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Archive for January, 2011

Why Do We Use Different Language?

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 | Jay McSwain

Last week our ministry received an inquiry that to be honest warmed my heart.  At first glance I wondered if the person was being critical, but the more I thought about his comments the more I was excited that someone took the time and gave thought to what is being presented through our website.  The following is the message we received:

“Subject=Consistent Language”

S1=”We equip churches with the right tools to help recruit volunteers and place them in a ministry that best utilizes their gifts and talents.” – this is a quote from your getting started page. From video blog you make the point its about “servants” not “volunteers.” To be consistent may I humbly suggest you change your wording here? You appear to have a great process as I am checking things out. I have a personal passion as a mission coach about helping people discover their purpose.”

I first want to thank this minister who took the time to carefully read and reflect upon our website.  Secondly, I want to explain the apparent inconsistent use of “volunteers” vs. “servants” on our site.  We recognize that most churches use the word “volunteers” in recruiting members to serve in various positions within the church.  I wish this were not so, but it is what it is.  My desire is to change the word from “volunteer” to “servant”, but in order to communicate to those who are seeking to use our tools, resources and process I must start with what is familiar to those wanting to learn about PLACE Ministries.

I stated in the video blog http://www.placeministries.org/videoblog/ the words volunteer, volunteers, volunteered are only used 4 times in the entire Bible while the words, serve, servant, servants are used 1010 throughout the Bible.  I passionately desire that churches would move away from using the word “volunteer” and talk about those who serve as servants like we see in the New Testament.  Jesus stated in Matthew 20:28 that “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…”.  Paul encourages us to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ (I Corinthians 11:1).

I would like nothing more than one day to not have the word “volunteer” listed on our website as something someone does within the Body of Christ.  But until the culture and language is changed at times I am stuck with using words like “volunteer”, “volunteers”, “volunteering” or “volunteered”.  Consider being a part along with our ministry in changing the language from “volunteer” to “servant” in your culture.

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2010 to 2011-Where Are We Going?

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 | Jay McSwain

For the better part of the last 7 days I have pondered what to write regarding my observations as a church consultant from 2010.  Even more difficult is what are trends going into 2011 that churches need to be aware of in order to be effective in their ministries.  At times I have wanted to scream at my own lack of clarity for helping others and even for the direction for the ministry that I lead in helping churches connect their people to meaningful ministry.  About half way through 2010 after listening to countless senior pastors and staff members tell me their stories (some many times over) I came to one definitive conclusion:

Working on a church staff is hard!

I traveled and talked with literally hundreds and hundreds of pastors and church leaders across the country.  I attended conferences lead by the superstars in the Christian world.  I read books and blogs, attended webinars, listened to podcasts and sermons, walked the beach reflecting on what God was revealing to me about what was and is happening in the church and specifically how trends are shaping ministry involvement today.

These are but a few of what others are saying as it relates to church…

  • Need more evaluation
  • Need to create a vision
  • It’s not more vision but understanding your culture
  • Need a strategy
  • Sermons need to be deeper and more biblical
  • Sermons need to be more relevant
  • Churches need to be more social media friendly
  • Churches need to become more technologically savvy
  • Churches need to get back to building face-to-face relationships
  • Churches are not hiring and depending more on volunteers
  • More Americans are attending church
  • Less Americans are attending church
  • Need to be more actively involved in government politics
  • Need to be less involved in government politics
  • Giving is down
  • Is there a way to do more with less
  • Denominations are dead
  • Big box church will continue to attract
  • House churches are the next “big thing”
  • Churches need to be more ethnically diverse
  • Christians need more passion for the world
  • It is not about missions but being missional
  • Christians are becoming more theologically ignorant
  • Need to portray more tolerance to those outside the church
  • Need to call sin and be less tolerant

The list could go on and on.  Entire books, seminars, sermons and online media forums are working overtime to convince you and me that what the church, its leaders and people need is to _________________ (you fill in the blank).  Maybe it is my age, but ministry and direction for leading ministry is becoming more and more complicated and confusing.  It seems for every idea to take us to the promised land another idea downplays the one we just learned about and offers the perfect solution to solve our issue and take us to where we want to be in our church and ministry.

Sad But True

One message I am not hearing on a regular basis is that people need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  If I do hear this message it is often buried within some self-help message or in such an un-winsome and/or irrelevant way that it will cause people to move further away from Christ or ignore the message.  Sad but often true of me is that I think way too much about methods, models and messages to influence the organization of the church in a positive manner and not the organs that pump life into the Body of Christ.

Church Consultant Is Suppose To Give Answers

I know a church consultant like myself is expected to give simple answers to complex challenges, but sometimes I feel we need to “just” ponder what the challenges are in our life and ministry.

  • Maybe 2011 could be much more impactful if we would spend less time looking around and more time looking up and within ourselves.
  • Maybe we could be more effective in 2011 if we spend less time listening to the latest superstar communicator and listening more to the Holy Spirit within each of us as believers.
  • Maybe 2011 could be more fulfilling and significant if we strove to introduce more people to the Savior and fewer to our agendas.
  • Maybe 2011 could be more successful if we focused on making Him successful and less on making ourselves successful.

As you begin 2011 I would welcome the opportunity to listen, encourage, advise and pray with you the direction you feel God is leading you and your ministry.  Thanks ahead of time for the privilege to come alongside you in the journey.

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