Church Planting The Next Generation by Kevin W. Mannoia

A while ago I read Church Planting The Next Generation by Kevin W. Mannoia. This book presents an overarching system to foster rapid church planting on a large scale. The sole focus of the book is for churches (specifically the Free Methodist Church) to work together through the predefined Century 21 Church Planting System. Ultimately the purpose is to create a environment or ethos for church planting within networks of churches. It is highly practical and descriptive of how to implement the small steps that make up the larger movement of finding, training and launching successful church planters. 

Ed Stetzer at the very end of his book Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, references the Century 21 Church Planting System (page 334-335). He writes: "Many groups and denominations have adopted these systems, and they have helped raise church planting capacity. More churches are being started, and more of them are being successful." To get such an endorsement signifies the value of this book and the structure that Mannoia brings to the table.

He writes that the Profile Assessment component "raises the success rate of new churches by focusing on the most important ingredient -- the planter" (p67). The book points out that using a well designed assessment process for potential planters increases the success rate of a new church to 90%. The best way to know how someone will act in the future is to find out how they behaved in the past -- hence the value of assessment. This was illustrated well by a story of an unintentional assessment. One leader, after just being appointed as a church planter, was used as a test subject to help new assessors to be trained. The data from the assessment recommended that he not be deployed as a church planter. He found greater reward in a ministry better suited. The cost and significance of church planting are too great to risk sending the wrong dude.

Mannoia makes a strong case for the intentional funding of church plants. "Fund your church planting efforts, whatever you do. It's your future, to say nothing of the best stewardship of your finances in fulfilling the Great Commission. Planting should have a significant presence in the general operational budget." (p116) Yes! This is music to my ears. Intentional funding of church plants, along with the selection of the right guy, are big strides towards building church planting momentum. As a church planter you either have time or you have money -- you don't have both. But, in the environment being proposed here we see the possibility to be more financially stable earlier on. This shouldn't remove the faith element of starting a new church, but it should allow more fruitfulness at a faster pace. I am praying hard for sufficent funding of our church plant in Chicago. 

The Century 21 Church Planting System works like this:

• Parent Church Network: A group of local churches start to develop a vision for church planting
  
• Profile Assessment System: Objectively measure the skills of potential planters
  
• New Church Incubator: A coaching fellowship for planters
• Pastor Factory: Train laypeople to become founding pastors
  
• Church Planters' Summit: An event to initiate new candidates
  
• Maturing Church Cluster: Specialized support for new churches over a year old
• Strategic Planning Network: A network of pastors who focus on strengthening churches and planting new churches
  
• Harvest 1000: A fund raising effort for planting churches
• Meta-Church Network: Clusters of churches helping to train people through small group ministries

This system is indepth and requires some reflection and discussion in order to grasp its true value. Here are some one liners from the book that caught my eye:

1. Church planting cannot be tagged on -- it must be intentional and planned for. It must be woven into everything, p14.
2. Church planting is the life-blood of our future, p19.
3. Prayer is the foundation to church planting, p25.
4. Church planting can get a bad name because it changes the status, p35. 
5. Plan for discouragement after church launch, p48.
6. If you don't constantly recruit leaders, the network will deteriorate, p86.
7. Mission-driven churches attract mission minded people and produce mission, p90.
8. The most difficult step is to think differently about church planting, p166.
9. Anything not connected to the mission should be revamped or stopped, p172.

This book should give a church planter a much broader perspective than just claiming a small patch of ground for himself. This macro-system should produce a vision for city wide church planting that is urgent, faster and more successful. By collaborating with like-minded people we should be able to multiply church planting efforts much more effectively to increase the noise in heaven (See Revelation 7)!

Checkout:  Church Planting The Next Generation by Kevin W. Mannoia. 

Church Staffing

As part of my church planting training I just finished reading Staff Your Church for Growth by Gary L. McIntosh first published in 2000. The book tackles questions like: When is it the right time to hire additional staff or pastors? And: How should a church begin to look for support staff? Gary L. McIntosh is a professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, and has over 22 years of experience in this field. 

There doesn't seem to be loads of material out there on the subject of church staffing, and nothing was personally recommended to me, so this book choice was an unavoidable gamble. I don't agree with everything in the book and found some language to be unfamiliar, but I'll share 2 main areas that I found particularly helpful.

Staffing a Church for Growth

I found this aspect of the book most applicable to church planting as it deals with the issues of who to hire first and how to keep making the best staffing choices to encourage growth. 

McIntosh points to C. Peter Wager who writes: "Most churches are understaffed for growth. They are staffed for maintenance and survival, but not for growth. If your church is to sustain growth momentum, staffing must become a very high priority." McIntosh writes: "[the] observation of churches that have recently called a new staff member has revealed that many are hard-pressed to define a clear, reasonable rationale for doing so." This means that church staffing decisions are largely not very smart--and at best a shot in the dark. 

The fastest growing churches are new churches. This is because the first priority of the new church is evangelism. If the core group do not win new people to Christ, the new church will not get off the ground. The early priorities of a new church are finding people, keeping people and gathering people for worship. However, as the church is successful at this, its members move into maintenance mode, taking care of what they have (people, programs, facilities) while abandoning the priorities that got them there (outreach, assimilation and worship). 

This shift in priorities is the cause of plateau in many churches. With numerical growth comes organizational needs. Those in the church are acutely aware of their needs and it can be tempting to staff based on the growing needs created by the constant addition of new people. However, staffing this way leads to an ingrown church and responds to a relational issue instead of a missional issue.

On page 26 he writes: "a church that wants to grow must staff positions ... [that] help find new people (evangelism), keep new people (assimilation), and worship (celebration)." These staff members will focus on the priorities that result in continued growth. To staff for decline would be to first hire a youth pastor in response to parents concern for their own children. This position is not going to grow the church. 

The book goes on to suggest that the second staff person to be hired should be a person who balances the gifts and talents of the senior pastor. You find the balance by understanding the two dimensions of nomothetic church roles, being growth focused positions. The first set involve finding, keeping and celebrating with people. The second set involve educating, overseeing and caring for people. If the senior pastor is stronger in the first set, then the additional leader should be stronger in the second, and viceversa. 

The third staff person should fall outside a nomothetic role and into an idiographic role, being more relational and focused on community maturity. Idiographic roles include internal programs like various adult, youth and children's ministries. However, there is a strong encouragement to staff these positions with volunteers for as long as possible because they do not grow the church. Additional staff beyond this can be alternated between nomothetic and idiographic roles to bring constant balance to the overall ministry. 

Adding a supporting staff member like a secretary, admin assistant, intern, or bookkeeper, is more flexible depending on how heavily program based the church is. A rough guideline is given of with 150 people one support staff is suggested. 300 would require 1.5 and 450 requires 2 support staff. 

The issues of hiring staff is also addresses well from multiple angles. Everything from recruiting, interviews, conflict and team roles are covered. 

Lone Ranger Vs Team

The book starts by attacking the notion of the "Lone Ranger" Pastor who does everything. On page 13 he writes: "Only one person has all the gifts and that is Jesus Christ Himself." Biblical reasons are given for the need to move away from this model of church staffing but another helpful insight is offered: "Just as the secular world has moved towards specialization and sub-specialization, so the church must respond with specialization to effectively minister to the complex needs of people." If the church is to be engaged with the culture, then we are to be engaged with an increasing complex culture. 

He also asserts that while vision usually comes from a central person, there always seems to be a team involved to bring the vision to reality. The various different team models are discussed. One example, The "Hired Gun Model", was addressed and warned against. This involves a strongly results-orientated environment where support staff and additional pastors are accepted as long as they do what they are paid to do. The major downfall of this model is that is breeds an inadequate loyalty to the team and means the "hired gun" can be hired away by another church. 

The best model for team is the relational/complementary model. There is diversity in gifting and function but with an emphasis on relationships and giftedness rather than strictly performance or popularity. The senior leader acts as a team coach, while the leadership team has room to help set the direction and agenda. A strong feeling of unity and shared ministry is developed.

The communication of a compelling vision and the development of clear job descriptions, evaluations, resources and rewards are significant elements in building a strong church staff. He writes: "Leadership and management are complementary and dependent on each other for the growth of a church ... it is entirely possible--indeed necessary if the church is to grow--for the pastor's role to move over time from shepherd to rancher." I didn't like the word rancher at first but in explanation this refers to a leader providing oversight through others, of which there are many good Biblical examples. This is a step on from the role of the shepherd which is one-on-one oversight. 

Another helpful insight is that of team and subteam size. Through Biblical observation and studies "... it appears that the best staff team is most often made up of seven or less persons since a team of seven allows for a leader and two subsets of three individuals (triangles)." This helps to explain why larger teams struggle to maintain intimacy and therefore common vision. He writes: "To keep larger teams healthy, it is wise to organize them by triangles." Keeping things small in the midst of growth is smart because it facilities change and sustains the personal dynamic and mutual ownership. He admits that developing a strong team simply takes time. 

Conclusion

This book had some really helpful insights into decisions about church staffing. There are of course many things I don't have space to mention. If you are interested, this is a quick read, checkout: Staff Your Church for Growth by Gary L. McIntosh

Breaking The Missional Code by Ed Stetzer & David Putman

I recently read Breaking The Missional Code by Ed Stetzer & David Putman. This book is a great way for me to jump straight back into a missional church planting learning mode after having been a little silent on my blog for a while -- here we go -- kappow! 

The main message of the book is pretty simple. The church is the primary vehicle for God to reach the world and local churches cannot simply copy methods, styles or techniques to be effective, but must discern their local cultures in order to be fruitful yet remain faithful. 

Breaking the Missional Code does not present a secret formula to suit everyone. It presents a principle for church life: to study and observe the surrounding culture in each community and adjust the methods/forms of the church in order to best connect people with the message of the gospel. On page 228 it says of code breaking churches that "... the mission of the church to fulfill the Great Commission does not get relegated to a program of evangelism, but it becomes intricately woven through the entire fabric of the local church." Everyone is on the mission!

The book talks about the sin of preference. Page 50 says "You can't be missional and pick what you like at the same time ... That is not a problem when our preferences line up with the missional choices for our community. The problem occurs when they do not. That situation requires a change of heart." This is a conundrum for many because everyone holds certain styles to be best, effective, right or even biblical. For example, I prefer a type of worship because I have grown up with it and find that I often experience the presence of God in that worship style. 

However, the book is challenging me to rethink that preference. The community we live in might have a different musical form that would more effectively allow them to hear the message of the gospel. The question is: am I good with that? Am I willing to do whatever it takes to connect with the unchurched and not just assume that the vibe of contemporary Christian worship is best for our community? I often preach 45 minutes to an hour at our yearly youth conferences. But, what if people just can't connect with that? Shoot! Dying to these preferences is going to be hard but essential if the lost are important. 

Some other key themes in the book are contextualizing discipleship, emerging church strategies and the characteristics of missional leaders. This book would be very helpful for church planters and church leaders alike as it raises a call to bring effective mission back into the church where it truly belongs. Christian community is the best place for mission. Our core identity and core calling should never be divorced. The church should be what she is -- an effective code breaking missional family.

Here are some highlights from the book:

1. For too many, they love their preferences and their strategies more than they love the people whom God has called them to reach. Page 7
2. America is the most diverse nation in the world. Page 14
3. [Some] are convinced if you just "preach the gospel" and perhaps "love people" that your church will reach people. They are wrong, and their ideas hurt the mission of the church. Page 14
4. Jesus' command to "go to all nations," we think countries. But when Jesus spoke those words, there were no countries as we understand them today. Jesus' instructions mean we must go to all people groups in the world. Page 34
5. We have become fascinated with the very things that Jesus said not to worry about. Page 40
6. It seems that every pastor really wants to get into mission -- if his church was just a little bigger. They do not want to give themselves away until there is enough to share. That is not the way God does things. God calls us to give ourselves away and trust him. Page 70
7. Mission is an intrinsically translational task. Page 73
8. Leaders who break the code create opportunities. They throw themselves at the challenge of creating environments where the gospel can be planted and flourish. Page 74
9. Redemptive analogies are twenty-first-century parables. Page 97
10. Code-breaking churches teach their members to invest and invite. Page 145
11. ... we learn our way forward and therefore we must build time into our process to evaluate what we are learning. When this happens, we build a culture where team members are willing to take risks and come up with new ideas. When we evaluate everything on a pass/fail basis, it is not unusual for a culture to be created that is suspicious and lacking in trust. Page 196-197
12. Vision is something people produce; revelation is something people receive. Leaders can dream up a vision, but they cannot discover God's will. God must reveal it. Page 205
13. Pray that God might reveal what keeps local people from trusting in Jesus Christ, and then ask the Holy Spirit to break those barriers. Page 219

Checkout: Breaking The Missional Code by Ed Stetzer & David Putman

Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century by Aubrey Malphurs

Special update: I wrote a book for churches to give to first-time guests. It’s had a huge impact at bringing more people back as second-time guests and adding them into the church community. Get the Kindle version of Unforgettable: Your purpose in Christ here and the print version from unforgettableness.com. Those outside the USA may need to order print copies from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.eu.
I just finished reading the book Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide for New Churches and Those Desiring Renewal by Aubrey Malphurs. I'd sum it up in this statement: it gives church planters a firm strategy for launching a new church and a plan for avoiding plateau. It is very similar to Ed Stetzer's book in many regards and Malphurs draws from Stetzer's other material throughout.

This book would be extremely helpful for anyone involved in the leadership of a church plant. It starts with a strong explanation of why church planting is necessary and proceeds to cover nearly all aspects of starting a new church. It brought up many considerations I would have never thought up by myself or perhaps even in a team context.

I recently read an article which labeled church planting as an enigma. Malphurs book, among others I am reading, in addition to my church planting internship, has helped put some flesh on the bones. This book helps the picture become clearer. A church planter friend recently told me that it doesn't matter how much training you do, you just have to make it up as you go along. After reading this book the enigma feels smaller, the preparation worthwhile and some of the guess work has gone. Although my friend is right about one thing, unless you do it the training is pointless! This is definitely an equipping book if it can be implemented.

I found myself reading this book incredibly slowly (much like the last book). Each section would spark a million ideas which I scribbled in my page margin. It covers such things as the qualities of the leader, the dynamics of leading a core group, finances, meeting location, membership, roles, giving, assimilation, evaluation, strategy, recruiting, etc ...

Here are some sections I marked that grabbed my attention:

1. Starting a church is one of the most exciting spiritual ventures a group of Christians may ever undertake, p21.
2. The bigger the vision, the bigger the investment, p55.
3. 80% of church growth is through biology or transfer, not salvation, p64. (Note: this presents the need for new churches because the older a church gets the less people it reaches)
   
4. We must recognize that facility conditions say a lot about the people who worship there -- namely that our belief doesn't deserve the best. See biblical excellence here Eph 6:5-8 & Col 3:23-24, p70.
5. It has been conservatively estimated that at this time [by Acts 4] the total number of disciples was between 20-25,000. The sheer size would necessitate a significant number of elders, p108.
1. There are several passages that indicate that the churches in Acts, unlike the majority of churches in America today, were large, Acts 2:41, Acts 9:31, Acts 14:1 & Acts 18:8, p107.
6. Church planting involves hours on our knee's in prayer -- prayer is a constant, p118.
7. By 2050 approximately 79% of the worlds population will live in urban centers. He who wins the city, wins the world, p143.
   
8. For churches to grow and improve, they need to conduct regular evaluations, p163.
9. Within a year or two the initial core group will often leave the church, p169. (this happens for various reasons, some good, some not so good)
10. The purpose of the first core group meeting is for the leader to get to know people and assess if they are the right match, p169-p170.
11. Small group and children's ministry are critical, p175.
12. If you don't add non-believers at the core group stage it wont be in the churches DNA and you'll loose momentum, p182.
13. With the proper planning a hot start [an existing core with a new leader] can launch in 4-6 months, p186.
14. Going public with less than 50 increases failure three-fold, p188.
    
15. The average response to a telemarketing campaign is one person per one hundred or more calls, p204.
16. Most spiritually growing churches are growing numerically, p211.
    
17. Churches that want to be like a big family and take care of one-another are disobeying the great commission. They are not evangelizing, pursuing and edifying the lost, p216.
18. The number one reason people join a church is because they felt accepted, p225.
19. The leader should place administration in the hands of the staff and ministry with lay people, p229.
20. By focusing on evangelism over edification, you are more likely to reach a biblical balance between the two, p234.
    
21. You need at least 50 in the core group to grow larger than 200, p262.
    

It sounds very easy when starting a new church to focus mainly on the launch. This book helps break through the bubble and prepare a church planter for church growth in addition to the start. It also helps you plan for reproduction -- something all healthy churches should do.

Checkout Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century by Aubrey Malphurs.

Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age by Ed Stetzer

I just read Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age by Ed Stetzer and it is a fantastic book for church planters. In fact, anyone involved in church planting should read this book. It has a lot of practical "how to" advice as well as solid reasoning behind planting. It effectively unpacks postmodern thinking and provides some helpful approaches to reach this generation through church planting.

The part that spoke to me the most was the chapter on worship. I think I may have shed a tear even! On page 267 Stetzer writes "The purpose of worship is also to allow unbelievers to observe the divine-human encounter and to yearn for their own personal relationship with God". Yes! Communal Christian worship is all about thirstiness. Believers should be desperately hungry for Gods presence and the worship environment should help foster a thirst in those who do not yet believe.

Ultimately, the church is about the presence of God! It's one of the main themes in the Bible -- God being with his people. This greatly stirred my soul and increased my confidence in putting together a worshiping community who drink deeply of Jesus. I need to invest good resources into making worship a big deal! There is no better way to reach people with the gospel.

In the end this is not just the best reason, it is the only real reason for someone to become a follower of Jesus. When people can feel His presence. When they are made aware of a supernatural person who is INCREDIBLY close by, then, and only then, will genuine transformation occur. There is nothing like an encounter with Jesus to change your world view. Preaching will help. Visual aids will help. Testimonies will help. Living right will help. But the main thing is God's presence!

Here are some other highlights of the book:

1. Biblical church planters focus on the great commission by reaching the unchurched, not seeking to attract area Christians, page 4.
2. Charismatics and Protestants are planting the majority of churches, page 14.
   
3. The church needs to realize that mission is its fundamental identity, page 22.
4. Planters must not present any message other than Christ, page 37.
   
5. It makes more sense for the pastor to spend time with potential reproducers, page 92.
   
6. Post-moderns have been educated in politically correct schools that Christianity is bigoted and small-minded, page 131.
   
7. Spirituality is at a popular high, page 137.
   
8. highpointechurch.org knocked 15,000 doors in Seattle and launched 6 months later with 500 first timers, page 206.
   
9. People give to vision, not need, page 255.
   
10. Marketers cannot reach everyone every time, but they do reach someone everyday, page 260.
11. Mill Creek Community Church did 55,000 dial-ups which generated a list of 2,151 prospects and gathered 200 people at the first service, page 260.
    
12. Do not have more than 3 preview services, page 262.
    
13. Complaints should be expected no matter what methods of communication you use. The only post-moderns offended by mass-outreach are Christians. Spiritually seeking post-moderns are generally not offended, page 263.
    
14. Hold new people going through membership with a high standard, page 291.
    
15. Growth requires growing a relationship list, immediate follow-up process, assimilation, small group strategy and legal recognition, page 300.
    
16. Church planters need to be the best advocates and sponsors for the next generation churches, page 320.
    
17. It is not advertising, music or organizing -- it is touching, winning and congregationalizing the lost, page 330.
    

Checkout: Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age by Ed Stetzer

Only Transformational Churches Matter

I recently finished reading The Multiplying Church by Bob Roberts.

Bob Roberts is the founding pastor of the 2,500-member NorthWood Church near Fort Worth, Texas and the founder of Glocalnet, a network of leaders who are advancing a glocal (global+local) church multiplication movement. They have planted 100 (and counting) churches and "adopted" nations throughout the world.

This book is a phenomenal guide for anyone at any level of church leadership to learn not just about church planting, but exponential church multiplication. This book challenged my fundamentals, affirmed my deepest convictions and increased my vision and passion for God's master plan -- making a beautifully radiant, eternally perfect and gloriously pure spouse for Himself.

Churches that reproduce and transform the society around them are God's strategy for this hurting world. Only transformational churches really matter so starting anything else is pointless.

Here are some phrases and sections that caught my attention:

1. Bob Roberts has a high value for both the Kingdom of God and church planting. This seems critical for sustainability -- a healthy balance of why and how. The church will pass away but the Kingdom is here forever!
   
2. He has a killer opening paragraph: "I have a vision and a dream. Let's start a thousand churches over the next ten years, each one running a minimum of two thousand members, and in just ten years we will turn America upside down with the gospel! That would work, right? Wrong -- that scenario just happened over the past ten years, and there are fewer people in church today than ever before." This tells me that Mega-churches are not the answer but multiplying churches is.
   
3. On Page 29 Roberts states: "It is critical to understand that church planting movements are second-tear movements to Jesus movements." Being in love with Jesus is the foundation to the spread of the Gospel. Doing the church thing comes as a result of love for Jesus.
   
4. A global church planting movement has the right environment to emerge because of globalization. Technology, language, immigration, etc...
5. Without multiplication movements will die. Only something alive can reproduce. What does that say for a church that is not reproducing?
   
6. Transformation is really the only reason worth starting a church. Page 72 "What if instead of dreaming of a 7,000-seat worship center, I dreamed of clinics, schools, and community centers in the inner city? What if instead of envisioning a 150-acre campus, I saw orphanages around the world and microenterprises? What if instead of longing for about 100 full-time ministerial staff, we had 1,000 staff located all over the world? What if instead of wishing for half the community to attend our local church, the community threw parties to thank our church for all the things it was doing in the community?"
7. Local churches must be the ones planting the churches, not the organization or the network.
8. Every Christian should be a part of at least one new church plant.
   
9. Church size is more about the attitude of multiplication than the size of a Sunday meeting.
   
10. No vocational ministry requires more self-initiating skills than that of a church planter.
    
11. To multiply, a church must focus on the kind of disciple it produces.
12. When NorthWood "adopted" Vietnam their stateside church planting exploded.
    
13. A global church planting movement will likely come from the East. We have the technology but they have the Spirit. We have process, they have hearts. We have money, they have faith. We have plans, they have results.
    
14. The more model orientated you are, the more your recruits have to learn to think, read, evaluate, and so on.
    
15. If you cant start a small group, how do you think you can start a church?
    
16. Anyones job description in ministry is "leadership development".
17. No single person will have more impact in your ministry than your wife.
    
18. You have enough time in the day to get every single thing done that needs to be done.
19. Any vision that doesn't require your entire life isn't a vision; it's just a thought.
    
20. Instead of striving for balance, live by priorities and goals. Don't do everything -- focus.

I have learned that discipleship is the foundation of Kingdom activity, church planting needs a multiplication DNA and it must be about the transformation of individuals and society at large. I have been reminded again that there is no point in starting a church if you are not PASSIONATE for Jesus, leading your family, planning for reproduction, willing to sacrifice everything and more concerned about genuine change than numerical results.

After reading this book I am again reminded how clearly God has placed church planting in my future. He put nations on my heart when I was a kid. He did the same thing with my wife. He gave me direct words from great men of God. He spoke to me directly in moments of surprise and whispered confirmations. My tendencies, skills and yearnings all point to this.

Checkout: The Multiplying Church

Google hosts the reason for God

Tim Keller, a hero of mine, has recently written a book titled "The Reason for God". This guy leads Redeemer Church in New York City and has helped establish a network of church plants throughout the city -- something not many can claim.

On March 5, 2008 he spoke at Google about his new book and tackles challenging questions about God from Google employees. If you can set aside an hour please watch this video, it's really amazing -- if not a bit head spinning. Keller has the ability to connect and handle the intellectuals of today in a very effective way. I almost fell over when I found this video, I'm a total Google freak and I love Keller's stuff, feels like Christmas! (If you receive this post via email click here to view the post).

Tim Keller At Google:



Tim Keller resource page

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

Huge mistake in 'Rediscovering church'

Some of the most shocking news in the Christian world surfaced last year. Wondering what it is? After I recently read the story of how the "Seeker Sensitive" Willow Creek mega-church got started (Rediscovering Church by Lynn and Bill Hybels), I heard about the Reveal Campaign which highlights fundamental errors within the seeker sensitive model. The seeker sensitive guru's got something wrong. Before I assume too much more, please understand the following:

A seeker sensitive church communicates the Christian message in slick, non-religious, culturally relevant and presentational ways. They integrate multi-media, art, drama and pour lots of energy into minimizing religious language, eliminating churchy customs and simplifying messages. A seeker church is a culturally fashioned, highly targeted, palatable meeting to cause non-Christians to say "Oh, church really isn't that bad, it's similar to American Idol, maybe I'll give God a try!" It makes evangelists drawl with jealousy at the results. It kinda sounds like what church should be -- inviting, engaging and understandable. But it does have some apparent side affects. Read on ...

12 years ago Lynn Hybels wrote "For the first time in twenty years, we feel we can adequately address both ends of our mission: we can introduce the lost to Jesus Christ and help them become fully devoted followers" (Page 134).

In 2007, a few months ago, after an in-depth survey of Willow Creek, Bill Hybels said "We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self feeders.'" (Full video explanation by Bill Hybels below). Willow Creek didn't have the discipleship process down like they thought, they spent millions of dollars on programs that weren't helping. Discipleship seems to be the biggest challenge in adopting a strong seeker mentality.

The Willow Creek team, based on the recent research, are currently implementing a personal development system for their members. I'm glad they shared this lesson with us. It's easy to imagine that with so much focus on the seeker, discipleship could get left behind. Striving for a harmonious balance of mission and discipleship seems to be the challenge all church leaders face. Sadly, some are doing neither, at least Hybels is passionate for the lost and willing to admit his mistakes and take action to correct them.

What are the take-aways from reading Rediscovering church?

1. Bill Hybels is passionate for the church to reach unbelievers. He is an evangelist. His level of passion, and commitment to the church, challenges my level of passion and commitment.
   
2. His insights into leadership are inspiring.
   
3. He is aggressive in providing learning opportunities for the unchurched.
   
4. He received input and direction from other leaders, and adjusted things accordingly.
   
5. He established a team of elders.
   
6. He allowed scripture to change his thinking.
   
7. Bill & Lynn sought marriage counseling -- a very commendable thing to do and admit.
   
8. It took a while but it sounds like they finally got what the grace of God was about.

What are the lessons learned?

1. Bill had an addiction to ministry fruitfulness, the numbers kept growing.
2. In the beginning their staff structure lacked authority and accountability.
   
3. Major sin issues in leadership were not dealt with properly -- the truth was ignored and then hidden.
   
4. Unbalanced, seeker sensitive preaching lead to spiritual carelessness in the church.
   
5. A workaholic mentality lead to a constant crisis mode and burn out.
6. Because of the pace of ministry over a long time, many of the marriages in the leadership team ended in divorced, and some lost their faith.
   
7. The seeker sensitive approach prohibited global mission for many years.
   
8. Their style works for baby boomers, but will it work for gen-xers?
   

Is seeker sensitive the way to go?

As with all things there are extremes. The church at large does need to do a better job of being seeker sensible, explaining and addressing the needs of non-believers and church guests. Not making people feel alienated, but accepted. Just like the seeker sensitive bunch, I also dislike religious talk and traditional customs. I do find it funny that the book is titled "Rediscovering church" when the model of church they pioneered had never really been done before, it was not so much rediscovered as reinvented.

If God doesn't work today in power, like in the book of Acts, if he doesn't heal, or speak, or break into our lives, or gift us, or desire intimacy with us, then a pure seeker sensitive approach makes some sense. If there is no power, then embracing a primarily slick and sensitive production can generate numerical results -- not something to be ignored.

But, if you believe that people can and should meet with God in a personal and corporate way, in a dynamic and radically transforming moment, in a way that empowers and motivates them to be different, then you'll need to incorporate more than just palatable drama. You'll need more than just sensitivity. You'll need to make room for God's power, for his gifts and for intimate, spirit charged worship and prophetic preaching. Ultimately, that's what people need, power, not production. Christianity in the book of Acts didn't spread because of sensitivity, but because they received power from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).

If you are interested in the history of Willow Creek, the roots of the seeker sensitive movement and Bill Hybels inspiring insights into leadership then Rediscovering church is a good buy. You can also find more info about the Reveal Campaign.
This could be a neat tool to measure the maturity of a church. Please comment if you have any more in-depth knowledge about how the survey works.

In this video, Bill Hybels explains the mistakes they made, and their plans to fix it: