1. Put better content in the programs you’ve got. If you’ve got programs that aren’t going away any time soon, figure out how to more biblical content into them. Sunday school is a good place to start.
2. Find other ways to reform existing programs. For example, train and deploy new teachers in Sunday school or small groups. Find and cultivate people who are growing as Christians and are eager to help others do the same. Help them develop a vision for how a program can be used not as a social club, but as an engine for discipleship.
3. Let sick programs die. Attrition can be your friend. If a program is not generating enough interest to keep it afloat, discover the smiling face behind the frowning providence. It’s much easier to lay a dying program to rest than to get rid of something that is apparently vibrant and successful.
The loss of a program is not necessarily a loss to the church. It frees up members’ time. It frees up church leaders’ time. It cuts down on clutter. It allows you to redirect people’s efforts toward more valuable uses of their time, like loving and serving their non-Christian neighbors.
4. Reprogram people when they come in your front door. Almost every prospective church member will ask, “How can we get involved?” For many, this translates as, “What programs do you offer?” So, from the very beginning of your relationship to new folks, help them to reframe their ministry mindset. Encourage them to see their commitment to the church as more basic than their commitment to any program or small group. And encourage them to live out that commitment by regularly attending the church’s public services, building relationships throughout the church, and serving in whatever ways are needed. Encourage them to see church involvement as more about people than programs.
In short, reprogram new people to think in terms of the ministry of the pew, not merely participation in programs.
One good place to have a conversation about this is in a membership interview. When people are about to commit to your church, encourage them to see their church involvement in terms of attendance, prayer, service, giving, and personal relationships. Some of these things may be facilitated by programs, but programs can’t do the work for them.
5. Redirect traffic toward better programs. Not every program deserves an equal share of the spotlight. If you can’t kill a program or significantly reform it, at least you can use public airtime to positively direct people to other ministries that will be more beneficial. You don’t need to say a word against the program—you can just gently direct people’s attention elsewhere.
6. Labor to transform your leaders’ (and potential leaders’) ministry mindset. The most deep and lasting change will come when all of your elders champion and model it. So invest deeply in cultivating a biblical philosophy of ministry in them. And plant lots of seeds in men who have the potential to serve as elders down the line.
I’ve heard Mark Dever recommend that in an effort to develop a “culture of discipling” mindset, a group of church leaders could read and discuss the following four books, in this order: The Gospel Blimp by Joseph Bayly, The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman, The Trellis and the Vine Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, and The Deliberate Church by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander. And I’d add Jonathan Leeman’s Reverberation to that list.
7. Build discipleship into everything you do as a pastor. One of the most effective tools you have in this process is your own personal model. So lead by example through faithfully discipling others.
8. Find as many ways as you can to make discipleship a defining feature of your church’s culture. Here are twenty suggestions to get you started.
9. Make membership meaningful. This last one is one of the most important. The clearer the distinction between the church and the world, the more the very existence of your church will help Christians grow in Christ.

As a bonus here’s a cover of the song by Walk Off The Earth.
I say cover, but the youtube for this has had 38 million views. The original above has had 51 million, this is strikingly well done. You might even prefer it.

Image via Wikipedia

Elephant Room 2: Live-Blog Session 1
Topic: “With a Little Help from My Friends”
Summary: Is there a future for denominations? Will networks simply replace them, or will they reinvent themselves? What can denominations offer that networks of churches cannot? Describe the health of world missions and missionaries as you see them serving around the globe. Is the model of sending missionaries through a mission agency still effective? Or is church planting through healthy churches the way to go? Is there a lack of accountability plaguing most missionaries? How can that be changed? How does para-church help or hinder the local church in world missions?
Speakers: Jack Graham and Mark Driscoll, moderated by James MacDonald

Elephant Room 2: Live-Blog Session 2
Topic: “Can’t Buy Me Love”
Summary: What elements must accompany a faithful presentation of the gospel? What can a pastor do to ensure that others in his ministry are presenting the gospel in all its fullness? What are some ways you have seen decisions for Christ effectively acknowledged? What responsibilities does the preacher have to lead people in a public response to the gospel? When have we oversimplified or made the gospel formulaic? When have we made the gospel too complicated, and demanded more in our evangelism than the Scriptures do?
Speakers: Steven Furtick and Crawford Loritts, moderated by James MacDonald

Elephant Room 2: Live-Blog Session 3
Topic: “Hard Day’s Night”
How can a pastor effectively manage the pressures of ministry? What are the warning signs for burnout? What do you see pastors doing today that is most detrimental to their marriage and children? What about pastors who are unmarried? What single action is most healing to your emotional health in ministry—and what action is most damaging? How does the care of your own soul affect the relationships that matter most?
Speakers: Wayne Cordeiro and James MacDonald, moderated by Mark Driscoll

Elephant Room 2: Live-Blog Session 4
Title: “Ticket to Ride”
What are the “majors” of Christian doctrine that cannot be diluted or denied for a person to be a Christian? How can we help one another move beyond the bare minimum of accepted belief, to a pursuit of robust, soul-satisfying, biblical substance? How should we relate to those who do not yet embrace the benefit and priority of sound biblical doctrine? Is there a difference between a person in error and a wolf in sheep’s clothing? What benefits derive from keeping the majors on a separate list and not letting the ‘minors’ divide us? Is it possible to love the truth without compromise and still work passionately for unity?
Speakers: T. D. Jakes and Mark Driscoll, moderated by James MacDonald

Elephant Room 2: Live-Blog Session 5
Topic: “Come Together”
Two of the largest churches in America, both in Dallas, one of America’s largest cities—one church is almost 100 percent black, the other almost 100 percent white. Is this a problem? What factors, beyond local diversity, are widening this divide? What causes such obvious segregating of the races? In what ways does being a minority worshiper hinder worship and service in the church? What churches are achieving success at breaking down these walls, and how? What do you see the other pastor doing better than your church does it?
Speakers: Jack Graham and T. D. Jakes, with Mark Driscoll moderating

Elephant Room 2: Live-Blog Session 6
Topic: “Help”
What do you do when a staff member fails morally? How bad is bad enough for dismissal? What responsibilities does the church continue to have to the former staff member? What if the failure involves a higher-profile pastor in your area or circle of influence? Is it ever acceptable to name a fallen pastor publicly? Can a fallen pastor re-qualify and be restored? In the same church? How soon is too soon? What safeguards can be established to help those who sincerely desire to remain faithful?
Speakers: Crawford Loritts and Wayne Cordeiro, moderated by James MacDonald

Elephant Room 2: Live-Blog Session 7
Topic: “We Can Work It Out”
What responsibilities do we have to local pastors who exist outside our theological boundaries, but within the body of Christ? How do you confront a brother in error while showing fidelity to truth, and to the truth about biblical relationship? Given the freedom to preach your conscience, is there anywhere you wouldn’t preach? Does a pastor’s association really communicate endorsement, or is that just a carryover from fundamentalism? How can pastors practically encourage/challenge those who are different than they are? How do the benefits of broader community weigh against the dangers of confusing people about your own convictions?
Speakers: James MacDonald and Steven Furtick, moderated by Mark Driscoll

Elephant Room 2: Live-Blog Session 8
Speed Round
Speakers: All pastors

The game of cricket has been used as an embodiment of the great myths of English culture: the bat and the ball became the icons of the cult of virility and the symbols of imperial rule; the pastoral vision of an Arcadian, pre-industrial England was incarnated in the game played with willow on the village green; the qualities of the old England, the middle-class-less England, apparently remained embedded in cricket; and there is the myth of cricket as a game of principles, where the “spirit” of the game was to be obeyed as much as any written code.

ht Denny Burk.
If my embed of the clip fails, try going to Burk’s post and see if you can watch it there.