Guest blog: Curt Swindoll — 4 “Wake Up Call” Statistics for Church Leaders

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Curt Swindol, Digital Ministry, Pursuant Group

Curt Swindoll – Pursuant Group

Today’s blog is from Curt Swindoll. Curt (@CurtSwindoll) is the executive vice president for strategy at Pursuant, a comprehensive fundraising consultancy based in Dallas, Texas. He serves as the principal of Pursuant’s work with faith-based organizations and leads the firm’s Direct Response practice group.

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The American evangelical Christian experience today is unrecognizable compared to a generation ago and the challenges has never been greater for many church leaders. Today’s young people are increasingly apathetic to spiritual life, and studies show they are leaving the church in droves, never to return. Compounding matters are the fact that those who remain donate fewer funds to support ministry programs and missions, with young Christians giving much less compared to their elders.

Despite these obstacles, I still believe there’s hope. While we can rest in the promise that nothing shall completely extinguish the Church’s light in the world, we can’t turn blindly from these new challenges. This happens when we recognize our current reality and take the time to understand how we reached this point.

How Did We Get to this Point?

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the “Moral Majority” arose in reaction to the cultural upheaval and apparent desertion of traditional American values of the 1960s and 70s. Today’s cultural milieu has seen a resurgence in issues that notably defined the 1960s have intensified by a growing hatred of evangelical morals, especially as they relate to issues of homosexuality and marriage.

The combined effect of these stresses and strains upon the evangelical church amounts to what journalist and pastor John S. Dickerson has coined “The Great Evangelical Recession” of the 21st century.

4 “Wake Up Call” Statistics for Church Leaders

How have these changes impacted ministries like yours? Here are a few statistics that church leaders can’t afford to ignore when it comes to the new realities of church giving:

1. The Great Recession saw churches donations fall by 20 to 30 percent. There’s no denying the impact the Great Recession had on many churches and ministries. While the economy has recovered, churches have not seen an equivocal restoration in rates of giving.
2. In 2004, tithes and offerings accounted for 57 percent of total giving in the United States. Today, church giving only accounts for 31 percent. Americans are increasingly giving more to charity, but less of that money is going to the church.
3. Older Church Members account for 19 percent of church population, but contribute 46 percent of its donations. Attitudes around giving have changed, especially with younger generation. In order to create a culture of generosity among younger church members, we must recognize what motivates them to contribute financially and adapt our approaches.
4. Evangelical giving across the board may drop by about 70% during the next two to three decade. This is probably one of the most alarming statistics in the book. Dickerson highlights that when you combine all of the trends around church giving and attendance, many churches might find themselves in a financial predicament in the next 20-30 years.

It’s Time to Reverse the Trend

The days of waiting until the end of the year to “work it all out” or hoping for the best won’t be enough to engage the people in your church and move them toward extravagant generosity. We [the evangelical church] can reinvent ourselves ten years from now, in desperate reaction. Or we can reinvent ourselves now, in thoughtful proactive planning.

If you’re ready to take the first step in reversing the downward trends in church giving and lead your church towards deeper levels of generosity, here are two resources we’ve created for you:

The Great Evangelical Recession: Executive Summary — You may not have time to dive into the entire book but I wanted to share with you this great tool you can use to measure the health of your church relative to the movement as a whole.

Isn’t There an Easier Way to Fund Ministry? — Church leaders are beginning to ask some important questions when it comes to funding ministry. In this resource, we unpack some of the most critical questions related to the future of church giving and what it means for your church.

Are these statistics indicative of the challenges impacting generosity in your church? What are you doing to overcome them?

The Digital Ministry: A Manifesto

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Authority, Digital Ministry, Disciples, God Thoughts, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Mission, Obedience, Worship

Radical Sayings of Jesus

Jesus has a mission for us. He commissioned us. He commanded us to do it. He demands we pay attention. This isn’t optional. So let us pay attention to what He wants.

His mission for us starts with go out and train. The audience is everyone near and far. What a wonderful time we live in right now. If we see our mission as a digital ministry, we have the tools to go out and train, near and far. Not only do we have some amazing tools today, the pace of change is accelerating so fast that the new tools that will come in the next few years will make our heads spin. They don’t make God’s head spin though. It is His intent that we use them to make disciples all over the world.

What an amazing God we serve.

So … here starts the manifesto for the digital ministry. Fasten your seat belts, it may be a bumpy ride but God will use us when we listen to Him about this exciting world. Let’s not hold back, risking ourselves totally.

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.

Source: (Matthew 28:15-20 The Message)

Digital Ministry: Jesus wants purposeful leaders that deliver God’s amazing experiences

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Bruce Temkin, Digital Ministry, Leadership, Purposeful

Leadership

Bruce Temkin at Customer Experience Matters has done a masterful survey on what distinguishes purposeful leaders.

Jesus, of course, wants purposeful leaders who are focused on what God wants to have done today. Purposeful leadership is key to a culture in our ministries that is focused on delivering amazing God-experiences for disciples.

We compared the frequency with which very successful leaders demonstrated the behaviors with the frequency demonstrated by other managers. The behaviors with the largest gaps represent the most distinguishing characteristics of purposeful leaders. via 10 Behaviors That Distinguish Purposeful Leaders | Customer Experience Matters.

So what are great leaders who are disciples of Jesus much more likely to do?

1. Motivate disciples to deliver their best work
2. Help disciples understand complex situations by describing things in simple terms
3. Help disciples make decisions by presenting clear options between following Jesus or not
4. Motivate disciples to work together to achieve God’s goal
5. Look beyond obvious choices to find God’s solutions
6. Admit to his or her mistakes when there is a problem
7. Help disciples identify and achieve their personal goals that God has given them
8. Make decisions that will help the ministry achieve its long-term goals even if they do not benefit the ministry right away
9. Disciple others
10. Communicate a clear and compelling vision of the future

Digital Ministry: Create heartfelt experiences

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Amazing Experiences, Cost, Heartfelt, Matthew 25, Ordinary

Heartfelt experience with Jesus

“The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest. ‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’ (Matthew 25:26-30 The Message)

There comes a time where we have to make a decision. What will we invest in? It is a serious question and not a budget exercise. If we are going to be intentional and proactive, we need to make an investment. Jesus is after the best. It is criminal to live cautiously. Jesus said so. He means it.

At first that may be just time. Eventually it will be about people, our processes, our strategies and our technology. If we don’t become intentional in our approach to our digital disciple experiences we will continue to be haphazard in our approach; reacting, responding, solving toxic experiences in real time. This intention however must be about heartfelt experiences. It must create a passion for our mission and God’s work.

There is of course, a very real cost to reacting. Scrutinize your budget and you will see that most of our fixed expenses are reactionary. What if we invested in proactive and intentional experiences of the heart up front? Could we radically reduce our reactionary and bloated fixed expenses? In fact, my guess is the reactionary expenses vastly exceed proactive expenses. I know ministries that are ramping up their expenses in reactionary engagement and relationships. The good news is that they are succeeding in shifting the negative to neutral or even the positive.

So what is the outcome of taking a negative and balancing it with a positive? Is it engagement or damage control? So what is the cost and value of neutralizing the negative? Shouldn’t we start with the amazing? What is the return on that investment in the stunning? What is probably most concerning is that most ministries are not measuring much of this. And why are we struggling to raise more money? Why don’t we have the reach we should for the Good News (Gospel). Why is our revenue flat? Why are members not engaged and increasing their contributions?

Is the experience we are creating wonderfully sharable? If not, what is our investment over the next 3 months going to be in changing that? We must invest in not only a positive experience but an experience that screams out for our members, volunteers and donors to share it with everyone they know. That encourages others to join in. It also offsets any negative experiences anyone else has shared. Think about it. We all read the ratings and comments. If there are 100 over the top ones we can ignore the one that is virally negative writing it off to a weirdo.

What is the biggest deal? Trying to offset the negative experiences or proactively creating amazing ones? Creating amazing ones is everything. That is not an exaggeration. You know, from your own experiences that it is true. The cost of reacting is always eclipsed by the upside of the stunning.

Think of what you want. You are a consumer. You are the disciple who wants something from your ministry. Are you looking for the ordinary? No, you are looking for an experience with Jesus, no, the experience. You want it to be amazing.

Any ministry that recognizes you, remembers you, and gives you an amazing disciple experience will win your heart. And it is all about your heart. You will be loyal to them no matter what. That is what we know as relevance. A passion of our heart that transcends anything else.

And so, that heartfelt experience is not just a so-so something. That heartfelt, amazing experience, is everything. That kind of vision is the father of innovation. Who needs the mother of invention in that kind of world?

The Digital Ministry: The Connected Disciple wants to give it all

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1 Timothy 6, Connected Disciple, Digital Ministry, Generous, Matthew 10, Rich, Tithe

Tithing vs. Giving

Over the years, many churches have developed a model to explain disciple giving, the tithe. Others have used a donor pyramid where a member moves over time from the first gifts (tithes) to annual giving to major gifts and then planned gifts. For today’s connected disciple, it is no longer a linear path to engagement and tithing. This is not intended to be a debate about whether to tithe or not. It is not about tithing vs. giving.

The new connected disciple will know the story of the “rich young ruler”.  They don’t want to be like him. They want to give it all.

“If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.” That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go. Matthew 19:21-22

The connected disciple is following a journey of experiences with your ministry. The visual is more a loop that includes awareness, consideration, evaluation, mission engagement (donate, volunteer, advocate or participate), sharing the experience, where they start to become loyal and continue engagement through another journey along the loop. This level of engagement requires dedicated monitoring, not just listening, to shepherd people along this delicate journey. In this new world of constant distractions, the journey can go astray without proper leadership.

Amazing Experience

This is why intentional journey design in creating the experience before, during and after it is experienced is so critical to relationships with connected disciples. If people can’t connect with the intent of your mission, then they won’t contribute to the intended outcomes God desires to see. The new connected disciple wants to go after God. Will you intentionally design the experience to lead there?

Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Digital Ministry: How important is the moment where a disciple decides to engage?

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1 Timothy 4, Digital Ministry, Disciple, Engagement, Experience

Digital Disciple

Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation. 1 Timothy 4:15-16

There comes a moment where a potential disciple of Jesus makes a decision to engage. They may be just “testing the waters” so to speak. They have decided to immerse themselves. They want more than anything to mature. They long to be taught. They want to experience salvation.

In the digital world, we can see this happen in real time or near real time. Unfortunately for many ministries, this is seen in a linear and transactional way. Please be aware that to your connected disciple, this is not a transaction. This is not about coming to church once a week. In being intentional about our design leads to a journey, we can get ahead of the experience to make sure this first encounter leads to a continued journey.

If the first experience was “Okay”, you may get a second shot. If the second experience is exactly the same as the first, you have lost the battle. This is why it is urgent that the design of the first experience to be stunning and that that experience continues consistently across the many mission opportunities to true discipleship.

It is important to note that your competition is not other ministries. Your competition for time to be a disciple of Jesus may be the blockbuster movie that just came out on Netflix. Your competition for the $50 donation may be the great sushi meal on Friday night or the book from Amazon. How does your digital experience compare to Netflix or Amazon or Foursquare or Facebook? That experience is your competition. It is urgent that we rethink the design (or lack of design) of the experiences our disciples have. Jesus paid attention to this. He intentionally created experiences for His disciples. Adding digital experiences to the mix expands the reach of His good news and the seriousness of the maturity of the disciple.

Now is the time. Today is the day.

The Digital Ministry: Is the connected disciple distracted or engaged?

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Connected Disciple, Digital Ministry, Engagement, Light, Matthew 5

We see it every day. We are at an event and someone holds up their phone to video or take a picture. Or they are looking down at their phone at your church service. You think they are distracted, not engaged with what is going on. Can’t they focus on the service and be engaged?

Here’s the rub. They aren’t distracted. They are engaged. They are sharing the video of the service on YouTube. They are checking in on Four Square. They are always connected and they are always sharing their experiences. They do it as it happens. This is the new Connected Disciple. They are sharing with their friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and via text messages. The question is are they doing it at your service? If not, why not?

Engagement is completely different now. It is “in the moment” physically and digitally. We are becoming increasingly networked with individuals amassing hundreds or thousands of friends and followers. And it is in multiple networks. What they say to me matters more than ever before. Word of mouth used to be one-to-one. Now is one-to-many and that many could be thousands for real influencers.

There is a new kind of currency. In the network economy, there is the audience who has an audience that has most of the influence. This influence is changing everything about how disciples connect with our ministry.

The balance of power used to be to the church message at the service. The new way of engaging and influence gives all the power to the disciple to amplify the good news message of Jesus. It is not as much about what you say but what they say about what you say.  Do you encourage your members to check in on Foursquare when they arrive? Do you encourage your members to tweet relevant portions of the service as it happens? Do you encourage your members to video relevant portions of the service and post them to YouTube or Facebook?

Will any of that make a difference in how you decide to transform your ministry? It does make a difference in spreading the good news of Jesus.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” ~~Jesus Matthew 5:14-16

Are you ready for a new generation of Disciples?

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Digital Disciple, Millennials, Psalm 48

You can tell the next generation detail by detail the story of God, Our God forever, who guides us till the end of time. Psalm 48:12-14

Are you ready for a new generation of disciples? Pastors, meet the Millennials. Millennials, meet XYZ church. Oops, there is a gap here. Most Pastors aren’t a part of Generation Y (also known as Millennials). Generation Y is considered to be individuals born in the early 1980s to 2000s. They come after Generation X. Millennials represent an important emerging group of potential disciples as they are also sometimes referred to as “echo boomers”. This refers to their size relative to the large group of Baby Boomers. In the US, birth rates peaked in 1990. It is helpful to know that Millennials have distinctly different behaviors, values and attitudes from previous generations as a response to the technological and economic implications of the internet.

Society and technology is evolving faster than many churches can adapt. We have to come to grips with the fact that the next generation disciple (member) landscapes are not only changing, they are evolving beyond our grasp. You and your leadership team are not dealing with disciples you know and recognize. You are in fact talking to strangers.

This means that we all need to spend a lot of time understanding what is important to this evolving group of disciples. Why would they want to engage with our ministry? How do they make decisions? Without that level of insight, we can’t create meaningful experiences for this emerging and important disciple. This group is critical to your future members, advocates and donors. This would be the time to start designing experiences based on their interest and behavior.

Here is some information that may be helpful in looking at these strangers known as Gen Y:

• Seventy-three percent have earned and used virtual currency.
• Gen Y will form about 75 percent of the workforce by 2025 and are already actively shaping corporate culture and expectations. Only 11 percent define having a lot of money as a definition of success.
• Sixty-six percent will look up a store if they see a friend check in.
• Start-ups dominate the work force for Gen Y’ers. Only 7 percent work for a Fortune 500 company. They expect large organizations to hear their voice and recognize their contributions. They need an “intrapreneurial” culture.
• They are three times as likely to follow a brand over family members in social networks.
• Millennials watch TV with two or more electronic devices.
• Millennials trust strangers over friends and family when it comes time for purchase decisions. They value user-generated experiences heavily.
• Twenty-nine percent find love through Facebook while 33 percent are dumped via TXT or Wall posts. (I’m not making this up)
•  Gen Y’ers believe that other consumers care more about their opinions than companies do. That is why they share their opinions online.
•  Most people on Facebook have about 240 friends. Gen Y’ers maintain about 696 friends.

We need to bridge the gap from being strangers to becoming partners with our next generation of Jesus’ disciples.

Here are the key ideas:

• Understand how millennials are different as a group
• Design Discipleship experiences with a significant digital component
• Recognize that “traditional” church involvement is not important

The Digital Ministry: Are you ready for the journey? Your passion for Jesus and His disciples can turn you into a hero

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2 Corinthians 9, Connected Disciple, Digital Ministry, Intentional Giving, Jesus, Online Discipleship, Passion, Romans 2

You have a passion for Jesus. You want to do the right thing for His disciples. You believe in a better digital experience. You are on a journey. This is a world that brings about radical change for your ministry. Your journey will require that you master “change management”. “Change management” is your primary role as a visionary who truly believes your ministry can end up in a better place with more reach for God and with an improved bottom line to fund it. Much of the Good News message is about changing our mind. We are missing God’s goal. Jesus challenges us to see that and change how we think and what we do. Is it possible that part of this change involves reaching the world through a radically different digital experience? By the end of 2013, approximately 25% of individuals around the world will be connected through social networks alone.

In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

~~Apostle Paul (Romans 2:3-5)

You are a champion of transformation and innovation in your ministry. You will face a lot of challenges. It will require hard work, perseverance and support from many. You will discover many allies and a few enemies.

Part of your work is about discovery. Much of it is about communication and formulation of strategy. A focus on going from strategy to a few actionable next steps is critical. This is definitely hard work. If you are up to it, which is precisely why it is interesting. Not everyone can lead the way.

All the hard work will lead to the reward. Unparalleled growth for God is the promise of an enriched discipleship experience. Too often, the connected discipleship experience of your ministry is an afterthought. Your main focus is to become intentional about everything you can push into an online experience. So for example, if I was out of town, could I worship with you on my laptop or smartphone? Can I donate online or on my smartphone? Can I pray with you by video? Can I participate in an online discipleship experience that is systematic? Do you offer online courses and seminars?

To bring the issues front and center, you and others need to champion internal transformation. It doesn’t matter that you are unclear where to begin right now. Getting started will help you figure it out. You are going to need lots of helpers. And you probably need at least one mentor.

Acknowledging that the world is changing may be a wonderful place to start. We know the connected disciple (member) behavior is changing rapidly. It is impacting how members view your ministry. Documenting how it is impacting your ministry is another key focus area. It is already impacting your bottom line.

Another focus of the journey may be to break a few deadly habits. We all have habits. One ministry habit is seeing member giving (tithing) from the view of a single tithing transaction. This is called direct response. This habit can cause you to miss the member (they are a millionaire) who has recently made a series of small giving transactions. What experience did they just have with you? As a result of that experience, are they on a journey with you to engagement with your ministry? Moving from a transaction mindset to a relational and engagement mindset can remarkably impact the experience the disciple (member) has. This has huge rippling effects into loyalty to God, your ministry and total giving. I am constantly surprised by how many church websites don’t even highlight how to donate or give much less enable it online. There is generally no to little gratitude expressed for the gift. There is no stewardship letting the donor (tither) know how their gifts are being used. The Apostle Paul took great care to make sure the giving experience was well thought out. Please read 2 Corinthians 9. He was very intentional in his approach. Do you have the same level of intent in the digital giving experience for your ministry? Here is an excerpt:

Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

~~Apostle Paul 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Do your givers delight in giving? Is that the kind of experience you have intentionally designed for them? What does that look like digitally?

And so … it is a journey. The connected disciple (member) behavior is changing and changing fast. As a hero leading the journey internally, it is your role to help leaders see the impact to the experience with God, your bottom line and to help everyone keep up.

Here are the key ideas:

• Be a digital hero for Jesus and His mission for us
• It is a good thing our world is changing. Embrace it for God.
• Lead the change in your ministry. God is with you.

The Digital Ministry: Are our discipleship experiences intentional?

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Digital Ministry, Discipleship, Intentional, Isaiah 43, Jesus

What does the future of your ministry look like? Is it focused on the good news (Gospel) of Jesus AND design?

The premise of this manifesto is all about being intentional about the experiences Jesus’ disciples are having.

How many programs and services do you have? How many channels (Web, Social, Mobile, Call Center, Direct Mail, etc.) are you focused on? Do they all have a unified design and experience?

Good News (Gospel) + Design = Intentional disciple experiences

We are clear about the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus. Are we clear about our design? So you are thinking, what does Jesus care about “design” for? I am thinking Jesus spent a lot of time on “intentional design”. Why did he create so many parables? Why did he want a donkey to ride into Jerusalem on? Jesus is intentional.

If not, we aren’t ready to be the digital ministry of the future. If we aren’t ready to be a digital ministry, we aren’t ready for the future. If we aren’t ready for the future, will we be relevant 5 to 10 years from now? Tough questions I know but worth considering.

This may be very new for you. God is intentional that we need to be open. Consider this:

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

Isaiah 43:18-21 TNIV Bible

So here are a couple more of intriguing questions:

• How do we ensure that Jesus’ disciples are having an amazing experience?
• Why make disciples cope with the ordinary?
• Why aren’t disciples more engaged with both our mission and revenue opportunities?

Our focus and day to day work should be about creating “discipleship experiences” in this new age of the connected disciple. What is going on in the rest of the digital world isn’t lost on Jesus’ disciples. They are evaluating our ministry based on those experiences. We can bury our head in the sand. That will only get the message of Jesus left behind.

Disciples expect more from ministries than ever before. So our mission, programs and services have a level of expectation that our ministry may not be aware of. The support of Jesus’ disciples, contributors, members and volunteers have is not necessarily drive by our mission. It is driven by their experience of the ministry and the relationships they have with us. Does God expect us to reach the world? Has He given us the tools (think digital) to do it? Are they being fully utilized in your ministry?

Here is the harsh reality. Jesus’ disciples not only expect better experiences with your ministry, they believe that God wants them to have them. Will we be intentional in delivering on those expectations? Are we ready to get left behind with stagnant growth if we don’t deliver those disciple experiences? We may not be ready for that but it may already be happening. I encourage you to please think about it. It is a good question to ponder.

There is a unique opportunity to create amazing and positive experiences at our services, on the web, on the phone (do you have a call center?), on smart phones and in our direct mail pieces. Are all of those unified? Is the experience amazing?

That amazing or ordinary (or perhaps even bad) experience will be how our ministry is measured in terms of engagement or even our fundraising success. Do we know how Jesus’ disciples feel about the experience they are having with your ministry? If we don’t know, why don’t we? Are we being intentional about that experience they just had with at the service? Is it consistent with the experience they want on your web site?

Here are the key ideas:

• Design intentional discipleship experiences
• Listen to disciples to hear what kind of experience they are having
• Serve others by delivering the amazing

 

The Digital Ministry: Relevance is defined by how relevant the experience is

Tags

Digital Ministry, Discipleship, Experience, God Thoughts, Jesus, Relevance

Why are you so skeptical? ~~Jesus (Mark 2:8-12 The Message)

For the connected disciple (member), the journey is evolving (albeit very, very fast). That shouldn’t surprise you but it is good news. Your ministry hasn’t been left behind completely. Disciples (your members) have changed though. Their experience of you and your ministry may not be what any of us would want it to be. In this case, relevance is defined by how relevant the experience is in a world where we can be connected anywhere, anytime. Passion for the ministry is a part of amazing experiences.

How you personally decide to react or lead is up to you. It, of course, is not about technology. What is the journey of getting closer to disciples and staying relevant really about? Here are some ideas:

• Creating a culture built around the discipleship experience of Jesus and His followers being the focus of all you do.
• Empowering ministry staff to do what it takes to create amazing experiences for the connected disciple.
• Opening up the floodgates of innovation for God.

Just saying we want to get closer to the disciple won’t get your senior team on board. While a connected discipleship revolution is at your door, someone (meaning you) needs to convince the senior Pastor that change is imperative. Without that we will fail.

You know that most Ministers don’t use social networks personally. While they have smartphones, their primary utilization is for email, reading the Bible and looking at the calendar to know where to go to next. Trying to make a case that this is about technology will be a losing battle.

What is the future of your ministry built on? It isn’t about how Facebook, Twitter, iPhones, tablets or real time-time geolocation check-ins evolve. The future of your ministry does depend on the power of God to help you create relevance and the ability to at least understand technology to be able to make decisions about new opportunities. It does require the ability to strategically adapt to the new opportunities to create a compelling advantage for Jesus. Have you conducted a weekday morning video worship service on Google+ Hangouts or GoToMeeting?

But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. ~~Jesus (John 4:23 The Message)

Hmm. “Where you worship will not matter.” So much of this is about change. There is a technology revolution occurring. Other ministries are beginning to understand this. But it is also about a whole series of real-time revolutions that are seizing how our connected disciples (members) live which impacts their experience with us and with God. Expectations are moving fast. We can’t afford to get left behind. The kind of change we are talking about involves three things:

1. Listening
2. Learning
3. Adapting