility is now using these ministries to create a cohesive path for all disciples to grow. Obviously, I’m just starting to clarify the steps to make the what the how. In thinking through my vision for a discipleship process at First Baptist Murray, I’ve realized two areas that are often neglected within the simple church framework: budgeting and staffing.

Budgeting. Church leaders will get their congregation fired up about a new vision. The church will adopt a new process for making disciples. Everything becomes simple, and the majority of the church can now quote a memorable discipleship process statement. But a major problem is just below the surface: The budget line items do not match the new discipleship process. The resources remain locked up in the old paradigm. A new, clear discipleship process also requires a major overhaul of the church budget.  The simple church will never work unless the resource allocation matches the process.

Staffing. Church leaders will work for months gaining the momentum to simplify a church structure. The people will adopt a new vision statement. Ministries will begin to align. Everyone is clear on how to make a disciple. But this change will not be long-term unless the staff is aligned as well. When you radically change the discipleship process, you must also radically restructure the church staff to match the process. The simple church will never work unless ministerial responsibility and oversight matches the process.

Any thoughts from those that have successfully implemented a simple church structure? Did you also align the budget and staff?

A Simple Idea to Invigorate Corporate Prayer

You inherit a lot when you’re a new pastor at an established church. Being the new guy at FBC Murray, I did not realize until I got here how important prayer is to this church. I’ve been blessed to inherit such a healthy attitude about prayer among the people.

We pray collectively every Wednesday evening. The church recognizes the importance of both corporate and private prayer times. I love praying with my church family for many reasons, but it’s most exciting because they are so passionate.

There’s nothing specifically cutting-edge about our prayer time. We spend about a third of our time praying for missionaries we know. Another third praying for those who are sick. And another third praying for local and church-specific ministries.

Our Wednesday evenings are a wonderful time together, but what’s missing is the personal touch to those for whom we are praying. So we’ve started inviting leaders of local ministries and other community leaders to join us. We physically surround them, spiritually lifting them up in prayer. We do the same for those who are struggling personally with physical or spiritual issues. Next week, we’ll begin to Skype in missionaries from across the globe, having them join us electronically. We’ll pray for them as they listen and watch through Internet hinterland. I’m looking forward to praying with my cousin, David, and his family in Japan next week.

It’s not avant-garde, just a basic way to connect with those for whom we pray. But there’s power in a simple personal touch coupled with fervent prayer.

One of the Biggest Reasons Why Churches Decline

My wife and I are in San Diego this week at the National Outreach Convention. It’s been a great convention thus far. I had the opportunity to lead a discussion group this morning …at 7:15AM! I think most of the attendees were on central or eastern time . A person in our group asked a great question: How do you define and assess church health? We spent the next hour discussing this issue, but let me share with you one point of our discussion that is perhaps one of the most neglected church health metrics: attendance frequency.

Most churches track how many people attend, but few churches know how often people are coming. People do not simply quit church one week; they phase out. They begin by attending less frequently. This issue is one of the biggest reasons why churches decline. Understandably, a plethora of spiritual reasons exist why people attend less frequently, but many churches do not even realize that people are gradually leaving the church by attending less often.

Let me share with you a basic exercise:

Church A has 400 people that come 4 out of 4 weeks (yes, I know that’s a pipe dream, but hang with me for the sake of argument). This attendance frequency means that the church averages 400 in attendance.

Church B has 400 people that come 3 out of 4 weeks (not too bad). But this attendance frequency means that the church averages 300 in attendance.

Church C has 400 people that come on average 2 out of 4 weeks (probably more realistic). They average 200 in attendance.

I’m sure that you get the point by now. Each church has 400 people that are part of the flock, but the average attendance at Church C is much less than Church A. As attendance frequency drops, the churches have drastically smaller averages, without “losing” anyone.

I am not advocating legalism – a haughty attitude that every time the church doors are open everyone must be there. But the family that once attended almost every week and now attends ten times a year is gradually leaving the church.

Attendance frequency. It’s not the most important church health metric, but it’s one that is neglected. And it’s one of the biggest reasons that churches are declining.

I also noticed that my Dad posted on this exact same topic over at his blog. I guess I am my father’s son. It won’t be long before I’ll be singing cheesy 60s songs and telling corny jokes…