Last week, we brought you the first half of Thom Rainer and Sam Rainer’s Essential Church, which looked at a generation of church drop-outs. Today, as promised, the good news. Part II of the book is on “How Essential Churches Close the Back Door.”

Chapter 6 opens with two “success stories:” a young man who never left the church and a young woman who became “re-churched.” The authors remind us of the four resounding characteristics of Essential Churches (Simplify, Deepen, Expect and Multiply), and why they are so important.

Chapter 7 focuses on Simplify. Much of the chapter refers readers to Thom Rainer’s last book, Simple Church. The authors write that while “Simplify” is not the most important characteristic of an Essential Church it is the first, because an Essential Church must be built on a simple structure.

Chapter 8 moves into Deepen. Research shows that solid, deep teaching is vitally important to young people, and the authors identify three components of “going deep”: (1) the pastor’s example, (2) some sort of small group participation, and (3) encouraging congregants to study the Bible on their own (pg 193).

Chapter 9 talks about raising and communicating expectations. The authors tentatively give several examples of how a local church may do this: creating a mission statement that is also the discipleship process (example: “Welcome. Grow. Go.”), leading people to small groups, and/or establishing a new members’ class (pg 213).

Chapter 10 focuses on Multiply. The chapter begins by encouraging local churches to reclaim the dropouts. “One of the most receptive fields toward multiplication in a church is the young adult group who dropped out a few years earlier” (pg 223). The authors go on to discuss the idea that Essential Churches keep people, reclaim people, and reach out to those who have never been in a church (pg 232).

The Conclusion emphatically warns against trying to apply examples and ideas as a quick-fix program for a local church. The authors wrap up with a fictitious case study of “Clear Springs Community Church” becoming an Essential Church.

“Can your church become just like Clear Springs Community Church? Absolutely not! No two churches are alike, and no two communities are alike. But your church can move toward becoming a congregation that is vital to the members” (pg 253).

Pastor, counselor and consultant Rhett Smith posted a fascinating article on his blog Tuesday titled, “Post Media/Postmodern: Communicating Our Stories Effectively.”

He begins with the idea of our “post-media world.” “Post-media” is a term that was coined in September of last year to express the idea that, “the media doesn’t matter now. The conversation does. The connections do.”

What does that mean? It means that young people growing up in a post-media society know that fallible people write the stories on CNN.com, just like fallible people write blog posts. They’re interested in conversation, not credentials.

Smith writes:

“I’m definitely thinking through the rapidly changing world that is brought on by the reduction of hierarchy through social media tools, and what implications that has (especially for those of us in ministry) for us as we think about communicating the gospel in a noisy world.”

He goes on to discuss the role of believers in social media and telling the gospel story. But then he makes a comment that I don’t completely agree with:

“Last, what do churches do when they are no longer the front door to the gospel? Do we even realize that the physical building isn’t the front door anymore, but that the online world is the front door?”

This is where we may be losing sight of Authenticity for the sake of Conversation. Conversation is important; Authenticity is crucial. We can put up great websites and use every social media network out there to generate great conversation, but if they show up and the physical front door doesn’t connect with the digital front door – we risk disconnect by communicating a lack of authenticity.

The online world is your billboard. It’s the view from the street, or the sign out front. It’s the personal invitation from one friend to another. It’s important. But the front door is still the front door.

The first half of Rainer and Rainer’s Essential Church? looks at a generation of dropouts (18 – 25 year olds).

Chapter 1 discusses the idea that young adults are leaving the church not because they’re angry (at the church or at God), or because they’re trying to distance themselves from religion or spirituality. They’re leaving local churches because they don’t see how their faith connects to the body of believers. “To be blunt, God has converted our children, but we have failed to disciple them” (pg 30).

Chapter 2 emphasizes the importance of community. The emerging generation is craving community, but local churches are not providing it. “While only one out of five churches with recent facility additions built a third place facility, almost three-fourths of the formerly unchurched say they were attracted to a church with a third-place facility” (pg 62).

Chapter 3 analyzes the influence of life changes. Young adults are seeing a lot of change in their lives: most leave their parents’ home, many move a distance to attend college, new jobs, some get married, and some have children. Increasing demands on time mean the non-essentials get cut, i.e. church.

The real problem, however, is that local churches are letting them go. Many young adults who were interviewed for this chapter don’t blame their old churches for their personal decisions, but they do comment on how easy it was to leave the church. No one seemed to notice.

Chapter 4 discusses the role of hypocrisy in the young adult dropout rate, but not how many may expect. The greatest blow hypocrisy deals is from home. “The problem is that teens saw their parents doing church but saying little about the faith for which their church stands. Whether parents intended to convey it or not, most dropouts perceived church attendance as empty action” (pg 97).

Finally, Chapter 5 looks at the Pastor. The factors, “contributing most to the less-than-favorable views of the pastor were insincerity, judgmental behavior, and lack of good preaching” (pg 130). It’s not about smoke and mirrors, drama, video, and electric guitars for young people. It’s about sincerity, honesty and good preaching. All eyes are on the pulpit.

That's the challenge. Next week we'll bring you the second half of the book, the good news, the Essential Church. If you can't wait that long, you can get your own copy of Essential Church? here.

Pastor Rick Warren’s weekly Ministry Toolbox email yesterday linked first to an article by Pastor Warren himself titled, “The leadership America needs.” He discusses three major characteristics of “the kind of leadership God blesses” in light of politics, but the same certainly applies for the Church.

1. God blesses leaders who live with integrity.
   “Some people say that it doesn’t really matter what a leader does in his private life. It matters if you want God’s blessing. What you do in your private life always affects your public life.”
   
   
2. God blesses leaders who serve with humility.
   “The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud. That means every time a leader thinks he’s ‘hot stuff,’ God opposes him. Every time.”
   
   
3. God blesses leaders who share generously.
   “Generosity matters to God because it makes us like him. You cannot say ‘I’m a loving person,’ and not be a generous person. They are synonymous. Generosity is love in action.”

You can read the whole article here, and sign up for Pastor Warren’s Ministry Toolbox emails here.

What do you think? What would you add to the list? Let’s hear from your experiences in the comments below!

Thom Rainer’s most recent research, undertaken with his son and co-author, is documented in the recent release, Essential Church. This book is in many ways a sequel to, and expansion of, his last project, Simple Church.

The authors begin by reminding readers of the relationship between the existing American Church, and the emerging generation:

“More than 2/3 of young churchgoing adults in America drop out of church between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two.”

When researchers compared the reasons why some left, with the reasons why others stayed, it became clear that some people simply consider church an essential part of their lives and others do not. The question then became, “How can a local ministry make itself essential?”

There is no formula for becoming essential, because each essential church is different. Each is so focused on being essential to its unique community that they seem, at first, to be very different from each other. The Rainers did, however, identify four characteristics that essential churches share:

1. Simple. There is a basic structure/vision that directs everything.
2. Deepen. They encourage and enable people to deepen their understandings of God and His word.
3. Expectations. Essential Churches have high expectations of people, because when expectations are low, commitment is low.
4. Multiply. Evangelism is the heartbeat of these ministries.

Researchers also identified “seven sins of dying churches.”

1. Doctrine dilution
2. Loss of evangelistic passion
3. Failure to be relevant
4. Few outwardly focused ministries
5. Conflict over personal preferences
6. Priority of comfort
7. Biblical illiteracy

And that’s just the introduction. The first half of the book will discuss a generation of dropouts, and the second half will focus on becoming an essential church. We’ll bring you more of that in weeks to come.

La Estancia Chapel, by Bunker Arquitectura, made the short list at the beginning of the month in the Young Architect category, but didn’t top the category last week. It’s still pretty impressive.

The 380 square foot chapel sits in a colonial garden about an hour south of Mexico City that often hosts weddings.

Air conditioning was initially suggested, because of the typical mid-day heat, but ruled out due to cost and potential damage to the pristine environment. Instead, the glass panels that make up the chapel walls were placed 10cm apart to create a well-ventilated space.

The specific site within the gardens was carefully chosen. The structure is deliberately set in a natural clearing. The surrounding vegetation, and the large jacaranda trees that stretch over the chapel, provide plenty of shade.

And it looks nice too. As a structure, it provides a beautiful gathering point and some shelter. The glass panel walls and minimum environmental impact also allow visitors to enjoy the structure and the gardens together.

Ken Godevenos posted a great article on Church Solutions recently titled “Tradition vs. Change – Innovate at Your Own Pace.” He struggles with how church leaders can, or need to, balance tradition with change, and offers, “12 principles to help church leaders find and stay the right course for their churches.”

The short version:

1. History matters
2. Pastor’s personal comfort zone matters
3. You can’t keep everyone happy
4. Options are limited
5. You can lead, lag or lead/lag
6. Traditional has risks
7. Trying to do both has risks
8. Excellence matters
9. Men matter
10. Rethink the purpose of worship
11. Teach people to pray
12. Remember what church is about

You can read more on his 12 principles here.

Many local churches are stepping up to the huge task of ministry in a digital age; many church leaders are taking brave strides into the unknown to reconcile their vision with a new mission field.

Churches that find themselves in need of a building project – whether it’s an entirely new building or a renovation/expansion project – are being forced to face the task head-on, and the stakes are higher. If you’re in any stage of a building project, you’re looking at more than just reformatting or adding a new service; you’re investing a lot of time and resources into your ministry’s most powerful tool.

Ken’s 12 principles are a good place to start. Each of them certainly applies to a building project, and they will definitely help you and your team to think outside the proverbial box. After that, though, you need friends who know how to translate that vision into floor plans (see our Services page).

What do you think of Ken’s 12 principles? Do you agree or disagree with any in particular? If you’ve recently completed a building project, are there any you would add to the list? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below; we’ll do this best if we do it together!

If a picture is worth a thousands words, it’s for your sake that we upload a couple dozen pictures instead of blogging tens of thousands of words!

The Design Gallery has also been updated for your browsing pleasure. We added some designs we’re working on for Good Shepherd Church in Naperville, and New Life Church in Yorkville. Both projects are still in the works, so what you see now is not necessarily exactly what will be built.

We have, however, spent months (going on years in one case) getting to know these congregations, communities, pastors, and lay leaders. We understand their respective visions and, based on the unique calling of each ministry, we are putting the finishing touches on facilities that will serve them as they serve their neighbors.

Head over to the Design Gallery to check it out!

Finally got some time to post a few pictures of Faith Lutheran Church of Aurora’s new facility. Head over to the Project Gallery to check it out!

Granger Community Church in Indiana is multi-site in a new way!

From Tim Stevens' blog:

We are three weeks into our new service at the Elkhart campus. Week one attendance was 738. Week two 548 and yesterday we had 552. The service is held in a movie theater on two or three screens (depending on how many we need) and is 100% video ... beginning to end ... no live elements.

I would love to be a fly on the wall for that. Do people engage in worship, or do they sit and watch like it's a movie?

Tim quotes Senior Pastor Mark Beeson on why 100% video. He addresses expectation ("architecture shapes expectation") and cost. Makes sense, but what do you think?

Is this a good model? Is this effective?

Head over to Tim's blog to read the whole post, and Pastor Mark's whole explaination.