Church Makeover: Young Ministers Dream – Design Stage 1 of 2
Journey surveys our members every month asking young ministers to “coach the coach” with their thoughts on discipleship, the ministry, the church, and culture. It’s one critical way our members EARN pastoral coaching rather than PAY for it. The insights given are invaluable.
From time to time we open those surveys to non-members (but still young ministers) to participate. In September we did just that.
The question we posed to young ministers was a simple one:
“If you could instantly change the church, what specific changes do you think would be most necessary and significant?”
Participants were asked to identify between one and three instantaneous – “magic wand” changes they would make in the church.
KEY WORD
The key word in the survey is “change.” The emphasis is on what the church can do to improve our being and our doing. The absence of a statement on a particular subject does not necessarily indicate that participants do not value that subject.
In fact, the absence of a statement on a subject simply means that a subject did not make a participant’s top three list of needed changes or that participants see this subject or ministry as healthy and strong at present, requiring no major change.
HEADLINES
In this blog post we will report only the headline changes that respondents would make. In our next post we will fill in the blanks, sharing respondents’ very brief explanations.
So as not to repeat ideas, we have not listed all responses.
MISCELLANEOUS
The only editorial changes we have made are to assign an appropriate category to each change, and to remove any “markers” that identify a particular denomination, ministry, locality, or individual(s).
PARTICIPANTS’ RESPONSES (BY SUBJECT AND ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
APOLOGETICS
The church would introduce substantive Christian apologetics into classes for all believers from school age (5-6) on up.
ARTS
The church would engage the arts community to create and be creative in communicating the gospel.
The church would be (and it really will be) the central hub again for the arts and music.
BIBLE STUDY
The church would have more personal and small group bible study.
BIBLICAL CULTURAL RELEVANCE OF THE CHURCH
The church would be current to our culture in technology and terminology – catch up so we can talk with the world in terms they understand.
Church culture would affect the world in technology, innovation, human resources and development, business discipleship, economy, community development.
CHURCH CULTURE
Church culture would change from programs and numbers to person-centered and process orientation.
Churches would not engage in internal/denominational politics.
CHURCH LEADERSHIP
General: Church leadership, pastors especially would, by example, lead the church in Acts 2.42-47: teaching the Apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, prayer, and breaking bread together.
On Boards: Mandatory rotation of members through the pastor’s council/Elder’s board.
On Leadership Roles: Church leadership roles would be less democratic/position-oriented and more familial and gift/calling-centered.
On Leadership Trust: There would be a transparency of senior leadership.
On Representative Leadership: Every church with an average attendance over 100 would have a board with at least one woman and at least one member under 40 years of age.
On Structure: Organizational structure that is: Diverse (gender, race, age), Shared – No single leader at the top, and Simple – As lean as possible
On Team Leadership:Churches would do away with committees and develop a team mentality.
CHURCH PLANTING
Churches would launch a new campus every time they feel they need an additional service.
If a church grew to over a certain number in monthly attendance, it would open another location or plant another church. One respondent suggested 300 in attendance; another suggested an attendance of 400.
DISCIPLESHIP
The church would improve the way we measure effectiveness to include a deeper discipleship experience rather than just numbers of decisions for Christ.
Every church would implement an intentional discipleship program.
Churches would increase expository preaching and a rhythmic/liturgical approach to teaching solid theology coupled with orthopraxy to improve the education of spiritual development in all facets of life.
Every believer would be in a discipleship group.
The church would live for and to one mission: discipleship.
Discipleship in churches would be done less as a program in a classes, but as relationships with other, more mature Christians.
DOCTRINE
The church would allow a diversity of beliefs within one body: shared “essential” doctrines, but a welcome/encouragement/discussion on “non-essential” issues.
Churches would insist on and teach the cardinal doctrines of the church.
The church would have the kids, youth, and adult curriculum/Sunday service topic to mesh together and have similar focus at least 50% of the time.
EVANGELISM
The church would have more of a focus on personal evangelism.
FAITH COMMUNITY
On Conflict:The church would dedicate at least one service a month/quarter as a venting session for members.
On Membership:The church would do away with church membership.
On Relational Emphasis: The church would inject more interactional moments in its worship services.
On Relational Emphasis:The church would make the purpose of the church relational.
On Seasons of Life:The church would have programs offered for men/women that will allow them to grow with others in the season of life ahead of them.
On Shared Life: The church wouldn’t be centered around a once-a-week event, but would be an all-encompassing part of people’s lives.
On Shared Life: The church would get out of the building more and into people’s lives and spaces, homes and businesses.
On Shared Life: There would be no mega-churches as they exist now.
On Shared Life: The church would make community in the church its defining characteristic.
On Singles:The church would minister to singles – I’m still stumped on this one.
On Small Groups: The church would make a small group connection the norm.
On Small Groups: All churches would have small groups throughout the week.
On Small Groups: In evening services, the church would move away from meeting in a central location to small groups in homes.
On Unity: Stop making group “pods” in the church – we should be one body.
On Unity: The church would design Sundays for elementary and above, so all generations are together in an environment designed for everyone to be together.
On Unity:The church would increase focus on marriage and family, not age separated stuff but ministry targeted at building unity and stability in the family unit.
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Less grumpy people in the church.
GOSPEL
The church would devote itself to growing the Gospel in people instead of building itself.
GUESTS
The church would change the way new people are welcomed to church.
HOLY SPIRIT
The church would teach more on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Churches would openly ask for God to speak again in our services.
Churches would spend time praying together for Holy Spirit-led services.
INTEGRITY
More realness – specifically less people putting on ‘church face’
The church would cultivate a culture of authenticity and transparency.
JESUS AT THE CENTER
The church would get the focus back to Jesus. All Jesus
LITURGICAL PRACTICES
The church would reintroduce the ancient church’s liturgical practices.
MENTORSHIP
All elders/seasoned saints would “adopt” (mentor) a youth student.
Each board member would mentor (coach) someone younger than them in the church.
The older generations would mentor younger generations in the church.
MISSION (LOCAL OUTREACH)
On local outreach: The church understanding of “outreach” would change from simply inviting people to church to instead going to them.
On local outreach: The church would have consistent outreach and community ministry opportunities for the whole family to serve together.
On local outreach: A certain amount of the church budget would be allocated toward outward focused things rather than loans.
On local outreach: The church would focus on mission via care for the community a church or ministry is a part of.
On local outreach: The Church would do fewer Bible studies and build more relationships with the unchurched.
On local outreach: Every church would have an outreach strategy/ philosophy with the understanding that every member is involved.
On local outreach: The Church would be more focused on people living on mission and less focused on programs and buildings.
MISSION (WORLD OUTREACH)
Every church would designate a portion of their annual income to support missionaries – one respondent said a minimum of 5%; a second said between 20% and 50% of the church budget.
PASTORAL MINISTRY
General: The church needs a better definition of what a pastor is.
General: Church leadership, pastors especially would, by example, lead the church in Acts 2.42-47: teaching the Apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, prayer, and breaking bread together.
On pastoral compensation: Churches would have better guidelines for compensating pastoral staff.
On pastoral development: The church would provide improved access to continuing education for pastors.
On pastoral development: The church would establish schools of ministry in every area of the nation.
On pastoral hiring: A new way for pastors to find out about ministry positions and be hired.
On pastoral hiring: I would hire an Evangelism Pastor instead of a discipleship pastor.
On pastoral mentorship: Pastors would take an active role in mentoring their volunteers
On pastoral ministry culture: The culture of pastors would change to where they are not afraid of being judged based on the size of their church or the “coolness” of their ministry.
On pastoral hiring: The church would require churches to have a consistent hiring process for incoming pastoral staff.
On pastoral peer coaching: The church would create better systems and networks for pastors (lead and staff) to connect with other pastors.
On pastoral prayer: All church staff would pray for a minimum of 1 hour a day.
On pastoral staff: The church would implement a mandatory oversight for how lead pastors handle conflict with staff pastors and church lay leaders.
PRAYER
Prayer (personal/private and corporate/public) would be the Church’s first priority and not its last resort.
There would be interdenominational prayer between ministers and lay people.
The church would focus on and actually engage in more prayer.
PREACHING
Pastors would preach through at least one book of the Bible every calendar year.
The church would increase expository preaching and a rhythmic/liturgical approach to teaching solid theology coupled with orthopraxy to improve the education of spiritual development in all facets of life.
PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS
There would be less of a clergy-laity divide.
The church would require all members to engage in some form of ministry. It could be greeting/hospitality, prayer, media, or teaching.
The church would make the congregants more dependent upon each other.
The church would introduce spiritual gifts and ministries training (classes perhaps)
The church would equip the saints for service and reaching the lost.
The church would strive for a culture where church members don’t rely on pastors.
Churches everywhere would improve their placement of new people, placing them in a ministry or small group – serving should be the goal.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Social justice would be a bigger priority in people’s lives.
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES
The church would redirect the church’s attention to a neglected discipline: fasting
STEWARDSHIP
General: We would be wiser stewards of Gods resources.
General: The church would spend less money on smoke machines, lights, and high resolution screens, and more on advancing the Gospel.
On mission: The church would require that a certain amount of the church budget be allocated toward outward focused things rather than loans.
On mission: Churches would designate a minimum of 5% of their annual income (tithes as well as designated missions giving) to support missionaries sent out from their district.
On mission: Every church would apportion a certain percentage of its budget (preferably between 20%-50%) to missions giving.
SUNDAY SERVICES
The church would design Sundays for elementary and above, so all generations are together in an environment designed for everyone to be together.
The church would move away in evening services from meeting in a central location (i.e. small groups). Connections are made in small groups that are impossible in larger contexts.
The church would give more time to significant relational interaction in its services.
VISION CASTING
Every church would have an annual vision casting service.
WITNESS
The church would make everyday action the emphasis over weekly attendance.
WOMEN IN MINISTRY
Women in ministry would be given more chances to prove their qualities and abilities without having to sacrifice being wife/mother.
WORSHIP
Our worship (songs) would be more relevant to scripture and key doctrinal positions.
YOUTH AND CHILDREN
The church would put a big focus on youth and kids ministry.
CONCLUSION
Asked what instant changes they would make in the church if they had the power to do so, these are the “headline” answers given by young ministers.
In our next blog we will share their explanations with you.
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NOTE: Journey Pastoral Coaching provides pastoral coaching to Millennial ministers.
Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.
So we offer it to them at no cost: Member do not PAY for coaching; they EARN it.
We are able to do so through the faithful and generous gifts of friends who want to see young leaders not only enter the ministry, but remain in the ministry. If you or your church would like to help Millennial ministers in 21 US states and 5 nations build strong for a lifetime in ministry, please click here to contact us by email or to support Journey monthly or with your one-time gift. Thank you.
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