Learnings @ Leadership Network

Not True: "Megachurch attenders volunteer less than other churches"

  It's been quite a week! On Tuesday morning we released a major study titled, Not Who You Think They Are: The Real Story of People Who Attend America's Megachurches. We publicized it in Leadership Network Advance, which goes to over 25,000 church leaders, in a press release, and through emails to various innovation partners. We co-sponsored it with the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, and they too spread the news about it. The research project was funded by Leadership Network, and the report was co-authored by Scott Thumma (Hartford) and me (Leadership Network).

At the 24-hour mark several hundred people had downloaded it from our website plus several hundred others had accessed it from the Hartford website. Also many media wrote stories about it. My favorites were the Christian Post article by Lillian Kwon and the Religion News Service write-up by Adelle Banks.

Error in AP Report, error then spread by NY Times and others

  Which of these statistics sound better to you?

   - 55% of megachurch attenders volunteer at their church
   - 45% of megachurch attenders do not volunteer at their church

Obviously, that's two ways to say the same thing. The first option does sound more positive and favorable, but the second is just as accurate.

Unfortunately when the Associated Press did a story on our project, it said -- wrongly -- that volunteering at megachurches occurs less than at other churches. There is no research basis for that last line. The fact is we don't know. 

I think a 55% volunteer rate is pretty good for a church of any size. Would you say that 55% of the people at your church volunteer?

The Associated Press then ran a correction the next day as follows, which others such as Forbes also picked up. It read:

In a June 9 story about a survey of megachurch attendance, The Associated Press reported erroneously that a study showed that worshippers at such churches volunteer less than other churchgoers. The study found that nearly 45 percent of megachurch attenders never volunteer at their church, but it did not include comparable data on volunteer rates at churches of all sizes.

People who want evidence to support healthy things in megachurches will see the many statistics in our report one way, and those who want evidence that megachurches are shallow will probably view our statistics another way. My concern is that they reflect  our report accurately. The AP version did not (an honest error by a good reporter), and I'm hoping that the inaccurate version of his story doesn't spread too far.

If you haven't read the report, it's free to download -- and we welcome your comments about it below.

Warren Bird, Ph.D., is Research Director at Leadership Network, and co-author of 21 books on various aspects of church health and innovation.

Greatest Opportunity of the Decade

I received a few emails this past week from very good, solid church-serving organizations that provide leadership programs for leaders. The emails were advertising specific programs for "dealing with the economic crisis." The messaging speaks of cutting back costs, laying off staff, and bemoaning the hard times. To their credit, these organizations are trying to help church leaders productively deal with these very hard challenges.

I know these are important issues and must be addressed. And I have advised many clients in these matters as well.

But from the ads they appear to approach the issue through the lens of struggle. They approach this economic season as a key obstacle and challenge to the church's mission.

I choose to believe that this is the greatest opportunity for ministry since 2001. The lens of opportunity says that we have a positive message of hope that is the right message for the times.

It is time to seize the day for church leaders.

 

We want to be proactive in dealing with attender's challenges and concerns.

And we view this season as one where our messaging should be encouraging not discouraging.

I am not proposing a "prosperity theology" or "positive thinking" but rather see proactive leaders being intentional at finding very creative ways to advance the gospel, the outreach of their church, and the increase of their ministry internationally.

My challenge to readers today is to examine the language used in all communications be they written, oral, web based and the like.

Are you unintentionally communicating a message of doom and gloom or a message of hope and redemption.

My sense from talking to lots of leaders this past quarter is that those who are communicating "I know times are hard" are not seeing as much fruit as those who are saying "what a powerful time it is for our church to show its love for this community."

I am not saying those are totally disconnected messages but those that focus on the former see this as the greatest crisis of the decade. Those that focus on the latter see it as the greatest opportunity.

So which are you?

Feel free to push back on me in the comments.

Dave Travis is the Managing Director of Leadership  Network.

He tweets at www.twitter.com/davetravis

How Churches are Dealing with the Flu Pandemic

Living here in Atlanta I interact with several people who work for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters. I don't talk to the top doctorss and executives but the normal folks there. Of course I inquired about H1N1 (the flu formerly known as swine but that was an insult to good barbecue!).  I asked about the myths versus realities. "Come on, level with us" I asked.

 

The basic response:

1. The media have overhyped the dangers for most of the U.S. I  paraphrase here "That's not neccesarily bad but as an illustration, we are at about a 3 on a 10 scale in the U.S. and the media is playing it as a 6 or 7." Let's face it, news organizations make their money getting people to watch,  and scary headlines sell. 

I read today that CNN is hoping to extend the story through sweeps ratings season. But I am cynical here.

2. Take normal precautions, not extreme precautions. The simple measures - washing hands often, covering your mouth when coughing, etc., are all that is required at this time.

3. Stay home from work or school or church if you have flu symptoms, and don't return for two days after symptoms disappear.

4. Go to the hospital only if you have severe symptoms, such as difficulty breathing.

Frankly, these are the same cautions you'll find on most medical sites, including the CDC's.

What about Churches?

 

Leadership Network's research director Warren Bird has been spot checking a bunch of churches, especially ones in high vulnerability areas. Here's what he's learning:

 

o Many are developing a plan in case the flu becomes more widespread.

o Most are addressing the issue via email, website, or initial message when answering the church phone. Messages are calming, clear, and specific.

o No one we monitored canceled church services, but a very few did cancel social events that involved children.

 

Things to Think About

1. Should childcare workers wear masks for their own protection or to increase confidence of the parents of children? It might provide a little protection for nursery workers because children can't tell you they are sick but it would probably also increase unwarranted concerns at this time.  In general, masks are probably a good idea for health care professionals and family members who come in close contact with flu patients. But health officials currently say there is no need for the general public to wear them. 

2 . What about skipping the welcome time in shaking hands, hugging and "greeting one another with a brotherly kiss?" That one got a laugh when I asked my CDC friends. Answer: Advise those that have symptons or think they have symptons to stay home. Otherwise the social contact at church is similar to other social settings congregants would encounter throughout the week. 

3. I forgot to ask about Communion/Eucharist/Lord’s Supper because that is not my tradition to celebrate that weekly but there have been numerous news stories about Catholic Archdiocese’s advising on that subject. A google search will turn those up.

 

 

That's the perspective as of today. It may get worse and it may get better. Please add your comments of how your church is handling the situation. 

 

The CDC’s web site about the flu is here: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

Dave Travis
Managing Director
Leadership Network

 

Launch Size

We are hanging out with 12 leading multi-site churches this week in one of Leadership Network’s Multi-site Churches Leadership Communities.  Each of these churches has at least four campuses and have a vision for rapid growth. 

Yesterday as they were giving updates on their progress from the last six months, the question was posed – What is the typical size of your campuses at launch?  We took a quick poll of the churches and with exception of a couple of outliers, in each case the launch size was 10% of the size of regular weekend worship attendance at the original campus.  The outlier with a smaller percentage has a regular weekend attendance of 18,000 plus.

Couple of questions that we would love your feedback on:

1.  What is the percentage in your context?

2.  Any ideas on why the consistency of the percentage?

Provide feedback through comments here, sending an email to greg.ligon@leadnet.org or via tweets @gregligon #mscr

The Economy - What I am telling reporters - Explode the Myths

It’s been a furious few months with reporters on the topic of churches and the economy. It started in December 2008 when some churches were worried about their year-end giving. I stated then that I felt we would see record giving for EXTERNAL projects during the Christmas season but if the focus was internal, churches would come up short. So far, so good on that prediction.

But what about now. Here we stand at the end of the first quarter. The general

U.S.

economy is still technically in recession. How are the churches responding?

My database of conversations comes from larger, growing churches. Those are the types Leadership Network helps to connect, so that is my primary world.

I also have seen multiple data studies, including our own by Dr. Warren Bird on the Economic Outlook of 555 Executive Pastors (due to be released in April) as well as surveys by my friend Ed Stetzer and his team at LifeWay Research, among others. (Find Ed at www.edstetzer.com.)

Reporter conversations

Here is the bullet point version of my discussions with reporters. It usually begins with the statement by the reporter “Megachurches are having a tough time aren’t they?”

And my answer is “no.”

“That’s not what I am reading” says the reporter.

“I understand, but news stories are bad news more than good news.”

Myth 1: Lots of megachurches are in foreclosure.

Nope. As far as I can tell there are probably one to two dozen churches (including the megachurches) that I have seen in news reports around the country that are in foreclosure. Most of these do not meet the mega threshold (2,000 or more weekend attenders). Some had overextended themselves financially.

Among true megachurches all cases I have seen in news reports have a lead pastor going through marital difficulties/divorce/or other leadership issue unrelated to the economy.

Myth 2: Offerings are way off in megachurches.

Nope. As far as we can tell money is coming in fairly well in the first quarter. Some regions of the country are being hard hit. Mostly the “sand” states (FL, AZ, NV, CA). Warren Bird outlines that in the upcoming LN Report.

But most churches report fairly strong first quarter giving when compared to last year.

Myth 3: Lots of staff cuts at megachurches.

A few fairly prominent churches have had some lay offs. Many have hiring freezes. But context is very important here.

First, I had conversations in early 2008 with lots of Lead and Executive Pastors who said they had planned for little staff and budget growth in 2008. So they were bracing for a recession then and had adjusted their staffing and budgets.

Second, I do know that in early/mid 2008 leaders began making contingency plans for reductions along with some strategic rethinking in the role and size of their staffs. As it became necessary, some cuts were made.

Third, though overwhelmingly there have been no cuts in most of the churches. There may be salary freezes and some other creative solutions, but fewer staff cuts than the doom and gloomers have reported.

Job losses are always hard and I don’t want to minimize anyone’s experience. I spoke to a leader recently who did have to cut between five and ten staff in January. Fortunately half had found other good placements within a few months.

Myth 4: A sense of foreboding among megachurch leaders on 2009 giving.

I think there was a sense of “what is going to happen?” and some increased heartburn from September 2008 until January 2009. The focus seemed to be on the year-end numbers.

In January, when leaders saw that the world didn’t end, the turn was rapid. Now the focus is on “What are the opportunities presenting themselves to us?” I will blog more on that later. Please watch for that.

Myth 5: This is hitting the small church hard.

Depends. That is not my world so much but here’s the situation.

Not a lot of small churches have mortgages or debt. If it’s a single staff church, they operate more like family and they find a way to survive.

The mid sized church, say 200-800 range in worship is having a tougher time.

Look at it this way.

A single staff church or small staff (pastor plus a part time secretary and others) finds a way to make it work. Probably keeps them all.

A megachurch that lays off 5 staff members out of 55 staff loses 10% of staff capacity.

But a mid sized church with a staff of 7 or 8 that loses 2 or 3 loses a much greater percentage of capacity and usually relationships.

Another way to look at it relationally.

A small church is bound by relationships between each other. The pastor is secondary.

The megachurch usually has lots of interlocking relationships between each other and multiple staff leaders.

But a mid sized church, while having good relationships with each other also has strong relationships to one staff member and that loss is felt hard.

So, as in the rest of our society, the mid-sized organizations are the hardest hit.

To close this long post, I would say that as in past downturns, giving to local congregations is one of the last things to suffer. People give where their heart is. I can’t remember exactly who said that, but I think he was an important guy.

Dave Travis is the Managing Director of Leadership Network.

 

Small group haters - Read this

I saw some comments recently in some blogs from some fairly prominent church leaders that said: "Any pastor that tells you they have more than 35% of their people in small groups is a liar." A lot of folks chimed in agreeing with them.

From the source of the comments, I would describe most of their churches as very focused on the weekend services and getting folks "in the door."

At the recent innovation3 conference my buddy Larry Osborne, totally unaware of those recent blog and twitters came up to tell me that North Coast had really hit a growth edge again. Up 1000 people since last year at the same time. (They added three new more venue opportunities this month) But more importantly, the small group launch had 86% of their people enrolled right now.

Now he knows that for the next few weeks that percentage will drop to get down to their "normal" 80%.

North Coast doesn't add venues (the weekend stuff) unless they can maintain 80% in their small groups.

They want to keep and grow people that God is bringing them.

Now, I am not putting down leaders that aren't small group oriented. Perhaps you have some great ways to continue to disciple,teach and grow your people. Great.

But before you start throwing out stats based on your own methods that are not working, why not look at some of those that are?

Fortunately - there is The Sticky Church Conference to help folks along.

http://stickychurch.com/conference
There is one on March 31 in Chicago area and May 11 in Atlanta area.

And do yourself a favor and get the book too.

Sticky Church

(Full disclosure: This is a Leadership Network Innovation Series book and Larry is a long-time friend)

A BIG DEAL for Women Executive Pastors

On Tuesday, February 3rd, I have the privilege of participating in a ground-breaking Leadership Network event - our first Women's Executive Pastors' Forum. This is a very BIG DEAL. I've been a staffer with Leadership Network for a number of years (more years than some of you have served in ministry careers) and up til now, the number of women executive pastors we knew about was -- well, uh -- practically nil. But that was pre-Sherry Surratt.

What I mean is that Sherry Surratt, Director for Women's Initiatives in Leadership, is doing a phenomenal job of finding and connecting high-level women ministry leaders these days. Sherry has gone where no man (and few women) has gone before! I won't reveal the entire scoop on the Women's Executive Pastor Forum but I will say that the last word I got from Sherry was that 19 women are showing up for this forum. Wow! I had no idea there were 19 female executive pastors out there. I'm sure there are more and no doubt, Sherry will find them.

I'll leave it Sherry to report all the details next week. By the way -- if you aren't reading her blog, Women Who Lead, you should be. And if you aren't following Sherry on twitter, you are missing out big time my friend.

Stay tuned. More coming next week. 

The Morning After Innovation 3

It's very quiet around here this morning. I'm sitting here in my favorite chair with a cup o joe reflecting on all that I saw and heard at Innovation3 Gathering that concluded yesterday. Personally it was a phenomenal time of connecting and networking with a ton of old and new friends. I met so many young ministry leaders there that I would probably never cross paths with had we not gathered in Dallas this week. If I had to boil it down to just one thing that I took away from this gathering, it would be this -- how encouraged and hopeful I am for the future of the Church. As ministry leaders (and servants), we will always have our struggles and disagreements. That's just part of the deal. Beyond all that, I witnessed a real hunger for connection, for learning, for community, and for a real sense of mission, as overused as all of those terms are. As great as it was to hear positive feedback from conference participants, I know that there was so much more going on during those two days than just another Christian conference. Yet again, God showed up and put together some incredible encounters for us.

If you didn't have an opportunity to be there with us in person, you'll have an opportunity to virtually experience much of Innovation 3 in the coming weeks. We recorded just about everything! Todd Rhoades, aka The Monday Morning Insight Guy, told me last night that we probably captured and recorded somewhere between 40-50 hours of content. That includes audio and video recordings of main sessions and breakouts. We'll be rolling that out for you soon. Some of it is already posted on the Innovation 3 website. We'll post more on the site as we get to it. More details on that later.

Here's the link to the Innovation 3 Conference Live! site. You may want to check out the photos and other stuff posted there when you have a few minutes.

I'm keeping this post brief today. There's so much still rolling around in my head this morning. As the consummate introvert, I need some time to process and reflect. I just wanted to say thank you -- thank you to all of you who invested the time and the dollars to join us in Dallas this week. My thanks to God for showing up and for orchestrating the entire experience. And lastly, my thanks to God and to Leadership Network for providing this vocation for me. This is certainly not the path in life I would have chosen for myself. I wish I could say that I developed this tremendous, focused, intentional strategy for my life that led me to where I am today. The truth is, I stumbled into this vocation, I thought by accident. I'm glad that God had (and has) plans for me.

Well Mr. White, aka Coffee Drinking Cat, is actually drinking my coffee right now so I'm abandoning that cup and heading over to the kitchen to get another cup. Stay tuned for further Innovation 3 developments.

Linda Stanley directs the Life Stage Leadership Community Groups for senior pastors.

Are you interested in what Seacoast did earlier this week?

This is a guest post written by our friend and colleague Tim Dammon. Tim as present the other day at the Ribbon cutting ceremony and had a little hand in it. Here's his guest post today.

“At ECHO we’re crazy.  Crazy enough to believe that when Jesus said, “Heal the sick,” He meant it.  Crazy enough to believe that when He said, “If you want to honor me, serve the poorest and least influential in your community,” that He intended for us to do just that.  And crazy enough to believe that we can find 10,000 congregations in America who agree with us.  We only have 9,999 to go.  This week, Seacoast Church opened the Dreamcenter Clinic in North Charleston, South Carolina.  ECHO (Empowering Church Healthcare Outreach) is proud to have helped facilitate the planning and launch of that clinic.

Founded just a year ago, ECHO offers consulting and support services at no cost to churches who are willing to plan and launch clinics to deliver healthcare to the financially struggling men, women, and children in their communities.  ECHO’s ministry is as much to the church itself as it is to the people who need access to healthcare.  Pastors Greg and Geoff Surratt, Campus Pastor Sam Lesky, and a number of volunteers at the Dreamcenter clinic opening told us again and again what a phenomenal effect the planning and execution of the clinic launch have had on Seacoast Church.  A renewed sense of passion for the community has driven an incredible response in financial, volunteer, and prayer support and unleashed a whole new wave of ministry for Seacoast congregation members.

ECHO is facilitating a dozen or so other similar projects across the nation (okay, so I exaggerated earlier – there are only 9,988 to go – better hurry and get your name in) and believes that if we can get 10,000 churches involved in this ministry we can improve access to healthcare for 20 million people.  That’s nearly half of the uninsured in America.  Think of it!  With just over 3 percent of American churches engaged, we can solve half of the national problem!  Imagine what we could do if some huge proportion like . . . TEN percent were engaged!

I know.  It’s a radical idea.  It’ll never work.  The CHURCH taking responsibility for their community?  No one has EVER suggested that before!!!  But just in case any of you radical types out there want to join us in this insanity, you can contact us at www.echoclinics.org .

By the way . . . at the ribbon cutting ceremony, Pastor Greg Surratt said that it was his vision to have all thirteen Seacoast campuses provide access points for healthcare for those in need around them.  So that’s only 9,976 spots left.  Better hurry.

Jesus said, “Heal the sick.”  You’re called to do it.  We’re called to help.

 Tim Dammon, President, ECHO

Way to Go Seacoast Church Dream Center!

I know this is not the only church to do this. In fact we had a Leadership Community of Churches that had health clinics and other programs that serve the uninsured American population that needs healthcare. But yesterday

Seacoast Church opened their Dream Center ’s Clinic and the news organizations covered it well.

Follow these links for more of the story, including some good video:

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0109/583078_video.html?ref=newsstory

 

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0109/583078.html

 

http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/local/article/volunteer_doctors_staffing_new_clinic_opening_today/18850/

 

http://charleston.net/news/2009/jan/07/one_stop_shop_heart_soul67534/  

Seacoast was inspired by the teams from the LA Dream Center, The Healing Place Dream Center and some folks from Leadership Network (just to brag a little) and some connections with one of our partners The ECHO Foundation (Empowering Christian Healthcare Organizations) to make this a reality.

ECHO, while working on a variety of healthcare access issues, really does want to help churches in this ministry.

http://www.echohealthnetwork.org/contact.html

That organization was birthed by John and Nancy Snyder and we are proud to say that John has been one of our board members at Leadership Network for some time.

But the kudos go to Seacoast’s team of staff and volunteers who have made the whole of the

Dream Center, not just the medical center, a reality for North Charleston

I praise God for what you are doing and hope more churches will follow your lead.

You might want to seek out some of these folks at our upcoming i3 conference. www.innovation3gathering.com

Update at 2:00 p.m. Greg Surratt, Lead Pastor at Seacoast, has posted on his blog his summary of the day.

http://www.gregsurratt.org/greg_surratt/2009/01/all-i-can-say-is-wow.html

You can tell he is very proud of his congregation. So am I.