Keeping Church Relevant in the 21st Century

Sunday I attended the closing worship service for a mainline protestant church in a busy part of the city. Certainly it had ceased to grow and the number of participants had declined but that was not because the church was not needed. It was because the church was not being presented in a way that is relevant to people of the 21st century.

This church was start in 1948 and was a church that grew just by inviting people to come. The main way the church related to the community was simply by having worship and Sunday School classes on Sunday mornings.  You gained new people by simply inviting them and it worked! Churches grew all over the country by doing this.  However, times have changed!  The old techniques can work for some but not for most people today. The old techniques simply do not cut through all the cultural changes in this century. I’ve found that in order to help contemporary people find Jesus Christ in their life, they need to not just hear about it but to experience that life changing power.  They need to experience the ministry and love that Jesus taught.

In the 10th chapter of Luke, Jesus made it clear that, to be his follower, we must care for and love other people. We must be like the Good Samaritan and stop and help. Churches today have given up that Good Samaritan ministry and too often just opted for having worship. Worship in some churches is stable and acceptable, in some it is profound and exciting, and in some it is entertaining. However most of the approach to worship today is still out of the 1954 model --singing the hymn and songs and saying the scripture. This is just not reaching new people!

The tragedy is that the best way to reach new people is by communicating the basic message of the gospel -- that being a follower of Jesus Christ allows you to be successful and happy.  It works, but we have to deliver the message not in a guilt-driven pattern but in a way that shows how the gospel of Jesus Christ helps all of us in every day of our life. It help us do parenting better, it helps young adults work through major adjustments, it helps retired people put their lives together after they no longer have a vocation, etc.

It is time for the Church to do ministry that reaches out and really helps people where they hurt, just as the Good Samaritan illustrates.  We have to emphasize the results of following Jesus Christ.  When people experience the love of Christ in their lives, they want to know more and want to spread that experience to others as well.  This is how the church will bring new people to Christ today.  All of the worship, programming and ministry of any church must flow out of that understanding and that mission.

The Power of Bible Stories

Stories are such an important part of the Bible. The Old Testament is filled with the practical stories that have become the foundation of so much Christian teaching. There are some great stories like David and Goliath, Moses and the 10 Commandments, and Joshua and the Wall of Jericho.

New Testament stories map out for us the basic experience of the Christian faith. Such as, The Birth of Christ, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection and all of the different miracles that Jesus performed. They all become classics for us. Just as important are the parables that Jesus taught.

Any speaker today, that wants to be heard, knows that utilizing stories helps the listener to remember the message much better. We hunt for good illustrations for sermons, or speeches. We cherish the classic stories of our own journey through faith which we use to explain our convictions, who we are and where we are going. It’s so important that we realize how precious these stories from the Bible are.

It’s interesting that the stories that stick with us and are our favorites are the same ones we use to teach others. I’d like to hear your ideas about the importance of stories and which stories you have found most influential for your Christian Journey. For me, the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection are, of course, the key to my understanding of salvation. But it’s the story of The Good Samaritan that Jesus uses in the Book of Luke that I use to illustrate what we’ve come to know as “The Great Commandment”; to love God, love our neighbors and ourselves. That story, in many ways, explains so much of what it is to be a Christian. 

What are your favorite Bible stories?

Creativity in Ministry

As we seek to do our task of reaching people for Christ, building the Christian community, and ministering to countless needs in our society we need to be as creative as possible in order to do it well and avoid serious mistakes. Creativity is not necessarily something that is taught in seminary but every effective pastor has to learn how to be more creative.

I’ve found that one of the most creative groups in our society the Walt Disney Company. Disney is an example of magnificent creativity. That’s why for the last 8 years I have had a Creativity Conference in Orlando Florida for clergy and laity, which is held in cooperation with Disney employees. Many of the teachers for the conference are Christian Disney staff or executives. Their teaching provides one of the best resources in developing creativity in all areas of life, especially in ministry. 

Our next Creativity Conference is on January 20-22. We will be meeting at Winter Park United Methodist Church for workshops, keynote speeches, and discussion panels. We will do one day of the conference at Walt Disney Theme Parks. 

For more information please visit our website or email me for any questions. I hope you will join us!

Reaching the Large Number of Singles in America

Approximately half of the adult population in the United States today is single. Yet, as we examine the attendance in churches we find that our churches are not reaching that half. How do you minister to singles today?

As I provide training for Singles Ministry, I’ve found that this ministry fits into several obvious demographic categories:

Young singles, just out of college, twenty-somethings:   They are much more secular than older age groups. They have issues they are dealing with as part of being a young adult today and being single that are complicated. Relationships are very important and precious to them and yet sometimes are difficult because of our skeptical society. We must find a way to help these young singles and help them know about Jesus Christ.

Single because of divorce:  The ministry to reach those who have gone through divorce needs to be done in a very caring, recovery type ministry. It can be one of the most productive ministries that a local church can do. Because there are so many people with this need, it can be a significant way that the Church not only ministers to people today but leads them to an active participation in God’s Church. I have found that one of the most productive ways in building new attendance in your local church is Divorce Ministry.

Older singles mostly due to death of a spouse:  Most of these older singles are financially stable with retirement funds and inheritance. However, some who have had some financial struggles in life find those difficulties magnified at their older age and they are stressed intensely.  Most churches have nothing directed toward this single age group such as a Widow and Widower Ministry, Older Divorce Ministry, etc. in which these people could be reached.

In each case, the Church across America is not doing a good job in ministering to and reaching any group of singles. With our attendance waning and our membership declining, Singles Ministry can be one of the most effective evangelism approaches a local church can have. The prospects are unlimited. We need only to be sensitive to their needs and we can reach them for Christ.

Because this is complicated at times, I’m regularly offering training in Singles Ministry. The next Creating and Effective Singles Ministry Training will be done February 21, 2015 in Tulsa Oklahoma at Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Visit online to register or for more information.

Are We Making Children a Priority?

Every pastor has found the occasion to use the famous quote by Jesus, where He said, “Let the little children come to me and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14) Certainly, Jesus was being very directive to those of us who would lead his Church today.

One of the tragedies of the Church today is that children’s ministry is so easily neglected. When budgets are cut, we cut out of the children’s ministry. When we are looking for staff, we staff first, the choir, then finance office, then the youth director, then a personal secretary for the pastor and maybe, sometimes later we hire one of the parents to do a little part-time work for the children’s programs.

It is so easy to neglect the children. We would not call it neglect, because we know there are parents who will take care of the needs or there will be some kindly grandmother who will teach the third grade Sunday school class. Maybe we can find someone who will do the children’s sermon. With a lot of persuasion and arm-twisting we recruit the workers for Vacation Bible-School and the Children’s Christmas Program. It seems that in the work we do in the church, it is so easy to put children’s ministry near the bottom of our priority list. This is ironic because most pastors have spent a good part of their lives trying their best to be good parents to their own children and to see that they had a good Christian education.

Most pastors realize that to have young families as a part of your church, you must have an effective children’s program. Yet, we as pastors, along with the partnership of older lay leaders of the local church, often put children’s ministry as our last priority.

I believe that Jesus’ advice about children is to the Church today. It’s time for us to change our priorities and make children’s ministry at the top of the list!

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Make plans to join us now for The Next Generation: Children, Youth and Family Ministries Training Conference at First United Methodist Church Arlington, Texas on October 22-24, 2014. We will feature workshops and keynote topics on the most effective way to minister to children, youth and families. Please invite your laity and leadership staff for this very important event!

How Do We Stop the Church From Declining?

Statistics on every denomination and religious group in America indicates that churches are on a significant decline. There are a lot of reasons for this decline; cultural changes, secularism, and we could speculate on many others. Ultimately, this leads to a significant question, “How do you reach people today and help them to come to know Christ, as well as get them involved in your church?”

This means doing something different not just more of the same old thing. These days, you can’t just pass out more leaflets about your church. You can’t just put bigger smiles on your greeter and make hospitality better. You can’t just advertise on the radio.

With the secular community we live in, simple invitations to church just don’t seem to work. A person might come if they are a good friend of yours but they are unlikely to stay and become involved. It is possible someone who is already a church-goer and an active Christian might respond to an invitation to become involved if they are looking for a new church, but this approach is not reaching most of our secular society. Inviting them or entertaining them is just not enough to lead them to Christ. We need to do more.

So what can we do? We must do what Jesus did. We must help people. Meeting the needs of people in your community through ministries is the way to reach them. How do you meet these needs? You do this by identifying the needs in your community and developing ministries to meet those specific needs. For example, if you want to reach young moms, then develop a “Young Moms Club”, where you deal with some of the issues of raising a family. If you are trying to bring in more Singles (which is the best way to grow your church), devise an effective divorce recovery program for divorced Singles or plan more Single events to help people meet.

This type of ministry is the way we can reach people today. I call it “Needs-Based Evangelism”. However, it’s not just about offering a class or a workshop to people; it’s about offering them help. It’s about showing them someone cares. This is what will help them understand what being a real Christian is about. These support ministries allow people to get to know others in the church better and want to be involved more. Through the friendships they develop and the encouragement they receive they will come to know the way of Jesus Christ. This type of ministry really works.

As pastor of a large Methodist church in Tulsa, I used this method of reaching new people and it worked all the time. Our church grew significantly because of ministries that I set up just like these. I now offer Needs-Based Evangelism training for churches, districts and organizations of all sizes throughout the U.S., Europe and Canada.  Please contact me for more information on this training or visit online.

It’s time we start doing ministry the way Jesus did, by meeting needs and maybe then we will see an end to the decline of the Church.

Recommended reading on this subject:

TELL and Needs-Based Evangelism, are two books I have written to help church leaders and congregations to be more effective in communicating the Gospel. I recommend these, as well as, The Great Evangelism Recession, by John S. Dickerson and The American Church Crisis, by David T. Olson.

Communication Matters: Are You Being Effective?

Recently, I read an article by a Catholic Priest. He was sad about the
quality of worship in the churches in his denomination. In his article,
he grieved about the poor way in which we conduct worship and lead
the Church in a time when the secular world is speaking so critically
of us. We need a more professional element in our service to Christ,
the commitment to do our best.

We have learned from contemporary businesses, both large and small, that you simply do not stay in business unless you do a good job. For businesses to succeed they must truly meet the needs of the public. The same is true for the Church. The gospel of Jesus Christ does meet our needs and yet so often we present it in a way that makes it seem truly irrelevant. So often our preaching is ineffective and our local church programming is just completely irrelevant. Much of it is out of date even for the 1950’s much less for today’s society. It’s time for us to understand that quality matters. Not only in what we share but in how we share it. Communication matters, be it effective or ineffective, it will have an impact.

Every churchgoer or church member wants to know, “How will I benefit from doing this? Will I learn? How will it help me in my daily life? Will I receive information that will help me make decisions or be a better parent?” We must learn again how to do “church” and do it more effectively to meet the needs of the public and reach new people for Christ.

There are churches that are succeeding today and we must learn from them. There are writers, speakers, leaders, and seminaries that are on target but most are not. It’s time that we become more effective at our callings and understand that effectiveness is part of our calling.

The organization I have created, Leadership Nexus Foundation, is committed to providing training to help the Church be more effective in reaching new disciples for Christ. On October 20-22, 2014 we will be holding a Leadership and Preaching Conference in Arlington, Texas. This conference will feature leaders from across the Church and from all areas of business to lead us in the best ways to communicate more effectively and lead the Church out of this decline. Make plans now to join us!  

Recommended reading on this subject:

TELL and Needs-Based Evangelism, are two books I have written to help church leaders and congregations be more effective in communicating the Gospel. I recommend these, as well as, The Great Evangelism Recession, by John S. Dickerson and The American Church Crisis, by David T. Olson.

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Dr. Bob Pierson travels all over the country and world doing his effective evangelism training. He is available to teach your church, district or congregation his proven and effective methods to reach new disciples for Christ and grow your church. For more information about this training, visit online, today.