Rich Birch has worked for three large churches that have launched over a dozen new locations, and he’s seen many small and mid-sized churches turn things around. What’s their secret? They do unreasonable things.
Welcome to Episode 113 of the Podcast.
Guest Links: Rich Birch
Rich on Facebook
Rich on Twitter
Unreasonable Churches: 10 Churches Who Zagged When Others Zigged and Saw More Impact Because of It by Rich Birch
Rich’s blog: unSeminary
Rich’s Podcast: unSeminary Podcast
Links Mentioned
Rich Birch on Episode 008
The Canadian Church Leaders Podcast
TrainedUp’s Free eBook: Recruit and Deploy More Volunteers
Connexus Church For The City
CreateSpace by Amazon
3 Things from This Episode
94% of churches aren’t growing as quickly as the communities they’re in. In Rich Birch’s new book, Unreasonable Churches: 10 Churches Who Zagged When Others Zigged and Saw More Impact Because of It, he found 10 churches that broke the trend and experienced growth by doing things differently. Rich isn’t here to tell you how to perfectly follow their steps—but to encourage you to take action on that idea you’ve always had but maybe thought that it was just a bit unreasonable.
Here are three takeaways from my conversation with Rich:
1. Most churches make excuses. It’s easy to look at other churches and think: “If I was in that area of the country” or, “If I had that staff” then things would be different. The reality is that the majority of churches are struggling with growth. You can choose to focus on the negative, or you can choose to see what God is still doing through your church.
2. Unreasonable churches rally people to the mission. There’s a common pattern in thriving churches: asking people to go above and beyond. Churches are raising the flag and saying “This is what’s important to us.” When people understand the why, they can connect to the what. It’s our job to steward the message that giving to the local church makes sense.
Example: See how Connexus Church is doing this with For The City.
3. What worked 30 years ago doesn’t always work now. This is true in a variety of ways. Whether it’s moving to automatic payments for tithing or viewing multi-site as the new normal, it’s okay to be experimental, innovative and maybe even a bit unreasonable.
Quotes from this Episode
CNLP 113: unSeminary’s Rich Birch on Why Some Churches Beat the Odds and Grow Click To Tweet
CNLP 113: unSeminary’s Rich Birch on Why Some Churches Beat the Odds and Grow Click To Tweet
CNLP 113: unSeminary’s Rich Birch on Why Some Churches Beat the Odds and Grow Click To Tweet
CNLP 113: unSeminary’s Rich Birch on Why Some Churches Beat the Odds and Grow Click To Tweet
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Next Episode: William Vanderbloemen
So…how do you know when it’s time to quit? Few people are better positioned to talk about it than William Vanderbloemen, who deals with staff and churches in transition every day. William shares some amazing insights on when you should stay and when you should go.
