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Best Practices
January 25, 2012

 I was so fortunate to see and meet many of you at the Adventist Ministries Convention in Florida last week. Thanks for introducing yourselves, and for telling us what you like about Best Practices!  

 

We had three marvelous Night Owl Caf� evenings. Roger Hernandez was articulate about the growth of Hispanic churches, and problems of the 2nd generation. Susan Nienaber talked (and listened) about conflict in Seventh-day Adventist churches.  

 

I really wish you all could have been there to hear our NAD President, Elder Dan Jackson, and his encouraging words to pastors. Dan spoke honestly and revealingly about the challenges of NAD pastors ministering in a world church.  

 

We took video of each conversation, and we're going to share parts of them with you. Look for links in future Best Practices!

 

Blessings,

Loren Seibold 

IN THIS ISSUE
Ministry: Four metrics for a dynamic congregational picture
News: Division Wide Ministerial Convention in 2015
Reading: Tebow's Jn 3:16 facepaint saves souls!
Quotes: "Every increased possession loads us with new weariness."
News & ideas: The Art and Craft of Preaching
Events: NAD Health Summit
Ministry 
monte sahlinWhat Does Membership Mean?
Part 2: Four metrics for a dynamic congregational picture

Membership alone is not an adequate measure of a church's
health and spiritual vitality. The most complete picture combines membership with three other metrics: 

* Attendance: weekly headcounts of all ages and types of people. This is the most sensitive indicator of church vitality and problems.
* Participation: the number of people who attend at least once a month, including both baptized members and others.
* Total Parish Census: a new concept for most Adventist pastors and the metric on which the Adventist Church does the most poorly in interdenominational surveys. This includes all of the members (active and inactive), the children and spouses living in the homes of members, the non-members who attend at least once a month, and the non-members who participate in Bible study groups, fellowships, activity groups and other ministries. This is the total field of one's pastoral ministry, and most likely the pool of people from which new members will come.

Good pastoral practice pays attention to all four numbers. While this kind of statistical analysis seems impersonal, these numbers represent a relational analysis of the dynamics in the congregation.

Membership is an indication of the "base" of a congregation; the source of governance and decision-making, the supporters who can be expected to give time and money to the ministries of the church.

Attendance measures the type of group dynamics that prevail in a congregation. "Single cell" congregations (average attendance of 50 or less) tend to take care of themselves through informal means and resist both growth and pastoral leadership. "Pastor-centered" congregations (51 to 150) expect the most personal involvement of a pastor and are the most easily influenced. "Program-centered" congregations (151 to 300) need a team of leaders in which the pastor functions as facilitator, not proprietor. "Corporation style" congregations (more than 300) require a complex internal structure and multiple staff in order to thrive.

The active participants (everyone who attends at least once a month) describe the relational reality of a local church. If a church is to be truly mission-driven, the active participants need to be viewed as a core group.

The wider circle of all the people connected with the congregation is often ignored. Few pastors even know this number. Yet it is crucial to growth. This is the pool from which your baptisms will come. In today's world, discipleship begins with bonding. 


An organizational chart such as that used in a business corporation or an institution is not a helpful picture for a congregation. The life of a congregation is more fluid and organic. Instead, picture circles within circles - layers of relationships - and develop a sense of where each person is at in those layers and what direction their spiritual life is headed. Who is moving from outside in? Who is moving from inside out? Who is stalled at one stage or another?

These four metrics are designed to give you quick information about the health and vitality of the complex weave of relationships that makes up a congregation. A membership audit (as discussed in part one) provides a snapshot of a congregation's life. These four metrics provide a moving picture of a congregation's dynamics.

News from NAD Ministerial
Division Wide Ministerial Convention slated for 2015   
Last week at the NAD Ministries convention the NAD Ministerial Directors and Union presidents both recommended that the NAD hold a division wide Pastors' Convention in 2015. This will be the first division wide ministerial meeting ever sponsored by the NAD. Current conversation leans toward a Texas location around the last week of June. Details as far as the time and place will be announced in an upcoming edition of Best Practices. Pastors are urged to save the date for this premier event. 

  

Women Clergy Conference

NAD Ministerial is sponsoring an Adventist Women Clergy Conference April 23-26 at the Frontier Missions retreat Center in Berrien Springs Michigan.  "It is my hope and dream that 100% of Adventist women who are pastoring in Adventist Churches can attend this event" says Ivan Williams, NAD Ministerial Director. There are currently 107 women serving as employed pastors in NAD congregations. . Women clergy may register for this event at PlusLine. For more information about this event contact Esther Knott, Associate Director, NAD Ministerial.   

 

Ministerial Policy Revisited

The NAD Working Policy for Pastors, L Section, is currently being revisited by NAD Ministerial with hopes of updating, clarification, and alignment with current practices in ministry. Study committee members are James Fox, Ernie Furness, Esther Knott, and Billy Leveille.  Pastors and Ministerial Directors are urged to give their input to the chairman Walt Williams.     

 

   

Reading for Pastors 
Church administrators and pastors, take note: If you want your people employees to excel, you have to listen to them. Quote: "If you want the people you work with to do extraordinary things, you really have to understand what they value. I'm trying to get people to remain confident in their creative ability. In order for them to have that kind of creativity, you have to be very transparent. Understand them and involve them in the decisions being made."

Video: about business, but a very important message for churches, too. Tom Peters says a nice building means nothing without nice people! (Warning: the "d" word is used.)

Faith & fame testimonies:

From a Pew Internet & American Life Project: 1 in 5 American adults have made a charitable contribution through a website and nearly 1 in 10 have done the same via mobile phone text. ... The shift to internet financial tools isn't going away. Here are seven reasons we should offer electronic giving. 

 

Lee Strobel thinks we're on the edge of a golden age of Christian apologetics! Quote: "When [William Lane] Craig debated Christopher Hitchens, one of the leading evangelists for atheism until his recent death, an atheist website evaluated the results by saying, 'Frankly, Craig spanked Hitchens like a foolish child.' ... In fact, the biggest problem for Craig has been that atheists are now afraid to debate him!"


How to (not) get hired for a church job. Quote: "When you first walk in to my office, I am expecting you to be one of the 99%+ people who I know I won't hire in the first 5 minutes. I am hoping I will be proven wrong, because I really want to hire you and be done interviewing. Unfortunately, most people looking for jobs don't deserve them."

A major denominational split may be in the offing:
Dissenters from the Presbyterian Church USA have started a new denomination because of PCUSA's decision to ordain gay clergy.

This US Supreme Court decision, say legal experts, shields churches from government interference. Sounds good on the surface, but could it have a down side for employees?

To the Point
Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.
 - John Ruskin

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
 - Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
 - Rita Mae Brown

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
 - Will Rogers

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
 - Henry Kissinger

If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you.
 - Don Marquis

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.
 - Herman Melville

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made.
 - Jean Giraudoux

I'm glad I didn't have to fight in any war. I'm glad I didn't have to pick up a gun. I'm glad I didn't get killed or kill somebody. I hope my kids enjoy the same lack of manhood.
 - Tom Hanks 
News, Ideas & Reminders
Humor: Here's one way to get back at cell-phoners in public venues!

Have you been praying with our North American Division members and leaders?
2012 NAD Prayer Calendar in a PDF format, and also download a four-slide PowerPoint presentation to assist you in encouraging our members to actively participate in our Revival and Transformation Initiative.

NAD health summit televised! Watch the evening plenary sessions of the NAD Health Summit, A Healthy 100, January 27-February 5, televised on Hope Channel at 7:15 pm ET every night except Thursday.

Oakwood University's Bradford-Cleveland-Brooks Leadership Center presents the Third Annual Conference on the Art and Craft of Preaching, February 26-29, 2012 at OU. Keynote by Elder N.C. Wilson. Email [email protected].

Got a tool, resource, site, article, idea or seminar that you like a lot? Share it with us at [email protected].  
Upcoming NAD Events
Do you have an event you'd like to invite NAD pastors to? Send details to [email protected].

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:[email protected]

 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
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.