The challenge of growing the Church is greater than our very best abilities. The numbers show worldwide revival to be an impossible task without Holy Ghost intervention. In reality, while many believe in a worldwide revival (a debatable issue), because of the enormity of the proposal and the little that can be done toward that goal, most just ...
... freeze up and do NOTHING leaving all in the hands of God… which is just another copout.
Cutting to the chase: if the church is not growing, it is dying!
So, how do we “Grow a Church”?
Missionaries, of course, are expected to be experts in this area. While far from a spectacular conversion rate, real missionaries are truly qualified as spiritual lab researchers in this vital area of Church Growth. Please allow me to share some things we have learned:
Much like diets and weight-loss programs, just about anything in soul winning efforts will work for a short period of time. The final result, however, as each effort fades into poor numbers, is to see the saints (the REAL SOUL-WINNERS of the church) become despondent and harder than ever to sign on to the challenge of the next new program.
So, one thing we learned is that contests (which team can bring in more visitors) works only for a short time. It may probably be a good way to start the congregation toward a new vision, but does little to the long-term efforts of changing the MINDSET of the church!
So, the biggest challenge is getting visitors to church at a regular rate… not in spurts, but in a flow!
Soul winning needs to be an inseparable part of the church fabric. To the point that you cannot remove the outreach heartbeat of the congregation without total church destruction! I have always seen it to be most interesting the way that visitors (in Brasil) will bring visitors themselves… Wow! They have not yet been baptized, but they are already telling others about the wonderful fellowship of God’s people! The bottom line is that the Andrew Way (John 1:40-41) continues to be the best way to win souls: Come see what I have, come see what I have found!
Using the Andrew way, the visitor arrives at church already “attached” and “connected” to an Apostolic mentor (spiritual baby nurse)… the very person that invited them!
So, the biggest church challenge is getting into that FLOW of outreach!
However, that is easier said than implemented into the hearts of the people!
Using insights learned from our Brazilian lab work, one of the PROVEN ways of enhancing the natural (God-given) instinct of “telling others” can be explained in a simple manner:
Much like a businessman who gives his calling card to those he interacts with over the course of a day, it seems to be proven that if saints are taught to look for “small” opportunities to invite the person they are with (co-worker, store clerk, etc.), that expected break WILL show up!
While some (many) will then give a church tract, we have learned that tracts are easily disdained because the person being invited is not looking for “religion,” but rather for authentic answers! Andrew said, “come see the Messiah!” (John 1:41). It is best to give a “calling card” with a church address, map and services times (with a nice church photo, perhaps) along with a place on the back to fill in with the inviting person’s name and phone on the back. Tell the person being invited “ask for me when you get to the church”… they will feel more at ease that way. Going “cold turkey” to a church service is not the most exciting way to go! On a side note, the business card size helps because there is no “religious” content and… best of all… it can easily be placed into a pocket without much effort. The card will be there when they empty their pockets at home, etc.
If each saint gave out two or three cards a day (during the natural course of the day), the FLOW of outreach at the church would be tremendous… EVERY SERVICE there will be someone there visiting!
Don’t wait for the worldwide revival (which may never come), rather, start and EXPECT a revival in your community! Revival is a natural result of a vibrant church family!
Cutting to the chase: if the church is not growing, it is dying!
So, how do we “Grow a Church”?
Missionaries, of course, are expected to be experts in this area. While far from a spectacular conversion rate, real missionaries are truly qualified as spiritual lab researchers in this vital area of Church Growth. Please allow me to share some things we have learned:
Much like diets and weight-loss programs, just about anything in soul winning efforts will work for a short period of time. The final result, however, as each effort fades into poor numbers, is to see the saints (the REAL SOUL-WINNERS of the church) become despondent and harder than ever to sign on to the challenge of the next new program.
So, one thing we learned is that contests (which team can bring in more visitors) works only for a short time. It may probably be a good way to start the congregation toward a new vision, but does little to the long-term efforts of changing the MINDSET of the church!
So, the biggest challenge is getting visitors to church at a regular rate… not in spurts, but in a flow!
Soul winning needs to be an inseparable part of the church fabric. To the point that you cannot remove the outreach heartbeat of the congregation without total church destruction! I have always seen it to be most interesting the way that visitors (in Brasil) will bring visitors themselves… Wow! They have not yet been baptized, but they are already telling others about the wonderful fellowship of God’s people! The bottom line is that the Andrew Way (John 1:40-41) continues to be the best way to win souls: Come see what I have, come see what I have found!
Using the Andrew way, the visitor arrives at church already “attached” and “connected” to an Apostolic mentor (spiritual baby nurse)… the very person that invited them!
So, the biggest church challenge is getting into that FLOW of outreach!
However, that is easier said than implemented into the hearts of the people!
Using insights learned from our Brazilian lab work, one of the PROVEN ways of enhancing the natural (God-given) instinct of “telling others” can be explained in a simple manner:
Much like a businessman who gives his calling card to those he interacts with over the course of a day, it seems to be proven that if saints are taught to look for “small” opportunities to invite the person they are with (co-worker, store clerk, etc.), that expected break WILL show up!
While some (many) will then give a church tract, we have learned that tracts are easily disdained because the person being invited is not looking for “religion,” but rather for authentic answers! Andrew said, “come see the Messiah!” (John 1:41). It is best to give a “calling card” with a church address, map and services times (with a nice church photo, perhaps) along with a place on the back to fill in with the inviting person’s name and phone on the back. Tell the person being invited “ask for me when you get to the church”… they will feel more at ease that way. Going “cold turkey” to a church service is not the most exciting way to go! On a side note, the business card size helps because there is no “religious” content and… best of all… it can easily be placed into a pocket without much effort. The card will be there when they empty their pockets at home, etc.
If each saint gave out two or three cards a day (during the natural course of the day), the FLOW of outreach at the church would be tremendous… EVERY SERVICE there will be someone there visiting!
Don’t wait for the worldwide revival (which may never come), rather, start and EXPECT a revival in your community! Revival is a natural result of a vibrant church family!
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