Leadia was just announced by Leadership Network and it will rollout to the world tomorrow at the online conference, The NINES.  What exactly is Leadia? In short it’s “leadership + media-” It’s a short digital book, combined with embedded video, audio and social media. Check out the intro video:

I have been working with the LN team on it for the past couple of months as a contributor of one of the first four Leadia Experiences. Here is my take on why you are going to love this innovative app.

#1  It’s a totally new genre that’s more fun and more effective than other ways of learning

#2  The experiences are less than 10,000 words so you can interact with them in one sitting

#3  The learning is customized and expandable allowing you to go deeper if you want

#4  New and diverse content will come from a broader range of authors

#5  The content costs less than a book and lots of ebooks

#6  It’s downright fun because use you can be surprised as you go through the experience

#7  It’s great for individual or team use.

I will be sharing about my contribution (FLUX: Four Paths to the Future) once Apple approves it for publication within the Leadia app.

Yesterday, I conducted a Church Unique workshop for 10 churches connected to ICF- International Christian Fellowship, headquartered in Zurich. ICF Zurich started in 1990 and now runs almost 3000 in worship at renovated factory in downtown Zurich. ICF Zurich is a one-of-a-kind church, especially in Europe, as it boldly presents the gospel with energy, creativity and culture-savvy leadership.

My favorite part of their Vision Frame is their six style statements. ND Strupler, who leads the movements church planting network shares them below as I put in on the spot outside of the church.

ICF Zurich – Our Style

• At the heartbeat of time: We constantly ask ourselves how church needs to be to attract people today.
• Excited about life: We are excited about life with God and have a positive attitude towards life.
• Experiencing fellowship: We treat one another with love and enjoy life in fellowship.
• Developing potential: We support people and help them to flourish and develop their full potential.
• Giving the very best: We give our very best for God. For we value quality.
• Nothing is impossible: We believe for God nothing is impossible.

If you are interested in learning more about effective church planting in Europe, please leave a comment and I will pass it on to ND.

No, you don’t need a cooler mission statement so you can call it a mantra. No you don’t need a better sounding slogan. You need to know what the heck your church or ministry is ultimately supposed to be doing and you need to state in a clear, concise and compelling way. This is a leadership statement to direct and integrate all of your thinking, speaking and acting. Let me repeat- this is a leadership statement, not a marketing statement.

Start leading today by doing one or more of these activities.

#1 Rewrite your mission on a sheet of paper as many times as there are words in it. Each time write a different word in ALL CAPS. Reflect on each word of the mission. (Note: If your mission has more than 20 words in it, its too long. Proceed to idea #7)

#2 Look at your worship guide from last Sunday. List all of the ministry opportunity categories that were promoted and force rank them with regard to how effective each is at fulfilling the mission. (Great to do as a team.)

#3 Write the mission real big on a white board or white pad in your office and see how people interact with it.

#4 Ask the next ten people you meet in your church office or church service  if they know the mission of the church. (Make it fun and tell them you are doing research for blogger friend.) Pay attention to their response. (And let me know what happened.)

#5 Do this exercise with a person you are eating lunch with: Write the mission on a napkin and ask them, “What does this mission mean to you?” Listen. Then ask them, “When, if at all, did this mission come into your conscious thought?” Listen again.

#6 Create a five minute devotional using your mission, finding an appropriate biblical text to share.  Use the devotional with the different groups you lead this week.

#7 Read this FREE chapter from Church Unique on mission. It’s called Carry the Holy Orders. If you need to re-articulate your mission statement, spend 30 minutes planning time and decision-making steps to get it done.

#8 Make a list of five people that you believe model the mission of your ministry. Send all five of them a quick note to say something like, “Thanks for living the mission. You inspire me!”

#9 Write your personal “shadow mission.” What tends to drive you practically? What tends to drive your church practically? Go ahead and really write it out. (For example, a shadow mission might be, “We want to draw bigger crowds every Sunday with great teaching and worship.”  Compare and contrast the shadow mission with the real mission. Repent. Share this with other leaders.

#10 Spend time in prayer with you leadership team using your mission. Create time and space to pray through the mission and each word of the mission.

This is the fourth post on “Vehicles for Vision.”

The series started with an exploration of why preaching should not be your primary vision vehicle. Then we reviewed six vehicles that every church leader should use. Next we declared the leadership pipeline is often a missing link when it comes to using every vehicle.

Now I want to discuss a vehicle which is always in place but not intentionally used. It’s a powerful way to tell your story but neglected it broadcasts static. It’s your church’s “structural story.”

What is that you ask? More consulting speak?

Your structural story is the combination of language, systems, and processes that are running in the background of your organization that communicate, for better or worse, something about your church’s identity and vision.

Here is a sampling of five major structural story components:

• Staff titles and org charts: Even when we chart a new course in ministry direction it’s easy to keep the labels of yesteryear. Recently a executive pastor completely redrew an org chart using a circular format instead of a linear top down scheme. Several titles changed. It energized the leaders and helped them understand their new strategy better.
• Budget categories and process: How we think and communicate about spending money tells a story. What is it? One church is reevaluating their annual mission budget process which is completely separate from their operating budget. Forty years ago, having a separate budget highlighted the priority of missions, but now it seems to minimize the emphasis in missional living
• Systems and Information: What information do we keep on hand for each member? What does a first time guest receive if they give us their information?  Your church has a lots of systems (whether designed well or not). On more than one occasion, I’ve visited a Sunday class where a sheet is passed around with the term “prospects” printed at the top. (Southern Baptists have historically used this term.) While I appreciate the attention to attendance tracking, what does that terminology in our database suggest when a guest sees it? Or when the class leaders reviews it?
• Policies and procedures: Does your church have a policy for reserving space? For designated gifts? For social media? Again, this list goes on. What values or aspirations do these policies subtly reinforce? One church I am working with is developing a social media strategy. As we look at the policy we are wrestling through the tension of trying to control what’s being said verses trying guide positive engagement in the body of Christ.
• Internal communication “footprint.” By “footprint,” I am referring to the amount of space and prioritization of messages that are embedded into the internal communication strategy. This would touch on things like the “square footage” of content areas on web space, web navigation, the size of ministry brochures, and word count and font size of ministry info in the worship guide.  At a church I visited this week, the women’s ministry brochure was three times bigger (and more colorful) than the “next step” brochure based on the church’s strategy. In this case the emphasis in the print communication did not align with the church’s vision.

These five things are not an exhaustive list of your church’s structural story, but they illustrate many simple and everyday decisions in church life. Why not use them to better broadcast your vision and story. Use this vehicle.

Two resources I want to mention related to this topic:

The first is a great way to reframe your membership process. It could be a catalytic “structural story” change. Read about it here.

The second is a fantastic free resource by my friend Steve Caton at Church Community Builder. Check out how to leverage processes and technology to make disciples.