The 21st Century Strategies Advanced Leadership Forum recently posted this video. Take a moment to watch it below.

It sounds so simple.

But the question is, as always, “How?”

How do you get a church that’s mired in institutionalism, ordained clergy, invitational evangelism, and hobby-based Christianity, to suddenly head out the doors of the church building to do faith sharing amidst the culture?

We know that our cultural church members:

• don’t spend significant time in prayer (stats show virtually no daily time in dedicated prayer – and most church members, even many church leaders, are even uncomfortable with praying aloud at a fellowship supper)
• don’t spend time reading the Bible
• have morals, values, and behaviors more similar to those of the culture than those Jesus held
• are unable to articulate their relationship with Jesus, let alone share it
• suffer from a phobia of evangelism

Given that, I’d love to hear what y’all think the answer to “how” is. So far, the missional church has done an excellent job at defining the problem and at starting over. They’ve not done such a good job at offering solutions for how to transform that which already exists. It’s not clear yet whether they are a comet that has plunged to earth and will render the dinosaur-esque church extinct, or whether they are the knights of the round table, mounted on ivory steeds to rescue the bride of Christ. The jury is still out.

My colleague, Bill Easum, has suggested that there’s little chance of another church reformation – he believes it will take a resurrection (which by he means the church would have to die first). The word transformation is already so overused that it’s lost its luster. And though there are those who believe me to be two parts skeptic and one part cynic, the truth is I have higher hopes than that for the North American church. But flipping a church is going to take more than business as usual. 

Flipping a church is going to take more than business as usual.

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I’ll post my thoughts on this over the next couple of weeks or so. And since I like groups of five, I’ll offer Five Things Church Leaders Must Do to Flip a Church.

However, I’d like to hear from you first, but please be specific… I’m sure you’re as tired as I am of hearing “We need a way to __________.” We know the problems… what answers do we have for the “how”?

Question: What do you think is a good way to begin flipping a church? Have you tried it before? Share your experiences and ideas in the Comments section below.