Were you recently appointed as the new pastor of a small church?
Over the summer, I’ve met with new pastors, freshly ordained, who have been appointed to very small churches in rural areas, or some churches in urban pockets that have been in decline for years.
What are some possible ways the small church pastor can help grow the church through evangelism? [Read more…] about So You Are the New Pastor of a Small Church, Now What?
Ron Crandall’s presentation on Church Transformation.
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Of all the various observations that Crandall makes in Turnaround and Beyond: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church about vision casting, effective leadership and managing conflict, there were a few items that really stuck out for me in terms of what successful turnaround and transformational churches have.
Small churches are a family.
I know of a small church that has been functioning with give or take 20 members, most of them related to the same family, and it has been that way for most of the church’s existence.
I’ve preached there on a few occasions when they needed an ordained pastor for communion (a requirement in my tribe).
The cemetery next door has graves for multiple generations of this family.
About 2 years ago, they called their first pastor.
I spoke with their new pastor this week and he mentioned to me that the family system is so tight, they take care of themselves.
He often learns about members in the hospital after they get out, or prayer needs from reading the bulletin that Sunday.
Even though he is their pastor, the members still haven’t let him in that system. They have been so used to taking care of themselves, that even the pastor feels disconnected.
For a church like this to turn around and grow into a new phase of life, Crandall observes that a pastor can’t just proclaim the importance of outreach, but lead the way.
“The pastor needs to engage in personal outreach and evangelism, most naturally to those who constitute the ‘extended family’ of the members. . . . Pastors who visit, reach out, and invite open the door outward and lead the way for the congregation to follow” (69).
This might also take the form of good questions to stimulate the imagination:
As part of that, Crandall’s study pointed out that “a little success in seeing new faces and the return of old familiar faces long absent goes a long way to change the attitude of evangelistic outreach” (p. 70)
For my pastor friend in the small country church, his challenge is helping that congregation think of other people besides themselves.
They have been self-maintaining for so long that they haven’t included their pastor, even after two years. They may welcome a new visitor on a Sunday, but that family system remains so tight that adoption won’t happen.
This isn’t a problem with just small churches — we have attended a church of 3,000 members that doesn’t use small groups. After 18 months, we still haven’t been adopted and still only know about 4-5 people by name. Even my Sunday school teacher had to ask me last week what my wife’s name was.
To reach new people, there must be an expansion of the family — adoption.
Evangelism in a small church is people centered. Larger churches have resources and programming that can attract and integrate people, but the small church attracts people through the personal contacts and relational warmth of its members.
Crandall’s study revealed a list of growth factors in smaller churches (p. 84). There were 20 of them, but grouped into 3 themes.
Behind all this suggests the role of hospitality and welcoming visitors to the church.
Crandall goes on to talk about hospitality, visitation, and attractional models of church growth, but also includes a section of ministries that engage the community. There is both an attractional and missional component to effect people reaching, even for a small church.
He is also good at pointing out that laypersons and pastors need also to look for those moments when the gospel can be verbally explained. “When these programs were also used as contact points to talk about personal faith and invite people to church, they became important points of entry for new people looking for a place in God’s family” (96).
Effective Christian witness involves many forms of mission and ministry, but the core of our witness is still that message of salvation and hope that no other organization can offer. The heartbeat of every Christian congregation must be reflected int he words ‘offer them Christ’ if it can call itself alive and well.
As I continued to read through Ron Crandall’s book, he gives a list of principles for church renewal and revitalization from the ages of church history. It may seem like a no-brainer, but at least observations through church history back it up.
1. Personal renewal.
Renewal of a church begins with renewal of the individual. Sometimes that might be a dramatic and decisive experience such as a conversion moment at a church service, or answering an altar call or responding to the invitation to receive Christ. I had that moment of conversion myself when I was still in my teens.
For others, such as those who grew up in a church it might be a deepening of faith, where you know it’s yours and not that of your parents.
But all of us go through spiritual dry seasons, and there are those events that bring a fresh wave of personal renewal. Some have found them at events like the PRMI Ignite weekend, Cursillo, Walk to Emmaus, Presbyterian Pilgrimage, ABIDE, Tres Dias, Lay Witness Mission and so on.
2. Corporate Renewal.
A new awakening in the life of a church — there is a new cooperation among believers wanting to fulfill the vision of God for the local congregation, a new sense of praying into God’s vision. Sometimes it might be a more dramatic revival.
3. Conceptual Renewal.
This is a stage where the people of a congregation receive the fresh vision of what God wants to do with the congregation. Old models are challenged, risk taking becomes more normal, and often churches will begin to rethink what they are about.
4. Structural Renewal
With a fresh vision old programs fade. Old structures are laid aside. The church begins to reorganize itself to respond to the new direction that God is leading. Any form that is helping the church to find its new life and be faithful to its history should be kept. Any that deny the new fresh fire from the Spirit should be modified or retired.
5. Missiological Renewal
A church needing renewal is overly inward focused. As churches turnaround, experience renewal and revitalization, the church begins a new focus on mission and service to the world. Sometimes renewal begins here. . ..
This week and next, you’ll be reading about small church transformation, particularly the role of evangelism, based on a study of small churches first done in 1995 and then updated in December of 2008. These first few posts setup some of the background and are meant to be in small blog-size portions for easy consumption.
In Turnaround and Beyond: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church, Ron Crandall takes a brief look at renewal in church history and also highlights some observations from current research on leadership. In broad strokes he offers the contributions of these disciplines to small church renewal and revitalization.
Church transformation is more than merely renewing or producing a good organization through competent leadership. Crandall puts forth a couple of lists that indicate the role of leadership in church renewal
Furthermore, Crandall lists some dynamics of renewal cleaned from business leadership studies.
Crandall’s observations are based in Howard Snyder’s Signs of the Spirit: How God Reshapes the Church. The key point he walks away with is
The first and perhaps most critical beginning point for renewal is to understand that the church has an inborn tendency to grow. Growth is in its genes. Whatever its pathologies every church has a vital urge toward its own health and renewal. The reason for this is simple and simply profound: The church is the body of Christ. The very Spirit of Jesus is at work in his church, always prodding and drawing it toward life and renewal.”
From Synder’s work, Crandall draws out
Crandall has studied others who have contributed to the field of small church renewal and has seen that
“the emphasis is on the importance of open and visionary leadership,
the creative use of all persons’ gifts and
the humble heart of a servant leader.”
What does the transformational study of turn around churches reveal? That’ll be tomorrow’s post. To get it automatically, sign up for the RSS feed.
Order your copy of Turnaround and Beyond: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church Direct from Amazon.
While at the Mt. Vernon Evangelism Dunamis, I had the opportunity to visit with some elders of the Deming Presbyterian Church in Northwest Washington State (Acme WA), with about 15-25 people in worship.
Here is what one of the elders had to say [edited for spacing and readability]:
On the evening we and other church elders met with Chris Walker, he was able to provide new insight and confirm existing notions about reaching our community for Christ.
His taking the time to first hear about our church profile and current state of evangelistic activities before offering input was encouraging and helped make the title of Evangelism Coach fitting for Chris. He then proceeded to offer direction that was both appropriate and doable.
. . . .
Chris also drove home some great points we all could benefit from :
- Seek the face of God when we pray; we want to follow His will not our program.
- When we meet as a group to seek the will of God, save the brainstorming until after significant time is spent in group prayer.
- Once an inventory of community needs is taken, know that no church can meet them all. Ask the Lord to direct the church to which needs it is called to minister to.
- Do ministry with the stamp of Jesus clearly visible. It needs to be publicly proclaimed that our work is empowered by the love for others that flows from Jesus, through us and into the lives of others.
- Get out! These Post-Christendom times require us to get out of our building and into the community.
The following Sunday morning in our Adult Study time, after inviting our Lord’s leading, we had discussion about our mutual desire for our little church to become more connected to our community.
Next thing we knew we were inspired by an idea . . . . .
To conclude, I would say that Chris is about delivering the truth in a way that emulates how Jesus does it: He turns our attention and hope toward our Father.
Grateful,
Bruce Burke
Do you want a similar coaching session with your church outreach team or leadership team?
This type of meeting can be conducted via conference call and is travel free.
There is an expense for my time, but this church pastor said it was worth every penny to see his elders re-energized!
See Church Leadership Coaching Session to schedule your call and find some fresh ideas.
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