As the cultural managers of their churches, there are three timeless and placeless attributes of leaders who successfully foster cultures in which people eagerly participate in the ideation, development, and implementation of new ideas. Part 3 of this 4-part series covered the first two: risk-taking and trust-building.

In the first part of this 4-part series, we looked at why millions of people worldwide are leaving our churches and Christianity as they know it, but also how Jesus eliminated all the barriers to the Gospel. In the second part, we looked at the role church leaders play in fostering innovative church cultures that provide significant positive change in people’s lives. And the three timeless and placeless attributes of leaders who successfully foster cultures in which people eagerly participate in the ideation, development, and implementation of new ideas!

In Part 1 of this 4-Part series, we looked at why millions of people worldwide are leaving our churches and Christianity as they know it. We also saw how Jesus eliminated all the barriers to the Gospel and that the same needs to be said of our churches today. So what role do church leaders play in fostering innovative church cultures that provide significant positive change in people’s lives?

As Christ-followers, we dream of being part of a Gospel movement that not only transforms people’s lives but the world around us. And yet, the world over, ministries are shrinking, and church attendance is declining. From the inside looking out, it appears that there are more time-consuming, inferior activities than ever creating overloaded schedules and leaving us increasingly frustrated with the demands of contemporary culture.

Churches in American Metropolitan areas see entirely too much turnover, not only of their staff but also of their congregation. For staff, one of the main reasons people leave is because they do not feel invested in and equipped to fulfill their role on staff. The top two reasons congregants leave churches are because they do not feel connected to others in the church or they do not feel like there is a place for them to serve at the church.

The difference between our churches reaching new believers and seeing a decline in membership might just be our mindsets as leaders. You are a pastor, yes, but you are also a leader if you plan to use your influence to help people in your church community work together towards a common goal (like the Great Commission, or the Great Commandments, or…fill in the blank with the vision God put on your heart). When it comes to reaching new people with the Good News of Jesus, our efforts might be falling short if we think we can reach people the same way we did 10 years ago. Our mindset, what we believe to be true about today or the future, is critical to our leadership efforts as pastors.

Our daily decisions are driven by what we know about the past and believe to be true about the future. As Richard Slaughter put it, the interplay between someone’s understanding of the past and their "anticipation of the possible futures" are what drive their decisions today. What if what we believe to be true about today and tomorrow aren’t accurate though?