Fundamentally, effective leadership is based upon an invitation to relationship and a challenge to change. As seen in Jesus’ example (see Part 1), when skillfully calibrated, the result is transformation from the inside out.

This is true not only for individuals, it’s also true for churches.

When skillfully calibrated, invitation and challenge can result in transformation from the inside out… for individuals and for churches.

The matrix below illustrates how invitation and challenge can impact a church’s culture.

The horizontal line indicates the level of challenge in a church’s culture. Little to no challenge to the left, high levels of challenge to the right.

The vertical line represents the level of invitation. Low invitation on the bottom, high invitation at the top.

Invitation/Challenge matrix with Boring, Cozy, Stressed and Empowered cultures highlighted.

Low Invitation / Low Challenge

Beginning with the lower left quadrant, some churches offer very little invitation. They aren’t all that open to newcomers and don’t provide much for those who choose to stay.

At the same time, there’s little challenge offered. Simply trying to survive, these churches don’t want to risk losing what they have.

The result is an apathetic culture where attendance is a matter of habit and ministry is minimal. As you might imagine this quadrant is quite BORING.

High Invitation / Low Challenge

Moving to the upper left corner of the matrix, some churches offer high levels of invitation. “Come join us. We’re here for YOU. We offer something for everyone.” When coupled with low challenge this is highly attractional.

The problem is that it creates a COZY culture where the bottom line is about needs being met. Those needs are provided by the church staff – who in truth function as Chaplains.

In this quadrant, there is little call to personal responsibility and even less call to sacrificial mission.

Low Invitation / High Challenge

On the other hand, the lower right quadrant doesn’t lack for challenge. The people are regularly called (typically from the pulpit) to sacrificial service by “taking up their cross.”

However, with no invitation to relationship, it can seem like it’s all up to the individual. This sense of isolation can result in discouragement. This culture feels quite STRESSFUL.

High Invitation / High Challenge

Finally, there’s the upper right quadrant. There is in fact high challenge. The goal of living “on mission” is clearly expressed. But, with it, there is a high level of invitation that offers a sense of family with others who share that dream.

The result is an EMPOWERED culture. And this discipling quadrant carries all sorts of redemptive potential.

When looking at this matrix, we begin to understand why we’ve had such a difficult time creating disciples in our churches. We don’t see the importance of both high invitation AND high challenge.

Many churches, as they seek to attract people, look to primarily meet needs and provide spiritual goods and services. This client/provider relationship creates spiritual consumers.

By the same token, those churches that really want to “get serious” all too often proclaim that message from the pulpit or stage, failing to understand that challenge is always given best in the context of close personal relationships.

Challenge is always given best in the context of close personal relationships.

This pattern holds true in smaller gatherings. A seminar or class can provide much information and challenge. Yet, without a discipling context, there is no example to follow and no accountability to realize.

Small groups can be excellent at creating community and a warm, comfortable environment, but most of them were never designed to offer challenge.

So, while many churches say, “We do discipleship in our small groups,” the fact of the matter is that their small groups are missing one of the main ingredients of a discipling culture: Challenge.

Small groups can be excellent at creating community and a warm, comfortable environment, but most of them are missing one of the main ingredients of a discipling culture: Challenge.

How then can this be addressed?

Calibrating Invitation and Challenge in Your Church

There needs to be an honest evaluation of the church culture at large. As with individuals, so churches naturally tend toward either invitation or challenge. (Often this is a reflection of the personality of the senior leader.) Where would you put your church on the matrix?

Once you’ve identified your culture, adjustments can be made to increase either invitation or challenge in your large gatherings. Sermon series can be assessed. “Is this series more invitation or more challenge? In light of that, what should the next series be like?”

If you’re in a season of high challenge, what can you do to elevate invitation? If you’re a cozy culture, what are some ways to raise the temperature a bit without spiking the fever of too much challenge?

Though cultural change can (and should) be encouraged in the large gatherings, it will best flourish in small gatherings. Focus on forming small communities of believers who are committed to high invitation and deep relationship as well as high challenge and serious responsibility.

Moving this way won’t be quick and it won’t be easy. The status quo in churches does not give way without struggle. And with so few successful models out there, at times it can be quite lonely and very discouraging.

Moving toward a discipling culture won’t be quick or easy. The status quo in churches does not give way without struggle.

This is one of the reasons why DDM offers coaching for pastors. I know what it’s like to grapple with this. You can read about it in the blogs “Delight, Disillusionment, Despair, and Discovery” and “Delivery vs. Development”.

Making the move toward an Empowered Culture will be an imperfect process. But because discipleship is worth it, it’s worth not being great at it from the start.

As G.K. Chesterton once said, “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” So set your eyes on the goal and begin taking the next step. And know that, all along the way, the One who called you to this will be cheering you on.

“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”

– G.K. Chesterton

Invitation and Challenge matrix used in this blog is copyrighted as the intellectual property of 3DM and can be found in:

Breen, M. (2016) Building a Discipling Culture, 3rd Edition, Pawleys Island: 3DM Publishing.

Leveraging Invitation and Challenge, Part 2