Your Church Service Should Start Doing Less to Accomplish More

I led a church during the attractional church heyday. Entertainment was a successful pathway for attracting people – especially the unchurch within our community. Most perceived church as dull, so leveraging culturally relevant connections like music to connect with the community worked. And it worked well!

That was 15 years ago.

The world has changed dramatically. Culture has changed. And your community has changed, too. Fifteen years is a long time. Add our two-year pandemic accelerator, and 15 years feels like a lifetime ago.

Here’s what I’ve come to believe about people today:

In our overwhelmed, over-informed, and over-entertained lives, the last thing people crave from their church is more entertainment.

In the past, churches mimicked culture to engage the community.

Today, people need an alternative to culture. They desire something different. In a world full of distractions, what people need is space.

Your church service has an incredible opportunity to give your community what they need the most: Space.

Why Your Hybrid Church Still Isn’t Growing

Why are NEW hybrid church efforts not reversing the trends of church decline?

Perhaps because we’ve digitized an outdated model.

The last two years hyper-focused church leaders on becoming hybrid. And while the move to hybrid is long overdue, digitizing and “hybridizing” a ministry model that was no longer working isn’t the secret to success.

I’m watching church after church after church move to be more “hybrid” while seeing their influence, attendance, and engagement continue to decline.

This can be fixed. Your church can grow again, reach those far from God and help followers grow in their faith. What you need is a comprehensive approach.

That’s why I created the Comprehensive Church Model. I’m leading churches and pastors through the model every month through cohorts. I’d love for you to join my next group.

This NEW POST is all about our current problems implementing a better hybrid church model.

If you want to learn more about the cohort, here are some details:

https://gavinadams.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/The-Comprehensive-Church-Cohort-Overview.pdf

Here’s what you can expect from our six-session cohort:
– A small group learning experience personally facilitated by me
– A one-on-one meeting with me to discuss your specific questions and challenges.
– Planning tools and resources to make your new model teachable and executable in your church.
– A new, hybrid, and modern ministry model that you can easily implement in your church.

This Cohort will give you: 
– Meaningful ideas for connecting to your community and congregation during their 70 hours of weekly discretionary time.
– New thinking about your in-person gatherings.
– Clarity on new metrics and how discipleship pathways look in today’s world.
– An understanding of the best practices for implementing our new model.

Space is limited to 10 participants.

You may bring one additional staff member to participate in each session at no additional charge. Perhaps a programming staff or digital team member.

It’s Time for a New, Comprehensive Ministry Model

I’m launching a new Ministry Model cohort group. Here’s why:

It seems every church knows that they NEED a new ministry strategy, but nobody knows what it should look like.

Of course, it should integrate digital and physical components, but converting an outdated ministry model into a hybrid model only nets you an outdated hybrid model.

What your community needs today is different than what it needed a decade ago. The reason is that your community has evolved significantly over the last ten to twenty years.

Christianity is no longer cultural. We need a model that understands this reality.

Enter the Comprehensive Church Model.

Church problems are societal and generational, not viral. It’s time we addressed it comprehensively.

Let me give you two options:
1. Read this NEW POST and consider joining my new cohort. Just reply to this email to learn more.
2. If you know you need a new model, go ahead and reply to this email now. I’ll send you the course details.

Space in the course is limited. I want this to be personal and conversational. If the course if full, I’m happy to place you on the waitlist for the next group.

Why You Should Stop Comparing Candidates When Hiring 

Of all the difficult decisions leaders must make, hiring and firing are certainly toward the top.

Finding the best people for an open position is always challenging. Often we interview many people looking for that perfect fit. During the process, often two candidates rise to the top. When this happens, something dangerous is right around the corner:

The Personnel Comparison Trap.

In this NEW POST, I unpack the trap and give you some tips to avoid it when you are making your next hire.

10 Questions to Better Understand Your Discipleship Pathway

WHO IS THIS FOR: This post is specifically for church leaders struggling to reach new people and grow those in their congregation…

WHAT YOU’LL GET: 10 Questions to help you and your church team evaluate your approach to discipleship.

How successful is discipleship in your church? 

If you lead a church, no doubt you’ve repeatedly asked this question over the past two years. Or two decades.

I suspect Christians and church leaders have questioned discipleship pathways since the beginning of discipleship. Come to think of it, some of the original Disciples debated and argued discipleship at the Jerusalem council. So we’re in good company.

If you’re like most church leaders, you have a discipleship pathway answer, but you’re unsure if it’s the right answer. Or the best answer.

Making it worse, the answer keeps changing. Our two-year pandemic crisis certainly made everything in the church more complex – including discipleship.

Every church I am working with is asking discipleship pathway questions.

Every church that reaches out to me is asking discipleship pathway questions.

Perhaps we’ve never met, but I have an inkling you’re asking discipleship pathway questions, too.

Discipleship is critical to the mission of our churches. I’d suggest it’s central to the mission. If I can press a little further, I’d say discipleship IS the church’s mission.

In this NEW POST, I attempt to redefine discipleship based on the Great Commission and give you 10 questions to ponder as you rethink your approach to discipleship.

Why You Should Stop Saying “The Best Is Yet To Come” (Unless You Do This First)

The best is definitely not yet to come for too many leaders and the organizations they serve. You may be a long way from retirement. Or perhaps you’re a decade or less away. Regardless of how long you have left in your leadership position, two things are certain: The time will go faster than you […]

You Can’t Win Without The Right Teammates (Just Ask Matthew Stafford)

KEY IDEA: If you are a leader, that means you have followers, and they hold the secret to success.

Just ask Matthew Stafford.

In 12 seasons playing quarterback for the Detroit Lions, Stafford only played in three playoff games. And he lost all three games.

Detroit traded Stafford this past off-season to the Los Angeles Rams. He and his team just went 4 – 0 in the playoffs and finished with a Super Bowl win.

Think about that. This same guy spent 12 years losing and, in one single season on a new team, won it all. 

Football is a team sport. So is organizational leadership.

Leaders lead teams, and the team determines the success. No leader can overcome a bad team.

What leaders need is a team that complements their competencies and contributes to the organizational culture.

In this post, we’ll talk about how to do just that.

If you’re a leader, I hope this helps you evaluate your team.

The Number 1 Reason to Fire People

During my leadership tenure, I’ve had the unfortunate task of firing several people. In every single case, I did what I could to help them succeed in the role. But when I realized they didn’t have a long-term future in our organization, I had no choice but to let them go.

Human Resources decisions are challenging. They should be. After all, people are not resources but humans. These people have families. They have friends. They’ve committed to the organization and potentially to you.

In this NEW POST, I outline the process I’ve used to let people go. It’s never an easy thing to do, but it’s often the kindest thing we can do.

10 Ways To Kill Your Team

Every leader wants to have a dynamic team.

Too few leaders understand how to build a dynamic team.

So often, we wrongfully assume our teammates are the problem. Sure, at times, a team member may need to be assigned to a new group or released to be a free agent. However, most of the time, our leadership behaviors kill our team because our behavior carries the most weight in the team.

Are you the most significant problem on your team? 

I offer you 10 foolproof ways to kill your team. I’ll expand on each item below, but if you’re a “give me the list upfront” kind of person, here you go:

1. Meet only when there is a crisis.
2. Allow the strong personalities to dominate the discussion.
3. Allow team decisions to be undermined by private meetings after the team meeting.
4. Have your mind made up before you get input from the team.
5. Remain inflexible in the face of new information.
6. Cut off debate.
7. Don’t hold team members accountable for their assignments.
8. Ignore the intangibles.
9. Expect more of the team than you expect of yourself.
10. Take individual credit for the accomplishments of the team.

Read the entire NEW POST for more details…

Need to Make a Change? Direct Your Fear Before It Directs You.

This conversation applies to every aspect of life, but let’s focus on our work-life in this post—specifically, the decision to leave a job, career, or an organization.  The emotional process of leaving can be agonizing. If you’ve ever experienced a job or career change by choice, you know the process began when you considered the possibility of […]