MISSIONAL LEADERS NEEDED

BY DR STEVE DUNN

Thirty years ago, a pastor named Frank Tillapaugh wrote a powerful and compelling book called Unleashing the Church. It was subtitled “Getting the People Out of the Fortress and Into Ministry.”  He was one of the first to address the issue of churches that had become more organizational than the organic Body of Christ.  Tillapaugh saw the church as seeking to live behind fortress-like walls that kept protected from the world and its problems, that attempted to give Christians a safe place to stay out of the battle.

 

Tillapaugh also recognized that the leaders of these “fortresses” were more concerned with maintenance than mission.  In fact, their “preservation” or “maintaining” mindset insured the church having an inward focus, by seeing that as the focus as something to be preserved and protected.  Their whole modus operandii was to preserve and protect by controlling as much as possible, eliminating any risk, resistng any change.

Yet when the Holy Spirit leads the church, He calls and sends.  The Spirit unleashes God’s power and sends the Church out into the world.  For the Holy Spirit empowers a mission that reflects the Great Commission.  “Go and make” were Jesus words.

This is why a church that seeks to impact our world and to help be transformed by working of God–must give up that old maintenance mentality that builds fortresses rather than launching  out to reach people who needs Jesus/

 A maintenance leader builds fortresses.

 A missional leader takes the church out to fulfill the Great Commssion.

In our world today the church MUST have missional leaders.

 © 2015 by Stephen L Dunn
Permission is given to reprint this post as long as it is not included in material that is for sale, that it is reproduced in its entirety including the copyright notice, and that a link is provided to this blog.

CREATING A NEW MINISTRY

BY STEVE DUNN

Some churches start new ministries by purchasing a prepackaged program that has been used successfully.  Such an approach is fraught with challenges and difficulties.  Every ministry designed from scratch is created in a specific context.  That means in a particular ministry setting with very specific resources, dynamics, experience and mission.  Unless the next group using this ministry has a context that mirrors the first, there is no guarantee that it success in the first setting will be replicated in the next.

Far better in almost every case is a ministry designed from the beginning for a specific setting.  We often resist doing that, however, because we believe we lack the creativity and leadership necessary.  Better to borrow and tweak.

Most churches, however, can create a new ministry uniquely suited to its setting and capable by the Spirit’s empowerment to be fruitful.

There are some simple planning questions that can guide this creative process.

1. What is the purpose of the ministry you are attempting to create?  Be specific.

2. Who is the specific target (or beneficiary of this ministry)?  Name names of real people.

3. What kind of leadership gifts and passions will be needed to accomplish this?  Again, be specific.

4. What other resources will this require? Space, time, money, workers.

5. How will we know this ministry is successful? By what fruit will you measure it?

6. Is this the right time?

And, of course, all of this needs to be pervaded with prayer.

(c) 2014 BY STEPHEN L DUNN

This post originally appeared in another of my blogs BEING THE BEST CHURCH FOR THE COMMUNITY.-May 2014

CREATING A CHURCH THAT UNCHURCHED PEOPLE LOVE TO ATEND

From Andy Stanley comes some solid counsel for outward focused churches.

From Marty Duren comes a timely and insightful look at keeping our focus on our mission and our strategies realistically capable of supporting that mission.  Thanks to Justin Meier, the Church Expansion Specialist for the Churches of God, General Conference for bringing this to my attention. - STEVE

Sports Illustrated, Blockbuster, and Your Church

 By Marty Duren

Years ago there was a world-beating sports magazine called Sports Illustrated. It was the one thing that every football, baseball, basketball loving person could not wait to see weekly in the mailbox or on the newsstand.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the throne crumbled. An upstart cable TV network called ESPN became the must-watch channel for sports fans. ESPN provided sports updates all morning so people getting ready for work could catch up on the scores and highlights from the previous night. No more having to wait a week for Sports Illustrated. Fans did not even have to wait until the sports segment on the evening news.

Now ESPN boasts multiple cable channels, a partnership with ABC Sports (via parent company, Disney), its own Olympics (the X-Games), its own magazine, and a host of other properties. ESPN is now THE undisputed leader in sports. Sports Illustrated still exists, but its once dominant foothold is long gone.

What is the difference? Sports Illustrated mistakenly thought it was in the magazine business. ESPN correctly understood itself to be in the sports information business. If Sports Illustrated had understood its true position and leveraged its talent base, reach and influence, ESPN might still be a channel.

Remember when there were Blockbuster stores? People got into their cars, drove miles to a brick building (or strip mall) to rent movies on VHS, and later on DVD. Remember when Blockbuster dropped their late fees even though it made up a large portion of its revenue? Why would a company willfully drop revenue?

This other out-of-nowhere company called Netflix had arrived. A Netflix membership allowed you to order DVDs online and have them sent directly to your mailbox! There were no late fees. Instead, you simply had to return the movies you had rented before ordering more. No driving in the snow or rain, no penalty for being forgetful—and no need to rewind. Netflix was a game changer.

As if that were not enough, Netflix was an early provider of online streaming movies and TV shows enabling subscribers to watch on their desktop, laptop or tablet. Now Netflix produces its own shows and movies.

What is the difference? Blockbuster mistakenly thought it was in the movie rental business. Netflix correctly understood itself to be in the entertainment content delivery business. Blockbuster had both the market share and the leverage to do everything Netflix did. They simply did not have the understanding of the times or vision of the future.

Unfortunately many churches are like Sports Illustrated and Blockbuster. They rightly see themselves are repositories of truth with a responsibility to get truth to others. Unfortunately, they hold to a singular content delivery system—the Sunday morning service—as ultimate. This is a time when people expect multiple delivery systems as the norm. For churches, the content will not change; the gospel is the same. But our delivery systems and touchpoints with “customers” must change both for the sake of our members and those who need Jesus.

One way to make our content (the gospel) more readily available is for churches to re-evaluate everything about their online presence from the website to use of social media. People who live in your area do not reach for the Yellow Pages or the church directory of the county newspaper. If they are looking for a church at all, they will use a search engine or the search bar on Facebook. If you have a website that looks like a template from Geocities or a middle schooler’s 2006 Myspace page, you have blown it.

Websites need not have elaborate image sliders and be covered in HTML5 moving parts. They simply need to be clean and easy to navigate. Remember: the landing page needs to be friendly to non-attendees, so service times and contact information need to be prominent. Members—those who visit the website regularly—know where to look for other information. Ease of use is for non-members, not for members. Additionally, make sure your social media is just that: social. Do not make announcements on your Facebook page then neglect to answer related questions. Social media is a conversation, not an info dump.

So much content can be provided via a church website it is hard to cover it all in such a short article. Podcasts of the sermon, videos of the entire service, new member training, a pastor’s welcome, bulletin downloads, student ministry permission forms, and so much more are all content pieces just waiting to be added to your church website.

Churches should learn from Sports Illustrated’s missed opportunity and Blockbuster’s failure. Do not isolate yourself into a single content delivery system. Put the Internet to work for you and your church for the sake of the gospel.

THIS POST IS REBLOGGED FROM PASTORS TODAY

IS YOUR CHURCH WEBSITE ATTRACTIONAL OR MISSIONAL AND WHY IT MATTERS

In the First Century the spread of the Gospel was facilitated by the Roman Roads.  In the 21st century, the Internet has taken this role.  This is an excellent article from PLANTING CHURCHES.

Attractional vs. Missional. It’s all the buzz. But have you applied the thinking to your website?

An attractional website:
Is a destination on the web.
It is static and doesn’t change much.
It is difficult to foster relationship and communication.
It looks good and gives all the critical information about the church in one place.

A missional website:
Is dispersed widely across the internet and found in many different places (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Community Forums, Blogs, Google Ads, etc.)
Everyone can play and interact with the content pushed online. It is social by nature.
It can be found in the online communities where everyday people interact on the web.
It is often discovered because of relevant content and social interaction rather than directly sought out.

The critical information about the church can be difficult to find.
Just as church models are evolving, so is the internet. Ten years ago church website were largely static pages on the internet. They were little more than an online brochure, a destination to learn more about the church. Sites were build to be attractive. The site’s ease of use and look communicated something about the church. It still does today. The internet at this point was a popularity contest. Every link to the site was like as vote for best church website. To get found online, you simply had to be the most popular.

But the internet has changed. It is now largely about social and content. A church’s web presence cannot only be in one static place. A common phrase in missional circles is “The Church has left the building.” Applied to web presence, “The Church has left it’s domain.” To be relevant today, church websites have to be missional. They have to go where the people are. This is why it is critical to have an interactive presence in social media.

Interactive is the key. You can’t just hop on Facebook and start shouting out church announcements. Put your megaphone done and have a conversation. This can’t be accomplished with just the church staff. You have to get the entire congregation involved and help them be evangelists on the web. Open their eyes to how their online communication can be seeded with the gospel. If you just make announcements, you’ll be annoying. Stop it.

It used to be that links to your site were the key metric in the popularity contest on the web. Now content is king. Google will evaluate everything on the web tied to your church. All of your website, podcasts, blogs, social media outlets, white papers, webinars, etc are evaluated. The more Google can see that your content is relevant (measured by sharing, re-posting, liking, etc.), the more you will show up in search results.

Here are a few tips to start moving from attractional to missional with your website:
Distribute lots of content. You already create lots of content (sermons, small group lessons, parenting classes, etc.) With a couple of tweaks this content can be easily transformed into blog posts, podcasts, white papers and more. Move all of your content online.

Pick a couple of social media outlets and do them well. You can’t jump into every online community. Pick a few (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube) and get social.

Model for your congregation how to interact online with the gospel in mind. Spread seeds of hope and love in your communication and don’t just point back to your website; point to Jesus. People are raw online, be equally raw and transparent about the hope we have in Jesus.

****

Bridgebuilders Ministries which is the umbrella for Bridgebuilders Seminars (How to Help Your Church Reach Its Unchurched Neighbors) offers an excellent course "Internet Evangelism and Social Networking Tools" that teaches the above concept.  Contact them at www.ercbuilders@erccog.org or by emailing sdunnpastor@gmail.com.

From  www.freshministryideas.com  Bill Reichart from Christian Medical Dental Association out of Atlanta

These are the four moves into mission:

Move out (into missional engagement).
Move in (burrowing down into the culture).
Move alongside (friendships and relational networks).
Move from (challenging the dehumanizing and sinful aspects of our culture)

BILL EASUM AND MIKE BREN ON BEING NEIGHBORHOOD MISSIONARIES

A very good friend of mine, Chuck Frank, emailed me this segment of Bill Easum’s recent blog. It speaks exactly what Bridgebuilders is seeking to implant in churches. – STEVE

 BILL EASUM ON THE LOCAL CHURCH AS MISSIONARIES 

Everyone of who follows my stuff knows I am a great fan of the local church. It is fundamental to the growth of the Kingdom, along with other forms of being the Church. I have no trek with those who say the day of the local church is over.

 I can’t stand what the vast majority of mainline churches and many sideline churches have become. They set back a wait for people to show up like a spider that spins its web waits for an unsuspecting victim. I call this the Jerusalem effect and the build it and they will come effect. Oddly enough, this approach to evangelism worked when I started ministry over 50 years ago. Today, however very few unchurched people come to worship on their own.

 Interestingly enough a friend gave me a url to Mike Breen’s blog . It was right up my alley. I thought I would share a couple of his quotes with you…. “So let us be clear: missionaries are always better than mission projects. Leaders are more necessary then volunteers. And disciples are surely what we’re going for rather than mere converts.”

 I couldn’t agree more. I’ve always told churches that volunteers, missions committees, and programs are not the way to go. In our new book , Effective Staffing for the Vital Church, I talk about “backyard missionaries.” Everyone needs to be trained to be a missionary in their everyday life. Also disciples are needed not volunteers.

Here is another goodie.

 “There is a paradigm shift that needs to happen. We need to move from being a worshipping body that sometimes does mission to a missional body that gathers to celebrate and worship.”

 I have started telling leaders that it is not enough to have small groups that make disciples; now small groups need to the missionary arm of the church. Each small group needs a mission in the community.

 That leads to Breen’s last comment I want to highlight.

 “Missional communities are the training wheels that teach us how to ride the bike of oikos.” 

 Now this is brilliant. He’s talking about 20-30 people acting as an extended family taking the message to their communities. We need to focus on training Mom and Dad, Aunts and Uncles, etc. to help their extended families be those backyard missionaries we talk about.

What is your church doing to make backyard missionaries?

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT FOR YOUR CHURCH TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA

I want to introduce you today to a fresh new blog by Bill Shoemaker called THE HUB.  Bill is the Church Planting Director for the Great Lakes Regional Conference of the Churches of God, General Conference. His wit and insight are refreshing. - I encourage to visit his site. - STEVE

The Ouch Factor

10 Aug

Have you ever noticed how you can walk barefooted on pebbles intentionally and lower the ouch-factor to just the different sensations of pressure?  But if you are walking through grass barefooted and you step on a pebble, the ouch-factor takes over because it hurts like the dickens (whatever a dickens is -ha) and you hop around like a person on a pogo stick.  I read somewhere there is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon.  It has to do with preparing the mind for what the body is about to encounter.  It prevents the mind from over-reacting to the stimulus.

Well I was reading through several blogs the other day, grazing along barefooted, enjoying the green grass as I read.  I picked up some tender morsels from several writers.  Then I skipped over to Seth Godin’s grassy blog to graze my way through his field.  Wow!  I was just walking through his musings when I encountered the “OUCH-FACTOR”.  It was buried just below the surface waiting for me to step on it in my bare-feet.  I should have known better.  Seth is known for well-placed pebbles (maybe land mines is a better description) in gassy areas.  Needless to say, I stepped squarely on a hard surface that had no ‘give’ in it.  Therefore the ‘give’ had to be on my part.  I will share a portion of what caused my ‘ouch factor’ below:

“Innovation is often the act of taking something that worked over there and using it over here.  Your problem, whatever it might be, probably has a solution somewhere in the world. And your organization is probably stuck because they don’t know what to do, and more important, don’t have the guts to do it…  If you’re waiting for a proven case study, directly on point, you’re going to wait too long.  The skill, it seems, is having the desire and the guts to seek out examples by analogy instead of insisting on being a follower of someone with guts.”

Seth is big on innovation with guts.  Going to conferences and taking notes from successful people and copying them is not what he recommends.  But learn courage from them that you can step out and accomplish the very things God has called you to do.  You certainly can learn different principles and new ways to look at both old and new problems to bring about different results from what you are presently reaping.  And you certainly don’t have to re-invent the wheel.

Where and what have been your Ouch Factors lately?  Find someone to discuss them and have the guts to do something about it.

Bill

VISION AND STRATEGY

by Stephen L Dunn

"A vision is useless without a clear path to follow." - Chad Chute

The Holy Spirit is in the vision-casting business.  The Spirit helps us seek the mind of Christ to know what the will of God is for a specific church.  This vision is rarely vague or generalized; only our perception of it, and then, only at first.  It then becomes the job of the church's leadership under the guidance of the Spirit to clarify that vision.  And with clarity comes strategy.

A strategy involves goals-specific and measurable.  To be specific and measurable it is drawn from the resources that God has gathered together in a specific church.  Those resources are the gifts of its people, their skills, passions, experience and relationships.  But most of all those resources grow from the commitment of the people to be authentic disciples of Jesus Christ on mission for Jesus in a specific mission field.

A strategy is a statement of faith. It is a declaration of what we are committed to do, how we are to be known, and what we believe glorifies God. Without a strategy a vision can easily deteriorate into wishful thinking with no one taking responsibility to see that vision realized.

Most churches have a vision, but do you have a strategy that supports that vision?

MISSIONAL CHURCH AND MISSIONAL OUTREACH

From James Nored comes this excellent teaching video that outward-focused churches would well consider.  To join his network, click the link in the left hand column of the home page.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN OUTWARD-FOCUSED CHURCH?

CONSIDER BRIDGEBUILDERS

I have designed a new resource BRIDGEBUILDERS-HELPING TRADITIONAL CHURCHES REACH THEIR UNCHURCHED NEIGHBORS.  This is the first of a series of articles about the ministry.

WHY BRIDGEBUILDERS?

4 05 2012

BY STEVE DUNN

We live in a church culture that is enamored with programs and prescriptions. What’s the sure-fire program to bring people to Jesus Christ? What three simple things can we do to achieve our responsibility to share the faith (and maybe make a few new Christians). This seminar is built on the premise that people are more important than programs in the process of evangelism. People living a Christ-like life committed to helping others to be transformed by Christ are the most valuable resource in evangelism after the work of the Holy Spirit.

Three observations have prompted this seminar. Three reflections, which I believe are grounded in God’s Word, form the foundation of its message.

(1) Many times traditional churches engage in evangelism because of survival issues. They equate evangelism with church growth. True evangelism is committed to growing the Kingdom of God.

(2) Still others are drawn to evangelism to make a better community. We downplay that people are lost without Jesus Christ. True evangelism seeks to transform lives.

(3) And too many churches want to engage in evangelism without leaving their comfort zone. To quote BIll Hybels, “God does his best work in the zone of the unknown.” True evangelism requires us to enter someone else’s world, not to expect them to meet us in ours.

Bridgebuilders was conceived out of my personal encounter with the writings of four men: Bill Hybels, Walt Mueller, Dan Kimball, and Leslie Newbiggin. You will see their influence in this material and I am indebted to them.

Bill Hybels is perhaps the most familiar to many for his teaching at Willow Creek and particularly his evangelism training Becoming a Contagious Christian. Bill is the first person to ignite in me the profound realization that “Lost people matter to God. Lost people should matter to God’s people.”

Walt Mueller is the head of the Center for Parent and Youth Understanding. His excellent work Inside the Mind of Youth Culture helped me grasp how truly different the world is today and the major issues involved in passing along the Faith to people who have been shaped by the postmodern mind.
Dan Kimball serves the interesting Southern Baptist congregation called Vintage Church. His work on They Like Jesus, But Not the Church helped me understand the challenge of mobilizing the traditional church to genuine evangelism and the terrible dilemma the world finds itself in because too many authentic Christians chose to live within “the Christian bubble.”

Early in my evangelism training I encountered Leslie Newbiggin, the great missiologist who wrote Foolishness to the Greeks. Newbiggin has written convincingly of the mission field that is the United States and the need to exegete the culture as would any good missionary who desires to be faithful and fruitful for the Kingdom.

It is my privilege to share this material with you. I passionately hope that it will help the traditional church live out its calling and privilege of being the body of Christ. For I believe in the church—in all its forms—because it is the bearer of Christ Jesus. Or as Paul would say, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” – Ephesians 1.27

His and yours, living in His amazing grace,
Steve Dunn
Landisville, Pennsylvania

September 2010

WHAT IS A DISCIPLE?

BY STEPHEN DUNN

About a year ago we made a fundamental shift in the language of the congregation that I serve as Lead Pastor. We began speaking of disciples instead of members.  The latter tends to be an exclusive and organizational word.  And thanks to Mastercard and other marketers, membership has come to connote privileges rather than responsibilities.

Disciple on the other hand is a more organic term and it infers lifestyle and learning.  A disciple has not arrived, they continue to become as they learn to think, act and be like the One of whom they are a disciple.  It was in a Finance Commission meeting where we were discussing how to get members to give their fair share, to measure up to the expectations and needs of the Church.  Tithing, of course, was part of this conversation.  It was then when one of our older members said, "This is not a membership issue, it's a discipleship issue." He went on to note that members think in terms of what is necessary to be in good standing. Disciples give. It is who they are.

Profound, isn't it?

It's more than semantics.  It is a religious world view.

Now at the church we teach discipleship and form groups of people on mission with Jesus.  We have Membership Orientations to describe the formal needs of the organization.

We also use this definition of disciple.

A DISCIPLE IS A PERSON WHO LIVES IN DAILY OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL AND PURPOSE OF GOD, COMMITTED TO BEARING FRUIT FOR THE KINGDOM.

This linguistic change is helping us make a cultural shift from membership to discipleship.  It is moving us beyond maintaining the organization to mobilizing for mission.

(C) 2012 by Stephen L Dunn

This was originally published on my blog IMMEASURABLY MORE  (Discipleship Version)

FRUITFUL CONGREGATIONS - FIVE PRACTICES

This post was written by Robert Schnase and is an excellent checklist of DNA of fruitful congregations. -steve

The purpose of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. But how do we do that? The most visible way God knits people into the community of Christ and draws people into the relationship with God is through congregations that fulfill the ministry of Christ in the world. Fruitful congregations repeat and improve on these five basic practices: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission and Service and Extravagant  Generosity.

The practices are basic and fundamental. But it’s the adjectives that make these words come alive, because they stretch us and cause us to ask ourselves, “How are we doing in practicing these qualities of ministry in our congregation? How might we do better?”

These are practices—they're not qualities that some churches have and some don’t. They’re not phases that, once we get them done, we can move on to something else. These are practices that we have to learn and improve upon constantly. These are the activities that are so critical to the mission of the church that failure to perform them in an exemplary way leads to congregational decline and deterioration.
Here’s a look at the five practices used in fruitful congregations.

Radical Hospitality
(Romans 12:9-21)

Congregations offer the invitation and embrace of Jesus Christ, the gracious welcome that creates genuine belonging that brings people together in the Christian community. Churches characterized by Radical Hospitality are not just friendly and courteous. Instead, they exhibit restlessness because they realize so many people do not have a relationship to a faith community. They sense a calling and responsibility to pray and work to invite others and to help them feel welcome and supported in their faith journeys. Congregations surprise newcomers with a glimpse of the unmerited gracious love of God that they see in Christ. Our Radical Hospitality goes to the extremes, and we do it joyfully, not superficially, because we know our invitation is the invitation of Christ.

Passionate Worship
(John 4:21-24)

In Passionate Worship, people are honest before God and one another, and they are open to God’s presence and will for their lives. People so eagerly desire such worship that they will reorder their lives to attend. Passionate worship motivates pastors not only to improve their preaching but also to learn continually how to enhance content and technique for effective worship. Worship is something alive that requires continuing care, cultivation, and effort to keep it fresh. Pastors should willingly review and evaluate their own work and invite feedback. The motivation for enhancing the quality of worship is not only about deepening our own faith but also about allowing God to use us and our congregations to offer hope, life, and love to others. Worship is God’s gift and task, a sacred trust that requires our utmost and highest.

Intentional Faith Development
(1 Corinthians 9:19-24)

Transformation comes through learning in community. Congregational leaders that practice Intentional Faith Development carefully consider the full life cycle of members and look for ways the church forms faith at every age. They look for gaps, opportunities, and unmet needs to round out their ministries and ask how they can do better. They train laypeople to lead small groups, teach Bible studies, and coordinate support groups. They realize the power of special topics and interests to attract unchurched people, and they advertise and invite beyond the walls of the church. They form affiliation groups such as grief or divorce recovery, substance abuse, parenting, and more. They explore new ways of forming learning communities–blogs, chat rooms, e-mail Bible studies, and downloadable materials. These pastors also participate in forms of community with other pastors or laypersons to help deepen their own relationship with God.

Risk-Taking Mission and Service
(Matthew 25:14-30)

This involves work that stretches people, causing them to do something for the good of others that they would never have considered doing if it were not for their relationship with Christ and their desire to serve Him. These churches not only solicit and encourage ordinary service to support the work of the congregation, but they also consciously seek to motivate people to more extraordinary service. They lift examples in preaching and teaching. Risk-Taking Missions and Service is also part of the formation of children and youth. All youth and children ministries include teaching and experiential components that stretch compassion outward beyond the walls of the church. Faith mapped in childhood provides pathways that shape lifelong commitments. These churches collaborate with other churches, other denominations, civic organizations, social agencies, and non-profit groups. They actively invite and welcome newcomers, visitors, and the unchurched to help them in making a difference in the lives of others. As congregations move beyond their comfort zones and follow Christ into more adventurous encounters with people, God’s Spirit changes them, changes others, and changes churches.
CONTINUE READING FULL ARTICLE

10 FROM JOHN BURKE

JOHN BURKE
10 Lessons, from John

Creating something out of nothing is challenging, but this is the only way we can really see the culture become the church. I want to see people grow and be unified as a church, but I always want to start with those who are not the church, with the culture around us, relationally connecting life-by-life.

These 10 lessons I’ve learned have been how God has change lives, that in turn impacted a neighborhood, and now influence a city and the world:

1. People Matter Enough to be Reminded
Realize that it’s not about you – it’s about a world that’s on a slide going south away from God. If you forget that, you’ll take things personally. Remember that good things don’t just naturally happen. People left alone don’t tend to seek God. People left alone don’t tend to stretch themselves to grow in faith or stretch to give money and time to those less-fortunate. It takes energy. As a leader, part of that energy is to remind people.

2. Never Waste a Gathering
No matter what the gathering is for – serve kids, have a party, small group, bike ride, or building houses – pay attention to not wasting it. Have fun first. Create life and people will want to come back. Cast vision and orient people to what they can expect. Always give next-steps. Every gathering is about connecting to community, but people need steps along the way.

3. Tell Stories to Shape Values
A story tells everybody “this is who we are and this is what matters.”

4. Connect Others Constantly
Give people enough time, and they’ll want to hang with their group and forget new people. Watch for people who might be feeling left out at every gathering. People feel valued and loved as people take interest in them.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Have a Big “Ask”
Challenge people to grow spiritually. Many times God’s spirit prompts us but we “do the person a favor” by saying “no” for them. We’re potentially closing someone off from a life with God. That’s not a favor. You have to overcome that fear and make big asks.

6. Serve Well Together
Getting people serving creates ownership. When you serve together serve well.

7. Be Generous with Praise and Encouragement
You can’t hire enough people to do all the work. You need volunteers. Generous praise and encouragement is how you pay them.

8. Ask “Who’s Next, What’s Next?”
You’re only as strong as your next new leader, so always be looking for the “relative” leaders – the ones giving a little bit more. Sometimes their lives are messy. Think about how to help them take next steps of growth.

9. If Your Unchurched Friends and Neighbors are not Becoming the Church, You’re Ineffective
This is one of my most significant lessons. If people are not becoming the church — and LEADING the church – within 3 to 5 years, you’re not being effective. When you start to see this happen, when you the church being raised up out of culture, just as it happened in Corinth, Athens, Rome. That’s exciting!

10. Don’t Do This Without God (It’s His mission, your adventure)
This is really the first one. This is His mission and your adventure. You can’t do this without God.

5 CULTURE TRENDS THAT AFFECT THE CHURCH

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 &amp; Response Blog</a>

MEASURING THE CONNECTION - PART 2

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 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

CONNECTION AND COMMITMENT - PART 1

 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 are the most strongly connected and clearly committed persons – they go the furthest mile by taking leadership responsibility for some ministry of the church.

         CORE = These are persons who worship on a regular basis, are connected to a small group or ministry, have an identifiable ministry in the church or in the community on behalf of the church. They are engaged at least once a year in some kind of training or discipleship learning group.

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

         COMMUNITY = These are persons who are connected to the church basically by worshiping with us several times a year, occasionally being involved in a program or ministry event, and generally identify us as their church.

          SHUT-INS = These are members of our church who can no longer be a part of active ministry or involvement in worship because they are now living in nursing homes 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.

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

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL

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

• Posted by James Nored on June 1, 2011 at 1:00pm
•   View James Nored's blog

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.