Pray in the King James Version.There is incredible beauty in the words of the most popular version of the Bible. 11. It turns out that while a busy building can be a great sign of a healthy church, its never the cause of it. (And, to be honest, I never did sing along.). Following Jesus is hard, and if we do we will take shots. Christians have always eaten together. You can get there by rail, bus, car, or even plane. Some of the comments were brutal: "Didn't look like it had been cleaned in a week." "No trash cans anywhere." "Restrooms were worse than a bad truck stop." "Pews had more stains than a Tide commercial.". Here is some stuff Christians should stop doing. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. I understand how hard it is to be in ministry. Christ's love should always be your motivation. Tweak the service. Click here for permission. 1. If, however, your church is stuck, you can't use people's affirmation of the work you're doing as an indicator of success. Dont be in a rush to crowd the calendar with non-essentials. Want articles like this one delivered straight to your email? Most churches need more events for men! We need to continually look forward to what God has in store! Set up monthly sessions in the office where all team members . Thankfully, I was wrong. START DOING. But most of us had to cancel a lot of time-wasting meetings during the lockdowns only to discover that they werent as essential as we thought they were. Rather than shaming them for not coming, extend a heartfelt welcome to come back. We still take a moment in each service to celebrate our blessings, remind people to give, and thank them for their generosity. Ever heard the joke made from the pulpit on Easter or Christmas? So heres my listwhat do you think churches should stop doing? Writer. Judgment is never mentioned and repentance is rarely sought. Church leaders need to be accountable, approachable, and open to criticism. Sadly, a lot of churches with big mortgages didnt survive the past year. Pat&Bill. But I doubt well ever pass a plate again. Use whatever works best in your context. I think we should always, without exception, start with prayer. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. Eliminate the Pastors parking spot.Unless its for handicapped reasons, we should reserve the best spots for our visitors. Are there any cliques that come to mind? When people think of Christians, they often think of judgmental, angry, unpleasant individuals who are out of touch with contemporary life, and unfortunately, there are certain things Christians . First, youre not positioning your ministry in a way thats welcoming to new guests. We are sacrificing our families and opportunities to develop relationships in the community because of church calendars. But one of the big lessons of this past year is that the health of a church is not determined by how many people show up. Im not trying to put pray down. Lindsey Brady is a new wife and stepmother who loves to spend time in nature or going for long runs. Working women still want community, friendship, and to be filled with Gods Word. If there is a church growth 101 lesson, its this: you can ace the service, but drop the ball in childrens ministry, and you wont have much of a chance of that family ever returning. If you stopped doing an already-tired ministry during the lockdown, dont start it again. It makes life a whirlwind adventure, one thats exciting and comforting at the same time. If youre wondering how to create an online bulletin, check out my How-To videos about creating bulletins on LinkTree and Google Docs. The trend of saying we are fine when we are not has to change. Find out more on his blog. Here are six things pastors do to kill church growth: 1. Some may say your church does not need a mission statement since the obvious goal is to spread God's word. So put whatever informational requests you make in their court, meaning let them give you as much or as little as they want. We all fall short of where we should be. If youd like an assist, Ive created an ebook called 10 Ways to Grow Your Church for Little to No Money. You can find it here, and as my gift to you, enter the code pastorgift at checkout, and its yours for FREE. Worksheets | 100 Days to a Healthier Church, 12 Bad Habits Pastors Dropped During The Pandemic That We Shouldnt Pick Back Up, 6 Reasons Many Pastors Dont Need An Office Any More, Small Church Metrics: Why Average Results Typical Results, Making Space for Ministry and Life In an Increasingly Cluttered World, with Daniel Sih (Ep 042). We need to work on mirroring Gods crazy deep love for us in our ministries. But churches with busy buildings during the week tended to stay strong and healthy after their buildings were closed. Christians tend to do this with new things. Church Planter. So let's just stop using it. Features. This is about . Their answers might surprise you. Or imagine an unchurched person comes to your church and hears a demeaning joke about Democrats, and they are a Democrat; or a dismissive joke about Trump, and they voted for Trump. They have two children and three grandchildren. Therefore, your signage should be evident on where restrooms are located, where the childrens ministry is, where to go if it is your first time, where to get questions answered, etc. If Im distracted, others are too. Because of covid, unfortunately, the number of people with long term and chronic conditions has risen. There is a tendency at many churches to speak of the unchurched (which many of your first-time guests will undoubtedly be) as if they arent present. He has over 30 years of ministry experience in a variety of roles in local churches, and is the author of several books including The Multisite Church Revolution, The Multisite Church Roadtrip and 10 Stupid Things that Keep Churches from Growing. The Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). No amount of good deeds will ever be enough. Thats very different. We use Google Maps to help find . DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affliliate links, meaning I get a small commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links. 4. Congregations that had an empty building from Monday through Saturday did poorly when the Sunday in-person option was no longer available. If anything, encourage them not to give. Thats not too bad of a worst-case scenario. Worship leaders.please listen up! In-person services are an absolutely essential element to church life (see more about that, below). Its ridiculous! If we're getting technical, giving 10% of your income to anything other than the local church isn't really a titheit's just a nice gift. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. 1. What you do and say tells those around you something about God. 24. Perhaps everyone stands during the reading of the Scripture, or knows to kneel during a particular moment. 6) Not . You have a ritual; dont assume a guest will know it. Men have these incredibly powerful exegeses on Gods Word and women are left with Bible studies centered around the theme of chocolate. The poor people have less attention of the Pastor, but the rich enjoy more attention of the Pastor. You leave the faucet running when you brush your teeth, pouring precious water down the drain. The pandemic has caused the church to reexamine the way she serves the community of believers. We turn away the community God has provided instead of embracing it. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. In 2 Samuel 12, Nathan the prophet convicts King David of sin. I believe that this means they had forgotten the heart of the Gospel-God's love for repentant sinners. Trends Impacting Church Decline: 1. Trials themselves and how we handle them are an instrumental key to our spiritual growth. Make it clear you are more interested in them than whats in their wallet. Lets become Christ-following, warrior-princesses who put on the armor of God every single day. Ephesians 2:8-10. The cross of Christ is an offense to unbelievers and churches can sometimes tiptoe around it, thinking that a softer approach is more palatable and will win over more people. Maybe even spruce up the building and grounds. RELATED: 10 Things Christians Like to Do That Aren't Biblical. Don't use God as a scapegoat. Holding their pee. This includes pastors. Through it all (the good, the bad, and the indifferent), we can have peace and be of good cheer for He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Most churches havent had a printed bulletin in over a year. Before the pandemic, I could not imagine our church surviving financially without the physical reminder of passing the plate. Instead of referring to them as you, it is they. This not only excludes those in that category who are present, but makes them feel objectified and like an outsider. Force them to give you information. Feel free to unnecessarily shame or offend. Ever heard the joke about Chreasters (Christmas/Easter attendees) or CEOs (Christmas and Easter Onlys)? I think we may be talking about different things. Outsized mortgages were never a good idea. It's just what happens when are most comfortable around other people who are similar to themselves. Give that extra effort. Churches should work together to reach their city united under Christ. From the Darrell Harrison series: 10 things the black church should stop doing. 4. Just ask yourself what you wouldnt want done to you if you went to a new church this weekend. You want as much information you can get from first-time guests, but thats your end of the deal. 1) Clapping During Mass . COVID has given us a new opportunity to focus on doing a few things well in our churches. Still, certain characteristics may be a good reason to go elsewhere: The Church of Ephesus lost its first love. Feel free to unnecessarily shame or offend. It takes a lot of hard work to get new people to come to church. Photo courtesy:Thinkstock/Jupiterimages. Geoff lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sherry. If you are one of the rare people that actually spend time praying for the people they say they will keep doing that. They worry over the politics of running a church instead of sharing God's love. The circumstance that church benevolence addresses is "a brother or sister without clothing and in need of daily food" (James 2:15-16) or "the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions" (James 1:27).. We are taught to be rich in good works "in order to meet pressing needs" (Titus 3:14).The church is not to be niggardly. Political Opinions. Get creative! By the way, if you wish this list was longer, theres an easy way to make additions. Although the Bible also mentions positive things that these very same churches were doing, so they weren't all bad. We are very female oriented. If I missed anything, let me know in the comments. 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