The center aisle in a church building. You know, the one that splits the church auditorium down the middle.

I thought it was just for weddings. It certainly makes for pretty pictures. Or maybe it was for symmetry. Some people like things equal like that.

It turns out there is more than appearance in some churches.

I recently talked to some pastors…several in the same week…who pastor divided churches. They are split…right down the middle. They have chosen sides of an issues with a 50/50 split…or some percentage close to that.

Many churches have issues that divide them like the center aisle divides the sanctuary. Each pastor I talked to is trying to lead the church, but consistently battling the lack of unity.

In fact, in extreme situations (and there appear to be many of them), people on either side of the “aisle” won’t talk to people on the other side.

Really?

It makes me wonder how those outside the church view this dynamic. Would you join a church that couldn’t get along with itself?

I’m reminded of the Scriptures:

 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. (James 3:16-4:1-2)

Brothers this should not be.

My only advice to my pastor friends. “You will need to address the disunity before you can move forward. You will never realize all God has intended for the church until you do.”

If you are leading a church in disunity, I would suggest you stop trying to add new programs or tweaking old ones. That seems to be futile work to me until the bigger, more foundational issue is addressed. People need to be able to rally around a common vision. That seems like job number one to me.

Have you been in a church suffering from disunity?

(You may now want to read my post on Creating Unity)

10.14.12 from ron edmondson on Vimeo.

Here’s a principle you need to understand in leading a church, team or organization.

I see many church planters, pastors, and other leaders who build their organization closely around their own identity. They brand the church or the organization, very closely associated with their personality.

When you think of the church…you can’t help but think of them.

In fact, you may think of them even more than you do the church.

It has their flavor, their culture, their stamp. That happens naturally in leadership. It’s unavoidable to an extent. People like to follow a leader. People follow a person. But, these leaders seem to do so purposefully.

I’m not saying that’s wrong. It is certainly one option. I even encourage personal branding in THIS POST. And it often works.

(Unless, of course, it’s done out of arrogance or in the case of the church it’s done at the exclusion of the real brand of a church…Jesus!)

But here is the warning…

If you brand something around you….

It will be harder to hand off should you ever or when you ever need to.

You can build a brand around your name, your personality, your particular flavor…

You can probably be successful at it…maybe even more successful at it.

The problem is that when you build around yourself…when you don’t give others a seat at the table of leadership…when you don’t let others share the “brand”…

…and then you leave.

What happens to the brand?

It often leaves with the one it was branded upon. Then others have to build a new brand.

Makes sense, right?

I’m not saying it’s impossible to brand around a person…lots of organizations have…some continue to be successful…it’s just more difficult. Take this blog for example. Who else wants the brand, right?

If you want the vision to last long after you are gone…

Build your brand around a vision that is bigger than you….known for more than just your name.

I’ve spent some time studying church growth…and church decline. I am frequently asked, especially by pastors in declining churches, what keeps a church from growing…what causes a church to decline.

I have shared similar thoughts before, but in my observation, talking to dozens of pastors who struggle to get their church growing again, there are some common issues among them, of which I think we can all learn.

Here are 5 issues that can keep a church from growing:

Entitlement – When the body begins to think “this is my church”, it will soon start operating outside the complete power and utter dependency of the rightful owner. It will then lose the Spirit’s power.

Energy – The lack of energy stagnates a church. This is not referring to worship. You can worship to your taste, but energy is a part of any movement of God. The church is the body of Christ. Don’t forget…our God is not dead…He’s alive! A church is revived and reenergized when it renews its vision. As a church grows closer to Christ, and introduces others to Christ, it create more energy for the body.

Excitement – If you can’t get excited about the Gospel, you’re not looking at Christ close enough. Anyone who can raise from the dead, forgive sins, and reconcile us to God…that’s exciting! When the people who regularly attend the church aren’t excited anymore, visitors aren’t likely to be either. When a body becomes comfortable, it often becomes complacent, and it loses the excitement it once had. It is then no longer attractive to outsiders.

Engagement – The body needs all its members. When a few people do all the work burnout is soon to follow. The church shouldn’t depend on paid staff to do all the work, nor should ministry be limited to those with a volunteer title of some sort. If assignments have to be made before people are freed to do the work of the church, over time, the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.

Efficiency – When programs are so structured that even God couldn’t introduce change, decline is imminent. Growing churches are always thinking how they can improve. The cliche is true, the message never changes, but the hearers do. Finding new ways to reach a changing culture with a Gospel that never changes is part of a growing church’s responsibility.

Obviously there are many other reasons, these are just a few I’ve observed. Whenever I work with a church in decline, I will first look for one of these areas as a solution.

What have you seen keep a church from growing?

Knowing truth does not make one spiritually mature.

Knowing the Bible, even memorizing Scripture, does not make one spiritually mature.

I have known many in churches who have lots of experience with church, lots of Biblical knowledge, but I wouldn’t consider them spiritually mature.

They aren’t self-feeders. They don’t demonstrate the fruit of the spirit. They don’t consider others better than themselves.

Granted, we are all a “work in progress”, but…

A mature Christian doesn’t just know truth…doesn’t just know the Bible.

A mature Christian is striving to live truth.

In fact, a mature Christian is striving to be truth. Truth is a person. Named Jesus.

(Just some thoughts from reading Philippians 2 & 3.)

What do you think of when you think “spiritually mature”?

I believe giving is a part of discipleship. If we truly develop disciples, we will have no problem funding our churches. If you are a pastor or church leader, however, then you know that church funding is almost always an issue in carrying out the complete vision God gives a church and its leaders. That’s why I”m thankful for the work of guys like my friend Casey Graham. I know Casey well, having traveled with him, worked with him, and used his consulting services personally. Recently Casey shared with me another project he’s launching.

Casey is the Founder of The Rocket Company, which exists to provide coaching and resources for church leaders. The HOW To Fund Your Church Now event is Free for church leaders. Click here for more information and the full speaker line-up.

Do you want to better fund your church?

Here is a guest post by my friend Casey Graham:

How to Teach Low-Income Attenders to be High Impact Givers

It would be nice if one person could write a big check and wipe the worry away from the church finances.

But the average person in your church is barely getting by when it comes to their personal finances.

So it shouldn’t surprise us that 86% of churches are either broke or at breakeven financially.

I recently interviewed Pastor Vanable Moody on this very topic. Pastor Van has seen the church he pastors (The Worship Center Christian Church) grow from a few to over 7,000 people each week.

You can watch the full interview on the HOW To Fund Your Church Now online event on October 17 for. But I wanted to give you a couple of ideas from the interview.

Two Tips To Help Low Income Attenders Be High Impact Givers

1. Don’t Make the Amount the Issue…Focus on Personal Responsibility

Pastor Van referenced the parable of the talents, pointing out that while each person had a different amount, they all had the same responsibility. He doesn’t think church leaders should give people an “out” just because they don’t make a lot of money. It’s not always the dollar amount…it’s the responsibility.

2. Help People Develop a Generosity Mindset

Pastor Van did a class for his church attenders that helped them think differently financially. This holistic class really helped people develop a right mindset with money. Teaching on giving is great, but it’s good to teach the big picture too.

The full interview with Pastor Van and nine other interviews with pastors around the country will be on the HOW To Fund Your Church Now online event. The event is focused on helping you and your church increase regular giving. If you want to have more money for ministry, this event will help you with practical stuff.

Have you registered yet? What are you waiting for?

I came into ministry later in life, after over 20 years in the business world. Maybe that explains some of why I was surprised, when I entered the ministry, at how hard churches can be on a pastor. I never knew.

My church leadership blog has given me access into the lives of hundreds of young pastors, many of them in smaller churches where they are one of a few, if not the only, staff members. I don’t see this as much in larger churches where there are more staff members to spread the workload, but in some smaller churches, many times the pastor is drowning. His spouse is drowning. His family suffers. They can’t keep up with the demands of the church. I never knew.

Some churches expect the pastor to be at every hospital bed. They expect them to know and call when they are sick. They expect them to attend every Sunday school social and every picnic on the grounds. He is to officiate their wedding and then be the counselor when their marriage is suffering. He is to preach their funeral and visit their neighbor who isn’t going to church. He is supposed to recruit Sunday school teachers, manage a budget and be actively engaging the community through a healthy Tuesday night evangelism program. Then, they expect a well researched, well presented Sunday message, one in the morning and one at night, along with a passionate leading of the Wednesday night prayer meeting. One pastor told me recently he is allowed one Sunday off per year. I hesitated to do the math on the number of messages he is doing in a given year. Wow! I never knew.

Now some of that is exaggeration, but in some churches it is exactly the expectation. And, in principle, the activities may be different, but the level of activity is normal for many pastors, again, especially in smaller churches.

To be honest, I’m burdened for those pastors.

I learned when my boys were young and I was running a business, serving on the city council and on dozens of committees, that if I wanted to be successful as a husband, father, and business owner, I had to get better personally and privately, so I could achieve more publicly. It was then that running switched from being a fun pastime to a necessary part of my week. I needed and craved the downtime and the exercise. It was then that I had to get up early to make sure I had that days quiet time to fuel my soul. It was then that I became diligent in scheduling my week, so I didn’t miss family activities.

If I could give one piece of advice to pastors, ALL PASTORS, especially during Pastor Appreciation month, it would be that they take care of themselves personally, take care of their family, so they can meet the demands of their church. They may need to share this blog with some key leaders they trust in the church. They may want to have a hard conversation and establish some healthier boundaries with the church. Take some time and read Jethro’s advice to Moses. Read Acts 6.

I love you pastors. I want you around for a while. Take care of yourself. If needed, reach out to someone before you crash and burn. God called you to do His work, but the work He called you to do specifically, won’t be done (at least by you) if you aren’t here to do it.

Join the MinistryMatters.com “Why Ministers Matter” blog tour to read today’s leading pastors and authors share their stories of ministers who made a difference in their lives. Visit MinistryMatters.com/blogtour for a complete list of virtual tour stops and to link up your own post about a minister who mattered to you!

MinistryMatters.com “Why Ministers Matter” blog tour 10/1/2012 – 10/12/2012.

9.9.12 : Families from ron edmondson on Vimeo.

I spent a couple hours in IKEA recently. If you’re not familiar, it’s a massive size store of home furnishings that has become extremely popular in the larger cities where they have one. It’s very European and draws you in quickly with well-displayed, reasonably priced merchandise. Not everyone loves the place, but it’s obvious many do.

I took Cheryl and she was a serious shopper. We recently moved to our new home in Lexington, KY and Cheryl hoped to find some things to make the home more livable. I was simply the chauffeur, but began to see something in IKEA of which I think the church can learn. So I began to ask…

What could the church learn from IKEA?

You see, one of our goals is the get people to move from visitors to regular attenders to committed, growing disciples. From the worship gathering to discipleship programs, to serving to giving of their time and resources, we want to see them involved in every program of the church. Ideally, we want to reach people who know nothing about our church and may not even be interested to express interest in our message.

IKEA has figured out how to expose people to everything they sell. They’ve learned how to captivate people into their products, from entrance of the store, to the exit. I’m not necessarily an advocate for their products, but as far as exposing people to everything they sell, they seem to have a working system.

Here’s how they seem to do it:

Initial buzz created – People drive for miles to get to the nearest IKEA. When we arrived, people were outside taking pictures of their arrival.

How can the church get people so excited about visiting, before they ever get to our buildings?

Make it easy on first timers – IKEA’s system is simple. You walk in the door, they hand you a bag. You grab a shopping cart. Go. They’ve got these map displays throughout the store, or they’ve got some mini maps you can carry with you.

How can the church make it incredibly simple for first timers when they visit? (And what churches are doing the best job with this?)

Keep you interested along the way – IKEA’s simple, well-laid out displays go throughout the store. As soon as you would start to get bored, there will be something you haven’t seen before, some creative display, some great price, that captures your attention.

How many times have you been frustrated because someone came to church, got initially excited, then fizzled before you really felt they were being discipled? How can we keep people interested, excited, engaged and motivated throughout the discipleship process?

Easy-to-follow – IKEA constantly gives you directions so you know you’re not lost. Every step along the way, they have arrows telling you which way to go next. They have signage telling you where you are. They have products arranged in an understandable way.

Does this describe your church? Do people know what the next steps are in discipleship? Can they easily find their place in your current systems and structure?

Good products – IKEA products aren’t the most expensive. Admittedly they are cheaper goods. Granted I’m not warranting or even suggesting their merchandise. I’m simply making a point. But, the fact is they have products people obviously want.

Be honest, are the programs of your church engaging? Are they presented in a way that people would want to participate? I’m not talking about changing a message. I’m talking about presenting a message in a way that draws people in and motivates them to be a part of it. IKEA has figured out how to do that with their products. How can the church do this better?

No pressure – Associates of IKEA wear bright yellow shirts. They are easy to find and there if you need help, but no one bugs you either. There is a no pressure, free look, yet no one should ever feel they can’t find help. There’s always someone nearby easily identifiable.

Over the years I’ve often wondered if the church could benefit from customer service training. We need to know how to engage visitors in a way that makes them feel welcome, without them feeling overwhelmed. Obviously, IKEA has thought through this process and does it well. How can we learn from them in this area of how they do business, which would help us in ministry?

Something for everyone – IKEA sells toys, bedding, food, tools, and furniture. Admittedly, not everything was for me, but there were things for me. I would guess most everyone could find an area of interest.

Considering the diverse backgrounds within the church, are we considering what works for people who aren’t like us? Are we reaching people with varying backgrounds?

Have you ever been to IKEA? What do you think?

What could the church learn from IKEA?

Help me think.

9.2.12 Jonah from ron edmondson on Vimeo.