Items that Hinder Church Growth: Lack of Properly Trained Greeters and Ushers

I sat with a pastor in his office as he shared some of difficulties he faced in growing the traditional church.  He told me that some of their guest had shared with him that the church was just not friendly.  As we talked, I asked him if all the church members were unfriendly. He acknowledged that they had eight to twelve people who were friendly and outgoing.  I challenged him to appoint each of them as greeters to seek out guest and welcome them with a smile, handshake or hug, and thank them for coming to worship.  He had never considered appointing happy and friendly people to seek out new faces.  I call these people greeters.

The word "greet" implies to meet, receive, welcome, cherish, embrace, salute, address, or acknowledge a person in a specified way.  Very early in church history members of the church practiced greeting one another.  In fact, the Greek verb "aspazomai" occurs about sixty times in the New Testament and echoes concern for the well-being of the other person. 

The practice of greeting arriving guests can be found in Mark 9:15, and upon the parting of company in Acts 21:1. Every church should train competent greeters to welcome people as they arrive and to thank them as they depart for every service and event.  The team of greeters should have a Head Greeter to organize the greeters and to make sure that the needed number of greeters will be present for each service, properly located in key areas of the parking lot and at all entrances.  Men, women, and youth can all participate in this “customer friendly” ministry. 

Greeters should be the first to smile and to speak.  Greeters should call members by name, notice guests, and give special attention to the guests.  Remember, a smile says a lot.  Your words of welcome will not be effective if you look unhappy to see them.  The greeter should be one of the first people to smile and express a customary welcome.

Remember to be very polite, open doors, and give directions to the place there are trying to find – worship center, nursery, etc.  Greeters need to offer other assistance to the people as they arrive. This may be opening a car door, helping an elderly person out of a vehicle, or perhaps carrying the diaper bag for the parent of a young child who is struggling.  When it is raining, be prepared to meet people as they arrive with a large umbrella.

Greeters need to be constantly aware of the parking needs and the needs of the attendees while outside the building.  If people seem to need help finding a parking spot, the Greeter should direct the person to an area where parking is available.  If a person has a flat tire or trouble starting the vehicle, offer the appropriate assistance.

Greeters are the first impression of your church.  If you are friendly and knowledgeable, neat and well groomed, and polite and well mannered, you make a good impression. 

Here are a couple of things a Greeter should not do.  Greeters should avoid antisocial behavioral norms.  For example, in most areas, Greeters should not smoke.  Some people have strong feelings about smoking, and you may turn them away from our church - treat all church grounds and facilities as a smoke free area.  Greeters should not be walking around drinking a beverage.  If you are holding something in your hand, or have something in your mouth, you cannot do the things needed to represent Christ and our church in an impressionable way.

Like the Greeter, the Usher is a very important individual.  Ushers represents Christ at all times, impressing attendees with sincere and genuine hospitality.  The Usher's primary task centers on the worship services.  Ushers must always smile and speak a friendly word to others anywhere in the building.  The Usher is to the worship service what Greeter is to the arriving attendees.

The Head Usher should organize the team and make sure that the correct number of ushers are present for each service, properly stationed just inside of all entrances, and that both male and female ushers are used for each service. 

The Usher is to hold worshippers who arrive late until an appropriate time for them to enter the Worship Center, such as during a song, to prevent multiple interruptions of the service.  Ushers should be cheerful and polite when welcoming, seating, and instructing guest. 

Occasionally the unexpected will happen.  When it does happen, the Usher must remain calm and act in a polite and thoughtful manner.  A good usher will think ahead concerning what to do if a certain situation arises.  A good Usher will plan for and know how to handle falls, fainting, and sudden sickness.  He will know how to call for an ambulance, fire department, or police. The question is not if these things will happen, but when these things will happen.

It is the Usher's responsibility to see that worship progresses smoothly and that the worship leaders are not interrupted.  If someone faints, it is not the pastor's job to handle the situation.  It is the Usher’s job and they should know how to handle the situation.  The pastor and worship leaders are to lead the congregation in worship, few things are more important than the worship of God.  There are very few, if any, reason an Usher should ever interrupt the leaders of worship or the flow of the service.

One emergency, which few churches are prepared to handle, is fire.  Ushers should know how to evacuate the building.  Have a plan in place in case a fire should erupt. It seems that when I travel, the hotel I am staying in always have a fire alarm either during the night or early morning. During a stay at a resort in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the fire alarm was triggered.  The resort was well prepared and I was greatly impressed by their preparation and evacuation procedure.  I feel better about this particular resort and I have highly recommended it to other people.  It was nice to know that they were prepared and knew how to help their customers exit the fifteen story building safely.  Churches must be equally prepared.  We cannot assume that since we are at church only a few hours each week that we do not need to prepare.

The one item Ushers normally know about is the receiving of the tithes and offerings, and yet it is often done awkwardly.  The pastor should teach the Ushers how to receive the Offering and explain the time in the service where the offering will be received.  He should be sure to reflect any change in the normal routine.  The pastor and Ushers should develop the best procedure possible to receive the tithes and offerings in an orderly manner as quickly as possible.  Sometimes it helps to rehearse the procedure.  This should always be done with new Ushers.

At the close of service, the Ushers should open the doors at the appropriate time - usually at the close of the benediction.  The Ushers should locate themselves at each exit in order to share verbal appreciation to the worshippers for attending.  Let the worshippers know that you are happy that they came to worship God.  The usher is God's mouthpiece to say "thank you!"

The Greeter and the Usher represent three individuals.  First, you represent yourself, and you should desire to make a good impression upon others.  Secondly, you represent the church.  The church you serve expects you to represent them well, and if you do not, they are disappointed.  Third and most importantly, you represent Christ.  The greeter’s and the usher’s friendliness represents the smile and touch of Jesus and makes the worshipper feel the love of Christ.

The Greeter and the Usher both assist the pastor by allowing him and the other worship leaders to lead God's people in worship with the peace of mind that whatever unexpected thing occurs, there are well prepared capable Greeters and Ushers to handle the task.  These are extremely important jobs.  Do not take them lightly.

Items that Hinder Church Growth: Lack of Diversity of Staff

As an acorn grows into a mighty oak tree, there are signs of a growing movement of churches seeking to become multi-ethnic and multi-cultural.  The Nineteenth General Synod of the United Church of Christ adopted the resolution “Statement of Christian Conviction of the Proposed Pronouncement Calling the United Church of Christ to be a Multiracial and Multicultural Church.”  The North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church writes:

Multicultural Ministry is a vision of God’s diverse human family becoming a reality in The United Methodist Church. It is a vision of the church becoming a community of faith where all equally belong. It is a longing for a new spirituality; a new way of being, where all persons, regardless of race, ethnicity, or culture, can give and receive trust, forgiveness, love, support, empowerment, acceptance, and radical hospitality. It is more than simply making space for one another to exist, and it is more than tolerating differences [http://nccumc.org/multicultural/].

Yes, the acorns are sprouting and shooting forth their roots, but are churches and denominations willing to act to become more culturally diverse in their churches, or is this merely talk.

It remains disturbing to me that the visible church staff is nearly always the same race.  Consider this scenario as you sit in church this Sunday.  Four guests enter the worship center and take a seat near you - Robert White, Robert Black, Robert Latino, and Robert Asian.  Your pastor preaches a dynamic sermon and the Spirit of God is moving throughout the congregation.  The four guests seated near you all respond to the Gospel during the invitation.  Which Robert has a Minister or Counselor of the same ethnicity to receive, discuss, and pray with him concerning his spiritual needs or the commitment he wants to make?  Why has the church staff become the last stand for church separatist?

The lack of diversity among ministerial staff is one of the major hindrances to urban church growth.  With more than two hundred language groups in the United States, the majority of which live in the major cities, it is crucial that urban churches be intentional about diversifying ministerial staff.  Corporate and nonprofit boards seek a broad range of diversity, believing that it adds to their strength.  Why then do so many churches believe that their church staff must all be of the same ethnicity?

As president of New Life Theological Seminary, I often ask our students if a builder can build a house using only wood.  I remind the students that early American homes were called log cabins and were built entirely of wood.  They had log walls and wood shingles, and were held together with notches and wooden pegs.  They were neither attractive, efficient, nor comfortable.  Today, we use a range of building materials to build homes - concrete, brick, stone, steal, wood, fiberglass, tin, glass, various cloth fibers, et cetera.  We find that by using various building materials we have a much more comfortable and esthetically pleasing home.  We enjoy having glass windows and fiberglass shingles. We find that homes are more decorative with stone, carpet, and paint.  By incorporating the variety of building materials modern houses take on their owner’s personalities and become better places to live.

In the same way, you can establish an ensemble with all trumpets, but the sound will be very limited.  However, if you add Violins, Violas, Cellos, Basses, Flutes, Piccolos, Oboes, English Horns, Clarinets Bass Clarinets, Bassoons, Contrabassoons, French Horns, Trumpets, Trombones, Bass Trombones, Tubas, Harps, Keyboard/Piano, and Timpani and other percussions instruments you have a effervescent orchestra.  God wants a full orchestra of worshippers, and yet our churches continue to be an ensemble of trumpets.

This past week Pastor Steve Wang, Pastor of the Charlotte Chinese Baptist Church, visited with me in my office at New Life Theological Seminary.  The church is starting an English speaking service.  As he explained to me their reasoning, he reflected that God had shown them that they could not fulfill the Great Commission if they only ministered to the Chinese people of our city.  The English speaking service is not just for English speaking Chinese; it is for all English-speaking people of Charlotte.  I am so exciting and hope to help them in this venture.  I do not know of another ethnic congregation in Charlotte with such a vision.  This church is attempting to go where very few have gone before, and their pastor is asking if I will agree to preach on multiple occasions to help them reach non-Chinese English speaking residents in their area of the city.  He has even asked if I will administer Communion; I am so amped!

This bi-lingual Chinese pastor could easily preach the English service, but he understands the need to have a minister who is not Chinese preach and visibly participate in service.  I pray that older well-established single cultured churches can learn from the Charlotte Chinese Baptist Church! 

The urban face of North America is changing as the peoples of the world rush to claim greater prosperity in the United States and Canada.  For urban churches in North American to survive, they must diversify their staffs and reach people of multiple ethnicities and cultures; this is also true of urban churches of all countries around the globe, although the challenges of doing so may differ slightly.  So how do you help move your church to diversify its ministerial staff?  First, let me be very clear, you do not terminate ministerial staff to bring about diversification.  This may take some time to accomplish, but remember that Church staff members leave for a number of reasons, and when one leaves, the church should be deliberate in seeking a person of a different race or culture than the majority of the membership.  Second, the church should seek a staff member that is representative of the next largest demographic within the church community.  Cities are alive and neighborhoods change and shift demographically.  Churches must change with the demographics of their area or cease to be effective in their community; ineffectiveness usually leads to the death of the church within a quarter century.  Third, the church should be prayerful in seeking all new staff persons.  Race or culture should never be the main priority.  If you need to hire a Latino, seek a Latino that will be the right fit.  We are each more than our ethnicity and to be a good fit in ministry we must have a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a deep love of people, and the education and training that properly equips us to perform the required job.  Fourth, when the church calls a new staff member, love and accept him and encourages others to accept him.  You will witness God’s mighty hand at work within your congregation, as God builds a mighty orchestra and multiple cultures learn from each other concerning the Sovereign creativity of God.  Fifth, praise God for the many new truths you learn through experiencing a greater diversity in your church as you worship God together.

Items that Hinder Church Growth: The Invitation

One of the greatest hindrances to urban church growth is the lack of proper invitations.  Most urban churches do not know who to help the worshippers respond to the message of God as delivered by the “preacher.”  Ministers should carefully consider five specific items related to inviting the listener to respond to the message of God.  I am a firm believer that every message, if it is from God, should provide the listener the opportunity to respond.  Every invitation to respond to the Gospel message should be thoughtful and executed properly.  This idea is not original with me, but is something I picked up at a conference some years ago.  I implemented it and saw conversions and rededications nearly double.  I believe these four simple items will help urban church growth.

First, when a pastor gets up to preach God's Word, he should read the Scripture which is the basis for the message he is going to preach on, offer a pre-invitation, and then pray a pre-introductory prayer. At this point, the man of God is ready to go into the introduction and message.  The message should work to a conclusion, prayer, and invitation.  Why should every sermon have a pre-invitation?  When the man of God shares the pre-invitation, the Holy Spirit begins immediately to work hearts in minds toward the proper decision.  When I give a pre-invitation, it starts something like this, “At the close of the message this morning, you will be asked to make one of two decisions.”  I then explain the decisions the listeners will be asked to make, whether it is for salvation, rededication, church membership, et cetera.  The listener knows the message is going to end with a call for a specific decision.  All through the message, the listener is thinking about the decision they are being asked to make, and all through the message, the Holy Spirit is at work. 

Second, when the message concludes, the one who delivered the message must extend an invitation to the listeners.  The one who delivers the word of God should be the extended of the invitation and the key recipient of those responding to the invitation.  Other pastors or staff may assist, but the one proclaiming the Word of God should be front and center to receive those responding to the message.  Urban ministries should have an array of cultural diversity visible during the invitation.  These can be ministers or lay counselors of another race who also come to stand at the front, and this is very important to build cultural diversity.  He should not be holding a hymnbook or singing the invitational hymn.  He should be prayerfully focused on the congregation, looking for those the Holy Spirit is working with so that he will know how best to encourage obedience.  I usually stand with arms outstretched, slightly lowered, with hands turned up.  This position is inviting and presents fewer barriers to the timid and hesitate listener who may be under conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Third, do not rush the invitation.  Most people will not respond until after the third verse of an invitation hymn.  Most people respond during the fourth verse.  I do not claim to know all of the reasons for this timeframe, but perhaps it is to build the courage to walk to the front to take a stand for Jesus.  When ministers end the invitation at the close of a second verse, they hinder people from making life-altering decisions.  Likewise, if no one comes after the fourth or fifth verse, end the invitation by letter the congregation know that you are available after the service to speak with anyone wanting to discuss a spiritual issue.

Fourth, invitations should be inviting, but integrity demands that we not use manipulation.  Musicology helps the minister understand the proper use of music during an invitation.  The worship leader must give careful attention to make sure the music is not too loud, distracting, or irreverent.  It is also a good idea to have trained counselors ready to assist with those who come forward.  When I first started really taking the invitation seriously, I found I often had more people responding that I could handle.  I had to learn to hand the off to trained lay counselors to spend the amount of time they needed.  You should know that if a line forms, it deters others from coming forward.  You might also ask your deacons or elders to come forward during the invitation to kneel and pray at the front.  Often the timid find it easier to start walking toward the front when they see other people moving.  Evangelistic services held in large stadiums use this method very effectively.  

Fifth, the minister must help the congregation understand that the invitation is the most important part of the whole service.  The invitation is where the worshippers make life-changing decisions.  It is where God does His work.  Up until this point, others have been doing the work.  Musicians have played the instruments.  Singers have led the worshippers in song.  The pastor has preached the Word of God.  Now, God does His work and we behold His glory!  When a person accepts Jesus as Lord, this is the work of God!  When a marriage is mended, this is God working!  Ministers must help the congregation understand that the invitation is a sacred moment when God is most visible in the service. This is not a time for members to start leaving.  I usually ask people not to leave unless it is an emergency, and tell them that if they leave the ushers will assist them with the medical emergency they are experiencing.  Thoughtless members often hinder God’s work by leaving during the invitation.

 

Recently I went to worship with another urban church.  The pastor did not give a pre-invitation.  The invitation was not well thought out nor focused; it seemed he aimed at nothing and hit it.  He stood at the front holding a hymnal and singing along for the two-verse invitation.  The invitation was not inviting.  In spite of the diversity in the congregation, there was not diversity of leadership at the front to receive those wanting to make decisions.  During the short two verses invitational hymn, I observed no fewer than twelve people exiting the worship center.  I found myself wondering if they were responding to the invitation by rejecting the message.  Despite the pastor’s education and training, this minister did everything wrong in extending the invitation.  I was not surprised that no one responded to the message. It was a worshipful service, but a thoughtless invitation.  Many urban churches flounder and decline, not because of inadequate music or inarticulate homilies, but from the inability to extend an invitation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So what do you do if you discover that your church is not properly giving attendees the opportunity to respond to God’s message?  First, commit to serious prayer about the issue.  The offering of an invitation is the responsibility of the Pastor and you must be very careful not to be critical of your pastor.  The fact is that many pastors did not receive proper training in seminary concerning how to extend an invitation in the most effective manner.  Second, talk with your pastor about your concern in a nonthreatening manner.  Assure your pastor that you that your discussions are confidential and that you are not being critical of his method, but ask him if you can explore ways to improve the effectiveness of the invitation.  Third, share the items in this observation with your pastor as discussion points and ask him if he believes they are relevant for the church.  It may just be the spark for prayerful thoughtfulness on the part of your pastor in focusing on making the invitation most effective.  Fourth, if you receive a negative reaction from your pastor, back off and commit the issue to prayer.  Ultimately, the spiritual responsibility of leading the congregation falls on the pastor and God holds him accountable for his leadership of the local church.

Items that Hinder Church Growth: Guest vs. Visitor

With this blog, I begin a series of at least ten observations that hinder growth of many of our urban churches across our nation.  As president of New Life Theological Seminary, I find myself in other churches more than in the church where I am a member.  This has allowed me an opportunity to observe urban churches in various cities and draw a number of conclusions that I believe can help churches experience greater growth in members and revenue.  These steps are not culture or denomination specific and are applicable to all churches.

Churches often make a crucial mistake by the language chosen to recognize non-members.  Pastors set the tone on this, but churches must decide if they are going to have “visitors” or “guests.”  These two terms carry unique differences to the non-member and determines the likelihood of the persons return.  How many times have you heard a pastor welcome visitors to worship and then introduce a non-staff preacher as a “special guest”?  Can the difference be any more obvious?  Visitors are those people who stop unexpectedly by our homes trying to sell us vinyl siding or check our roof for storm damages.  We did not invite them, they are an inconvenience to us, and we really do not want them in our homes.  Guests are people we invite and provide hospitality at our expense, they are not an inconvenience, and we want them to enjoy themselves and to come back again.  When non-members stop in for worship or a special event, they quickly determine if the church views them as a visitor or as a guest.

First impressions are important and every church interested in reaching people should have friendly and welcoming signage.  Most people who are new in a city find a church by checking the Internet.  Every urban church should have a website and an outdoor sign, and both should be user friendly and informative.  I recently checked a church’s website to see what time they met for worship, the church had only a one-page website.  The page told the location of the church, which streets it bordered, the age of the church, and even how many parking lots they have, but it did not list any services or times of service.  It would be much better to have a one-page sight with the church address, phone number, weekly worship and discipleship times, accessibility, and the closeness of the city bus stop.  Additionally, the church should have lighted exterior signage with key service times.  All marketing tools must convey a genuine warmth and friendliness of the congregation and staff.

As worshippers drive in, it is crucial that they quickly see a sufficient number of properly marked guest parking spots close to the building.  Only handicap spaces should be closer to the building entrances than guest parking should.  Pastors and staff members are servants and can easily adapt to spaces far away from the building.  There is seldom justification for having reserved spaces for the pastor and staff.  Ministers who possess a servant’s heart will not ask for or accept special treatment when it comes to parking.  I feel so strongly about this that it would be difficult for me to join a church where the church had a “Reserve for Pastor” parking spot, and I do not believe I am alone on this issue.

Every urban church should have well trained greeters.  These men and women should be knowledgeable about the church and able to assist guests with directional information concerning easiest accessibility for their individual or family needs.  Greeters should be friendly and truly excited to have guest arrive.  I remember one person who used to say, “Seeing you just made my day, I am so glad you are here!”  The key is that this person was speaking the truth and was genuinely glad to see guest arrive.  Greeters should be observing people parking in guest spaces.  This allows the greeters to give immediate assistance and instruction to the guests, and it discourages members from using the space.  One word about this, if you have members parking in guest spaces you have to confront them and address it.  Selfish members who park in guests parking spaces can intentionally or unintentionally hinder a church from growing – lovingly confront it head on.  If that does not work, there are always tow trucks.

The exterior of the church should have clearly marked entrances.  Guests are generally looking for one of two immediate identifiers.  Most guests attend worship before any other service, so it is most crucial that the sanctuary be clearly identifiable from the outside.  Many churches have “Guest Information Services” located near the sanctuary or main entrance.  Observe the two pictures below and see if you find one more inviting and informative than the other.

Leadership should never single guests out during a service or event.  Never ask guests to raise their hand, stand, or even remain seated during the “greet and meet” as it singles guests out and makes them feel uncomfortable.  I recall one church where a pastor pointed out the “visitors” and had us, as visitors, to stand up and introduce ourselves to the church family.  Being a minister, I am accustomed to churches having poorly trained leaders, so I stood up, and introduced our family by name and told the church we were from Charlotte, NC.  The pastor then pointed to another couple and said, “Sir, would you stand and tell us where you are from and introduce you and your wife.”  The man stood and told where they were from and introduced both himself and the woman with him.  He then concluded with the words “she is not my wife.”  This pastor exposed an unmarried couple who were vacationing together.  Do you think they ever went back to that church again?

Churches should develop methods of obtaining guest information through nonintrusive embarrassing methods.  As a pastor, I liked to have a tear off section on the order of service.  We called this the “Communication Form” and used it to register attendance in worship (members and nonmembers alike), to request prayer, to share pending surgery or hospital visits, etc.  While some people will choose not to participate, I have never had anyone complain about it.  We asked all worshippers to place the forms in the offering plates as part of the attendees offering.  Another good method is to design an in chair/pew two-sided multi-use envelope that allows guests and members to give an offering and share information.  These methods do not single out guests, and they treats all worshippers the same.  Train all of your ushers and greeters to “meet and greet” with non-condemning phrases.  My personal favorite is, “I am thankful that we can worship together today.  I don’t believe we have met, my name is Eddie.”  In large congregations members seldom know everyone, so never assume that a person is a member or guest.

Regardless of the message used to collect information from attendees, it is vital that someone follow up with all identifiable guests within 24 hours.  As a pastor, I received this information from the ushers and called our Sunday morning guests that same afternoon.  Our church developed well-trained greeters and ushers and had collection of information down to an art.  We developed a “seven touch” approach for responding to our guest.  Along with a quick call from me as pastor, I also sent a letter out on Monday.  By the time the guest received the letter they usually had already experienced a “front door” visit, a small gift, and a sincere heart-felt “I am so glad we could worship Jesus together Sunday.  I do hope we can worship Him together again real soon.”  In communicating with guests, always avoid language that separates.  Churches and first responders too often use language that communicates a clear partition between members and guests.

Guests are smart and easily detect sincerity and hypocrisy.  Churches cannot fake a desire to be inviting.  Every pastor should ask a few people who are “outside the church” to come and worship, and ask these individuals to observe and provide honest feedback to the pastor on whether the church made them feel like guests or visitors.  Of course, you can also make an observation.  Think about how your church treats non-members and share your information with the rest of us.

So what do you do if you discover that your church is treating non-members as visitors rather than guest?  First, repent both individually and corporately, and ask God to help you and the church to love people more.  Second, talk with your pastor about your concern and see if he is willing to have you and a few others perform a hospitality audit to see how non-members are treated and how they perceive the church.  Pull from the securely hospitality industry a small group to perform this audit.  Assure your pastor that all findings are to help improve the church and its image and is in no way a reflection on him.  Third, using the information gathered through the VIP audit, share the items in this observation with your pastor as discussion points and ask him if he believes they are relevant for the church.  I bet he will be excited that you want to help the church grow and to improve its image to new people attending the church for the first time.  Fourth, be prepared to receive some negative reaction from some of the members.  When this occurs, commit the issue to prayer and keep moving forward making the improvements needed.  Churches can learn much about hospitality from the secular world, so do not be afraid to enlist people in your church or community serving in the hospitality industry.  The most important VIP is the first time guest!

The Biblical Multicultural Church

Are you looking for a biblical church?  What does a “biblical” church look like?  What does a biblical church teach?  How can you know if you are part of a biblical church?  The Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20 gives us our first clear directive.  In this passage, Jesus tells all believers to “go and make disciples of all “eqnh” [eth-nay] from which we get the word ethnic.  In the New Testament, the word usually means “nations” and refers to everyone who is not a Jew.  However, the meaning does not stop with race; it includes all people groups who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  The truth of the Great Commission, not immediately realized by the disciples, is that Jesus opened Salvation to all people.  With these words a new era began in which all nations now share in the salvation of the promised Messiah.

Biblical churches make disciples of all races and ethnic groups without distinction.  Some mistakenly believe the Great Commission sends Christians out to evangelize the world.  Correct exegesis commands Christians to go to the ethnic groups and cultures of the world.  In the city, it is easier to disciple ethnic groups and cultures, baptize them, and mentor them to obey all Scripture; this is especially true during their first year in a new city.  Baptism is the outward symbol of one's inward decision to “obey everything the Lord has commanded” and is the foundation for one-on-one mentorship.  The great failure of the urban church is its lack of discipleship and mentorship.  Corporate praise and worship are important, but without comprehending the foundational teachings of our Lord, the construction of one’s faith crumbles as the allegorical house built upon the sand.

Biblical churches make disciples, are multicultural, and mentor believers.  These believers then go out, make other disciples of all people groups, and mentor them.  The church incorporates multiple cultures as part of its ministry, and embraces and celebrates the different cultural groups.  Biblical churches do not relocate, but rather transitions as their communities’ transitions.  Wal-Mart does not build different stores for Blacks, Whites, Hispanic, and Asian, nor would the public support any company that did, and yet separatist churches exist throughout our urban centers and believers continue to support this unbiblical action.

Urban centers around the globe are multi-ethnic, with each homogeneous unit having its own subculture.  Charlotte North Carolina (where I live and minister) is the eighteenth largest city in the United States.  Only forty-six percent of its residents were born in the State of North Carolina.  Charlotte is the sixth largest city in the migration of people in the United States.  Twelve percent of its residents were born outside the United States and there are 660 airline flights daily in this city.  People are on the move and urban churches have to learn to thrive in an environment where needs are great, resources limited, and the people are transient.

Wal-Mart designs its stores and develops its offerings to attract transient ethnicities and cultures to spend money in their stores.  The early Christian church effectively engaged transient ethnicities, made disciples and mentored them, and as the disciples of Jesus moved throughout the world, the gospel spread.  The first century church turned the world upside down.  Paul went to the urban centers because that was where large he could disciples the largest numbers of people from many different cultures.  Jew and Gentile, Asian and African, rich and poor all came together in the early Christian church – this was the biblical model given to us in Acts.  The early church reflected the teachings of Jesus and the Great Commission.

Motive is always important to God.  Many denominations have long adhered to the homogeneous unit principle for evangelism.  They make the argument that multicultural churches are not necessarily better or more spiritual than mono-cultural churches and that multi-ethnic churches often find it harder to reach people for Christ.  The New Testament does not support the homogeneous unit principle and it is not what Paul practiced.  The New Testament Church consisted of believers from several cultural origins.  It consisted of believers of wealth and poverty, and educated and uneducated, young and old joined to worship God.  This is still true today of a biblical church.  The aim of church growth is not how many people we can assemble on Sunday morning.  The aim is to see how many disciples the church can create in partnership with God.

So what do you do if you discover that you are not in a biblical church?  First, commit to serious prayer about your church.  Admit to God that the church is unbiblical in its practice and is not conducting itself like a first century church and confess your part in the church’s unbiblical behavior.  Second, talk with your pastor about your need to be part of a multicultural church that unashamedly makes loves other cultures and seeks to disciple them.  Third, pull together like-minded people and begin making disciples, baptizing them, and mentoring other cultures.  Visit the Wal-Mart closest to your church and notice the people groups and cultures represented in the store; the shoppers should be representative of your church congregation, and if not there is much work to do.  Fourth, if negative tension develops with other members, support your pastor in dealing with it immediately.  Churches cannot move to being a biblical church if ungodliness and disobedience exists and your pastor will need your support in correcting overt disobedience, which can be messy.  Fifth, intentionally diversify the leadership and staff of the church.  It is important for other races and cultures to see “like faces” in the worship service and other church events.  Churches can make this change when vacancies naturally occur or when the church adds additional staff, but urban churches should not remove existing staff to create diversity.  Purposely removing staff to create a diversified staff is always counterproductive.  

Be patient, change takes time.  However, working together believers can move the Church to a more biblical foundation.  I hope you will be a part of this great movement!

Dying for Change

The deaths of churches are becoming so normal that few people are surprised anymore when another urban church closes its doors. It is easy to spot the signs of a dying church. Dying churches stop having adult converts. Dying churches focus more on telling others how to live than in being church. As the congregation dwindles, buildings deteriorate, as the small group can no longer afford properly to clean and preserve the building. All of these are visible signs of a dying church, but are merely an outward sign of a much deeper internal issue. The truth is that many churches are dying for change.

Carnality resists it, but God demands change. Obsolesce is unnatural, so contrary to the nature of God and that of humanity. God created us to progress, to grow, and to transform; and yet, our carnality resists God's design with a fierce determination to make us obsolete. Perhaps this is why I have always enjoyed the more whimsical translation of First Corinthians 15:51 first triggered in me by a sign hanging in a church nursery. I think it's placement by a person who knew the challenges of carry for babies and who had a sense of humor. The verse states, “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.”

Why is it that urban churches resist change? Change means the church is a living organism; churches are either changing or dying, and even death is a process of change. God created humankind to change, to be renewed, and to become more like Him, so there is no wonder that our old nature resists change. The new person believers become in Christ seeks and requires a change. God tells us that we are to experience the renewing of our minds on our way to becoming “new” creatures; this involves a change. The church must reflect the change God performs within each believer.  At best, dying churches reflects a disobedient membership and at worst a spiritually dead membership.

Sometimes the more humane thing to do with a terminally ill animal is to “put it out of its misery.”  Therefore, if you are among the disobedient or dead within a dying congregation, you may be searching for some ways to go ahead and put the church out of its misery.  For those churches that do not like change and resists regeneration, it seems proper to give some ideas on how to become obsolete quicker so the wayward church can die faster.  Understand that it is hard work to kill a church.  To kill a church you have to resist the love and power of God and then partnership with Satan to destroy a part of the bride of Christ.

First, the dying church must firmly resist God’s living breathing power within its members.  No matter how much God wants the membership to become like Him, you must resist.  This will require you not to accept Scripture as authoritative.  It will require you to withdraw from fellowship from other churches within the faith community; after all, Satan does not want you to work with other churches and denominations to reach our cities for Christ. 

Second, the dying church must develop a mental resistance to adaptation needed for change. Fight against all new ideas. If you have never done it that way before, be determined not to do it. Members must resist learning new songs of praise and adoration, new musical instrumentation, and new worship formats.  Furthermore, the church must stop being a church of prayer.  The urban church cannot resist change if it is strong in the Word of God and open-minded in the worship of God. 

Third, the dying church must develop an unwillingness to grow and develop. Learn to look backwards, relive the glory years, and talk about the “good ole days.”  Carnality longs for the comfortable and the familiar.  The church is to be a change agent.  Jesus wants His bride to be creative, beautiful, and alive.  Have you ever watched a young bride?  She may be scared at the thought of leaving all the comforts of her parents and beginning a new life with her husband, but she is also excited about the possibility of this new life on which she is embarking.  The church should have this same attitude.

Fourth, the dying church must resist being incarnational.  God chose to put on human flesh and live among humanity; God chose to interact with humanity.  Dying churches become isolationists that are uninvolved in society.  Dying churches give no thought to winning the community to Jesus or ministering to their community.  Dying churches are too wrapped up in their own survival to grow.  Dying churches are rude and crass in dealing with the less fortunate and do not represent the love and forgiveness of Jesus, for when a church is in survival mood the disenfranchised are seen as a drain on the church’s limited revenue.

Are you a part of an urban church that is dying for the lack of change? Any one of these four steps will move your church toward obsolesce and the more steps you follow the quicker you can obtain death.

If you and a true believer in a personal relationship with Jesus and believe that you are in a dying church, you must act quickly.  First, repent and recommit yourself to Jesus Christ and make certain you are in a personal relationship with Him.  Ask Jesus to show you everything in your life that hinders Him from maturing you and growing the church, and then ask Jesus to change you.  Second, embrace God's living breathing power and encourage others to do it too.  Make sure your spend time daily in personal worship, Bible study, and prayer.  Third, be open to trying new methods in worship, Bible study, and church events.  Fourth, look forward to and develop a willingness to grow, personally and congregationally.  Make certain you embrace quality.  You do not have to have an order of service, but if you do, it must show quality.  Fifth, be incarnational; make a decision to live among the people you are trying to reach.  God came to earth and lived among humanity.  We have to be willing to live among people who need Jesus.

Urban churches do not have to die.  If the pastor and church leadership remain open to God's transformation, the church can live and thrive!