Issue No. 626 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting spotlights eight major shifts for the “future-ready” church—and eight case studies. Brilliant! Plus, click here to see book recommendations in all 20 management buckets (core competencies), and click here for more book reviews. Also, read my recent review of Next Level Nonprofit.
“Most churches in North America have more in common with 1950 than with 2050.” The authors of Becoming a Future-Ready Church wonder if you’re more like Leave It to Beaver or Modern Family?
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Brilliant! Eight paradigm-crushing churches are spotlighted in this critical book for church leaders. And just imagine this: What if…your church on U.S. Election Day 2024 followed Mosaic Church’s example from 2020? “While tens of millions watched their broadcast news outlet of choice as the votes in the 2020 presidential election were being cast, Mosaic Church held a daytime Communion service in downtown Dayton, Ohio.”
I urge you and your local church leaders to read the powerful and hopeful message of this new book—and then discern next steps.
8 Shifts to Encourage and Empower
the Next Generation of Leaders
by Daniel Yang, Adelle M. Banks, and Warren Bird
Oct. 22, 2024
Using a memorable “from this…to that” format, Yang, Banks, and Bird make the case for creating space for the next generation of church leaders—but, gratefully, they don’t pontificate for a one-size-fits-all methodology. But first, they urge you to pray and self-assess your current ministry:
• Are you still in the Leave It to Beaver era (1950s)?
• Or…the Modern Family era (2009-2020)?
• Or…something else?
The authors poke church leaders with eight dramatic “from this to that” shifts. Here are just three of the eight that tweaked my soul:
SHIFT: "From Church Refugees to Church as Refuge. Why True Hospitality Is Essential for Congregations to Thrive.” Each chapter lists a “dated” question (1950s maybe?) and a “better” question—plus the trend. Chapter 5:
• Dated Question: “How can we stay a ‘big happy family’ by reaching more people like us?”
• Better Question: “How can a culture of irresistible hospitality unify our congregation’s increasing diversity?”
• The Trend: “Mitigating division not by avoiding conflict but by creating truly hospitable places that allow people to be seen and heard.”
The authors address church conflicts and warn, “As society becomes more diverse, fracturing and splintering in churches will sadly become more common.” (“Pearson—I thought you said this was a ‘hopeful’ book?” It is. Keep reading. And by the way, you'll love reading Acts 16:15 in The Message.)
They add, “Every week in America, people who researchers call church refugees shuffle in and out of various congregations—sometimes discreetly but at times loudly (usually online by posting or blogging about it)—hoping to find a new spiritual safe house to rest and heal.”
What’s needed? The book highlights churches that seek to address conflict with “a more robust and practical theology of hospitality.” They add, “A culture of hospitality leads the church to be preoccupied with caring for people’s real needs more than curating its public image.” The case study on Mosaic Church in Beavercreek, Ohio, is both inspirational and instructive. (See more on boardroom hospitality here.)
Rosario “Roz” Picaro says his church models the 70/30 philosophy. “Seventy percent of what we say and do, you’re going to love, but you’re going to hate 30 percent. But your 30 percent is someone else’s 70 percent and vice versa.”
You’ll appreciate the graphic on page 104, based on co-author Daniel Yang’s church consulting work. He believes there are “four dynamics that people need to experience within a church.” Four V’s: Visibility, Voice, Value, and Volition. The descriptors for each are memorable and you will borrow them! Yards, Porches, Couches, and Tables. Read how the future-ready church must be competent in these “places and spaces” to effectively prepare for future conflict—because it will come.
SHIFT: “From Nuclear Families to Forged Families. Why Churches Need to Serve a Wider Range of Households.”
• Dated Question: “How can we get more people to volunteer so that we can strengthen ministry to the families in our church?”
• Better Question: “How can our church’s family ministries build health and increased capacity in people so that they can be more available to those who are lonely, struggling, or feeling that they don’t fit in?”
Discussing the “modern American family,” the authors note, “If there’s anything worth learning for churches from sitcoms such as Modern Family, the key takeaway is that they have been too myopic on the nuclear family for their ministry programming.”
Each chapter includes a “One Degree of Change” self-assessment with five to seven questions to prompt leadership conversations on the big shifts, “from this to that.” With five response options (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree), I immediately pictured church leaders wresting with these questions in a series of robust leadership meetings (with strong coffee, of course).
OOPS! If you’re flying from Seattle to Madrid, and you’re one degree off—you’ll end up in the Sahara Desert!
Why “one degree of change?” Heed the authors’ wake-up call! “When you’re traveling somewhere, if you’re off course by just one degree, after a mile you’ll miss your target by 92.2 feet. On a long journey, that difference will take you to a different city! Suppose you’re flying from Seattle, Washington, to Madrid, Spain. If your flight path is off by just one degree, you’ll end up instead in the middle of Africa’s Sahara Desert!”
Here's the good news: “That one degree of change can also move you in the direction you should have been heading in the first place.” (Pastors: this will preach!)
SHIFT: “From Physical Only to Healthy Hybrid. Why More Church Life Will Happen Virtually.”
• Dated Question: “How do we do in-person church better so that people will want to spend less time online?”
• Better Question: “How can we discern God’s work everywhere people spend time, especially in the growing digital world?”
• The Trend: “Embracing technology not by valuing its convenience but by pioneering spaces for Christ to be worshipped and proclaimed.”
Don’t skip Chapter 8! COVID maximized online church—and some folks are still viewing services in their Sunday morning PJs. Good thing or bad thing? The authors will challenge your preconceived notions (maybe your 1950 notions?) with a deep dive section, “Is Digital Ministry a Theological Advancement?” (When is the last time you thought about technology and the incarnation?)
Here's the first agree/disagree statement in the ”One Degree of Change” section: “Today’s exploding world of digital media is likely to be as world-changing as the impact of the printing press or the shift from agrarian life to urban life.” (If you’ve checked out the AI-generated podcasts I’ve created recently—you’ll have to join me in checking the “Strongly Agree” box.)
The case study is eye-opening! Read about Imagine Church in Gilbert, Ariz., “A Digital Congregation Creates Onscreen Face-to-Face Community.” The co-lead pastors, Janae and Justin Klatt, are leading what one researcher calls “a digital church using a digital-micro strategy as their primary gathering.” Learn why they’ve found that a “Brady Bunch” size (nine boxes/people on the screen) is optimal for a digital “community.”
Oh, my…there is so much more meat in this important book. I’m praying that hundreds and hundreds of astute and discerning “Leaders Are Readers Champions" will generously order this book for their pastors and elders. Imagine this scenario: a pastor prays, “Lord, what’s next for our congregation?” And then Amazon arrives with this powerful book!
When you read this book, be sure to note:
• “Why the future is birthing a new apologetic” in the shift, “From Mind to Soul.” Listen on Libro to the first three minutes of this chapter. (And read my review of Faith for the Curious.)
• The shift “From Attendance to Attachment” (Why church membership is losing its appeal and what’s replacing it.)
• Why “shaming a generation for being less religious is a surefire way to create greater disaffiliation and hostility toward the church.”
• The summary on page 200, “Eight Shifts to Start Becoming a Future-Ready Church,” with eight “dated” questions and eight “better” questions. (And thanks to the publisher, Zondervan, for granting fee-free reprints of this page. Generous!)
AND THIS:
• In the shift “From Racial Tension to Community Blessing,” see the very helpful list (pages 145-146) of 12 “church diversity” terms and their meaning. (Example: the difference between a “Multiracial Church” and a “Multiethnic Church.”)
• Why wise church leaders “will follow the model of those who led God’s people in the past, ‘who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do’ (1 Chron. 12:32).”
• And—so helpful—a “Scripture Index” (2+ pages) with verses referenced in the book from 28 books of the Bible.
• And this “blunt” question: “Will the young people in your church, when given the reins at the proper time, want and be able to lead what you’re passing on to them?”
This book has already made the cut for my Top-10 books of 2024.
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Becoming a Future-Ready Church: 8 Shifts to Encourage and Empower the Next Generation of Leaders, by Daniel Yang, Adelle M. Banks, and Warren Bird. Listen on Libro (5 hours, 41 minutes).
2) Warren Bird and William Vanderbloemen, co-authors of NEXT: Pastoral Succession That Works, begin their book with this profound alert: “Every pastor is an interim pastor.” Read more on succession in the ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4, “Succession Planning: 11 Principles for Successful Successions.” If our pastor (or CEO) were to be hit by the proverbial bus, what’s our succession plan? (Note: See also my review of Vanderbloemen’s new workbook for Be the Unicorn.)
3) Warren Bird and Elmer Towns will prompt about 21 LOLs if you read their piece, "When the Horse Is Dead, Dismount,” from their book, Into the Future: Turning Today’s Church Trends Into Tomorrow’s Opportunities. Download the one-pager from the Results Bucket. My favorite: “Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.” What’s your favorite response to a dead horse (program)?
Mastering 100 Must-Read Books
Part 17: “Nonprofit” Is a Tax Designation, Not a Management Philosophy!
Book #96 of 100: The 80/20 Principle
For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #96 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.
The 80/20 Principle:
The Secret to Achieving More With Less
by Richard Koch
Books #92 through #96 spotlight five helpful books for nonprofit CEOs, senior staff, and board members. In 2008, Richard Koch wrote a new and updated edition of his 10-year-old business classic. Will you read it—or delegate the reading to a team member?
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon.
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).
The 80/20 principle is all around us:
• 20 percent of your donors give 80 percent of the budget
• 80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your customers
• One-fifth of your time (equivalent to one day a week) produces 80 percent of your important work
• 80 percent of your people problems come from 20 percent of your staff!
• 20 percent of your volunteers do 80 percent of the work
And how about your wardrobe—you likely wear 20 percent of your clothes about 80 percent of the time, right?
BONUS BOOK!
Just published on Oct. 8, 2024, check out 80/20 Daily: Your Day-by-Day Guide to Happier, Healthier, Wealthier, and More Successful Living Using the 80/20 Principle, by Richard Koch.
• Order from Amazon.
• Listen on Libro (11 hours, 58 minutes)
Song #37 of 45: “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”
Listen to “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes,” sung by Elvis Costello, Song #37 of 45 in our blog series, Johnny Be Good. Costello wrote this song in just 10 minutes!
Reminder: Guest bloggers invited! More info here.
5-Star Workbook on 12 Leadership Habits!
As I paged through this beautifully designed WORKBOOK, a follow-up to the Be the Unicorn book by William Vanderbloemen, I had this overpowering urge to organize a discussion group! You'll love it—including the free assessment on the "12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders From the Rest." Read my review. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.