Best Practices
| January 12, 2012
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| Events |  The Night Owl Café returns to the Adventist Ministries Convention
The Night Owl Café was created at our last AMC to give Best Practices readers a chance to dialog in a relaxed evening setting about important topics with important people. Here's our schedule for next week:
 Sunday, January 15 - 9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Roger Hernandez, Hispanic ministries director, converses with us about why Hispanic churches are growing, what the rest of us can learn from them, and what Hispanic churches will have to do as they move into their second and third post-immigration generations.
 Monday, January 16 - 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Our NAD president Elder Dan Jackson has agreed to meet with us for a conversation about being a North American pastor in a world church. Dan writes, "Pastors are the life-line of the church where it is at it's most vital and vulnerable. I'd be honored to have a dialogue with them." If you've got questions you'd like to ask Dan, be there!
 Tuesday, January 17 - 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Susan Nienaber from the Alban Institute wants to converse with us about the dynamics of conflict in SDA churches, in preparation for her keynote address on Wednesday morning.
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| Ministry |  What Does Membership Mean?
Part 1: Doing a Membership Audit.
The Christian church didn't adopt the idea of membership until the Reformation. For Adventists, it's embedded in the "free church" part of our heritage, as illustrated in the New England town hall meeting where the emphasis is on self-governing institutions instead of institutions run by the powerful few.
Yet membership generally is in decline in contemporary society. The book Bowling Alone documented that bowling leagues and all the traditional civic groups in America have been hard hit. Starting with the Baby Boom generation, individualism has changed the social structures of churches, organizations and the workplace. Note the growth in the number of couples living together outside of marriage: relationships with social structure of any kind are not what people prefer.
Because we Adventists see "kingly power" as something that God prohibits, we must regard membership as essential to maintaining a self-governing organization. Ours is not to be merely a consumer religion - a store where we go to obtain "religious groceries," supplies of inspiration and spirituality. It is a community of disciples charged with a mission to impact the world in which they live, an expeditionary force with assigned goals in an alien world. Its capacity to sustain and govern itself is absolutely essential. Membership is foundational to that capacity. So how do we understand church membership in a non-joining world?
Begin with an audit of your church membership. Here's how its done:
Go through the membership list name by name and code each individual in one of the following categories: (1) People who attend at least once a month most of the year. (2) People who do not attend because of disability, age or they are away at school or in military service, etc. (3) People who have moved out of the area but not yet transferred their membership. (4) The leftovers, who live in the area but attend less than once a month, perhaps not at all.
Over the last couple of decades my graduate students and I have done this with more than 1,000 local churches and usually about 25% to 35% of the names fall into the 4th category and can be called "inactive." I do not see any evidence that this percentage is increasing across the board, although many people express that opinion.
You'll also find that about 5-10% of the regular attenders have not joined the local church. Some of these are spouses of Adventists who have never been baptized, some are people preparing for baptism. And there are usually a number of baptized members of the denomination who attend regularly, turn in tithe and offerings, and even hold church office but have not transferred their membership.
People express various reasons for not transferring their membership. Some seek to provide support for a small church in a rural area that they are afraid will be closed if the membership dwindles too far. Others find no spiritual value the "bureaucracy" of membership transfers. Younger adults may see "membership" as an out-dated practice. That's why many of the more contemporary Evangelical churches ignore membership as a category and keep records simply of participation-people who attend, people who join activity groups, people who register for programs, etc. They often have much more up-to-date and useful records than the average Adventist congregation.
Discuss this article on our Facebook page.
Next issue: Part 2: four metrics for improved congregational analysis |
More Best Ideas
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What Idea is God Blessing in Your Church?
That question was asked to pastors attending the Southwest Union Conference Pastoral Convention in Ft. Worth Texas on January10-12, 2012. Dozens of outstanding answers were uploaded to the Best Ideas in Ministry video on demand channel.
Pastor Mavis Rojas has energized the evangelistic potential of her youth group  by inspiring them to 'jam in the streets' and then inviting the growing crowd of kids to her apartment where she gives them Bible studies and invites them to church on the 4th Sabbath of the month for Youth Sabbath.
 Smaller churches may not have all of the resources of a large church but Pastor Travis Patterson discovered that if district churches each could share their own distinct resources both churches would win. He started the process by pulling leaders out of both churches for a mission trip. Once they got to know each other in a neutral location there was enough trust developed so that they could pool resources within the district.
 Pastor Gregory Stinsondivided his congregation into four parts: The North Wind, The South Wind, The East Wind, and the West Wind, with each part responsible for one quadrant of the city. Members then could focus on reaching the needs of a specific part of the community.
 Pastor Ricardo Viloria has discovered tremendous ministry opportunities in performing funerals for community families. At the funeral church members bring food for a meal after the funeral. He then invites the grieving families back to the congregation for a special prayer meeting at the church where the congregation prays for the grieving families.
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| Reading for Pastors | What is the "halo effect" of churches worth economically to a community? A UPenn professor studied twelve Philly congregations and gave them a community value of $50,577,098 in annual economic benefits!
This piece from Barna on what people experience when they go to church contains some interesting conclusions. One surprise: in spite of all of the negativity you'll hear about the church experience, "Connecting with God is perhaps the most important outcome facilitated by churches. Most people (66%) feel they have had 'a real and personal connection' with God while attending church."
Rob Bell leaves Mars HIll and his co-pastor reflects on his departure.
Be careful what you tweet! Could social media get you or your church sued? (See below, downloadable social media safety policy.)
People who are generous in church are generous elsewhere. According to this study, churches aren't in competition with charities, but both tend to draw from the same sources.
So, what if you're preacher isn't a superstar? Quote: "When hearing lackluster (even if biblical) preaching, immature worshipers will typically not listen to the message because they wish the messenger was more exciting. Conversely, mature worshipers eagerly receive the truth as it is proclaimed, even if it sounds like the preacher is reading a phone book."
What do the millennials think of church? Interesting book review/summary here. Quote: "I did attend church for several months about three years ago. But the more I got to know people in the church, the more I heard about infighting and fussing. That made me notice how negative church people and preachers are in general. You know, it seems like every time I read about a Christian leader, he's telling people what he's against."
Demography: |
New Book in the iFollow Discipleship Series
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A Deeper Look at Your Church 
Discipleship Resource for New Members
After an evangelistic series, and sometimes baptism, new members may feel at a loss, unsure of where they fit in their new church family. The purpose of this book is to explore what it means to be an Adventist, how the church is organized, its core values, and more. This information seeks to help new members move forward with confidence and courage. Most of all, this book seeks to center believers in a vital friendship with God. A Deeper Look at Your Church, Paperback. Copyright 2010. 221 pages.
iFollow is the first comprehensive discipleship series created by the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Each iFollow book features a clear statement of purpose, flexible content you can tailor to your situation, and activities you can use.
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| To the Point | All quotes from evangelical writer/scholar A.W. Tozer.
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.
One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team.
It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.
Rules for Self Discovery:
1. What we want most;
2. What we think about most;
3. How we use our money;
4. What we do with our leisure time;
5. The company we enjoy;
6. Who and what we admire;
7. What we laugh at.
The yearning to know what cannot be known, to comprehend the incomprehensible, to touch and taste the unapproachable, arises from the image of God in the nature of man. Deep calleth unto deep, and though polluted and landlocked by the mighty disaster theologians call the Fall, the soul senses its origin and longs to return to its source.
Sometimes I go to God and say, "God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth, I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already. God's already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn't pay Him for what He's done for me."
We can afford to follow Him to failure. Faith dares to fail. The resurrection and the judgment will demonstrate before all worlds who won and who lost. We can wait.
Philosophy and science have not always been friendly toward the idea of God, the reason being they are dedicated to the task of accounting for things and are impatient with anything that refuses to give an account of itself. The philosopher and the scientist will admit that there is much that they do not know; but that is quite another thing from admitting there is something which they can never know, which indeed they have no technique for discovering.
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| Upcoming NAD Events |
Do you have an event you'd like to invite NAD pastors to? Send details to BestPractices@Ameritech.net.
NAD Pre-Convention Prayer Summit. Jan 12, 2012 - Jan 15, 2012, Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club, 26750 U. S. Highway 19 North, Innisbrook, FL 34684. "Revolution on Our Knees". Featured Speakers: Dan Jackson, President, North American Division; José Rojas; Director, Volunteer Ministries, North American Division; Jonathon Henderson, Pastor, Northern California Conference; Jim Moon, Pastor, Rocky Mountain Conference; Pavel Goia, Pastor, Kentucky-Tennessee Conference. For more information, email: ruthiej@earthlink.net
NAD Adventist Ministries Convention. Jan 15, 2012 - Jan 18, 2012, Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club, 36750 US Highway 19 N, Palm Harbor, FL 34684. The NAD Adventist Ministries Convention (AMC) features keynote speakers, guest musicans, ministry advisories and a menu of training seminars for Seventh-day Adventist Ministry facilitators and leaders throughout North America. It is an opportunity for ministry professionals to re-think, re-evaluate, re-tool, and re-discover. Phone: 301-680-6429. For more information, email: chariolett.johnson@nad.adventist.org
Religious Liberty Week. Jan 15, 2012 - Jan 21, 2012, North American Division. Religious Liberty offering will be taken January 21, 2011. Resource materials are being mailed to each pastor and religious liberty leader. For more information, email: latha.bithini@nad.adventist.org
NAD Health Summit Orlando 2012. Jan 27, 2012 - Feb 5, 2012, Orlando Mariott Lake Mary, 1501 International Parkway, Lake Mary, FL 32746. "Equipping Health Leaders to Reach Out." For a list of seminars, click here. Phone: 407-252-6554 (after 5:30pm EST) For more information, email: yasminthen1@yahoo.com 2012 West Coast Worship Conference, February 2-4, Simi Valley, Adventist Media Center. Will feaure Elizabeth Talbot, Ryan Bolger, Ray Beeson, others.
The ACS Outreach Leadership Conference is sponsored by the Adventist Community Services - Washington, the North Pacific Union Conference and NAD Adventist Community Services. It will be held at the Washington Conference Office in Federal Way, Washington on March 2-4, 2012. Participants will hear challenging speakers and choose from 30 training seminars. For registration and more information: www.washingtonconference.org/ACS.
Nonprofit Leadership Certification Program
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Best Practices is a Vervent publication of NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER. Editor: Loren Seibold, Ohio Conference. E-mail:
Best Practices. You are free to republish pieces from Best Practices in your own
newsletter or blog, with attribution to the Best Practices newsletter and the
author of the piece. |
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