MARRIED TO THE METHOD, Part 1
To stay relevant in changing times, we must adapt our strategies. While you may think that this principle applies to only secular organizations, it actually expands all the way into our churches and Christian organizations. I have seen pastors, their staff, and congregants hold so tightly to components of tradition that they have lost individuals and families to churches that appear more relevant. I know this one hits a little close to home for many of us who grew up doing things a certain way and believing that it was the best way.
However, if we’re married to a method over the mission, it will keep us landlocked to the past as the future calls for us to venture across the sea. Prior to 2020, only a few churches simulcast their worship services, allowing watchers in other locations to “participate” online. Common practice was to enter the church building, say “Hi” to Bob and Kim, sing some worship songs together, listen to a sermon by the pastor, fellowship afterward and maybe grab some lunch together. Enter the COVID-19 lockdowns in the spring of 2020. Church leaders faced a dilemma – abandon congregants to no pastoral ministry or corporate worship experience until places of worship open up again, providing no spiritual nourishment…or adapt.
In 2019, only 20% of churches said they offered online streaming worship. To spiritually nourish their congregations, though, during the shutdowns nearly all churches chose to utilize technology in ways previously unused. Within a few weeks, nearly every church in the United States uploaded recorded or streamed elements of a weekly worship service through online platforms. For 80% of pastors, this strategy to help people “participate” in worship was brand new. It was a fresh set of wineskins for the Church. The dire need before them compelled a change. The mission was to spiritually nourish their people and the method, though new to most, was the only means to do so on a larger scale. Necessity was indeed the mother of invention.
Once the nation opened up to permit in-person services again, virtual participation did not become a tool to collect dust on the shelf. Oh no! Churches integrated hybrid worship into their structure. This model of offering worship services both in-person and virtually across multiple platforms has remained intact for many congregations. Recent data shows that 73% of churches have adopted this model. A very small percentage of churches (2%) are entirely online. What amazing changes in such a short time frame!
This brings us to you, your team, and your organization. Are you married to a method, one that seems to be working just fine? It is not necessarily a liability, but in time it may become one. A season may come, or has already arrived, that requires you to adapt. Remember, stay true to the mission, but hold the method with an open hand. Your ability to accept new information, synthesize it, forecast a plan, implement changes, regularly evaluate, and adjust may just raise your sail in such a way that allows you to strategically use the winds of change to take you to places you haven’t been. Your welcoming of change may be the difference between obsolescence and abundance.