What’s 4 a Change Ministries all about?

Keith Kannenberg is a Pastor who knows first hand how to bring established, traditional churches into the 21st century.   Most people say it can’t be done.  Most people think the only way to reach the next generation is to abandon the “old folks” and start new, younger congregations.  This is the trend in our current church culture because we have bought into the idea that older, more traditional churches are resistant to change. Most people believe that turning a church around means loosing your old, established members.  4 a Change Ministries does not buy into that type of thinking.  The thoughts, ideas and resources shared on this site will help you as you seek to do what others say cannot be done.  Keith Kannenberg believes the established church can be brought into the 21st century by turning it around with love, care and a whole lot of respect.

Cellular Dysfunction in the Church Body

The church is a living organism, and as with all living organisms (outside of single celled amebas and parameciums) it is made up of multiple cells that depend on one another for survival.  A healthy church has healthy cells.  When the cells are functioning properly, the living organism flourishes.  When one cell starts to function disjointed from the other cells, the body as a whole does not recognize it immediately, but the potential for disease is present.  As with any other life system, early detection is important.  If undetected, the damaged cell could cause a sequence of events that would cause other cells to function independantly, leading to illness and ultimately, death.

Too often, this type of cellular  dysfunction exists in churches and flies under the radar, unnoticed until the disease it causes rises up and strangles the life right out of the body.  The dysfunction I am referring to is called “Elitism.”  Left untreated, Elitism will eat away at the evangelical systems that bring new life into the body.  Small groups isolate themselves from the rest of the church.  They speak in secret codes and ostracize members who look outside the group for companionship.  No one is allowed into the cell without proper hazing, and for that reason, very few people even try.

Elitism is often undetected by church leadership because they are generally permitted on the “inside,” because their position brings power and influence to the group.  As a result, leaders of cellularly dysfunctional churches quickly loose their vision and are rendered incapable of reading diagnostic material.  This is the leading cause of death in churches today.  The only known cure is church discipline.  Unfortunately, few churches are willing to prescribe this treatment.

The 24 Hour Rule on Gossip

There is nothing more destructive to a church than gossip.  It alienates and aligns at the same time, causing division and strife.  Some people are drawn to it like bugs to a zapper.  They thrive on it.  They find it intoxicating.  To make matters worse, most church environments encourage it.

“Wait a minute.  Did you say most church environments encourage gossip?”  Yes, I did.  They encourage it by fostering a culture that permits and rewards it.

People want to feel important.  They crave attention and recognition.  At the same time, we as pastors feel obliged to fix problems.  When something is wrong, we rush to fix it.  People watch our behavior and learn our patterns.  When they see us pouring all our energy into the arena of problem solving, they do their best to join us there.  They feel important when they are “in the know,” when they are a part of the “behind the scenes” conversations.  They love to be in the room when the door is shut and the discussion is serious.  It adds value to their life.

Unknowingly, we create big problems by magnifying smaller ones.  When we make a big deal about something, we invite people behind closed doors to talk about it.  To us, closed doors are nauseating.  The last place we want to be is behind a closed door talking about a problem in the church because we deal with these things far too often;  but being behind the closed door is a badge of honor to some folks.  It makes them feel important, and they will do anything they can to get there.

Here’s the deal.  The average church gossiper learns to do so from watching the church leadership.  They don’t know the difference between fixing problems and and gossiping.   So, in order to correct this problem, you have to clearly define the difference between problem solving and gossip.  Gossip is about identifying a problem – problem solving is about seeking a solution.  Gossip is about destruction – problem solving is about construction.   Gossip is anonymous – problem solving confrontational.  For this reason, you should NEVER let anyone tell you something negative about someone else without requiring them to be a part of the solution.  NEVER let someone dispatch you to confront another person while keeping their identity a secret.  Going behind a closed door with a church member to take a negative “hand off” and running with it on your own is gossip.  NEVER, EVER, take the hand off.  Require the person to be involved in the corrective action.

A simple way to turn the environment from gossip to problem solving is called the “24 hour rule.”  When a person comes to you about a concern they have with another person, ask them if they have confronted the other person with their feelings.  If not, tell them to take their problem to the other person within a 24 hour period.  Let them know that you will be following up with both parties to see that the conversation took place, and make sure you follow through with it.  Offer assistance and advice in solving the problem, but don’t solve it alone.

You will be surprised at how quickly the 24 hour rule will spread through the congregation, bringing an end to the gossip culture of your church.  Getting behind closed doors won’t be as attractive as it once was, and less bugs will want to enter the zapper.

The Passive/Aggressive Church

By nature, most people are afraid of conflict.  They will avoid it at all cost.  That’s why very few people are successful at leadership.  True leaders run to conflict.  They practice what I call, the Barney Fife method of confrontation – they “nip it in-the-bud.”  True leaders know that conflict is a necessary part of success and that no vision can survive without it.

Conflict, in order to be effective, must be direct.  This is where most leaders fail.  They try to deal with conflict covertly.   They don’t want to ruffle any feathers so they learn to speak between the lines.  They sugar coat all their words while setting traps with their actions.  This type of confrontation produces a passive/aggressive church culture that will destroy any growth potential.

What does a passive/aggressive church look like?  The passive/aggressive church is a lot like a Great Dane.  It runs up to you acting like it’s so happy to see you, placing its big, old paws on your shoulders licking you in the face while, at the same time, it’s peeing on your shoes.  Its kinda hard to love a dog like that.  You will put up with it if it belongs to someone else out of politeness, but the only person that can truly love that dog is its owner.

When a church is afraid of conflict and learns to adopt a passive aggressive culture, it creates a phony atmosphere where one person smiles at another with social graces, but peppers his/her words with subliminal messages that have to be interpreted to be understood.  The person on the receiving end cannot respond negatively because the Great Dane would never admit to peeing on his/her shoes.  ”No, that wasn’t pee you were feeling.”  The “victim” is left with no recourse but to share the hurt feelings with others who then, secretly validate the reality of the pee.  To pee back, or not to pee back, that then becomes the question.

Eventually the church culture becomes one where a bunch of smiling faces are running around  peeing on each other.  When visitors attend, they politely act as if they enjoy the dog that runs up to great them, but because of the stench in the room they never come back for another face licking.

True leaders unmask face-lickers.  They confront them immediately and are often wounded in the process, because face-lickers don’t like their noses rubbed in their own mess.  They growl and bark and whine.

Confronting passive/aggression in your church will hurt at first, but be brave and “nip it in-the-bud.”  Eventually everyone in the house will appreciate your efforts as they start to notice the environment changing as a result.  Before you know it, your visitors will start coming back.

The Upside-Down Church

One of the biggest mistakes I see church leaders make is not getting out of the way so the blessings of God can flow into the ministry.  Here’s how it generally works.  Some well meaning pastor pours all he has into his church.  He prays and works and strategizes and implements.  Hour after hour, day after day, year after year he struggles to accomplish that which he feels called to do.  He wants to be the best pastor He can possibly be.  He reads every book he can find and does everything he can imagine to do, but still his church doesn’t grow.  He knows he’s doing the right things the right ways, but his people just don’t seem to respond.  The church is cold and stagnate.

Why, we ask. does such a faithful servant fail to see God’s blessing on his ministry.  The answer might surprise you.  It might even offend you.  It might go against the grain of everything you ever believed about church.  But the truth must be told so that thousands of young men will stop destroying their lives and the lives of their families.  The truth must be told so that the church can once again experience the fullness of the blessings God has designed for it.  So here it goes:  Just because the pastor is a paid employee of the church does not mean that he is the one to do all the work.

Ask yourself what the pastor is paid to do.  Is he paid visit the sick?  No.  Is he paid to preach all the sermons? No.  Is he paid to monitor the budget, make decisions, turn out the lights, evangelize the lost, order the Sunday school curriculum, make sure people are living right, monitor the cleanliness of the church, visit the shut-ins, drive the church bus? No, no, no, no, no, no no, no, no, and no.  Well then, what are we paying him for?  The pastor’s job is to equip the saints to do the work.  He shows you how to do the work.  He is not supposed to do the work for you.

The problem is not that most church members don’t realize this (although that is certainly the truth), the problem exist because most pastors don’t realize this.  Most pastors feel that they are paid to be the “Super Saint,” able to leap huge ministry tasks in a single bound.  As a result they turn their churches upside down.

They are afraid that something might go undone and someone might question wether or not they have earned their keep.  The congregants start saying, “I’m not doing that.  That’s what we pay the pastor for.”  The pastor then feels responsible for everything that goes wrong and his congregation becomes the overseers of His ministry.   Pastors have to learn to put the ball back in the congregations court.  They have to learn to say, “That’s not my job, that’s what they pay me to teach you to do.”

As long as pastors take the responsibility for everything that goes wrong or doesn’t happen in their church, they will continue to turn their churches upside down.  Congregants will continue to feel empowered to bring all their complaints to the pastor and feel vindicated by confusing responsibility with authority.

Committees who are actually responsible to see that a certain task gets done will come to the pastor and say, “Well you’re the man in charge, why didn’t this get done?”  The pastor usually then apologizes to the committee for not seeing that the task he delegated to them got done.  It sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?  It sounds upside down? What makes that committee think they could talk to their pastor that way?  Once again the answer might surprise you . . . the pastor himself.

A pastor that delegates responsibility without delegating the authority it will take to get the task accomplished will always find himself feeling the wrath of his congregation.  Most pastors want church to go well.  They want to make sure everything gets done, and that it gets done well.  They also want church to happen with little to no conflict.  Therefore they do their best to keep “the children” from fighting.  The best way to do this is to keep all the authority to yourself.  If you never give anyone any authority to hold people accountable they will hold you accountable.

A pastor that holds all the authority will find himself at the bottom of the heap.  The church will turn upside down.  The people will become passive in ministry and active in fault finding.  The pastor will work himself to a frazzle and eventually blow a gasket.

The upside down church is the biggest problem in churches today.  It is the main reason why most churches in America cannot grow past 100 members.  Until church leaders learn to get out of the way by giving away authority, the church will continue to stagnate.  The upside down church has authoritative leadership corking up the blessings that God wants to pour out on his people.

Pastor’s, if you really want to see God move in your church, get out of the way and let “the children,” make mistakes, drop the ball, fight with one another and learn.  Then you will have truly equipped the saints and earned your paycheck.

Rule #6 – Prioritze

Having a list of things you need to do to accomplish your goals is a double edged sword.  It helps you to know what needs to be accomplished but it also prevents you from accomplishing the things that need to be done.  Simply stated, a list can be overwhelming.  It makes you realize how much work needs to be done and often intimidates you into believing that you can never accomplish all that is set before you.  You start to cry out, “Where do I begin!”

That’s the key – knowing where to begin.  You have to expedite the process in order to  manage the task.  Take the list and figure out which task needs to be done first, then set a date for its completion and name the person responsible for seeing that it gets completed.  This adds two very important elements to the vision casting process: one – it brings a form of accountability to the process, and two – it identifies the source of authority.  These two elements go hand-in-hand.  The first rule of delegation is “Never delegate authority without accountability,” and the second rule is “Never delegate accountability without authority.” When authority and accountability are attached to each task you will lighten the perception of the load and increase corporate participation and accountability in seeing that the list is addressed.

Now, plot the list on a time line and place the timeline in a very prominent place in the church.  Refer back to it time and time again.  Remind yourself daily of your areas of responsibility and allow your people to hold you accountable in seeing that you accomplish your tasks.  If you submit to them they will submit to you and to each other.  Celebrate together when a task is completed.  Chart your progress and tweak your plan.  Remember, its not written in stone.  Situations change.  Our strategies should change in response.  We have to be able to adapt and overcome all obstacles that get in our way.  If we are too ridged we will break.  Our strategies should be living documents that grow and breathe with us.

Be willing to surrender to God’s plan and He will make your path straight.

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Rule #5 – Strategize

You’ve got a vision statement.  You’ve simplified it and marketed it.  You have slowly aimed at the goal set before you.  Now all you have to do is pull the trigger – Right?

Wrong!

You have to wait for the perfect shot.  If you shoot too soon your goals will hop away, laughing at you as they prance through the forest.  Keep a steady aim.  Never let your goals out of your sight. Wait for the perfect shot. Utilize the time spent waiting by strategizing how you’re going to hit your goals.

Remember the list.  You know, the one you put together as you asked your church what they want to be when they grew-up.  Well, now its time to break it back out.  A lot of the strategies you need to identify will be hiding away on that list.  Ask yourself the question, “How are we going to accomplish what we want to be?”

Make sure to involve as many people in this process as you possibly can.  People love to be a part of achieving that which they had a part in planning.  Ask them what they think needs to be done to accomplish the goals they have set.  The list might seem to be quite daunting, but don’t be intimidated.  Avoid the temptation prioritize the list at this point.  Prioritizing too soon will stifle your creative flow.  Far too many churches fumble the ball here because they begin to over think the process.  Just identify what needs to be done.  Give no thought to the process at this point.

If you do this effectively you will be amazed at how the goals slowly grow clearer in you sights.

Ready, aim, but keep waiting . . .

More to come.

Rule #4 – Aim

If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time!

“But, I’ve got a vision statement, isn’t that aiming?”

“No.”

A vision statement is the sight on the gun.  It is the tool you will use to aim with.  Without a target you have nothing to set your sights on.  The target is your goal.  The vision, by nature is more abstract.  It helps you set the direction.  The goal is more specific.  It states exactly what you want to accomplish.

At The Park, we set our specific goals in a way that was user friendly to the vision statement.  If you remember, our vision statement is: To be a family that worships, grows and serves through relevant encounters with God and the Truth of His Word.  We simplified that statement by saying: Worship, Grow, and Serve.  So, in keeping unified, we set three specific goals:

• In “Worship,” we desire to have 1000 people in attendance weekly.
• In “Grow,” we desire to have a fully developed discipleship program with 100% of our members enrolled and actively participating in the growth group system.
• In, “Serve,” we desire to have each and every member actively participating weekly in some trackable Christian service/ministry.

Setting goals provides the church with accountability in the growth process.  Too often churches talk about doing great things but never get out the gate.  This is because emergencies of ministry always override understated or abstract goals.  Things that are written in concrete come back to haunt you.  If you say you want people to worship, you will be satisfied with less than admirable growth results; but, if you say you are going to have 1000 people in worship, you will add the element of urgency to attaining that goal.

Setting goals requires a system.  Systems are an integral part of any healthy church.  The best information I have found for churches comes from a man named Nelson Searcy and his organization called Church Leader Insights (www.churchleaderinsights.com).  Nelson talks about many systems that are helpful, but the one system he does not discuss, but wish he would, is the data collection system.  You cannot properly track your goals without a proper data collection system.

If you want 1000 people in worship you need to track your progress – how many on each day, which days are week, which days are strong, what elements affect attendance, etc., etc.  If you want an effective discipleship (grow) program you need to track attendance in each class and generate a transcript for each member.  If you want 100% of your people serving you need to track what they are doing, when they are doing it and how often they participate.  These tracking systems will help you to recognize your successes and identify your failures.  They will help you hone in on specific areas and individuals that need attention.  They will assist you in attaining your goals.

Ready. . . aim . . .

Rule #3 – Simplify, Brand and Market the Vision

Now you have a vision – a one sentence statement about what your church wants to become.  Your people are pumped, and you’re more excited than you have been in years.  Now, more than ever, you need to resist the temptation to rest from your labor.  If you wait, you will loose the momentum.  Capitalize on it! get to work immediately.

Vision statements are the most easily forgotten words in the English language.  You would think that one simple sentence would stick in your head forever, but without constant exposure the statement will quickly become a fleeting thought.  It is imperative to get it and keep it before the people.  Project it on the screen in the worship center.  Place it in the bulletin.  Put it in the newsletter.  Attach it to your emails.  Say it over and over and over and over and over and over again. When you start to feel that you have said it too much – say it at least 10,000 more times.

While you are doing this, try to think of a simpler way of communicating the vision statement.  For an example, at the The Park (the church I pastor) our vision statement reads: “To be a family that worships, grows and serves together through relevant encounters with God and the truth of His Word.”  We then took that statement and broke it down into three simple words: Worship, Grow and Serve.

Then, after you have simplified the statement, hire a graphic design artist to design a logo that communicates your simplified statement in a trendy, professional fashion.  DO NOT DO THIS YOURSELF.  HIRE A PROFESSIONAL.  Cheesy graphics will cause your vision to die like an opossum crossing the interstate at rush hour.

Get the logo out in front of the people ASAP.  Keep it before them continually.  This is called branding your vision.  The goal of branding is getting somebody to associate a thought with a graphic.  An effective branding campaign will keep your vision alive forever.  Just think about the Nike swoosh, the golden arches, and the infamous Apple.  Brand it.  Brand it some more.  Brand it again.  You might want to think about getting it tattooed  on your arm (JK : ).

When people start to associate your logo with your vision statement and begin to use the logo to tell people how your church functions, you can start to market the vision.  Put it on your web site.  ”But Keith, our church doesn’t have a web site.”  What!!!!!!!!!  Wake Up Folks.  This is the 21st Century.  Get a Web site!  But, please, please, please, don’t be cheesy here either.  HIRE A PROFESSIONAL WEB DESIGNER.  ”But I know a guy that can save us some money and design a web page for free.”  Never use the guy!  If you don’t like what he does you will hurt his feelings and the feelings of the person who recommended him. Your vision is important, never trust its communication to a non-professional.  If you don’t know any professional web designers or graphic design artists, call me I can send you some referrals.

For an example of how this works, check out our church’s web site www.thepark.cc.  Because of a successful branding and marketing campaign our people can take one look at this site and tell their friends how our church strives to be a family that worships, gows and serves together through relevant encounters with God and the truth of His Word.  They can explain in detail how we assess our success in the area of discipleship by stating our goal that each member attends at least one worship service a week, participates weekly in a growth group, and serves in at least one ministry at the church.

Simplifying, branding and marketing your vision will ensure that your people will have a sense of ownership in what your church is doing.

Rule #2 – Formulate a Vision Statement

You’ve had a few meetings and you’ve got a list.  Basically, your people have told you what they want to be when they grow up.  It never ceases to amaze me as to how many “established” churches don’t have any feeling or sense of accomplishment.  People are thirsty for God and want Him to move in their church in a powerful way.  If you open the door and ask them what they would like to see – they will tell you.  Be prepared, and avoid any temptation to be defensive.  This is about God, not about you.

Be prepared, the list will be long.  It always is.  People are thirsty for God.

Now the question is, “What to do with the list?” The first step is to save it.  You will refer back to it time and time again through this process, but for now set it aside.  Tell your people that in order to accomplish this list they will have to narrow it down into a one sentence statement that encompasses the spirit of the list.  This statement should be concise and to the point.  It should be formulated in a “To become a church that . . .” manner.

Create a conversational atmosphere and take suggestions from the floor.  Write them out on a white board, and allow people to respectfully pick the suggestions apart.  Erase it and start over again.  Listen to your people – God can and will speak through them. Get yourself out of the way and let God speak.

How do we know when we have formulated the right statement?  The answer to that question is probably the most exciting part of this whole process.  Your people will collectively look at it together and say, “That’s it! That’s exactly what God wants us to become!”  I think that is the electrifying, God energizing moment that opens everyone’s eyes.  Your people will have sensed their first corporate experience of a powerful moving of God.

Congratulations!  The journey has begun.  You’ve just brought your people out of a maintenance mode into a growth mode.  The road is going to be long, but exciting.  Make sure though, your sitting in the passenger seat, because God is driving this one baby!

Rule #1 – Know Where You’re Going

Turning a traditional church around and bringing it into the 21st century is not an easy process.  Just wanting to do it with out a plan is an impossible process.  These next few blogs will be about making a plan and then working that plan.  Now let’s take a look at the first rule of planning: you gotta know where your going.

I think the old adage is, “Ready, Aim, Fire.”  Why then are so many of us reading, firing then aiming?  When we fire before we aim, we end up shooting ourself in the foot.  That is exactly what most people do when they try to bring their church into the 21st century.  They look at the big target (the 21st century) and pull the trigger.  Somebody needs to remind them that that the target is 100 years wide.  Effective change is narrow change.  Too broad of a target leaves far too many casualties.

How then do you take aim?  Well first, you gotta know where your aiming from.  Ask yourself this simple question.  What year is it in your church?  Look around.  If the carpet is green and there is dark panelling on the walls you might be in the 70′s.  If “special music” is a solo by Gloria Gaither Jr. accompanied by an audio cassette tape you might be in the 80′s.  If your Idea of contemporary music is three people under 40 standing in a row raising one hand in the air as they sing “As the Deer,” you might be in the 90′s.  Once you have identified where you’re at, you can start to slowly take aim.

The secret of aiming a church into the 21st century is getting the whole church involved in the aiming process.  I think it was Jim Collins that said: “You got to figure out where the bus is going, get everyone on the bus, and then get everybody in the right seats.”  As the leader, you will have to make a pre-determination as to where you are going, but you can’t figure it out and then expect people to follow without seeking their input.  You have got to take the conceptual design before the people and let them have a part in formulating the direction.

Come before your people and ask them what they think the church should strive to become.  Listen.  Listen good.  Coach, encourage and shape their thoughts, but don’t manipulate.  Remember, your dealing with a church, and a church is a body.  All members of the body should know that they are important to the over-all health of the whole.  Manipulation will cause you to gain some yardage in the early part of the game, but will cause you to fumble at the goal line.