The Church After Coronavirus

I just participated in a webinar by The Unstuck Group on the Church’s Response to Coronavirus. I found the information helpful as we consider the future. Tony Morgan expressed a lot of opinions during this webinar, and I am not sure where I land on some of these issues, but it is certainly worth having the conversation.

BTW - I have participated in a few other webinars on this topic, and Tony is not alone in his conclusion that the coronavirus interruption is a seismic paradigm shift for the church, and we will never return to a pre-coronavirus normal.

Blessings,

Chris Eller

The Church's Response to Coronavirus - Webinar Series

"March was a really long year.”

Four Take-aways for Churches:

1. Expect to see a significant decrease in in-person attendance for the foreseeable future (mid-2021 or even 2022).
2. Engagement is the new metric that matters more than attendance.
3. A Church needs to have a greater local presence in the community where God has placed a church. A community needs to see the church in action.
4. For churches, the economic recovery will take much longer than other sectors of the economy because for most giving is a discretionary item.
   

Tony Morgan - it will be a long time before in-person attendance returns to pre-coronavirus normal, and many churches will not see that return. There will be many churches that will not recover or survive the shutdown.

Most churches found their identity in their weekend services. This will need to change. Eighty percent of their focus was on their weekend services. This includes finances, staffing, and how we deploy our volunteers.

Moving forward, the church needs to focus their attention now on Organizational Strategies. The foundational values do not change, but strategies do change. Churches make a huge mistake when they begin to associate Organizational Strategies with Foundational Values.

—> The #1 reason churches get stuck is because churches have made their Organizational Strategies their Foundational Values.

The main strategies the church has employed and developed over the last 30 years will no longer work going forward.

Two types of pastors and church leaders right now:

• Pastor 1: "When will we get back to normal? When we will be able to return to our normal weekend services and ministries?" These pastors will likely not survive.
• Pastor 2: "How does this disruption need to change our strategy going forward."
  

Seven Shifts Churches Need to Make Because of the Coronavirus:

https://tonymorganlive.com/2020/04/15/7-church-shifts-coronavirus/

1. The shift from analog to digital. Think beyond just online services on Sunday morning. How do we make the shift to where our ministries are online.
2. The shift from teaching to equipping. This means equipping people with the necessary tools to take next steps to engage with the Word of God through spiritual disciplines and to live out the mission God has given them.
3. The shift from gathering to connect. Too many churches worked hard to keep people busy at events, activities, etc., with little effort to build community and connect
4. The shift from a global perspective to a local perspective. Churches have focused their mission emphasis and spending on global missions at the expense of their local community. It is easier to send money overseas or go on a short-term trip than to engage our neighbors in gospel conversations.
5. The shift from being complex to simple. Churches were struggling to do everything for everyone. The churches with a focused strategy will be effective.
6. The shift from being bloated financially to more frugal. The key area where this needs to happen is with staffing. Most churches will need a different kind of staff with different skills than prior to the interruptions. Over the last 10 years, churches in decline had 35% more staff than healthy churches.
7. The shift from measuring attendees (even viewers) to measuring engagement. Churches need to know who is engaging with their ministry. Requires different metrics.

We need to prioritize our digital strategy. For many churches, this will require an investment. This will be difficult because funds will be limited. Need to be creative and prioritize. This requires a strategy. Need to rethink Operational Strategies in order to accomplish the Foundational Values in a new environment.

We will be doing ministry with less money for the foreseeable future.

One metric they are watching is a correlation between churches who are being visibly generous within their community and at the same time are seeing an increase in giving to these churches.

Discipleship needs to move beyond the classroom and equip people how to engage with God’s word through personal spiritual disciplines. (Spiritual Formation strategies)

Churches need to rethink their facilities. It is very likely churches will not need the facilities they are currently using. A church’s website is its new facility. Facilities have been designed, essentially, for gathering. If in-person gathering is not a priority or option for a long time, how can a church use its facilities in a visible way to minister to the community?

Church leadership needs to get younger. If older leaders can’t engage digitally and be comfortable doing so, they need to step aside to give room for younger leaders who are digital natives.

Based on Unstuck Group’s research, 80 percent of American Churches were in plateau or decline. This interruptions will accelerate that trend.

There is a large disconnect between Digital engagement and giving. Most people today expect digital content and services to be free or low cost. Example, most streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) are $15 per month or less for almost unlimited content. This will require churches to make sure their strategies reflect their values and demonstrate they are effectively accomplishing their mission in the new environment. In this regard, nothing has changed: people give to vision. For too long, however, “the vision” of the church has emphasized tangible assets (buildings, renovations, staff, etc.) rather than a gospel-centered mission. This was often interpreted in the past as “we accomplish our gospel-centered mission by building buildings, hiring staff, etc.”

You need to rethink your connection process for people who connect with you digitally for the first time. One idea: offer a post service zoom gathering for new people to meet the pastor and to learn about next steps with the church.

Phone calls are more important than ever.

NOTE: Some people may not understand how to get your stream on a device like Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, etc. Explain how to get services on these devices so they can participate as a family in a group watching a television vs trying to do so with a computer or tablet.

There is a weak link in the churches to the digital approach right now, and that is in the ministry to Children. Churches need to change their children’s ministry focus from ministry to children to equipping parents in how to disciple and equip their children.

Again, schools are a good barometer for a community’s response to this virus.

College presidents yesterday: if we are not having on-campus school, we will not have football.

What metrics are the best to measure engagement: start monitoring new guests (figure out how to get contact info). This is the crucial first metric. Next: what are the steps people are taking in your strategy? Giving is an easy metric that many are already doing that gives a great measure of where people are at spiritually.

Is there a new staff role for this new reality? Yes. Digital Strategies.

The season of larger and larger facilities is over. There will not be a need, and churches will not have the finances (even access to loans) to build large facilities.

What is essential to the church moving forward: It is a church's Foundational Values. If these are not at the core of your thinking, you will quickly get off track and off mission.

Managing Church Finances When Money Gets Tight

by Chris Eller | Associate Executive Direction, Baptist Convention of Iowa

Dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way America lives for the immediate future. While many of us are adjusting to a new, much slower pace and a lot of time at home, businesses large and small are dealing with the immediate economic impact. Churches are not exempt from the economic realities we are going to face because of this global crisis.

Here are some thoughts on how churches can plan as we move through the remaining months of 2020:

1. Churches may see a delayed impact in comparison to many small businesses. With online giving so readily available today, families will likely continue to support their church financially in the early stages of the crisis. The real impact could hit churches as the economy tightens, and people begin to lose jobs or see a reduction in income.
2. Monitor your cashflow carefully. It is important that church leaders are working with the most recent data when it comes to making financial decisions. Many churches generate financial reports monthly, but it could be prudent during a time of crisis to provide weekly financial reports to church leaders.
3. Review your budget and identify fixed and non-fixed expenditures. The reality is, for many churches, a large percentage of their budget falls into the fixed category. Moreover, within a church’s fixed expenses, personnel is usually the largest expense category. Consequently, if money gets short, churches will quickly be forced to make painful decisions that will impact the families of your employees. Know how much it will cost your church to fund the absolute minimums to keep your church functioning and solvent.
4. Contact your vendors to see what flexibility is available in paying fixed expenses during this crisis? Start with large organizations that will likely get government help to assist people—banks, utilities, etc. Can you forego paying your mortgage, utilities, etc. during the crisis?
5. Identify cash reserves. It is not uncommon for a church to have anywhere from a month to up to six months of cash reserve on hand. This means that if your monthly budget is $10,000, the church has at least $10,000 in cash to operate one month without any income. It is unlikely a church will see a complete stoppage of all offerings, so this helps you buffer the changes and gives you time to react.
6. Prioritize how you will use your cash reserves. Review your fixed expenses and compare those to your cash reserves. How will you spend your cash reserves, and what expenses will get paid, and which ones will not? As a leadership team, are you willing to deplete your cash reserves to survive this crisis, or will you maintain a minimum account balance regardless of how bad things get?
7. Prioritize your employee roster. This is where it gets really difficult as a church leadership team. There are two approaches to prioritizing who gets paid and who will not get paid if things get tight. The first is to look at what you consider essential positions. Keep in mind that as a church, your ministries and services will be significantly diminished, so what was an essential ministry a month ago may not be an essential ministry today. Second, how can you best provide for your employees while dealing with the realities of diminishing finances? This means having an honest conversation with your employees and determine what they need to survive during this crisis? Like the church, each family will have fixed and optional expenses. What will they need to provide Dave Ramsey’s essential four walls during the crisis—food, shelter, utilities, and transportation. With this information, the church can adjust each employee's salary to a bare minimum. NOTE: Employment Laws and regulations are changing rapidly during the COVID-19 crisis. Here are some good resources for churches and nonprofits concerning the CARES Act from CPA Mike Batts.
8. Communicate, communicate, communicate. It is essential for church leadership to keep everyone informed of what is happening from a financial perspective. During a national crisis like this, many worthy organizations see a spike in their charitable contributions because they let the need be known, and folks want to help. The church needs to follow this model. As your finances begin to tighten, don’t wait until you are approaching the crisis point to bring your church and employees into the loop of communication. Start by letting your church know you have a financial plan, and you are monitoring the financial health of the church carefully. Update your congregation on the financial condition of your church regularly and frequently. Again, as things tighten, weekly is not too often. If staff layoffs or a reduction in pay seem inevitable, give your employees as much time and flexibility to adjust. No one likes surprises, and learning too late your church is in financial stress will cause your congregation to question your leadership.
9. Lead by example. This should go without saying, but it will not be helpful if the families in your congregation are struggling greatly due to financial pressures, and the pastor or staff members are sailing along without any sign of financial stress. Even if your church has a large cash reserve, I would be cautious of deciding to fund your employee payroll at pre-crisis levels while your church members struggle to stay afloat.
   

Times like this are a true test of leadership. Pastors face the difficult position of leading their churches well during a time of crisis while also recognizing that as a husband and father, they must provide for and care for their family. Don’t isolate yourself or take on a savior complex. If there is one thing all of us need to know and understand is that we are better together.

Bethlehem Baptist Church Deals with the Sexual Abuse of a Child

Another learning lesson from another prominent church. This time it is Bethlehem Baptist Church. The elders of the church announced a week ago (July 14) that a child had been abused by a juvenile in their children’s ministry. From all outward appearances, the elders are handling the situation with as much transparency as possible and following prescribed “best practices” when something like this surfaces. (Best practices include turning the incident over to the police immediately and not trying to handle the investigation in-house.)Church leaders need to learn from how others handle situations like this.Most important in this case is the realization that the abusers in cases of child sexual abuse do not always have to be adults. According to this article, 23 percent of reported cases of child sexual assault are committed by juveniles.On average, the average child is exposed to pornography by age 11. (In the most recent study, Josh McDowell states that this age of exposure has now fallen to 9-years of age.) It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to conjecture what things a 9-10-year-old might attempt on a child if he/she has been exposed to hardcore pornography. (NOTE: most law enforcement considers sexual interaction between children and juveniles where there is an age difference of 5-years or more. In other words, a 13-year old who interacts sexually with an 8-year old would be considered an abuser.)This is a conundrum for the church. We like to see our students serving, and the children’s ministry is an obvious place for students to serve, especially with their parents serving as the teacher. Unfortunately, this also places young people in tempting situations when they take children to the bathroom unsupervised. This is an ongoing discussion we as church leaders must engage in as our culture continues to become more and more sexualized and pornography has a greater and greater impact on the families of our church.Below is the statement concerning the incident from the Bethlehem Baptist Church Elders. Here is a link to the complete document they distributed to their church.

The elders of Bethlehem will share the following statement at our Sunday services across all campuses on July 14, 2019:The elders of Bethlehem want to inform the congregation that last year, an incident occurred in which a juvenile engaged in sexual misconduct against a child in our Early Childhood Ministry at a Bethlehem campus. When a Bethlehem leader learned of the situation through a letter sent by the victim’s parents, he immediately called law enforcement, which began an investigation. Bethlehem cooperated in this investigation, which is now concluded, though certain legal proceedings may continue. Law enforcement’s investigation identified only one isolated incident, but even one incident is too many.We take this matter very seriously and are heartbroken and grieve for the families that have been affected by this incident. We are grateful for the courage of anyone, especially a young child, who speaks out about abuse. If you have any information about child abuse or suspected child abuse, we encourage you to contact local authorities immediately. We share this statement and information to inform the congregation as we move forward to identify any ways to improve our child protection policies & procedures and to provide additional training for Bethlehem’s leaders, staff, and volunteers. As we attempt to protect the identities of the young people and families involved, we have concluded that it is appropriate to share only limited information.We have engaged GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) to help us to continue to fulfill our priority of protecting the next generation and to help us find any ways that could better safeguard the children of Bethlehem. GRACE will provide training for our leadership on Saturday, August 3, and for the entire congregation on the weekend of August 10/11 at each campus. We pray that God will heal those affected by this situation, especially the young victim, and help and guide our congregation as we move forward.