The "Smarter Strategy" process examines key problems, uses overlapping solutions, measures results, and adapts.
Smarter strategies can start solving the top three problems affecting Christianity immediately. This website will be continually discussing specific strategies that work.
The Christian Youth Crisis
Christianity has been losing a majority of our youth for decades. Data reveals a lack of relationships, poor training, and few value incentives.
High Member Turnover
Even our biggest churches suffer from decreasing attendence. Research shows former members site inability to make friends and lack of congregational care.
Declining Christian Schools
Christian schools are not producing graduates confident in their faith or able to compete with graduates from non-Christian institutions.
Restoring our youth through smarter youth strategies
1. Review data and anaylze problems
The loss of eighty percent of Christian youth annually points to problems in youth training and relationships. It also suggests weaknesses in marriage and parenting programs.
2. Isolate needed solutions
Deconstructed Christian youth state they did not have confidence in Christian truth or viability of scripture. Feedback reveals Christian youth lack heritage and pride. Youth Group graduates state they felt lonely and bored. Christian youth confess low certainty about marriage or heterosexuality.
3. Examine competition and best practices
Isolated Christian churches acheive a double retention rate by using programs such as peer mentors, adult mentors, in-depth religious training, apologetic instruction, polemic instruction, more congregational activities, activities on weekends, activities during summer, involving youth to help members, reducing cliques, offering value incentives, entreprenuerial training, job placement, educational assitance, and advanced marriage training.
4. Apply Overlapping Systems
Examine systems that are working the best. Consider why the benchmarks are succeeding. Create a team of leaders including some outside Christianty to suggest improvements based on available strategies.Transfer information learned from as many perspectives as possible.
5. Measure results and adjust to feedback
Talk to youth about proposed changes. Measure their health, strength, and satisfaction as new programs progress. Measure the effectivess as youth age and if they move away.
Strengthening our relationships to reduce turnover and attendence drops with smarter strategies
1. Review data and anaylze problems
The decline in physical church attendence. It suggests weaknesses in guest retention and long term membership. It also questions the current validity of the "Purpose Driven" funnel system that accepts high turnover and a small relational core as unavoidable.
2. Isolate needed solutions
Feedback reveals complaints of lonliness and isolation outside of the smaller church core. Former members site inability to form friends, lack of community, poor levels of support during times of crisis, and nothing to do on holidays. The big church/small group approach shows inability to build expanding friend networks that last.
3. Examine competition and best practices
Isolated Christian churches acheive a superior assimilation and long term committments by using more personal sponsorship programs initially followed by novel tactics to create congregational closeness among sprawling memberships.
4. Apply Overlapping Systems
Create medium sized groups within larger congregations, or manage multiple campuses that maintain systems of relationship and care. Start applying a premium to retention where losses are meassured against gains.
5. Measure results and adjust to feedback
Measure relationship and care feedback from memebers and former members. Adjust programs to encourage assimilation and retention over temporary numerical group.
Improving Christian schools and colleges
1. Review data and anaylze problems
Compared to Islamic, Mormon, and Secular institutions, Christian education lags in important metrics. Our youth are not taught Christian history, apologetics, polemics. They receive minimal education and guidance. Our future clergy are given minmal instruction on competition analysis, group dynamics, political realities, international church cooperation, or MBA level business skills.
2. Isolate needed solutions
Youth report low levels of confidence in faith. Professional ministers high levels of frustration, burn-out, moral failure, and turnover.
3. Examine competition and best practices
Examine programs that produce confident youth in Christianity and other religions or ideologies. Learn from curriculums that are producing student deadicated to their world view.
4. Apply Overlapping Systems
Implement improved training program throughout youth. Create modern catechisms. Improve practical training. At the collegiate level modernize curriculums, start new schools, or offer supplementary programs for future Christian professionals while being sponsored at other institutions.
5. Measure results and adjust to feedback
Track the confidence of local youth in their faith after high school graduation. Assess their success in maintaining their faith, having a family, and maintaining viable employment. Monitor and support new ministers. Record results and adjust curriculums to match best practices.