churchrelevance.com

QUESTION:
What percentage of teens and percentage of adults use meth?
- Jessa :: California

ANSWER:
Last fall, I highlighted research that stated 1 in 33 teens (3%) ages 12-17 have tried meth.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2 in 33 people (5.77%) ages 12+ in the United States have tried meth at least once. Although almost 6% of this group have tried month, only 1 in 333 (0.3%) are current users.

If you have a question you want Church Relevance to answer, submit it via our Q+A form.

QUESTION:
What are 3 mistakes a leader should experience to learn about leadership?
- Martin :: Germany

ANSWER:
I don’t believe leaders should experience specific mistakes. I would rather learn from someone else’s mistake than to make the mistake myself.

However, reality is that we all make mistakes. Hopefully, we learn from them, and more importantly, we don’t repeat them. Some mistakes are more common than others in ministry, but I think it is accurate to say that every minister’s leadership journey is a unique one - both in successes and mistakes.

So I cannot give you 3 mistakes I think every leader should experience, but I can share with you three leadership lessons I have learned from mistakes I’ve made.

1. Keep God before ministry.
   There have been times in my life when I have put too much of my focus on doing ministry and not enough focus on my personal relationship with God. It is a dangerous habit to develop because our personal relationship with God gives us the spiritual strength needed to pursue our ministry calling to its full potential.
2. Be a custom leader.
   When I began leading my first team of several volunteers, I interacted with each worker the same way. The problem with this is that people are very different and very unique. Different personalities interpret the same leadership differently. What works well for leading one person may be less effective for leading another. Over the years, I have tried to improve my ability to recognize different personalities and know how to best lead each one. I’m still far from perfect, but whenever I have the opportunity to lead someone one-on-one, I try to customize my approach for the best results.
3. Know your limits.
   The first ministry I worked for never tested my limits. The work was tough, but we had a great team and always met our deadlines. The second ministry I worked for was understaffed and underresourced. It quickly taught me my limitations. Even with extended work hours and extra manpower, it was impossible to do what needed to be done. I made the mistake of assuming that I could achieve unrealistic goals because I always made tough deadlines before. Understand that you are human and have limitations. Know your limitations. Plan realistically. Otherwise, you will burn yourself out.

If you have a question you want Church Relevance to answer, submit it via our Q+A form.

QUESTION:
My church is currently without a pastor. We will be voting an offer from another area church to provide us with training and pastors for the next three years.

We do not have a provision in our constitution for voting on such an agreement. The most relevant entry is that a 2/3 majority is required to call a pastor. My question is, should we abide by the 2/3 majority requirement even though we are not technically calling a pastor?
- Clark :: Wisconsin

ANSWER:
Do whatever it takes to get the best result. The result is more important than the methods. In other words, what you achieve is far more important than how you achieve it. The only exception is that prayer should be part of the equation.

Since your church is used to a 2/3 majority vote, it is a method that everyone is likely to agree upon. However, when voting, sometimes people vote for what they want rather than what they need. Voting is a bad method if your church has a high number of members who do not like change or growth.

You could also consider the route of having one dedicated elder or even a group of leaders within the church make the decision.

Again, your methods for church decision making are not what is important. What matters is that you make the right decision.

If you have a question you want Church Relevance to answer, submit it via our Q+A form.

QUESTION:
My church is looking at ways to add online giving to our website and aren’t sure how to do it. Have you found any websites or companies that help with this? I’m pretty sure it could probably be done through PayPal but thought I’d try to see if you have any insight first?
- Nate :: LaPorte, IN 

ANSWER:
Online giving can be done using PayPal, but there are also a few other options to consider. The right choice for your church depends on your budget and technical capabilities. The following are four online giving options labeled by integration cost and the level of technical ability needed to implement the option.

1. PayPal (low cost/low tech)
   Implementing PayPal is as easy as adding a button to your church’s website. PayPal does charge a small flat fee per transaction, and customization is very limited.
2. Secure Giving Form (low cost/low tech)
   A secure web form captures the donor’s information and giving amount and securely emails this information to a church administrator, who may then process the credit card information manually. A current example is Northstar Church (Frisco, TX).
3. Service Providers (high cost/low tech)
   Online donation service providers like Fellowship One allow you to create a “donate” link on your church’s website that will take visitors to a donation engine that collects and processes the credit card information. Usually these engines allow you to add custom graphics so that it appears to donors as though they are still on your website. The service provider takes care of all the behind-the-scenes work including processing credit card information and depositing money directly into your church’s bank account.
4. Payment Gateway (high cost/high tech)
   Although this is the most expensive and labor intensive option, it also offers the most customization and control. You need a payment gateway, such as Authorize.net, that sends data and processes credit cards. The Advanced Integration Method offers more options to meet your needs. A current example is Church on the Move (Tulsa, OK).

If you have a question you want Church Relevance to answer, submit it via our Q+A form.

QUESTION:
What are your top 10 church logos and why?
- Sydney, Australia 

ANSWER:
Narrowing the list down to a top 10 is too difficult. So I created a list of my favorite top 20 church logos.

I chose these 20 church logos because they best match my definition of what makes a good logo.

A good logo design is…

Distinctive. Memorable. And timeless.
It is aesthetically pleasing.

It is scalable, looking good while as large as a billboard or as small as a dime. It looks good in color as well as black and white. And it is simple enough that it can be applied to a media spectrum as broad as paper to plastic and t-shirts to websites.

Most importantly, a good logo communicates the unique qualities of its brand.

View the top 20 church logos.  

Because so many churches have been improving the quality of their graphic design in recent years, I will be keeping the list updated as I come across other great church logos.

If you have a question you want Church Relevance to answer, submit it via our Q+A form.

QUESTION:
We have a new pastor coming to our church after an 18 month search. We want to prolong the “welcoming party” for him the best and most creative way that we can. I’m looking for some cool, innovative ideas to welcome him that would also bring people in from the community.
- Jason :: Angola, IN

ANSWER:
At first thought, I would not consider a welcome party for a new pastor as an event that would attract many people from your community who are not already members of your church. In most cases, I would expect that welcoming a new pastor to a church is not appealing, fun, or interesting to unchurched people.

But I do think it is possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

QUESTION:
Has there been any research done regarding the best day and time for a weekly postmodern, emerging worship gathering? Does it vary by region? Is Sunday morning or Sunday evening more appealing to postmoderns?
- Gary :: Wadsworth, OH

ANSWER:
As far as I know, there has not been any research that is as precise as identifying the best time for a postmodern, emerging church service. In fact, there is very little research on the best times for a church service available.

The concept of Sunday morning worship is well-engrained into U.S culture so it makes sense for most churches to have services on Sunday mornings. By habit and tradition, American communities naturally expect church to be held on Sundays. The exception, of course, is Seventh-day Adventist churches and several other denominations, which meet on Saturdays.

What Research Says

Although there is little research about what is the best day and time for a church service, there is some worth noting.

In a Christianity Today article, Thom Rainer shares:

Most of the unchurched prefer to attend church on Sunday morning if they attend. Perhaps the unchurched responded this way because that is the time they have always heard church should be.

A very distant preference was a weeknight service other than Friday night.

Though their number is relatively small, single adults and adults who must work on Sunday seem to prefer Saturday evening worship as a fairly strong second choice to Sunday morning.

A 2007 Gallup poll discovered:

• 21% of people who do not attend church do so because they don’t have time or don’t get around to it

Similarly, a 2006 study by LifeWay Research reported that among people who stopped attending church:

• 19% said they simply got “too busy to attend church”
• 17% said “family and home responsibilities prevented church attendance”

Among Australians who don’t go to church, a 1998 survey by NCLS Research discovered:

• 31% said there are “other things I prefer doing”
• 21% said “I have too many commitments”
• 15% said there is “not enough time to go because of work.”

Questions to Ask 

Do not become too focused on asking, “What has been the best day and time for a church service?”

The real question is, ”What will be the best day and time for our church service?”

Begin studying the cultures of the people your church is called to reach. Identify what day and time is most likely to fit their lifestyles. Consider the pros and cons of different service times. Ask some questions.

• When do people work?
• When do non-Christians like to go clubbing and partying?
• What sports are big in our community? When are they on TV? And when do the local professional, competitive, and recreational sports leagues play?
• What nights do students work on homework and projects?
• How many people can’t resist sleeping in?
• Are there a lot of young children with early bedtimes?

What does the average schedule look like for the people we want to reach?

My Recommendation

If you can only choose one service time, Sunday morning 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM seems the most advantageous with consideration to the whole of American culture. It is late enough that people can sleep in or take their time getting ready in the morning. And it is early enough that they can still watch Sunday football games on TV. It is a time that American culture is conditioned to expect.

In their book Simply Strategic Growth, Tony Morgan and Tim Stevens suggest adding multiple services on the same day to make it easier for the congregation to attend one service and volunteer in another. They also recommend experimenting with service times to discover what works best for your church. Granger Community Church (Granger, IN) discovered that people liked a Sunday 11:45 AM service and that Saturday night services worked well for families.

Above all, remember to choose a service time based on what will reach the most people. Don’t choose the traditional service time just because it is what has worked in the past, but at the same time, don’t choose a different or unusual service time just for the sake of being different or unusual.

If you have a question you want Church Relevance to answer, submit it via our Q+A form.