The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into Active Participants (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Review

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The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into Active Participants (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) ReviewIn a typical church 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work, but that does not mean that all of your focus should be on the 20 percent, according to Scott Thuma and Warren Bird in this book. In business you can often maximize profits by concentrating your energies on the top 20 percent of your clients, but the biblical standard for kingdom ventures if different.
The authors' research reveals that the general trend to lack of participation in the life of a church is attributable to a number of causes:
*Individualism and consumerism have infected the sheep and made them less willing to follow.
*Some Christians have experienced disappointment with the church as they know it, and now want a life of faith apart from the church.
*Church leaders are partly to blame for setting expectations to low and exercising leadership poorly.
*The problem is partly an organizational one, requiring rethinking of the activities of volunteering and committee work.
*The problem is also a spiritual problem, arising from a lack of understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
The book goes on to describe the characteristics of the committed 20 percent and the characteristics of the less-committed 80 percent. Because the causes of non-involvement are complex and differ from church to church, the authors advocate creating a listening team to listen to the 80 percent and a learning team to learn from them. They then suggest a range of ways, starting with prayer, in which you can seek to address the problems and reach towards spiritual maturity for 100 percent of your congregation.
I found the book very helpful, and highly recommend it to all church leaders.The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into Active Participants (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Overview

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Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Review

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Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) ReviewReggie McNeal says that "the rise of the missional church is the single biggest development in Christianity since the Reformation." That's an extraordinary claim--and you should read his latest book to see if you agree.
Churches, he argues, can now be divided into two groups: those that get it (being missional) and those that don't. The typical clergyperson, McNeal writes, "Is groomed to do project management (yes, even the sermon is a project) and perform religious rites, not develop people." So he calls the church to a new role and a new scorecard:
* Ministry focus: from internal to external
* Core activity: from program development to people development
* Leadership agenda: from church-based to kingdom-based
The missional movement is not about "doing church" better. "It is not church growth in a new dress," or a hot new trend or fad. So what is it? McNeal says that "the missional church is the people of God partnering with God in his redemptive mission in the world." The focus is on the world, not a full calendar of church activities that are exhausting, not equipping, God's people.
The author/church consultant reports on many North American church leaders who have moved from a church-centric operation (come to our buildings) to a community focus (we go to you). Example: a senior pastor sent his staff into the community (malls, schools, stores, etc.) and asked them to observe people through God's eyes for one hour. Their conclusion: all the nifty programs back at the church were not now reaching nor would they ever reach those people. Then on a Sunday he sent the whole church into the community to observe. Bingo! The people got it--and it turned the church upside down by being outwardly focused.
McNeal adds, "We were told that if we built successful churches, people would come. We bought and paid for the lie that Six Flags over Jesus was what the world needed. We believed that if we built better churches, our cities would be better off. We telegraphed in dozens of ways the message that involvement in church life was the portal to fulfillment and the mark of an abundant life."
"The program-driven church has produced a brand of Christianity that is despised, not just ignored, by people outside the church." His solution? We need a new scorecard to measure what matters--not church attendance and a zillion sermons, but out-in-the-trenches life-on-life community engagement that produces life transformation.
McNeal then suggests how a church could reallocate resources and he gives more than 75 missional indicators that could be measured in six key areas: prayer, people (leaders and others), calendar (time), finances, facilities and technology. For example, he suggests you measure the number of schools that use the church's facilities. Another measurement: track the amount of time invested in leaders meetings that focus on the people development side.
If McNeal is right--that there is (or will soon be) a major chasm between those "doing church" versus those "being the church"--then this insight from Phil Cooke's newsletter, The Change Revolution, is noteworthy. Citing Alexander von Humboldt's "Three Stages of Scientific Discovery" (as referenced by Bill Bryson in his book, "A Short History of Nearly Everything") Cooke notes that there are five stages to innovation:
1. People deny that the innovation is required.
2. People deny that the innovation is effective.
3. People deny that the innovation is important.
4. People deny that the innovation will justify the effort required to adopt it.
5. People accept and adopt the innovation, enjoy its benefits, attribute it to people other than the innovator, and deny the existence of stages 1 to 4.
This is an important book--even if you don't "get it."Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Overview

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