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Explorer Archives
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EXPLORER...field notes for the emerging church
An e-publication of Leadership Network
Number 74, October 2003
IN THIS ISSUE...
Camp Improv Resource Partner - Injoy Stewardship Services
This interview is a part of the continuing series focusing on the Resource Partners for the Camp Improv Learning Experience. One of those valued partners was Injoy Stewardship Services (ISS). Their executive vice-president, Kirk Nowery, was interviewed by Leadership Network's Mike McMahon about the company's services. Kirk was a participant in the Improv experience and their workshop on the topic of "The Top 10 Questions Leaders Ask About Capital Campaigns" will be available at the Camp Improv web site coming soon.
Here is the interview with Kirk:
Leadership Network (Mike McMahon): Tell us a little about yourself and your organization.
INJOY (Kirk Nowery): I am the executive vice-president of INJOY Stewardship Services. Prior to joining ISS in 1997, I served for 18 years as Senior Pastor of a large church in Florida. While I was in Florida, I was also the chairman of a Christian school and a chaplain with the Miami Dolphins. With ISS, my primary objective is to assist pastors and enhance their effectiveness in ministry.
The mission of INJOY Stewardship Services is to partner with churches to achieve their goals and accelerate their growth, empowering them to realize their spiritual and financial potential. We actively serve over 1,000 churches with our team of consultants and specialists.
Our ISS culture is open, engaging and innovative. The company spirit is familial, not formal. The five core values of ISS are expressed as an acrostic, I-N-J-O-Y. Integrity in all actions and transactions, Newness of approach and attitude, Jesus at the center and circumference, Oneness of spirit and purpose, and Yes to every meaningful opportunity and viable challenge.
Leadership Network: Describe the changes and trends taking place in the field.
INJOY: The landscape of stewardship consulting is being altered by many factors today. Churches are changing, stewardship campaigns are changing, even our competitors are changing. Churches are becoming more egalitarian in spirit and practice, decentralizing and moving away from command-and-control organizational structures. They're more concerned about having a partner than hiring a vendor. The tenor of campaigns is shifting from the shrill call for money to the passionate call to ministry. More and more churches are emphasizing a whole-life view of stewardship. Other companies in this field are now adopting the partnership model which ISS has developed and refined over the past decade.
Leadership Network: What are the implications of these changes for churches?
INJOY: When taking on the challenge of a capital stewardship campaign, it is imperative that church leaders engage a partner whose thinking is original and whose approach is open. The nuances of a capital campaign demand a fully-tailored strategy which is designed to fit the church perfectly, not something pre-made and merely altered for the occasion. A capital campaign needs the custom fitted tailoring that an expert can provide, not the "off the rack" suit that is one size fits all.
Leadership Network: How are you practically helping churches with these issues?
INJOY: To begin with, we make no assumptions when we engage with a church. We're firm believers in the value of comprehensive assessment to determine the church's readiness for the rigors of a capital campaign. Our analysis is deep and telling and valuable in ways far beyond the scope of the campaign. Assessment is followed by a process of visioneering with the church's leaders, exploring the "what ifs" and thinking through the barriers into the next dimensions of ministry. Visioneering then leads to the strategic mapping of all campaign elements. Once the mapping is complete, the journey begins in earnest, and ISS fills the navigational role. Through these four emphases -- Assessing, Visioneering, Mapping and Navigating -- ISS gives lasting, practical help.
Leadership Network: What do you see as your company's unique value-adding contribution to a church?
INJOY: The Scriptures teach us that a three-stranded cord is not easily broken. From day one, ISS has endeavored to be a three-stranded cord, combining the essentials of Leadership, Partnership and Stewardship. By serving in a way that both accentuates and balances these priorities, we have been able to add value in a definitive way to churches and church leaders.
Leadership Network: What makes your company stand out from others in the field?
INJOY: Our adaptiveness and our tenacity. Our founder, Dr. John C. Maxwell, is one of the most influential Christian leaders of this generation. ISS was born out of his desire to empower churches to realize their full potential in stewardship. Our adaptiveness is relevant because it is crucial that we adapt to the church, not vice versa. Only by crafting our services and strategies to the church's exact needs are we able to partner most effectively. Our tenacity is evident in meeting head-on the stubborn challenges which arise in every capital campaign. We simply will not give up until we resolve whatever the problem or need happens to be.
Leadership Network: Tell us about some of your company's products and services.
INJOY: ISS is purely a stewardship consulting service specializing in capital campaigns. Our team includes full-time consultants working with churches from coast to coast and beyond, backed up by a strong support staff at our headquarters in Atlanta. As a complement to our consulting services, we publish stewardship-related resources including books, curricula and other materials. Our quarterly newsletter, Stewardship Strategies, is read by over 100,000 Christian leaders.
Leadership Network: Thanks, INJOY, for being a Resource Partner at Camp Improv. We hope many of our clients and the readers of Explorer will visit your web site at www.injoystewardship.com and connect with your ministry.
In addition, you can find the presentation "The Top 10 Questions Leaders Ask About Capital Campaigns" coming soon to the Camp Improv web site at www.campimprov.com and look for the Resource Partner Presentation section.
Baby Church or Small Church?
Our friend Russ Bredholt is back with an article on "Baby Church vs. Small Church." While Leadership Network primarily works with larger churches, Russ reminds us that an organization's identity is usually formed very early. Here are the first few paragraphs and you can click to the larger article.
Dave Travis
Senior Vice President
Baby Church or Small Church?
by Russ Bredholt, Jr.
Even with an increasing number of church mergers and closings, new congregations continue to open on a consistent basis. Some of these new churches are even having very good days. The Lord is blessing evangelistic efforts through church planting.
Starting a church is never an easy task. It may be more difficult than starting a new business. We make this observation not second hand but from the experience of being involved with both types of ventures.
What is interesting, though, is how a church develops its identity, or what Quakers would refer to as, "true self."
"What an organization becomes is formed in its earliest days." So writes author William Bergquist in his book, "The Postmodern Organization." This is a simple but profound insight with implications for those who are sponsoring or starting churches.
There are many ways to begin. You can start a Bible study in someone's home or open with a strong core group coming out of an existing church. Whatever the approach, the track record for succeeding long-term is not good. The vast majority of new churches don't survive to their fifth birthday.
A key component of identity is this: Who or what decides whether a plant is a "baby church" (hoping to grow in size and strength) or a "small church" (capable of strength but with limited reach and programs)?
The question is not a judgment about "baby" versus "small." Rather, we want to probe this issue: How much thought should be given to shaping and influencing the future look of a church from the very beginning?
While most worshipers are in larger congregations, most churches are smaller in size. According to the Congregational Life Survey conducted in 2001, the average weekly attendance in the USA is about 90.
What then are some of the contributing factors in determining what kind of church it will be? Here is my list (feel free to make your own). . .- The spiritual leaders in the early days. It's the "who" that significantly shapes "what kind of church." Theology and philosophy (along with life's experiences) are underpinnings of strategy and design. How someone sees God, Scripture, the world, and community determines how they are likely to respond to the challenges and opportunities of ministry.
Envisioning something (baby or small) comes from within the individuals who lead including clergy and laity. Both kinds of churches are needed and appropriate in the total mix. As Dr. Kennon Callahan points out, it's possible and sometimes desirable to be a "strong, small congregation."
The genetic code (true self) gets inserted at the beginning and is difficult to alter. It doesn't get there by accident. It's put there by individuals and circumstances combined.
- The methodologies. Approach is strategic and has much to do with outcomes. Methodologies are plentiful but they can't always be replicated. The one method, however, that is available to all congregations regardless of size and location is follow-up.
The one way to build credible relationships with new people is to do what you say you are going to do. Promise less and deliver more.
There are many benefits that accrue to those who pay attention to detail. Unfortunately, most churches don't seem disposed toward this end.
How implementation and follow through are initially handled sets the tone and culture for the church in a positive or negative way.
- The marketplace. There are times when the setting plays a decided role in what a church becomes. As someone once said, "geography and demography are destiny." This statement may be stretching to make a point but it's a reality more often than not.
Communities often defy conventional wisdom. Rural areas and smaller towns can often be found with a large, strong congregation. And we know there are a fair amount of baby churches planted in growing areas that never take off.
More than the size of the community or neighborhood is the makeup of the populous. A church may fit or not. Even with the capable leaders and resources, sometimes the plant and the area are a mismatch. Someone failed to do their homework.
Growing communities do not automatically mean success for baby churches. Yet this is where a large number of baby churches begin--and succeed.
- The "mysteries of God." In the Gospel of Mark 4:26-27, Jesus speaks the parable of the growing seed.
". . . The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how."
Results tend to be a combination of three things--faith, work and mystery. The emergent is why we have to leave room in our best laid plans for the "mysteries of God."
Sometimes churches get off to a slow start. After years of struggle and persistent commitment, it's possible to see things take off. How this happens is more mystery than some stroke of genius on the part of a leader. Ask a church planting pastor who crosses the great divide how it happened. Those with some measure of humility will say they are unable to explain their situation.
Jesus said this would be so.
Baby or small, we need new congregations that are spiritually strong and viable in ministry. It's essential in order to complete the work of Christ.
Russ Bredholt, Jr. is a management consultant and member of the Editors Board at Leadership Network. He can be reached at rbredholt@aol.com.
Leadership Network Thanks Its Resource Partners Who Made Camp Improv Possible
Each resource partner represents expertise in a critical operating area for churches. Here are two of our fantastic partners:
Ronald Blue & Co., LLC
Retirement issues are a major challenge in the future. Is your staff prepared for retirement? Are you helping your staff plan for retirement? What are the right questions? Ronald Blue & Co. has been providing financial advisory solutions reflecting biblical stewardship principles for over 23 years. Click here to go to their website or contact Brian Shepler.
Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company
Are you prepared for the unexpected - youth worker involved in fender-bender, a broken arm at camp, liability issues? Then consider transferring your unpredictable risks involving people and property. Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company has been passionate and motivated in its commitment to protect America's churches and related ministries since 1917. You have to innovate to protect; and Brotherhood Mutual is a leader in customized insurance protection. Click here to go to their website or contact Hugh White.
About Explorer
Explorer, published once a month, is intended to provide a quick read of what the scouts (staff, partners and the readership of this e-newsletter) are discovering as they look for innovation in the North American church. Please send any comments, ideas about innovative practices or resources or even article contributions to explorer@leadnet.org.
If you find EXPLORER useful, forward it to your friends.
© Copyright 2003
Leadership Network.
All Rights Reserved.
www.leadnet.org
800.765.5323
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