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There Are Church Brochures in the Lobby
Craig Groeschel talked recently at his blog about preaching on his church's vision. Craig writes: “I explained that in the lobby, I had brochures from ten other churches in town that I recommended. (I had relationships with these pastors and completely trusted their leadership.) The next week, we had about 500 new seats for people who could get excited about the vision...”
OK… granted that we all don’t have Craig’s problem: we don’t need to make room for five hundred more people so that we can accomplish our mission to reach the lost. But we do probably have one thing in common: we all have people that attend our church who don’t buy in to the vision of our church.
How do you deal with those people? These aren’t evil people… they are mostly good, God-fearing people who just haven’t attached themselves with where you vision is taking your churches.
Many churches pacify them as long as possible for fear that they actually might leave. Other churches give in to people who don’t approve of the vision by giving them a voice in the on-going direction of the church (again, so they won’t leave). But few take Craig’s courageous stand: Explain the vision succinctly, then give people the alternative to either affirm the vision, or bow out gracefully.
Have you communicated your vision clearly? And if so, how are you offering to help those good people who call your church home who don’t agree with where you’re going? It’s a question you must answer if your church will boldly stay on-mission.
Have a great week!
Todd
This post has been viewed 239 times and was added on November 19, 2007 by Todd Rhoades. Filed under: Leadership Issues Leadership Development Share this post with a friend right now! View reactions to this post at other blogs... You can really help us out by subscribing to our free RSS feed with your favorite feed reader, or here at Bloglines. Also, you can add us to your favorites at Technorati.
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I'm Todd Rhoades... the MMI guy. I'm also on the team at Leadership Network (although that doesn't mean that they endorse everything I write here). In my past life, I was the founder and developer of a website named ChurchStaffing.com.
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Posted by Bill
Monday, November 19, 2007 at 9:11 AM
Post Your Comments:After we communicated our vision more clearly and simply and defined for people the type of church we are, we had some people leave - telling us lovingly, yet honestly that we were the kind of church they were looking to belong to.
We didn’t make brochures available for them, but I did help a couple of people find a good church that I thought may match what they were looking for. I didn’t mind helping to point them in a good direction, and helping them find a church.
I kind of felt like the Macy’s Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street, sending people to other stores...and you remember what happened in that movie - it only made the store and the Santa more endearing.
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