Emotions Of A Rebuilding Season
If you know me for any length of time, you will quickly discover that I am a sports-watching fanatic. It's one of the ways I find a healthy distraction in life. My first passion is the Pittsburgh Steelers but the Chelsea Football Club (soccer) in the English Premier League, has become a close second. I also follow Major League Soccer (Philadelphia Union), the NBA (Warriors), the NHL (Penguins), and I even follow the United Soccer League (Pittsburgh Riverhounds).
The legendary Pittsburgh Steelers are in a rebuilding phase, which is rather painful to watch, but to brag a bit, here are some Steeler facts that make me feel proud. The Steelers have not had a top five draft pick since 1970, when they drafted Terry Bradshaw. What does that mean? NFL Teams who end up in the bottom five of the NFL get the five top draft picks the following year. The Steelers have not been in the bottom five in the last 52 years! Mike Tomlin, who has been our coach for the last 15 years has NEVER had a losing season. Contrast that with a team like the Detroit Lions, which rarely win more than a few games each year and Tomlin’s feat is truly remarkable. As I write this, the Steelers have two wins and seven losses. They look horrible. We are obviously in rebuilding mode. When I listen to Mike Tomlin, I hear in his voice a weight and reality that I have never seen in him before. And I relate to it! Why?
I think most pastoral leaders have felt the pain of needing to rebuild since early into 2020. We faced lockdown, limited seating capacity and then were challenged to get people back to in-person gatherings once the mandates were lifted. One pastoral leader told me this week, “The levers of leadership that I used to pull with great effectiveness, now only produce moderate results. I feel like I am relearning everything about how to lead in this new context.” When he said that, it resonated with me. I don’t think Allison Park Church is having a “two wins and seven losses” kind of season. I actually am amazed and grateful for the ways in which we are winning as a church, even through this crazy season. But because of what has been revealed and exposed during the two year timeframe from 2020-2022, I feel like we need to rethink and rebuild how we are structured and how we are doing ministry as we move forward.
Here is what we are working to rethink and rebuild:
#1 - Our Leadership Structure
It is actually a healthy thing to review your structure every two to three years. Here are some questions to ask:
Has our church outgrown the previous structure?
Has our church outgrown some of the leaders who are in place?
How do we reposition ourselves for future success?
Has our church changed or shifted in size so that we need to prune or redeploy our team to be able to grow again?
Do we have the right people, in the right seats on the “bus”, doing the right things and going in the right direction?
What is on our schedule where we are manufacturing energy?
What is on our plan where we lack the proper gifting to succeed?
Is there a leader who needs to go because they are a negative influence on the team?
What one leader (or gift mix) needs to be added to become more effective?
#2 - Our Approach To Multiplication
Allison Park Church is a multiplying church. We are committed to making disciples, planting churches, raising up leaders and taking new territory for the Kingdom but we have experienced several shifts over the years:
1996 - 2010: Our multiplication method was primarily planting one new church a year by sending a leader, funds, and people. These churches all became autonomous within the first 18 months.
2011 - 2017: Our multiplication method was to plant new churches in clusters (cohorts that learned together and all planted at the same time but in different cities around the northeast).
Starting in 2012, we also began establishing “branded APC campuses” that were focused on reaching neighborhoods in our region. We define a “neighborhood campus” as a location that reaches between 50 and 500 people.
Eventually, we ended up with six physical neighborhood campuses and many churches planted that remained in relationship with us.
Since the pandemic, we are considering a third option that is something of a tweener. We are calling it an “affiliated church”. It's not a branded campus, in that it does not carry the APC name and is not a part of our financials but is a unique and autonomos church. The affiliated churches will carry its own name and culture, but will remain more permanently connected to APC for coaching and covering.
#3 - Our Discipleship Methods
Maybe the biggest gap that we discovered through the last two years has to do with our disciple-making process. We are looking very closely at how we intentionally engage people with the Bible, so that they grow in maturity and Bible literacy. We are reviewing and renewing our approach to Life Groups. We are also focused on how we intentionally train our leaders in the values that impact our society.
I heard Pastor Tim Keller outline the four key social issues that need to be imparted to the church. As followers of Christ we need to stand:
Against Racism
For Life (from the womb to the tomb)
Serve and defend the poor and the marginalized
For Christian Sexuality
#4 - Our Life Group Culture
We want to challenge everyone to consider making a commitment to true spiritual community. One of the biggest mental, emotional, and spiritual health problems in our culture is ISOLATION. Too often, we have approached small groups as a matter of convenience, rather than as a matter of commitment. We are now asking our group members to consider meeting year round (with breaks agreed upon by the group).
Instead of having small group “seasons”, where we only participate in six to eight week seasons, we want to start to truly do life in small groups and are asking our groups to consider making the following commitments to each other:
Show up to the group every week. If you cannot make it, call off so that everyone understands why you are not there.
Be committed to serve together outside of the group through projects or on a mission trip.
Challenge each other to take steps spiritually, like joining together in a season of fasting or attending an event like our Breakthrough weekend.
Eventually, be willing to facilitate the group discussion.
#5 - Our Volunteer Culture
Finally, we are realizing that it is especially difficult to get people serving regularly. The percentage of those on our serve teams has dropped significantly since the pandemic. People seem less willing to commit to anything. But serving is part of what makes your life carry meaning and value. It also makes the church more “sticky”, where everyone gains ownership by practically contributing to the mission.
We are just at the beginning of our strategic discussions at APC but I will keep you posted as we make these transitions.