Episode300: 5 Coming Attractions You Don't Need to Miss

Episode300: 5 Coming Attractions You Don't Need to Miss   Coming attractions are a big part of a movie experience. What does the future at a movie theater hold? WELL fewer people go to the movies and most people don’t have a clue what movies are coming out in the near future. Times have shifted.   I was in Colorado perfoming a wedding this past weekend. Something really struck me. Two locations…one where a mega church once stood in what would be (in my estimation be building worth in the tens of millions of dollars). The other is a church that at one time housed maybe 250 people in an amazing location and a property worth several million. Neither church congregation even exists today. Tragic!   This story plays several times over in Colorado and all across our nation. We would be short-sighted not to pay attention to the lessons we can learn from coming attractions. I know from these two churches’ stories that the mega church died due to scandal and the other church died with a leader who had a track record of terrible leadership. - Alan   What are some of the coming attractions we must see?   1) expect a growing distrust of clergy and organizations. In many people’s minds, the larger the organization, the larger cover-ups must be.   2) Expect a need to change leadership style. Once upon a time, strong leaders led, and followers followed. Today, strong leaders build a collaborative team and lead through teams.    3) Expect unchurched people to be messy additions to your congregation. When a new family attends your church, they may have little or no church background. Do you have clear pathways to help their faith grow? People will come your way if you do.   4) Expect some churches to fail. I don’t want to see any of our churches fail, but reality tells a different story. Failure to adapt and change, failure to be outreach-minded… Most churches wait until they are too far down the death trail to get help.     All churches end - but that does not mean they failed - They are placed by God at a place in time and location on purpose for a purpose!   5) Expect buildings to get more costly. Churches should consider asking how the building use can increase. Home school co-ops, chamber of commerce meetings, business leader lunches…put your buildings to use. Busy buildings are more financially viable.