Podcast Episode #394
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A lot has changed in our world over the past 10 years. Today, we highlight some major shifts in the church.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- I think in ten years, we will see more co-vocational church staff.
- The decline of “Cultural Christianity” is not a bad thing.
- The church leader of the future has to be a learner.
- The problem with information is not the lack of it, it’s curating it to find what you actually need to know.
- The program-driven church model is a dead model today.
- Time is the most precious resource your church members have.
The seven reasons we cover are:
- Post-recession mentality hit churches hard
- Technology change is exponential
- Increase of the “nones”
- The demand for a different kind of church leader
- The imperative of the learning leader has increased
- Old methodologies are not working
- The struggle with time and commitment
Episode Sponsors
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. Their Fall Lead Pastor and Executive Pastor Coaching Networks are now open for registration, and our very own Dr. Rainer will be speaking at the Fall Lead Pastor Coaching Network.
So if you’re a Lead Pastor or an Executive Pastor looking for peer roundtable coaching, check it out at vanderbloemen.com/coaching. It’s limited to 16 folks, so apply today before it fills up.
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Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Who Moved My Pulpit?
So unless you pay someone like Van der Bloemen you can’t find staff, or if you are a job seeker, you won’t be considered. How is this good?
Bingo Mark Smith!
I don’t believe that was the point made in the podcast. The issue is that it’s now MORE DIFFICULT to find staff by way of the traditional methods. In churches near me, one had a great deal of difficulty finding a match and another had great success–quite quickly–using a search committee alone.
I suspect that the larger churches benefit from the vetting process of an organization such as the one sponsoring this podcast.
Bill, Thom says that denominational and associational connections are dying. I don’t know if that is totally true, but the implication is to replace the denominational connection with groups like VDB.
Excellent podcast. I got on the tech bandwagon long before I even got my first pastoral role this past year in April. I trained myself to build websites and how to do social media correctly up to and including the SEO that comes with websites so that our church can be found. I always aim to be learning and growing in the technology area. The hard part is convincing power groups and the older generation that this is the key to growth in 2018. It is sad that so many churches close their doors due to a refusal to change and update with the times. However, as it has been said many times, change will happen with or without you and people will go to church somewhere.
We must be learning leaders. We must be developing learning leaders in our church. If technology is not one of the highest priorities in the church with online giving being a standard not a wish list item among other things then you will fall behind.
Program centered churches just won’t cut it anymore.
So much to like and appreciate about this podcast: the challenge and promise of technology, the importance of the learning leader (I get that…how do I get lay leaders to embrace this value? That’s been an ongoing challenge for a pastor of a congregational-polity church), contexualized application…
I embrace all that was said. And I understand that not everything can be said in a 20-minute podcast. But the admonitions of this podcast must be held in tension with the spiritual challenge and realities that we must embrace.
After listening to the podcast, I had to ask myself, “Where is God in all this?” I think this is the tension that we must always hold in place when we are considering leadership dynamics. The “Program-Driven” paradigm may be dead, but the “Presence of God-Driven” paradigm should always be our aim for all churches.
Specifically, I would add to the podcast that leaders of churches that will really thrive in 2018 will be those who deeply feel their absolute dependence on God and cultivate a deep prayer and spiritual life.
I know that Thom Rainer knows this. Just a reminder to hold these things in tension. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.”
Bob –
Your input is always wise and edifying. Thank you.
Well…not always. 🙂 But thank you. I’m blessed by your ministry.
Great article! My husband and I feel like we are to always support the church leaders wherever we are. We spent a decade in the Balkans and noticed the trend you mentioned was already in full swing in missions. We felt like we were seeing the face of missions changing. Those who could not change with it were not able to be effective. Interestingly enough, the most “successful” missionaries we saw were the least “trained” and they were the ones who spent the most one on one time with people. They were the ones who were totally outside the box thinking and just welcomed people into their homes and lives (completely shattering the concept of personal boundaries).
Now that we are back in the U.S. we are seeing those same trends begin. I’m wondering how we as the church body can support the ministry staff through these changes? If the staff have to make the trend toward co-vocational mindsets, how do we help? Does the church body need to step up in greater support and supply where the needs where we each have a skill? Basically, what advice do you give to the church members?
Thank you!
Subscription resources like ChurchAnswers, while they may be very good, offer little help to pastors and other church leaders whose churches operate on a shoestring budget and who have no funds for professional development, leaders who do not have any discretionary income of their own . Yet these are very people who might benefit the most from what ChurchAnswers offers.
Robin –
I am one of those small church pastors on a shoestring budget, and I subscribe to Church Answers. It’s only $9.97 a month! Dr. Rainer and his team made it affordable for pastors like me. Even I can afford 33 cents a day.
See my response to Malcom below.
Robin –
With all due respect, I don’t think you have looked closely at Church Answers. It is the best resource for church leaders on the market and it’s less than $10/month! Thom had the goal to make it accessible to everyone, and he succeeded. You can get your question answered 24/7, and Thom provides a virtual staff meeting live each month. As James said above, it’s only 33 cents a day. I think you can afford it if you really want it.
See my response to Malcolm below.
Robin –
Did you look at the subscription program before you criticized it? I am bi-vocational and have never been able to afford such a ministry until Church Answers came alone. Frankly, it’s the best single bargain I know in Christian resources. What price would you consider affordable? If not 33 cents a day, then what?
Guys, I’m not criticizing Church Answers. Far from it. I am expressing my frustration at not being able to take advantage of it . $10.00/month may not seem a lot to you but in my present situation it is more than I can afford. Rather than point out to me how affordable you believe it is, how about suggesting some ways I might come up with the funds for Church Answers and other useful resources that are not free. I have run out of ideas.
Hi Thom,
I notice that in the Acts the Gospel was only spoken or preached when there were lost souls present! I also notice that on a number of cases the Gospel was reasoned/disputed/discussed with lost souls. When I point this out some people will not accept it as it will mean changing our approach to evangelism.
I like the comment of “Where is God in all of this?” May I add that we do not know how weak we are and that is our weakness. I need God to work more than I need my computer to work. I do not find keeping that in balance always easy.