CyberTsunami

Book Review: Breakout Churches Part 2

Rainer, Thom & Sam Rainer. Breakout Churches. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2009, 252 pp

BV652.25.R365 2004                                 ISBN #0-310-25745-X

Continued from previous post

6.     The VIP Factor

This chapter is similar to the Hedgehog Concept in Good to Great. The VIP factor is the “Vision Intersection Profile.” Rainer opens with the shocking statement that breakout churches do not seek to discover their vision. The key phrase is “seek to discover.” These churches all have a clear, compelling vision, but in Rainer’s words, it “was a vision that discovered them.”

When the vision of the leader can be matched with the gifts and passions of the congregation, then the church can find what community needs it can adequately meet. Most often, the leader’s passion came first, then the people’s passions were molded to his.

Rainer states that of the 427 church’s his team looked at, only 6% of the pastors were passionate. The others were motivated by survival, conflict avoidance, self-promotion, tradition, or fear.

For the congregation passion, the church didn’t rely on spiritual gift inventories or surveys. They created an atmosphere were people’s passions bubbled to the top and gave the people permission to follow them. What isn’t clear is how they filtered out the passions that did not align with the leader’s.

7.     A Culture of Excellence

This chapter is patterned after Collin’s “Culture of Discipline.” Closely tied to the VIP Factor, breakout churches found the intersection of the leader, people, and community and demanded excellence in every ministry that fell within that intersection and usually let other ministries die. These churches also gave ministry leaders and workers, both staff and volunteer a high degree of freedom, but with a high degree of expectations. Rainer came up with a quadrant similar to Collins discipline/entrepreneur quadrant, but Rainer’s is expectation/freedom. The chart below shows the quadrant arrangement. All the breakout churches were in quadrant 2. The comparison churches in each of the other quadrants are listed in the quadrant.

1 High Freedom Low Expectation 7 Comparison Churches	2 High Freedom High Expectation 13 Breakout Churches
3 Low Freedom Low Expectation 25 Comparison Churches	4 Low Freedom High Expectation 7 Comparison Churches

The breakout churches also had a generally acknowledged “do not start” or “stop doing” list. They simply didn’t do things that didn’t fit their VIP Factor or that they could not do well.

8.     Innovation Accelerators

Patterned after “Technology Accelerators” in Good to Great, the key idea of the chapter is that breakout churches use innovation as aid to growth, not to cause growth. The concept seems a little subtle. Is it really possible to say that an innovation did or did not cause the growth? The real issue seems to be one of how the church filters innovation and how much it relies on innovation.

Rainer states that most churches are either Traditionalist/Resistors or Innovator/Embracers. The first is troubled by change and generally resists all change. Twenty four of the 39 comparison churches fit this category (69%). The latter see innovation as the “magic bullet” or panacea. They blindly follow the latest innovation. Fifteen comparison churches fit this category (31%). Like the little bear in Goldilocks, breakout churches had the “just right” approach to innovation. Again, the difference seems to be not on the speed of innovation, but on the wisdom and discernment of the leadership.

Rainer finally addresses this when he comes back to the VIP Factor. The church has to evaluate technology with regard to how well it fits within their vision intersection.

The book digresses into a discussion of how innovation could become “the tail wagging the dog.” True, but Rainer uses this section to drive home more importantly how that most of the comparison churches didn’t have a dog to wag. The dog, of course, would be the main mission/vision of the church and leaders. There’s the problem. It’s not the innovation.

The book also includes the old warning that innovation can be a trap. What you use to bring them is what you have to use to keep them. Rely on innovation and you could get stuck with the innovation long after it ceases to innovative.

9.     Big Mo or Blind Erosion?

This chapter is based on Collin’s chapter The Flywheel and the Doom Loop. The big mo is, of course, momentum. Rainer says that the momentum is caused by a variety of things including the longer tenure of breakout pastors. Other factors include, preaching, Biblical authority, and prayer.

Blind erosion, on the other hand, stems from lack of accountability, poor theology, and ignorance and resistance on the part of the leaders. In the comparison churches, the laypeople had little understanding of their doctrinal beliefs and little evangelistic zeal. Many concluded that there were alternate ways to heaven.

Rainer lists six types of leaders who have the resistance to change that leads to erosion.

Ø      The burned leader is demoralized and hurt. He is unwilling to try great things for God out of fear of conflict.

Ø      The ignorant leader lacks interpersonal skills and basic leadership abilities.

Ø      The lazy leader takes advantage of low accountability.

Ø      The theologically weak leader has doubts about some basic tenets.

Ø      The conflict avoider is like the burned leader except that conflict avoidance is a basic personality issue and not the result of previous conflict.

Ø      The accolade seeker lives for recognition. He spends time on pastoral care and things that will increase his value in the eyes of the people.

1o.        To Become a Breakout Church

The last chapter is Rainer’s wrap up to reinforce salient issues one more time. The most beneficial section is the final chart on page 200.

Some steps toward breaking out

Acts 6/7 Leadership

Ø      develop core biblical values.

Ø      Pray for Christlike Spirit in all areas.

Ø      Decide in God's power to love the people of the church no matter what.Seek to lead your church to an outward focus, beyond the walls of the congregation.

Ø      In God's will make a commitment to stay with the church long-term.

The ABC Moment

Ø      Seek outside counsel to help you see the church from an outsider's perspective.

Ø      Be a lifelong learner through numerous media.

Ø      Pray for your critics and maintain an attitude of love toward them.

Ø      Be prepared for the reality that most crises will be the result of conflict with Christians.

Ø      Pray that God will allow you to see beyond the crises and see His work in the difficult moments.

Who/What Simultrack

Ø      Deal quickly but compassionately with a major people problems.

Ø      Develop a high expectation culture in the church that will attract more of the right people.

Ø      Work on major structural needs in the church will simultaneously working on the people issues.

The VIP Factor

Ø      Discern your passions for ministry is a leader.

Ø      Discover the gifts and passions of the members of your congregation.

Ø      Discover the needs in the community.

Ø      See where the above three factors intersect, and focus many resources at this vision intersection.

Culture of Excellence

Ø      Attempt to do all things with excellence in God's power.

Ø      If the church cannot do something with excellence, consider discarding or discontinuing the effort.

Ø      See innovation as a means, not as an end.

Ø      Carefully evaluate each innovative opportunity; be open but cautious with innovations.

Big Mo

Ø      Learn that the success God gives is often a beginning point for another opportunity for success.

Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions

Most of the questions answered here have already been addressed in the body of the work.

Appendix B: Selection Process and Research Steps

1.      Determine the Criteria for Selection

Ø      26 conversions in at least one of the past five years.

Ø      Maximum of 20:1 evangelistic ratio in the past five years.

Ø      Five years of sustained growth.

Ø      No change in senior pastor during the decline, breakout and growth.

2.      Locate a Database of Churches

The team gathered data on 52,333 churches.

3.      Apply the Two Evangelistic Screens

The evangelistic screens reduced the number of churches to 1,936.

4.      Seek Other Screening Data from Remaining Churches

The team asked the 1,936 churches for more extensive data over the past 10 years. Only 881 churches responded.

5.      Apply Breakout Screen

This screen reduced the number of churches to 211.

6.      Apply Consistent Leadership Screen

The senior pastor stayed the same in only 17 churches.

7.      Begin Intensive Research on Screened Churches

Detailed scrutiny ruled out 4 more churches.

8.      Research the Breakout Churches

1.      Gathering internal and historical documents on the churches.

2.      Gathering published material on the churches where available.

3.      Conducting interviews with staff and laity.

4.      On site observation.

5.      Testing according to Good to Great.

6.      Testing against comparison churches.

Appendix C: Selection Process of Comparison Churches

This is a brief explanation of how Rainer’s team picked the comparison churches for each breakout church.

Ø      Size: the comparison church had to have an average attendance within 10% of the breakout church’s.

Ø      Geography: The comparison church had to be in the same state or a contiguous state.

Ø      Demographics: The two communities had to be with 20% in size.

Ø      Doctrine: If the breakout church was part of a denomination, the comparison church came from the same denomination.

Appendix D: Synopsis of Churches Selected

This section gives a short synopsis of the 13 breakout churches. Most of the information has already been anecdotally mentioned within the main body of the book. They are listed below for easy reference.

1. Bethel Temple Community Church, Evansville, IN

2. Calvary Memorial Church, Oak Park, IL

3. Central Christian Church, Beloit, WI

4. Fairfield New Liife Church, Farfield, CA (Nazarene)

5. First Gethsemane Baptist Church, Louisville, KY

6. Grace Church, Christians and Missionary Alliance, Middleburg Heights, OH
7. Grace Evangelical Free Church, Allen, TX

8. Grove City Church of the Nazarene, Grove City, OH

9. Korean Central Presbyterian Church, Vienna, VA

10. Lenexa Baptist Church, Leneza, KN

11. Southwest Baptis tChurch, Amarillo, TX
12. The Temple Church, Nashville, TN
13. Xenos Christian Fellowship, Columbus, OH

Appendix E: Church Readiness Inventory

This 50 question inventory is one that Rainer’s former organization, Church Central, uses in preparation for a consultation. It covers many areas of church life including prayer, strategy, evangelism, fellowship, staff, vision, leadership styles, relationships, and conflict. Permission is granted for the survey to be used in the book purchaser’s local church.

Book Review: The Comeback Congregation

Frazee, Randy. The Comeback Congregation.

Nashville

: Abingdon. 1995

BR560.A78F73  1995                                                                                           131 pages

Randy Frazee is the pastor of Pantego Bible Church in Arlington, TX. and a mentor in the Teaching Church Network,Eden Prairie, MN. 

Those familiar with the work of Aubrey Malphurs (Strategic Planning for Churches) may see many similarities. Malphurs refers to the church many times. The church is connected with Dallas Theological Seminary where Malphurs is a professor and it is a Bible church which is Malphurs original denomination

Frazee was a member of the church which had experience great growth and a recent decline. The founding pastor left and it took the church two years to call Frazee. The book is the story of the turn around the church made.

One of the best aspects of the book is Frazee’s assessment of the kind of person who can be the “change agent” who can help a church make the comeback. It does take someone who is an activator and influencer. Sadly, this means that many current pastors may be unsuited and possible unable to affect a comeback.

Frazee gives a lot detail about the transition. Not enough to guide a church through the process, and too much detail about some elements, but overall, the reader can get a fairly clear understanding. Some of the elements include how the elder board was reorganized, how the staff was hired and reassigned, and how the foundational documents (by laws and mission statements) were re-written. Many of the ideas will not work with churches of different makeup, denominational backgrounds, or polity, but the general ideas are work a look.

How the church determined a disciple making process will be new to many churches and worth the time to digest.  The most unique aspect of Pantego's discipling process (which was later found in Reggie McNeal's book, Present Future) is the idea of helping members develop their own Spiritual Fitness plan.  The appendices have examples of a Spiritual Fitness Plan for both one's self and family and a Spiritual Fitness Resource Card which lists the various resources the church provides for individuals, small groups, and the entire church.  The church also supplies a Spiritual Fitness Coach for any individual or family that desires one. Finally, Appendix C has a staffing chart which shows how the staffing fit the discipling process.

The chapter on volunteers is also helpful. The church developed a useful taxonomy for volunteer positions based on four letters and a level number.

1 – Leadership ability: C = Contributor, M = Manager, I = Influencer

2 – Work style: S = Self (likes to work alone), T = Team (likes to work on a team)

3 – Closure style: O = Open (likes open ended projects), C = Closed (likes projects with quick completion) [Meyes-Briggs J/P?]

4 - – Relationship style: T = (likes to work with) Things, P (likes to work with) People [Meyers-Briggs E/I?]

Levels 1 – 3 refer to the level of spiritual maturity and church commitment (membership) needed. This must be totally subjective.

Frazee devoted one chapter to the children’s ministry. While this may have been a significant change, it also shows signs of “taking the easy road. They were dissatisfied with the traditional approach because it used too many volunteers: 200 volunteers for 450 children. This seems to be ridiculously high. They also believed that most of the recruits did not have the gifts or skills to teach children. Frazee also makes the audacious statement “Children’s curriculum is almost totally useless.” How absurd when he has already admitted that their recruitment process resulted in many unqualified teachers. In their defense, one can only point out that they did also try to involve parents in the teaching process more.

Aside from the criticism above, the book can provide a older (mid 90s), but still relevant profile of a church in the process of renewing rather than dying, ignoring, or planting, which are the most common responses to a church in decline.

Making Sunday School/Small Groups Family Friendly

Yesterday's post ended with the question, "how can a church turn something as large as Sunday School into a family friendly environment?" Here are my first three suggestion.

Age Grade Sunday School According to Kids’ Ages

Parents naturally tend to gather with people who have children the same age as theirs rather than with people their own age. Since many churches don’t really enforce age graded classes anyway (how many 40s classes are full of 50+ aged people?), age grading by kid’s ages is much more organic. By stating that a class is organized in this way, the leaders have the freedom to make applications to the lesson that help parents communicate faith to their kids. Leaders can also adjust schedules of fellowships, outreach events, or ministry projects to fit the unique schedules of families with children or teens. This also solves the tension of fellowships that are either “with or without kids.” This arrangement also allows for greater peer accountability for parents to be their kid’s primary discipler.

Consider Multi-generational Classes

Some churches have even offered an option for multi-generational classes. Some have run the full spectrum from preschoolers through senior adults. At this time there is not a major publisher that offers curriculum for this arrangement, so churches must create their own curriculum, which often creates other problems, so use this suggestion with care. However, with the right leader, this does have the potential to be a meaningful experience for many families.

Provide Intergenerational Experiences

If the suggestion above is too radical, consider simply providing intergenerational experiences. These could include fellowships, short-term classes, service projects, even mission trips. Students usually take mission trips with the “youth group.” This is reinforced by the myriad youth mission trip providers. Most of the work students do could easily be done by adults (with a little prodding). Local ministry projects are even more easily done with intergenerational groups.

For churches that provide separate worship services for students, this is even a more pressing issue. Without these kinds of experiences, students never get to share the Christian life with their parents at church. Students need to see their parents worshipping. They need to be able to express their devotion with their parents. Because students usually don’t interact with adults, other than youth group leaders who are often in their early twenties, they don’t learn how to be adults in the church. This could be a contributing factor to the high church drop-out rate after high school graduation.

Making Sunday School Family Friendly

Someone once said, “The temperature of our churches is set by the thermostats of our homes.” Yet few churches have a strategy for strengthening families. Surprisingly, many churches do not even think through how existing programs might hurt families instead of help them. One of the most common activities, Sunday School, usually separates families. Visit almost any church and ask a leader which way people go for Sunday School and the adults, children, students, and preschoolers we all go in different directions. Churches using home groups or other offsite groups are often in a worse situation. Parents go to their small group on one night while students go to theirs on another. The result is that families are separated for a long time on twice as many occasions. Yet, with a few simple changes Sunday School and small groups can become an asset to healthy families and therefore, to healthy churches.

The Problem

Student ministry is only about sixty years old, yet over the years, churches have helped create a culture in which parents have abdicated the role of spiritual development of their kids to the church. Richard Ross, the founder of the True Love Waits movement, says that if one asks the typical Christian parent if they teach their student algebra, they will respond, “No, I pay taxes and with those taxes the government builds schools and hires professionals to do that job better than I could.” In a similar fashion, if asked if they teach their student faith, they will respond, “No, I pay tithes and with those tithes the church builds super-cool youth rooms and hires professionals to do that better than I could.” George Barna puts it this way: "Unfortunately, no matter how hard a church tries, it is incapable of bringing a child to complete spiritual maturity: that is the job of the family.” [Click here to link to the quote.] He also says, “Teenagers rarely embrace Christianity if their family has treated faith as a Sunday morning experience … the family … must have worship experiences, pray together about significant personal needs, study the meaning of Scriptures together, and serve others.” [Real Teens. p. 149, see link in sidebar]

A recent comprehensive study by the University of North Carolina also confirms that “teenagers seldom vary very far from the religious beliefs of their parents. Only 11% say their religious beliefs are very different from their father’s and only 6% say their beliefs are very different from their mother’s.” [Christian Smith, Soul Searching, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 35] Multiple studies have reached the conclusion that parents are at least twice as effective in leading students to faith in Christ as even the church is.

So, how can a church turn something as large as Sunday School into a family friendly environment?

More later....

Direct Hit

According to author, Paul Borden, in 1997, the American Baptist Churches of the West had less than 20% of the churches growing. In the 50s and 60s, many of these churches had over 500. In 1997, most were under 100. Over the next four years the growth rate increased to 70% of the churches. Many are between 300 and 900 in attendance. Aggressive church plants have with over 300 in attendance. Direct Hit is the summary of what the denominational leaders discovered through the process.

Borden first explains why he believes most churches do not grow. The key factor is that the churches either have no leadership or leaders who wanted to lead change could not communicate it. While Direct Hit is about how pastors can prepare for change, it really does not address many details on how to communicate change. Issues Borden does address include

· Factors that help make someone a church leader

· Vision (with some suggestions on communication)

·  Building a sense of urgency (to help make people dissatisfied with the status quo)

· Building a transitional team. Borden suggests three teams: prayer, envisioning, and implementation. The teams caught my attention because of this quote from page 69.

Most pastors fail in this war because their army is too small when the conflict is engaged. They have too few officers. They are usually outsmarted by better generals who are fighting on their home turf.

· Living between two worlds – being the visionary leader and still fulfilling the role of pastor/chaplain/teacher.

· Dealing with opposition to change. Again, here’s a great quote [page 90]

As the pastor gains more and more influence and as more new people come, the congregational bosses realize that they will soon be outnumbered and out voted, thus losing control. This realization will produce passive-aggressive and, in some cases, openly aggressive behaviors against the pastor and those perceived as the “pastor’s people.”

· Using a consultant to help implement change. This is a great chapter for any pastor who is doubtful about using a service like the Healthy Church Group provides. Borden describes his consultation process in detail.

 

The appendices include a congregational self study which will help a congregation prepare for change and help a consultant to quickly understand the church culture and some of the issues the church is facing. There is also a great summary of church life cycles as delineated by George Bullard. Finally, there is an outline for pastors to train their boards and staff members.

At only 150 pages, Direct Hit isn’t a long read. Much of what Borden describes is conventional wisdom in church health and follows closely with what the Healthy Church Group is doing among California Southern Baptists. Still, for any pastor who is ready for a change but is unsure if the church is ready or if the time is right, Borden’s books can provide a framework through which pastors can evaluate the situation. It can also help a pastor decide if the time is right to call on an outside consultant like the Healthy Church Group.

Review: Jim & Casper Go to Church

As a church consultant, I am confident that George Barna is correct when he says in the foreword of this book :few religious leaders or churches have any idea what it's like for an outsider to try to break into the holy huddle [that is, most churches]." I had hoped that Jim and Casper Go to Church would provide some real insight into how outsiders view the church. At best, the book provides a snapshot of what two people perceive after visiting a church one time. Even then, they make a "cold call" visit to only the worship service.

I would not say that there is nothing useful in the authors' observations, but one must remember that both authors bring their own unique presuppositions into each worship service, so for every negative thing they see in each church, there are a host of other outsiders who might see a positive. Conversely, for every positive they see...well, you get the point.

Jim Henderson (a former pastor and leader of a ministry called "Off the Map) and Matt Casper (a formerly churched atheist) visit eleven churches, all west of the Mississippi. Most of the churches are "mega churches." They visit Saddleback and Mosaic (both SBC); Dream Center, LA (Foursquare); Willow Creek; 1st Presbyterian, Chicago; Lawndale, Chicago; Imago Dei, Portland; Mars Hill, Seattle; the Bridge, Portland (the pastor is Jim's personal friend); Lakewood, Houston; the Potter's House, Dallas; and a house church in San Diego (the pastor is Casper's personal friend).

So, what is the biggest take-away from the book? First, churches need to be more outward focused, viewing everything they do from the standpoint of the outsider. I'm not sure that all church leaders would agree with that. Some churches don't see the worship service as their "front door." I'm not sure that even all the churches they visited saw it as such. If a church has a different front door, they can afford for their worship service to be believer (or at least regular attender) oriented. In either case, most churches really don't see their church from the outside. How can they? That's partly where the Healthy Church Group, of which I am a part, comes in. In some cases we have even enlisted a "mystery shopper" for a worship service like Jim did with Casper.

Second, churches need to either be more focused on going out to the people and making a difference in their communities or, if they are focused on going out, they need to make it a greater part of their worship service. Casper makes a big deal about how even though each church was different in their focus and target audience, the program was essentially the same: singing, announcements, greet each other, offering, message.

My recommendation? There is a little voyeuristic enjoyment in seeing how these worship services were viewed. Though I will admit that I thought Saddleback and Mosaic, the two churches I know best, weren't fairly or accurately assessed (where is Fox News when you need them). Nonetheless, the book is worth the quick read and while it may not open your eyes to a whole new view of the "unchurched" or, as Jim calls them "the people formerly known as lost," it will serve as a reminder to revisit why you do what you do in church and help you reassess the balance of outreach and worship in your weekly front door services.

Comeback Churches

I read Comeback Churches over the summer, but I just finished reviewing it and making some notes. I can't do a review justice in the space that I have, but I was impressed by two things.

First, there are a lot of churches that have made comebacks. The authors found 324. I suspect that there are many more. These churches came from many different denominations. They varied in geographic area, church size, church age, age and experience of the pastor, and even in worship style and other methodologies. I was not surprised to discover that contemporary churches outnumbered traditional churches (whatever those terms mean) by 11 to 1. I was surprised to discover that the median age of the comeback pastors surveyed was 48.

Second, the theme I kept seeing in the book was change. Like most people, I don't have any problem with change as long as I don't have to do anything differently. One thing really jumped out at me.

Forty percent of comeback churches didn't change pastors (scary, but that means 60% did), but every comeback churches required a changed pastor.

The old adage seems to be true. It really does all come down to leadership. It is causing me to look at my leadership skills, style, and practice more carefully.

Another aspect of the comeback was often the student ministry. It ranked higher that worship ministry. It was often a source of staff change. I would assume this would be because comeback churches decided to hire a new youth pastor where they once had only volunteers in the position. It does seem to point out that comeback churches need a vibrant, visible student ministry. I once heard George Barna say,

I have never seen a dynamic, growing church without a dynamic, growing youth ministry.

This really doesn't do the book justice. It is certainly worth the read. By the way, the main author, Ed Stetzer, will be a featured speaker at my office's On Target Evangelism Conference this February in Anaheim.

Ministers' Leadership Cruise

I'm way behind on posts again. I have been on the Ministers' Leadership Cruise. Below is the post I wrote on Wednesday of the cruise, but I couldn't upload it at sea.

I have a little bit of an excuse for taking so long to write this post. I’m in paradise. Actually, I’m on the Paradise. That’s the name of the ship my office is using for the Ministers’ Leadership Cruise.

Every spring, for the past 30 years, we have held a Ministers’ Leadership Conference. Well, first it was the Pastors’ Bible Conference, then it was the Ministers’ Bible Conference, and the Ministers’ Leadership Conference after that. This year it became the Ministers’ Leadership Cruise.

It has been an interesting trip for me so far. I have never been on a cruise before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I did get to make a site inspection of the ship because I set up the trip with the cruise agency. Beyond the layout of the ship, I had no clue how this would work. We have been on for about 24 hours now. So far, we have had an evening worship service and morning Bible study, visited Catalina Island (including a golf cart ride up into the hills), and have had all you can eat dinner, breakfast, and lunch. The only thing we are missing is good coffee and free Internet access.

The sessions have been good so far. Steve Davidson, pastor of Clovis Hills Church in Clovis is the evening speaker. Dr. Eddie Pate from Golden Gate Seminary’s Brea campus is the morning speaker and Matt Atherton from Southwinds Church in Tracy is the worship leader. The only problem has been that the evening services are at 6:30 and that moves dinner to 8:00 p.m. We don’t get back to the cabin until almost 10:00 p.m. and the morning services starts at 8:00 a.m. (so that people can have the full day in Catalina or Ensenada). So breakfast has to be at 7:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. Not enough sleep, but I guess that’s a small price to pay for a working vacation on a cruise ship.

The pictures are of the top of the ship, of my wife (Teresa) and me at dinner, and of Chris Fletcher (the US/C-2 missionary in my office) eating escargot for the first time.