I've been reading a book by George Barna, its called, The Habits of Highly Effective Churches. The question that Barna poses is, What is EFFECTIVE ministry? Great question!
Barna describes effectiveness when lives are transformed such that people are constantly enabled to become more Christ-like. So heres the deal: an effective church partners with the Holy Spirit to create environments that help foster significant and continual changes in how people live.
Barna says, "When your church is able to consistently facilitate a personal metamorphosis among its people, then it is operating in the realm of effectiveness...If being highly effective is defined in this way then the American Church has a serious problem...research suggests that only 10-15 percent of the Protestant churches in our nation today can be deemed highly effective."
HARMFUL CHURCH HABITS:
- Printing the Bible verse used in a sermon,in the service bulletin or projecting them on a large screen - this has encouraged people to stop carrying their Bibles to Church and ultimately from using them through the week.
- Conducting an "every holiday" outreach - enough said.
- Maintaining a rigid order to servicein the weekend events - there is value to stability and consistency, but the predictability of the service has created disenchantment among many, especially GEN X.
- Expecting the pastor to do everything.
- Requiring the pastor to be the chief fundrasier.
- Developing an information-laden website - people are looking for interactive sites.
- Assuming that community is fostered in a handshake.
- Maintaining church classes or programs because of internal politics or history - church leaders can value tradition over effectiveness.
"To avoid crating bad habits in ministry--and frankly, more churches have a number of unfortunate bad habits--we must be very conscious of What we do, when we do it, why we do it and the outcome of those actions."- George Barna