5-More signs your church might Suck!

July 7, 2010
Leadership Clip to Evernote
19

1. People don’t talk about your company.

Really! Don’t you know the best way to impact others and your community is through word of mouth! Go hang out at the nearest restaurant to your church after you Sunday services and see if anybody is talking about it. Get a friend from out of town to go to some near by retail businesses on a Saturday and ask, "I’m new in town, know… of any good churches?" If they aren’t talking about you. You are dying!

2. You’re not agile enough.

That means your church is so entrenched in tradition and polity, it is impossible to move with God. This smells just like RELIGION! I hate religious thinking in the church! It smells of death and division. Your church has to a few people, sold out to ONE vision, that are making decisions. Get to many hands on the rudder, and everybody suddenly wants to steer the boat where they think it should it go.

3. You aren’t cheap.

We have to deal with God’s money differently than any other. We must always look for ways to save and be frugal. If it’s not building the Kingdom, be careful in spending money on it. Is it really necessary? This is one area where creativity is crucial! A little "Picasso" will save many pennies!

4. You don’t know when to spend money.

I had a church consultant tell me he was called in to help a church that was "dying" to finalize how the church should close. When they came to the area of money, the consultant asked how much money they had in the bank? The answer… $3M! Can you believe that! Sitting on all that money, and the community around them going to hell, and them not willing to spend money to see their church & God’s Kingdom built. UNBELIEVABLE!

5. You don’t have a good lawyer.

If you are a growing church, you need a good lawyer. There will be real estate, children, employee & tax issues that will literally bite you in the butt! Some of the meanest people I have ever encountered have been in church! Don’t be naive! There are some that will stalk you looking for a quick buck or an easy settlement. Be as wise as a serpent!

These signs are adapted from a Blog by Michael Bowers. You can see the original blog here: http://michaelbowersonline.com/15-warning-signs-that-your-business-sucks

About artie: I'm the lead Pastor at Cornerstone, a Multi-Ethnic church in the heart of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Also the founder of the Comb Network.com, a movement to plant Multi-Ethnic, culturally relevant churches in smaller cities. I direct a gathering of small city leader called "The Sticks."

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  • adeason123

    I agree except Number 1… I think the "keep the Sabbath day Holy" commandment means we should not go out and eat…but I guess they might be the 10 suggestions… Of course, it also means cut out tv and other stuff that would distract from worship not JUST on Sunday, though…

  • Kent

    Nice Artie – great stuff!

  • jonathanrose

    Haha I don't run a church yet – but this post is going to get bookmarked for the future. Top stuff Artie!

    • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/artiedavis61 artiedavis61

      Thanks Jonathan! What do you use to bookmark things? I have found "Evernote" to be great. God bless my bro!

      • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/bknight81 Buddy Knight

        Another way of saving stuff is to get a utility like PDF CREATOR (Staples, $50) and then PRINT PDFs of whatever you want to save and store them on your drive (and include in your back-ups). This is a great methodology for doing online research, too! FIND IT – PDF IT – MOVE ON…

      • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/jonathanrose jonathanrose

        I kick it old school Artie – Firefox toolbar is how I roll!

        Keep up the good work pastor.

  • http://blog.knightsquest.org Buddy Knight

    1a. Your EMPLOYEES (aka members) don’t talk about it, either. Not only must members be excited enough to share, we (as leaders) may also need to help them know the best ways to talk about us! (i.e. training)

    2a. In the Navy we said: You must embody the "THREE -ILEs" and be MOBILE, AGILE, and HOSTILE. Good for the Church ,as well. We need to be MOBILE in that we are able to move as the Spirit leads and as culture changes. We need to be AGILE by reacting quickly to opportunities and to "oh SNAPs!" We need to be HOSTILE to all forces arrayed against the Kingdom of God, and the means training our folks to understand that they ARE at war and that the Lord IS victorious!

    3a. We need to be "frugal", but I also wonder if we don’t need to ensure that we properly represent the King of Kings and Creator of the Universe. I don’t mean coating the walls in gold or having a "Trump Church", but we also need to make sure that, as we are being proper stewards, we don’t radiate a false corporate "humility" that is materialistic instead of a sincere humility of knowing our position vis-a-vis God the Father.

    4a. We need to make sure that we don’t look at it as "GOD’S MONEY FOR US TO PROTECT!" Corporate faith means we take the tithes and offerings to train and equip the warriors of the Kingdom and to minister to those around us who are casualties of war.

    5a. Along with having a "good lawyer" the church needs to REGULARLY (at least annually) conduct an in-depth risk assessment to see where the Enemy could attack through legal means. Courage may be needed to anticipate and negate weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Strength will be required for the inevitable naysayers.

    Great article, Artie! ‘Hope you don’t mind the $0.02US!

    Check six, always!

    Buddy

    • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/artiedavis61 artiedavis61

      Always thorough and insightful my bro. Many thanks!

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Joe_Sewell Joe Sewell

      Bottom line regarding money: there must be a balance. We must be good stewards of God's money. That will imply spending and risking no return on the investment … but that's the nature of investments. (Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:12-27) "Frugal" isn't "cheap;" in fact, more often than not "cheap" is far more expensive in the long run, as "cheap" ditches the value of quality.

      • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/bknight81 Buddy Knight

        JOE: I agree. For instance, buying bottom-end computers forces you to upgrade more often, and may cause workers to spend time on the PC they need to spend elsewhere.

        Industry uses the concepts of TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP and CYCLE-TIME.

        – If something costs more initially but less to operate/maintain in the long term, it's better.
        – If something (copier?) costs more but it's features and reliability free up staff time (that should be valued at $X/hour) then it is a good bargain. The "FREE LABOR" of volunteers can then be freed up from copying and folding and better used advancing the progress of the Kingdom in other ways.

        I think it is worthwhile for those in ministry to spend time looking at how industry ensures quality and profits. If it helps industry be more efficient, EFFECTIVE, and COMPETITIVE, then it is probably applicable to the Church, too!

        (I used to be a QA/Reliability Engineer and Six Sigma dude. <grin>)

        Buddy

  • http://twitter.com/RevCraigGommer/status/10141862375464960/ Craig Gommer (@RevCraigGommer)

    RT @artiedavis: 5-More signs your church might Suck! http://is.gd/hlJMu

  • http://twitter.com/artiedavis/status/12399801324797952/ Artie Davis (@artiedavis) (@artiedavis)

    5-More signs your church might Suck! http://is.gd/hlJMu

  • http://twitter.com/noahfurlong/status/12486215311818752/ noah furlong (@noahfurlong)

    RT @ArtieDavis 5-More signs your church might Suck! http://is.gd/hlJMu
    Be careful with #3 spending Gods money trying 2 make people happy.

  • http://twitter.com/artiedavis/status/28304115721314305/ Artie Davis (@artiedavis) (@artiedavis)

    5-More signs your church might Suck! http://is.gd/ywiifj

  • http://tijuanabecky.livingproof.us Becky

    I can definitely agree with 1 and 4. Good stuff!

    • http://artiedavis.com artie

      Yeah, those are the best! Thanks Becky, God bless!

  • http://smjblog.info Stephen

    Awesome post Pastor Artie! I can’t imagine how many churches out there are just like #4! Gotta learn that it’s His money! As long as we use it to advance His Kingdom, He’ll take care of finding more of it!

    • http://artiedavis.com artie

      Thanks Stephen! God bless.

  • J_denson

    Good stuff.