Maybe they just stopped coming and your not sure why.

Christmas events at your church provide you with an excellent opportunity to reach out to these inactive members once again.

Here is how you can do this.

1.  Look over your list of inactive people.

These could be regular attenders who have stopped coming to church, or a more formal category in your membership rolls.

For example, the membership rolls of the Presbyterian Church (USA) includes a category of “Inactive members.”

Look specifically for those who haven’t been 6 weeks or more in the last 6 months.

2. Identify those that could potentially return.

Some of these people have already shared reasons for dropping out of your church.

• They’ve moved out of town.
• They’ve started attending somewhere else and making new friends.
• They realize your congregation wasn’t a fit for them.
• They had a painful conflict with someone that hasn’t been resolved.

They have moved on.

But there will be some people whom you have not heard from, nor do you know their reason for their prolonged absence.

These are the people you want to make an effort to reconnect.

3.  Send them a handwritten personal invitation.

Hand write a note and invite them to attend one of your Christmas celebrations.

At least in the US, the mail system is still pretty good at delivering mail.

A hand written note from a member, or from the pastor, can communicate a lot of pastoral care.

In other countries that may not have a developed mail system (like certain ones in Latin America), find some other way to make that personal invitation.

• Maybe a personal email, text message, or blackberry message.
• Maybe a personal phone call.

In other words, make this form of contact highly personal to the people you want to reconnect.   Don’t send a bulk email to everyone.

Customize it and personalize it.

Invite them to celebrate Christmas with your church family.  It might be that special musical production.  It might be for that Christmas Eve service.

Pick something in your Christmas celebrations to make your invitation.

4.  Pray for the results.

Before you send out the letters, and while you are waiting for a response, spend time in prayer.

Pray for the families you are inviting.

Pray that the Lord would show you and your team how to minister to any need they may have.

Ask the Lord to give you eyes to see their need and see how to potentially help make new connections with new friends.

Each person is unique

People have their reasons for dropping out of your church.

Christmas is a great time to re-invite them to connect and a chance to perhaps start a new relationship with them.

It’s a time to bring healing, a time to make ammends, and a time to start over.

How you minister to people who do return is dependent on how the Lord leads you all.

But at least use the Christmas season to make a step towards inviting people to come back to your church.

He is a busy pastor, and in this video he’s grumbling to God about not having enough time to model personal evangelism.

Watch this video to find out what happened next.

(Note: if you read by RSS Feed, you may need to click through to see

Video: Richard White and Chris Walker talk about Cooperating with the Holy Spirit in Personal Evangelism)

Key points:

• “Do I know any Non-Christians?” – Not doing what he’s telling people to do.
• Driven to prayer
• How he noticed God’s voice speaking to him.
• Obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
• Watch for the moments that God gives you.
• Being patient to wait for God’s timing to bring salvation.
• Trust in the sovereignty of God to fulfill in the future what work still needs to be done.

Source: PC(USA) – Presbyterian News Service – PC(USA) records steepest membership loss since reunion in 1983.

Membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) fell by 69,381 in 2008, the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) has announced in its annual statistical report, continuing a trend that began in the mid-1960s.

Total membership of the denomination is now 2,140,165.

According to the Research Services office of the General Assembly Council (GAC), the 2008 decline was the PC(USA)’s largest numerical and percentage net membership loss since Presbyterian reunion in 1983.

Almost 104,000 people joined the PC(USA) last year, but that good news was more than offset by the 34,101 Presbyterians who died, the 34,340 who were members of the 25 congregations that left the PC(USA) for other denominations, and the staggering 104,428 who were removed from the rolls by their sessions without apparently joining any other church.

Can a positive spin be put on this?   The General Assembly Stated Clerk announces

Parsons insisted that “Presbyterians can be evangelists!”

“But we often stumble over the words. Can we not challenge one another to be able to answer these basic questions,” he said. “Why do I believe in God? Why do I go to church? Why do I go to that particular church?”

Fewer congregations were dissolved in 2008 than in 2007 — 65 vs. 71 the previous year. And 40 new churches were organized last year, 23 more than the previous year. The PC(USA) currently comprises 10,751 congregations.

This suggests the need for

• Additional personal evangelism training.
• Personal or Congregational Coaching to help existing congregations in personal evangelism, not just church planting or transformation
• Evangelism Trainers who can help members articulate their faith or share their personal stories of God’s activity in their life.

Part of this ministry’s goal is to help individuals learn how to share their faith without being obnoxious, and without stepping into all the politics of denominational positions on social issues.

Later this year, I will launch www.EvangelismTrainingUniversity.com, to help provide some personal evangelism training.  It will have a susbscription fee with it, but the material is in the works.

There is a signup form to get more information as it unfolds over the summer of 2009.

The course is still in the works, so there is not a lot of details I can provide at the moment.

Eric Hoey, in an additional statement wrote:

In a June 18 statement, the Rev. Eric Hoey, the GAC’s director of Evangelism and Church Growth,  . . . . . attributed the large number of new members, in part, to the “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” initiative that came out of the 218th General Assembly (2008).

“Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” created a groundswell of local and regional activity. The initiative challenged all levels of the church to acknowledge our decline and to commit to four areas of growth: evangelism, discipleship, servanthood and diversity,” Hoey said.

“Presbyterian News Service has written a series of articles about congregations that are engaged in innovative outreach programs in order to Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide,’” he added.

Kimball gears his book at those who want to get out of the Christian subculture and actually engage people in spiritual conversation.

In fact, most of Part I is how he came to that discovery in his own life as a pastor and church planter.  I found myself nodding in agreement way too many times, guilty as charged.

Most of us, including many of you who read this blog, would probably agree that

we are too busy inside the church to know those outside the church.

To me, this was one of the seminal books in my missional thinking.

Many others have followed in its path, such as

• Barna’s unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters, and to some extent (my review of unChristian)
• Evangelism Where You Live: Engaging Your Community by Stephen Pate
  • See Part I of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part I
  • See Part II of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part II
  • See Part III of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part III
• Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and How to Reach Them: Ed Stetzer

I’m sure there are other books, but these three immediately come to mind in terms of reengaging the culture.

Part 1 of They Like Jesus

Part 1 of Kimball’s book describes how the culture is changing, particularly in North America.

These are not statistical observations, but observation based on his real life conversations and interactions with the culture.

What he states may seem obvious now, as many others have followed in Kimball’s footsteps.  I need not spend a lot of time here.

He’s quite brutally honest about how the church has failed to stay connected with the culture.  The message may not have failed, but we are failing in our method.

Part 2 of They Like Jesus

Part 2 asks the question: What Emerging Generations Think about the Church.

This 6 chapter section reflects hundreds of personal conversations that Kimball has had, and many of the same things that Barna’s statistical research revealed in unChristian.  Anyone who is seeking to engage the current culture shapers should be aware of these items.  This part provides an excellent window into North American Culture.

A list of non-Christian perceptions of the church addressed in this book are as follows (taken directly from the table of contents):

• The church is an organized religion with a political agenda
• The church is judgmental and negative
• The church is dominated by males and oppresses females
• The church is homophobic
• The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
• The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

Part 3 of They Like Jesus

Part 3 is on how the church can respond.  His book has excellent ideas about conversation, dialogue, and theological discussions about conversational evangelism.

I like what he has done with the Bridge Illustration, by adding a 2nd chasm to cross – that second chasm is the Christian subculture that has so alienated seekers, that one needs to build bridges of connection there as part of the gospel explanation process.

Bridging that gap by being in the world but not of it, spending time in conversation with non-Christians are all part of that trust building process.

Main takeaways:

1. “We must see ourselves as missionaries vs. having an evangelism department or program.”
2. “We must become listeners of people and watchers of culture.”

The challenger warned me that I could only reach so many people, but if I delegated and empowered, I could lead larger ministries with longer reaches and greater sustainability.  The challenger mentioned that my personal limit of people I could effectively influence was likely around 120-150.  If I could influence leaders, the ministry could grow beyond my personal limits.

One blog I read (ChrisBrogan.com) shares the source behind the social limit of real relationships that a person can maintain.

There’s a theory called Dunbar’s Number that suggests there’s an upper limit to the amount of relationships we can maintain. If you’re interested in networking, this should be an issue. That number, for the record, is 150. 

Source: Beating Dunbars Number | chrisbrogan.com.

Implications for pastors

I know of a church plant that started about nearly 10 years ago.  I checked in on it recently, and the pastor reports that it has plateaued about 125-135 people for the past five years and that the turnover rate is about 45% each year.

New people come in, other people leave after about a year or two.  The net effect is that the congregation has remained numerically stable.

This church is a single pastorate, and the pastor has a leadership style where his hand is in everything.

Pastor sets the direction (with a board of government), pastor runs the small groups, pastor runs the worship service and no ministry gets started without the pastor’s initiative.  Recently pastor split up the small groups into different areas, but he still maintains a pretty tight involvement with the leaders.

Pastor lovingly leads it all.  There is joy in the congregation, no complaints, and for this church this type of leadership functions.  It’s not a dictatorship and pastor is not a control freak.  He gets joy out of being involved.

Now, before you agree with me that this is

• Not healthy, or
• A recipe for burnout or
• Effective in a small church, or
• Leadership style that hinders further growth

let me connect it to the point.

1.  The church will not grow any larger.

If Dunbar’s number holds true, the limit of a single pastor who feels the need to be involved in everything will be about 150.  It seems to me that the congregation has reached the practical end of its growth unless the pastor gives and empowers leadership to raise up their own networks.

2.  Leaders leave because they can’t serve or lead.

This church leadership model does not delegate and empower leadership of other ministry.   It doesn’t effectively raise up others to lead their own network of 150.  Not having a place to serve or contribute their gifts, after a while solid believers leave for a place where they can serve.

This particular congregation is at a moment of stage of church growth.  If it wants to continue its dream of fulfilling its particular calling, one thing that must change is the leadership style.

Implications for Church Planting

I know it’s not as simple as waving a wand to make a solution, but if you are wondering why your church isn’t growing — perhaps you’ve maxed out the social limit of your leaders?

How much leadership can you give away to trusted and respected leaders?

With regards to evangelism training in your church’s DNA, is the pastor in charge of it all, or is that delegated as well to empowered leaders?

One church planting coach that I have gotten to know uses Jethro’s advice to Moses — delegate and empower.  Put people in charges of 50s, 100s, and 1000s.

Implications for Church Visitor Retention Rates

There are practical implications here as well to keeping church visitors in your midst.

In the church I describe, the back door is as big as the front door.

People come and perhaps stay connected for a little while, but without the empowerment to lead and serve in ministries, they may likely take their gifting elsewhere where they are needed.

Your church is working hard at retaining visitors and building connections, but the leadership DNA won’t let it grow.

Coaching corner:

Could this issue — 150 people per pastor — be part of the reason?   Take a look and think about it for a while.

]]> http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2009/beating-dunbars-number/feed/ 7 http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2009/mothers-day-2009-outreach-ideas/ http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2009/mothers-day-2009-outreach-ideas/#comments Sun, 03 May 2009 13:22:57 +0000 EvangelismCoach http://www.evangelismcoach.org/?p=2032 Mother’s Day 2009 may be a time to conduct special weekend event outreaches.  I know several pastors that will give a sermon related to motherhood.  But it’s also an opportunity for churches to engage their neighborhood.

Some links have since broken

Mother’s Day Outreach Ideas

Here are some Mother’s Day Outreach ideas from around the web (Ed Note: Links are slowing breaking, but the ideas are good)

• Mothers Day oil-change Outreach – free oil changes for moms in a neighborhood daycare.
• $1000 Room Mother’s Day Makeover lottery – raffle for a room makeover for two single mothers
• Mother’s Day Baby Supply Drive –  Gathering baby related supplies for a local women’s home and families in need.
• Mother’s Day Outreach for Refugees – Home visit with gift baskets to new immigrants / refugees in the neighborhood.
• Passing out Mother’s Day cards at local nursing home by youth group.
• Mother’s Day Brunches, banquets, and other celebrations around a meal.
• Mother’s Day Baby shower at the hospital for new infants born that day.

Church Marketing during Mother’s Day

From MediaOutreach.com

1. Attract those seeking to attend churches these days to come to your church

• Utilize print pieces – billboards, mail drops, and door hangers can all inform your community of your presence
• Involve members – give members invite cards and access to e-invite so they can invite family, friends, and coworkers
• Update your website – include an announcement right on the homepage that lets visitors to the site know what you are doing

2. Turn these occasional visitors into active members

• Prepare your leaders for the new comers – have people ready to greet new visitors, help them find a seat, answer questions, and show them love through caring for their needs
• Prepare your church facilities – make sure you have lots of designated parking for visitors, plenty of seats in the church and extra clean and tidy restrooms
• Prepare your children’s ministry – get extra volunteers to help with child care and Sunday school so that the parents can enjoy the service

As you do these things, you will attract this group of people into your church and help them feel welcomed so that they will return. . . .

As you move through this time, we encourage you to be aware of the potential and opportunity for changing lives. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing more thoughts and ideas on preparing for. . .  .Mother’s Day. Please join us and let us know how things are going and what you see God do through you this . . . Mother’s Day season.

Let me ask you this?

Share with us some of your mother’s day outreach plans.  Use the comment form below.

Prepare your church for Mother’s Day

Paul exhorted the Christians in Ephesus to: “…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18).”

For us this includes being in regular intercession for our world.

Praying for Personal Repentance

“…Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…” Hebrews 12:1

John wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives (I John 1:8-10).”

Effective intercession must include personal confession.

Refusing to acknowledge and turn from our own disobedience always results in a form of spiritual self-deception.

As Jesus explained, “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:5).”

As you pray, put into practice John’s exhortation. Hold your life up to such passages as I Peter 3:8-12.

Praying for the Infilling of the Holy Spirit for Life and Ministry

Jesus commands us, if we are to be his witnesses, to be clothed with his power. Jesus urged his first disciples and us to be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit for missions.

Paul exhorted the church, “Do not be drunk on wine … Instead, be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).”

The seedbed of theological, spiritual, and moral decline in the church is often lifeless, dry orthodoxy. Also, the church’s evangelism and overseas mission often falter because of reliance upon human strength, rather than empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Having a biblical framework of theology is critical. But our head must be connected to a heart ablaze with the life of God.

As Paul instructed the church in Ephesus to be filled with the Spirit, pray for the church to be filled with the presence of God’s Spirit. Pray for yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit so you may be empowered to do this work of prayer for the church, and to be equipped to do the work of Jesus Christ.

Praying for the World

1. Pray for workers: When Jesus saw the crowds, he instructed his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38).”

In context, Jesus was looking at the sheep of Israel.

In part, he was instructing his disciples to pray for true workers to be raised up to shepherd his people. This should be our continuous prayer as we intercede for the church.

But, it also applies to the vast fields of people stretching around the world. Besides praying for godly shepherds to lead the church, pray for workers to be raised up to minister around the world.

2. Pray for Open doors: Paul wrote the Colossians, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:2-3).”

As you devote yourself to prayer, ask the Lord to open doors for the world mission endeavor to proclaim the mystery of Christ among even more people.

3. Pray for the Gospel to Spread and to be Honored: Paul asked the church to intercede for his mission team, “brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored … (2 Thessalonians 3:1).”

How does the gospel spread?

It takes people who are willing to go and share God’s truth.

It also requires Christians who are willing to stand with them in persistent intercession.

How does God’s message come to be honored? In answer to the church’s intercession God will bring the spiritual climate in which the Scripture is honored for what it is: God’s truth.

Our prayer should not only be for workers and open doors, but for the message to spread and find a place of honor in the hearts of people.

Setting the Captives free

1. Pray with Expectation: (Read Luke 18:25-27.) No matter how impossible the situation may look or how entrenched in spiritual darkness may be, God is able to cause his light to penetrate to the heart.

2. Pray for the Father to Draw People: (Read John 6:44) In our sinful state, none of us are capable of coming out of spiritual darkness and drawing near to God on our own. Only through the drawing of God the Father were we able to find freedom in Christ.

As we pray for people, in line with the clear will of God, our prayer should be for God to draw them to the grace, love and truth found only in Jesus Christ.

3. Pray for an understanding of Jesus Christ: (Read Matthew 16:17) Personally grasping the reality and the relevance of Jesus Christ comes only through the Holy Spirit’s work. We come to believe that Jesus is the Christ as the Holy Spirit imparts faith. Pray for the Holy Spirit to bring a true understanding of Jesus Christ to those blinded by sin and Satan.

4. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s Conviction of Sin, Righteousness and Judgment: (Read John 16:9-11.) The Holy Spirit brings conviction to people of sin, righteousness and judgment.

Concerning sin, the Holy Spirit brings an awareness to people of the sin and the spiritual darkness into which their sin has plunged their lives.

Concerning righteousness, the Holy Spirit brings a personal conviction that only through the accomplished work of Jesus Christ can a person be right with God. It is through the Spirit’s activity that people begin to understand their need to be put right with God.

Concerning judgment, the Holy Spirit brings an understanding that to continue in rebellion against God is to embrace the same kind of judgment which the prince of the world has already received.

As we intercede for people bound in spiritual darkness, our prayers should include the request for the Spirit of God to bring his conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment.

Bringing Down Strongholds

1. Focus on Jesus: First we are to focus on Jesus Christ in worship, obedience, and prayer. To let the twisting of truth, idolatry, or any sin to consume our attention is to lose our focus. No matter how great the darkness, our eyes are to be steadfastly on Jesus Christ as Lord.

2. Confession: Next we need to be honest before the Lord in confessing and turning from any idolatry, immorality or rebellion we are harboring within ourselves. This includes sins of omission. James taught, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins (James 4:17).” Have we been in regular prayer for the church and the world? Have we been living our life according to God’s will as revealed through scripture?

3. Pray to be Filled with God’s Spirit, Wisdom, Discernment & Love: Neither our wisdom nor arguments will bring deliverance from the stronghold of darkness revealed. Only by the power of God’s Spirit will the obstruction be removed. God’s wisdom, discernment and love are required if our labor for renewal is to result in lasting change. As you pray, ask the Lord to fill his people with his Spirit and the love, wisdom and discernment needed for effective ministry.

4. In the Light of Scripture: All spiritual activity needs to be evaluated in the light of clear Biblical teaching concerning the true nature of God and his activity in the world.

5. Persistent Intercession: We are to respond with persistent intercession for those perpetuating and those influenced by the stronghold.

God has chosen to work through the intercession of his people to bring convicting, and awareness of spiritual bondage and an urgency for finding true freedom in Christ.

When a block is discerned, we are to pray until the stronghold is removed and those in darkness are finding true spiritual liberty.

6. Resist the Demonic: Peter instructed the church: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith ... (1 Peter 5:6-9).” With the praise of God, the Word of God, persistent prayer, the cleansing blood of Jesus, humbling ourselves in obedience and in the strong name of Jesus, we are to resist these spiritual forces of the evil one until they are fleeing.

Rejoicing in the Lord

Paul encouraged the church: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:4-7).”

As we pray, our intercession is to be saturated with joy and praise in the Lord. Our God is able and willing to answer.

1. Rejoice in God’s Faithfulness to Answer Prayer: (Read 2 Corinthians 18-20.) As you hear and pray according to the promises of God, of what can we be confident? Our joy in praying comes from the fact that God is faithful.

2. Rejoice in God’s Invitation: (Read Revelation 3:19-20.) How does God deal with those whom he loves? How does Jesus respond to those in the church who repent?

3. Rejoice in the Open Door: (Read Matthew 7:7-11.) As we consistently pray for open doors, what reason does this passage give us to rejoice?

4. Rejoice in our Lord’s Victory: In response to the confession of Peter, Jesus declared: “… you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:18-19).” The strongholds of Satan cannot withstand when those who are grounded on the rock of Jesus Christ move forward in obedience. Because the satanic forces have been bound through Jesus’ victory on the cross, we can take up the keys of the kingdom, step forward in his authority and unlock the forces of spiritual darkness. What are the keys of the kingdom? They represent the authority that Jesus has won to redeem people from spiritual darkness.

What do the keys of the kingdom do? They unlock the gates of hell and enable the captive to find freedom. What are the specific keys? They are the spiritual means through which Jesus administers his liberating power. One of the primary keys by which Jesus brings liberty to the captive is prayer. Whether it be an individual, a population group, or a religious body, a chief means for breaking Satan’s web of deception is prayer.

As we pray for the people and against the spiritual strongholds affecting their lives, we can rejoice even before seeing the results. Jesus has won the victory. Before the forward march of the church, the strongholds must collapse. As we persist in prayer, God will work his deliverance.

Author: Pastor Bill Dean.

See Part I of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part I

See Part II of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part II

This final section of Chapters 5 – 8 gets into the nuts and bolts of what this might look like in the local church.

CBSE involves a Christ follower who serves others out of his or her passion, using one’s spiritual gifts at connection points of need in the community to demonstrate the love of Jesus to others as a salt and light servant.  . . . .

Administratively, CBSE reduces the church’s events and ongoing programs to allow people to be deployed into their daily lives to exercise their passions and gifts. (73)

Chapter 5: Salt and Light Servants

The majority of current discipleship material seems to be focused on information, not so much on experiential transformation.  The idea was that better information and accumulated information would lead to spiritual transformation.

The authors have seen this descend into matters of personal preference, rallies around the latest Christian bestseller, and rabbit trails into the most effectively marketed latest trend .

However, they see a shift from information to experience.

A method that fosters experience to help shape a person’s spiritual formation.

Educational materials are connected with service in the community “as the context to live out the expression of a life in relationship to Christ.”

I have often noted and taught that I learn by doing.

In other businesses, I could study, study, study, but until I was actually doing, the study didn’t make sense.  Study lead to hypothesizing, thinking about 1000 what ifs.

But not until I got into people’s lives and talking with them 1-1 about their spiritual journey did any of the studies seems to start finding a purpose.

Perhaps a quote from Randy Pope captures this better in this illustration:

Much in the way that eating creates no appetite for exercise, so too, I have found that Bible study and prayer alone do not create mission oriented Christians.  But, just as exercise creates a desire for food and drink, mission related activities create an insatiable thirst and hunger to feed on God’s word (89).

The idea is deploy your church members to serve their community and that kind of relational context will spur personal growth.

Eating has never created in us a desire to exercise, but preparing to run 26.2 miles in about 4 hours definitely creates not only a desire, but a need to eat (89).

In the same way, service may very well be the missing factor in developing fully devoted followers of Christ.  Transformation happens in combination with information and experience.

Chapter 6: Connection Points

The subtitle focuses the chapter on Evangelism Training.  The authors have given lots of evangelism training over the years, from memorizing gospel scripts, to relational evangelism seminars, yet not seeing any statistical evidence of new believers.  The rare church had more than 5 new believers in a year after the seminar.

Church’s are beginning to ask “Why is training people on how to share their faith not resulting in new Christ followers?”

The authors claim that intentional community service is the missing ingredient.  The chief issue is that our church members have lost touch with genuine relationships with people far from God.

To fulfill the front half of the Great Commission the process will always begin with a Christ-follower connecting with someone far from God.  To lead someone into a personal relationship with Christ has little to do with whether someone has attended training and learned a model presentation to the Gospel (95).

Connecting Points

The chapter lays out how to find connection points with the local community, beginning with an inventory from Becoming a Contagious Christian, Hybels and Mittleberg:

• People we know
• People we used to know
• People we would like to know.

I use a similar idea with Spheres of Influence.

The key for churches is to assist members in creating a context for connection, but it remains up to the individual member to connect.

The third group, people we would like to know, is where the role of community service comes into play.  Relationships develop best around a need the mutual relationship can meet.

Where is your church member passionate?  Where is their burden? Examples:

• Single Moms?
• Fatherless kids?
• Teachers?
• Firefighters?
• Undercover FBI agents?
• Little League?

Where are their gifts?  Administratively gifted folks can organize events or run leagues.  Mercy gifted folks can visit people.

We have come to realize that not assisting our church members to develop a connection point into an authentic relationship is simply not providing good leadership.

Chapter 7 and 8: Implementing CBSE

Chapter 7 and 8 map out how to make such philosophical changes in implementing Community Based servant evangelism.  The authors note that there are several books about systemically changing a congregation, and they note that their system works when followed.

The process is organic and leadership driven.

First four steps are for the pastor, the next two are are for the leadership, and the last 5 are how to make it public.

• Pray and read the Bible
• Church leadership must own the mission of “Love God and Love Others”
• Must be totally supported by the Senior Pastor and or Lead Pastor
• Enlist top / key church influencers
• Enlist a CBSE champion
• Enlist a CBSE leadership team
• Design a plan
• Provide training
• Cast the vision to your church
• Implement the plan
• Evaluate all aspects and correct

This list may seem generic in terms of changing systems, but the chapters tease them out more fully.

A Pastor’s Personal Prayer life

It strikes me how a pastor’s personal relationship with God is the root of this change, not only the pastors, but so also the rest of the leadership.

In a 2007 review of surveys of pastors,

two hundred seventy (270 or 26%) of pastors said they regularly had personal devotions and felt they were adequately fed spirituality.

Seven hundred fifty-six (756 or 72%) of the pastors we surveyed stated that they only studied the Bible when they were preparing for sermons or lessons.

If the root of systemic change in a church is found in a pastor’s personal relationship with God, then how can churches give their pastors time to nurture that relationship?    From another study in the same report:

We found that 90% of pastors work more than 50 hours a week. One out of three pastors state that being in the ministry is clearly hazardous for their families. One out of three pastors felt totally burned out within the first five years of ministry.

Research from Crandall (see 5 phases of renewal from Turnaround and Beyond: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church) indicates that personal renewal is the number one factor in successful turnaround in churches.

Research from Martha Gay Reese (Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism (Real Life Evangelism Series) elevates the importance of prayer for a congregation to pick up and maintain an evangelistic passion.

Order your copy

Evangelism Where You Live: Engaging Your Community from Amazon

From Ed Stetzer’s research:

In fact, 73 percent of unchurched twentysomethings consider themselves “spiritual” and would like to know more about “God or a higher supreme being.”

This is 11 percent higher than among unchurched individuals who are 30 years old and older.

They are also significantly more likely to attend church or a small group than older, unchurched generations.

This research is included in my newest book, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them, co written by Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes. You can get some more numbers and thoughts from the authors of the book in this article at Lifeway.

The research suggests that the church is not doing well enough in meeting their needs, and looks into why they do or do not attend.

Definitions used in this research:

• Young Adults: 20-29 who didn’t go to church in the last 6 months (perhaps execept for a wedding or funeral)
• Spiritual: self-identify as spiritual.  A sense that God is real and they think about spiritual things.

They are interested in the Jesus, but not the church (See They like Jesus, but not the Church by Dan Kimball).  Interested in depth and community.  The catch is that these can be found outside of the church.

What they are looking for is what the church is called to be.

They have more historic beliefs such as Jesus actually rose from the dead,  but a higher sense of pluralism suggests they may not connect them with the local church.  81% believe in God or a surpreme being, but 58% suggested there is no difference between the dieties of other religions.

Listen to the full 20 minute podcast — I found it very interesting.

“The most encouraging take away, when a pastor looks into what young adults are looking for — any church despite their style or music — I can really help our church meet their needs: relationships, authenticity, social action, mentoring”

From the related article at Lifeway:

The survey also indicated that young adults have an openness toward conversations about Christianity. Eighty-nine percent of unchurched young adults say they would listen to what someone believes about Christianity. That number is 14 percent higher than among those 30 and older.

Young adults would also react positively to invitations from friends to study the Bible. Survey respondents were asked to affirm the following statement: “I would be willing to study the Bible if a friend asked me to.” Sixty-one percent of 20-somethings responded, “Yes.” That’s about 20 percent higher than affirmative responses from older generations.

The survey also revealed opportunities for churches among the 20-something crowd. According to the survey, 63 percent of young adults said they would attend church if it presented truth to them in an understandable way “that relates to my life now.” Only 47 percent of respondents 30 years old and older agreed.

Unchurched young people also want to know the church cares about them. The survey found that 58 percent of 20-somethings would be more likely to attend if people at the church “cared for them as a person.”

The national phone survey included 900 unchurched respondents ages of 20-29 and 502 respondents age 30 and over. The survey provides a 95 percent confidence that the sampling error is 2.5 percent.

Let me ask you this

What do these statistics mean for your local context?

Are you seeing this in your local church context?

Share with us what you think in the comment field (Feed readers via email or RSS will need to click through).

See Part I of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part I

The authors do make progress in developing their thesis in the remainder part of the book.

Chapter 3: Place

In my take, Chapter 3 serves as the crux of the entire book, even before the authors get to defining what they mean by community based servant evangelism.

They do an analysis of the idea of “the third place.” I think Starbucks is famous for that term.

I remember reading Pour Your Heart Into It, about the founding of Starbucks.  Founder Howard Schultz does not conceal his passion for good coffee or for his company. His initial goals were to introduce Americans to really fine coffee, provide people with a “third place” to gather and treat his employees well.

In an attempt to make Starbucks a “home away from home”, the café section of the store is often outfitted with comfortable chairs, as well as the usual tables and hard-backed chairs found in cafés. Free electricity outlets are provided for patrons, and many branches also have wireless Internet access.  Many larger retail stores also host “mini-concerts” for local musicians (Wikipedia)

Other stores have followed suite, such as bookstores.

Wikipedia describes the third place as: “Third places, then, are “anchors” of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction.”

To Wilkes and Pate,

Place is a prioritized period of time which an individual is forced, feels obligated, or chooses to invest who they are. [Emphasis mine] (46).

Best use of Place?

The question they ask, and the brilliant one that struck me:

What place is the local church for most people?

What place should it be?  First, second, third, or farther down the list?  . . As the local church goes after first, second, or third place, with whom will they do battle?  . . .

Why do churches add places instead of leveraging the places that are already central to people’s lives?

As the foundational premise for their community based servant evangelism, Wilkes and Pate argue that church members should be out in the community as the “third place” serving the community in ways that utilize their passion and gifts.

To those far from God, the church is likely not even in the top 10.  To those who even are close to God, I would argue it’s not even 3rd for many of us.

Family, work, school activities, typically fulfill first, second, and third in a person’s life.  Followed in no particular order with personal or family interests, sports, music lessons, recreational activity, leisure activity, community activities and religion activities.

Where is the church to fit when it has to compete for all these “spaces” in the lives of those who haven’t made space for it yet?  People will make space for what they deem valuable.  Marketers know that.

If we think of all the person hours it takes to run the church, have we left our parishioners with enough space to build relationships with unchurched people?

Helping our members in the 3rd Place

The key question for Wilkes and Pate is this:

Why can’t the church support its members when they are involved in their third, forth, and fifth place activities?

Why can’t the local church encourage members to serve in secular and civic organizations instead of only serving church programs?

Our churches can re-engage it’s culture by actively serving in schools, community, and civic organizations at a higher place (51).

Serving in the community as the third place will provide for lots of natural opportunities for people to share their faith and meet the needs of the community.

They provide several examples about coaching volleyball, helping neighbors find jobs, counseling for teen pregnancies, homeless shelters.  These community service activities are more than just good works, but provide conversational connection points where church members can share their faith and influence the world.

This can help your church members get beyond the “I don’t know any non Christians” (See Do you have any non-Christian Friendships?).

By giving your church members

• permission and encouragement to serve in the community
• training on how to talk about their faith

you can help the people build relationships with those who are outside the church.   This sets up Chapter 4 and the rest of the book.

Chapter 4: Defining Community Based Servant Evangelism

Community based servant evangelism (which they dub CBSE) is more than doing random acts of kindness in Jesus name.  It’s intentional evangelism.

It’s a philosophy of ministry and strategy of organizing the church that will influence ministry, events, and programs of the local church and specifically, the community (55).

Pate and Wilkes spend the next several pages defining each word and how they are using it.

The end result is picture of empowering individuals and small groups to find a need in the community that fits their passion and gifts and then creatively find ways to meet that need.

The resultant relational connections built on the foundation of service and meeting mutual needs establish opportunities for spiritual growth and evangelism.  Instead of always recruiting church members for program needs of the church, this permission giving approach empowers your members to get out and serve.

As people serve, relationships naturally form.  The evangelism portion of this model is for your members to be intentional in looking for opportunities to talk about their own spiritual walk with Christ.

CBSE involves a Christ follower who serves others out of his or her passion, using one’s spiritual gifts at connection points of need in the community to demonstrate the love of Jesus to others as a salt and light servant.  . . . .

Administratively, CBSE reduces the church’s events and ongoing programs to allow people to be deployed into their daily lives to exercise their passions and gifts. (73)

This really is a philosophy of ministry.  In this chapter, the authors give lots of examples of how this has played out in their experience and what it means for this to become part of the DNA of a congregation.

Learn more

Part III (final Part) comes tomorrow — Grab my feed to have it delivered to you automatically.  See Part I of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part I

Learn more about this philosophy of ministry direct from the author, Stephen Pate.

Register for the Community Based Servant Evangelism Webinar this coming Thursday.