Small Church Worship and Education During the Pandemic

Small Church Worship and Education During the Pandemic

by | Oct 12, 2021

Small churches adopted a handful of models to survive the pandemic.  They include the church at home model, the shut-in model, the never shut down model, and the hybrid model. With these models come new opportunities to adapt worship and Christian education for your settings. In this article, I’ll share effective tips for how to keep worship alive and Christian education vibrant during the pandemic in your congregation.

You Are Not Alone

Small churches are often isolated from each other, so you may not be aware of how other congregations are coping.  The first thing I want you to know is that you are not alone. Through my work with congregations in Creating a Culture of Renewal®, we have gained wisdom from small churches around the country who are effectively using the following four models.

 

The Challenge: Effective Ways for Small Churches to Communicate Change

Whatever model you are using, there is one challenge that you must avoid.  This is the tendency of many churches to UNDER-communicate.  Churches that under-communicate assume that everyone already knows what is happening.  This dangerous assumption ensures that you will leave people out as you make changes. When you lose contact with your congregation, you weaken the bonds that will bring people back when it’s safe. Instead, regular communication allows you to stay connected with your people, and to implement the worship and Christian education tips I am about to share.

couple reading letters

How Small Churches Worship During the Pandemic

Here are the models we have found small churches using.

The Church at Home Model

The church at home model is similar to a home-school model and is especially useful if your church is shut down. Here, worship and Christian education is provided at home in a family setting. In a way, this is the ultimate small church. The value of families worshiping together cannot be underestimated.

Small churches can minister to the “church at home” by delivering weekly or monthly handouts that follow lectionary or seasonal themes. Coordinate worship and Christian education materials so they build on each other.  Several outlets such as Cokesbury provide free downloadables for just this purpose. The Upper Room or other subscription-based devotionals can fill in the gaps. Be sure to include an offering envelope, as well as letters of communication, if email is not being used.

 

The Shut-In Model

If your congregation has re-opened but older members are reluctant to return to in-person worship, consider the shut-in model.  Similar to the Church at Home Model, the Shut-In Model is delivery-based.

Just as you ministered to shut-ins before the pandemic, deliver bulletins, Upper Rooms, and pre-packaged consecrated Holy Communion to these folks. The one difference is the need to socially distance, and the potential reluctance to have non-family members enter the home. Be sure to include newsletters, and an offering envelope, in your delivery.

If internet is not available in your setting, both the Church at Home and Shut-In models can benefit from a conference call number.  This could be used for bridge-line-based prayer, worship, and brief Christian education sessions.

 

Never Shut Down Model

Congregations that never stopped meeting or continued to meet for the most part will want to pay special attention to protecting at risk populations. This includes folks who are unvaccinated.  Be sure to ask people to mask, to sit 6 or more feet apart during worship, and to use hand sanitizer. The value of meeting together, even under these conditions, cannot be over emphasized.  People to people contact, worshiping in community, and the joy of seeing familiar faces—while keeping safety practices in place—boosts the spirit and makes glad the heart.

 

Hybrid Model

If and when your small church begins to meet again, don’t be surprised if some of your people don’t return. They may opt out, either because of safety concerns or because they just got out of the habit. In this case, developing a hybrid model of worship and education may be your best bet. If internet is not accessible, your hybrid model would be ongoing delivery to the church at home or to the shut-in folks even as the rest of your congregation worships in person. Again, be sure to mail offering envelopes or give people an opportunity to give online. If you have internet access, use that to create a hybrid community that allows for people to participate online or in person. You can livestream worship and Bible Study on Facebook or record and post to YouTube.

 

It’s time now to plan your next outreach, whether a mailbox delivery for Thanksgiving, a bulletin, or a letter to your congregation. Lead with love, follow up with invitation, and round it out with a call to action.  Ask people to pray for one another, to contribute to a food bank, or to call their neighbor. Just because folks aren’t meeting in person, doesn’t mean they can’t stay connected. Also, don’t forget to ask them to contribute to the work of the church. Finally, if you are looking for the next best practice as you survive the pandemic,  join me for a brand new online short course starting in November: Church Growth: From Barriers to Breakthroughs.

 

Copyright © 2021 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

Three Big Skills Every Small-Town Pastor Needs to Know

Three Big Skills Every Small-Town Pastor Needs to Know

by | Oct 4, 2021

Ministry in small towns and rural settings requires a special skill set. The congregations tend to be family-sized congregations with a long history but a shrinking impact.  At the same time, the role they occupy in the community is more important than ever.  Especially throughout the pandemic.

In this article I will zero in on three big skills every small-town pastor needs to know plus the #1 trap you must avoid in order to be effective.

The years I spent ministering in an isolated Wyoming community showed me the necessity of these skills.  More than that, their necessity has been confirmed through my work in Creating a Culture of Renewal® in which we serve small town, bi-vocational, and rural pastors (as well as urban and suburban pastors.)

 

Joys and Challenges of Small-Town Ministry

If you’re reading this article, likely you know that ministry in small towns and rural settings is both a joy and a challenge.

First, the joys: folks are committed to the life of the church; they don’t put on pretenses; and they are  resilient.

Next, the challenges. Smaller congregations have needs larger than their church size would indicate.  For instance, their communities have changed through economics, immigration, and age demographics. That means they are probably poorer, more diverse, and less able to reach out to young people and young families than they need to be. At the same time, their resilient congregational culture means they don’t easily change. Finally, they often can’t afford full-time ministers, so it’s harder for them to steer the congregation in a new direction. These hard-to-solve challenges can set you, the small-town pastor, up for a trap.

 

Avoid This Trap

I call this trap the give-more-time trap. This is the number one trap of part time and bi-vocational pastors. It’s based in the belief that if you really cared, or you were really called, that you would do it all: attend every meeting, event, community function and make every pastoral call possible; and that somehow through sheer force of will, you would be able to solve the community’s problems. Even if you’re part time. The other side of the trap is that if you don’t do it all, you are not a “good” pastor.

Both of these are lies.

Don’t fall prey to the give-more-time trap. Buying into it sets you up for over-work, resentment, burn out, and loss of faith. None of these are good outcomes. For you, the congregation, or the community. Forget about being a time-warper. Instead, focus on the following three big skills.

 

Three big skills small town pastors need

Three Big Skills

  1. Lead from the Middle

There are three positions from which to lead:  in front, from behind, and in the middle.  Leading from the front means you are generally moving faster than your people.  Leading from behind means you are either more risk-averse than they are, or slower paced than they are. Honestly, it’s hard to get buy-in when you lead from either of these positions; you are too disconnected from them. Instead, try leading from the middle.

To lead from the middle, find their natural pace of decision-making and speed up the pace one notch.  It’s like driving 5-7 miles over the speed limit. Leading from the middle also means working collaboratively rather than dominating or lagging behind. A great way to do this is to form a Bible study with your key leaders and decision-makers so you have natural points of additional contact with them throughout the week and month.

  1. Train and Empower

Because you can’t solve all the community’s problems—especially if you are part time or bi-vocational–you have to figure out the wisest way to use your time. A close study of the life of Jesus shows that even he didn’t try to do it all.  Instead, he used the bulk of his time to train and empower others. Remember how he sent out the 12 and the 72 ahead of him? By the time Jesus went to the cross, he had people who could carry on his ministry.  Emulate Jesus by training people to preach, teach, pray, exegete the scriptures, and lead meetings.  Then empower them to do so while you coach and encourage, disciple and mentor them.

  1. Be Community-Minded

In small towns and rural settings, the community is the congregation; and the congregation is the community.  When you show up at community events you demonstrate your love and leadership in tangible ways.  While you don’t have to serve on Rotary, volunteer to be the police chaplain, and attend all the hometown sports, do find ways to be present in the lives of the children and youth. In light of the pandemic, offering mental health and grief support may be the most effective way to serve your community at large. Remember, you may be the professional most equipped in your community to address these concerns.

 

Embrace the Joys and the Challenges

Every ministry has its own joys and challenges. The same will be true for you.  When you embrace the three big skills of small-town pastors, you’ll find more joy than challenge.  Have you identified another skill you would recommend?  Or not sure what your next step should be? Reach out for a one-on-one consultation and let’s talk.

 

Copyright © 2021 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

Are You Playing Jeopardy with Your Church?

Are You Playing Jeopardy with Your Church?

by | Sep 27, 2021

Are You Playing Jeopardy with Your Church?

Have you been watching the drama unfolding in the search for Alex Trebek’s replacement on the game show Jeopardy!? For a low-drama show, their blunders have captured outsized attention. The question church decision-makers need to answer is “Are you playing jeopardy with the future of your church?”

Read on to learn from both their slip ups and successes so that you don’t have to jeopardize the future of your church.

 

Avoid Unintentional Interims

After Alex Trebek died, the show wisely planned a series of guest hosts before naming a permanent replacement. Trebek captured America’s heart for 36 seasons, leaving gigantic shoes to fill after he passed. If the producers had installed a permanent host directly after Trebek’s death, that host would have been an unintentional interim. Instead, the producers arranged for a line-up of 16 celebrities and personalities who hosted the show for one or two weeks each.

Congregations, like Jeopardy! need intentional interim leaders. Once a notable pastor, whether beloved or controversial, steps down, the church needs time to mourn, re-group, and re-orient before accepting a new leader.  Churches can’t do this work without a proper period of grieving, letting go, and preparing for new directions.  When churches don’t appoint an intentional interim, they often wind up with an unintentional interim. Unintentional interims jeopardize a church’s future because they disrupt momentum, discourage members with failed leadership, and delay opportunities for growth.

 

Vet Your Leaders

If you’ve been following the Jeopardy! news (mine shows up in my phone’s feed so I don’t have to look far) you know that Mike Richards, the show’s executive producer, was named by Sony as Alex Trebek’s successor. Sony studied tapes of Mike Richards interacting with contestants and tested his appeal with focus groups.  While they were busy studying his overall appeal, they missed vetting his past.  Therein lies the problem. Richards’ past was peppered with a history of discriminatory behavior against women on other shows where he was an executive producer. Then his podcast past caught up with him where he recorded tasteless, sexist jokes. All that makes Richards a no-go.

Likewise, churches need to vet their leaders—both lay and clergy.  How many churches, even whole denominations, have been hurt when inappropriate leaders have proceeded to cause havoc because of undisclosed sexual or financial misconduct, or other forms of hurting the very organizations they are called to lead? We have only to think of the cover ups of the Catholic and Southern Baptist churches, amongst others, to know that leaders who prey on their followers are bad news indeed. If you are promoting unvetted leaders, you are putting the future of your church in jeopardy.  Don’t do it.

 

Read the Culture Right

Leaders exemplify the culture. That’s why Dr. Mehmet Oz was a problem as a guest host. While he had a great personality and was good with the contestants, his medical reputation was tainted by the suspect advice he dispensed and unproven products he sold. Jeopardy! fans cried foul and asked for his removal.

Most troubles occur when a leader tries to quickly change the culture, without building enough trust or connecting the dots between past and present.  In the end, Big Bang actor Mayim Bialik, a Ph.D neuroscientist, and Ken Jennings, a winning Jeopardy! champion, will take over the helm. For now. Jennings had social media gaffes as well. He may not make the final cut. Producers will not only capitalize on the show’s current culture, but expand it by having a highly educated funnywoman who also happens to be an ethnic minority.

In the church, each leader is seen—fairly or unfairly—as a representative of the congregation, of Jesus, and of Christianity as a whole. You need to not only vet the leaders, but make sure they are the kind of public representative that reflects the Gospel well. Make sure that their personal life is beyond reproach. If it’s not, get them some help bringing their personal and public lives into sync. Otherwise, you are putting the future of your church in jeopardy!

Have a specific question about how to avoid putting your congregation or ministry in jeopardy? Contact me for a free consultation.

 

Copyright © 2021 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

Eight Ways to Fill Your Pews

Eight Ways to Fill Your Pews

by | Aug 17, 2021

How to fill your pews has been a question since before the pandemic. It is especially compelling now.  As you think about this important question, keep in mind the following eight facts, and eight ways you can act. I encourage you to share this article with your key leaders and decision-makers so that you can discover the unique ways you will choose to fill your pews this year.

People are built for relationship with God.

FACT: No matter what else may be true these days we are wired for God—from our brains to our nervous systems. We need opportunities to grow spiritually.

ACT: Gather people for study, prayer, encouragement, worship, and mission.

EXAMPLE: With fall coming, this is a perfect time to start a new Bible study, prayer initiative, or relationship class.

People are social.

FACT: We survived shutdowns in very creative ways. But people suffer when they are isolated for too long. We need community.

ACT: Gather folks together around common interests and needs. Be creative by weaving the spiritual into the social.

EXAMPLE: Cooking, crafts, construction, or gardening classes can not only focus on biblical themes like hunger, creativity, building, and growth—they can lend themselves to needed community-oriented projects.

Youth and young adults need friends.

FACT: Young people generally want to spend more time with friends than family. This fact reveals their deep needs to belong. But alphas and digitals don’t belong like boomers belong. Developmentally, younger folks are in the stage of exploration, questioning, pushing the edges and finding acceptance on their own terms.

ACT: Churches can fill this need by encouraging questions, cultivating discussion, and accepting differences.

EXAMPLE: Open Space is a unique format developed by my friend and colleague Rev. Mary Beth Taylor. It’s a way of forming Jesus-based community which fosters open-ended questions and discussion about matters of faith.

The pandemic has changed our habits, patterns, and  expectations.

FACT: Don’t expect people to automatically resume their 2019 habits. We have come to expect flexibility, shorter events, and online options.

ACT: Reduce the length of worship, Bible study, and class time. Focus on making things interactive, and more interesting.

EXAMPLE: My friend, Market Square Publisher Kevin Slimp, runs a Sunday school class that has grown by 33% during the pandemic. It offers both in person and hybrid attendance options and runs a mere 35 minutes.  No matter how good the conversation gets.

The digital space is busy.

FACT: You’ll need to stand out to get and keep people’s attention.

ACT: Communicate, communicate, communicate. Don’t assume everyone gets your message in the same way. Use all channels to get your message across:  email, print, text, phone, Facebook, website, phone calls, and flyers. Regularly announce and invite people to join you.

EXAMPLE: Resurrect your snail-mail monthly newsletter. Let people know the “what, when, where, and how” of your worship, studies, and other gatherings.

The pandemic is not over.

FACT: With infections on the rise among unvaccinated populations, people need a sense of safety. You will want to ensure continuity of meeting.

ACT: Normalize mask-wearing and social distancing, as well as non-mask options. Keep your online presence alive and active. Encourage what Thom S. Rainer, author of “The Post-Quarantine Church”, calls “dual citizens” or people who comfortably inhabit both physical and virtual spaces.

EXAMPLE: Re-locate study and social groups from small classrooms to the sanctuary so people can be together and socially distance. Keep the camera rolling so others can attend online.

We don’t need buildings to be/do church.

FACT: We’ve discovered we can do without buildings.

ACT: Leverage your buildings as community assets so they don’t become the focus of inward-based congregational life once again.

EXAMPLE: Form partnerships with your community. Thom S. Rainier writes about a church that painted one of its rooms in bright colors, dubbed it The Birthday Room and offered the free space to the community. See your building as a community asset, not a church asset.

The future is surprising.

FACT: We can’t predict the future, but we can prepare ourselves.

ACT: Own your resilience. Claim God’s presence. Do away with scarcity language, and focus on abundance and enoughness. Stop saying you can’t, and practice saying, “We can.”

EXAMPLE: Now is the time to develop a bold vision, and embrace a bigger sense of God.

 

The world has changed. But your pews don’t need to empty out. Choose a few of these eight ways to adjust to the world, re-set your expectations, and prepare to serve God’s people. You can fill your pews!

Need some more help thinking it through? Join us for Creating a Culture of Renewal®.

Copyright © 2021 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

Should You Mentor Like Jesus?

Should You Mentor Like Jesus?

by | Aug 10, 2021

Mentoring is the glue that held the early church together. If your congregation is falling apart, it’s time to take a look at the power of mentoring.

Jesus mentored his followers. Those followers, in turn, mentored new followers. And so on until the message and the power of the Gospel spread far and wide.

You can’t disciple others without mentoring. Mentoring provides the framework to guide attenders into discipleship, and to advance disciples into apostleship. The question is, Should you mentor like Jesus? Or was his approach too risky?

Take a look at the Gospels. Jesus insisted that his followers master the kind of skills he had. He didn’t settle for mediocre results. When things didn’t go well, he was direct in his feedback. Even if his followers pushed back against it.

Not that Jesus didn’t show love, or offer friendship, or extend grace. He did. Yet, he never sacrificed the mission just to “be nice” or make sure people didn’t leave.

Frankly, most church leaders are reluctant to mentor like Jesus. I get it. After all, the last thing you want to do is drive away the people you are inviting into leadership.

But I’m here to make the case that you can’t afford NOT to mentor like Jesus. If  mentoring is what fueled the growth of the early church, it can infuse your congregation with new life as well.

I’m so convinced that effective mentoring is essential to healthy congregations, that it is a key aspect of what we teach in Creating a Culture of Renewal. Effective mentoring allows burnt-out leaders to recognize their strengths, own their fears, and dare to advance from discipleship to apostleship. It also shows them how to grow new leaders with less frustration and better results.From my study of the Gospels, I believe that mentoring like Jesus includes mastering these three skills: holding people accountable, standing for another’s growth, and dealing with pushback. To help you get a picture of what I mean, here are three mentoring wins that church leaders report.

Hold people accountable

LaShawn: “Before Creating a Culture of Renewal (CCR), I was reluctant to hold my people accountable. They’re grown people, I thought. Why don’t they just do what they said they would do? I didn’t ask for clear commitments or by-when dates. I was getting more and more frustrated. Through CCR, I realized that people come to church because they want to grow. But they need help getting there. I’ve learned to set aside my frustration and ask for clear commitments and by-when dates. Then I follow up with them. Now I see that I’m not treating them like children, I’m helping them grow. I’m less frustrated. And more things actually get done at the church.”

Stand for another’s growth

Jamie: “Before CCR, I mentored as if the goal was to get people to like me, and to think I’m a cool guy. It’s all about me, right? But that approach got in the way of my being able to stand for my people. Through CCR I have learned to set aside the fear of how I look to others and to call them to their best. Now when I read the Gospels, I see that Jesus didn’t let things slide so others would love him.  Now when I meet with my lay leaders, I keep their growth top of mind. This works much better!”

Dealing with pushback

Lin: “Before CCR, I stayed below the radar so that no one pushed back against me. I dislike conflict. When my leaders reacted negatively to what I said, I took it as a personal reprimand. Like I must be doing something wrong. Through CCR I learned that people push back for different reasons. Sometimes, they’re unsure of themselves. Sometimes, they just don’t understand the process yet.  But it’s not really about  me. Jesus stood by the disciples until they got it—even Peter. I am trying to do the same for the people I lead—you know, stay the course with them. I don’t have to fold or take it personally.”

How you can mentor like Jesus

Start by choosing one of these three skills to incorporate into your mentoring: holding others accountable, standing for another’s growth, or dealing with pushback. As you practice the skill, study the Gospels to see how Jesus did it. Then pray for his leading to be clear and courageous. After all, the health of the church is at stake.

Not sure what your next step might be? Reach out here for more assistance. I’d love to mentor you through your challenges!

Copyright © 2021 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.