3 Church Ruts
Posted by Todd Rhoades in Leadership on Nov 4th, 2011 | 6 commentsYou know a rut when you see it. It’s easy for all churches to get caught in ruts. Steve Caton over at ChurchCommunityMatters identifies three ruts that he sees many churches face:
1) The Assimilation Rut. Churches often develop a good assimilation path but don’t have the right systems or tools to actually monitor where people really are. They hope people are moving forward. Many are taking steps, but, there are also people slipping through gaps we didn’t even know were there. Do you know where your “growth” gaps are?
2) The Small Group Rut. A small group strategy is now almost a given in every church. It is a proven method of keeping a church intimate while it grows. Many small group-focused churches have no idea what percentage of their attenders are really showing up in their groups. They have names on a roster, but they aren’t counting the “faces”. The small group leaders often lack tools to connect between weekly gatherings and group “health” is therefore a mystery.
3) The Event Rut. This one is BIG! Because we often equate busyness with significance, churches often go way overboard with events, mistaking activity for impact. Events must have purpose and measurable impact. If not, people stop coming.
These are a good start.
What ruts is your church currently in?
What ruts has your church battled through.
And what’s the easiest way to get out of a rut?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
And please pass this post along to your friends and colleagues using the social media links below…
Thanks,
Todd
6 Responses to “ “3 Church Ruts”
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How about “the success rut”. That’s when it seems that all that stuff is working when some or parts of it are not, because you’re not asking the right questions.
Our staff viewed and discussed Dave Ferguson’s video from THENINES 2011 about “what do you measure?” If you are stirred by this blog post, I highly recommend you find someone who purchased the premium package (access to the video vault) and consider Dave’s thoughts on getting out of these ruts.
How about the music rut of having guitars, drums, and insisting on having a driving beat? It seems to also be a rut that many are stuck in that ignores the hymns that many older adults would like to have added in whorship services, because they add to their worship experience. Many older adults are feeling ignored when it comes to church music.
Oh good grief….. I receive criticism from 1/2 the church if I don’t have the driving bear during “worship” music on Sunday morning — and I receive critism from the other 1/2 if I do….. No amount of prayer and teaching seems to push people past the “entertainment” rut
Shane, A suggestion? One service for the driving beat crowd and a separate service for the traditionalists. Both can be authentic worship.
It’s worked for us.
A trend in church music seems to be toward expecting to be entertained, either by the old traditional styles or the “driving beat” contemporary music. To what extent should the church be “entertainment”?