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Riding the Worship Express

Time-conscious church goers on board for shorter service.

The sign outside Family Bible Church near Orlando advertises “45 minutes, guaranteed!” The guarantee is working, drawing visitors and a lot of attention.

“I’m as surprised as anybody that it really works!” says Pastor Allen Speegle.

The congregation of 450 tried an early service once before, a copy of their 90-minute 10:30 a.m. service. It failed. This service, begun in March with 70 attenders, now averages 120. Speegle is pleased that more than half the worshipers are new to the church.

His newspaper ads show a shackled convict and ask “Is this your idea of church?”

“Some people aren’t ready for an hour-and-a-half worship service,” Speegle tells Leadership. “That’s not where they’re at spiritually. Religious people have the mindset that God can’t work in less than an hour, but some of my deepest worship moments have been brief.” The pastor says the short service whets newcomers’ spiritual appetites. “Several couples who started coming to the express now attend the longer service. I hope that’s a pattern.”

After three songs and truncated announcements, Speegle delivers an abbreviated version of the sermon he will preach at the full-length service.

“It’s made me a better preacher,” he says. “I can’t get off on too many trails.” Response to altar calls is also better. Respondents are invited to stay afterward to talk with a counselor.

Worship Express, suggested by the church’s worship leader, has proven popular among families. “Sunday is family day. We found that our later service was forcing some people to choose between family activities and church. This way, they can attend the earlier service and still have most of the day to go to the beach or whatever.”

The key is the wording on the sign, which Speegle says was a blessed accident. “I tell them ‘guaranteed,’ so we get out on time.”

Currents

Ten million born again in 1990s. The rate of conversion in the U.S. was level in the last decade, but the population growth produced a wave of new believers, according to new research. Most growth was in the South and Midwest where believers totaled 45% and 23% respectively. Declines were reported in the Northeast and West, down two points each to 15% and 17%.

Asian Americans showed the most growth, from 5% in 1991 to 27% now identifying themselves as born again.

George Barna calls busters “the most gospel-resistant group the church has seen in many years.” Only one-fourth were born again by early adulthood, compared to one-third of boomers at that age.

Barna Research Group (May 2000)

Don’t call me Pops. More than half of baby boomers (53%) say they feel 10 to 20 years younger than they really are. The oldest boomers are 55 now and eligible for senior citizen discounts and retirement clubs. But many are unlikely to join aarp or similar groups: 39% say count them out, 28% are somewhat likely, and 25% are very likely. At present, only 8% have signed up.

American Demographics (May 2000)

Slow down! You move too fast. Churches in Minneapolis are cheering efforts to cut back activities of overscheduled kids. Barbara Carlson started Family Life 1st! to protest programs that penalize kids who miss practices to attend family functions. Carlson says she’s been deluged with e-mail from parents who spent Easter at the hockey rink and Christmas afternoon at a game. Her group is giving its seal of approval to family-friendly enrichment programs.

Newsweek (7/17/00)

Money

So, Sue Me

Some people will. Are you covered?

Because of our sue-happy society, pastors have become the monitors of flooring, sidewalks, and playground equipment, in addition to ministry responsibilities.

Our recent survey found that six percent of churches in the U.S. have been sued. The insurance industry reports that churches are increasingly the targets of liability lawsuits. Among our respondents, churches that had filed a liability claim averaged 2.3 claims during the past five years.

Does my church have adequate liability insurance? Three-fourths of the churches participating in our survey have liability insurance. Coverage depends on church size, but the average was just under one million dollars, almost equal to the average property value. Additional coverage is recommended for bodily injury, personal injury, sexual misconduct, or molestation.

Who is covered? Six in ten churches report their policies cover anyone acting on behalf of the church. The remainder cover only pastor and staff.

What about workers’ comp? Most states now require workers’ compensation insurance, even for churches with a part-time pastor. But only seven in ten churches in our survey have the coverage. (The IRS calls pastors “self-employed,” but most states classify pastors as “employees” for insurance purposes.)

Larger churches are much more likely to have workers’ comp than smaller churches (95% of churches with budgets greater than $500,000 compared to 53% with budgets under $100,000).

Remember, insured or not, the church is required to pay if workers are injured on the job.

from the Leadership survey, with additional reporting by John C. LaRue

Leadership Pays

Lay leaders are twice as likely as other church-going adults to donate to church (96% to 48%). And when they give, they give: $2,375 on average in the previous year compared to the non-leader’s $604.

Leaders are more likely to describe themselves as “deeply spiritual” (94% to 55%). They’re less likely to say they are stressed out, dealing with an addiction, skeptical, or misunderstood.

And they like making decisions.

Barna Research Group (June 2000)

Outreach

It’s Mutual in Omaha

Churches band together for prayer, ministry … and a commercial.

Sixty pastors gathered in a park in Omaha, Nebraska, recently. They came from a variety of denominational, socio-economic and ethnic groups. They didn’t debate doctrine or accuse each another of “sheep stealing.” Instead, they gathered to shoot a commercial. “The Church of Omaha welcomes you,” the commercial declared, a city of “one church, many congregations.”

“The level of unity we’re seeing now would have been unthinkable even five years ago,” says Eric Bents, coordinator for Embrace Omaha, an organization of dozens of churches in the region. Trinity Church, where Bents is on staff, was one of the key churches in establishing a strong prayer network. “We have been prayer-walking downtown for 10 years and we have a network of intercessors that currently includes over 200 people representing all the churches.”

God has answered their prayers in astounding ways. “Our children’s, youth, and singles’ ministries are all interconnected with other churches.”

The movement extends beyond Omaha’s churches. God is “empowering Christian businessmen to take the gospel into the workplace,” Bents says. All this stems from the unity among church leaders within the city. “It’s built on relationships between leaders, oiled by the leadership of the Holy Spirit.”

Here is Bents’ strategy for reaching the city:

Mobilize intercessory prayer immediately.
Start building relationships with visionary church leaders.
Pray for someone to champion the movement, a leader of leaders.
Watch God’s timing. Follow what God is doing through relationships, then allow programs to develop naturally.

from Next (Vol. 6, 2000)

Greetings from the President

Make your welcome for the newborns in your congregation official with a letter from the White House. Send in the name of the baby, parents, and their address, and they will receive a letter of congratulation from the President and First Lady. It costs nothing, and you’ll create a special memory for the family. Write to:

The White House
Greetings Office, Room 39
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20500

from Ministry (May 2000)

Easier Introductions

We’ve found a good way to introduce new members using the video projector. Before and after each service, we show their photographs on the overhead screen. Using PowerPoint, we include a brief biographical sketch, favorite Bible verse, and a fun fact or two. Newcomers feel welcome, and it helps the rest of the church connect new faces with names.

Dean Reule Cypress Point Community Church Tampa, Florida

Orchestrated Outreach

Searching for musicians for a new worship team, we started free music classes. The Monday night sessions proved to be a real breakthrough for our fledgling church of 30.

Up to 11 gathered each week, many who didn’t go to church anywhere. I taught them the basics of their instruments, how to play as a group, and how to use our sound equipment.

We had a recital and all their families came. Now several are part of our music team. A couple of the musicians play for other churches in town, and their pastors are grateful for the free training.

The sessions promoted relationships with other pastors and opened the door for combined prayer meetings, a first in this city.

Spencer Thury Community Christian Fellowship Lake City, Iowa