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.

Resolving Conflict in the Church

Recently, I received an email from a young clergy grieving over conflict in his church and the ineffectiveness of the techniques used in handling the conflict. Research is showing that churches are literally being destroyed by church fights.  A recent documentary, Betrayed: The Clergy Killer’s DNA, by US Films, effectively demonstrates the destruction that is happening across the Church worldwide.

The number of ministers leaving ministry today due to conflict is overwhelming. G. Lloyd Rediger's book, Clergy Killers is a great resource for outlining the damaging conflicts pastors encounter in their ministries and how to manage them to achieve the best outcome for all. In it he writes, “We are not just talking about conflict anymore, we are talking about emotional and spiritual abuse in traumatic proportions. And we are discovering that such abuse is exhausting pastors and draining the energy and resources of congregations and denominational programs.”[1]

We must learn how to find healthy resolutions for the conflict occurring in our churches and find healthy ways to deal with the hurt we have suffered at the hands of our abusers. On August 19-21, Leadership Nexus will sponsor the Developing Healthy Clergy and Congregations Conference  in Richmond, Virginia, to deal with this topic. This conference will seek to offer solutions for dealing with church conflict and restoring church unity, vitality and overall church health. I encourage you to participate you will find all kinds of instructions, help, and encouragement.

There has been conflict in the Church since the first century. It is time that we learn how to handle it before the Church is destroyed! Make plans to join us for this very important event!

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[1] Rediger, G. Lloyd, Clergy Killer’s (Logos Productions, Inc., 1997), 7.