There Is Purpose In Pain
There are basically two environments for growth in your walk with God: devotion and pain.
We grow in our relationship with God through the Word, prayer and worship, but we also grow through learning to trust God in the difficult and painful seasons of our life. Kerri and I have been through countless ministry tears, battles, and disappointments. But it has been in those times that we have seen and experienced the goodness and faithfulness of God in a much deeper way. The Bible says….
James 1:2-4 (NLT)
Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.
God allows us to walk through difficult seasons and circumstances so that, through the pain, we can grow. Grow in endurance, character and in our understanding of and commitment to Christ.
If you’re going through a trial right now, make the decision to trust God and rejoice that He can, and will, care for and sustain you. Through this difficult season, use the trial to make you strong in Jesus Christ, and Him alone.
Finding Your Rhythm (Part 6 of 6)
Only add a service when you absolutely have to.I used to live by the 80% rule. Maybe you know it. It states that once a service is 80% full, it’s time to start planning to add your next service. The underlying thought is that when a service is 80% full most people begin to find it over-crowded and inconvenient to attend and they will attend less frequently.
I’ve come to find out that, while that may be a good guideline, it isn’t always true. I’ve discovered that there are lots of environments where crowds can actually be a positive. There are places where the anticipation and momentum of a crowd brings an unmistakable energy – and exciting dynamic!
Part of our particular church culture is that our services are VERY passionate!
When I go to a football game I don’t mind the crowds because I enjoy the experience. Any place people like — be it a restaurant, a theme park, or a shopping center — is going to be crowded. Why should church be any different?
There are other options.
The third filter is one of the great commission: if we are at capacity in our primetime services, then how are we going to continue to reach people for Christ?
Well, I think this will help you. Remember, the great commandment is not a commandment that has to do with the number of services or being a multi-site church. Our vision is reaching people and making disciples. Services, campuses and venues are all tools for the vision of reaching people. Remember God wants to reach people a lot more than you do. God has a rhythm for your life and if you follow His blueprint and obey Him you will be successful.
Finding Your Rhythm (Part 5 of 6)
As I mentioned in my previous post, I would be sharing questions that you can ask yourself if you’re considering whether or not you should add more services.
In this post:
How is this new service going to affect the strength and health of my team?
Most growing churches have no problem doing 2 or 3 weekend services, but after that you really need to think about strength and health and the big picture.
Ask yourself if there is any way to add seats during your main services on Sunday. What about overflow environments? Annex venues? Or encouraging members to attend other campuses (if you are a multi site church). Is there any possible way to capitalize on the energy you are already spending to reach people for Christ during your current service times?
Finding Your Rhythm (Part 4 of 6)
Asking the right questions
If you are a pastor of a growing church and you find yourself considering whether or not you should add more services, I have a few questions you can ask yourself that might help as you process your options. These are questions I WISH I had asked myself before I went from four to six services in one weekend! From now on, these are the questions I WILL ask myself before moving forward with more services.
Does the new service have the potential to reach people and be full?
Here is my first filter: Can the service eventually be full?
If not, then I suggest not preaching it live, and possibly not doing it at all. If having an 8 am service on Sunday morning can only reach 30% capacity then really consider not doing it. If your Saturday night service only has the potential to be 20% of your Sunday service, then don’t do it.
If the service doesn’t have the potential to reach people and be full, I would really consider some other options first.
I know what some of you are thinking (it’s the same thing I used to think). “We have to keep reaching people for Christ….right?” Right, but we also have to look at the big picture.
There are other factors to consider that are just as vital, especially when it comes to longevity. It’s not just about your church reaching people next Sunday but reaching people for Christ over the next 20 years. You have to think about health and strength and multiplication.
I know some pastors that just won’t do Saturday night services because of the strain it puts on their families. I know some pastors that will not do Sunday nights. Some pastors will do both. Some pastors will do neither. Some pastors use more video.
Find your rhythm and guard it.
But be careful about adding services at inconvenient times that you know do not have the potential to be full.
Finding Your Rhythm (Part 3 of 6)
The Margin Principle
Last year I heard a message by Andy Stanley on margin. The message I heard dealt specifically with finances, but after listening to it I began to look at my life - and our church life - through the filter of living with margin.
At that time we were having 8 services per weekend at our Midtown location. I was preaching live at 6 of them. After experimenting with service times and formats for over a year (since Sunday services were full at our Midtown location), I learned some important things about myself and our church. Most of the lessons I learned are based on the principle of having margin built into most of our systems.
Here are the things I learned:
- Number of services per weekend: With my preaching style, I cannot preach live at more than 4 services per week without it affecting my health and my family life. So I made a life decision last December that I would never do this again except under extreme circumstances. I felt like God was OK with that decision.
- Length of services: Another thing we became sure of was that our worship services need to last for about an hour and 15 minutes for people to get the full Celebration experience. Part of the unique identity of our church has to do with spontaneity. We are at our best when we have time to “flow,” as we have come to refer to it. Some pastors have a style that works great with a more predictable, tighter service schedule, but I don’t. I had to find that rhythm.
- Time between services: We also learned that we need 30 minutes between services for appropriate egress (that’s people leaving and entering the facilities). If we have any less time than that, people don’t have the opportunity to connect with others, get the information they need, or check out serving and group opportunities. It feels more like we are herding cattle in and out - no one wants to feel like that!
The Application
What does all this mean for us moving forward?
It means that we will never again try to run 5 or 6 services a weekend at one campus, with live preaching, and that lasts only an hour. Yes, we gained more seating availability, but it cost us in other areas. It cost us in leading people to experience God. It also cost me in the area of my health.
Preaching that much every weekend really affected me.
It was not our God-ordained rhythm. Every pastor blessed enough to have a growing church will eventually have to find his rhythm in regard to church services. Once your two Sunday, primetime services are full, how many off-time services will you have? How much energy will you put into services at inconvenient times that while helping free up some primetime seats might cost you in other areas?