VIRTUAL CHURCHES & Examples of online congregations: Robloxian Christians, VR Church and virtual church plant, MMO Church.

By Chris Karnadi, Religion & Politics, 8/9/22.

… In 2011, a child from Tacoma, Wash. named Daniel Herron started a church on Roblox, a free-to-play game geared primarily to children and teenagers. Founded by Herron when he was 11 years old, The Robloxian Christians initially began as a space for Christian Roblox players to gather and interact, and this space grew into a fully in-game church with four services a week and more than 53,000 Roblox members.

As a game that is also a game creation platform, Roblox enables users to design their own spaces and invite people to interact with them. In his first few months of playing, Herron had experienced interactive cafes and castles, but wanted to design a world that not only invited Christians to join but also to engage their faith.

The Robloxian Christians was an extension of Herron’s real-life faith. As an active member of a Presbyterian church, Herron included familiar elements such as Bible studies, Wednesday night services, and the like. But at the same time, he was able to establish a Christian community that would have never been possible, encouraged, or even allowed by the PC(USA) denomination because of his age. At present, the Robloxian Christians remains nondenominational and operates more as a collective than a traditional church with accountability to some larger governing body. Metaverse communities often allow faith groups untied from traditional denominations to gather with little to no supervision, allowing for a greater diversity of people to lead and gather.

VR Church is another religious community that meets in the metaverse. Started in 2016, VR Church meets on AltspaceVR, a social virtual reality platform that was acquired by Microsoft in 2017. According to the church’s website, its founder and bishop DJ Soto was originally a pastor at a megachurch in Pennsylvania before leaving and deciding to plant a virtual church. VR Church is not affiliated with any denomination and has a minimalist statement of beliefs: an amended Apostles’ Creed and a few tenets listed on its website.

Soto initially left his previous position with the idea to plant a church in the physical world, but after experimenting with an Oculus headset (Oculus was purchased by Facebook in 2014) and AltspaceVR, he planted a church in virtual reality instead. The church steadily grew, and then exploded in popularity during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It now hosts weekly meetings with up to 200 attendees. According to one report, the church has also ordained other ministers and baptized people who can’t leave their houses.

“People see what we are doing and think it’s innovative, but we believe later they will understand how it is currently reforming the landscape of Christianity,” Soto told me via email.

VR Church prides itself on reaching people who can’t go to church because of disabilities or chronic illness. According to VR Church’s website, one of their eldershas an autoimmune condition and remains mostly at home. Pastoring in the VR Church, her profile says, has allowed her the blessing of a “VR family.” In addition to opening up spaces for disabled and immunocompromised people to lead and experience community, the nontraditional VR Church also allows creative interpretations of Christian texts and rituals. Baptism can happen in a glacial lake in a completely fabricated digital world. An entire landscape can be used to illustrate Bible verses and attendees can walk around and explore the interpretation of scripture.

VR Church has recently expanded with a “virtual church plant” called MMO Church that takes place in the video games Rust and Final Fantasy 14. Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMO) allow large numbers of players to meet on the same server and interact with one another. In this instance, MMO Church sets a meeting spot in a server and players show up within the MMO and participate in church there with their own chosen characters. Instead of planting a church in other states or cities, VR Church plants churches in other games.

METAVERSE & Facebook’s worrisome aim to “become the virtual home for religious community.”

by Chris Karnadi, Religion & Politics, 8/9/22.

… In October 2021, Facebook was renamed and rebrandedas Meta, signifying another shift from one of the big five tech companies to focus on building the metaverse. Earlier that year, Zuckerberg spoke about why he sees the metaverse as the next major development of the internet: “You can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content — you are in it.”

Last year, Meta also told The New York Times about studies that the company had conducted with church communities starting in 2017, learning both how faith communities leverage platforms like Facebook to gather people and thinking about how to potentially develop that relationship. According to this report, Meta’s aim is to “become the virtual home for religious community,” and the company “wants churches, mosques, synagogues and others to embed their religious life into its platform.” Reflecting a larger trend, many institutions—including religious ones—are becoming interested in the metaverse’s possibilities, and with that interest, increased formalization and monetization are likely to follow.

Virtual church won’t fully replace in-person worship any time soon, but the benefits of having an online presence and infrastructure have been self-evident throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Faith communities were already meeting in the types of virtual environments that would make up the metaverse, and the pandemic has increased the popularity of existing metaverse churches like The Robloxian Christians.

VISIONARIES & Jony Ivy left Apple to “the accountants” because of Apple’s bloated organizational structure. Does your church plant, ministry or school suffer from this malady too? Here’s one way to cure it.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: Tacticians, those who crunch the numbers and analyze feasibility, are necessary on your team. But when they start to stonewall the team and their decisions – then the visionaries will leave.

The end result is that the tacticians slowly constrain and contract the organization until it’s less healthy and eventually marginalized. Read this article in The New York Times to understand how this organizational atrophy attacked Apple.

Why Jony Ive Left Apple to the ‘Accountants’
by Tripp Mickle, The New York Times, 5/1/22

It was 2014, and Apple’s future, more than ever, seemed to hinge on Mr. Ive. His love of pure, simple lines had already redrawn the world through such popular products as the iMac, iPod and iPhone. Now, he was seated at a conference table with Tim Cook, the company’s chief executive, the two men embodying nearly 40 years of collaboration, with one designing and the other assembling the devices that turned a failing business into the world’s largest company. They both wanted another hit, but Mr. Ive was pushing for a product reveal more audacious than any in the theatrical company’s history.

… With time, his (Jony Ivy) grievances would grow. In the wake of Mr. Jobs’s death, colleagues said, Mr. Ive fumed about corporate bloat, chafed at Mr. Cook’s egalitarian structure, lamented the rise of operational leaders and struggled with a shift in the company’s focus from making devices to developing services.

Disillusioned with Mr. Cook’s Apple, Mr. Ive would depart five years later, in 2019. His exit would change forever the balance of power at the top of a company long defined by its product ingenuity, leaving it without one of its most creative thinkers and the driving force behind its last new device category.

Today, Apple boasts a market value of $2.57 trillion and a lineup of legacy products that have helped it preserve its perch as America’s largest public company. In Mr. Ive’s absence, Mr. Cook has accelerated a shift in strategy that has made the company better known for offering TV shows and a credit card than introducing the kind of revolutionary new devices that once defined it.

VISION STATEMENTS & How I have seen them underused, overemphasized & mostly ineffective (and an alternative…)

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 4/13/18.

Yearly a handful of missional coach candidates shadow me on my consultations (more info here if you are interested in being considered for next year’s cohort).

Recently, the missional coach candidates and I were discussing the use, misuse and impact of mission and vision statements. First, I will share my personal conclusions from having worked with hundreds of churches on their mission and vision statements. Then (below my comments) you will find the discussion that inaugurated these conclusions.

I wrote:

If you have read my books, you probably know I am not a fan of Vision Statements (though I discuss them and the differences with Mission Statements in most of my books).Here is why.I agree with everything said (below, by the missional coach candidates I am training).

Vision Statements help visualize a preferred future,
create metrics for goal attainment,
etc.

But, I have seen them generate little use in these areas, despite pleas and pushing from the leaders.They often consume too much time, because I suspect, Christians like philosophizing and theologizing more than practicing something.

So, I have come to conclude that John Kotter has the answers. He states that visions (created by a collation) are temporary and elastic things. In other words, they are tied to a project.

Now, I’m not saying that vision statements aren’t needed.
They are, but they should be more flexible, temporal and more quickly created.

Yet, mission statements are different. They deal with unchangeable values (and for Christians, our theology). They shouldn’t change. But, the local church usually doesn’t need to craft them, because the denomination or network has usually done that for them.So, my recommendations to clients based upon my experiences over 25+ years.

Have a Mission Statement that defines your theology, history and polity.
Create multiple Vision Statements as time and projects dictate.

(Below is the conversation among my 2018 Missional Coaches candidates on this issue):

On Apr 13, 2018, at 11:10 AM, Tim W. wrote:

I did my graduate degree in business in the days when the competitive edge of Corporation, Inc. rested in these kinds of organizational tools. The church world then adopted the language and approach. My bias is still towards using these. I see them as critical pieces in organizational design BUT I also do not want to spend copious amounts of time/energy/money generating these statements. More to the point, if a congregation does have them, then they need to embed them deeply into the heart of the church. AND, if they are not authentic and missionally-driven statements, then it’s pointless anyway. :))

On Apr 13, 2018, at 9:01 AM, Mark C. wrote:

I would agree on many of your points. The fact that what the local church does is actually their vision is truer that what we or they want to believe.In most cases the Great Commission Vision has been neglected in place of a Great Coffee Dream.Here to surVMark

On Wednesday, April 11, 2018 9:19 AM, Tim W wrote:

Hi all … I want to chime in on some of the mission/vision statement comments in this string from my experience as a denominational exec.I agree that churches can spend too much time on massaging vision and mission statement(if they even understand the difference/function of these two tools), but I also thinkmany churches spend too LITTLE time on them as well. There must be a balance. When properly formed and used, these statements provide a great deal of agenda harmony, synergy in the organizational system, clarity of priority in budgeting, effectiveness in staffing right, and a host of other things. Most importantly, it removes the fuzziness in the minds of the congregation as to congregational direction. In fact, when done well, the very process of drafting a statement together reveals gaps, relational deficiencies (both personal and organizational), and then creates energy, excitement, optimism, and makes strategic planning more robust. Of course, these statements in themselves can’t do anything for the church; it’s all in the way they are employed into the organizational system.The truth be told, though, most churches already operate from vision, but it’s usually informal, imprecise, and carried by a few power brokers in the church. A couple of great questions to ask when conducting a first consult with the congregation is this: if your church was at its very best, what would this look like? where would she spend her time and resources? These questions do not directly address the vision question because if you ask “what is your vision?” most people will either recite what they read on the bulletin cover or will look dumbfounded. When asked outcome oriented questions, however, a picture emerges and this picture is the imperfectly constructed vision.Ultimately, the vision statement is a tool to help organize for mission—no more and no less. It’s power is in its simplicity to direct and excite and it’s contribution to the real-world ministry of the church.Just my thoughts…Tim Read more of the ideas about mission and vision statements that I’ve come to embrace after seeing them in practice here.

VALUE-ADDED & Religion contributes about $1.2 trillion of socioeconomic value annually to the U.S. economy. That is equivalent to being the world’s 15th-largest national economy.

By Brian Grim, Deseret News, 5/12/21.

…We rarely quantify the dollar and cents of faith’s impact, but the numbers should draw attention from even the most secular pockets of today’s society. According to a 2016 study by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, religion contributes about $1.2 trillion of socioeconomic value annually to the U.S. economy. That is equivalent to being the world’s 15th-largest national economy, outpacing nearly 180 other countries and territories. It’s more than the global annual revenues of the world’s top 10 tech companies, including Apple, Amazon and Google. It’s also more than 50% larger than the global annual revenues of America’s six largest oil and gas companies.

These contributions fall into three general categories: $418 billion from religious congregations; $303 billion from other religious institutions such as universities, charities and health systems; and $437 billion from faith-based, faith-related or faith-inspired businesses.

Religious congregations — churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and chapels — of every denomination add $418 billion annually to the American economy. These local congregations number more than 344,000 and employ hundreds of thousands of staff and purchase billions worth of services in every corner and crossroads of the country’s urban and rural landscape.

Of course, these congregations do much more than just provide places of worship. Each year congregations spend $84 billion on their operations, ranging from paying hundreds of thousands of personnel to paying for goods and services as diverse as flowers, sounds systems, maintenance and utilities. Almost all is spent right in the local community. Congregations are like magnets attracting economic activity ranging from weddings to lectures, conventions and even tourism. For instance, 120,000 congregations report that people visit them to view their art and architecture.

Schools attached to many of these congregations — such as St. Benedict’s — employ 420,000 full-time teachers and train 4.5 million students each year. By comparison, this is the same number as the total population of Ireland or New Zealand.

But it’s what congregations do in their communities that makes the biggest contribution. Congregations provide 130,000 alcohol recovery programs such as the Saddleback Church’s Celebrate Recovery program that has helped more than 27,000 individuals over the past 25 years. Congregations also provide 120,000 programs to help the unemployed. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has employment service centers across the country (and world).

VOLUNTEERS 101 – Two types of people are required (and 8 secrets to successfully recruiting more volunteers).

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 2/17/21).

Did you ever host a task force and see less people show up, the longer you met? There can be numerous reasons for this, but the most common is because there are …

2 types of people.

1. Those who want to give input. Advisors, idea generators, visionaries, they have insight. They can’t get involved right now, but they care about your topic. Remember, though they can’t get involved right now they gave experience, passion, purpose and knowledge; just not the ability to get involved at present. Don’t take their refusal (or disappearance from your meetings) to indicate lack of interest. They have shown their interest and concern by initially attending your meetings. Because they care they have advice they want to give.

⁃ Ask them for their advice.

⁃ Ask them for people who might want to do something now.

⁃ This gives them the option of volunteering themselves or pointing you towards someone who would like to be involved.

2. Those who want to do something. (doers, actors) they have energy to give.

⁃ Include them in your meetings.

⁃ Listen to them.

⁃ Sketch a solution w/ a little bit of everyone’s insights.

⁃ Ask each what they want to do.

⁃ Remind them this is a work in progress and changes will occur.

8 Secrets to Recruiting More Volunteers

⁃ Appreciation (e.g. note, sm. gift, refreshments, especially for newbies).

⁃ Leave seats empty (metaphorically and practically). Leave (metaphorically) an empty seat in your meeting to remind everyone new people are welcome. And practically don’t fill all the volunteer positions so latecomers will have something to do.

⁃ Share your enthusiasm before the ask.

⁃ No is not never.

⁃ Expect comings & goings (rotating out & in is okay).

⁃ Provide opportunities for different levels of engagement.

⁃ Make volunteering part of your assimilation (i.e. route to membership).

⁃ Use micro-volunteering.

VISION & Creating a Balanced Vision for Your Church by @BobWhitesel published by @BiblicalLeader Magazine.

By Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., Biblical Leadership Magazine, 12/14/18.

In an attempt to describe organizations involved both locally and globally, a new term was championed by British sociologist Rolland Robertson: glocalwhich combines glo-bal with lo-cal. A host of Christian books have followed suit, using glocal as a descriptor for a congregation that is engaged in local and global ministry.

Therefore, a term more inclusive than glocal is needed. A term is required which reminds us that meeting the needs of non-churchgoers locally and globally also requires sustaining and assisting the health of a congregation of believers. A conglocal church is a congregation that has a balanced three-fold heart for foreign missions, for local missions and for congregants.

The designation conglocal reminds a congregation that it must balance its ministry to those inside the congregation, those nearby who are outside of it and those far away as well. In my consulting work, I have noticed that too many churches today spend the majority of their time looking after and meeting the needs of those within the congregation. This arises because the needs of those inside the congregation are heard the loudest and most frequent, due to social proximity.

However, the needs of those who are outside of the congregation pale in comparison with those with the church. One writer starkly reminded us that, “When a person dies without hearing that ‘God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16, RSV), it is too late. The best thing that could possibly happen to that person has been denied.”

Conglocalbalance in your financial expenditures

A key element of balanced conglocal ministry is balancing your fiscal expenditures in each category. In one client church, the pastor stood up and boldly proclaimed that the church was now giving 20 percent of its income to local (10 percent) and global (10 percent) ministry. While this is a step in the right direction, the church’s lavish marble atrium reminded visitors that 80 percent of this congregation’s income was still spent upon itself.

If churches are to foster authentic reconciliation between haves and have-nots as well as across physical chasms, then churches must start balancing their spending. The conglocal model provides a visual cue to churches of a church’s three-fold fiscal obligations. In a church with a growing conglocal heart you will find an increasing balance in expenditures toward meeting the needs of not just congregants, but also the local and global communities.

Conglocalbalance in your church life

More than balancing need-meeting in financial expenditures, it is important to balance your fellowship congregationally, locally and globally. Most churches spend a great deal of their time getting to know the needs of those within the congregation. Though there is nothing wrong with this, it can often be out of balance. A congregation must also regularly share life and interaction with those who don’t attend their church as well as those who don’t live nearby.

Still, some readers may say that they work 40-plus hours per week with non-churchgoers and shouldn’t this be sufficient? Regrettably, in most of those workplace interactions, there is little sharing of spiritual values. Plus, in many workplaces discussing spiritual beliefs is discouraged. Thus, the conglocal church intentionally creates opportunities for local and global non-churchgoers to graciously discuss their faith journeys.

For example, one church cancelled its Sunday morning service, telling its congregants to go into the community to “find a need and fill it.” The pastor’s intention was to get the congregants out into the community seeking to understand and meet the needs of non-churchgoers. That Sunday hundreds of congregants spread out across the city to meet needs in Jesus’ name.

At the end of my seminar, she took the podium and addressed my puzzlement over the reaction of the pastors. “I know why some of you were uncomfortable with the idea of canceling church and going out to serve the community,” Dr. Lyon began. “I know it is because if you did, you couldn’t count those people in your monthly attendance totals. Now, I don’t know if I have the authority to do this. But, I’m going to go ahead and say that if you send your people out to serve non-churchgoers on a Sunday, then you can count every person they touch has having been in Jesus’ presence that day.”

Kindhearted smiles swept across the seminar participants, as they recognized that this general superintendent would not let tradition stand in the way of reaching out to those in need.

How will your church find a conglocal vision? Meeting congregational needs will create a foundation of health so the church community can reach others locally and globally. This creates a large and balanced vision for the church—a conglocal vision.

Excerpted from The Healthy Church: Practical Ways to Strengthen a Church’s Heart, by Bob Whitesel (Wesleyan Publishing 2013)

Photo source: istock

Read the original article here … https://www.biblicalleadership.com/blogs/4-attitudes-to-cultivate-in-a-small-group/

VIDEO & Millennials tell me that sermon “video introductions” seem #inauthentic & undercut relational nature of an #OrganicChurch. (#LiveDrama #Testimonies instead = More #SundayChurchHacks )

VITUAL CHURCH & Weaknesses/Strengths of Going to Church in Virtual Reality by @BobWhitesel via @BiblicalLeader #BiblicalLeadershipMagazine

https://www.biblicalleadership.com/blogs/going-to-church-in-virtual-reality/

SCREENSHOT Whitesel Going to Church in Virtual Reality.png

3. Accountability eclipsed by entertainment

4. Technology drives expenditures

5. Disenfranchised continue to be marginalized/ignored

6. Reconciliation takes more effort

7. Spiritual transformation is downplayed

Recently I had the opportunity to pull together speakers for the annual conference of the Great Commission Research Network. These were speakers who had experience leading online churches. You can find more information from the conference at these links:

SOCIAL MEDIA & Questions to stimulate discussion on how churches can more effectively utilize social media.

SOCIAL MEDIA & #NathanClark the leader of one of the nation’s first online communities tells the best thing a small church can do to connect & minister online

In addition one of my students from Kingswood University in Canada has started a church with her husband that includes an online service. Find more info about their multiplication strategy here: SOCIAL MEDIA & How a Toronto church plant uses gaming site Twitch to create online bible studies & community

Finally, here is a good video from CNN that gives a introduction to online churches.//fave.api.cnn.io/v1/fav/?video=us/2018/11/13/going-to-church-in-virtual-reality-beme.beme&customer=cnn&edition=domestic&env=prod

You can also view the CNN video here: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/11/13/going-to-church-in-virtual-reality-beme.beme

VISION & Salesforce founder/co-CEO Marc Benioff explains how clarity + alignment in the word “V2MOM” is the key to Salesforce’s success.

by Robert Glazer, Inc. Magazine, 11/5/18.

… vision and values (V2) combined with methods, obstacles, and measures (MOM). It’s shorthand for some fundamental business processes:

Vision: Defines what you want to do or achieve.

Values: Principles and beliefs that help you pursue the vision.

Methods: Actions and steps to take to get the job done.

Obstacles: The challenges and issues you have to overcome to achieve the vision.

Measures: The ways in which you measure achievement.

V2MOM was the brainchild of Salesforce founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff, who has said that it is “the biggest secret of Salesforce.com’scess.”

In a column explaining the origin of V2MOM, Benioff wrote, “When I was at Oracle, I struggled with the fact that there was no written business plan or formal communication process during our growth phase. In fact, I remember asking Larry Ellison during my new-hire orientation, ‘What is Oracle’s five-year plan?” His response was simple: ‘We don’t have a five-year plan, we barely have a six-month plan. It was our job to figure it out what Larry wanted on our own.”

This led Benioff down the path to examining what great companies do differently. He found that the discussions kept coming back to the themes of clarity and alignment.

VISION & This Christmas … give your “vision statement” 3 elements that make it whole: how to meet congregational, local & global needs simultaneously

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 12/17/18.

In my article published last week in Biblical Leadership Magazine, I’ve found that helpful vision statements must include 3 phrases …

helping non-churchgoers,
emphasizing conversion
and organizing disciple-making.

Many mission statements focus on one aspect of the Good News, rather than all three.

Learn below how to create a “comprehensive” vision statement that won’t leave out any of the Good News. And find more in a practical and holistic theology of evangelism in my hardcover book Spiritual Waypoints: Helping Others Navigate the Journey (published by Wesleyan Publishing House) which was Outreach Magazine Runner-up for Resource of the Year. It is available on sale at these links:

https://finelink.com/wphstoreretail/bkbt90.html hardcopy on sale: $10 off, only $9.99
https://finelink.com/wphstoreretail/dig195.html e-book on sale, only $7.99

And read more of the book from which this article is excerpted, titled: The Healthy Church: Practical Ways to Strengthen a Church’s Heart available below:

https://finelink.com/wphstoreretail/bkbz07.html on sale, only $9.09

But the needs of those who are outside of the congregation pale in comparison with those with the church. One writer starkly reminded us that, “when a person dies without hearing that ‘God so loved the words that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16, RSV), it is too late. The best thing that could possibly happen to that person has been denied.”

To help visualize this three-fold heart for congregational needs, local need and global needs, the church can be pictured as a three-chambered heart in Figure 7.4.

Figure 7.4 Picturing the Conglocal Heart of a Congregation

In Figure 7.4 congregational needs create a foundation, depicted in the lower section of the heart. Such placement is not to suggest primacy, but only to remind us that a foundation of health can better help a congregation minister to others locally and globally.

Conglocal Balance In Your Financial Expenditures

A key element of balanced conglocal ministry is balancing your fiscal expenditures in each category. In one client church the pastor stood up and boldly proclaimed that the church was now giving 20% of its income to local (10%) and global (10%) ministry. While this is a step in the right direction, the church’s lavish marble atrium reminded visitors that 80% of this congregation’s income was still spent upon itself.

If churches are to foster authentic reconciliation between haves and have-nots as well as across physical chiasms, then churches must start balancing their spending. The conglocal model provides a visual cue to churches of a church’s three-fold fiscal obligations. In a church with a growing conglocal heart you will find an increasing balance in expenditures toward meeting the needs of not just congregants, but also the local and global communities.

Conglocal Balance In Your Church Life

Research shows that face-to-face encounters help people from different cultures and socio-economic levels accept and support one another. Such face-to-face encounters with local and global people who don’t attend your church is an important tactic to maintain a conglocal balance. Still, some readers may say that they work 40+ hours a week with non-churchgoers and shouldn’t this be sufficient? But regrettably, in most of those workplace interactions there is very little sharing of spiritual values. Plus, in many workplaces discussing spiritual beliefs is discouraged. Thus, the conglocal church intentionally creates opportunities for local and global non-churchgoers to graciously discuss their faith journeys.

For example, one church cancelled its Sunday morning service, telling its congregants to go into the community to “find a need and fill it.” The pastor’s intention was to get the congregants out into the community seeking the understand and meet the needs of non-churchgoers. That Sunday hundreds of congregants spread out across the city to meet needs in Jesus’ name.

While sharing this story at a seminar, I noticed the assembled Wesleyan pastors looked uncomfortable. The General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church, Dr. Jo Anne Lyon was actually seated behind me as I spoke (which if you didn’t know Dr. Lyon, could be a disquieting prospect). At the end my seminar she took the podium and addressed my puzzlement over the reaction of the pastors. “I know why some of you were uncomfortable with the idea of canceling church and going out to serve the community,” Dr. Lyon began. “I know it is because if you did, you couldn’t count those people in your monthly attendance totals. Now, I don’t know if I have authority to do this. But, I’m going to go ahead and say that if you send your people out to serve non-churchgoers on a Sunday, then you can count every person they touch has having been in Jesus’ presence that day.” Kindhearted smiles swept across the seminar participants, as they recognized that this general superintendent would not let customs stand in the way of reaching out to those in need.

VOLUNTEERS & Research reveals 41% started because someone already involved invited them to join. #NationalSurveyOfCongregations

by Helen Gibson, LifeWay, 7/27/18

(According to) the 2015 National Survey of Congregations …, released in 2016, the most recent year such data is available, shows around 1 in 4 Americans, or 24.9 percent, said they volunteered at least once over the course of the year.

Women tend to volunteer more than men, at a rate of 27.8 percent to 21.8 percent…

Americans 35 to 44 years old and those 45 to 54 years old were most likely to volunteer, at rates of 28.9 and 28 percent, respectively. On the other hand, people 20 to 24 years old were least likely to volunteer, at a rate of 18.4 percent.

Those with higher education levels are also more likely to volunteer. Among respondents 25 years old or older, 38.8 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher said they volunteered, while 26.5 percent of those with some college or an associate degree, 15.6 percent of those with a high school diploma only, and 8.1 percent of those without a high school diploma said the same.

Whether or not someone is married with children may also affect the likelihood that they volunteer. Around 1 in 3 married people (29.9 percent) said they volunteer, while about 1 in 5 of those who’ve never married (19.9 percent), and 1 in 5 of those with other marital statuses (20.2 percent) said the same. Parents with children under the age of 18 were also more likely to volunteer (31.3 percent) than people without kids (22.6 percent).

(Some takeaways:)

(Make it easy to volunteer) Around 4 in 10 volunteers said they got involved with a particular organization by approaching that organization themselves, so make it easy for your church’s members to figure out how they can get connected to certain ministries.

(Current volunteers should be encouraged to recruit more volunteers) Another 4 in 10 volunteers said they started volunteering after being asked by someone else — and most often, that was someone who was already involved in that organization. Encourage those who are currently serving in a particular ministry area not only to keep serving, but to invite others to join with them….

(Serving = discipleship) Daniel Im, LifeWay’s director of church multiplication, described it as a way to grow spiritually on a recent volunteer recruitment episode of the 5 Leadership Questions Podcast.

“When you serve, that’s actually how you become more like Christ — because that’s what Jesus came to do,” Im said. “So why don’t you do what Jesus did, and why don’t you grow and become more like Him?’”

VISION & A review by missional coach Jim H. of “Church Unique” by Will Mancini.

Review of Church Unique (Will Mancini) by Jim H. 2018 Missional Coach candidate, 4/2/18.

Over the last month, I not only read this book, I studied it. My Life Coach recommended the book last summer and when I had the chance to read it for “credit” I took it. Since I’m moving closer to working with churches in need of revitalizing I’ve been looking for philosophical positions and practices on the best way to reverse churches. Although this book is not really a philosophical book, it does begin with the idea that every church has a unique role or character that makes it different from every other congregation.

The book has four sections of which I will identify bullet points that made an impression. The sections are:

Recasting Vision
Clarifying Vision
Articulating Vision
Advancing Vision

Recasting Vision: The idea behind this section is to redeem the visioning process for churches. We made it too much into a “canned” process. Leadership can restrict vision which is the lifeline to any church.

Every church is a unique, but they’re not valuing their uniqueness. Discovering their uniqueness can be hard work and humbling. They may have to be realistic of their uniqueness, but they need to be comfortable in their own skin.
Church culture is defined by a list of qualities from its people. The uniqueness of a church is equal to its culture. This is not defined by a church service as much as the interacting thoughts, actions, attitudes and beliefs. The sociological impact of a church is greatly underestimated.
Strategic Planning can kill a church! Things I learned:
- Too much information can kill vision!
- Silos in the church are killing the team atmosphere. Finding ways to break down the competitive nature within ministries and people is critical.
- Leadership blinders greatly hampers a churches capacity! My big take away on this is focusing on preparation and not planning. Also, leaders and churches can be arthritic or adaptive.
Space often times defines a church and its vision which should be combated. Four walls don’t define us, so learning to resource those four walls to serve vision is important.

Clarifying Vision: Once we discover that unique vision, how do we communicate it and keep people attune to it.

It will take too long to go through all these clarifying characteristics, but it does seem to match other discovery techniques.

Clarifying vision is about looking to the past as much as the future.
Clarifying vision requires careful consideration of strengths and limitations.
Clarifying vision is as much about identity as it is methodology.
Clarifying vision is always about what God is already doing.
Clarity makes leadership credible

Articulating Vision:

Vision Frame: The way Will Mancini broke this portion of the book down was helpful. I will be studying this further to possibly integrate it into my own processes. It does help to “frame” vision since it can be all encompassing.
Mountain Top + Milestones: this was also a helpful concept to process. It is understandable that people need to see the big picture, but to create successes along the way to keep people motivated and moral up.

Advancing Vision: Once the vision has been clarified and articulated, the messiest part is advancing it. Life happens and people get distracted.

My job as a leader is to constantly align, attune, and integrate the vision into the minds and hearts, actions and passions, and roles and organization charts of the Church Unique.
This is the part that scares me the most. My strengths lie in the previous parts and not as much in this area. I know I need to develop these skills. God may put me in this role again to do just that.

VISION STATEMENTS & How I have seen them underused, overemphasized & mostly ineffective. Here is the alternative…

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 4/13/18.

Yearly a handful of missional coach candidates shadow me on my consultations (more info here if you are interested in being considered for next year’s cohort).

I wrote:

If you have read my books, you probably know I am not a fan of Vision Statements (though I discuss them and the differences with Mission Statements in most of my books).

Here is why.

I agree with everything said (below, by the missional coach candidates I am training).

Vision Statements help visualize a preferred future,
create metrics for goal attainment,
etc.

But, I have seen them generate little use in these areas, despite pleas and pushing from the leaders.

They often consume too much time, because I suspect, Christians like philosophizing and theologizing more than practicing something.

So, I have come to conclude that John Kotter has the answers. He states that visions (created by a collation) are temporary and elastic things. In other words, they are tied to a project.

Now, I’m not saying that vision statements aren’t needed.
They are, but they should be more flexible, temporal and more quickly created.

So, my recommendations to clients based upon my experiences over 25+ years.

Have a Mission Statement that defines your theology, history and polity.
Create multiple Vision Statements as time and projects dictate.

(Below is the conversation among my 2018 Missional Coaches candidates on this issue):

On Apr 13, 2018, at 11:10 AM, Tim W. wrote:

I did my graduate degree in business in the days when the competitive edge of Corporation, Inc. rested in these kinds of organizational tools. The church world then adopted the language and approach. My bias is still towards using these. I see them as critical pieces in organizational design BUT I also do not want to spend copious amounts of time/energy/money generating these statements. More to the point, if a congregation does have them, then they need to embed them deeply into the heart of the church. AND, if they are not authentic and missionally-driven statements, then it’s pointless anyway. :))

On Apr 13, 2018, at 9:01 AM, Mark C. wrote:

I would agree on many of your points. The fact that what the local church does is actually their vision is truer that what we or they want to believe.

In most cases the Great Commission Vision has been neglected in place of a Great Coffee Dream.

Here to surV

Mark

On Wednesday, April 11, 2018 9:19 AM, Tim W wrote:

Hi all … I want to chime in on some of the mission/vision statement comments in this string from my experience as a denominational exec.

I agree that churches can spend too much time on massaging vision and mission statement(if they even understand the difference/function of these two tools), but I also thinkmany churches spend too LITTLE time on them as well. There must be a balance. When properly formed and used, these statements provide a great deal of agenda harmony, synergy in the organizational system, clarity of priority in budgeting, effectiveness in staffing right, and a host of other things. Most importantly, it removes the fuzziness in the minds of the congregation as to congregational direction. In fact, when done well, the very process of drafting a statement together reveals gaps, relational deficiencies (both personal and organizational), and then creates energy, excitement, optimism, and makes strategic planning more robust. Of course, these statements in themselves can’t do anything for the church; it’s all in the way they are employed into the organizational system.

The truth be told, though, most churches already operate from vision, but it’s usually informal, imprecise, and carried by a few power brokers in the church. A couple of great questions to ask when conducting a first consult with the congregation is this: if your church was at its very best, what would this look like? where would she spend her time and resources? These questions do not directly address the vision question because if you ask “what is your vision?” most people will either recite what they read on the bulletin cover or will look dumbfounded. When asked outcome oriented questions, however, a picture emerges and this picture is the imperfectly constructed vision.

Ultimately, the vision statement is a tool to help organize for mission—no more and no less. It’s power is in its simplicity to direct and excite and it’s contribution to the real-world ministry of the church.

Just my thoughts…

Tim

Read more of the ideas about mission and vision statements that I’ve come to embrace after seeing them in practice here.

VOLUNTEERS & What’s the prescription for your church’s role-to-task ratio? #CharlesArn – why your church community has too many tasks & not enough leaders to implement them.

There may be many factors involved in why your church community has too many tasks and not enough leaders to implement them. Dr. Charles Arn dives into this question and offers solutions for how to create a better role-to-task ratio for your congregation. (Excerpted from the Society For Church Consulting’s Church Staffing Summit 2015.)

Video: What’s the prescription for your church’s role-to-task ratio?

by Charles Arn

There may be many factors involved in why your church community has too many tasks and not enough leaders to implement them.

Watch more at … https://www.biblicalleadership.com/videos/whats-the-prescription-for-your-churchs-role-to-task-ratio

VISION & How to improve clarity and impact: a video introduction #LEAD600

In my courses, my students evaluate existing vision and mission statements with a goal of improving clarity and impact. To assist them in the evaluation, I’ve recorded a video introduction to their homework on evaluating vision and mission statements (LEAD 600: Strategic Leadership and Management).

VISION & Video Introduction to Praxis Assignments of Week 4 of LEAD 600

I record video introductions to weekly assignments for my students. Here is an introduction to the topic “Evaluating Mission & Vision” from LEAD 600: Missional Leadership (typically week 4, but may vary due to student needs).

VISION & Good/Bad Vision Statements Compared

by Bob Whitesel, D.Min., Ph.D., 3/15/16.

Clients, students and seminar attendees often ask about what a good vision statement looks like. First let’s define what a vision statement is and then look at good (and bad) examples.

Here is a concise comparison between mission and vision statements.

“Envisioning begins by asking ourselves ‘what do we do?’ (our mission statement) and continues by uncovering, ‘where to we believe God is calling our church to go in the future’ (our vision statement).” 1

Here is a fuller explanation. 2

Here are some good and some better examples: 3

The following are sample vision statements that have been generationally shaped to promote a Tri-Gen. format (italics are added here for emphasis):

“We want to turn pre-Christian people of all generations into fully devoted followers of Christ, through relevant teaching and up-to-date worship.
“To build a caring and compassionate congregation that loves people of all ages into a relationship with Jesus Christ through acts of kindness.”
Our vision is to reach all generations within the tri-state area with the Good News through culture-current forms of evangelism, worship, teaching and nurture, and to work with other congregations to accomplish these goals.
To provide for (city) a Christian fellowship offering teaching and worship opportunities geared to each generation, while respecting our differences and exalting our Lord.
The vision of (church name) is to present Christ to the people of (city) in a caring and creative way, that will make disciples of all ages; while offering them a forgiving and open-hearted environment.
To simultaneously meet the needs of all generations of people in our community, through biblical teachings and personal lifestyle that will create social action, conscience and responsibility.
Our ministry goal is to build relationships to all generations through Christ-centered teaching, quality worship, heartfelt care, personal discipleship and credible leadership.
Our church vision is to become a lighthouse to the greater metropolitan area, by addressing the needs of all generations though parallel worship, teaching, and care ministries; which will exalt and honor our Lord Jesus Christ.

And here is a (humorous) example of a bad vision statement:

“First Covenant Church exists for the passion and purpose of inspiring, discipling, equipping and sending out Christ followers with the destiny of transforming the world to the glory of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and fostering a graceful yet convicting church environment in which people of all faith experiences and backgrounds are molded into the image and reflection of Christ, together creating a God-honoring community of authentic worshipers deliberately focused on reaching their community, the nation, the next generation of believers and the world through missions works, innovative programs and prayer.” And that’s just the first sentence… Read More

You can download below a chapter on the difference between mission, vision and value statements from my book A House Divided: Bridging the Generation Gaps in Your Church. If this helps you consider supporting the publisher and the author by purchasing the book: House_Divided_Chpt5_Vision©BobWhitesel

ENDNOTES:

Bob Whitesel, A House Divided: Bridging the Generation Gaps in Your Church (Abingdon Press, 2000), p. 240.
ibid., p. 107.
ibid., p. 108.

VISION & Should Out-group Members Help Shape Vision?

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 11/5/15.

A pastor of a mid-sized church (300-450 attendance) wondered to what degree the vision should be generated by the pastor and staff (the in-group) and to what degree should the vision be co-generated with laity who may include out-groups. This is what he said:

“What do you think about the viewpoints that ‘it is not the Elders’ role to come up with the vision,’ but (their) work is to follow the lead pastor’s vision and ensure that he/she has time, resources, and tools to cultivate a clear vision of the body.” The student went on to emphasize that in many large churches it is the pastor and staff who are an in-group that drives the vision. And the laypersons and out-groups are those who bring it about. Thus vision should be in-group created but out-group undertaken.

But, I wonder with such a scenario about two things. First, perhaps God has sent those out-group members to your church and He wants you to reach out to them and build a shared vision.

Secondly, the in-group/out-group division could have been caused by cultural differences (see my posting on “Does Race Matter When It Comes to Out-group Members?”) Therefore, should we break down the organizational silos and unite a congregation by creating a shared vision, rather than a vision created by the dominant culture in the church.

And finally, what will happen when a new leader (e.g. pastor) comes into such a situation? Does each new pastor bring their own new vision to the church? Regrettably, I have observed that this is often the case. The end result it that with each successive pastor the church often gets a new vision and then goes in a new direction, thwarting long term strength and health.

In fact, in the business word the new leader rarely comes up with a brand new vision, but instead allows input from the in-groups and out-groups to set a shared vision. But there is a caveat. And that is that some churches may have a wrong vision (and/or mission) and therefore they must be gently but tenaciously drawn back to the missio Dei. However, I’m not talking about these churches.

Rather, I sense that if most churches foster a vision that is cultivated in community that vision will be is more balanced, broad, shared and long-term.

VISION & Mission, Core-values, Core-competencies … what is the difference?

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 9/15/15.

A student once shared he was trying to distinguish between these four types of statements: core-values, core-competencies, mission and vision. I tried to simplify them (perhaps overly so), but I wanted to share that synopsis in case you were in a similar scenario.

Here is my response.

———

Hello ___student_name____,

I don’t blame anyone for getting bogged down today in word-smithing, for there are many writers writing on the same thing, and they often mix their terms. But, I like most of you believe that a vision statement is important for answering the “why” of an organization.

Thus, here is how I would succinctly explain the difference between a mission statement, a vision statement, core values and core competencies.

Mission: Tells us the what.

Core-values: Tell us the why.

Core-competencies: Tell us the best how (based in part upon how the world thinks we can do it).

Vision: Pictures the future goal of the how.

———

in addition, here is a chapter from my book A House Divided: Bridging the Generation Gaps in Your Church on the difference between mission, vision and value statements. As customary, if this helps you consider supporting the publisher and the author by purchasing the book: House_Divided_Chpt5_Vision©BobWhitesel

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