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The Vision...

A Biblical Small Group Within Walking Distance of Every Person on the Planet.


05.20.2011

Guest Blogger Reid Smith on Benefits & Challenges in Using Technology to Build Community

 
Small Group Pastor, Reid Smith is a special friend of mine. I had the opportunity to spend three days with him alongside Steve Gladen, Bill Search, Randall Neighbour, Greg Bowman, Carl George, and Eddie Mosley as we discussed the small group movement prior to taking the stage to tape The Summit, A Convergence of Small Group Experts. Reid’s knowledge, spirit, leadership timing, and communication skills were a great blessing to all of us.

Reid is the guest blogger today. His handle on technology and Christian community is unparalleled.

There are a lot of benefits to using technology to build community. But there are challenges as well. Although I believe technology can be used to magnify the ministry & mission of the Church, I don’t believe it satisfies every dimension of human need and communication like human touch. But it comes pretty close.

I’ve tried to outline what I see as some of the benefits and challenges of using technology to enhance people’s experience of community:

BENEFITS
• Connect real-time anytime
• You can build REAL relationships online and reconnect with people
• Additional ways of communicating humanize you as a leader
• Adds influence & fuels discipleship
• A way of modeling leadership, learning, & faith
• Collaboration of minds – aggregates wisdom
• Sharing of best practices (resources)
• Helps connect the dots in your communications
• It’s free – save $ in communications, resources, curriculum
• Decentralized leadership development (particularly helpful w/multi-sites)
• Helps to fill-in the gaps between group meetings

CHALLENGES
• Can be impersonal
• The lure of productivity can decrease connectivity
• The lure of convenience can decrease community
• Need high tech + high touch (requires consistent, involved leadership)
• There’s no substitute for human touch
• Users can hide
• Easy to misinterpret (consider: 90% of communication is non-verbal)
• Can accelerate the process of somebody who is sliding away toward isolation

You’re reading this article now because you’re using technology to connect. You’ve probably shared resources and insights with those you lead because of content that was disseminated by today’s technological tools. Just as a microphone amplifies the speaker’s message so technology can amplify the experience of community. Social media, for example, can be leveraged in ways that can exponentially increase meaningful contacts and those we reach with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Web 2.0 is a term that describes the trend of Internet usage and design that seeks the enhancement of creativity and collaboration among users. If you’re a Christ-follower who wants to maximize their missional impact, you’ve got to be 2.0. Explore today’s technological tools and seek to influence the millions of people immersed in the new social phenomenon of today’s online community.

Reid Smith
Community Life Pastor of the 14,000 member multi-site Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach County, Florida (goChristFellowship.com) and the founder of the 2orMore small group leadership training and resource ministry. He lives in Jupiter, Florida with his wife of 15-years, Lisa, and two children: Mikayela (8) and Drew (5). Reid received his Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Cross-cultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary and has been applying 'best practices' in small group ministry start-up / restarts, operations, and leadership development for the last 15-years.

Groups, Reid, Small, Smith, Technology, and
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04.20.2011

5 Rethinks for Worship Pastors Who Want Older Adults to Stick

 
There is a wonderful thing happening in church life today… young, outrageously exciting churches are becoming strategic in bringing older adults into their churches. Those over sixty would like to join these congregations. In most instances, the preaching style many young pastors are utilizing today really resonates with them.

The musical worship experience is key to determining whether or not older adults will stick. Worship Pastor, if you really want older adults to join you, there are a few things you will want to keep in mind as you prepare and host the worship experience.
 
1.     Utilize some songs that older adults know and that are housed in their hearts. The songs that are housed in someone’s heart are those songs that resonate with past spiritual experiences. This means an occasional hymn or praise song from ten to twenty years ago will be in order. Don’t sweat it. If it’s a praise song ten or twenty years old it’ll be new to many in your church and if it's a hymn, you're establishing doctrine in ways far beyond the lyrics found in most other songs.

2.     Don’t expect the most mature adults to stand too long. Older individuals deal with aches and pains that are often joked about. But the truth is, coming to church and standing for twenty minutes straight is literally painful for an aging person with some physical ailments. Older guests will never mention this to you, they’ll simply not come back to your church for a second helping of painful worship.

3.     Sing in a range that is conducive to everyone joining the worship team in the song. There is a trend that is interesting to me, worship pastors leading tunes that are out of the range of those who are not singers and expecting everyone to join in. This is especially frustrating for older adults. As people age they lose their ability to sing the higher notes. For the aging worshiper the only conclusion they can draw is that the goal isn’t really to worship together, it’s for the musicians to do a concert and everyone else can try to join in if they'd like. They are then asking themselves… “Why do I have to stand during this concert?”

4.     Enunciate carefully when speaking to the worshipers. One of the important roles of the worship leader is hosting the event. That is, to verbalize direction, read a Scripture passage, etc… between tunes. Older worshipers do struggle with hearing all that is going on and increasing the decibel levels will not help. If we want older folks to join us, we’ll need to enunciate carefully every word so that all understand what we are saying. Be careful though, if this is overdone your words will sound insincere.

5.     Introduce a new song as new and teach it rather than expecting people to sing a song you haven’t yet taught them. When a congregation is asked to join the worship team to sing, the worshipers are anticipating they will know the song. Most of the older adults in your church have had worship pastors in the past who were taught a method for introducing a new song to the congregation. It went something like this: Week 1, Sing the song for the congregation then have them sing it with you. Week 2, Remind the congregation of the new song they were learning last week, sing it with the worship team again then have the congregation sing it together, “for those who didn’t get to sing it with us last week.” Weeks 3, 4, and 5. Utilize that same song and the same arrangement of that song until it is a standard for that church body. Older adults are embarrassed and think they are the only ones who don't know a song when a worship pastor asks everyone to sing but hasn't yet taught them the new song. Please know that I am not suggesting you use this method and making a statement like "for those who didn't get to sing it with us last week" will kill the moment for sure. But being careful to teach a tune before leading people to believe they should already know it, will be helpful to everyone, not just older adults. 
 
I continue to be thrilled with the number of church leaders who have been very strategic in utilizing musical styles to promote the drawing of people their own age. I am also blindsided by those same worship leaders who want an aging population to stick but say of them, “They can just find a church that sings the songs they like, in the way they like it, with people like them.”

I wonder... If we really believe the body of Christ is made up of people of all ages and we want all of those ages to be together as one church body maybe we should consider tweaking the worship experience so that all demographics can experience the presence of Christ together. 


You Might Also Want to Check Out...
Reflections on Turning 55 by Bob Kauflin
Worshipping Unfashionably by Tullian Tchividjian 

and, Music, Senior, Worship, Adults
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04.11.2011

“I don’t need easy, I just need possible” and Small Group Ministry

 
This weekend the film, Soul Surfer released. It is the true story of a teenage surfer with a promising future whose arm is taken by a shark. She begins her trek toward involvement in competitive surfing again only to find it a challenge far beyond difficult. At one point in the film her father tells her, “It’s not going to be easy.” With wisdom far beyond her years, she declares, “I don’t need easy, I just need possible.”
 
I’m not sure why, but it seems many people in ministry, especially small group ministry, thought it would be easy. There are two reasons why doing small group ministry is always going to be a ferocious battle.
 
1.     Satan, the enemy, attacks most vehemently the outposts that have the greatest impact on the transformation of people’s hearts.
2.     Small Groups is that outpost.
 
If the enemy can kill small groups he’s…
 
1.     Kept a Christian mission from being established on any street or cul de sac where a group would have met.
2.     Captured people in the large group setting only, a setting that is not conducive to ultimate spiritual transformation.
3.     Allowed individuals to believe that one-on-one face-to-face conversations are unnecessary in the battle to overcome the sins and addictions that hold us captive and take our joy.  
4.     Made sure the church offers no environment conducive to unveiling the burdens that we carry and so we try to carry unbearable burdens alone.
5.     Stifled the use of spiritual gifts thereby releasing us of acts that bring with them a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.
6.     Left us with no place to bring someone spiritually confused or completely separated from God for conversation, understanding, and a relationship with those willing to journey towards faith with them.
7.     Removed the prime experience where leaders are noticed, equipped, and empowered to do greater service for God’s Kingdom.
 
My Small Group Pastor friends… It is never going to be easy. The battle will rage on. But it is possible that we can change the world through biblical small groups. 

You are my heroes. 
 

You'll Also Want to Check Out...
When Leadership Hurts by Heather Zempel
The Deeper Benefits of Failure by Mac Lake
Quote: Nothing is Impossible by Mark Howell
Group, Groups, Ministry, Mission, Small, and
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