{"id":12446,"date":"2018-06-29T12:21:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T16:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ben-sternke-live.prev17.rmkr.net\/?p=12446"},"modified":"2025-03-07T18:54:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T22:54:57","slug":"church-practices-church-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gravitycommons.com\/es\/church-practices-church-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"How About Church Practices Instead of Church Programs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

OK, let’s say you want to change something about the culture of your church.<\/strong> You want to help people move from a consumeristic mindset to a discipleship mindset. You want disciples who live on mission to make more disciples who live on mission to be the norm for your church…<\/p>\n

How do you do it?<\/strong> If you’re like most leaders, your go-to strategy is to adopt and implement some kind of church program<\/em> to make it happen. We’ll preach a sermon series and offer this program that people can sign up for, and we’ll be on our way!<\/p>\n

So we buy the materials, write the sermons, get the staff on board, recruit the facilitators, put up the signs, put a booth in the foyer, talk about how excited we are about this new thing, and try to get everyone to sign up for the church program.<\/p>\n

Disappointing results<\/h2>\n

If you’ve never tried this kind of thing, I’ll save you some time and effort: it just doesn’t work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even when you get a great turnout and participation in the program, the real\u00a0results<\/em> you were looking for won’t be evident. People’s lives won’t really be changed, they’ll just get busier and more excited for a season, and then you’ll move on to the next thing.<\/p>\n

So even when it\u00a0does<\/em> seem to work, it doesn’t\u00a0really<\/em> work.<\/strong>\u00a0Even if you succeed in getting people into the program, it doesn’t result in the life change you were hoping for.<\/p>\n

Programs vs practices<\/h2>\n

Part of the problem is that there’s something wrong with the very idea of recruiting people to attend church programs, and it’s this: offering church programs to people plays into the very same consumeristic mindset that keeps them trapped in non-discipleship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So here\u2019s an idea: instead of asking which\u00a0programs<\/em>\u00a0are \u201cworking\u201d (which typically means the ones that are well-attended), try asking this instead:\u00a0What\u00a0practices<\/em>\u00a0are forming us into a community that can pay attention to and participate in God\u2019s mission?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The difference between thinking in terms of \u201cprograms\u201d and \u201cpractices\u201d is more than semantic.<\/p>\n