Todd Wilson, President of Exponential, talks about the future of church growth, why trying to get people back into buildings might be an old church planting strategy and the future of innovative church planting.
Plus, Todd talks in-depth about how church funding models can adversely impact real innovation in church planting.
Welcome to Episode 377 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.
Plus, in this episode’s What I’m Thinking About segment, Carey talks about three shocking statistics that show how quickly, radically and possibly permanently church is changing in 2020.
Guest Links
Facebook | Twitter | Exponential
Episode Links
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CONVERSATION LINKS
The Mobilization Flywheel by Larry Walkemeyer and Todd Wilson
Mega Multi Multiply by Ralph Moore with Todd Wilson
Bob Buford and Leadership Network
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INSIGHTS FROM TODD
1. Let’s agree there’s a new normal
With the impact of the COVID pandemic, churches have had to change their evangelism methods. Todd says, “What we’ve done is we’ve thrown a 100% of churches into this chaos. And whatever the new normal’s become, is it a radical new normal? Is it a partial new normal? Let’s just agree, there’s a new normal.”
So, how should you respond? Todd says to look at the trends and ask the questions, “Why do I have a physical building? Why do I need it? Why not be completely digital?” The big question ultimately then becomes, “What physically is church?”
If you can dig into these questions, you can gain insight into what the next new normal is.
2. Ask your donors to support digital
While Todd does not see the brick and mortar model of churches going away, if you’re offering digital as an option to your church, why not ask your donors to support that?
There are quite a bit of churches right now with a lot of debt on their buildings. 98% of churches are driven by facilities and staff. And the staff are essentially there to facilitate in-person experiences in the facilities. So, how do you fund your church if you can’t fill it back up?
Think of this season as a great opportunity to approach some of your top donors and say, “Hey, we want to do online. We don’t know where this is going to go. We’re going into new territory. Would you get behind us? Would you fund an increased online presence?”
3. Micro-sites may be the future
Are micro-sites the wave of the future for the church? Todd thinks this is a possibility. Even ten years ago, Exponential hypothesized micro-sites as the pace setters of the future.
Micro-sites are also opportunity for the church to be more of a functioning family when you’ve de-centralized it into cells as opposed to something that you come to on Sunday morning. This model requires the church to be a missionary-sending agency to see every person as an every day missionary with an every day mission field. The church then becomes an equipping center instead of a training center.
Quotes from Episode 377
It would be a blessing in disguise if part of what comes out of COVID is we really do take a step forward in mobilizing the priesthood of all believers. @toddwilson Click To Tweet The best solution we can give the people to mobilize them into this new normal thing in the future is to figure out how to best equip. @toddwilson Click To Tweet There is a new normal coming. The question is, who's going to shape it? @toddwilson Click To Tweet Realism is your friend when you're looking into the future. @cnieuwhof Click To Tweet As a futurist in the church planting world, I have to separate out what I want to have happen versus the reality of what might happen. @toddwilson Click To Tweet The average church leader needs to say not how am I going to survive tomorrow but needs to try to look beyond the confusion of today. @toddwilson Click To Tweet My fruit grows on other people's trees. – Bob Buford Click To Tweet If you take the external factors of house prices soaring, and interest rates low, and the different combination of things, it's hard to imagine that we're not in for a couple of years of difficult financial times. @toddwilson Click To Tweet Money drives the model of church in the United States. @toddwilson Click To Tweet Does Jesus intend that every man, woman and child have a healthy church family? @toddwilson Click To TweetRead or Download the Transcript for Episode 377
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Next Episode: Thom Rainer
Thom Rainer works with thousands of church leaders and shares his insights on attendance trends in the post-quarantine church, what pastors of small, mid-sized and large church are missing and the tremendous opportunities ahead for church leaders.
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