Church & Ministry

3 Ways Our Understanding of Church as Family is Wrong

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ 3 Comments

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There is great power in our metaphors. The words we use to think about things shapes what we do.

In many of the circles I move in, there is a growing resistance to referring to the church as a business. I’m not opposed to that; however, it is one thing to deconstruct a failed model, it is another to be able to explain and point to the correct model.

I believe family is the God-ordained model, but family is the correct metaphor for church only to the degree that we have a correct view of family. I have a few caveats before we jump in with both feet.

Keep thinking! Continue reading.

Should Your Church Be on Twitter?

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ 4 Comments

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Church staff attention and focus is a precious commodity. Every church staff person wishes they had more time. In the communication areas, although a  huge investment of time is required for social media, it often gets relegated to the time that’s left after everything else is done. Large churches may have a person (or teams) devoted to social media campaigns, but for most of us it is a line item on an already over-crowded job description. And it’s a lot of work!

Time is precious. Where we spend that time is critical. In my role as Media Director, I oversee Technical Production, Information Technology, and our Communications Department (which I have recently been framing as both Creative Arts and Public Relations).
Social media —how the church engages in it, where we put our energy, and what we bring to the conversation — are not small considerations.

Keep thinking! Continue reading.

Better Than Excellence

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ 2 Comments

Excellence is taking a hit. In my opinion, it’s a cruel task master and more and more people are noticing. The correction is a necessary one. Anytime we are using people to build church, we’re upside down. In the Kingdom of God, we don’t tap into people like batteries and discard them after using them up. Many techs I know have been burned by churches who seemed to have had that attitude.

Keep thinking! Continue reading.

The Business of Church Part 4

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ 2 Comments

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All of us appreciate visionary leadership, and we have all been greatly affected by it. Whether our visionary leaders are historic figures, great authors, caring teachers, parents, or bosses; we appreciate someone who exposes us to a better, new way of living. In the classic example, they tell us, “You can’t stay here. There’s something better available. Here’s how things could be. This is who you can become.”

This seems obvious to me: if you are not calling people to something different, you aren’t leading. In a word, leadership is change. Strategy is important. It tells us how we are going to get there, but fundamentally, visionary leadership always includes change.

If leadership is change, the greatest most important leadership lesson, then, is to create an environment where change is expected and embraced as natural. Would any of us describe the average church this way? From updating decor to outdated programs, the last words we would use to describe church is expecting and embracing change.

Keep thinking! Continue reading.