THE OUTWARD FOCUSED CHURCH

THOM RAINER ON 12 TRENDS FOR 2012 - 7-12

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

More from Thom Rainer. I'd be interested in your feedback.

In my article yesterday, I noted that the beginning of a new year inevitably brings a plethora of predictions, resolutions, and trends. I chose to follow that same pattern. I am thus providing twelve trends for 2012 in the healthiest churches we have observed.

Remember the three caveats I noted. First, the trends are for healthy churches. They are not inclusive of all 400,000 American churches, much less the millions of churches around the world. Second, the trends are based on both detailed empirical research and anecdotal observations. In other words, I can point to some outstanding research projects for my conclusions in some cases. In other cases, I am simply expressing what I hope is an informed opinion. Third, the trends are not ranked in order of any priority.

I thus conclude these two articles with trends seven to twelve. Please feel free to comment, agree, or disagree.

These healthy churches have pastors who love the members.
That love is obvious in their words, their actions, and their pastoral concern. It does not mean that a pastor is present for every need of a member of a church member; that is physically impossible. It does mean that the church has a ministry in place that cares for all the members. Above all, though, you can sense intuitively when you walk into these churches that the pastor deeply loves the members, even those who may often oppose him.
The churches allow their pastors to spend time in sermon preparation.
Our research has confirmed over the years that pastors in healthier churches spend more time in sermon preparation than those in other churches. For that to take place, the congregation must understand the primacy of preaching, and they must be willing for their pastor to forego some areas of activity and ministry so he can spend many hours in the Word.
There is clarity of the process of disciple making.
Such was the theme of the book, Simple Church, written by Eric Geiger and me. For the healthy churches, the ministries and activities are not just busy work; instead they have a clear purpose toward moving the members to greater levels of commitment toward Christ.
These churches do less better.
They realize that they can't be all things to all people; and they shouldn’t have such a flurry of activities that they hurt rather than help families. So the leaders of these congregations focus on doing fewer ministries, but doing those few better than they could with an overabundance of activities.
The process of discipleship moves members into ongoing small groups.
A member is almost guaranteed to leave the church or become inactive in the church if he or she does not get involved in an ongoing small group. These groups have a variety of names: Sunday school; small groups; home groups; life groups; cell groups; and others. The name is not the issue. The issue is getting members connected to ongoing groups.
Corporate prayer is intentional and prioritized.
Prayer is not incidental in these churches. The leadership regularly emphasizes the importance and priority of prayer. The congregation is led regularly in times of corporate prayer.

As I indicated in my article yesterday, I realize that many churches, particularly Western churches, are struggling. But I almost keenly aware that God is doing a great work in many congregations. Though my “12 in 12” list is neither inerrant nor comprehensive, just noting these trends gives me great hope. God is not yet done with our churches.

THOM RAINER ON 12 TRENDS FOR 2012 - 1-6

2012-01-15T15:49:00.000-08:00

One of the voices we are blessed by is Thom Rainer

Here are some excellent insights to help your evaluation and strategic planning. - STEVE

The beginning of a new year inevitably brings a plethora of predictions, resolutions, and trends. I see no need to alter that course in this article. My assignment is simple; but my conclusions are debatable. I am providing twelve trends for 2012 in the healthiest churches we have observed.

A few caveats are necessary. First, the trends are for healthy churches. They are not inclusive of all 400,000 American churches, much less the millions of churches around the world. Second, the trends are based on both detailed empirical research and anecdotal observations. In other words, I can point to some outstanding research projects for my conclusions in some cases. In other cases, I am simply expressing what I hope is an informed opinion. Third, the trends are not ranked in order of any priority.

Today I will share with you the first six of the trends. The final six will be in my article tomorrow.

The churches have a high view of Scripture. A number of research projects over the past four decades point to this trend. Healthy churches have leaders and members who believe the totality of the Bible, often expressed as a view called inerrancy.
A large number of church members read the Bible daily. The simplicity of this trend often surprises church leaders. But we can no longer assume that all of the congregants read their Bibles every day. That is a practice that must be encouraged and monitored. In our research on spiritual health of Christian, we found that the highest correlative factor in practicing other healthy spiritual discipline was reading the Bible every day.
The churches have a priority and focus on the nations. This priority is manifest in short-term mission trips, in care and adoption of the orphaned, in giving to mission causes, and in the number of congregants who commit their lives to reaching the nations with the gospel.
The churches have a missional community presence. The leadership and members do not look at their community as a pool for prospects. Rather, they love their community. They serve their community. The live in their community. They have deep relationships in their community.
The congregations have membership that matters. These healthy churches are high expectation churches. Membership is much more than completing a card or walking an aisle. These churches have entry point classes that set the expectations of membership. Church members are expected to serve, to give, to be in small groups, and to be accountable to others. Church discipline is practiced in most of these congregations. Because membership is meaningful, the assimilation rate in these churches is very high.
The members are evangelistically intentional. The gospel is central in these healthy churches. As a consequence, the sharing of the good news is natural and consequential. But leaders in these churches do not simply assume that evangelism is taking place. There are constant reminders of the priority of evangelism. There is inherent in many of these churches some type of accountability for ongoing evangelism in a number of contexts.

There is a lot of bad news in the world today. Indeed there is a lot of bad news in many of our churches today. I am not the metaphorical ostrich with my head in the sand.

But I am convinced that there are many reasons to be encouraged about God’s work in our churches. These six trends for 2012 exemplify some of those reasons for encouragement. In tomorrow’s article, I will add another six trends. And I think, as a consequence, you may have 12 reasons in 2012 to be encouraged.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS?

2011-12-28T02:50:00.000-08:00

PEOPLE ON MISSION WITH JESUS

2011-12-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

“Leadership is not merely personal sanctification but the multiplication of disciples.” – Mike Breen

The majority of churches in America are not growing. It is a well-documented fact. The number one reason for this is that churches have become institutions instead of missionary movements. Institutions tend to be inward focused, intent on preservation rather vision. Movements figure out what God is doing and where He is going and join Him.

In many ways we have succeeded as a church–but succeeded in matters that are contrary to the metrics of the Kingdom. We make the pastor the chief discipler but insist on most of time being spent on the wrong priorities. We want him present in programs whether there is a discipleship purpose or not. We want him to attend to our every need instead of focusing on the work that God is clearly calling us to do. We allow ourselves to be recipients of services instead of providers. In many cases we resist his allowing or equipping others to do what he does for fear that he will stop making our needs his highest personal concern.

And yet at the same time we want to see the church grow. But again, we focus on the wrong metrics. How many people are in the pews and how many dollars in the plate? (Some pastors refer to this as counting nickels and noses.) Because we are not really concerned with doing the work of Jesus ourselves, or that even the church as a whole does the work of Jesus, we never ask whether these additional people represent persons who will be a part of the ministry or simply more consumers of the ministry’s services.

In that scenario, the church is only growing at the expense of the pastor’s exhaustion or lowering the expectations of people who are part of the church. And in that scenario, we have a whole lot of people who are sure they are going to heaven but aren’t insuring that they are taking anyone with them.

Have you read the Great Commission lately? “Then Jesus came to them and said, `All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-20

Permit me to highlight two phrases: go and make disciples and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Jesus defined his mission as making disciples who would share the Good News of the Kingdom of God. He did not say, “Once you’ve got it made as a disciple” you’re finished. Nor did he say, “Once you have learned my commandments” just hang in there until I return. And he did not say the pastor takes care of the disciples and the rest of us watch.

People on mission for Jesus know that what Jesus counts is how many disciples we have made and disciples are measured by their obedience to the will and purpose of God.

The church is not growing because it is not making disciples, just highly savvy religious consumers.

It’s time to change that. Jesus IS returning.

10 WORST CHURCH MOMENTS FROM A CHURCH SECRET SHOPPER

2011-12-05T16:56:00.001-08:00

Maurilio Amorin is a secret church shopper. He shares his insights on his blog, which we have added to our blogroll. This post I found very interesting- Steve.

I have attended hundreds of church services as a church secret shopper. I’ve had thousands of conversations with volunteers, staff and visitors. Here’s my list of the top 10 worst things people said to me:

10. “Excuse me, but you’re sitting in my seat” It seems cliche but it happens more often than you think.

9. “ya’ not from around here, are ya?” Older man said to me after I asked directions to the restroom. I didn’t respond, but I was thinking: “What gave it away? having all my teeth?”

8. “Follow the blue line. It’s kinda of complicated. Good luck.” Said the two men sitting inside the information kiosk before turning to each other and finishing their conversation. They pointed to a board on the wall with multiple color lines leading to different locations on campus.

7. “Nazarenes are a lot like the Baptists, but holier,” middle aged man at a Nazarene church when I asked him the difference between a Nazarene and a Baptist church.

6. “You’re the prettiest thang I ever seen!” I’m not telling you who said it.

5. “We Lutherans are a homely bunch.” A greeter at a Lutheran church as I asked more information about her church. She was right.

4. “I don’t know anything. I can’t really help you. This is my first day at the information table and the person who was going to train me didn’t show up.”

3. “I’ve got dresses that are older than you!” I don’t really remember how I got into this one, but does it really matter?

2. “It must be a special day, I see a lot of strangers here today.” Misguided Music minister during a Sunday morning greeting time. No warm and fuzzies for this stranger.

1. “Hey, Mister, come back here! You’re not Catholic, are you? Give me the wafer back!” A Catholic Priest on the rightful suspicion I was impersonating a catholic worshiper during communion. I had to give

IS YOUR CHURCH AGING?

2011-11-23T22:13:00.001-08:00

From Will Mancini. some brief but important evaluation questions:

5 Indicators that Your Church’s Average Age Might Have Increased Without You Realizing

#1 The senior pastor has been there for over 10 years and is still preaching over 90% of the time. (No team presence)

#2 You could not tell the difference between the worship (music, praise, liturgy) last Sunday and a video of worship 5 years ago.

#3 There are no leaders under age 40 among the top twelve leaders.

#4 There is no one under age 40 participating in the worship planning, programming or leadership.

#5 A majority of the top leaders still laugh about the fact they don’t do social media.

CREATING THIRD SPACES

2011-11-16T17:48:00.001-08:00

Mark Batterson has an excellent article that speaks to a principle we are using in our Bridgebuilder Seminars. I'd be interested in your feedback. - Steve

Cities

Postmodern Wells: Creating A Third Place

by Mark Batterson

The cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am claiming that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap, at a crossroads so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble, because that is where He died and that is what he died about and that is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen should be about.

- George McLeod

A few years ago I had a Starbucks moment. I was studying for a sermon at a Starbucks on Capitol Hill, and I usually tune out the mood music, but one line of lyrics slipped through my reticular activating system. I’d never heard the song before and I didn’t know who the artist was. And maybe I just had too much caffeine in my system, but the juxtaposition of words struck me:

There’s a church on the periphery, Lady of our Epiphany.

And I had a thought as I sipped my vanilla latte: as long as the church stays on the periphery, our culture will never experience an epiphany.

Over the last few decades, the church has been pushed further and further onto the periphery of culture. Or in many instances, the church has retreated to the comfortable confines of its Christian subculture. So we are inside our churches looking out, but we really find ourselves on the outside looking in. God is calling the church out of the church and back into the middle of the marketplace.

I realize that I pastor one church in one small corner of the kingdom. And I don’t want to project my passions onto others. But if we are going to influence the spiritual tide in America, the church needs to stop retreating and start redeeming. The church needs to stop criticizing and start creating. The church needs to stop seeking shelter and start competing for the truth.

Paul didn’t boycott the Aeropagus.¹ He didn’t stand outside in a picket line arguing against idolatry. Paul marched into the marketplace of ideas and went toe-to-toe with the most brilliant minds in ancient Athens competing for the truth. Staying on the periphery is one thing the Apostle Paul could never be accused of.

CHURCH STEEPLES

There was a time, just a few centuries ago, when nautical maps of Europe had legends that included the location of churches on land. Church steeples doubled as navigational tools for ship captains. Churches were typically built on choice real estate in the center of town or atop the highest hill. And in some places, there were ordinances against building anything taller than the church steeple so it would occupy the place closest to heaven.² Nothing was more visible on the pre-modern skyline than church steeples. And in a sense, church steeples symbolized the place of the church in culture. There was a day, in the not too distant past, when church was the center of culture. Church was the place to go. Church was the thing to do. Nothing was more visible than the church steeple. Nothing was more audible than the church bells. And it might be a slight exaggeration, but all the pre-modern church had to do was raise a steeple and ring a bell.

Is it safe to say that things have changed?

The church no longer enjoys a cultural monopoly! We are the minority in post-Christian America. And the significance of that is this: we can’t afford to do church the way it’s always been done. Our incarnational tactics must change.

Don’t get me wrong: the message is sacred. But methods are not. And the moment we anoint our methods as sacred, we stop creating the future and start repeating the past. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory. And if we think that raising the steeple or ringing the bells will get the job done; the church in America will end up right where the Israelites found themselves in Judges 2:10:

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.

According to George Barna, 61% of twenty-somethings who grew up going to church stop going to church at some point during their twenties. They become dechurched. They still feel connected to God in some form or fashion, but there is a disconnect with organized religion and the institutional church. And for one reason or another, they are checking out of the church at an alarming rate.

I love the church. I believe in the church. And I’ve poured ten years of blood, sweat, and tears into the church I have the privilege of pastoring — National Community Church in Washington, DC. But the church needs to change! And change always starts with some honest self-reflection.

Some people hear statistics like the one just cited — 61% of twentysomethings that grew up in church leave the church — and they wonder what’s wrong with this generation. I think that’s the wrong reaction. I can’t help but wonder what’s wrong with the church.

In the words of Pogo: we have seen the enemy and he is us.

Continue reading at this article

TECHNOLOGY

2011-10-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

This infographic from Tyndale University College and Seminary has a lot of great information. Including, their top 4 reasons for churches to use technology:
1. To enrich relationships/stay connected with members
2. To reach the online community
3. To evolve with the congregation
4. To bring in new members
Here’s the graphic. What stands out to you?
Thank you, Todd Rhodes, for bringing it to our attention.

5 CULTURE TRENDS THAT AFFECT THE CHURCH

2011-10-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

FROM DUKE DIVINITY CALL AND RESPONSE BLOG

Carol Howard Merritt suggests that churches aren’t the most culturally savvy places:

I know that some congregations are still fighting about whether they should be singing “contemporary” songs, which were written in the 1980s. Or they’re wrestling over the use of PowerPoint, which can be tiresome for people who have endured two decades of PP board meetings… But there are cultural shifts that congregations and church leaders need to track and respond to sensibly. Here are five of them.

1) Finances.

Younger generations are not faring well in this economy. They didn’t do so well when the rest of the country was booming either. Why? Younger generations face high student loan debt, high housing costs and stagnant wages (if they’re even able to get a job). The shame they bear matches our debt load, and they feel like they need to get their life together before they go to church.

2) Work hours.

People who go to mainline churches are wealthier. Or wealthier people go to mainline churches. It’s a chicken-and-egg thing. We don’t know what comes first. But young workers know one thing: many people in their 20s and 30s work retail or in the service industry. The blue laws faded long ago, and you don’t get Sunday mornings off unless you’re management.

3) Families.

People marry and have children later in life. Some people say that adults in their 20s and 30s are just extending adolescence, having fun in their odyssey years, or they’re too commitment-phobic to settle down. Yet, we’re a society that expects financial stability before a couple gets married, and many younger adults can’t manage financial stability.

4) The Internet.

Church leaders have a lot on their plate. Many don’t think they have any time for Facebook or Twitter. They may still be working with the misconception that the only things people are blogging about are what sort of breakfast they had on Tuesday (although if you’re reading this, you probably realize that blogs are good for more than personal over-sharing). But there’s no way to ignore it any longer. Even if a church leader shies away from the web, people may be talking about you on Google Map reviews or Yelp.

5) Politics.

A new generation is exhausted from the culture wars. Many people growing up in the last few decades had a difficult time keeping “Christian” and “Republican” in two separate boxes. Emerging generations look at poverty, the environment and war as complex issues, and many younger evangelicals are less likely to vote on pro-life credentials alone. Many young Christians who grew up evangelical are trying out mainline congregations .

Read more here: <a href="http://www.faithandleadership.com/blog/09-22-2011/carol-howard-merritt-five-cultural-shifts-should-affect-the-way-we-do-church"> Duke Divinity Call & Response Blog</a>

TWO BRIDGEBUILDERS BEING OFFERED

2011-10-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

Bridgebuilders Seminar is a six-hour training seminar to help traditional churches reach their unchurched neighbors. The Seminar was designed by Dr. Steve Dunn on behalf of the Commission on Evangelism of the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God.

Part of the challenge of this effort is that it is often a cross-cultural experience for which traditional churches are ill-equipped by temperament, knowledge, and skills. Even if they believe that they are called to reach the mission field that is outside their front door, they often see it as a matter of getting people in the door so that the church might survive. And too often they believe that simply re-packaging a bit what they do will make them attractive to people for whom church is simply irrelevant to their daily lives.

The Seminar breaks down into six sessions:
+”The Mission Field Outside Your Front Door”
+”What Every Missionary Needs to Know”
+ “Christ’s Respectful Ambassador”
+ “Listening to the Holy Spirit and the Culture”
+ “Tools to Building Bridges”
+ “Getting Started as a Church (And as Individuals)

Seminars begin at 9:00 am and conclude at 3:30. Cost is $15 person or a flat $50 for churches registering four or more participants. That price includes lunch and a workbook.

To date there have been three Bridgebuilders Seminars involving 20 churches more than 75 persons, plus two introductory seminars attended by 120 persons.

The remaining seminar offerings in 2011 are as follows:

Saturday, October 29, 2011
Germantown Church of God
16924 Raven Rock Road
Cascade MD
Host pastor is Mark Hosler.
Directions

Linglestown Church of God
5834 Linglestown Road
Harrisburg PA
Host pastor is Barry Stahl.
Directions

You can register for Bridgebuilders by going to the BRIDGEBUILDERS SEMINARS Facebook Page or by going to ERC Evangelism's website EVANGELISM PLUS Or by calling 717-898-8144.

FISHERS OF MEN OR KEEPERS OF THE AQUAIRUM

2011-10-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

by Stephen Furtick

People ask me all the time how we’ve been able to see so many people come to Christ in five years.
Outside of the favor of God, I could give you a lot of specifics. Tell you a lot of things that we’ve done. But none of it will help you until you make a decision we made in the early days of our church.

And that was the decision to be more focused on the people we’re trying to reach than on the people we’re trying to keep. As others have said, to be fishers of men, not just keepers of the aquarium.
We’re not going to cater to the personal preferences of the few in our pursuit of the salvation of the many.

And that includes if the few is ten people when we’re pursuing one hundred.

Or 5,000 when we’re pursuing 10,000.

Or 10,000 when we’re pursuing 20,000.

Most people and churches aren’t willing to do that. They’re keepers of the aquarium. They say they want to reach people, but in reality they’re more focused on preservation than expansion. On keeping people rather than reaching them.

They let saved people dictate style. Saved people dictate focus. Saved people dictate vision.

The result is a room full of saved people. Not people getting saved. Why? Because the people you’re trying to reach aren’t interested in the church that has been created by the people you’re trying to keep. If they were, they’d be coming. But they’re not.

For some reason, right here is where people usually play the discipleship card. They’re trying to disciple the people they’re trying to keep. They accuse you of pitting evangelism against discipleship.
But that isn’t the case. I just believe true disciples should care more about making disciples than freeze framing the church the way it was when they became one. Or wanting twenty-six programs customized to their liking. If the mark of Christian maturity is a bunch of people who want to create a museum glorifying and preserving their personal preferences and then sanctify it by calling it a church, count me out.

Some people say why can’t we have both? You can. Focus on the people you want to reach and you’ll keep the people you want to keep. Let the rest walk. They’ll find a church elsewhere to graze.

The way I see it is they’re just occupying the space of a person who needs to hear the gospel. You’ll fill their seat.

And it will be with the person who needs it the most.

MEASURING THE CONNECTION - PART 2

2011-10-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

This post is part 2 to the September 26, 2011 post CONNECTION AND COMMITMENT.

"Measuring the Connection"

In developing a strategy for helping your people grow to deeper levels of commitment to Christ and His church, it is important to have some simple measurements. These are the measurements that we use at the Church of God of Landisville:

There are four desired outcomes to be considered in knowing whether people are growing in commitment.

Committed to Worship. The heart of a truly missional community is the connection with Christ and with the Body in corporate worship. Without keeping a regular focus on the sovereignty of God and the essential interdependent nature of the Church, we devolve into solo artists whose effectiveness for God is diminished. Worship is the lifeblood of the church for we acknowledge that is all about Him. Losing that shared commitment is one of the first warning signs of a person's disengagement.

Committed to a Small Group. We need one another for prayer, encouragement, servanthood and accountability. We need people to pour themsleves into our lives and to allow us to do so in return. A person needs REAL PEOPLE with whom to be connected in an authentic, continuing and transparent way if they are to experience the love of Christ which sustains us daily. People who only worship often are trying to hide out in the crowd.

Committed to a Ministry. Membership means ministry. The scriptures are clear that each of us has a part in the work of the Kingdom and are gifted for it. If we are not involved in ministry we remain takers of spiritual nourishment but are not givers of spiritual strength. Ministry places us in the pattern of discipleship that was commanded by Christ -- to be servants.

Committed to Discipleship Equipping. Our deepest desire is for people to be authentic disciples of Jesus Christ. A disciple by definition is one who is learning. In a our rapidly changing mission field it is important for people to be growing in their understanding of the Word, of the vision for ministry, and in the use of their gifts to carry out that ministry. Is the person regularly participating in learning groups or experiences that contribute to this goal. Be it a Bible study, a discipleship class, a training program--are they maintaining a commitment to learning and applying in an intentional way that keeps them maturing and growing as faithful and fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ?

A person who can be considered a part of the core of the congregation is demonstrating a consistent involvement in at least three of these categories.

Our next post will focus on CREATING A STRATEGY FOR CONNECTION AND COMMITMENT.

Permissions: You have blanket permission to reproduce anyoriginal post by STEPHEN DUNN on this blog, as long as it is not altered in anyway, is not part of a resource for sale, and proper attribution is made to theauthor. A link to this blog is appreciated. A copy of your use isappreciated as well. Send it to sdunnpastor@coglandisville.org

CONNECTION AND COMMITMENT - PART 1

2011-09-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

by Stephen L. Dunn

The outward-focused church is not simply about community outreach and community impact. It is about life transformation and inviting people into the kingdom of God. "Making disciples" is still the purpose of an outward-focused church---not simply growing a church but growing a community of faith. And the target of this ministry is people previously unchurched, people without meaningful Christian roots.

Two words that describe the desired vision outcomes of this effort are connection and commitment. People need two connections - first connection to Jesus Christ, and then connection to the church where they are
nurtured, equipped, and assisted in becoming part of the community on mission for Jesus. The tie to Christ and the tie to the body make an unassailable knot that helps the individual live life to full and the church to accomplish the immeasurably more that Christ promises.

There are levels of connection in any church. In the Church of God of Landisville we recognize five levels. They are tied to involvement in worship, which is often the initial entry or connection point for unchurched people and the church.

LEADERSHIP CORE = These arethe most strongly connected and clearly committed persons – they go thefurthest mile by taking leadershipresponsibility for some ministry of the church.

CORE= These are persons who worship on a regular basis, are connected to a smallgroup or ministry, have an identifiable ministry in the church or in thecommunity on behalf of the church. They are engaged at least once a year insome kind of training or discipleship learninggroup.

CONGREGATION = These arepersons who worship at least once per month or are connected on a regular basiswith a Sunday School class, small group orministry team. They are occasionally involved in one of our ministries.

COMMUNITY = These are personswho are connected to the church basically by worshiping with us several times ayear, occasionally being involved in aprogram or ministry event, and generally identify us as their church.

SHUT-INS = These are membersof our church who can no longer be a part of active ministry or involvement inworship because they are now living in nursinghomes or for health reasons largely confined to home.

The goal of CONNECTION is to bring people into the body and then help them progress more deeply into that body until they can b identified as the CORE or LEADERSHIP CORE of the church. If churches are prepared to do so, a strategy can be developed to work with the Spirit to accomplish this task.

In the next post we will talk about MEASURING THE CONNECTION and first steps in the process of intentionally connecting people with the Church.

HOW TO MEASURE THE EVANGELISTIC HEARTBEAT OF YOUR CHURCH

2011-09-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

Kevin Harney is an author on outward-focused churches that I have come to appreciate dearly. He is especially articulate on the essential role of evangelism, which is my passion. I use his excellent book Organic Outreach for Churches in a course I teach called "Developing a Strategy of Evangelism in the Local Church." Recently an adaptation of his material was posted in Church Leaders.Com which I am reposting here. - Steve

How to Measure the Evangelistic Heartbeat of Your Church

by Kevin Harney

When God looks at the spiritual heart monitor of your church, what pattern does He see?

When God looks at his bride, the church, he longs for her to have a healthy heartbeat. He wants our hearts to beat with his love for the lost, and he longs for evangelistic passion to flow through our veins. The Maker of heaven and earth wants to see each and every church alive with love for the lost and engaged in reaching out with the message and grace of Jesus in natural, organic ways.

God wants to draw people into our fellowship with the assurance that they will be embraced by grace and introduced to the Savior, Jesus. But this can happen only when the people in our church are deeply in love with God.

When we are, our heartbeat is strong. When we do not love God, it is difficult for us to love others. As God looks at the spiritual monitor that registers the evangelistic heartbeat of a church, he sees one of several different patterns. What do you think God sees when he looks at your church?

FLATLINE

Some churches have a loud, high drone and a flatline on their heart monitor. There is no love for God, nor is there a relentless love for the lost. These churches are closed off to visitors, their community, and the world. They don’t reach out or train their members to share Jesus’ love.

Prayer for their community is nonexistent. There was a heartbeat at some time in the distant past, but today the church is flatlining.

If this describes your church, don’t lose hope! We believe in a God who can raise the dead. Heaven is watching your church’s heart monitor, and the Spirit of God is always ready to send a pulse of heavenly energy into your congregation’s heart to bring it back to life. God is ready to return your church to her first love, Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit is ready to move your church from apathy to passion.

WEAK PULSE

Sometimes when a doctor checks for a pulse, he’ll say, “I have a pulse, but it’s weak.” There is still life in the body, but action needs to be taken quickly to sustain it.

Many churches have a pulse and there is life, but it’s faint. There is love for God and for people, but it is waning.

If this is a picture of your church, be honest and admit it. You might have a map on a wall somewhere with several pins showing where you send money to support missionaries. You might do an event or two each year that “spiritual seekers” are welcome to attend. You might even try to be friendly if a guest or visitor happens to wander into your church on a Sunday morning.

But honestly, your passion for outreach is gone.

Your church lacks a desperate love for God that will drive you into the world with his good news. You are nice to people who visit your church, but you don’t go out of your way to reach those who are far from God. You send money overseas, but you don’t engage the mission field right next door.

If this describes your congregation, you too need to fall in love with God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—all over again. Yes, you still care. You love God, and you love people. But it is time to rehabilitate your congregation’s heart.

You might need to do some spiritual exercise and fortify your heart to make it beat strongly again. The heart is a muscle, and if you use it, it becomes stronger.

Read Page 2 >>

EVANGELISM AND MISSION: WHY YOUR GROUP NEGLECTS THEM

2011-08-31T02:51:00.000-07:00

This is a great post from Rick Howerton worthy of discussion in your small group if your church wants to grow in its outward focus.

Evangelism and Mission: Why Your Group Neglects Them

by Rick Howerton

Every group should be evangelistically effective at some level.

Not every group is going to experience leading the masses into a relationship with Jesus. Every group should be evangelistically effective at some level though. So, why is it that some groups are ineffective when it comes to being evangelistically missional?

1. The leader isn't praying enough. In Jim Egli and Dwight Marable’s book, Small Groups Big Impact, after interviewing more than 3,000 small group leaders, their research showed that, “Of the leaders with a strong prayer life 83% reported that their group had seen someone come to Christ in the past 9 months, but only 19% of the leaders with a weak prayer life could say the same.”

2. The leader of the group isn’t directing the group to have an outward focus. Again, Small Group Big Impact… “Ninety percent of the groups surveyed with a strong outward focus had seen someone come to Christ in the last six months, but only 11% of the groups with a weak outward focus could say the same.

3. The group leader doesn’t consistently remind the group that they exist to bring others into a relationship with Christ. From Small Group Big Impact… “Group outreach begins with group purpose. If you are launching a group, you should make it clear to those forming the team and those joining that the group exists to experience and extend Jesus’ truth, love, and power. This needs to be repeated over and over again.”

4. The small group leader isn’t modeling a evangelistically missional lifestyle. Small Groups Big Impact speaks again… “As leaders reach out to their own friends, relatives, and associates – praying for them, loving them, introducing them to their small group members, and bringing them to small group and church events – the small group members capture a vision and imitate their example.”

If This Was Helpful Check Out...
People Into Projects: Let's Use Language That is Actually Missional by Scott Boren
Sympathy for the Devil by Randall Neighbour
The Future of Church/Community, Is Your Church Ready by Kirby Holmes

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MISSIONAL?

2011-08-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

An outward-focused church is a missional community. The church, as a body, is living on mission with Jesus. But this is far more than a program, it is a lifestyle. And outward-focused churches are shaped by the Spirit to become a missional community made up of individuals living missionally. This video poses some important questions to be asking and reflecting upon as your congregation takes on a missional focus.

Come Explore the More from Jeff D. Johnson on Vimeo.

WILL MANCINI ON VISION VEHICLES

2011-08-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

The Six Vehicles for Church Vision: How Many Are You Using?

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Every pastor wants to get people excited about God’s activity in the world through their local church. But not every pastor understands how to use the multiple vehicles at their disposal.

The idea of vehicle is easy to understand. If a community is in desperate need of medical supplies, what vehicles are you going to use? A wheelbarrow or a 18-Wheeler or a C-130 cargo aircraft? And if you could, would you want five C-130’s or just one? You get the picture.

Keep in mind that the concepts we are covering are very powerful when implemented. The truth is that pastors have trucks in their fleet that have never seen drive time. The cost is high as the precious cargo of motivational kingdom fuel never dispenses to hearts and minds of their people. But get those rucks rollin and you will see things happen like you’ve never seen before!

This post is the second in a series on “Vehicles for Vision.” The first post dealt with a primary challenge on the subject- the default setting in the pastor’s mind that preaching is the primary vehicle for vision. It is the default mode because it is the easiest. After all, pastors are preparing messages every Sunday already and they don’t have to get other people involved in the delivery process. It’s simple and clean.
In that post we revealed that despite the important role of preaching, the primary vehicle is the church’s connecting environment. So let’s start there and continue our list:

Vehicle #1: The Connecting Environment. This is the primary vehicle because it is the most relationally intensive. Therefore most of the validation, understanding and appreciation takes place here. Don’t complicate this too much. If you have small groups or Sunday school or missional communities, I am suggesting that those leaders or facilitators and the environments that they create are crucial to the delivery of vision.

Vehicle #2: The Leadership Pipeline. If you understand the importance of vehicle one, you might be asking, “How does that actually work?” That’s a great question because it reveals an even more foundational vehicle. In fact, I consider it the prime mover. The leadership pipeline is the vehicle where vision is transferred from leaders to other leaders. It assumes a leadership development culture. It supposes there are time and places where only leaders meet to pray, dream, dialogue and train together.

Vehicle #3: The Preaching Event. Now we get to everyone’s favorite. And this vehicle is important as it carries a special authority and motivational dynamic with the congregation at large. Preaching connects the vision to the Word of God, to the act of worship, and rallies the entire body of Christ together in a unique way.

Vehicle #4: The Structural Story. This is a meaningful piece that I look forward to unpacking with you. By structural story I mean everything from staff and volunteer position titles, to budget categories, to systems. It’s everything in the background; the supporting processes of the organization. And these pieces will either make a random, static-like noise or work together to contribute to the story and the vision.

Vehicle #5: The Visual Brand. From screens and worship guides, to curriculum and websites, your church is creating visual palettes from which people are digesting information. It may be a church sign, or a e-mail from the pastor. Everything speaks. As we explore this often overlooked vehicle we will show how you can constantly reflect and reinforce your vision.

Vehicle #6 The Voice of Each One. The icing on the cake is always the word on the street. Vision transfers through people not paper. And the ultimate test is not how well vision was communicated leader to leader, but from a participant to participant. By that I mean, what does Joe attendee say to a co-workers after he’s visited your church for six months? There are important steps that you can take, to help the vision transfer on the front line. Do you know what they are?

As we continue the series we will explore each vehicle further. For now I would encourage you to evaluate your ministry. How many of these vehicles are you currently using?

THIS IS DISCIPLING

2011-08-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

SHALLOW SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

2011-08-01T03:16:00.000-07:00

BRIDGEBUILDERS SEMINARS - FALL 2011

2011-07-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

Bridgebuilders Seminar is a six-hour training event created by Dr. Steve Dunn to help traditional churches reach their unchurched neighbors. Part of the challenge of this effort is that it is often a cross-cultural experience for which traditional churches are ill-equipped by temperament, knowledge, and skills. Even if they believe that they are called to reach the mission field that is outside their front door, they often see it as a matter of getting people in the door so that the church might survive. And too often they believe that simply re-packaging a bit what they do will make them attractive to people for whom church is simply irrelevant to their daily lives.

The Seminar breaks down into six sessions:
+"The Mission Field Outside Your Front Door"
+"What Every Missionary Needs to Know"
+ "Christ's Respectful Ambassador"
+ "Listening to the Holy Spirit and the Culture"
+ "Tools to Building Bridges"
+ "Getting Started as a Church (And as Individuals"

The next two scheduled Bridgebuilders Seminars are in the Middle Atlantic Region. They will be held at:

September 24, 2011
Newville Church of God
(near Carlisle PA)
9:00 am-3:30 EST
Host pastor: Rev. Wayne Good

October 29, 2011
Germantown Church of God
9:00 am-3:30 pm EST
Host pastor: Rev. Mark Hosler

Under a special agreement with the Commission on Evangelism of the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God (which is sponsoring these two events) the cost is $15 per person or $50 flat fee for churches registering four or more.

To register go to the Commission's web site EVANGELISM PLUS and follow the Bridgebuilders link.

If you would like information about bringing these seminars to your church, region or adjudicatory, please contact Steve Dunn at sdunnpastor@coglandisville.org (717-898-8144)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE MISSIONAL?

2011-07-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

An outward-focused church is a missional community. The church, as a body, is living on mission with Jesus. But this is far more than a program, it is a lifestyle. And outward-focused churches are shaped by the Spirit to become a missional community made up of individuals living missionally. This video poses some important questions to be asking and reflecting upon as your congregation takes on a missional focus.

Come Explore the More from Jeff D. Johnson on Vimeo.

THE 8 'ATIONS" OF INNOVATION

2011-07-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

From The Leadership Network comes this great information from Rick Warren.

The 8 ‘ations’ of Innovation

Posted on 7/13/2011 by Sherry Surratt in the Learnings Blog

I recently heard a talk by Pastor Rick Warren at a TedX Conference. He challenged everyone in the room with his words, 'All leaders are learners. Never stop learning!'. He then went on to share 8 Questions he constantly asks himself (The 8 'ations' of Innovation) to keep creative thinking going:

1. Termination: What do we first need to stop, before we can have room for new ideas? Sometimes termination is the beginning of innovation.
2. Collaboration: How can we do what we are already doing faster and on a larger scale by incorporating a team?
3. Combination: What great ideas or programs do we already have that we could mix together to make something new?
4. Elimination: What part could we take out to make an idea or process simpler?
5. Reincarnation: What has died that we could resurrect in a new form?
6. Rejuvenation: How could we change the purpose or motivation for what we do to bring new energy and new life to an idea?
7. Illumination: How can we look at this idea in a new light, from a different angle?
8. Fascination: How can we make this idea more appealing and fun?
These are great questions to bring new life to stale thinking. Have you put any of these to work in a creative meeting or planning session? Which ones do you need to ask yourself today?
Is your team wresting with ways to innovate in a ministry area? Don't miss our Upcoming Fall Innovation Labs including Dream Centers, Internet Ministries, Campus Pastor Development for Multisite Churches, Externally Focused Small Groups and Church Mergers. Questions?
For more information, contact Sherry

THE CHURCH EXISTS TO GIVE ITSELF AWAY

2011-07-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

by Stephen L. Dunn

There are too many stagnant and dying churches in America. There are too many churches with little or no impact on the communities around them. There are too many churches who cannot report even one new believer within the past year because of the efforts and influence of that congregation. It is both a tragedy and a travesty.

"If you are leading a hospital and your mission is primarily designed around keeping you nurses happy, your patients are going to die." - John Pearson

The primary reason why these churches fail in their mission is that they have confused their mission. Jesus said it very clearly to his disciples, "The son of man came not to be served but to serve." (Mark 10:45) John Pearson's comment is a perfect description of this problem. They have been more concerned with their personal happiness than the lost and unchurched people that God has called them to serve. They no longer serve the spiritually sick, they serve themselves.

Jesus had something to say about that, too. "For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19.10) The hospital is intended to bring healing to the patients, not just to give the nurses an enjoyable way to pass the time until they retire. If the patients keep dying, they close the hospital and build a new one better suited to the task.

Many a church leader or pastor who has been captured by God's vision finds his greatest roadblock is the people he or she is called to lead. Enormous pressure is placed upon those leaders to serve the church people first, if not exclusively. Visit us in the hospital. Pray at our family events. Be in your office so we can find you when we can't find the Sunday School curriculum. Socialize with us. Listen to all our troubles. Schedule services (and design services) to meet our tastes.

Don't change anything that is precious to us ... even if it is not meaningful to authentic discipleship.

I sat in a workshop once led by Kenneth Haugk, founder of the Stephen Ministry. It was called "The Alligator Seminar-How to Deal With Antagonists in the Church." He noted that when you have someone who totally resists vision and core values and insists things happen their way, you need to call a "come to Jesus" meeting. And at that meeting you tell them, "come to Jesus or leave."

A whole lot of churches need to come to Jesus. And when you come to Jesus you will hear him say, "The church exists to give itself away." Jesus is not concerned with our comfort or entertainment. He is deeply concerned about our obedience, being the Body of Christ doing the work of Christ.

Too many churches have forgotten that. Too many church leaders to keep a job help perpetuate that.

We now live in one of the most vital mission fields in the world -- the United States. We once again need to become missionaries and get out to the community and help them find the healing of Jesus Christ.

The church does not exist for itself. It exists for Jesus and to do the work of Jesus. And just as the son of Man gave away his life so that we might find ours ... it is time for us to do the same.

Permissions: You have blanket permission to reproduce any original post by STEPHEN DUNN on this blog, as long as it is not altered in any way, is not part of a resource for sale, and proper attribution is made to the author. A link to this blog is appreciated. A copy of your use is appreciated as well. Send it to sdunnpastor@coglandisville.org

TWO SIGNS YOUR CHURCH EMBRACES THE VISION

2011-07-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

From Steven Furtick, writing on Church Leaders.Com comes this excellent analysis of shared vision. - Steve

There’s a crucial question every ministry leader must answer when it comes to their vision. When do you know the vision has become ingrained in the culture of your church and not just in your own dreams?
It’s not enough to have a vision, even a compelling one. It’s not enough to be able to communicate your vision well. And it definitely isn’t enough to be passionate about your vision. Of course, you’re going to be passionate about your vision. It’s your vision.

What you really want is for the vision to stick. To infiltrate and permeate every area of your church. To be so ingrained in your culture that people speak the vision and do the vision without even thinking about it.

But how do you know when that has happened?
Two indicators stick out to me. Here’s the first:

1) When the best ideas are not your own.

When the vision has become ingrained in your culture, great ideas should be flowing from all directions. The pastor shouldn’t be the chief idea officer, but the chief vision officer. His responsibility is to make sure that the ideas are fitting into the vision. Not generate all of the ideas for the vision.

If all of the best ideas are coming from the pastor, it’s a sign the vision hasn’t truly been owned by the people. It’s only being served. In other words, for your staff and volunteers, it’s still your vision. And since it’s your vision, you should be the one coming up with the best ideas for it. And then they’ll support you by making them happen. As Christine Caine would say, they see themselves as servants of your vision rather than as stewards of a vision that has become their own.

The vision isn’t going very far this way. I don’t care if you’re Steve Jobs; you don’t have enough great ideas in you to keep it going.

The solution: regularly demand people to bring their own ideas to the table. Set the expectation that fresh ideas for how to carry out the vision aren’t welcomed, they’re expected. Remind the people you’re leading that the vision isn’t just yours. It’s everyone’s. And everyone can and should contribute.
When they do, reward and recognize them in front of everyone. Make them the standard.
And then don’t be surprised when great ideas start flowing from people other than you.

2) Leaders have been raised up who can communicate the vision better in ways more suited to their personality and area of responsibility.

If you’re the only person who can communicate the vision, you’re in trouble. If your staff has to get you to every event to cast vision, there’s a problem. It’s an indication not of how great of a vision caster you are, but of how much your staff has yet to own and appropriate the vision to their own unique contexts.

I remember the first time I heard the original version of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan. I didn’t like it. Not because it wasn’t good, but because I had already heard it played by Guns N’ Roses. And I thought their version was way better.

That’s what you want from the people you lead. You want people who can take your vision and make it better and communicate it more effectively in their own ministry setting. Who can take it and find fresh angles to approach it from that you never would have thought of yourself.

You know the vision has become ingrained when you don’t have to be there in person to ingrain it. Your leaders have so internalized it that when they’re there, it’s as if you’re there. And it’s even better.
The solution: Regularly force your people to articulate the vision in the context of their specific area of responsibilities. To you. To the staff. And to the people they oversee. The more they do, the more they’ll understand it, own it, and spread it. And the more your people will love and believe in the vision, not just the chief vision caster.

BRIAN KAUFFMAN ON INWARDLY FOUSED CHURCHES

2011-07-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

1) An Inwardly-Focused Church Makes Converts Not Disciples

Matt Chandler made this point during his Ultimate Authority series. A world full of converts is like a little kid sitting in his daddy’s truck holding the wheel and making engine noises as the he sits idle in the driveway. An inwardly-focused church is concerned more with the numbers of those saved by the existence of that very church (i.e. look how fantastic we are). What if the church announced the number of new disciples alongside the number of salvations? Would there still be a feeling of celebration in the room? Don’t get me wrong, I recognize that there is a need for celebration when people are welcomed into the Kingdom – my point is that Jesus commands us to mobilize, evangelize and teach.

2) An Inwardly-Focused Church Lives and Dies by Sunday

Are the majority of the church’s decisions heavily skewed towards Sunday? If so the church might be more concerned with the production of the service than the promotion of the Gospel … and perhaps furthermore its own vision statement. I don’t really find examples of any church within the Bible making reference to Sunday as “Go time.” Perhaps I’m wrong on this point, but, a church that has allowed the Sunday services to consume the majority of financial & human resources is one that is structurally equivalent to a Nissan Pathfinder – top heavy. And at some point we will begin to sacrifice the risk of mission for the logistics of production.

3) An Inwardly-Focused Church Offers Multiple Styles of Worship

This one is difficult, so bear with me for a moment. Is our God traditional or contemporary, emergent or conservative, Catholic or Lutheran*? In my opinion multiple worship styles communicate one thing very clearly, “We are not sure what kind of church we are but we want to appeal to a broad audience.” My issue here is not with specific styles of worship, it is with specific styles of worship under one roof.
In my opinion multiple worship services/styles are confusing and further promote an Enlightenment-era philosophy in which our personal comfort and preference supersedes the reality of the Great Commission and cross of Christ. If you’ve got the resources and vision to do multiple styles of worship perhaps the strategy needs to be rethought? For example, perhaps a new style of worship could be saturated in a church plant located closer to the demographic which responds to that certain style?
There are a lot of very large and rapidly-growing churches that produce multiple worship services and would probably argue well against this point. Admittedly, and to the frustration of my wife, I tend to over-simplify some things as black or white. Can we still be friends?
*As a side note, I do struggle with the obsession over denomination as it relates to our identity in Christ and our fixation on subjective righteousness, but that is for another article.

4) An Inwardly-Focused Church Hides It’s Checkbook

A church afraid to talk about money is denying people the chance to be challenged out of slavery and engage in worshipful generosity. Likewise a church which conceals its own checkbook is denying the people confidence in the authority under which they have willingly agreed to be subjected. An inwardly-focused church convicts its people with “Show me your checkbook and I’ll show you your heart…” but shy’s away from being subject to the same philosophy.
Do you know what your pastor makes? Do you know the percentage breakdown of where your dollar goes? Does your church provide regular updates to the financial mission of the church and/or annual financial reports? Is giving communicated as a joyful acts of worship or a necessary means to keep the lights on?

5) An Inwardly-Focused Church Holds On Tight

Have you ever seen a little kid with all his stuffed animals playing on the floor? He seems peaceful and content … until another little kid comes and tries to play too. What usually happens? The kid will put his arms around all the stuffed animals and say, “mine!” That’s kind of how I picture a competitive church. The popular idea of “closing the back door” deals with the challenge of keeping people in the church – their church – regardless of that person’s desire to sacrificially engage or parasitically consume. This parallels my first point about making converts not disciples. What if a local church’s vision was to kick the back-door wide open as people go out into the world? To promote a culture which causes tension in those that constantly take from the church is to risk a roster of attendance for the sake of a congregation on mission.
Suddenly, we’re not concerned with what the 5 other churches are doing with their fall series. We don’t have conversations that involve a phrase like “stealing our people.” We don’t hold onto our people as though we are offended if they choose not to stay. We create a healthy environment of people committed to the local church’s vision. It is a culture saturated with people who willingly lead the charge and stand in the gap.
I recently attended a church conference where the room was packed with pastors from all over the Phoenix area. I later had conversations with some others that also attended and one thing we all recognized was the unspoken tension among local churches. It was kind of like a bunch of gangs all wearing their colors but coming together for one purpose. Our faith and mission bind us, but our pride creates boundaries that if crossed could result in territorial warfare. It was both ironic and disturbing. Any West Side Story fans out there?

Conclusion

This list is nowhere near exhaustive but my hope is that it begins a larger discussion within church leadership as we move forward with the Gospel, let the cross be our focus and the Great Commission to be our ultimate decision filter. I am not isolated from the ideas above but instead include myself whole-heartedly as a prideful sinner in need of divine perspective and grace as often as a heartbeat.

For mote from Brian Kauffman and his blog SHRINK THE CHURCH go to ...

SLOWED

2011-07-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

My postings on The Outward-Focused Church have slowed significantly. Since returning from a week working in church camp I have been battling first allergies and now bronchitis. This has necessitated my cutting back on work and choosing rest (when I wasn't hacking and coughing) over blogging. I am improving with the bronchitis, but my energy level is still low. I have just a few days before taking a mission team to Tsaile AZ to the Navajo Reservation. For all intents and purposes I will not be able to renew posting to this blog until around July 19th. I have been getting as many as 60 visits to this blog a day. Until I return, please feel free to visit the archives. Your prayers and understanding are greatly appreciated.

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL

2011-06-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

James Nored has written a superb article on his Missional Outreach Network blog that is worth studying by any church serious about being an outward focused congregation. You also need to subscribe to his blog. - Steve

The Gospel Spreads through Social Networking - Lessons from Jesus & the Early Church

I am not opposed to "advertising" for the church, particularly if it is tied to offering to meet a felt need in the community. But the most powerful form of "advertising" is the sharing of the gospel person to person through social networking. Today, obviously, we have tremendous online social networking tools (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) that we need to utilize to reach the lost. But even without these tools, the early church grew from a small band of disciples in the first century to an Empire-wide force in the 4th century through person-to-person, "social networking."

Jesus was certainly shaped by his social connections, and his ministry was launched through social networking connections. On a divine level, he was sent by the Father to the earth, and he was conceived through the Holy Spirit. The Father was well pleased at his baptism, and the Spirit descended upon him at this time (Matt. 3:13-17). On a human level, Jesus was raised by parents that sought to be obedient to God (Luke 1:21-40), and he followed the ministry of his relative, John the Baptist, preaching this same message: “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17).[1] While his mother, brothers, and sisters were at times skeptical of his messianic claims, after his death and resurrection his mother Mary and his brothers were present at Pentecost, and his brother James became a foundational figure in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 1:14; 15:13; 21:17).

The synoptic gospels seem to portray Jesus calling the disciples out of nowhere and without any prior connections; however, the gospel of John makes it clear that Jesus used social networking as he made this call, beginning with Andrew, one of John the Baptist’s followers, and then spreading through Andrew’s family and friends (Jn. 1:40-42).[2] Jesus of course also worked through other social structures of his day to spread the gospel, including the rabbinical schools, the synagogues, and agrarian society. Galilee, where Jesus grew up, also would have provided Jesus with various points of connection, serving as a physical hub connecting him to all sorts of people, including fishermen, farmers, tradesmen, artisans, tax collectors, and others.[3]

The early Christians followed Christ, sought to be like him, and took up his call to be fishers of people seriously. Moreover, missiologist Eckhard J. Schnabel asserts that the early Christians followed Christ’s life and mission even on the strategy level, for “they confessed Jesus not only as Messiah but also as Kyrios: his behavior was the model and the standard for their own behavior.” [4] An examination of the early Church’s outreach strategy shows that the Church followed Jesus’ model of social networking.

On Pentecost, the number of Jesus’ followers who were gathered together was a mere 120 people. Yet, as the Spirit of God was poured out and Peter preached the gospel message, more than 3000 responded (Acts 2:1-41). While the apostles and other evangelists would play a key role in the spread of the gospel, increasingly the gospel would be spread by these ordinary Christians through their own social circles.

The structure of the book of Acts is made up of radiating people-group circles, with the command to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). This rate of the transmission of the gospel through social networks would increase as persecution broke out against the Church and “all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1).

As has long been noted, the physical and social structures of the world of the early Church made networking possible on a grander scale. The Roman roads connected cities around the Empire, and those at Pentecost and those scattered by persecution were able to quickly take the gospel to their old or newly developed social networks. The common Greek language provided not only understandability, but a common way of thinking and a reference point for those sharing the gospel. The Diaspora assisted in the message transmission, with the synagogues serving as nodes or distribution hubs, connecting missionaries like Paul to family, friends, and a vast network of people who already believed in God and were looking for a Messiah. And as Paul goes through the household codes in his letters to Christians and draws out the implications for the gospel, he repeatedly encourages his readers to reach out to outsiders, make the most of every conversation, and impact every social stratum which they occupy for Christ (Col. 3:18-4:6).[5]

As noted above, while the gospel message spread through apostles, evangelists, and missionary bishops, it spread primarily through ordinary Christians. Unlike the public evangelism of the “full time” evangelists, this “ordinary evangelism” would have worked primarily through social circles. This is the very type of evangelism on display in Origen’s response to Celsus, who charged that Christians spread their beliefs in women’s quarters, leather shops, and laundries.[6]

In its beginnings, it appears that Christianity was largely a movement amongst the lower class, Jews, women, and agrarian society in Palestine, but it soon became a movement that encompassed Gentiles, men and women, the educated, and urbanites across the Roman Empire.[7] While there were many sociological, religious, and political reasons for this, social networking played a major role in the numerical growth and demographic shift of Christians in the first three centuries.

How can we use social networking today to share the gospel and start a new movement for Christ?

[1] Jesus’ connection to John the Baptist undoubtedly helped him tremendously in launching his ministry, a concept that is both testified to in the gospels (John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus) and by social construction theory. The authors of Palestine in the Time of Jesus state that kinship was the primary social domain of ancient Mediterranean societies, followed by political structures and associations. K. C. Hanson and Douglas E. Oakman, Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1998), 20.

[2] “Instead of immediately leaving one’s everyday work place and following without hesitation, [in John] there is networking with kin and friends in the villages.” See Dennis C. Duling, "The Jesus Movement and Social Network Analysis: (Part Ii. The Social Network)." Biblical Theology Bulletin (2000). http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-94331533.html (accessed 5-14-09).

[3] See Hanson and Oakman, 99-129. See also Dennis C. Duling, "The Jesus Movement and Social Network Analysis (Part I: The Spatial Network)," Biblical Theology Bulletin (1999). http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-94332368.html (accessed 5-21-09).

[4] Eckhard J. Schnabel, Early Christian Mission, vol. 2 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 1544.

[5] For a summary of the conditions that favored the spread of Christianity, including the Roman roads and common language, see Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, Second ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993), 579-80. In regards to the Diaspora, Stark writes, “In all the major centers of the empire were substantial settlements of Diasporan Jews who were accustomed to receiving teachers from Jerusalem. Moreover, the missionaries were likely to have family and friendship connections within at least some of the Diasporan communities. Indeed, if Paul is a typical example, the missionaries were themselves Hellenized Jews.” See Stark, 62.

[6] Green, Evangelism in the Early Church, 208-09.

[7] Stark’s entire work, The Rise of Christianity, lays out these reasons and others for Christianity’s growth in the early centuries. Stark.

BACK TO WORK

2011-05-29T04:32:00.000-07:00

To my faithful and patient subscribers:

Solomon once wisely wrote, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven."

I certainly relate to that observation. You have no doubt notice (if you're still visiting this blog) that I have had only 3 posts in two months. This has been the season for practicing being an outward-focused church not writing about it. It's also been a season of focus, consolidation, maintaining, re-visiting and just plain doing ministry (what Dr. James Glasse called "paying the rent.") If you want to see what that looks like, you can go to my in-house blog for the Church of God of Landiisville Being the Best Church for the Community.

As we enter the rhythm of summer, my focus is shifting back to this blog. Planned upcoming posts will include these topics:

"Rethink-Questions to Embed a Culture Shift"
"Evangelism and the Outward-Focused Church"
"Disciples or Members"
"Building Bridges to Our Unchurched Neighbors"

I also am open to suggestions of blogs or web sites with which you are familiar that might be worth linking to and/or reposting on this blog. Or maybe you want to offer a guest post from your experience. Feel free to send them to me at sdunnpastor@coglandisville.org.

Looking forward to renewing our conversation.

STEVE

INWARD FOCUSED KIDS OR OUTWARD

2011-05-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

I was talking with a youth pastor who has an effective outreach to the unchurched children of his community. Like all effective youth pastors, his first concern is to make disciples of children. He wants them to have a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ while they are still young.

But as he spoke, I heard another motivation for a children’s ministry that is clearly outward-focused in its vision and strategy. It had to be do with the health and faithfulness of the church. This is what he said, “THE CURSE of the internally focused church is that it develops internally focused children and internally focused teens. Without intervention the curse will be handed down from generation to generation.”

A typical youth group becomes a closed group, where the focus is on meeting the needs (and desires) of kids. It is what Ed Stetzer has called “a holding tank with pizza.” Given the tendency of kids to form and fossilize into cliques, outward focused youth leaders must instead teach kids to look beyond themselves. To see themselves as disciples on mission with Jesus. They need to learn what it is to be authentic disciples and they need to be given ministries that help out that discipleship into action.

They need to see that their friends need Jesus and be challenged and equipped to help them make disciples of their friends. Not simply decisions, but functioning disciples. But again, they need not to be kids who are just getting together to have fun or to be protected from the world’s idea of “fun.” They need to learn to pray, read and understand God’s Word, discover their gifts and use them. They need to love Jesus and all the people Jesus loves.

MOVING FROM ATTRACTIONAL TO MISSIONAL

2011-04-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

From the archives of Chris Hunter EvangelismCoach.Org

Moving from Attractional to Missional

September 27, 2008

I’ve spent the last month talking with pastors around the US about church transformation. A few pastors are in really difficult situations (read more at: Leaving Egypt and Not Liking it).
From those discussions, it seems that a common meaning of church transformation is

Church transformation is to move a church that is stuck or in serious decline,
and lead them into a new vision of what God has for them.

Thus launching a new life cycle of growth.
Ed Stetzer calls them Comeback Churches. Ron Crandall calls them TurnAround Churches.
I’ve seen other various titles, like Boomerang church, Redevelopment, Revitalization. Seems the common word now is Transformational.

Moving from Attractional to Missional

(See Comparing Missional vs. Attractional at Blind Beggar)

A common thread share by these pastors is their labor at moving congregations to shift

from an exclusive focus on attractional methodology tweaks
to becoming more missional and engaging their community.

They still seek to improve their attractional ministries (like hospitality and personal invitations to church) but now realize that churches have to be connected to the neighborhood.
It’s a journey in process, and some have moved further along than others.

What is attracional?

Attractional ministry focused on quality programs, excellent hospitality, and marketing to get people in the door.
This was sometimes called a “magnetic” church. It still is very valuable as a model that supports the work of evangelism of the local church.
Attractional ministry is based on the idea that if you do enough marketing, you can get more foot traffic in your door. Your hospitality will help the newcomers “stick” and your church will grow.
It’s a variant of “if you build it they will come.”
As I’ve looked at

Evangelism Committee reports (What is the purpose of an Evangelism Cmmittee?),
church information forms,
and mission studies,

a lot of churches still think that making small process adjustments to their parking lot, greeting process, or welcoming will help them reach out to the neighborhood.

What is missional?

I’m not giving a full definition of missional. In this context, a Missional focus however moves to help the church re-engage its neighborhood.
Some pastors are in island churches, meaning their church is mostly commuters who used to live in that neighborhood.
The culture around the church has changed (demographically, socio-economically), but the church has not adjusted accordingly, thus being a cultural island.
Missional helps the church get out of hoping people will visit them to actively engaging the needs and people of the community, and in the process both demonstrating and sharing the faith in Jesus as Lord.
Many of the pastors I spoke with this past month are trying to move congregations in this direction.

Connect

THOM RAINER ON LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE SOCIAL MEDIA

2011-04-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

One of the most helpful researchers today in the world on ministry, especially on mobilizing the church in a more outward-focused ministry is Thom Rainer. I subscribe to his blog by RSS feed. As a pastor seeking to stay on the front lines of ministry, especially in our technologically savvy culture, I found this post exceptionally helpful. For more of Thom Rainer click.www.thomrainer.com

In a recent blog on Harvard Business Review, Jodi Glickman notes that young adults in the workplace are abandoning emails and moving toward social media as one of their primary modes of communication, Because social media is so, well, social, the lines are becoming increasingly blurred between business and personal matters.

As an older American of 55 years, I was a later adopter to the blogosphere and Facebook, but I was an earlier adopter to Twitter. I guess there was something appealing to me about communicating in 140 characters or less. Like Glickman notes in her blog, I have learned some key lessons from this relatively new social phenomenon.

The Lines Between Personal and Work Are Blurring
Because I tweet, blog, and post on Facebook, some aspects of my business life and personal life are known to thousands. I’ve seen the advantage of sharing comments about my life with others. Some enjoy my strange humor. Others pray for needs I share. And still others see a personal side to the ministry I lead that they would not see otherwise.

Negatively, I can’t take true getaway vacations or time off anymore. One critic found me on vacation recently via Twitter. My vacation, as a consequence, was not nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped. I know. I can disengage from all social media for a week or so and not be subject to its omnipresence. But it has become so much a part of my life that I find its absence to be disconcerting.

We really don’t get away from work when we leave our workplace. Likewise, because of social media, we typically bring our personal lives to work. Leaders can either bemoan this new reality or they can learn to lead within this context. But don’t expect the young adults in your organization to disengage from the social media when they come to work.

Relationships Are Always Important
If we leaders can learn one thing from the social media, it’s the importance of relationships. The leaders who try to operate from a non-relational grid are doomed to failure. Organizations that try to increase customers and clients without relational intentionality will not survive. Churches that seek to reach people with the gospel will struggle unless its members are developing relationships with others. On Twitter we have followers. On Facebook we have friends. In all aspects of social media, relationships are king.

By the way, the relational issue is important for the leader personally as well. Every leader needs a good and trusted friend. All leaders need someone with whom they can confide and vent. Lone Ranger leadership is fast becoming an oxymoron.

Collaboration is Critical
It is absolutely amazing how social media is literally changing the world. Every day we hear about governments toppling and dictators being deposed. The despotic leader can no longer control the flow of information, so his power is stripped and his position removed.

Great leaders today are learning that the solo voice no longer works. The power of the group is usurping the power of the individual. Social media is the collaboration of hearts and minds. Many have a voice. Many have been empowered. The wise leader knows that he or she does not have all the answers. Collaboration and teamwork are essential. Good listening skills have become a hallmark of great leadership.

Change or Die
I know someone who was told by his physician that he could change his lifestyle and live many more years. If he chose not to change, he probably would not survive any longer than two or three years. The choice was clear: change or die.

Many organizations and leaders are faced with the same choice: change or die. Sadly, many are choosing the latter. Rather than make needed changes, they would rather hang on just a little while longer and then die.
If the world of social media has taught us anything, it has taught us that change is coming at us with increasing frequency. We have the choice. We can complain and yearn for the mythical good old days. Or we can embrace the best of the change that is taking place. I, for one, am glad for the advent of social media. I choose to learn from it and make the best of it.

I have already learned some important lessons, but I know I have many to go. It will be fun and exciting to see what happens next.

THE YOUNGER UN-CHURCHED

2011-03-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

From Ed Stetzer comes this insightful column: The Younger Un-churched: what do they really think?

Here is my latest column from the Spring 2011 issue of Facts and Trends magazine, focusing on the younger unchurched:

Adlai Stevenson stated, "That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another." He did not have a particularly high view of the next generation, but he does challenge us to consider the radical changes in thinking that are sometimes seen between generations.
The reality is that generations do think differently and different views emerge - and it is worth our time to consider them. As George Orwell said, "Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one that comes after it."
This bothers some and challenges others. For me, my concern is not to rail against the next generation-- I want to reach them.

In the book, "Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them," I shared some of the findings from a survey conducted of 1,000 unchurched young adults about the issues of church and spirituality. The study revealed that the younger generation is more open to issues of spirituality than our conventional wisdom allows us to admit.
This generation is open to God and spirituality. When asked if they considered themselves to be spiritual, 73 percent of respondents age 20-29 answered affirmatively. They are interested in learning more about God or a higher supreme being. Eighty-two percent believe a person's spirit continues to exist in some kind of afterlife. Seventy-seven percent believe in the idea of heaven and 60 percent believe in the idea of hell. Perhaps most surprising, 66 percent even believe that Jesus died and came back to life.

The Jesus that they believe in, however, is in some ways a Jesus of their own creation. Only 57 percent believe there is only one God, the God who exists in the Bible. Fifty-eight percent believe the God of the Bible is the same as the gods or spiritual beings of other religions. Though Hinduism ascribes to a million gods, Buddhism has no god, and Christianity has one God, a majority of young adults believe that all of these gods are the same.

While there are clearly negative implications to this pluralism, there are also great opportunities for the church. Sixty-three percent said they would attend a church that presented truth in an understandable way. We need to be proactive about sharing the gospel to this demographic in clear, understandable terms. Simultaneously, we should defy the "Chicken Little syndrome" that believes the church is about to crumble under the weight of pluralism.

It's easy to look at some of the viewpoints of the younger unchurched and write them off. Rather than throwing up our hands in disgust, we need to extend a hand, exemplifying Christ and His gospel now more than ever. We need to enter into authentic relationship with a generation filled with brilliance and potential. We need to begin honest conversations with those who have honest questions.

You can read more about our research on the millennials here, and you can subscribe to Facts and Trends by emailing factsandtrends@lifeway.com.

20 BLUNDERS IN WELCOMING CHURCH VISITORS

2011-03-25T02:58:00.000-07:00

From Chris Walker, Evangelism Coach, comes this counsel ...

20 Blunders in Welcoming Church visitors

August 14, 2008

The last two posts (part I and part II) shared common practices on welcoming visitors to church. Here I simply want to give 20 blunders I’ve seen churches make in greeting visitors to church.
Feel free to add your own in the mix (use the comments below).
1. No One Said Hello.
2. Bad breath.
3. 20 question doctrinal exam to make sure you are acceptable.
4. Survey family history and marital status and background check.
5. No follow-up contact.
6. Stale snacks / donuts / cookies.
7. Bad coffee.
8. Too friendly – smothering and not respecting boundaries.
9. Body odor.
10. No eye contact. Or eye contact and weak smile, but no hello.
11. Apathy in making a greeting. Whatever.
12. Limp handshake and a weak hello.
13. Too much enthusiasm.
14. “Is this your first time here?”
15. Hugs to strangers.
16. Swarming on visitors all at once, like flies on fresh meat.
17. Unclean bathrooms.
18. Unsafe Nursery.
19. Thinking hospitality is evangelism.
20. Rude staring at hairstyle, body piercings, or choice of clothes (See How Not to Welcome A Visitor about the Secret Dress Code).

STETZER OF TRANSITIONING TO AN OUTWARD FOCUS

2011-03-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Ed Stetzer recently shared these ideas with the Missional Outreach Network

Many churches are built around themselves. One simple way to find out--draw a line down the middle of a board or piece of paper and have people within the church honestly assess what functions and ministries of the church are being done for the church versus reaching out to the community. Most likely, the need to lead the church to engage outside of her four walls will be obvious. Then, seek to mobilize the congregation to move outwardly any way that all of you can think of to do it.

Since it is easy to lose momentum and drift back into old patterns, here are a few ideas to help keep the outward focus fresh:

Plan some simple events to minister to people that involves a group of people from the church. Then have someone share brief testimonies of the outreach experience.
Develop a simple outreach plan for the church and then highlight one different part each week in the worship services.
Pray for God to change your heart and the heart of the church during public prayer times and pray Luke 10:2.
Provide training for people to better share their faith, like "Share Jesus Without Fear" or "More to Life Training."
Make a big deal about baptisms by explaining what they represent and invite baptismal candidates to share their testimonies before the whole congregation.
Meet monthly with key leaders to update, recast a vision for outreach, and pray for God to move in the lives of the church family to act on the vision.
Develop a list of people who do not know Jesus and pray for them regularly with key leaders and before the congregation.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A CHURCH TO HAVE AN OUTWARD FOCUS?

2011-03-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

Roy King of Columbia International University shares these thoughts.

What Does It Mean For A Church To Be Outward-Focused? from Seacoast Church on Vimeo.

OUTWARD-FOCUSED QUOTES

2011-03-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

From GOD SPACE comes these helpful thoughts:

You will find most, if not all of the quotes I reference during my workshops below. I’m always adding outwardly focused quotes to this page, so please share yours by e-mailing them to me. If it’s possible, please note who the quote originated from.

* Evangelism is a sacred quest into the soul of another to find out where they are hungering for the “Living Bread.”

* A man convinced against his will is of the same decision still. Do not push or manipulate people into pre-mature spiritual births.

* Jesus dealt with each person uniquely. Canned approaches and sales techniques focus on man’s best efforts to bring about what only God can produce. Be careful not to deify the approach or method by which you came to the Savior.

* If you are not involved in the process of evangelism or planning to soon; you’re not following the Jesus of the Bible.

* There is only one thing we can do here on earth that we can’t do in heaven, evangelism!

* Talk to God about men before you talk to men about God!

* Is it possible that many people are not saying no to Jesus, but to the unappetizing ways we are presenting Him.

* Evangelism without listening is like playing golf blind blindfolded. (Larry Chrouch)

* I’m willing to bet the farm that in our post–modern Christian society the most important evangelistic skill is listening. (Todd Hunter)

* Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians because we are talking when we should be listening. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

* One of the best ways to persuade anyone is with your ears . . . by listening to them. (Dean Rusk)

* The ministry of noticing begins when we start listening with our eyes, seeing with our ears, and responding with our hearts.

* We have to find the back door to peoples’ hearts because the front door is heavily guarded. (Ravi Zacharias)

* Perfect people keep real people away! Be authentic! Avoid cliches and “bumpersticker” Christianity when talking about the faith.

* Don’t ask people to give their lives to God. Invite them instead to get a life from God!

* The call to do evangelism was given 2000 years ago; God is waiting for our response!

* Evangelism is much like the dating and courting process. In the end we are simply escorting people down the aisle to say I do to Jesus.

* If you are in a church that’s not outwardly focused on the work of evangelism expect a lot of conflict, nit-picking, and a lack of spiritual fervor and power.

* Effective evangelism starts where people are, not where we would like them to be.

* We need to come as learners and listeners not “know it all’s” when sharing our faith. Evangelism without listening is like playing golf blindfolded.

* We need to use their language not ours when conveying spiritual truth. Jesus modeled this!

* Good questions serve as a spiritual stethoscope to reveal the attitudes of one’s heart towards God. They also lead to self-discovery and communicate respect and dignity.

* If your approach to this work is lopsidedly “come and see” vs. “go and be” then it’s time for the scales to be adjusted. Jesus had no home games in His ministry!

* Because coming to Christ for most people involves a process, get excited when God uses you to give someone a “holy nudge” in the right direction.

* Prepare and serve your “gospel snacks” (short compelling stories of how God has been real in your life). They will create a hunger and thirst for the “Bread of Life.”

* We cannot be effective if we continue to cling to the old ways, the old strategies, the old assumptions. (George Barna)

* God can, has and will use anybody who is open to serving Him to convey the gospel. He will bless the efforts of His servants whether they are gifted as evangelizers or not. (George Barna)

* Evangelism that starts at the nonbeliever’s point of felt need and ties the gospel into that area of need has the greatest capacity for capturing the mind and heart of the non-Christian. (George Barna)

* We may confidently say that most, if not all, adults have been exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We may also suggest that every American has access to the gospel. But we may not conclude that every American has actually heard and understood the gospel. Until we present the message in ways that penetrate the consciousness of the people we seek to influence for Christ, we have not truly communicated. We have only made noise. (George Barna)

* Pastors and churches, today, who regard outreach to lost people as the church’s main business, and especially those who are perceived to prefer the company of lost people to the company of church people, are suspect, marginalized, and “shot at” by establishment Christians and church leaders. No major denomination in the United States regards apostolic ministry to pre-Christian outsiders as its “priority” or even as “normal” ministry. (Dr. George Hunter)

* Kindness is a language which the dumb can speak, the deaf can understand. (C.N. Bovee)

* Is it more important for us to be kind or right in our relationships with not-yet Christians?

* There is no kindness more cruel than the kindness which consigns another person to their sin. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

* Servant Evangelism = deeds of love + words of love + adequate time Deeds of love allow us to sneak into the hearts of those we serve. They are not enough on their own to bring someone to Christ, but they do create “phone wires” for transmitting the spoken message. (Steve Sjogren)

* John Wesley once commented that a mature Christian should be able to put his finger down anywhere in the Bible and work from that point to the gospel. That’s an admirable goal, but I would like to suggest another skill that’s needed just as much because of those modern construction techniques: A mature Christian should be able to put his finger down anywhere in today’s newspaper and work from that point to the gospel. Christians today must stop being satisfied with randomly collected biblical data and begin to aggressively pursue wisdom—the ability to apply what they know to their own lives and to the lives of unbelievers around them. (Tim Downes)

* Harvesting and sowing are not contradictory methods of evangelism vying for supremacy, but two complementary roles, each with it’s own focus and methodology. (Tim Downes)

* Only when we know what people are dealing with down deep in their innermost selves can we know how to effectively focus the gospel to their individual situations so that real healing can occur. (Ronald Johnson)

* The evangelist today must constantly remind himself that he is communicating in a world where the listener is used to silencing what he does not want to hear with the click of a remote control button. (Ronald Johnson)

* The reason to get in touch with the culture is not to adopt it but to engage it for the same reasons a missionary does . . . to gain a hearing for the gospel. (Reggie McNeal)

* How many evangelism programs have you encountered in which sharing the gospel assumes no relationship with the customer and Jesus is sold like soap? (Reggie McNeal)

* What I believe is not what I say I believe; what I believe is what I do. I used to say that I believed it was important to tell people about Jesus, but I never did. A friend kindly explained that if I do not introduce people to Jesus, then I don’t believe Jesus is an important person. It doesn’t matter what I say. We live for what we believe. (Donald Miller)

* I used love like money, but love doesn’t work like money. It is not a commodity. When we barter with it, we all lose. When the church does not love it’s enemies, it fuels their rage. It makes them hate us more. (Donald Miller)

* I realized that, instead of moving people closer to a salvation decision, an answer can push them further away. Rather than engaging their minds or urging them to consider an alternative perspective, an answer can give them ammunition for future attacks against the gospel. (Randy Newman)

* If you are anything like me you’ll have to fight tooth-and-nail to stay in the game (evangelism). Because although the home runs have been invigorating, my batting average over the years is abysmally low. (Bill Hybels)

* God wants to use us where we are, with what we know, right now. (Kent & Davidene Humphreys)

* If you want to have a large impact be committed to the small things.

* I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the individual. I can only love one person at a time. (Mother Teresa)

* The Come-To-Us stance taken by the attractional church is un-biblical. The early church leaders all had a Go-To-Them mentality. (Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch)

* If the church limits God’s agency in this world to particular times and places that the vast majority of not-yet Christians have no access to, or no desire to attend, then the gospel is effectively hobbled. (Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch)

* Where God’s story, our story, and the biblical stories overlap is where effective evangelism takes place. (Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch)

* The real gospel is two sided - it’s truth and proof. (Robert Lewis)

* Good deeds, create good will, which opens the heart to the good news. (Eric Swanson)

* An individual gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul. One is a ghost, the other a corpse. (E. Stanley Jones)

* “The church exists for no other purpose but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose.” (C.S. Lewis)

* We will not get to each one until we gain a heart for everyone. (Ron Hutchcraft)

* Jesus was not a commuter when it came to evangelism. He did not show up for a ministry event and then head back to heaven. He also did not play home games as his evangelistic encounters were always on the road.

* Much of our evangelism today is perceived and received like junk mail or spam on the internet.

* Most of us have signed invisible social contracts which prohibit us from doing evangelism.

* It’s very difficult to be right about something without hurting someone with it. (Dallas Williard)

* I don’t talk people into the Kingdom, I listen them into it! (Gary Poole)

* We need to spend more time raising questions than supplying answers to questions people are not interested in.

* Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. (Albert Einstein)

* Sharing the gospel is more than an informational transaction. It is a relational interaction which leads to transformation.

* The church connects with Jesus most through mission not more meetings.

* Relational evangelism can neglect the theological content of the gospel by shifting the focus to the personality and experience of the evangelist. (Mark McCloskey)

* The only thing more difficult than getting the church to go to the world is to get the world to come to us.

* When we ask people to come to us what we are asking them to do is to give up what they value doing most on Sunday morning so they can experience what we value most.

* Inviting someone to church today could seem as scary as inviting a Christian to go to a hard core biker bar.

* Poverty, injustice, & poor health are not life’s biggest issue; where one will spend eternity is!

* People would find it difficult that you would want them to join you in heaven when they don’t feel welcome in your living room.

* Good questions invite others to search for answers, look into the mirror, and wrestle with irrational belief systems. The Holy Spirit uses this quest to bring about a holy dissatisfaction which paves the way for them to find God at the end of their quest.

* The church that doesn’t want to grow is saying to the world, “go to hell.” (Rick Warren)

* Much like E-harmony, evangelism is like “holy matchmaking”. Our role is to help others take one step closer to saying “I do” to the eternal lover of their souls.

* If we are going to reach the lost, let’s reach them with people they know, with language they understand, in a place where they are comfortable, with a topic relevant to them.

* “Irresistible Evangelism” happens when we take the initiative in the power of the Holy Spirit to expose people to God’s kingdom by serving them, listening and learning from them, wondering with them, and sharing with them, all the while trusting that God will draw them one step closer to Himself.

* It could be that one of the greatest hindrances to evangelism is the poverty of our own experience. (Billy Graham)

* The test of a man’s conversion is whether he has enough Christianity to get it to other people. If he hasn’t, there is something wrong. (Samuel Shoemaker)

* The safest road to hell is the gradual one, the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. (C.S. Lewis)

* The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed. (Hudson Taylor)

* If your Gospel isn’t touching others, it hasn’t touched you! (Curry R. Blake)

* The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become. (Henry Martyn)

* The Gospel must be repeatedly forwarded to a new address because the recipient is repeatedly changing places of residence. (Helmut Thielicke)

* In a post-modern culture we need an apologetic that is felt and seen because if post-moderns are not feeling it, they are not believing it. (Ravi Zacharias)

* If we lose the spirit of ‘go,’ we have lost the very Christian spirit itself. A disobedient church will become a dead church. It will die of heart failure. (S.D. Gordon)

* If the future is to be different, the present must be disturbed!

* The church that does not evangelize will fossilize. (Oswald J. Smith)

* We should not ask, ‘What is wrong with the world?’ for that diagnosis has already been given. Rather, we should ask, ‘What has happened to the salt and light?’” (John R. W. Stott)

* 90% of Christians have become comfortable with the sin of silence.

* The average Christian leaves planet earth never having led anyone to Christ. (George Barna)

* New Testament Christians did not witness because they had to but because they could not help it. (Richard Halverson)

* However noble their purpose, we must beware of institutionalized methods that indoctrinate and regiment and fashion every Christian into a common evangelistic mold. (Richard Halverson)

* We can accuse a man in the name of the law and produce a feeling of terror in him, but this is not true repentance. Only the comforter, without hardening a man’s heart can make him aware of his faults, and of the sin he has committed against the love of the Savior whom he has rejected and grieved. We work from without, while He works from within. (Rene Pache)

* Many ills of the Christian life are due to handicapped beginnings. Too many people are preaching a warped or truncated gospel, and spiritual birth defects are the inevitable result. (J. Edwin Orr)

* Those who attempt to evangelize the culture by imitating its forms must beware lest the culture evangelize them. (Gene Veith)

* Impression minus expression leads to spiritual depression. (Joe Aldrich)

* Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. (D. T. Niles)

* Evangelism is not a professional job for a few trained men, but is instead the unrelenting responsibility of every person who belongs to the company of Jesus. (Elton Trueblood)

* Perhaps if there were more of that intense distress for souls that leads to tears, we should more frequently see the results we desire. Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of the hearts of those we are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts and our feeble apprehension of the solemn reality of eternal things may be the true cause of our want of success. (Hudson Taylor)

* Lord, make me a crisis man. Let me not be a mile-post on a single road, but make me a fork that men must turn one way or another in facing Christ in me. (Jim Elliot)

* Let us not glide through this world and then slip quietly into heaven, without having blown the trumpet loud and long for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Let us see to it that the devil will hold a thanksgiving service in hell, when he gets the news of our departure from the field of battle. (C. T. Studd)

* Oh my friends, we are loaded with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing and winning the lost is almost entirely neglected. (Oswald J. Smith)

* More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world. (William Barclay)

* Christians and non-Christians have something in common. Were both uptight about evangelism. (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

* Always preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words. (St. Francis)

* A person’s coming to Christ is like a chain with many links. There is the first link, middle links, and a last link. There are many influences and conversations that precede a person’s decision to convert to Christ. I know the joy of being the first link at times, a middle link usually, and occasionally the last link. God has not called me to only be the last link. He has called me to be faithful and to love all people. (Cliff Knechtle)

* It is almost as presumptuous to think you can do nothing as to think you can do everything.

* Soul winners are not soul winners because of what they know, but because of Who they know, and how well they know Him, and how much they long for others to know Him. (Dawson Trotman)

* Jesus Christ didn't commit the gospel to an advertising agency; He commissioned disciples. And He didn't command them to put up signs and pass out tracts; He said that they would be His witnesses. (Joe Bayly)

* As a general rule, the farther a Christian is away from effective personal evangelism the more he is involved in criticism. Many in the church are like caged hunting dogs. With no birds to hunt they spend their time nipping, scrapping, and fighting with each other. Turned loose to fulfill their destiny, to pursue their quarry, to fulfill their “great commission”, they automatically stop biting and fighting each other. (Joe Aldrich)

* “Out: evangelism as sales pitch, as conquest, as warfare, as ultimatum, as threat, as proof, as argument, as entertainment, as show, as monologue, as something you have to do.” In: Disciple-making as conversation, as friendship, as influence, as invitation, as companionship, as challenge, as opportunity, as conversation, as dance, as something you get to do.” (Brian McLaren)

* If there be any one point in which the Christian church ought to keep its fervor at a white heat, it is concerning missions. If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness, it is the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world. (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

Guiding God's People into Outward Focused Living

THE EXTERNALLY FOCUSED CHURCH

2011-03-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

From the archives of rev.org comes this counsel for Rick Rusaw and Erc Swanson.

We don't know of any churches that claim to be internally focused, but they exist all the same. Internally focused churches concentrate on getting people into the church and generating activity there. These churches may create powerful worship experiences, excel in teaching, offer thriving youth programs, and have vibrant small groups, but at the end of the day, what is measured is the number of people and activities within the church. These are good churches filled with good people. And what they do is vital but not sufficient for a healthy church. Worship, teaching, and personal devotions are absolutely necessary for building the internal capacity necessary to sustain an external focus, but if all the human and financial resources are extended inside the four walls of the church, then no matter how "spiritual" things may appear to be, something is missing.
In many churches today, people are rediscovering the majesty of God and expressing their praise through worship. Music is no longer just the warm-up for the message. There is expectancy that God inhabits the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3, King James Version). But worship that is not manifested in how we live in relationship with others may be hollow. We aren't the first ones to experience this. In the years preceding the Babylonian captivity, Isaiah had a message from God concerning Israel's "internal" focus -- along with an exhortation to move beyond formal worship to true righteousness:

"Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me...I cannot bear your evil assemblies...They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen...Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice; encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow (from Isaiah 1:13-17, emphasis added).

Throughout his prophetic book, Isaiah exposes the inadequacy of the faith of people who focus on loving God but forget about loving others. Addressing the futility of prayers and fasting in the absence of concern for others, God says, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter -- when you see the naked, to clothe him?" (Isaiah 58:6-7a).

Externally focused churches are internally strong, but they are oriented externally. Their external focus is reflected in those things for which they staff and budget. Because they engage their communities with the good works and good news of Jesus Christ, their communities are better places in which to live. These churches look for ways to be useful to their communities, to be a part of their hopes and dreams. They build bridges to their communities instead of walls around themselves. They don't shout at the dirty stream; they get in the water and begin cleaning it up. They determine their effectiveness not only by internal measures -- such as attendance, worship, teaching, and small groups -- but also by external measures: the spiritual and societal effects they are having on the communities around them. Externally focused churches measure not only what can be counted by also what matters most -- the impact they are having outside the four walls of the church. They ask, "Whose lives are different because of this church?" Nearly everything that is done inside the church should prepare and equip people not only for personal growth but also for personal impact. Like every church, externally focused churches have their problems and challenges, but they are determined to make a difference in society. Internally focused churches help individuals, but externally focused churches change the world.

Could your church change the world?

THE OUTWARD FOCUSED CHURCH I LEAD

2011-03-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

Steve speaking to our Navajo sister congregation in Tsaile AZ

I often introduce myself as "one of the pastors of the Church of God of Landisville." Currently my title (and role) is Lead Pastor. I have a partner, Barry Sellers, the Associate Pastor. There are six elders who serve as "lay pastors" of the congregation. We have five part-time staff members including a Youth Director and a Director of Children's Ministry. And we have many, many "members" (who we prefer to call "disciples") who use their gifts and provide leadership in various ministries of the church. Now you know why I introduce myself in this manner.

Barry Sellers, our Associate Pastor and our "traditional church" pastor

Since early in 2002, the Church of God of Landisville has been on a journey from a traditional and inward focused church to a missional church with an outward focus. These days we have borrowed a term from Rick Russaw and Eric Swanson as we seek to be "the best church for our community." During that quest, outreach has become our "brand."

Now in 2011, with the addition of Stephen Ministry and two ministries called Real Disciples and T.I.E. (Three is Enough) accountability groups, we believe God is calling us to multiply a second brand - "a healing place." In posts on subsequent Thursdays, I hope to share with you some things about the Church of God of Landisville and who God is shaping us to be.

Lisa Kilgore, our Children's Director

Stacie Reber, our new Youth Director

Lynn Byers, one of our members on a short term medical mission assignment in Port-au-Prince Haiti

The Church of God of Landisville is a 178 year old congregation with a heritage in world missions (early 1900s) and education leadership (1980s and 1990s). But in many ways, we have developed an entirely different identity by stepping beyond the traditional and institutional model during this past decade. The priesthood of all believers has become a core value of the church. We work through missional strategies, leadership development, coaching, and a new volunteer position called Spiritual Gifts/Ministries Counselor to equip and empower persons to carry out their purpose from God by serving Him within the church and within the community that is our primary mission field.

Pierre Payen Hospital in Haiti, a 2002 mission work team helped complete this hospital early in our journey

An intergenerational work team that helped older families and a community in western Pennsylvania get a "new look" last summer


This summer we will send our fourth VBS team to help our Navajo sister congregation

There are lots of stories we can share. God has given our church (at all levels) a tremendous sense of mission as together we discover "what is the Jesus in us going to do."

A CHURCH LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT - PART I

2011-03-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

"It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following

requirements ..."- Acts 15:28

Most are well aware of the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15 and its critical role in unifying the fledgling church and confirming to the mission to the Gentiles. We often focus on and learn from those agreed upon outcomes as outlined by James. But I wonder how often we pay attention to the opening of that announcement, the words that Luke was careful to record. "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us ..." I wonder how often we take note of the word order - Holy Spirit, then us.

Quite often we make plans as the church. We even are careful to arrive at a constructive consensus. But how is that consensus arrived at? And what is the role of the Holy Spirit in all of this? Do we prayerfully together seek the mind of the Spirit and then try to discern what we agree He has told us? Or do we decide together what we are going to do and then ask the Holy Spirit to bless what has actually been our decision?

It is no small question.

In my journey of the congregation I lead from a traditional and inward focus to a missional and outward focus, nothing has been more critical to our faithfulness and fruitfulness. We have agreed that the Holy Spirit is and must be the leader of the church. Not the pastor, or elders, or council, and certainly the majority of the people; but the Holy Spirit of God. And we have agreed that this cannot be a statement to which we pay lip service, but a basic operating principle that we constantly work to make and stay a reality.

In practice, what does this mean? When I first published my D. Min. Project on becoming a church led by the Spirit, I was asked by a fellow graduate in the commencement line, "In brief, what does it mean to be a church led by the Holy Spirit?" (The brief was referring to the monumental length of that publication.) My response, "First, you have to believe in the Holy Spirit."

1. A church that is led by the Holy Spirit must give up its organizational thinking. It is not a human association of mutually agreed upon goals. The church is a supernatural organism. It is the literal and continuing Body of Christ. That means that as a body it will reflect the character of Christ. In action, we will live by the values of Christ. In vision, we will live by the mission of Christ. And we will be open to let the Holy Spirit lead us into all truth about these matters. (More about this later.)

2. A church that is led by the Holy Spirit must possess a leadership lifestyle that is wedded to the Word and embedded with prayer. The human leadership of the church understands that its actions must at all times be consistent with what the Word teaches. Its values must be the values of scripture. Its policies and decisions must have a clear scriptural foundation that is consistently communicated to the Body. And those decisions, from beginning to end, must be bathed in prayer.

This post is to be continued ....

ALTERNATIVES TO SHUTTING DOWN A MINISTRY

2011-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is a follow-up to yesterday's WILL MANCINI POST. Go to his sight for more and for some great resources and consulting.

3 Strategic Alternatives to Shutting Down a Low Performing Ministry

Is it time to close a program in your church? Many leaders will tell you, “When the horse is dead, dismount.” But this classic advice rolls of the tongue much easier than it plays in real life.
As a leader in ministry you have no doubt faced ministries that just ought to go. Like sour milk, they live past their shelf-life. But for various reasons, you just can’t do it. Maybe there is still a group of precious saints being served by the program. Or maybe the decision-making culture of the church just requires more time to process.

The question becomes, “What are the strategic alternatives, to cutting a ministry altogether?” There are three I recommend regularly.
#1 Combine the ministry with something that is working well
Combining ministries is like creating an internal merger. Look for the similarities to something that is working. Talk to the leaders about leveraging the momentum of one with the other. Seek the win-win with diligence and you might be surprised. If the merge works, then you have cut the duplicate work of promotion, communication and leadership training for two initiatives into one.
#2 “Contributize” the ministry
Before you make fun of my poetic license with the word “contributize” listen up! Think of a ministry that is only trickling with effectiveness as an opportunity to redirect that trickle into a more effective stream. In other words, turn the program into a contributory for a more strategy ministry. For example, what do you do with that monthly men’s prayer breakfast that’s been dwindling in attendance for the last 3 years. Rather than shutting it down, ask the leader to integrate a promotion for immediate and urgent opportunities for service in the last 10 minutes of the morning.
#3 Cage the ministry
Caging is close to just cutting the ministry, but with one big difference. You essentially make the ministry “dead to the world” with regard to promotions, communication, staff-time allocation and new funding, while allowing the ministry to exist. Think of it as a strategic way to allow a ministry to die with grace. Sure you may have some hard discussions or even some battles to fight. But its easier to fight for not publicly promoting a ministry than it is to shut it down.

In the end, the predicament of change-resistance is not a programming issue or a people issue, it’s a vision issue. Use these three strategies to solve the clarity problems of yesterday. But walk into the future with a clear vision that will keep people emotionally connected to your direction and values, not your programs.

6 SIGNS YOUR CHURCH IS STUCK IN "WALMART THINKING"

2011-02-24T00:55:00.000-08:00

From the archives of THE CLARITY EVANGELIST, a site that has often helped me in my own leadership.

March 17th, 2010

6 Signs that Your Church is Stuck in “Walmart Thinking”

It happens every week. I talk to church leaders who think the answer to reaching more people with the gospel and growing more people toward Christ-like maturity is adding more ministry stuff. You name it: more staff, more programs, more events, more buildings, more, more, more. I call it “Walmart thinking” because the basic strategy is to put more stuff on the shelf in hoping to attract more people.

The good news is that when the “7-day-a-week-church” strategy that worked in the 80s rolls around again, your church will be ready!

Here are the six signs that your church is suffering from this “more is more” deception:
#1 The church is stuck thinking that more programs translates to more life change
#2 The church is deceived by the myth that people want more choices
#3 The church inadvertently thinks that time at church equals spiritual maturity
#4 The church can’t say no to their peoples’ ideas even when the ideas are ineffective
#5 The church allows immature, knowledge-centered spirituality to dictate program offerings
#6 The church contains more religious consumers than growing followers of Jesus

Never forget the cardinal rule of being the church on mission: Programs don’t attract people, people attract people. Most likely your church doesn’t need more things to do. It needs a few things it must do, defined by a clear, simple strategy. This post is adapted from page 150 of Church Unique.

6 REASONS WHY PEOPLE DON'T VISIT YOUR CHURCH

2011-02-21T01:59:00.000-08:00

by Michael Lukaszewski

Why is it that new people aren’t showing up to your church?

Your church wants to reach people, spread the Gospel, and to grow. So, why is it that new people aren’t showing up to your church like you hope and pray? Here are six possible reasons:

1. Your church isn’t for them. I know you think everyone is welcome at your church, but your service, environment and people communicate otherwise. Saying that you’re welcoming doesn’t mean that you’re welcoming.

2. You don’t expect guests. You’re greeters and ushers are helpful, but they are not prepped and on the look out for new people. You’re not ready to receive guests, because deep down inside, you don’t expect them.

3. You don’t acknowledge guests. When new people show up, they aren’t welcomed. In your preaching, you reference Bible stories assuming everyone knows what you are talking about. In discussing church business, you act like new people aren’t in the room.

4. You don’t advertise. There’s a reason that Coca-Cola and McDonalds advertise – even though they have billions of customers. There are strategic things you can do to get new people to come to church but, right now, you’re not doing any of them.

5. They haven’t been invited. Personal invitations are the #1 way new people end up at church, but you’re not challenging (or equipping!) your people to invite.

6. You’re not talking about what they care about. You’re talking about Bible stuff, church stuff, and Christian stuff, not the things that people struggle with in their daily lives. Maybe you’ve let the fear of “watering down the Gospel” keep you from talking practically, but not talking about what people want to know about is a sure fire way to keep people away.

Which one of those areas rings true for you? What would you add to this list?

Michael Lukaszewski Michael is the Lead Pastor of Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, Georgia. In 2005, he stepped out to start a brand new church in Cartersville. At its grand opening service, there were about 280 people that showed up. In 13 months, the church had grown to 900 people.

More from Michael Lukaszewski or visit Michael at www.heretolead.com/

THE GOSPEL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

2011-02-20T00:02:00.000-08:00

"The Gospel and Social Media"

"It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it." - Isaiah 55:11, New Living Translation

I can remember back in the 1980's when personal computers began to be a tool embraced by local pastors engaged in the practice of ministry. Up until then, I tended to focus on communicating from a traditional pulpit or some formal teaching venue. I had already begun writing, being published in our denominational magazines, with my IBM Selectric as my tool of choice. The former required people to be sufficiently attracted to me or to the topic to make the effort to come into my sanctuary or classroom to hear what I had to share. The latter depended on a magazine and the aggressiveness of the circulation department to get my message out to those who needed to hear it. (Given the editing and publication process, this was rarely current or timely.)

A revolution has occurred in the world of communication and "publication." It has been generated by the Internet. Now blogs, web sites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts facilitate the spread of your message in ways unimaginable.

I have 545 friends on my Facebook account, each of which has an average of at least 200 friends. I publish eight blogs that are syndicated by a Facebook tool called Networked Blogs. Each time I publish, those posts appear on my profile page and arrive via news feed to my "friends." If you do the math of the numbers earlier in this paragraph, you will know that there is a potential of 109,000 readers for any of those things that I publish. That does not count those who subscribe to those blogs via Blogger or Wordpress, or who capture an RSS feed. A number of those blogs have links on my church web site and my local conference's web site and that gives access to other people who might be visiting those sites. Several of my blogs receive between 50-100 visits per day.

Then there are the search engines for Word Press and Google, who send people to my blogs - particularly my general blog published on both Word Press and Blogger called Life Matters.

I am now being encouraged to add a Twitter link to several of these blogs.
On any given Sunday I preach to between 175-225 people. In the classes I lead, there are maybe another 15-20 (not all weekly). The potential for the Gospel remains somewhat static in these traditional contexts, but with the advent of these internet and social media tools--the potential multiplies and multiplies and multiplies.

Why wouldn't we embrace the technology? It's a no-brainer.

I originally posted this February 10, 2011 on DEEPER EVANGELISM, the blog for the School of Evangelism for the Eastern Region Conference of the Churches of God.

WHY DOES THE CHURCH EXIST?

2011-02-19T02:02:00.000-08:00

Why does the church Exist?

The Church is God’s great idea. It is a place where people can discover a new life living a new way. The people of the early church were “the called out ones”, “disciples”, and followers of the “Way”. In the early church there was an atmosphere which included a sense of awe, togetherness, unselfishness, unity, power, community, and a strong sense of mission. The resulting fruit?… The Lord added to the church day by day those being saved…and the church found favor with all the people.

Our mission and focus is all important. It defines why we exist and why we are here. Emil Bruner in his book God’s Forgetful Pilgrims, Recalling the Church To Its Reason For Being states,’The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning. Terry Virgo, leader of New Frontiers Ministry in the U.K. once said, ‘When we lose sight of the great commission we lose sight of our great prophetic purpose in life.’ Both statements are extremely important. When any church focuses upon any thing less than the Great Commission as it’s primary purpose for existence it will eventually loose it’s purposeful mission. That church will quickly forget why it is blessed in the first place.

Many people need to recover their sense of mission. Disillusioned Charismatics in particular, who were seeking the great dream of a painless, prosperous Christianity have realized the dream was merely a vapor without substance. In their pursuit to find fulfillment through the accumulation of things, and seeking to become successful they have become inward and blessing focused.
God wants to get the attention of the church. His purpose… that the church might seek Him and discover His passion for our dismembered world.

It is interesting to view church movements from a distance. While some seek Him for personal blessing, others seek Him for the lost. They are mission/value-driven. Some of the fastest-growing churches in the USA are in this category. They are doing all they can to reach everyone they can. They are focused upon the main thing. Everything else follows.

For example Pastor Rick Warren… with the 15,000 member Saddleback Church… author of the 1,000,000 best seller The Purpose Driven Church… He encourages leaders to recapture their purpose, by defining their mission…A church committed to the great commandment and to the great commission will grow a great church.

80% of his church growth is by first-time believers. As one man stated, “We cannot continue to be a traditional church and expect non-believers to want to be a part of it. They won’t. They don’t want our religion. They want to experience the reality of life-changing answers for life’s problems and the God of that reality.”

The questions Warren asks in his book provoke thought…What drives your church? What is it’s purpose in life? What is it’s mission? Does your church have a sense of mission? Or is it a church adrift?

Sometimes getting back to our foundations defines our business. As Christians and church leaders we need to continually ask ourselves, what business are we in? and how is business? Sometimes it is facing the hard questions. We need to discover our present reality in order to move forward.
One year during a losing season Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi gathered the team together and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” This is getting back to basics. I think our great Coach would like to gather His team together, point to our world and say, ‘Church this is your mission.’ It really does matter where you focus your aim. It will set the course of your life.
Where are you aiming? Inward or outward? What is your purpose? Why do you exist?

From the archives of Steve Bowen's blog NEXT WAVE. Click to read entire article.

CHURCH REDEFINED

2011-02-18T23:57:00.000-08:00

From Granger Community Church in Indiana

Church Redefined from Granger Community on Vimeo.

AN OUTWARD-FOCUSED THOUGHT

2011-02-18T01:54:00.000-08:00

From Dave Workman, the new senior pastor at the Vineyard Community Church, Cincinnati OH:

If the critical job of the "Big C Church" is to make disciples, we decided we better define (or redefine) what a disciple is. At Vineyard Community Church, we boiled it down to: a surrendered and transformed person who loves God and others. The "surrender" part is what we do, the "transform" piece is what God does, and the "love God and others"…well, that�s the fruit of an outward-focused life. And as you might guess, having an outward-focus is a key ingredient of our DNA.

BECKY PIPPERT - 5 REASONS CHRISTIANS HESITATE TO SHARE THEIR FAITH

2011-02-12T02:01:00.001-08:00

IT'S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY'S COMING

2011-02-11T01:00:00.000-08:00

An outward-focused church is a church living in expectation that God's resurrection power will be demonstrated as they live on mission for Jesus out in the community. An outward-focused church never dwells on the bad news that pervades the present, but on the good news of the Kingdom. An outward-focused church is an Easter people and "Hallelujah!" is their song.

Many years ago I heard Tony Campolo share a message that he has often repeated in many settings. It's a message that should remind us of the tremendous power of the Spirit that is at work in and through us. Every once in a while, we just need to be reminded.

STEVE SJOGREN ON GETTING STARTED

2011-02-10T00:07:00.000-08:00

THE IMPORTANCE OF AFFIRMATION

2011-01-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

A while back my Elders at the Church of God of Landisville proposed a special Staff Appreciation Day. It was during the planning of our annual Pastor Appreciation Sunday (a well-established tradition for us, thankfully). It was also after staff reviews and annual budget talks intersected and it became obvious that despite an A-Prime Staff, no raises were going to be given in 2011. The elders felt that the church should focus on those staff members (all part-timers with us) who are integral to our work and critical to our success as a church. (I say as Lead Pastor, "They make me look better than I am.") Someone, however, felt that was inappropriate, especially when the suggestion was made that encourage congregation members to feel free to give gifts of appreciation if they felt prompted by God. The worriers worried that not everyone would get the same gift(s) (Barry and I never even know what the other received during Pastor Appreciation.) The zealots declared, "We should all just do our work without any appreciation or expectation of it. After all, we are just doing this to the glory of God." The Lead Pastor, mindful how hard they work and how often they do not even received a word of thanks or are included in someone's prayer, was exasperated. The elders were firm. In January we held a Staff Appreciation Sunday.

The staff appreciated it.

The members appreciated the reminder that we are a culture of affirmation.

I think some gifts were given.

God was glorified.

BASICS TO GET YOUR MISSIONALK SMALL GROUPS OFF THE GROUND

2011-01-30T02:00:00.000-08:00

Felicity Dale regularly blogs at SIMPLY CHURCH

Hear is a post from Felicity by way of AMP Planting's blog FUEL. (AMP is a ministry of church planting and extension sponsored by the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God. Justin Meier is its director.)

The church landscape in this country is changing. According to the Pew Forum, 9% of Protestants "attend services" in a home. This figure varies according to the definition of house church, and some helpful math by Ed Stetzer brings the number to around 4 million Americans who attend only this kind of church--a significant number. Many more would say their primary form of spiritual or religious gathering occurs in a group of 20 or less, as they attend both simple/organic church and legacy church. Even the secular media is taking notice of the social impact.
It appears that the Holy Spirit is the initiator of this current move--there is no center one can visit, no superstar's conferences to attend. Rather, all over the country, intentionally small churches are starting in homes, coffee shops, schools, everywhere life happens.
What's going on is far from perfect--some simple churches have started out of reaction to perceived hurts or injustice by the traditional church. Many more are doing "Honey I shrunk the church"--exchanging the pew for a sofa but failing to change their DNA. (Neil Cole defines organic church DNA as Divine truth, Nurturing relationships and Apostolic mission.) However, there are increasingly large numbers of healthy simple/organic churches focused on making disciples in the harvest.
God is leading His people in similar ways right across His body. Some traditional (legacy) churches are adopting more organic ways of being church. Mega-churches, such as Austin Stone here in our city, are deliberately sending out their members to start missional communities (small groups that function as simple churches) to reach out into the community. Other legacy churches are seeking to liberate themselves from institutionalism, and focusing on many of the same principles as organic church.
Here are some simple/organic church principles:

Church is relational: People frequently refer to church as either a building or an event, as in, "I'm going to church." One of the main pictures of church in the New Testament is that of family. You don't go to family--it's something you are. Obviously, healthy families get together frequently, but that isn't what defines them. In the same way, church isn't defined by meetings but by relationship together with Jesus at the center. "Where two or three are gathered in my name there am I in the midst (Matthew 18:20)."

Jesus is King of His Kingdom and Head of His church: The core skill within simple/organic church is that of listening to God and responding to what He says. (The Word is our yardstick here.) Christians often live as though Jesus is a constitutional monarch--head in name only. God delights to communicate with us, and our response is obedience. As we listen to Him, both individually and corporately, community and mission will result.
Church is missional: For centuries, church has been attractional ("Come to my church!" "Come and hear our special speaker!") But God has always intended for church to be missional--we go to the world with the Good News of the Kingdom. We can reach into every crack and crevice of society this way. Jesus told us to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), and He would build his church (Matthew 16:18).

Ordinary people can make disciples and gather them together: Jesus was content to entrust the expansion of His Kingdom to ordinary, untrained people (Acts 4:13). People with no formal Bible school or seminary training are able to gather a few people over a meal to share life together, to delve into the Word of God, to pray for one another (Acts 2:42) and to seek to make disciples of those they come in contact with.

Luke 10 provides principles for reaching out. In many nations, rapidly multiplying, intentionally small churches led by "lay people" are having a major impact (church planting movements). They use Luke 10:1-9 as their pattern for crossing cultures and making an impact for the Kingdom. Finding a person of peace and starting church in their home rather than inviting that person to join our church, enables us to influence a new circle of people with the Gospel.

Simple is reproducible: Multiplication is more effective than addition but things need to be simple--simple is reproducible, complex is not. We can start a church by working with not-yet-believers, making disciples from the harvest. If these groups are to multiply, they need to be based on simple patterns.

Church is participatory: First Corinthians 14:26 states that when we come together, each person has a contribution to make. All of us are important to the functioning of a healthy body. If every member is to take part, we need to model simplicity, whether in our prayers, our pattern of teaching (participatory Bible study is a very effective way of learning and applying truth) or our meals.
Kingdom is a 24/7 lifestyle: God has written his laws on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10), so living in the Kingdom means living from the Life within rather than according to a rulebook. There is no sacred/secular divide. All of us are meant to be full time in the Kingdom; it is often easier to be effective in reaching out from a secular position.

Christ modeled servant leadership. Jesus said that we are not to use the world's hierarchical models of leadership that lord over others, but we're to live as servants (Matthew 20:25-28). The CEO model of church leadership is not biblical; church is not a business. The function of Ephesians 4 leadership is to equip others to do the work of ministry.

God is working across His whole body. My prayer is that God will increasingly lead all of us, both legacy and simple/organic churches, to work together for the sake of the Kingdom.

SUPER COMPETENT

2011-01-29T03:07:00.000-08:00

Productivity expert Laura Stack entitled SuperCompetent. Laura has identified six key attitudes or mindsets of people she says are 'supercompetent'. I have been learning and re-learning these lessons for more than 35 years in ministry. For the leaders of outward-focused churches, these are an excellent reminder. - Steve

Key 1: Activity. They are driven by intense focus on priorities and have a clear sense of direction.
Action: You need to determine what you should be working on.

Key 2: Availability. They control their schedules.
Action: You need to make time for it.

Key 3: Attention. They develop the ability to pay attention to the task at hand.
Action: You need to focus on those tasks.

Key 4: Accessibility. They are organized and can locate the information they need to support their activities.
Action: You need to organize the information you need to complete your tasks.

Key 5: Accountability. They are self-disciplined and don’t blame others.
Action: You need to be responsible for your results.

Key 6: Attitude. They do what needs to be done to make things happen. They are proactive decisive and fast.
Action: You never give up.

Read more ...

HOW ARE YOU USING THE INTERNET?

2011-01-27T02:03:00.000-08:00

LifeWay Research finds churches divided on website usage

Written by David Roach

NASHVILLE, Tenn., 1/21/2011 – Though most churches have a website, there is a divide between congregations that use their sites only for one-way communication and those that maximize their online presence with interactive technology.

That is the finding of a new LifeWay Research study sponsored by Axletree Media, one of LifeWay’s partners in the Digital Church initiative.

The survey of 1,003 Protestant churches found that while 78 percent have a website, less than half of those congregations use their sites for interactive purposes like obtaining and distributing prayer requests (43 percent), registering people for events and activities (39 percent) and automating more church processes (30 percent).

A majority of congregations with a website use it for one-way communication, the survey revealed. A full 91 percent provide information to potential visitors online and 79 percent provide information to the congregation. Fifty-seven percent encourage increased attendance and involvement among the congregation and 52 percent solicit interest in ministry or volunteer opportunities.

“Many churches are using their website like a Yellow Pages ad characterized by basic information and infrequent updates,” said Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research. “This is in sharp contrast with churches that use their website like a bustling church receptionist registering people for upcoming events, collecting prayer requests and obtaining volunteers.

“There is nothing wrong with using a church website to simply give directions to the church or state the church’s beliefs,” McConnell added. “However, we must realize that more and more people expect to be able to interact online without having to drive or make a phone call to the church.”

Larger churches are more likely than their smaller counterparts to use their websites interactively. Among churches with a website, 69 percent of churches with 500 or more in average worship attendance register people for events or activities online, but only 25 percent of churches with one to 49 attendees do the same. Fifty-two percent of congregations with 500 or more attendees seek to use their website to “allow more processes at (their) church to be automated,” compared with 15 percent of churches with one to 49 attendees.

In contrast, large and small churches are about equally as likely to use their websites to provide information to potential visitors. There is also little difference between large and small churches using their websites to provide information to their congregation.

The study also found differences in the frequency of website usage. Forty percent of churches with websites update their sites once a week and 15 percent update more than once a week. But nearly half of churches with websites (42%) update them once a month or less. That includes 7 percent that update once a year or less.
Among the factors that keep churches from providing more content and services online are limited time among church staff (46%), limited financial resources (41%), limited time among volunteers (39%) and little interest expressed by the congregation for more online content or services (35%).

Bill Nix, CEO of Axletree Media, lamented that more churches do not take advantage of online ministry resources.

“With the low cost of online technology today, any size congregation can build and maintain a helpful website,” Nix said. “Plus, updating a website has become so easy that no church needs to feel like it lacks the technological savvy to have a presence on the Internet.”

Digital photos are the most common technology utilized among churches with websites and the only technology used by a majority of those congregations. Eighty-two percent use digital photos in their online ministries, 47 percent use digital audio files or podcasts, 31 percent utilize digital video files, 26 percent use text messaging, and 26 percent of congregations use blogs.

Methodology: LifeWay Research conducted a phone survey among a stratified, random sample of Protestant churches Sept. 8-20, 2010, interviewing 1,003 staff members most responsible for making decisions about the technology used in their church. Responses were weighted to reflect the natural size distribution of churches. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed ±3.2 percent.

Check out the Ed Stetzer link in our Blogroll for more Lifeway Research.
The School of Evangelism operated by the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God has an elective course called "Internet Evangelism and Social Networking Tools" which addresses some of these issues. Go toe the website ercevangelism for details and to register. Class is February 19,2011 in Harrisburg PA.

HOW TO AVOID PASTORAL BRAIN DRAIN

2011-01-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

From Todd Hunter of Monday Morning Insights comes this excellent counsel from Reggie McNeal.

Ever feel totally brain-dead? Tired? Frustrated? Incapable of making a decision? In his book, "Practicing Greatness," Reggie McNeal describes three "brain killers" that deserve special attention for each and every pastor and church leader...

1) Negative people. Leaders need to be aware that when they allow themselves to be consumed by negative people (who seem so often inclined to seek them out), they allow precious mental, emotional, and spiritual energy to be drained off from other leadership pursuits. Obviously, leaders can’t totally avoid negative people, but they can deflect their negativity by creating a mental boundary. So acknowledge their destructive, energy-sapping perspective, but stay on your side of the wall. And adopt a strategy of surrounding yourself with positive people as a proactive strategy.

2) Disorganization. Disorganization is a major brain drain. Not only does it consume time ("It’s right here—somewhere") but it also raises anxiety ("What am I forgetting?"), which is another major cause of brain drain. Even leaders who don’t count administration as a strength can make sure they don’t sabotage their efforts through a lack of organization. They do this by recruiting someone to help them, by availing themselves of technology, and by deciding to expend enough personal effort to get sufficiently organized.

This discussion is not intended to make you feel guilty for finding organization to be a challenge—you just want to defend against having a level of disorganization that creates a brain drain. Of course, some disorganized people don’t even know this is a problem. Their way of life just feels normal to them. You can check this by asking your administrative assistant or a coworker who has exposure to your work habits to tell you if disorganization is something you should work on.

3) Tendency to second-guess decisions. Some spiritual leaders waste energy when they allow nagging doubts, compounded by self-blame, to dog them if things don’t go the way they anticipated when they made a decision. Depending on personality and cognitive style, leaders need differing amounts of information and lead times in order to make decisions. But once decisions are made, the best leaders practice little second-guessing. “Would I have made the same decision with the same information I had at the time?” is a good question for leaders to ask themselves when tempted to second-guess. If the answer is yes, then the leader can move on. If the answer is no, then the issues is to find a better way to make decisions (which McNeal talks about later in the book)…

THE COMMITTEE OF SLEEP

2011-01-24T01:47:00.000-08:00

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”

~John Steinbeck

17 SIGNS OF A FAST GROWING CHURCH

2011-01-17T00:39:00.000-08:00

From Brian Dodd, leadership and stewardship consultant, comes these observations ....

Are there indicators that your church may be ready for a period of sustained growth? After speaking with literally thousands of church leaders, I have discovered some common threads among fast growing churches.
Some on this list are self-explanatory while others have supporting comments.

Fast Growing Churches Are Unashamed To Preach Jesus - It is a common misconception that large churches water down the gospel.
Fast Growing Churches Have A Great Senior/Lead Pastor
Fast Growing Churches Are Staff Led - This is necessary for making quick decisions that are transformational, not simply transactional.
Fast Growing Churches Have Stable, Unified Senior Leadership
Fast Growing Churches Have A Volunteer Culture - The ability to integrate, equip, resource, and cheer on volunteers is critical to church health.
Fast Growing Churches Reach Young Families
Fast Growing Churches Have Incredible Children and Youth Departments – Most parents will put up with a lot if their children are happy. Been to a recital or baseball field lately?
Fast Growing Churches Have Ministry Needs That Outpace Ministry Resources – Another common false belief is that churches only want your money. Many young families come to a church with a house note that stretches them, two car payments, and credit card debt.
Fast Growing Churches Are Clear On Vision and Strongly Defend It – Clarity on why we exist and what we are about is critical for creating ownership.
Fast Growing Churches Connect Every Ministry Activity Back To The Overall Vision – Successful ministries tie everything back to the big picture for their people. Mistakes can be made when the various elements of ministry seem disconnected and autonomous.
Fast Growing Churches Struggle With Connecting People Into Community – Growth is happening so fast that making sure everyone is in a small group is extremely difficult.
Fast Growing Churches Preach About Money - Churches must answer the questions that people are asking. Jesus preached more on money and possessions than love and prayer. Get the picture.
Fast Growing Churches Develop Financial Leaders Spiritually – Wealthy people can provide significant fuel to the ministry. Great pastors know who their wealthy people are and disciple them accordingly. See 1 Timothy 6:17-21.
Fast Growing Churches Have A Congregation That Trusts The Leadership
Fast Growing Churches Are Multi-Generational - The third misconception is that there is no place for older people in these new, fast growing environments. While the large percentage of the audience is younger, fast growing churches have a strong portion of their faith community that is seasoned and experienced.
Fast Growing Churches Are Passionate About Unchurched People - No perfect people are allowed at fast growing churches!
Fast Growing Churches Serve The Poor, Marginalized, and Under-Resourced - Young people especially are passionate about joining movements and faith communities that address social justice issues.

It’s Christmas and I am in the giving mood. The following are some quotes you will NEVER hear in fast growing churches:

“Pastor, now we don’t want to get ahead of God.”
“Can we sing that fifth verse again?”
“We let the preacher preach and we handle everything else.”
“Son, now that’s not how we do things around here.”
“Pastor, you want that slooooooow growth. You don’t want that fast growth.”
“I wish he would wear a tie.”
“All we hear about is lost people.”

For more insights from Brian

WHY TEENS, YOUNG ADULTS ARE LEAVING THE CHURCH

2011-01-13T01:43:00.000-08:00

By Sheryl Young of Yahoo News Service
ANALYSIS | For the last decade, churches in America have felt the pinch of young people exiting faster than you can say "Welcome to Sunday Morning Service." Why do our young people want out?

At a glance, it's no puzzlement to the man on the street. As discussed in my recent article, "New Organization, Book Explores Reversing the Church's Bad Reputation," numerous controversial issues have been handled ungracefully while trying to tell the rest of the world about Jesus and His love.

But for Christians who wish to return America to a more Bible-friendly atmosphere, there are even deeper conflicts and symptoms to be recognized.

Starting from kids on up, a great variety of reasons for the exodus exists. The following are gathered and generalized from well-informed sources: "Generation Ex-Christian: Why Young Adults Are Leaving the Faith ...and How to Bring Them Back," (Drew Dyck, Moody Publishing, Oct 2010), "Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it" (Ken Ham & Britt Beemer, Todd Hillard, New Leaf, Aug 2009); "The Last Christian Generation" (McDowell, Green Key, 2006); and Lifeway Christian Resource Surveys from 2007 and 2010.

* Churched kids and teens spend six of seven days each week hearing other people say how judgmental Christianity is, and that the Bible should be taboo.

* Churches use outdated methods of Sunday School, rotating the same Bible stories year-in and year-out without relating the morals to daily living. When kids want to know why someone like Gabrielle Giffords was shot, they don't need another lesson on Noah's Ark.

* Teens can only eat so much pizza at church social events before they see through this thinly veiled attempt at keeping them occupied and out of trouble.

* Those surveyed say there aren't enough good reasons given for holding Bible beliefs other than "the preacher says so..." or "your parents say so."

* Sometimes kids are routinely kept out of "grown-up church." From infancy to four years old, they're in nursery. Then they get "children's church" with a short Bible lesson, crafts and refreshments. For teens, a separate youth service geared to "their" music. By eighteen, they've never been expected to sit through a whole Sunday service. It's culture shock.

* Young people can see that the Church in general hasn't yet been able to conquer racial reconciliation, domestic abuse and the rampant church divorce rate...sometimes in their own families.

* Older generations won't blend a moderate amount of contemporary music with traditional hymns, to show young people that newer ideas are respected.

* Or, the Church feels pressured to impress their younger members with new technological avenues. So they discard all the old hymns that were written out of peoples' struggles with life, pride and suffering. Thus, the newer generations don't hear about how God can help them through hard times.

* Parents are expecting the church to teach what may fall within their own responsibility.

* But then, young parents raised in the last twenty years have themselves grown up under the new pop psychology of never receiving or deserving any discipline or criticism. They've seen church become irrelevant. Now, as parents, they're hesitant to make (or even ask) their kids to go to church or develop a backbone in faith.

* Lastly, everyone's too busy for church. There are too many other attractions in life.

Many church leaders may pick up these books and surveys only to find the suggested answers to the problems are things their church already tried. Others may not have the means or congregational support to implement changes.

And still more will find it such a daunting task that they just throw up their hands. Maybe it's time to do just that -- throw hands up and pray, rather than create more programs -- and leave the rest up to God.

Sheryl Young has been freelance writing for newspapers, magazines, organizations and websites since 1997. Her specialty is American politics, education and society as they intersect with religion. Credits include Community Columnist for the Tampa Tribune Newspaper, Interview Columnist with Light & Life Magazine, and a National First Place "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award from the Amy Foundation.

THE CHURCH AND THE SOCIAL MEDIA

2011-01-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

From the archives of Ed Stetzer's blog comes this thoughtful article.

I recently wrote an article called "The Blessings of the New Media" for Tabletalk Magazine. I shared four ways that social media can assist churches and leaders.
The first way is community:

Those who attempt to find community exclusively online will miss out on the fullness and authenticity of relationships God intends for us to have face to face. Gathering together (Heb. 10:25) requires feet and faces, not just electrons and avatars. Therefore, when a Christian seeks to be a part of a local church only by live streaming the worship service and conversing on message boards, he is short-circuiting the fellowship of the saints and his own spiritual growth. Yet, I do not believe that virtual community and real community are enemies. I see them more as friends, the former as a help to the latter. Unfortunately, for too many theologically-minded pastors, their aversion to the abuses of social media has distracted them from the opportunity they provide.
While social media cannot replace real-life interpersonal relationships, they can assist in building real community by connecting people in ways that allow them to share both the big and small things of life. Web services such as Facebook allow people who might see one another only during church on Sunday, or midweek in smaller community groups, to continue to share aspects of life they would not otherwise. This allows friends to look into the parts of life we share and respond with encouragement or exhortation.

The second way is communication. As I said in the article, the age of the bulletin may not have completely passed, but these days people rely on so many other forms of communication to stay abreast of current events. The speed with which news can travel using social media is nothing short of amazing. For example, when my friend Matt Chandler had a seizure last year and I sent a tweet asking for prayers, the "re-tweet" function had the request going out to huge numbers of people within minutes. Matt was a trending topic on Twitter that day, which means that he was one of the ten most mentioned phrases or words in all of Twitter. People all over the world knew about his situation and prayed for Matt thanks to Twitter (note his name in the lower right corner).

The final two ways listed are inspiration and better introductions. Blogs, Facebook and Twitter all provide ways to share inspiring thoughts and gospel-centered messages (often in 140 characters or less!). And social media also allows people to share things about themselves more fully and with a broader group of people. We are actually getting to know each other better in some ways through the use of electronic media.
These things can never take the place of human contact, but to ignore them and the role they can play in fostering community is unwise. They are helpful tools that the world is using, and that the church can benefit from.

As I consider social media in the twenty-first century, I can't help but think of the spread of the gospel and the church's growth in the first century. Communication was greatly aided then by the common language of Koine Greek. Since the New Testament was written in a language accessible to so many, the Word of God was able to penetrate different cultures rapidly. Perhaps today the new media will be the "common language" for the masses to hear the gospel.

Tabletalk is a publication of Ligonier Ministries.

INTERNET MINISTRY - WHEN'S THE BEST TIME TO PUBLISH A BLOG

2011-01-10T02:09:00.000-08:00

This came to me via Glenn Smith of NEW CHURCH INITIATIVES. It's a blog post by Dan Zarrella called "When's the Best Time to Publish a Blog?" For those of us who use blogging as a means of outreach and dialogue with our community, it has some helpful thoughts. Here are just a few, - Steve

First, while major news sites and blogs publish articles during the work week, articles that are published on Saturday and Sunday tend to be shared on Facebook more than those published during the week. Perhaps one reason for this is that (as Wired reported), more than 50% of American companies block Facebook at work ...

The best timing advice, however, may actually be around frequency. Last week, I analyzed 1000 of the most popular blogs on the web, according to Technorati. I compared their posting frequency with the number of incoming links and visitors they had attracted (according to Yahoo and Compete). I found that among very popular blogs, publishing multiple times per day led to a huge increase in a blog’s success. This tells us that rather than focusing one perfect day or time, we should aim to publish at many times, and on many days ....

To read the rest of this excellent post go to HUB SPOT

ANDY CROUCH ON THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT CULTURAL TRENDS OF THE PAST TEN YEARS

2011-01-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

Note from Steve: As we begin this new \year, outward-focused churches need to do some culyutal exegesis. Andy Crouch provides these thoughts on Q-IDEAS THAT CREATE A BETTER WORLD.

Editor's Note: Because there is no year 0, a decade runs from 01/01 - 12/10 . As we enter the second decade of the second millennium AD, Q is pausing to consider the most significant changes and cultural goods of the last ten years. Other contributors to this series include Margaret Feinberg, Brett McCracken and Josh Jackson.
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Ten years is a very short time. As I reflect on the world in 2011 compared to the world in 2001, I’m less struck by how much has changed than by how much is the same. Terror, war, new technology, economic boom and bust, surprising political triumphs followed by sudden changes of fortune—yup, sounds like the 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, and 1960s to me. It’s almost axiomatic that any change big enough to shape an entire nation or society happens in long waves spanning generations, not a mere ten years.

Indeed, when I reflect on the most significant developments of the never-adequately-named 2000s (the aughts? the aughties? the naughties?), it seems that almost all of them were well under way in 1999, or even 1989. At the same time, in the last ten years some long-wave trends accelerated in notable ways. Acceleration matters. In one sense, walking, riding a horse, driving a car, and traveling by plane are simply variations on the millennia-old human theme of mobility, tracing back literally to the earliest signs of our restless race. But the difference between five miles an hour and 500 miles an hour is not just a quantitative matter of speed, but a qualitative change in the horizons of possibility.

Here are ten significant trends in North American culture that accelerated dramatically in the 2000s—almost always for better and for worse at the same time.

One | Connection

By far the most significant acceleration was in our technologies of connection. In June 2000, 97 million mobile phone subscribers existed in the United States; in June 2010, the number rose to 293 million. Urban and suburban Americans swim in a sea of WiFi (sitting in my living room on a quiet side street I can see 8 wireless networks)—and in the middle of Nebraska, you can get online at McDonald’s.

What did not take off in the 2000s was “virtual reality”—a world constructed entirely of disembodied bits, populated by avatars and existing only in the realm of the ideal. As the 2000s ended, the virtual-reality world Second Life was on virtual life support.

Instead, we used technology to reinforce our embodied relationships. Facebook was the highest trafficked website in 2010 (US subscribers in 2000: zero; in 2010: 116 million). Look at your Facebook friends—unless you are a celebrity, the vast majority of them are people you have met in the flesh. Same with the recents on your cell phone. Rather than replacing embodied connection, our devices supplemented and extended it, an electromagnetic nervous system to match the physical infrastructure of transport built in the twentieth century.

Two | Place

Therefore, oddly enough after a decade of wild growth in invisible telecommunications, place mattered more in 2010 than it did in 2000. Travel and transport remained basically flat throughout the decade. Total vehicle miles driven, while an impressive 3 billion miles in 2010, were only up from 2.7 billion miles in 2000, a period during which the population increased from 288 to 318 million—meaning the average American drove less in 2010 than in 2000. At 9:45 tomorrow morning there will be roughly 4,500 commercial flights in the air, just as there were on 9:45 the morning of 11 September 2001—no change despite a decade of economic and population growth. And mobility, the hallmark of twentieth-century United States culture, declined throughout the decade and reached a post-war low in 2010, with less than 10% of American households changing their address.

At the Q gathering in 2010, urbanologist Richard Florida observed that young adults meeting one another no longer ask, “What do you do?” They ask, “Where do you live?” More and more people will change careers in order to stay in a place—connected to family, friends, and local culture—than will change place to stay in a career. The 20th-century American dream was to move out and move up; the 21st-century dream seems to be to put down deeper roots. This quest for local, embodied, physical presence may well be driven by the omnipresence of the virtual and a dawning awareness of the thinness of disembodied life.

Three | Cities

Cities, the places where both connection and local presence can thrive simultaneously, had an extraordinary renaissance in the 2000s. The revival of American cities was underway already in 2000, but it reached its full flowering by 2010. Of course not every single American city flourished in the last decade, but those of us old enough to remember New York, Chicago, Atlanta, or Houston circa 1990—not to mention Portland, Columbus, or Phoenix—can only be astonished at the way economically fading and often crime-ridden city centers revived as centers of commerce and creativity.

The challenges often associated with urban life, meanwhile, began a movement to the suburbs that may well accelerate in the 2010s. The frontiers of justice, mercy, compassion, and reconciliation are now in the suburbs—places where connections are harder to sustain and local culture is thinner and less appealing than the cities. Some suburban environments will reinvent themselves, but multi-generational poverty, crime, and gangs that provide a substitute social network where others have failed are already as common in Westchester County as in the Bronx, in the San Fernando Valley as in Compton. The really radical and difficult place to raise a family by 2020 will be . . . the suburbs.

[See Tim Keller's Q talk on "Grace and the City" and Joel Kotkin's on "The Future of the Suburbs."]

Four | The End of the Majority

Everywhere in the 2000s, cultural majorities collapsed. Predominantly black neighborhoods became half Hispanic. White rural communities saw dramatic immigration from Asia and Latin America. City centers became internationalized. Mercados and Asian food markets sprung up in suburbia and in exurbia (drive down a thoroughfare well beyond the 285 beltway in Atlanta, and you will see shop signs in a dozen different languages). White Americans were still a bare majority of the population by the end of the decade, but in delivery rooms they were already only a plurality (the largest of many minorities).

We are all minorities now. Evangelical Christians are a minority, as are liberal Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, and atheists. The establishment of Will Herberg’s 1955 book Protestant—Catholic—Jew is now a minority. Barack Obama is a minority, but so is Sarah Palin. Republicans are a minority—so are Democrats, and so are independents.

There may never have been a society in history that was as culturally, religiously, and politically diverse as the United States is today—except perhaps the Roman Empire. There are few models for how such a diverse community can sustain itself, and plenty of models for failure. Perhaps the most hopeful model is a community that arose at the edges of that Empire and eventually spread to its heart, among whom there was neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female.

Five | Polarity

We used the technologies of connection and the commitment to place to sort ourselves into more and more tightly homogenous subcultures, refuges both virtual and real from the heterogeneity of our society. Republicans became more Republican; Democrats became more Democratic. Salon lost ground to the Huffington Post—CNN lost ground to Fox News. A president elected on the premise of unity presided over two years of ever-sharper rhetoric of division and seemed unable to change the game. Hipsters got more extremely hip. The Reformed became truly Reformed.

It was not at all clear, as polarization accelerated, that anyone could convince any large number of Americans that they had anything crucial in common.

Six | The Self Shot

When movie directors in the 2030s are trying to convey in a single glance that their scene is set in the 2000s, they will use the self shot—the self-portrait shot from a digital camera or cell phone held by one hand extended away from the subject. We look out at our own hand, perhaps squeezing another friend into the frame, composing our face in a smile or a laugh. We are shooting ourselves.
.
The visual presentation of the self accelerated in the 2000s. Previous generations saw themselves most often in mirrors. But mirrors do not show us what others see—they show us a mirror image with right and left reversed. The difference is subtle but real, and symbolic of a deeper reality. Now most 20-year-olds have seen thousands of images of themselves as others see them. In the 2000s we learned to shape and groom our image for public consumption. Body modification—augmentation, reduction, smoothing, straightening, whitening, tanning, not to mention tattooing—became normative. The closing years of the decade gave us the word “manscaping.” Enough said.

Seven | Pornography

Underneath it all was porn. Pornography is as old as visual art, but in the 2000s it was more ubiquitous than it had been since the ancient Greeks erected herms at every crossroads. Superimposed on every image of our own bodies, and the bodies of our friends and lovers, were the idealized bodies of pornography and its close cousin, advertising and popular culture, which differ from porn only in not consummating the voyeuristic impulses they arouse.

And yet as omnipresent as porn was, it remained underground—a subject of shame even among the most secular and urbane. Our culture seemed to draw back from the brink at the same time as it plunged into the abyss. The bestselling memoir was titled Eat, Pray, Love, not, Eat, Pray, F@#k. No one really wanted the culture of porn to become a runaway train. But neither was anyone sure how to stop it.

Eight | Informality

Men untucked their shirts. Billionaires wore jeans. The most powerful CEO in America was universally known as “Steve.” Indeed, informality was now a sign of privilege—only low-status workers wore uniforms. And the ubiquity of the camera meant that everyone—including celebrities, politicians, business leaders, people who in past decades would have been insulated by privilege—was caught off guard, meaning that status now accrued to those who could be most artfully informal, rather than those who could protect themselves from view.

Most institutions, with layers of tradition and deference accumulated over years, struggled to stay relevant to an informal culture. Tie-wearing network news anchors were eclipsed by cable-channel comedians with open collars. Journalistic codes of integrity and objectivity looked simply foolish next to the raw data of The Smoking Gun and Wikileaks. Marriage, with its vows and formal attire, became for many young people a distant aspiration far on the horizon, while cohabitation became the accepted gateway to adult relationships. A crippling blow was dealt to the cultural legitimacy of the oldest institution of all, the Roman Catholic Church, not by sexual abuse per se (almost all the cases reported had happened at least a decade earlier) but by the realization of how its hierarchy had covered up the scandal. The most informal and anti-institutional demographic cohort in a century, Generation X, moved uneasily and unsteadily into adulthood—symbolized neatly by its most celebrated religious movement, the emerging church, refusing to institutionalize at all and naming the leader of its most prominent organization a “coordinator.”

Nine | Liquidity

Wealth was ever more disconnected from real assets. Countries that pumped one particular liquid from the ground acquired vast resources of sovereign wealth that went looking for high returns. The most storied and prominent financial firm, Goldman Sachs, ended its century-long system of limited partnership and become a publicly traded company. Hedge funds made billions by trading not shares, but shares of bets on the future price of shares (and derivatives far more exotic). Your mortgage, once the most boring and staid of financial instruments, was sliced and diced into tranches of risk.

Money sloshed around the globe like quicksilver (the title of Neal Stephenson’s epic 2003 novel about the earliest moments of modernity). It sloshed beyond the borders of nations, of national regulators and politicians, quickly breaching the levees of international financial standards like Basel 1 (replaced by Basel 2, soon to be replaced by the soon-to-be-swamped Basel 3). Anyone unwilling to swim in the sea of liquidity drowned (or, as one Wall Street executive said, as long as the music was playing you had to keep dancing). As money sloshed, prices of oil, food, housing, and labor spiked, then collapsed, then threatened to spike again. Those who could trade on volatility often made untold fortunes; those actually needing to buy and sell real goods often suffered.

Ten | Complexity

There was a bull market in oversimplification, and no shortage of attempts to find someone to blame or, more hopefully, some way to make a difference. At the close of the decade some Christians were especially excited about the potential for cultural elites to change the world—just at the moment when elites everywhere were waking up to how little they could do to change anything at all. If there ever had been reliable levers of power—the Federal Funds Rate, Fashion Week, the New York Times bestseller list, the Nobel Peace Prize—they no longer carried much leverage in a world of countless connections, devolved into countless particular locations and conurbations, filled with fractious and fissiparous minorities, and ceaseless self-preoccupied informality. It was not a good time, to say the least, to be a central planner.

Yet all this complexity also contained the seed of certain kinds of promise. The human brain, after all, is also complex, interconnected, embodied, improvisational, constantly being rewired—simply put, the most complex system known in our universe. The culture of North America in the 2000s took several not inconsiderable steps toward having those same qualities. Not without risks, not without loss, and with every expectation of grave difficulty ahead. And yet in the most surprising places what was emerging could be called intelligence. Of course, intelligence needs to be married to wisdom—and in surveying the history of that most elusive of all cultural goods, we can only conclude that the 2000s left us neither worse nor better off than human beings have ever been.

-----
In your opinion, did Andy miss something? What would be on your list?

PARTNERING WITH THE SCHOOLS

2010-12-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

There was a time when the churches were the center of the community. Except for the rarest of situations, the school has supplanted the church as that center. The school, between families with kids in school and those who pay taxes to support it to people who follow their sports teams, has a profound shaping effect upon the community. Recognizing this reality, my congregation has been prompted by the Holy Spirit to include this statement in our vision as a church in mission.

"We believe God wants us to partner with our schools in every way to influence children and youth for Jesus Christ."

To fullfill this our church has created a youth center with two days drop-in center programs for Middle Schools and High School. We have made our church available as the practice site for the Junior Cheerleaders. Persons from our church volunteer in the schools building relationships and providing needed services to help the school. We now provide leadership for an on campus student Bible study. We sponsor two Good News Clubs at the nearest elementary schools. We are careful to be respectful to the boundaries necessary in schools to avoid church and state conflicts, the we make no secret that we do what we do because God wants us to be the best church for our community. We hope people will be open to our help spiritually as they recognize the need.

Recently I attended a meeting of our local ministerium and the Vice President for Student Services of our local school, the Hempfield School District.The schools need tutoring volunteers, parent advocacy and education programs, clearing houses for needy families physical concerns. We are actively engaged in helping netwrok to meet those needs. We are now helping sponsor a dialogue between the schools' leadership and the religious leadership of the community of how the churches can assist with basic human services that would normally cost schools budget monies in these fiscally stressed times. Our Christmas offering was for the school's Good Neighbor Fund, which the Office of Student Services used to help families who financial emergencies cannot be met in other ways.

One of the thoughts that came to my mind is that our church could help the school disseminate important information to the community and to help us do our planning in a way that we could make good use of the resource that is the school. Also to avoid unnecessary conflicts when our parents are pulled one way and the church wants to pull them our way. We have now added the website for the school district to the links section of our church web site and to our church blog. You can see these by going to our web site CHURCH OF GOD OF LANDISVILLE or to our blog BEING THE BEST CHURCH FOR THE COMMUNITY.
Trust me, the school officials were delighted at our offer.

Schools are understandably concerned when churches simply try to get into the schools to advance the goals of the church, especially when churches seem unconcerned with the perceived needs of the schools. But we believe that churches who seem themselves as partners with the schools can benefit the entire community and remind the community that the work of Jesus is not a threat, but an enhancement.

2010-12-18T00:33:00.000-08:00

From Igniter Media comes this imaginative description of how Joseph and Mary would have shared the story of the Nativity had a social network existed in their day.

SIX TURN-OFFS FOR CHURCH VISITORS

2010-12-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

6 Turn offs for church visitors posted by Cliff from The Gospel Blog.com.

ChurchSync Doesn't Turn Visitor's Off

Many churches go to great lengths in order to welcome church visitors. I’m sure that we all want people to feel comfortable when they attend our churches. Even though we often mean well, we have a tendency to turn off or turn away some people with our actions.

1. Visitors are asked to stand up and make a speech.Research has shown that most people do not like to stand up and talk in front of groups, especially when this is a group of people they don’t know.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before: “Will all visitors please stand.”

Talking in front of the whole church may seem very common to most of us. However, this is a completely new concept for someone who is unchurched.

2. No one welcomes them at the door.
In my opinion, people that don’t normally attend church expect church people to be friendly. Church visitors should at least be met with a “good morning” or “hello” and a smile. I don’t think that is too much to ask. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen.

In many churches, it is not uncommon for a visitor to walk in and take their seat without ever being greeted.

3. They get placed in a “bad” seat.
We all know that there are certain people that we would rather not sit next to in church. Most of the time it is because these people talk too much during service.

Attention ushers! Let’s try to do a better job at making sure that visitors and guests do not sit next to these people. It is hard for any visitor to enjoy the service if the person next to them is constantly talking.

4. No child care
More and more churches have special accommodations for children. This is a huge factor when people are selecting a new church to attend.

5. Nobody talks to them after church
I’ve seen this plenty of times. A visitor sits through an entire service and leaves at the end without anyone saying anything to them. Your church may be a wonderful and supportive family, but people will never know it if nobody greets them after church.

6. Follow-up caller is pushy
Many churches have visitors fill out information cards. A day or two after the service a member of the church calls to follow-up with the visitor.

Instead of being friendly and pleasant, some people treat this like a sales call. They try to close a deal for Jesus and hard sell a person into making a return visit to the church.

We can offer all of the free coffee and gift packets we want. Nothing can substitute positive or negative human interaction. When people visit your church, it is important to give them the most positive and pleasant experience possible.

What do you think? Have you encountered any turn off when you visited another church?

NEAL COLE ON THE CHURCH AS A LIVING SYSTEM

2010-12-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

AMAZING GRACE

2010-12-01T16:59:00.000-08:00

KEY QUESTIONS FOR OUR TIMES

2010-11-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

In 2000 Bill Easum articulated these key questions for churches seeking to be missional, outward-focused, evangelistic at the commencement of the 21st century. Here are OUTWARD FOCUSED CHURCH we would be interested in your answers. We'll be sure they get forwarded to Bill.

In 2000 I prepared a presentation for the Society for Church Growth in which I asked what I considered at the time to be some of the key questions of our time. In looking back over these questions I find they are still the key questions with which Western Christianity is wrestling. You be the Judge if they are.

What is it about my relationship with Jesus my neighbor and the world can’t live without experiencing?
How do I share my faith without coming off like a bigot?
What will Christianity look like when it truly understands that North America is a mission field?
What is the difference in being missional and doing evangelism?
What is the difference in a being pastor and being a cross-cultural missionary?
What does it mean to live in a world where one’s spirituality is more important than one’s credentials?
Can we imagine doing evangelism that is not carried out within the context of conquest?
How do leaders lead without control?
What will authority look like in an out-of-control, anti-institutional, non-religious world?
What will Christianity look like when it’s no longer defined by books?
How do we transition from handing out data that informs to offering an experience that transforms?
How will we help people grow their spirituality instead of just learning more about the Bible?
What will Christianity look like when the church is missional and not institutional?
How will we “be” the church instead of “go” to church?

So how are you dealing with these questions? Or are you?
Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com

WHAT'S IN YOUR VISION FRAME?

2010-11-17T01:21:00.000-08:00

Brian Mosely of Irving Bible Church and his leadership team have created a "Vision Frame" to guide their church. Will Mancini recently shared this as a part of the Right Now Conference in Dallas. The values contained within this frame are a helpful reminder to any church doing serious, outward-focused ministry.

Mission: What are we doing?
To help people trade in the pursuit of the American Dream for a world that desperately needs Christ
Values: Why are we doing it?

We love … THE church. In our neighborhoods, at the office and around the world the mission of the church matters.   
We love … authentic stories. Real-life stories have the power to inspire and validate what God is doing.  
We love … immediate action. Christianity is a verb. To wait is a sin.   
We love … hard work. God is glorified when we use our God-given passions and skills with excellence.   
We love … our families. There will always be more work to do, but not at the expense of family and friends.

Strategy: How are we doing it?

Inspiring Leaders
Transforming Small Groups
Coaching Individuals

Mission Measure: When are we successful?
The mission is accomplished when a trader is activated. A Trader is a new kind of missionary, not defined by geography but by the resolve to:

Choose Daily
Hate Injustice
Work as Worship
Act Swiftly

WHAT INFLUENCES MILLENIALS?

2010-11-10T21:21:00.000-08:00

From Ed Stetzer of Lifeway Research comes these perspectives on the Millenials and what influences them.

Through that study we gain some insight into how this generation perceives influences in their lives. For example, when looking for information or advice about two-thirds of American "Millennials" prefer to talk with a variety of people who have personal experience rather than one individual considered to be an "expert."

According to the study it turns out that the greatest influences in the lives of Millennials are parents, friends and extended family. "The vast majority (88 percent) say their parent or parents remain a positive influence on their lives, including 51 percent who call them a strongly positive influence."

65 percent of Millennials identify themselves as Christian, 14 percent as atheist or agnostic, 14 percent list no religious preference, and 8 percent claim other religions. Professing Christians, consistent church attenders, and those committed to some form of religion are more likely than others to say their parents are still a strong and positive influence.

Thirty-eight percent of Millennials say their religious beliefs have no influence on their lives.
Thirty-two percent indicate their beliefs have a strongly positive influence.
Fifty percent say a church or house of worship has no influence on their lives. Twenty-two percent indicate a church has a strongly positive influence.
18 percent of all Millennials indicate they get a lot of guidance or advice from sacred texts such as the Bible, Torah or Koran, while another 24 percent get some. The most common answer (37 percent) is none at all.

TOP 20 CHURCH PLANTING BOOKS

2010-11-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

These were posted today by the website The Missional Challenge

check out the link for the other 20

The Missional Challenge
Top 20
Church Planting Books

Six-Word Lessons to Discover Missional Living (2010)
by David DeVries
Although I wrote this book for every believer to understand how to align with Jesus' mission, it's particularly helpful for church planters and church planting teams. Each lesson is bite-sized and leads to necessary actions for starting new churches.
(And I'm not ashamed to list it first for many reasons)
The Externally Focused Church (2004)
by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson
This is an excellent book for shifting focus from the internal needs of members to the external needs of those in the harvest. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Read my amazon review here
Cultivating a Life for God (1999)
by Neil Cole
Neil's simple idea of Life Transformation Groups provide a great way to start the process of making disciples who make disciples.
Read my amazon review here
The Shaping of Things to Come (2003)
by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch
This is a great introduction to a missional incarnational approach to spirituality.
The Tangible Kingdom (2008)
by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
A very practical understanding from first-hand experience of living in authentic missional community

HOW CHURCH LEADERS CAN MOBILIZE THEIR CHURCHES FOR COMMUNITY MINISTRY

2010-11-07T22:56:00.000-08:00

This is an excellent blog for pastors of kingdom focused churches. Here is a sample. It is especially good on self-care and leadership assessments. Check it out. - Steve

How Church Leaders can Mobilize their Churches for Community Ministry

Jun 21st, 2010 by Charles Stone

Some of the kids in Operation Helping Hands

It’s exciting to see many churches embracing community and missional ministry more than ever. When I grew up, I can’t remember being challenged to go out into my community to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the poor and under-resourced. Perhaps that’s why it took me so long to personally ‘get it.’
The church where I now serve really ‘gets it.’ We are a church with a weekly attendance around 1,200 and after an intentional effort the last four years to become more missional, we’ve seen this fruit.

last year we gave more money to missional causes than we ever gave in a year’s time
1500 participated in some way in local missional efforts, many multiple times
100 went on a short-term missions project overseas
we just completed our annual Helping Hands project in the community and nearly 500 people from four different churches served

We even coined a term that has helped capture the spirit of our church: serving the Least, the Last, and the Lost.
So, what have we learned and what are some principles to keep in mind if you want your church to become more missional?

Find a champion. One of our pastors had a vision 10 years ago for us to become more missional. He has persisted for those 10 years.
Build missional ministry into your annual church objectives.
Keep the vision before the church often. Repeat it in messages. Encourage small groups to do missional projects together. Celebrate victories and tell lots of stories.
Offer multiple, small steps for your church. Stay persistent and don’t look for just one big thing to comprise the extent of your community ministry, although a big event can catalyze your church.
Develop partners. Find local city our community agencies that need help and offer to help them. We’ve worked with over a dozen city agencies, the local United Way, the city of Aurora, IL and several other churches.

"Volunteer of the Year" Award

Persistence will pay off. This year our church actually won the community “Volunteer of the Year” award from the local United Way. We didn’t apply for it in any way. Rather, the committee that makes those choices had seen our extensive work in the community and made the decision.
So, as you lead your church, consider how to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the community.
Some great resources:

Ed Stetzer’s book, Breaking the Missional Code.
Rick Rusaw’s book, The Externally Focused Church.

For more Ministry Help and Resources for Pastors, visit Pastor Stone’s main site.

This is an excellent blog for pastors of kingdom focused churches. Here is a sample. It is especially good on self-care and leadership assessments. Check it out. - Steve

MARK DRISCOLL ON YOUNG LEADERS

2010-11-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

THE CHURCH AS A LIVING SYSTEM

2010-10-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

A number of the churches in my denominational family have begun looking at the thoughts of Neil Cole in their journey towards an outward focus for the sake of the Kingdom. Here is an excellent clip from the Verge 2010 Conference.

Neil Cole: Church As A Living System [VERGE 2010 Main Session] from Verge Network on Vimeo.

TWO QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION FOR OUTWARD-FOCUSED CHURCHES

2010-10-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

Many of us were blessed last week to a part of Catalyst East and/or Catalyst One-Day in Lynchburg VA. Andy Stanley shared many thoughts, but here are two that I'd like to reflect upon with you.

One of the reasons churches see in decline is because they love their model more than the unchurched and unsaved-Andy Stanley

Outward-focused churches are churches that look outward towards the people who are not yet a part of the church and the Kingdom. It is not so much a strategy as a calling fueled by a passion. Lost people matter to God and therefore to them because they are God's people--His instrument for reaching the lost. Andy also said, "Your ministry is perfectly designed to achieve the results you are currently getting."

Can I get an "Ouch!" here?

Churches develop models to achieve the mission they are given from God. But too often our models become more important than our mission. Models make us comfortable, protecting us from the chaos that develops in ministry. God keeps pushing us out of those comfort zones because He knows that our models can easily stop listening to the needs of the communities we are trying to reach -- and to Him.

If your model has grown predictable, somewhat inflexible ... and you have been using for a long time unchanged except for an occasional tweaking, it may have already taken over.

"Sometimes we cannot give to the people in need just because we spend too much in something we don't need."- Andy Stanley

This can refer to financial resources, people's time and spiritual gifts. Does our model help us achieve both faithful to and fruitfulness in our mission, or does the model sap off strength from the primary task of reaching our community and reconciling people to God?

The first statement calls us to evaluate our heart. The second to evaluate our effectiveness. Both are well worth the prayerful effort regularly.

MY CHURCH WON'T ....

2010-10-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

Recently at a Catalyst One-Day at Lynchburg VA, Craig Groeschel talked about our assumptions as leaders. How often do we find ourselves saying, "Our people won.t ..." (you fill in the blank). Craig challenged us to look at this assumption in a different light by saying "Our church won't .... because I haven't led them to do that yet." Instead of being short-circuited or side-tracked by these assumptions, maybe we just need to ask God to help us lead them in the right direction.

What do you need to lead your people to begin doing for the Kingdom?

4 BARRIERS TO HEALTHY CHURCH GROWTH

2010-10-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

David Souther writes for the Evangelism Net He shares some excellent evaluation questions. I have added this site to our blogroll.-Steve

I have lived the majority of my life in the middle of the “Bible Belt,” with a church literally on every corner. Yet despite the large number of churches, why is it that most have little or no apparent influence in their communities? Some of these churches are ones that have departed from sound doctrine and the sufficiency and primacy of Scripture; however, there are also many evangelical, Bible believing churches that fall into this category.

One of the major factors is the mindset of the church leaders and members. By nature, people gravitate toward others who have things in common with them. This happens a lot in churches. We tend to open up more with people who are like us, people with whom we feel “safe.”

I am convinced this is why most churches (if they grow at all) grow by transfer. They attract people who are already accustomed to the church culture and “know the drill” regarding how it works. The idea of growing by conversion is something they endorse, but rarely, if ever, experience.

If you look at it from the perspective of those who don’t attend church, you can see why. Many non-believers think that Christians are judgmental, unhappy, controlling people who just happen to meet together once or twice a week. While it is unfair to generalize, some or all of that perception is true in many cases. Knowing that, why on earth would a non-believer ever want to attend a place like that?

Here are some questions for you or your church to consider:

1. Do you try to put the cart before the horse? I know it is a cliché, but it is true nonetheless. Sometimes we try to impose our standards of right or wrong on people who visit our church before we share the gospel with them. We expect visitors to adopt our values even before they are born again. People may get the impression that if you don’t drink, don’t smoke, and show up once a week in the same pew, you are OK and fit right in. What a frightening principle in light of the radical, life changing message of grace.
2. Do you have your priorities straight? Sometimes, churches or even entire denominations are more known for what they are against rather than what they are for. Anytime a church gets a reputation of being against (or even for) something over and above the preeminence of Jesus Christ, there is a major PR problem that may be based on deeper problems. Nothing, absolutely nothing, should cloud the church’s message of the gospel of Jesus Christ or have priority over it.
3. Do you discriminate? I could go on and on about this, but will be brief. When people visit your church, be careful not to gravitate to those who look or act like those who already attend your church. The church’s call is to reach everyone, not just those who look like they fit in with the churches self-imposed culture.
4. Are you proactive in the community? Does your church have a “if we schedule it, will they come” mentality? In other words, what is your church doing to meet people where they are in the community? Jesus did not just hang around the synagogues and temple waiting for people to come to Him. He pursued people on their turf.

YOUR CHURCH AND FACEBOOK

2010-10-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Recently, in an effort to gain more information about church Facebook use, OurChurch.Com conducted an extensive survey.

Most respondents indicated they don’t think their church is doing a particularly good job with Facebook. While those results could be perceived as negative, a closer look reveals some big opportunities for those churches willing to embrace the world’s largest social network.

1. Communicate More – Clearly people would like to see their church do more on Facebook.
2. Ministry Pages – A second opportunity for churches is for individual ministries to engage with people through Facebook pages.
3. Facilitate Connections – A third opportunity for churches is to help their people connect with one another.
4. Evangelism – A fourth opportunity for churches is to encourage and train their people to develop relationships with those who are not Christians and show God’s grace and love to them.
5. Facebook Ads – A fifth opportunity for churches is to use Facebook ads to reach out to people in their community.

COLIN POWELL ON LEADERSHIP

2010-10-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Colin Powell is one of the most respected leaders in the last twenty years. He has provided quality leadership in a plethora of situations. The following video outlines his leadership rules/values. Although not specifically tied to spiritual matters, I believe most of these to be consistent with the values of leadership found in scripture. Use this as a reflective check-up on your leadership practices. - Steve

SIX QUESTIONS FOR DOING OUTREACH IN SMALLER TOWNS

2010-10-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Steve Sjogren recently published this article on his website SERVANT EVANGELISM. It is great explanation for what churches in smaller towns can do to develop an outward focused vision. - Steve Dunn

I was recently in the New England area of the U.S. I have been pondering lately the unique aspects of doing ministry in smaller population areas like that. There are many aspects of doing outreach that are universal - as we step out to serve others we are going to find that people are pretty much the same everywhere. At the same time, there are unique features present when we are aiming at people in these areas. What do we need to keep in mind as we reach out in to rural people?

There are six basic questions we must be answer well before we are able to deeply connect with smaller communities. These are the pressing questions we will be asked when we approach the small town audience.

"Are you here to stay?" People will ask if you are doing something that is just going to be a "ship passing in the night" or if you are going to commit yourself to this area. You will be dinged effectiveness points if you come across as someone who is doing things in order to just connect initially but not at a deeper level. It is important that you connect with people in a way that is going to be perceived as lasting and deep versus light and passing. We tell our community we are here to stay partly by the atmosphere we create when we are doing outreaches. Each time you go out to do SE you have the opportunity to tell people "We are planning on living the rest of our lives in this town. We love this place!" We communicate this message in a variety of ways. At a practical level, put on your "friendly face" and you will do well at connecting with the small town audience.

"Do you love me or are you just trying to build your church through me?" If people think you are trying to use them as building blocks of your church they are less likely to warm up to you. You will be evaluated by how you connect with others. Most people who live in smaller towns feel a sense of pride about what they have accomplished in making a living for themselves in that context. There is a sense of accomplishment in these people you won't find among urban dwellers. If you honor that sense of smaller town USA you will come across as a friend, an ally in the fight for meaning.

"How do you treat people?" In the smaller town context the way we connect with people will be under the microscope more than when we are in a larger context. The good news about doing servant evangelism in a smaller context is that people will take more notice to the way you connect with your city. That is, there is the possibility that you will make an even more enduring impact upon people than if you were merely connecting with people in a larger city. In big cities we are doing virtual stranger-to-stranger outreach. In small towns we are connecting with people who likely consider themselves friends or at least acquaintances.

"How do you see the future?" People who live in smaller communities see the future in a unique way. It is common that they view what will take place in the future through the lens of staying put in the current community. That is different than the way people in larger communities see things. Since they have typically lived in the larger context all their lives the notion of city or town size as a flexible factor in evaluating moves. Most who live in a smaller community have committed themselves to the notion that they will persevere in staying in a smaller setting. When we are doing outreach in these settings it is important that we convey that we are going to be here for the duration. Those in smaller communities will plainly ask what we plan to do if we grow as a congregation. The fear is that growth will compromise the quality of the church. If we do grow as a church it is important that we convey that are going to continue to hold strongly to the value of putting people first. We don't plan to change.

"How do you relate to money?" Money is viewed a bit differently in smaller contexts. Servant evangelism is all about doing things for free. This important concept will have even more impact in smaller towns than in bigger cities. People are generally impressed with the notion of serving for free. When we serve for free in small towns we have the opportunity to literally amaze people.
When doing servant evangelism we sometimes are approached by people who attempt to pay us for our gift or services. We generally make it a point that we never accept these attempts at giving back to us. We are going to be approached more often in smaller towns by people who wish to give to us when we serve. I recommend you have a standard response to those who are flabbergasted at our project. It is good to spin people a bit with our projects. It isn't good to leave them overly frustrated. One possible response to those who are blown away is to recommend they give to one of the children's sponsorship programs that are typically seen on TV on Sunday evenings.

"Are there projects that work especially well smaller settings?" Yes, there are projects that work well in a smaller context. In general, anything that can impart the value of the individual will help get you better mileage. Doing give away projects is a hit no matter where you are located, but this approach seems to work better in larger cities. In a smaller context it is important that we convey to people that we are in the business of serving. Projects that allow us to connect with the value of the individual will make a bigger impression.
Some projects that connect well include:

* free carwashes(I would stay away from the dollar carwash in a small town setting - that is a bit over the top and might come across with too much pizzazz),windshield washingis an amazing project that can touch a lot of people in a relatively short time
* restroom cleaning teams(stick to gas stations, restaurants and fast food joints and other public venues)
* feeding parking meters(make sure you are able to actually feed parking meters - you may need to attach a quarter to your outreach card and place that next to the drivers handle)
* shoveling snow
* giving away deicer to residents(provide a one gallon plastic milk container that is cut away - then return to fill the salt or deicer every couple of weeks)
* window washingat homes and businesses.

The best is yet to come! God is on the move in small settings. If you live in a rural setting you might find that you have special blessings resting upon your outreach efforts. There are unique challenges that accompany a focused outreach in a smaller context. It is not impossible to be effective in this setting. My advice to you is to take heart. It is encouraging to learn the ropes and then to reach out with effectiveness. In some ways it is easier to reach out to a smaller town. Once you have paid your dues, so to speak, you will find it is in fact easier to reach out in this context versus a larger city. You will find it is possible to create an atmosphere that will grow to envelop your entire town. In a smaller setting it is possible to set attainable outreach goals that will see you touch every person in town more than once. Ultimately the name of the game in outreach is your ability to connect with many in a repeated fashion.

ALAN HIRSCH ON DISCIPLESHIP

2010-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Alan Hirsch has some important thoughts about the dynamics of discipleship and the absolute necessity of churches in engaging in disciple-making. I couldn't have said it better myself.

THE 11 MINUTE DIFFERENCE: 7 CHECK-UP POINTS FOR A GREAT GUEST EXPERIENCE

2010-10-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

One of the resource links that I find particularly helpful is Will Mancini's The Clarity Evangelist. (Check out his link on our ...........

He recently posted this helpful tool for preparing for the arrival of visitors at your church - a form of outward focus when people come in through the door.

When a first time guest drives onto your campus, they will decide within 11 minutes whether or not they are coming back. Yes, the decision is made before your guests experience worship and the content of the sermon- the two elements that demand most, if not all, of our time and attention in preparation.
What would it look like if you extended the same level of intention to the 11 minutes prior to walking in the sanctuary or worship center? Maybe the better question is “What would it feel like for your guests?”
It’s hard to overstate the wow factor a church body creates by serve generously through a system of hospitality. For the last 10 years I have observed and analyzed over 200 churches while conducting a “secret worshipper” experience. It is a service at Auxano we call the “Guest Perspective Evaluation.” One of my greatest thrills in ministry is tasting the variety of size, location, and spiritual heritage of these churches. But the most important observation is that any church can take small steps to make a dramatic difference in welcoming guests.
This post is the first time I have shared any of our tools or learnings. And the first place to start is to imagine seven checkpoints for your guest. Think of the checkpoints as “gates” or even “hurdles” that any first time guest must navigate to get from their comfy family room to your worship service. With every gate comes a simple question: Has the church removed the inherent difficulty of navigating the gate for the first time?
More specifically I look for every opportunity to make each gate simple, easy and obvious to navigate. Any particular difficulties created by your location or facility should be viewed as hospitality opportunities. By providing a great solution to an obvious barrier, you enhance the wow-factor of the hospitality.
THE SEVEN CHECKPOINTS
#1 Before Departure: Are directions and service times immediately accessible to guests from your church website, phone recording and yellow pages?
#2 Travel to Location: Do guests know where to turn into your church location?
#3 Parking Lot: Do guests know where to park?
#4 Building Entrance: Do guests know which door to enter?
#5 Children’s Ministry: Do guests know where to take their kids?
#6 Welcome Center: Do guest know where to go for more information?
#7 Worship: Do guests know which door to enter?
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WHY PASTORS SHOULD BLOG

2010-10-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

This post comes to us from ChurchNet USA

Why Pastors Should Blog

As a spiritual leader you are always seeking ways to get your message out to the world. As you probably know, social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) is taking over our world. Millions and millions of people are connecting through social media for their church marketing efforts and investing hours of their day utilizing it. Included in social media is blogging, which has steadily grown in popularity year after year and has been around well before Facebook was even born. Technorati.com (a website that tracks blogs) reported that there are over 175,000 new blogs per day worldwide. They also stated that the total amount of blogs have doubled every six months for the last three years.

So what does this mean for you as a pastor? Well, it should mean that you should have a blog. Even though you may think yours will get lost in the billions of blogs, there are many reasons why a blog can be beneficial to your ministry’s church marketing and church outreach.

Blogs can connect you with your congregation

Chances are many of the people in your congregation are reading and/or writing some of those blogs that are spread across the internet. If they are not reading your blog, they are reading someone’s. As a pastor you may not have the time to get to speak to every individual in your congregation every Sunday. Blogs are a great way for church outreach, allowing you to keep people updated on your life and have discussions on new church projects. It can also be a platform for you to be honest about your current desires for yourself and your church and explain new projects or initiatives that you plan to roll out. Finally, you can even blog about the scriptures you are studying and the preparations that you are making for your sermon. This may even get your congregation thinking about your subject matter before they come into church on Sunday!

Blogs can connect you with the world

Most churches want to reach out to unbelievers or individuals who typically wouldn’t set foot into a church. A blog can be a great way for a pastor to communicate with the world about spiritual matters in a non-threatening or non–confrontational way. Maybe as a pastor you can discuss issues that have unbelievers confused about your faith. Not only may this create interest in spiritual matters but it will give you an opportunity to share and discuss your faith with individuals who would typically not walk into a church on a Sunday.

Well if blogging is something that interests you, here are a few tips for effectively connecting through blogs:

1. Set your blog as public blog.
Most blog programs allow you to set your blog as “Public” or “Private.” If you make it public, it means that search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo) may look at your site and put it into their indexes. This means that people who are searching for topics may be pointed to your blog by a search engine, if you have written on these topics.

2. Write often and be patient

No matter what your purpose is behind blogging, a blog will only be effective if you are continue to write and discuss. Yes, it is a time commitment, but the time and effort put into it will be well worth it in the long run. Also, if you are looking for results via search engines, it doesn’t happen overnight so don’t let that discourage you…just keep blogging and build up your church marketing skills!

There are a ton of great programs that will set up a blog for you and best of all, they are free! Some examples include WordPress and Blogspot. They are pretty straightforward and will walk you through the set up. The set up and writing is probably a lot easier than you think and as mentioned earlier, will give you opportunities to connect with people in a creative and authentic way. So go out and start your church outreach through blogs!

SISTER ACT - A MISSIONAL MANIFESTO

2010-10-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

Early in my D.Min. studies, this movie inspired many of us to become outward focused.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EMPTY CHAIR

2010-09-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

This video is from Buckhead Church in Atlanta. - Andy Stanley, Lead Pastor

I am a chair from buckheadchurch on Vimeo.

THE OUTWARD FOCUSED CHURCH

THOM RAINER ON 12 TRENDS FOR 2012 - 7-12

THOM RAINER ON 12 TRENDS FOR 2012 - 1-6

HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS?

PEOPLE ON MISSION WITH JESUS

10 WORST CHURCH MOMENTS FROM A CHURCH SECRET SHOPPER

IS YOUR CHURCH AGING?

5 Indicators that Your Church’s Average Age Might Have Increased Without You Realizing

CREATING THIRD SPACES

Postmodern Wells: Creating A Third Place

CHURCH STEEPLES

TECHNOLOGY

5 CULTURE TRENDS THAT AFFECT THE CHURCH

TWO BRIDGEBUILDERS BEING OFFERED

FISHERS OF MEN OR KEEPERS OF THE AQUAIRUM

MEASURING THE CONNECTION - PART 2

CONNECTION AND COMMITMENT - PART 1

HOW TO MEASURE THE EVANGELISTIC HEARTBEAT OF YOUR CHURCH

How to Measure the Evangelistic Heartbeat of Your Church

FLATLINE

WEAK PULSE

Read Page 2 >>

EVANGELISM AND MISSION: WHY YOUR GROUP NEGLECTS THEM

Evangelism and Mission: Why Your Group Neglects Them

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MISSIONAL?

WILL MANCINI ON VISION VEHICLES

The Six Vehicles for Church Vision: How Many Are You Using?

THIS IS DISCIPLING

SHALLOW SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

BRIDGEBUILDERS SEMINARS - FALL 2011

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE MISSIONAL?

THE 8 'ATIONS" OF INNOVATION

The 8 ‘ations’ of Innovation

THE CHURCH EXISTS TO GIVE ITSELF AWAY

TWO SIGNS YOUR CHURCH EMBRACES THE VISION

1) When the best ideas are not your own.

2) Leaders have been raised up who can communicate the vision better in ways more suited to their personality and area of responsibility.

BRIAN KAUFFMAN ON INWARDLY FOUSED CHURCHES

1) An Inwardly-Focused Church Makes Converts Not Disciples

2) An Inwardly-Focused Church Lives and Dies by Sunday

3) An Inwardly-Focused Church Offers Multiple Styles of Worship

4) An Inwardly-Focused Church Hides It’s Checkbook

5) An Inwardly-Focused Church Holds On Tight

Conclusion

SLOWED

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL

The Gospel Spreads through Social Networking - Lessons from Jesus & the Early Church

BACK TO WORK

INWARD FOCUSED KIDS OR OUTWARD

MOVING FROM ATTRACTIONAL TO MISSIONAL

Moving from Attractional to Missional

Moving from Attractional to Missional

What is attracional?

What is missional?

Connect

THOM RAINER ON LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE SOCIAL MEDIA

THE YOUNGER UN-CHURCHED

20 BLUNDERS IN WELCOMING CHURCH VISITORS

20 Blunders in Welcoming Church visitors

STETZER OF TRANSITIONING TO AN OUTWARD FOCUS

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A CHURCH TO HAVE AN OUTWARD FOCUS?

OUTWARD-FOCUSED QUOTES

THE EXTERNALLY FOCUSED CHURCH

THE OUTWARD FOCUSED CHURCH I LEAD

A CHURCH LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT - PART I

ALTERNATIVES TO SHUTTING DOWN A MINISTRY

6 SIGNS YOUR CHURCH IS STUCK IN "WALMART THINKING"

6 Signs that Your Church is Stuck in “Walmart Thinking”

6 REASONS WHY PEOPLE DON'T VISIT YOUR CHURCH

THE GOSPEL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

WHY DOES THE CHURCH EXIST?

CHURCH REDEFINED

AN OUTWARD-FOCUSED THOUGHT

BECKY PIPPERT - 5 REASONS CHRISTIANS HESITATE TO SHARE THEIR FAITH

IT'S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY'S COMING

STEVE SJOGREN ON GETTING STARTED

THE IMPORTANCE OF AFFIRMATION

BASICS TO GET YOUR MISSIONALK SMALL GROUPS OFF THE GROUND

SUPER COMPETENT