Do You Want to Get Well?

It’s commonly agreed, in most contexts that the traditional ways of doing church no longer work. Perhaps you disagree with this statement. Perhaps you are not in touch with the data concerning the plight of most of our churches in the SBC or more specifically our churches in the Fairburn Baptist Association.

Speaking of our Baptist Association, here are a few startling statistics from our Annual Church Report (ACR) provided by our churches. I compiled a few vital aggregate statistics over the last five years. I threw out the years 2020 and 2021 as Covid-19 years. I did this because the numbers would have been even more stark. I only factored the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022. If a church didn’t report in any of these years, which several did, I went back and averaged the most recent five years in that category and used that average for the church’s report. Here’s the summary:

1. The number of churches we have in the association is down two congregations.

2. The membership in those churches is down by average of 2,107 members. By the way, this number is before I took off the numbers from the two congregations we lost.

3. Worship attendance is down by average of 2,054.

4. Baptisms are down by average of 27.

5. Church income is up by average of $1,358,734.

6. Church giving to their own mission causes is down by average of $405,902.

7. Church giving to Fairburn Baptist Association is down by average of $11,289.

Just in case you are wondering, our associational area during these years grew in population by 24,000 people.

As you can see, in every category but one we are down. You can come to any conclusion you like, but the way I see it, on average our churches have more money and less impact. Why is that? Without the Pandemic being a factor, we are still on the decline in the numbers that really count for kingdom growth.

To be fair, not every church’s numbers in our association are down. We have several churches that have grown in numbers and baptisms in the last year. Some have even given more to missions and to associational missions. However, the vast majority of churches are in a downward trajectory. Perhaps this is the situation of your church. I hope it is not. But in order to know, we must keep good records.

Facts are our friends. This is why it is so important for churches to fill out the Annual Church Report (ACR) every year. Most of our churches have done it in the past, but many are stopping. Chances are good that your church is one of them.

Why would church leaders not fill out their Annual Church Report? I personally believe it is because their numbers are declining, and it’s an issue of pride. I’ve not seen a church that is growing stop sending in their ACR. I have seen the reverse.

If you don’t track how your church is doing, you won’t know how it’s doing. It’s like a man not going to his doctor when he is hurting because he is afraid the doctor will find something wrong. Well, there is something wrong and if you don’t find out what it is it could kill you!

That is exactly what has happened to many of our churches. They will not acknowledge the decline for fear of having to get a diagnosis and then a prescription to do something about it. Then they are put in the position of doing the hard work of changing or die.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 5 we read about Jesus finding a man who could not walk and had been laying at the pool of Bethesda for 38 years. Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6b, CSB) What a silly question. The man had been an invalid for 38 years and waiting at the water for healing. Why would Jesus ask such a question? I think it is because some people don’t want to get well. They are comfortable in their sickness. They know that if they are well, they will have to take responsibility for themselves. In short, they will have to change.

In my 15 plus years as a church consultant and denominational worker I have asked many churches the same question that Jesus posed to the lame man. 100% of them told me that they wanted to get well. But I found out later that at least 50% of them lied.

They wanted to get well but they didn’t want to change.

I’ll do it if…

· It doesn’t cost too much.

· It’s not too hard.

· It won’t be painful.

· It won’t take too long.

They have betrayed the mission of God for their religion of comfort. They have made an idol out of their religious tradition and have grieved the Spirit of God. They do not weep over the lost and seek to become all things to all people so that by all means they might save some. No chances of revival here… unless there is a change of mind. The Bible has a great word for “change of mind”. It is the word “repentance.” It’s a good word and a good one for Christians to practice.

So, does your church want to get well? Get a diagnosis. Your associational missionary just happens to be certified in administering a church health assessment, likely the best tested and documented church health survey ever created.

Once a valid and accurate diagnosis is made, then the church, under the prayerful leadership of the pastor and help of the AMS can begin to follow a prescription for greater health. But the question remains, do you want to get well? It will probably be hard. It will likely be painful. It will surely take some time. It will be costly.

Is there a better option? Continue the same course. As Dr. Phil says, “How’s that working for you?”

Is It Christian to Focus on Mental Health?

As a pastor, for years I would calendar my preaching in February to deal with issues related to mental health. I’d jokingly call February “Mental Health Month.” I had several reasons for this. One, was just the nature of the season. It is winter and has been winter for some time and now I’m sick of it. Give me spring!

February In Oklahoma was ice storms, winds, tornadoes, earthquakes, and loss of electrical power. It was still dark late in the morning and then again early in the evening. During the day it was often overcast. Okay, maybe I’m lumping a whole month of events into what may seem like one day, but I guarantee you, we’ve had one day like that, and it was in February! So, you get my point. The weather can be a real downer in February unless you are a weather forecaster, then you're excited.

A second reason for the mental health focus as a pastor was the inevitable letdown after the Christmas and New Years holidays. As now a grandparent, I miss seeing every one of my grandkids since Christmas. I miss my children as well, but there is a special feeling of loss not seeing the grandkids for a while after Christmas. For many, it is a feeling of isolation and loneliness.

Then there are all the bills! For some people, Christmas is binge shopping! “Let’s buy this for the kids, they need it!” “Sure, this is expensive, but it’s the holidays!” You know the feeling. It’s the high of impulse buying something nobody really, really needs while you are hyped up on a Starbucks Americano Grande. Wow! It’s like a drug.

The emotional high of materialistic procurement goes away after Christmas, sometimes that very evening. Your mental health is in danger when you open up the credit card bill in January or the first of February. You just can’t believe you spent that much money. Someone must have hacked your credit card! But no. The financial woes are self-inflicted.

There you have it. Four good reasons for making February Mental Health Month: The weather, the holiday let-down, isolation, and financial debt.

But with all of these things, some might say that all I’m doing is providing some sort of moralistic therapeutic deism instead of Christianity. I will admit that there is always a danger of this happening. Especially if we don’t stand firmly on the Gospel of Christ. Jesus came to call us to himself, not to our version of a happy and fulfilled life. Holiness (in the theological sense, not the pejorative sense) is more important than happiness. We seek God and His kingdom first, not our best selves.

Does it mean that focusing on mental health is not Christian? This is really a good question. It’s a good question because the subject of mental health is now front and center in the various fields of government, medicine, education, self-help, helping professions, business, nonprofits, religion, and spirituality. Each of these fields has a different take on the subject. As Christians, we need to look at this subject of mental health through the lens of Scripture and the practice of the church in history.

Here is one Scripture describing God’s will for your mental health.

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23, CSB)

Sanctification, or being set apart as God’s own is the goal. This is achieved by all the various parts of us as human beings kept “sound and blameless.”

God and his church are interested in your whole spirit, soul, and body’s wellness. But this wellness and the prescription for it is very different from the worlds' interest.

The world doesn’t have the “soul” resources that the Christian faith has. It doesn’t have the offer of forgiveness found in repentance supplied by the atoning death of Christ. It doesn’t have adoption as sons of God (both male and female), being co-heirs with Christ. It doesn’t have the abiding and empowering “right now” presence of the Holy Spirit of God, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. It doesn’t have the power to renew minds so that we will discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

I’ve written all this to get to this point. God has equipped his people to help not only his people but the world to come to know Jesus. One of the ways is by helping those who are bent under the weight of the problems of modern-day life.

This is why I’m recommending you check out a very timely and free virtual Mental Health Conference this Saturday, February 11, 2023. It is Christ-centered and need focused. It’s called Voices of Hope and I’m actually one of the presenters. But you don’t need to attend my seminar, there are over +35 Voices of Hope to speak into your life! – With featured speakers like Kay Warren, Colleen Swindoll, Laura Howe and many more, this conference promises to be amazing!

Voices of Hope has been created for anyone who is either experiencing a mental health challenge or has a loved one who does or is needing to heal trauma and grief, those experiencing Post Pandemic Distress who are searching to improve their emotional health, and Churches and Ministry leaders who are looking to increase their church’s capacity, awareness and offer hope to their community.

The conference will be covering 6 main tracks:

• Living with a Mental Health Diagnosis

• Resources for Loved Ones

• Trauma and Grief

• Parenting When There’s a Mental Health Challenge or a Disability

• Pastors and Ministry Leaders

• Post Pandemic Emotional Health

You are invited to participate in this unprecedented virtual event in the history of Fresh Hope. We will have many guest Voices of Hope and you can register FREE now!!!

Go ahead and click the image below to check it out and register. If you know of someone who could benefit from this, please forward Fresh Hope for Mental Health Virtual Conference to them as well.

What the Church Started During the Pandemic that It Needs to Continue

“A time to hold on and another to let go.” (Ecclesiastes :6b, Message)

More than we’d like to admit, life changes and it never goes back to the way it was. Yet, if life were a coin, there would be two sides. There would be the side of “I don’t mind losing these things” and then there’s the other side of, “I wish I could go back to the way it was.” Maybe we just want things to be normal again. But there is no “normal again.” There is only what we can do now. It is what we can do now that leads us into a better future. Sometimes it involves continuing to do the things we did in a crisis that we’d like to stop, but we shouldn’t. Therefore, I put before you at least six things that churches did during the Pandemic that they need to continue today.

1. Continue Cleanliness to the Extreme

During the pandemic, something happened to the staff and members of our church. We all became vested in having a germ-free environment. Before the pandemic, I’d never thought twice about shaking someone’s hand or grabbing tongs at a Chinese buffet. But since all the sanitation, wipes, facemasks, hand sanitizer, etc., I’ve become much more conscious about cleanliness. If I have; you can bet others have too.

Cleanliness in the restrooms, food service, and children’s area are standards you drop at your peril. Assume this: Nothing is too clean. If it doesn’t smell clean, it’s not clean. If it doesn’t look clean, it’s not clean. Keep food covered, offer clear plastic serving gloves at your potlucks, keep hand sanitizer in public places, have sanitizer wipes in the restrooms and all eating areas. Make face masks available for those who want them. They should available, but not suggested or mandated. This shows deference to others.

One other thing. I know this is a real imposition and probably ruins some of the experience, but for the Lord’s Supper (Communion), keep using the individually wrapped wafer and juice. Perhaps in the near future you can switch back but for now, I’d keep it clean and sanitary as possible.

2. Promote Online Giving

Some churches wouldn't have adopted online, app or text giving when they did if it were not for the Pandemic. This is one good thing that came out of it. In my last blog, I wrote about my father teaching me generosity to God’s work by sending me to church with a check for the offering. You can still do that, but now you also have other ways to give. I don’t think we should limit the ways people give financially to God’s Church. My whole point in my last blog was not to make it an “either/or” but a “both/and” situation. Keep promoting online giving. If necessary, make a tutorial video on how to give online, text or app for your more mature members who are not familiar with the newer ways of sharing currency. If your church is not sure how to do this, talk to me, jimmy@fairburnba.org. I’m your Associational Mission Strategist. I’m here to help.

3. Keep A Person Dedicated for the Church’s Online Ministry and Social Media Outreach

In the early days of our time of lockdown and distress, we turned to Facebook Live, Zoom, YouTube, and the church’s website to share ministry and make connections. You still need to do this! Don’t fall into the belief that now that the Pandemic is over, we can go back to normal (which means, just doing ministry like before). Friend, there is no normal to go back to. If you want to reach new people, especially those under 60, you need to keep up and even improve the digital footprint for your church. Your website needs fresh content every week. Your social media needs photos and videos of what's happening with the church pumped out weekly. If you are not active and increasing your quality of your digital presence you are nowhere.

If you’re a pastor reading this, I’m not saying that you need to be doing this yourself. Maybe it started with you, but now’s the time to hand it off to someone else. That may not be your calling, but it will be somebody’s. Make digital ministry a real thing and keep it a real thing in your church. Put it in the budget. Digital ministry is the front door of your church. If you are not actively working this in your church, you are basically locking the front door. Very, very few new people will come to your church unless they can first experience it in some way online. If you are not leveraging this, you are losing guests, potential members, and givers before you even know you could have had them.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22, CSB). If you’re unwilling to make the permanent shift to a focused, engaging and quality digital ministry, you should check and see if you still have the same heart as the Apostle Paul. What if you don’t know what to do? Find out. What if you’re uncomfortable with it? Do it anyway. The problem is that some churches want to reach people, but only in the way they like, not in the way that will actually engage them. Your outreach and evangelism strategy is perfectly designed to accomplish the results you have been getting. Doing more of the same will not get you different results.

Consider signing up for our Associational Lunch & Learn in March: What Pastors Need to Know about Church Technology and Social Media. More information here:

Tech & Social Media

4. Intentional Care for All Church Members

The deacons and small group leaders of our church in 2020 and part of 2021 had a phone call campaign. They divided up the membership amongst themselves and called every member household asking how they were doing, how could we pray for you, and were there any needs that the church might address. If memory serves right, I think the list was worked through every two or three weeks. They cycled through this while either worship services were suspended, or people were urged to stay home by our city and state leaders. This was the first time in a long time that some of our members were personally contacted, just to see how they were doing.

We don’t need to wait for a pandemic to come in order to check on our church members. Continue to do member care. Find a system that will work using the network you already have of small groups, care leaders and deacon ministry.

5. Make Everything Accessible Online

Karen and I like to eat out. Something I still notice in restaurants are the presence of QR codes. These codes came into prominence with the fear of transferring the Coronavirus over surfaces, like menus. Today, most places we go offer physical menus (most all are laminated) but they still offer QR codes. If restaurants still make digital versions of their menus online, why can’t your church offer QR code for a connection card or bulletin as well. I’m not saying to stop using a paper card and bulletin. Please do, but also offer it online as well. Your online viewers may use them too.

I’ll go one step further. Offer everything you can online as well as printed. This goes for small groups too. Every church should consider having or continuing an online small group. Maybe it is a small group that is also on Zoom or uses another group service. Put your trainings online. Record everything you can and put it online. At worst, those leaders who miss the training will be able to catch up. If you push that content out to your membership, you may have more willing members to volunteer as leaders.

6. Force Yourself and Your Church to Stretch the Comfort Zones of Creativity and Flexibility

At the beginning of the Pandemic, I was working with dozens of church planters. Creativity and flexibility are a part of the makeup of a successful church planter. When large group gatherings were discouraged, these planters pivoted immediately without missing a Sunday. A few of them started Drive-in Worship. People would stay in their cars in a parking lot, roll down windows or tune their FM radio to a particular frequency to hear the service going on at the other end of the lot. Some had a Lawn Chair Church service at a park or at their venue, keeping social distancing. Others just did Facebook Live or YouTube services, dialoguing with people in the comments box.

Our church also did daily video devotionals over Facebook using staff members and teachers taking turns. This was one of the most complimented things the church did during this time. Some of the videos were done in the church office, but some were recorded at home, on the back patio or another unique place.

Are you smelling what I’m cooking? I think Plato was the first to take credit for this saying, “Our need will be the real creator.” Today we just say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” The crisis we entered demanded creativity and flexibility to survive. Keep that spirit! What the Pandemic forced us to do in creative action we need to do ourselves to stay fresh and relevant.

As you read through this, I hope you were thinking about your situation. What are some things that you started during the Pandemic that you really should continue? It was a hard time, and I don’t know anyone who would want to go through it again, but there are some valuable things that did come out of it. Don’t lose them. You paid a price for them, don’t let it go to waste.