[I have a few more words about geographics before we move on to Demographics, Psychographics, and Ethnographics. I think it would be fun to share a parable with you.]
The Parable of the Cool Ministry Leader
John is a new pastor just out of seminary, who happens to be a really cool guy. He likes cool things like blogging, iPods and Starbucks. He studies everything he can from the coolest ministry leaders in the country.
He has been waiting for his chance to really reach radically unchurched people. Though he hates the word “unchurched”, he prefers Pre-Christian, “unchurched” is not even a word after all!
About a year ago, he took his first church in Slapdabinit, Texas. It is a rural community about 60 miles from the big city. John decided he wanted to reach his community better. His first order of business was to see what he could do to revamp the worship service. He felt the service was boring and too traditional to reach unchurched people. They didn’t even have a projector, or know about PowerPoint until he came! (Everyone knows unchurched people hate to handle hymnals!)
As hard as he tries, the church leaders dig their heels in the ground resisting his efforts to change to a contemporary music worship service. The pastor plugs on, he knows it will work—he has seen churches in the city with great vibrant contemporary worship. When he makes the change he knows he can really turn around the church and make it much more effective at reaching people.
In the future, he imagines the church changed in ways that will reach people who don’t go to church. After the change in worship, he’ll set up a real coffee shop with an espresso machine in the church. He plans on getting rid of that old-fashioned pulpit and wants to preach sitting on a stool, just riffing about the Word in his jeans and an open collar shirt. The congregation won’t call him pastor in those days, he’ll be known of as the “Emulator”—since he is to radiate and imitate Christ to others. He’s still working on the new name for the church. He really likes the words “Extreme” and the Latin word “Genuit“, a word that relates to birth, as far as he can tell. He never studied Latin.
His website will all be done with the best technology and will even have Podcasting and free downloads of his sermons for other, less fortunate ministries to use. When he’s done, ministers from all over the world will flock to see what happened and how much growth has occurred at the once tiny church in Slapdabinit, Texas. Who would have thought it could happen here?
Suddenly, he awakes from his daydream. He is sitting on a cold folding chair in the fellowship hall of First Slapdabinit with the Deacons and Sunday School leaders of his church (Cringe—Sunday School? Paleese! And can you believe they call it the Church Council?) While he was busy dreaming and devising plans to reach the radically Pre-Christian, the church leadership has been finalizing details on the planned “Bluegrass Gospel Music Sing” that is scheduled for next week. John dreads the weekend. He hates country music—and he hates Bluegrass most of all! Now the church leadership has planned the most backward, country-hick-i-fied service he can imagine. His plans for cappuccino seem so far away for now.
The weekend arrives. Reverend John, as they call him, (he hates that too.) lives in the “parsonage” (that stinks too) across the street from the church. He looks out the window and sees cars are already starting to arrive and it is only 5:15 PM. “What is going on, church starts at 6:00 PM?” he thinks. He quickly, and perfunctorily, throws on his uncool, yet obligatory, shirt and tie and goes over to the white steepled (what an eyesore) church building to check it out.
The place is already almost packed with people he has never seen before. It seems the whole town has come (in their Sunday best) to get a good seat in the sanctuary for the “Gospel Singing”. How can this be? John is dumbfounded, tonight he will preach (from behind the pulpit) to more unchurched people than he has in his entire life.
What Happened in Slapdabinit, Texas?
What Pastor John didn’t realize was that effective ministry is not a matter of selecting the coolest programs. It is having an understanding of the people you want to reach and meeting their specific needs. Too often, ministry leaders approach ministry based on what they prefer or what they see being done in other places. The best ministry grows out of a deep understanding (and respect) for your community.
Here is a simple way you can develop location-specific ministry outreach plans that are attractive to people who don’t attend church. It is the same approach missionaries use when they reach out with the gospel to unreached people groups.
1. Understand as much as you can about the people you want to reach
Do your homework on the people you want to reach. Learn as much as you can from demographics, surveys, interviews, etc. In the parable, John forged ahead with his vision of reaching people based on his view of what he felt they would like. But he needed to understand the real people who lived in his community, not the people he read or heard about in the cool ministry books and seminars.
Research may not sound like spiritual work, but as every missionary knows, it is the foundation to establishing an effective indigenous ministry. For example, Pastor Rick Warren found his calling to Saddleback Valley, California while researching demographics of growing communities in a library.
Could there be important details about your people you are overlooking that could help you serve people better? If only you knew what you don’t know!
2. Learn the needs and preferences of the people in your community
Pastor John was not aware of his biases. He liked contemporary music. He hated Bluegrass music. He liked casual dress. He hated neckties. He loved drinking cappuccinos and listening to his iPod. He hated preaching behind a pulpit.
On the other hand, the people liked Blue Grass Music, dressing up for church and a little touch of tradition. Don’t let your preferences dictate how you will develop outreach, let the needs of the people outside the walls of your church inform what you do to reach people.
The church planting core group of Saddleback used surveys to develop the now famous profile of Saddleback Sam. When they planned ministry that was sensitive to the needs of people who didn’t go to church in South Orange County, they became very attractive to the unchurched in that community and built the ministry we know today.
3. Link your ministry to needs through life-application
The people in the story liked country music. As much as Pastor John disliked twangy music, he needed to let the preferences of the community inform his ministry planning. He was shocked when he saw how popular the “Bluegrass Music Singing” (pronounced “sanging” in Slapdabinit!) was to people. They couldn’t wait to hear the music!
There were likely many more ways Pastor John could meet people at the point of their needs and interests without ever having to compromise on anything biblical. All that is needed is to learn to listen to people (instead of daydreaming about the ideal ministry situation) and apply what you learn in outreach.
Next time you hear (or read) about a successful ministry, don’t jump to the conclusion you need to adopt their ideas about programming. Too many churches have been torn apart and thrown into disorder because the staff leadership went to a conference, and returned to the church to try to implement the programs of the flagship churches. Instead, get interested in the principle behind their success. See in what ways the church got to know the people, learned their needs and linked their ministry to life-application solutions for people.
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