Evangelism Coach

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I write this sitting at the airport (Thanks for free wireless!), way too early in the morning. 

I’m headed to Tampa for the Transformation Pastor’s Conference, where I will be speaking a couple of sessions on on the role of personal evangelism and evangelism training in transforming a church.

What exactly is Church Transformation?

I’ve spent the last month talking with pastors around the US about church transformation.   A few are in really difficult situations (Leaving Egypt and Not Liking it).

From those discussions, it seems that a common idea is to help 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.

Stetzer calls them Comeback Churches.  I’ve seen other various titles, like Boomerang church, Redevelopment, Revitalization.  Seems the common word now is Transformational.

Moving from Attractional to Missional

Simply based on my conversations and reading, a common thread these pastors were sharing was working with congregations to shift from exclusive focus on attractional tweaks to becoming more missional and engaging their community.

Attractional ministry focused on quality programs, excellent hospitality, and marketing to get people in the door.  This was sometimes called a “magnetic” church.

As I’ve looked at Evangelism Committee reports, 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.

Attractional ministry is based on the idea that visitors are coming to your church already, and that if you do enough marketing, you can get more foot traffic in your door.  Your hospitality will help the newcomers “stick” (see www.stickychurch.com), and your church will grow.  It’s a variant of “if you build it they will come.”

Missional 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.  They still seek to improve their attractional ministries, but now realize that churches have to be connected to the neighhborhood.

It’s a journey process, and some have moved further along than others. 

Block Party to Pre-School

Ten years ago, an island church invited me to do some Evangelism Consulting with them about launching a new worship service.  The average age was 60, and no young families in the neighborhood.  They were in survival mode and needed something to get new people.

The pastor wanted a new worship service, but the congregational elders didn’t. 

Instead, I lead them into a brainstorming process, and out of that process they decided to do a block party.

The congregation organized the block party.  Food, games, inflatables, and so on.  Members hung door hangers around the neighborhood and invited the local community to come.

As a result of that block party 10 years ago (and its continued annual repeats) this church has discerned the neighborhood needs and launched several new ministries to reconnect with the neighbors:

• Preschool (now with an annual budget larger than the churches).
• Meals on Wheels.
• Neighborhood Watch
• And other ministries.

This church has become much more missional in it’s mindset and has lots of new vitality and energy to serve. 

Now they are being more intentional about actively sharing their faith along with serving the area and that is where more intentional evangelism training will come into play.

Bob Lotich, guest blogger for ChurchMarketingSucks.com gives a list of reasons to run from a church.  In it, he discusses visible clues that as a visiting guest he’s able to pick up on in a few repeat visits.

• Everything was Mediocre
• The Place was full of strife
• Unwillingness to Adapt
• Tickled the Ears
• Not Led with Passion.

From Chuck Lawless, Billy Graham School of Evangelism

· Evangelism in many churches is about believers responding to a guest who first visited the church rather than their proactively sharing Christ.  If the non-believer (whom we may not know personally) makes the first move, we are then ready to respond with the gospel. 

· Evangelism is sometimes reduced to “invite others to church, where someone else (the preacher) will tell them about Jesus” — and even then more corporately than individually.  In that case, nobody does personal evangelism.   

· In some congregations, evangelizing takes place more on the international mission field — as essential as that task is — than in a church member’s neighborhood.  The same believer who travels overseas to speak of Christ through a translator often leapfrogs his own unbelieving neighbors who speak the same language.   

· Despite the New Testament emphasis on laity, many churches still relegate evangelism to hired clergy.  As one church member told me, “We pay them to do that because they’re the ones trained for it.”  Personal involvement in evangelism is thus equated with putting a check in the offering plate on Sunday.

If you are one who likes to talk to strangers and you want some conversational items for travel rest stops, check out this list of evangelistic conversation bridges.

Ajith Fernando reminds us to get back to the priority of evangelism.

Leadership Magazine on Five Kinds of Christians.

Michael Spencer, in a post from May, writes:

“Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and sin no more.”

When the quality of God’s mercy in the Gospel no longer amazes you, you will begin to justify the dilution of amazing grace into religious grace, or moral grace, or grace in response to something.

Real grace is simply inexplicable, inappropriate, out of the box, out of bounds, offensive, excessive, too much, given to the wrong people and all those things.

I’m continuing this week a series on Christian Hospitality.  I have  a series linker, but we’ll see how it works as new pieces come in over the next few days as I write, and meditate on it. 

Here is some links and scriptures for your study.

Positive Examples of Biblical Hospitality

• Genesis 12:14-20
• Genesis 20:4-15
• 1 Kings 17:10-24
• Luke 19:1-10
• Acts 16:14-15
• Acts 28:2

Negative Examples of Biblical Hospitality

• Numbers 20:18-21
• Numbers 21:21-31
• Judges 19:15
• 1 Samuel 25:10-38
• Luke 9:51-56
• Luke 10:30-37

Biblical Hospitality Verses:

Matthew 25:34-43	Sheep and Goats
Luke 10:30-37	Good Samaritan
Acts 4:32-38	“had everything in common”
Romans 12:13	“practice hospitality”
Romans 16:1-23	Greetings and “who’s hospitality I enjoy”
1 Timothy 5:10	characteristic of a widow
Hebrews 13:2	“angels unaware”
1 Peter 4:7-11	“Offer Hospitality without grumbling”
3 John 1:5-8	“We ought to show hospitality”

 

Let me ask you this?

Do you have a favorite hospitality scripture or verse to add to this list?

(Picture from: MyfanwyX)

Why do we hang out only with Christians?

Fellow TEDS student writes “If Jesus Spent Lots of Time with Unbelievers, Why Do Most of Us Hang Out Only with Christians?“  With that opening question, there is a great essay of one wresting with how far into the world, how far out of the world should Christians be.

Evangelism moment with a Gorilla

What can a gorilla photo teach us about evangelism? 

Check out “Don’t Miss the Moment” by Mark Beeson. 

In it, he talks about what I’d call a karios moment — that moment between Phillip and the eunuch, between Peter and Cornelius, when the Holy Spirit has so ordered circumstances that destines are changed.

Getting Visitors without Spending Money

Chris Forbes of www.MinistryMarketingCoach.com writes How to Get More Prospects for Your Church Without Spending a Dime on Advertising.  He writes:

In a church of just ten people there are least 520 people connected to the membership. How many of those names can you get a hold of and make a personal contact with? How many of them know what faith in Christ is all about? Start working that list this week!

Printed Announcements

Many churches still use a bulletin or program to share the news of community life.

• Do you proofread your announcements?
• Is the font easy to read?
• Does the bulletin appear professional (not a 7th generation photocopy)
• Are contact names and phone numbers included?  If not, what central point can a person go to to get information.
• Do you have group names that don’t indicate who that group is (see below about The eagles).

Our church doesn’t use print announcements with the exception of a monthly newsletter that is distributed 1st Sunday every month.   More immediate announcements are given via video.

Video Announcements

Many churches make announcements via video screen these days, or in color bulletins, or so forth.

At the church we currently attend, these are shown at the end.  They keep attention, are short, and prevent a person from extending their announcement too long.

Contact Persons

Many video announcements conclude with “For more information, see Jack Smith” or other contact person.

As long time visitors, we realized

• that we don’t know Jack Smith. 
• we still don’t know who to ask to find Jack Smith.

We’d like to participate in Jack Smith’s event, but it’s hard to find information.

A better idea for video is to show a photo of Jack Smith.  For more information see Jack Smith, and include his picture so that people know what he looks like.

Simply including a picture would help get around the “everyone knows who Jack Smith is” mentality.  Visitors don’t know everyone.

Groups

Another video announcement really caught my eye.  It was for a group in the church going to hike in a park.  I thought it was a great idea to help our family connect.

It also was for a group in the church called “The Eagles.”  The narration didn’t describe who the eagles are. 

• Are they a football team? 
• Are they the pre-k kids? 
• Are they the old wise men? 

The video featured all sorts of imagery, but no faces of contact people in the church.   Looked like fun.

Who do I talk with?  I want to go to the park.

For more information

The narration also didn’t include where to get more information. 

When I asked someone about where to find more, their answer to me was “Everyone knows to go to the table at the back.” 

Well, not everyone.

Not visitor friendly.

Church insiders know

• who the group leaders are. 
• where group leaders can be found
• where information is distributed.

Visitors do not  know

• who Jack Smith is
• your sub group names
• if they are welcome to come. 
• information is available at the back table.

With those barriers to hospitality, visitors may not connect at the events in the life of the church you expect them to come to. 

Let me suggest this:

Take a look at your announcements over the past few weeks and see what kinds of barriers you have placed in front of visitors.

If you would like more information about evaluating your hospitality, check out our articles on hospitality and feel free to give us a call at 804-335-1445.  Send an email to pastor_chris@evangelismcoach.org and I will send you a hospitality audit form.

Stop Being a Friendly Church challenges the church with an interesting twist on hospitality (thanks to Tony Whitaker for highlighting this in the April  Web Evangelism Bulletin).  Essentialy, quit trying to be a “friendly church” and be a church “where you can make friends.”  There is a big difference and the article points out how.

Two items from the Web Evangelism Bulletin:

• Cynthia Ware (TheDigitalSanctuary.org) has written a 10-point guide to sharing your faith in Facebook, which she has generously allowed us to incorporate into our page on social networking:
  http://ied.gospelcom.net/social-networking.php
• Eric Robinson has written a ‘Facebook Application’ called ‘Life Questions’ which allows you to incorporate a block of evangelistic content within your Facebook profile. You can currently link to a range of pages within the EveryStudent.com site, according to your preference:
  http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=6611135350

Southern Baptists statistics report a decline in the Number of Baptisms.  According to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources, baptisms in 2007 for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) dropped nearly 5.5 percent to 345,941. That number compares to 364,826 the previous year.  According to the report’s author, many factors contribute to the decline.  But in response, he says local churches must make the Great Commission a priority.  Evangelism will be a key topic at the upcoming SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis in June. During the meeting, the SBC is expected to unveil a ten-year evangelism strategy. The report also showed that total mission expenditures topped $1.3 billion last year.

Have a great weekend.

PS: If you have not taken our reader survey, chime in and get a free download on evangelism definitions.

What kind of impression do visitors get when they come into your church for the first time?  Every church thinks it’s friendly. 

But I and many others have experienced the fear factor of walking into an unknown place and knowing immediately that we don’t fit and are not really welcome to remain.  (Download: Avoiding First Time Visitor Nightmares.)

During my last book buying binge (to add to the six overloaded bookshelves on evangelism), I picked up two specifically on assimilating visitors, or how to welcome and help visitors join your church community.

The first one I have already finished.  Gary McIntosh’s Beyond the First Visit: The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church.  (Click image or link to order yours direct from Amazon).

The cover promises to offer the reader a complete guide to church hospitality, and is written by well know church growth scholar Gary McIntosh.

Get Visitors To Church

If you have NEVER picked up a book on welcoming visitors, this can be a helpful introduction. 

This book does have some strengths in looking at the visitor flow of your church. 

1. Attracting Visitors — Getting them to come.
2. Welcoming Visitors — The art of Hospitality, dealing with first impressions and service.

But there are better books on the market (a preview of what I’m reading now — I’m really jazzed about it). 

How do YOU welcome a visitor

McIntosth begins with reminder of how important it is for churches to welcome the visitors that come. 

He asks: How do you react differently between a guest and a visitor? 

A guest is invited, expected, and thus you make sure the house is clean and in order. 

A visitor shows up unexpectedly, uninvited, and typically when you’re doing laundry or dressed in your painting clothes.

McIntosh encourages the church to think through how it welcomes guests, to review what it thinks about guests, and to encourage churches to see themselves through the eyes of a guest.

In the 2nd chapter, he reminds of how to be a great host.  Welcoming guests doesn’t happen accidentally, but on purpose with some careful planning and attention to the process (which is where a consultant can help you). 

He cites research from the 80s that churches need to keep 25 to 30 percent of their first time visitors to grow rapidly, while churches that only keep 5 to 8 percent will decline. 

Assuming those numbers are still current, let’s settle on a average of 16%.  How many visitors does your church need to grow?

See what the visitor sees

What is the first impression of your parking lot, your building. 

Signage?  Check out these church signs I found of churches — what do they communicate?

Upkeep of the Building?  What does this communicate?

First impressions — Do visitors have a positive interaction with the people in the church?

Disappointments

Though McIntosh offers some excellent advice, most of it is clearly dated, and most of the supporting research is from the early 1990s.  Most all the footnotes cite citations before the year 1995, the majority of which stretch all the way back to the 70s.  I kept feeling like I was reading late 1980s church growth stuff all over again. 

Our society may have changed, but this book doesn’t have any current research to make sure those conclusions are still valid. 

I’ve read widely on assimilating visitors, and if you have as well, you’ll find this book disappointing. 

It has a throw away chapter about the emergent church that feels like an attempt at being current and not really relevant to the book.  A few times I had to persevere through rabbit trails that had very little to do with welcoming visitors (for example, a whole chapter on launching new ministries).

Order yours

Gary McIntosh’s Beyond the First Visit: The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church.  (Click image or link to order yours direct from Amazon).