8 Lessons from Megachurches

In the Dec 21, 2007 edition of Forbes Magazine, Dale Buss reported that "CEOs may have a lot to learn from their counterparts running evangelical megachurches." The pastors and business leaders interviewed for the article say that business has a lot to learn from how churches are run. In fact, a lot of today's business manuals are based on the idea of "servant leadership," a concept straight out of the Bible!

Running a church of several thousand is in fact a lot harder than running a substantial for-profit business. For example, in a business, the motivation to show up each day and work hard is money and career aspirations, and it is the company leadership that provides that external motivation. In a church, the motivation is all internal - the people come for their own intrinsic reasons. More than that, they often give time and money to the organization because of only a 30 minute speech by the "Chief Encouragement Officer."

Using data from Harvard social scientist Robert Putnam, Buss gives us 8 key lessons from the pastors of the healthiest megachurches in America, lessons such as casting a vision and showing gratitude, doing regular reviews and saying no so you can do the important things well, and focusing their passions in ways that help the organization, instead of boosting their own ego or status in the community.

I encourage you to read the article for yourself. There's a lot of meat in that one quick page. This is the stuff revolutions are made from (though some of the people who have commented so far don’t quite “get it”).

A Christian Nation at Christmas

A new Gallup poll confirms that the USA is a Christian nation, not by decree but by popular choice. 82% call themselves Christian, and since another 11% say they have no religion and 2% didn't answer, most of the opposition to Christian traditions comes from less than 5% of Americans.

No, not everyone is active in their faith. Only a third say they attend some kind of church each week, 44% if you include those who attend "regularly." Other surveys suggest that only half attend a traditional style church, with the rest counting their church attendance as being part of a home study or community prayer breakfast or some other alternate worship style.

The most interesting finding is that the Christian faith is strengthening in America. Although church attendance seems to be declining, those who do attend are making strides at influencing the culture. In 1969 and 70, only 14% said religion was increasing its influence on society and in how people lived their lives. This year's Gallup survey says that 56% of Americans have said religion is very important, and is an influence in their daily lives.

What does this say to you, trying to strengthen your local church? First is says you are not alone. The world is not against you. Church pastors are making a difference in what people believe. There is hope. Just as God came to dwell among us that first Christmas, to teach us how to be more in step with God's perfect plan, and to give his life for us, so we must continue to dwell among our world, and share that love of Christ with them.

Be encouraged!

The Social Cost of Debt

According to C. Michael Johnson of Mindstorm IdeaLetter, the next few years will see a huge increase in social and societal problems as a result of the current mortgage crisis. A large part is the limit of personal savings and the increasing consumer culture. House prices nationally have doubled in the past decade, and more in some areas. Teaser-rate mortgages have encouraged people to get into increasingly larger houses they can barely afford.

Johnson reports that more than a quarter of low-income households now spend forty percent or more of their earnings repaying debt up 191 percent. That means if they got into the housing market on an adjustable mortage, and that mortgage rate goes up, they can end up spending the majority of their income just for housing. And in my area, housing prices have started dropping, so many people that bought in the past couple of years now owe more than the house is worth, so they're at risk of having to pay more than they can afford for a house they can't sell.

The report also notes that “a family with two earners today actually has less discretionary income, after fixed costs like medical insurance and mortgage payments are accounted for, than did a family with one breadwinner in the 1970s.”

What's that mean for your church? Since 95% of married couples fight about finances, and this gives ammunition, more marriages will be in trouble. In fact, #1 cause of divorce in America is finances. It might mean that your occasional givers will stop giving. It may mean an increase in benevolence needs. It may mean some volunteers will have to stop coming to work a second (or third) job.

So what can the church do? First, learn the extent of the problem. Start with Mr Johnson's blog on the issue.

Then act. Host money management courses. Bring in community service counselors.

And pray.