5 Church Practices Undermining Sunday Mornings

Media consultant and filmmaker Phil Cooke, who holds a doctorate in theology and comes from a pastoral family, has identified five critical church practices that may be undermining pastoral effectiveness in modern churches.

“Turn to your neighbor and say “. Your church members love you and won’t tell you this, so that’s why I’m here. One study indicates that 67 percent of new visitors won’t return to a church where the pastor says, “Turn to your neighbor.” (Not really. I made that up, but I’m pretending it’s true.) It feels forced, awkward and very cheesy. Trust me, your church members hate it.

Stop being confusing. We forget that a significant part of your congregation didn’t grow up in church. According to recent ministry trends, many churches report that 50 percent of their congregation doesn’t have a church background. And new visitors? Forget it. So, when did you last talk from the pulpit about why we value and read the Bible? When was the last time you explained why we sing? Never forget that in a typical service, many people in your congregation don’t get things we take for granted.

And that includes posted signs, directions and helpful information. It’s more important than you think. Which means, do you know what else is essential? Your church communication team.

READ: 7 Church trends to watch for

Stop ignoring your livestream audience. Remember how much work we put into producing livestreamed services during the pandemic, when churches were closed? Now, most churches broadcast their services online but don’t make much effort to connect with that audience.

Stop using “fill-in” words — Amen? It’s my theory that because of our noisy, distracted culture, we often feel that we need to fill in the quiet moments in conversations or preaching. So we use nonsense words – “like,” “you know,” “so,” “amen?” etc. If you study great speakers, you’ll discover they know how to use silence in a way that makes people think. It can make people sit on the edge of their seats with anticipation. So don’t undermine that moment by using a fill-in word that has no meaning. You should get comfortable with silence and make sure every word you say in the pulpit matters – because it does.

Finally, stop ignoring red flags. I use the term to describe seeing things that could blow up into a major crisis if you don’t deal with them now, such as a youth director who’s spending a little too much time with a minor in the youth group, an executive pastor who comes in looking strangely like he has a hangover or a couple on staff who seem to work late – a lot. I’m not talking about being a behavior cop, because false accusations can destroy lives. But I wonder how many significant crises we’ve seen reported at churches lately could have been avoided had someone not ignored something that didn’t feel right or dared to ask a senior leader about it.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice