The other day, I was on a Zoom call with a bunch of pastors, and we were talking about what is working and not working in this new world. As the call went on, we started to discuss what will come next for churches.

The world is different today than it was in January. And while some think once everything opens up, life will return as it was, I don’t believe that. Yes, some things will go back to “normal,” but the world will be different, and consequently, the church will be and look different than it did in 2019.

That is exciting and scary all at the same time.

So, as I processed that call, I wrote down some questions I think churches and leaders need to think through:

How long will it take people to come back to church?

I’m finding there are two schools of thought on this: one group says that the moment churches are allowed to meet, everyone will flock back and fill up the room. The other side thinks people will be timid and come back slowly.

Who’s right? I have no idea. Only time will tell.

I fall into the camp that says people will come back slowly. I think there will be people who are there week one a church is back open, but also people will stay home and continue to watch online. Not only because of ease but also because of fear. And while some will say there shouldn’t be fear, there is. The job of the leader is not to wish a new reality, but to face reality and lead through it.

People may come running back to church; they may go back slowly. Will parents send their kids to school once they open, or will more parents homeschool next year? The answers to those questions will have an enormous impact on how ministry is done moving forward.

After watching church online, how will that change the way people view video teaching?

If you’ve been around church circles for the last decade, the debate around video teaching and whether or not online church counts has raged.

I think that after spending months watching church online and watching their pastor on a video will have an impact on how people connect with church and teaching in a post-covid world. What is that impact? Right now, it is hard to say, but I think the idea of watching a pastor on video won’t be as weird as many once thought it was.

Yes, people will still want to be in a room with a pastor, but will this change how they consume teaching?

How will this change people’s view of leadership and their confidence in leadership?

We live in a polarizing political world. Just look at social media, and you will see people throwing stones left and right. Regardless of your political view, most of us assume the other side is lying, not leading well, getting in the way, etc.

How do you lead in this world?

For those who feel like the government hasn’t done an excellent job in this crisis, have they lost confidence in leaders and leadership? How will that affect pastors moving forward?

If the government says, “you can gather with 100 or 200 people,” what does that look like for worship gatherings?

There is a chance that things will open up, but there are limited to the number of people who can gather. For smaller churches or campuses, this might not be a problem, but for larger churches, this could change things.

Do you pivot and do smaller gatherings and do them more often? On different days? Do you go to the venue route and have different styles of worship? What about teaching in those spaces?

Have we built a strong enough leadership pipeline?

Many churches are using more and more staff to do things right now because of safety and guidelines, but when churches are back together physically, the finances will be different than they were before. At that moment, as churches are rebuilding, the strength of your leadership pipeline will be seen.

The view of this crisis also seems to have different viewpoints, and most of that is seen through age. Many people over 45 view this differently than those under 45. How much of a voice does the under 45 crowds have in your leadership meetings right now? As you move forward?

How will this change how we do community?

One thing that will change through this is community and how we do groups. Yes, people will return to meeting in people’s homes for groups, but I think more people will see the value in an online group and want to do that.

I think we are also being reminded about how important community and presence is to our lives. We once took a hug from a friend for granted or sitting with someone and laughing over a cup of coffee. I don’t think we’ll take that for granted anymore.

How has this changed our view of life and death?

I’ve heard it said that by the end of this, everyone in the world would know someone who has died from this. I’ve already lost someone from covid-19. How does that change how we think about life, what is essential, and what we go after in terms of goals and priorities? What about death and what happens after death? Do we now view those differently? Do we focus on those a little more than we used to? Does that close us off and make us more callous towards life?

I don’t know for sure, but I think we’ll look at life and death differently.

The world is different and changing rapidly. This has always been the case, but it feels like it is overdrive right now.

And no, the world, school, work, and church will not go back to the way that it was before. Some things will return to what they are, but the vast majority of things will be different.

For leaders, this isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, but just a thing.

Picture this, your church just pulled off a big event, and you are sitting in a room evaluating it and deciding if it was a success.

The answers are often dependent on how excited you were before the event and during it — the number of people who attended, people who became Christians, or how you experienced the event.

Then someone asks, “Do we do this again next year?”

Now, if you are smart, you would stop the conversation at this point.

Churches are notorious for throwing money after things they’ve done before or something that someone else started without asking if it is worthwhile.

Most of the time, the question of worth boils down to the budget number on that white sheet of paper.

But what most elder teams and staffs miss is that the cost of an event or ministry is not just what is on that piece of paper. It includes that, but it is much more than that.

Here are a few questions you should ask as you evaluate an event or ministry:

How much did we pay staff to be there? When churches think about events, outreach, Christmas Eve, etc. they rarely factor in what they pay the team for the event. But this is a cost. Take whatever last big event your church did, add up all the staff hours, and what those staff members get paid per hour. That is a cost to your church for that event or ministry.

Now, it might be worth it.

But as a smart leader, you have to calculate that.

Let me throw another example out. Think back to the last meeting you had at your church. How many staff members attended? How much do they get paid per hour? Was that meeting worth what your church spent to have those staff members there? Did anyone check their email during the meeting? Social media?

What we pay staff members to do is a direct reflection of how we view stewardship as a church.

How many volunteer hours were spent on something? When it comes to a significant event or outreach at any church, hundreds and possibly thousands of volunteer hours will be taken up.

Those volunteer hours are hours that will not be spent on something else.

So, how can you make sure you don’t waste them? How do you make sure that it is worth it?

Many times, we don’t ask these questions; we plan an event and throw out the call for volunteers.

But why would they want to attend and help out? You must make sure that you attach a strong vision for something and make sure everyone knows why you are doing something.

What didn’t get done or got pushed back because of this event? No matter how amazing your staff is, when you pull off a big event or outreach, something won’t get done. That might be in terms of songs written, videos made, graphics produced, lessons, recruiting, or training might fall by the wayside.

Just like everything else on this list, that isn’t a bad thing — just something you have to factor in.

As best as you can, before hitting the yes button on something, try to list out what might get sacrificed because of something. Will there be an area of ministry that will suffer because of what you are trying to pull off? The reality is that something will fall off, but you have to factor that into the cost of something.

What was the wear and tear in terms of energy? One thing churches rarely ask is, “Is this the right season to do this?”

Churches fall into the trap of “we did this last year, so we have to do this again this year.” But what if you don’t have the bandwidth, energy, finances? Some years you can take a year off from something. There were times that Jesus walked away from the crowds and times that he walked into them. Both are acceptable and right at the right moment.

But just because you did something last year does not mean you need to do it this year.

Are you launching a campus? A new service? Did you hire several new staff members? What is the burnout rate of your team?

Remember, when you did it the first time or last time, that was a different season. Just like a family must continuously ask if now is the right season for this, so does a church.

Recently, I’ve sat in several meetings or talked with different leaders, and the same situation has been repeating itself.

Imagine this scenario.

A team or church feels like they need to hire someone or add someone to the team, so they start brainstorming ideas. Who can we add? Names begin to get thrown out, and all of a sudden, the group begins to move people up and down the list of possibilities.

It might be a church that is trying to grow or move the needle in a ministry. People begin to share what they think is the problem or how can they fix that problem or what they believe the church should do that they aren’t doing.

In each of these situations, one of the critical things leaders miss is a crucial question.

What are we missing?

Who are we missing?

Too often, leaders assume they have what they need or need more of the same.

I sat in a meeting recently, and we were discussing adding someone else to the team. So we didn’t lose the energy around the idea, people started to share names of people who could serve alongside us. This isn’t necessarily wrong or a bad idea. But what struck me was that we weren’t sure who we would add or why, just that we wanted to. I asked everyone to take a step back and answer this question: Who are we missing? What perspective do we not have?

I think when people hire a team, they often overlook this. Many leaders, because they like people like them, hire and look for people like them. If you’re a visionary, driven leader like I am, you tend not to want people around who ask “why” questions. They feel like a stick in the mud or at least seem to be holding you back. But they might be the leader you need to move forward or protect you from a poor decision.

When leaders make a decision, whether financial, hiring, starting, or stopping a ministry, they don’t ask enough, “What are we missing?” What data don’t we have that we need? What data are we overlooking that we need to look harder at?

The reason is that many leaders are tasked with finding the answers. People come to us because we have a history of knowing the answers and who wants to follow someone who doesn’t know? At least that is what we think.

But when someone says, “This doesn’t make sense,” we shouldn’t shut them down or stop listening to them. We might be missing something that they see.

Because, the longer we are on a team, in a company or a church, the more we get used to things. It’s like when you move into a house, you immediately see things that are out of place, paint that isn’t bright or carpet that needs replacing. Over time though, you stop noticing. You work around that drawer that sticks and that outlet that doesn’t work all the time.

Leaders need those fresh eyes, just like when someone comes over and asks, “When are you going to fix that drawer?” We need to engage when someone tells us something isn’t clear, to complicated, or not hitting on all cylinders.

Otherwise, we might miss the right person for our team or the correct data that we need to excel in.

Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first. -Simon Sinek

The title of this blog post might seem funny to you, but do you love the church you work at? Do you love the people in your church? Are you passionate about the mission, vision, and strategy of your church?

Let me ask it another way that an older pastor asked me: Would you attend your church if you didn’t get paid to be there?

Too many pastors and church leaders are merely showing up to work and collecting a paycheck.

And the people around them feel it.

Imagine what our churches would be like if the people leading them were so passionate about the mission, they would do whatever it takes.

This shows up in all kinds of ways. Here are some negative ones I’ve seen:

• Leaders are not helping or serving when things need to be done.
• Pastors who don’t give generously to their churches.
• Pastors and leaders not in or leading small groups.
• Leaders who are not inviting friends to their church.

Now, I know that no church is perfect and that every pastor or board isn’t fun to work for. I know that ministry is hard and that you pour yourself out and often you feel depleted.

This isn’t so much about loving your church as it is loving being a part of your church. 

The reason this matters is not only for your soul and feeling alive as a child of God and a leader but your church feels this, and it has an enormous impact on your church and the people in it.

All of us believe lies in our lives and those lies shape us. Lies that we aren’t good enough, strong enough, that I owe God, that we can be in control, that God doesn’t love us, that we aren’t lovable or worthwhile.

Lies like these, shape us. And if we don’t face them, these lies will determine the stories we tell and live.

Pastor’s believe lies as well. I know that might be a shock, but it’s true.

And like lies in our personal lives, if we don’t face them, name them and see the impact they have on our lives, they will determine how we lead and what our leadership (and lives) are like.

Here are three of them:

1. What happens at my church is because of me.

All pastor’s know this isn’t true, but we easily believe it is. You can tell by their mood after they hear how many people were at church, what the offering was like, how the kid’s ministry went. Much of what they feel about their sermon is based on what they can read on people’s face, the connection they feel or lack thereof.

If numbers are up, our moods tend to be better. If there were no technical mistakes in the service, we feel better.

This isn’t to say that excellence doesn’t matter, cause it does, but it can become a difficult idol to shake.

2. God loves me more when I preach.

I love preaching. I feel like God has gifted me to do it and I love using this gift for His glory. It is an honor. But it is easy for me to feel like God loves me more because I preach or that I feel his presence more in my life when I am preaching.

It is also easier for a pastor to replace their devotional life with sermon prep. When this happens, we aren’t filling up our bucket, but merely giving out.

It is often easier to do something for God than see what God is doing in us. 

3. If I’m not at church, it will fall apart.

As a church planter or pastor, you will battle this. Will people care about your church as much as you do? What happens if your church completely falls apart when you aren’t there? While many struggles with this, I’ve never actually heard of a church closing because a pastor was away for a week. Revolution will not fall apart if I’m not there, but like lie #1, it is easy to fall into.

The healthiest churches are the ones that a pastor can leave for a week or two and give others a chance to step up and lead.