July 7, 2006

Thank goodness it's Friday. We've survived another one. Welcome back to our church growth, mission, and evangelism blog. We're glad you're here.

Today we will finish up talking about when God builds a church.

Make the church experience something for which people will want to return. Do everything that you can to make it easier for your church members to bring people with them to church. Make a special effort to see that everything is done with excellence. Do everything with a bent to the evangelism process. We should do everything with excellence so that people will want to come back!

 

We exist to evangelize the lost, edify the saved, minister to the needs of others, and be a conscience in the community. Make your mission statement visible and repeat it often. Have several sermons dedicated to reinforcing the mission statement of the church. It is imperative that all staff members agree with the primary mission of the church so that they can communicate that mission effectively to the congregation.

 

Every ministry needs to find ways to implement evangelistic outreach in their departments. Remind people to invite their friends and acquaintances to weekly services and special events. Remind the congregation about upcoming events and opportunities for the come and see method of evangelism. Unchurched people are more likely to come with you to a special event than they are to come to a regular church service.

 

If you are going to preach a sermon series, remind people of the relevance of the topic in their lives and remind them to invite anyone who might benefit from the message. You can print up fancy post-cards describing the upcoming sermon series for your members to pass along to others.

 

Be sensitive to guests, but don’t program primarily for them. On of the most powerful methods of evangelism is an authentic worship service. Take great pains to make sure the basics of the gospel are clearly explained. A visitor expects to see you worshiping God and fulfilling your purpose, not catering to his need for entertainment.

 

Offer a “what we believe class�. Have decision counselors who can lead people through a basic understanding of the gospel. You can have a decision day, a chance to make a positive, life-changing decision, early in the year. People who have been procrastinating are often willing to set that weekend aside as a target date and are more likely to respond.

Our only hope is through Jesus Christ. If we really believe that that is true, we are going to do everything we can to persuade as many people as possible to come to Jesus Christ while there is still time.

 

God wants you to walk by faith and begin to believe that he can do great things through a few faithful people. Pray for a vision of what your church could be. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to become the church that God wants you to be. Our problem is not so much that God doesn’t give us what we hope for as that we don’t know the right thing for which to hope. Put your hope in a big God who can fulfill big dreams. Determine that you will try something so big that if God isn’t in it, you will fail.

 

Pray that God will reveal to you any principle your congregation has failed to implement. It’s healthy for every church to set goals and think optimistically, but you must be objective. Some churches have the potential to grow a hundredfold. Others are limited in what they can do because of location barriers, leadership challenges, lack of facilities, or financial difficulties.

 

Develop a mission statement and communicate it to the congregation. Post it in prominent places where people can be reminded often. Develop a five year plan for change. It usually takes five years for a dead church to be turned around. The reason that most churches stay dead is that very few leaders will stay around long enough to see it happen. They usually leave to go to a church that has already turned around.

 

Work on the one hour of weekly worship. It is the most important hour of the week. More visitors and members are present and the tone of the entire ministry is usually set in that hour. When that hour is done with excellence members will want to come more regularly because they don’t want to miss.

 

Find a worship leader who has the heart and talent to lead people to worship God. Get men involved in worship. Start a what we believe class. Give up control. Don’t micromanage. Visit other churches that are alive and growing. Celebrate victories and give God the glory.

Take time to visit www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org. You'll be glad you did. Send your comments to: [e-mail]. Check back later tonight for our podcast.

Pastor Bob Emery