#5 – Mobilizing Your Church to Invite Their Friends
How is the ball rolling for you this week? Have you seen any changes in yourself since we started almost a month ago?
My dictionary defines momentum as, “The force of motion, impetus.” Momentum has latency to it. It builds up until released, and once released, it can gather further mass, power, and speed as it travels down the hill.
Take a minute to pray and ask the Lord to speak to you for the next few minutes. Then read on.
What’s Happening in You and Your Church
Your 30 word prayer is building latent power in the heavenlies, and tangible passion in your heart. As you infect your leaders, and together you all infect your people, there’s a force that’s building mass, power and speed - which will result in a growing number of people in your city coming to Christ. Expect it.
Also expect that there will be distractions and turbulence from the enemy. Your job is to put on the full armor of God and take your stand against his schemes so that the central work of the church does not get sidetracked or diverted to lesser things.
Yes, there will be marriages to help, people to counsel, weddings and funerals and normal day-to-day details to attend to. Attend to them: love your people, delegate when possible, preach and teach your heart out, and stay on course!
Inviting People to Join You
Four weeks ago, you started praying. Soon you’ll have your leaders praying and talking about questions pre-Christians ask. A few months from now, you’ll stir up your congregation with your series on “Capturing God’s Heart.” Once all of you are fired up about the lost people around you, then what will you do?
We’ve tried a lot of things at New Song. We hold an annual VBS that reaps several dozen souls. We host big name guest speakers. We do servant evangelism like nobody I know. But by far the most effective tool we use to reach lost people is what we call our “Church Wide Campaigns” (CWCs).
Literally, all our growth in the past several years has come from CWCs.
What is a CWC?
A Church-Wide-Campaign is a relevant, broadly-appealing, well-timed sermon series that includes personal readings and weekly Small Group studies with the sermon series.
Our first CWC was The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. During that Campaign, our attendance surged by 10% and our Small Groups increased by 50%. People came to Christ every week, and maturing members of our church made significant discipleship decisions every week.
What We Learned
We learned a ton from The Purpose Drive Life Campaign. Our primary lessons were:
1. The power of focus. When it comes to light, the sun came warm you, but a laser can cut through steel.
2. The virtue of “everybody’s doing it.” A CWC gives everyone a motivated excuse to invite a friend all at the same time and a positive push to join a Small Group, all at the same time. – Because “everybody’s doing it.”
3. When you end a Campaign, you don’t want to end the campaign. As the culmination of our Campaign, we held a huge graduation party. Everyone came. Everyone got a certificate of completion. That signaled to our newcomers that the Campaign was over and it was time for them to go home. As a result, our attendance returned to the previous level the following week. (Bad move on our part.)
Since then, we’ve been holding CWCs 2-3 times a year, every year. Some of our CWCs have been incredibly effective, others have been only marginally helpful.
Our Most Helpful Campaigns: (in chronological order)
1. The Purpose Driven Life – 10% surge in attendance.
2. The God Questions – 10% surge.
3. Future History (on the Book of Daniel) – 18%.
4. The Life You’ve Always Wanted – 7%.
5. Jonah: Responding to God – 17%.
6. Fireproofing Your Marriage – 25%.
7. To Save A Family – 28%.
I haven’t listed the Campaigns that didn’t go as well for us. But even a mediocre Campaign brings fringe people into the core because of our emphasis on joining a Small Group for the Campaign. As a result of holding CWCs 2-3 times a year, New Song has had 85% or more of our adults in Small Groups for the last five years.
Notice the growth numbers from the campaigns listed. The surge percentage has increased over time because we continue to get better at praying, inviting and enfolding people with each Campaign. I believe you will too.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to hold a great CWC soon after your Capturing God’s Heart series. I recommend you schedule the CWC to begin either three weeks after school starts (probably Sept.), the third Sunday in January, or on Easter Sunday, whichever falls closest to the conclusion of our Heart series.
September and January launches are superior because people are thinking about starting new things at those times of year. Easter is a good launch time because you’ve got a ton of visitors who are unlikely to return (until Christmas) unless you give them immediate motivation to be there the following week.
Only once have we held a successful Campaign that didn’t start in one of these times of the year. We launched Future History in December. Daniel was part of the Magi, so we were able to use his story throughout the Christmas season. When January came, we were in the prophetic section of his book and people came from out of the woodwork when they heard we were talking about end-of-the-world type stuff.
What Makes for a Great CWC?
The pastor is excited about it. If you’re not excited, no one will be. Pick one you really want to do and your contagion will be catching.
The topic has broad appeal. Look at the list of our successful Campaigns: Everyone wants to know their purpose. Everyone has questions about God. Everyone wants to know about the future. Everyone wants help with their family and marriage.
Outreach Campaigns must have “invitability.” You can do Campaigns focused on equipping your people, but if you’re going to reach out, you have to have a topic people can invite their friends to. Our easiest invitation was, “Would you like some help with your marriage? Our church is going to be talking about that for the next few weeks. Would you like to join a group with me?”
There must be a book with short, well-written readings. One of the strengths of a Campaign is that it gets people involved in personal devotions, by use of a book.
There must be a Small Group or Sunday school class component. What makes a Campaign a Campaign is that everybody’s talking about it midweek.
Cost matters to most churches. The Purpose Drive Life was a stretch for us because you had to buy the book, the study guide, and memory cards. Most church people will pay $10 for a study, but not much more. So we like to find Campaigns that have the book and study guide combined.
A tie-in is always helpful. Part of the success of Fireproofing Your Marriage and To Save a Life was that these movies had just come out, creating some buzz for us. If/when you try these Campaigns, I suggest you show the movie at your church a week or two before you launch the Campaign.
Length is a consideration. The attention-span for most Campaigns is about 4-6 weeks. Future History worked as a longer CWC because the history and prophecy sections made it feel like two series in one.
A proper ramp-up. Great Campaigns don’t happen by chance very often. Most of the time, they’ve been carefully prayed over and prepared for by the whole congregation. Next week I’ll describe to you what that looks like.
Assignment: Put a target date on your calendar for a CWC soon after you complete your Capturing God’s Heart series.
1,000 blessings!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
#4 Momentum
#4 - Momentum:
Starts With You,
Moves To Your Leaders,
Lodges In The Hearts Of Your People,
And Becomes Tangible When It Touches Your Community.
Hi!
I hope you’re finding this adventure worthwhile. If you’re like me (and many others), the process of learned to love the lost is like a roller coaster. One day you’re high, then the next day reality strikes and you’ve got every day junk to deal with, so you’re back to the ground. This is part of why prayer is so important.
If you’re feeling like giving up, guess who’s pushing for that? For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph. 6:12) Don’t give up!
Before you read further, pray for a minute that you hear God’s voice as you read the rest of this.
Working ON Your Ministry
Michael Gerber, in his seminal work, The E Myth, writes that the most important action an executive can take is to work on their business, not just in their business. The same is true in ministry. It’s easy to get so caught up in doing ministry that we neglect to build the ministry. The purpose of my letters is to help you build momentum in your church by working more on your ministry, rather than just in your ministry.
Over the next few letters, I want to help you begin to build some systems that will sustain and increase the momentum in your church.
Please take a minute to pray, asking God to give you an undistracted fifteen minute window to speak to you just now, as you read.
Review:
Momentum starts with the Holy Spirit and you, it moves to your leaders, then lodges in the hearts of your congregation. Once that happens, it becomes tangible and concrete when it touches the community around you.
Everything we’ve begun doing so far is designed to build up latent momentum in you and your church. “Latent” is a scientific word for “pent-up.” As you are praying, your heart is breaking (also, enlarging). As you’re sharing with your people and studying with your leaders, they’re hearts are breaking and enlarging too.
As you preach how much God cares for those who are not yet part of his family, your congregation will begin to want to do something more than attend church and care for each other. They’ll want to do something to reach their friends, neighbors, and community. Wouldn’t it be great if they were pushing you to do outreach, rather than you having to push them? I think it can happen. Your prayers, preaching, and personal example are powerful tools for motivating members to love the lost.
The Third Study
Let’s talk about the third study in our Capturing God’s Heart series.
Come and See
In John 4, Jesus meets an extraordinary woman. She has a damaged past and a dubious present. During their short conversation, the woman decides that Jesus is the Messiah. What should she do about this?
John 4:28-29 says, “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.’ They came out of the town and made their way to him.”
This woman doesn’t have a lot of education. (Though she’s got a lot of reputation, because of her past.) She’s only been a Christ-follower for a few minutes. How can she articulate her new-found faith? She uses two verbs: “Come.” And, “See.”
Over the years I have taught my people half a dozen evangelistic strategies. This one is the simplest: Come and see.
It’s the same approach used by Philip on the day he meets the Lord. “’Come and see,’ said Philip.” (John 1:46b)
This is our third study in our Capturing God’s Heart series. sometime this week have a conversation with a group of people that you are close to and ask them to invite their friends to “Come and see.” what God is doing. (Wow! Just the thought of that gets me excited.)
Tell your friends about how much God loves those who are yet-outside his family, and what the Lord has been doing in your heart. Tell them about how you’ve been praying for lost people in nearby cars while you’re at stoplights, or in line at grocery stores. Remind them that they have never locked eyes with someone who doesn’t matter to God. And that everyone they know is only one prayer away from an eternal relationship with Christ.
Then ask them to pray. Pray for lost neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, etc. Give them a time period – maybe “seven friends for seven weeks.” While they’re doing that, you pray for your congregation full of inviters. Somewhere in there, show them Col. 4:4 and ask them to pray for you.
Here’s what our Capturing Gods Heart has covered:
- Becoming Fishers of Men (Matt. 4:18-22)
- The Day of Good News (2 Kgs. 6,7)
- Come and See (John 4)
If you’d like to make it a four week series, you could begin by preaching my favorite sermon, which is called, The Prodigal Father (from Luke 15). Or, you could insert it as week 2 or 3. There’s no magic to this, you just want to expose your friends to God’s heart, from Scripture, for the lost. If you’d like a copy of The Prodigal Father, let me know and I’ll email it to you.
Building (or Rebuilding) Your Outreach System
Alright, let’s talk about doing things that will touch and attract unchurched people to your fellowship.
What will touch and attract your neighbors?
Right now, your church has a reputation in your community, and chances are, your reputation is not what you think it is. Many churches have no reputation at all because the people living around them aren’t even aware that they exist. Some churches have reputations for the negative things they’ve done. A few engage the community in acts of service, or a large annual event (a summer Family Fair, or Easter Sunrise Service, for examples).
Whatever your reputation, you’re going to have to enhance and improve it if you want to increase your momentum in the community. In my experience, increasing your Friendliness Factor is the fastest and easiest way to make immediate improvement.
Five Ways to Increase Your Friendliness Factor
1. Preach about being friendly.
If you want to increase your Friendliness Factor, I encourage you to start by talking to your people about being friendly.
You can do this in the application section of several of your Capturing God’s Heart sermons: “What does it look like to be friendly to people?” “What does it look like to be friendly to them in the grocery store?” “What does it look like to be friendly in the neighborhood?” “What does it look like to be friendly when they visit our church?”
Or, you could actually preach a sermon or two on the subject. Here’s a tool that might help:
2. Teach your people to “LINE-UP.”
Several years ago, (during a message on “Come and see”) I taught my church a system called, “LINE-UP.” I put a whiteboard on stage, wrote each of the letters vertically on the left-hand size, and then filled it in this way:
LOOK for someone you don’t know.
Every time you come to church, instead of concentrating on your friends, make it your goal to extend God’s love to someone you don’t know. What do you do when you find someone you don’t know…?
INTRODUCE yourself.
“Hi, my name is Hal Seed. Have we met before?” (If not, “Nice to meet you.”) Once you’ve introduced yourself, ask the other person questions. We all love to hear ourselves talk, so let the other person talk.
NEVER sit alone. This is the Eleventh Commandment. New Song’s middle name is “Community,” and in order to be in community, we ought to sit together. So once you’ve introduced yourself, say, “I’m going into the sanctuary now. Can I invite you to sit with me?”
ENGAGE in conversation. During the greeting time, you’ll meet some people around you. Once the church service is over, engage them in conversation (once again, by asking questions, not by talking about yourself.)
USE the R.U. New Café. Once a month, we hold a free lunch for all newcomers. Anyone can come, as long as they are new, or bring someone who’s new. So once you’ve engaged in conversation, say, “Hey, next Sunday (or whenever it is) we’ll be holding a lunch called The R.U. New Café. I’d like to invite you to be my guest. – It’s free, and if you come, I can come. It’ll give me a chance to hear more of your story, and I can introduce you to our staff and leaders.”
PRACTICE the 3/10 Rule. The 3/10 Rule is, talk with three people you don’t know during the first ten minutes after the service. Most of us want to talk with our friends, but if our friends have been coming for awhile, they’ll still be here ten minutes after church. Whereas all newcomers will be gone in the first ten minutes unless someone engages them in conversation.
The LINE-UP strategy has served us well. You will have to start a monthly lunch to implement it fully, so you may need to shorten your acrostic to LINE until you get that in place. But add the UP as soon as possible.
3. Talk about how friendly you are.
No doubt you’ve heard of the concept of “Self-fulfilling Prophecy”? It’s the idea that what you believe will happen is more likely to happen, because you expect it to. You’ve probably also heard of the “Mirror Image,” which is the idea that how other people see you is how you tend to see yourself. Jesus used this phenomenon when he gave Simon the new name “Peter.” – He was saying, “You may not think of yourself this way yet, but I see you as a rock, so I’m going to start calling you Peter.” (Which means “rock” in Aramaic.)
Now, honestly, I believe that New Song Community Church is one of the friendliest churches in the world. And one reason we are is because we remind ourselves that we are. Every weekend, just after the greeting time, the person giving announcements begins by saying, “I hope by now you’re discovering that New Song is one of the friendliest churches in the world.” We script this right into the announcements.
Three months after we began saying that, a lady in our latest membership class said to me, “I kept coming back because this really is one of the friendliest places in the world.” They’ve been saying it ever since.
4. Upgrade your Greeting Team.
If your church is like most, your Greeting Team is largely comprised of older, introverted males. Why? Because these guys don’t have kids at home anymore, which means it’s not hard for them to church a few minutes early. Often, introverts volunteer for the Greeting Team because they feel a little uncomfortable at the beginning of the service. So filling the role of Greeter helps them fit in.
First time guests always ask the unspoken question, “Are there people here like me?” If your first line of greeters is a homogenous group of older males, most of your first time guests’ initial answers will be, “No.”
Upgrade your Greeting Team by recruiting a few younger people, both male and female, if you don’t already have them. Remind them to smile, be friendly but not accosting, and show sincere interest in everyone, especially newcomers.
5. Give your people incentive to invite others.
Most of your people live busy lives. They love coming to church, but rarely think about inviting others just because it’s not on the top of their to-do lists.
At New Song, we have found that people really will invite friends if they know that what they’re inviting them to is going to be relevant, really good, and won’t embarrass them or their friends. So 3-4 times are year, we offer exceptional opportunities to invite friends. We call these opportunities, “Church -Wide Campaigns” (CWCs). In the past two years, are attendance has grown by 500. 100% of that growth has come from CWCs.
CWCs are the most effective strategy we’ve found for reaching the lost of our community. Next week I’ll describe them for you.
Taking Action
(There are a lot of these this week, but they don’t have to be time-consuming. Put them on your to-do list and check them off one at a time.)
Assignment 1 = Make a note to include “What our Friendliness Factor looks like” in your Capturing God’s Heart sermon series, or do a week or two of sermons on it.
Assignment 2 Adapt and improve LINE-UP for your setting and decide when and how you will teach it to your church.
Assignment 3 = Pray about who/how/when/where and whether to start an R.U. New Café, or a newcomers desert, or something that shows hospitality to newcomers and connects them with your core.
Assignment 4 = Adopt or adapt our “I hope by now you’re discovering that ______ Church is one of the friendliest churches in the world” announcement script and ask your announcements people to memorize and use it every week.
Assignment 5 = Evaluate and upgrade your Greeting Team as you are able.
And … email me (robnigro@sbcglobal.net) or post your comments here to let me know what you’re thinking and how things are progressing.
1,000 blessings!
Starts With You,
Moves To Your Leaders,
Lodges In The Hearts Of Your People,
And Becomes Tangible When It Touches Your Community.
Hi!
I hope you’re finding this adventure worthwhile. If you’re like me (and many others), the process of learned to love the lost is like a roller coaster. One day you’re high, then the next day reality strikes and you’ve got every day junk to deal with, so you’re back to the ground. This is part of why prayer is so important.
If you’re feeling like giving up, guess who’s pushing for that? For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph. 6:12) Don’t give up!
Before you read further, pray for a minute that you hear God’s voice as you read the rest of this.
Working ON Your Ministry
Michael Gerber, in his seminal work, The E Myth, writes that the most important action an executive can take is to work on their business, not just in their business. The same is true in ministry. It’s easy to get so caught up in doing ministry that we neglect to build the ministry. The purpose of my letters is to help you build momentum in your church by working more on your ministry, rather than just in your ministry.
Over the next few letters, I want to help you begin to build some systems that will sustain and increase the momentum in your church.
Please take a minute to pray, asking God to give you an undistracted fifteen minute window to speak to you just now, as you read.
Review:
Momentum starts with the Holy Spirit and you, it moves to your leaders, then lodges in the hearts of your congregation. Once that happens, it becomes tangible and concrete when it touches the community around you.
Everything we’ve begun doing so far is designed to build up latent momentum in you and your church. “Latent” is a scientific word for “pent-up.” As you are praying, your heart is breaking (also, enlarging). As you’re sharing with your people and studying with your leaders, they’re hearts are breaking and enlarging too.
As you preach how much God cares for those who are not yet part of his family, your congregation will begin to want to do something more than attend church and care for each other. They’ll want to do something to reach their friends, neighbors, and community. Wouldn’t it be great if they were pushing you to do outreach, rather than you having to push them? I think it can happen. Your prayers, preaching, and personal example are powerful tools for motivating members to love the lost.
The Third Study
Let’s talk about the third study in our Capturing God’s Heart series.
Come and See
In John 4, Jesus meets an extraordinary woman. She has a damaged past and a dubious present. During their short conversation, the woman decides that Jesus is the Messiah. What should she do about this?
John 4:28-29 says, “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.’ They came out of the town and made their way to him.”
This woman doesn’t have a lot of education. (Though she’s got a lot of reputation, because of her past.) She’s only been a Christ-follower for a few minutes. How can she articulate her new-found faith? She uses two verbs: “Come.” And, “See.”
Over the years I have taught my people half a dozen evangelistic strategies. This one is the simplest: Come and see.
It’s the same approach used by Philip on the day he meets the Lord. “’Come and see,’ said Philip.” (John 1:46b)
This is our third study in our Capturing God’s Heart series. sometime this week have a conversation with a group of people that you are close to and ask them to invite their friends to “Come and see.” what God is doing. (Wow! Just the thought of that gets me excited.)
Tell your friends about how much God loves those who are yet-outside his family, and what the Lord has been doing in your heart. Tell them about how you’ve been praying for lost people in nearby cars while you’re at stoplights, or in line at grocery stores. Remind them that they have never locked eyes with someone who doesn’t matter to God. And that everyone they know is only one prayer away from an eternal relationship with Christ.
Then ask them to pray. Pray for lost neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, etc. Give them a time period – maybe “seven friends for seven weeks.” While they’re doing that, you pray for your congregation full of inviters. Somewhere in there, show them Col. 4:4 and ask them to pray for you.
Here’s what our Capturing Gods Heart has covered:
- Becoming Fishers of Men (Matt. 4:18-22)
- The Day of Good News (2 Kgs. 6,7)
- Come and See (John 4)
If you’d like to make it a four week series, you could begin by preaching my favorite sermon, which is called, The Prodigal Father (from Luke 15). Or, you could insert it as week 2 or 3. There’s no magic to this, you just want to expose your friends to God’s heart, from Scripture, for the lost. If you’d like a copy of The Prodigal Father, let me know and I’ll email it to you.
Building (or Rebuilding) Your Outreach System
Alright, let’s talk about doing things that will touch and attract unchurched people to your fellowship.
What will touch and attract your neighbors?
Right now, your church has a reputation in your community, and chances are, your reputation is not what you think it is. Many churches have no reputation at all because the people living around them aren’t even aware that they exist. Some churches have reputations for the negative things they’ve done. A few engage the community in acts of service, or a large annual event (a summer Family Fair, or Easter Sunrise Service, for examples).
Whatever your reputation, you’re going to have to enhance and improve it if you want to increase your momentum in the community. In my experience, increasing your Friendliness Factor is the fastest and easiest way to make immediate improvement.
Five Ways to Increase Your Friendliness Factor
1. Preach about being friendly.
If you want to increase your Friendliness Factor, I encourage you to start by talking to your people about being friendly.
You can do this in the application section of several of your Capturing God’s Heart sermons: “What does it look like to be friendly to people?” “What does it look like to be friendly to them in the grocery store?” “What does it look like to be friendly in the neighborhood?” “What does it look like to be friendly when they visit our church?”
Or, you could actually preach a sermon or two on the subject. Here’s a tool that might help:
2. Teach your people to “LINE-UP.”
Several years ago, (during a message on “Come and see”) I taught my church a system called, “LINE-UP.” I put a whiteboard on stage, wrote each of the letters vertically on the left-hand size, and then filled it in this way:
LOOK for someone you don’t know.
Every time you come to church, instead of concentrating on your friends, make it your goal to extend God’s love to someone you don’t know. What do you do when you find someone you don’t know…?
INTRODUCE yourself.
“Hi, my name is Hal Seed. Have we met before?” (If not, “Nice to meet you.”) Once you’ve introduced yourself, ask the other person questions. We all love to hear ourselves talk, so let the other person talk.
NEVER sit alone. This is the Eleventh Commandment. New Song’s middle name is “Community,” and in order to be in community, we ought to sit together. So once you’ve introduced yourself, say, “I’m going into the sanctuary now. Can I invite you to sit with me?”
ENGAGE in conversation. During the greeting time, you’ll meet some people around you. Once the church service is over, engage them in conversation (once again, by asking questions, not by talking about yourself.)
USE the R.U. New Café. Once a month, we hold a free lunch for all newcomers. Anyone can come, as long as they are new, or bring someone who’s new. So once you’ve engaged in conversation, say, “Hey, next Sunday (or whenever it is) we’ll be holding a lunch called The R.U. New Café. I’d like to invite you to be my guest. – It’s free, and if you come, I can come. It’ll give me a chance to hear more of your story, and I can introduce you to our staff and leaders.”
PRACTICE the 3/10 Rule. The 3/10 Rule is, talk with three people you don’t know during the first ten minutes after the service. Most of us want to talk with our friends, but if our friends have been coming for awhile, they’ll still be here ten minutes after church. Whereas all newcomers will be gone in the first ten minutes unless someone engages them in conversation.
The LINE-UP strategy has served us well. You will have to start a monthly lunch to implement it fully, so you may need to shorten your acrostic to LINE until you get that in place. But add the UP as soon as possible.
3. Talk about how friendly you are.
No doubt you’ve heard of the concept of “Self-fulfilling Prophecy”? It’s the idea that what you believe will happen is more likely to happen, because you expect it to. You’ve probably also heard of the “Mirror Image,” which is the idea that how other people see you is how you tend to see yourself. Jesus used this phenomenon when he gave Simon the new name “Peter.” – He was saying, “You may not think of yourself this way yet, but I see you as a rock, so I’m going to start calling you Peter.” (Which means “rock” in Aramaic.)
Now, honestly, I believe that New Song Community Church is one of the friendliest churches in the world. And one reason we are is because we remind ourselves that we are. Every weekend, just after the greeting time, the person giving announcements begins by saying, “I hope by now you’re discovering that New Song is one of the friendliest churches in the world.” We script this right into the announcements.
Three months after we began saying that, a lady in our latest membership class said to me, “I kept coming back because this really is one of the friendliest places in the world.” They’ve been saying it ever since.
4. Upgrade your Greeting Team.
If your church is like most, your Greeting Team is largely comprised of older, introverted males. Why? Because these guys don’t have kids at home anymore, which means it’s not hard for them to church a few minutes early. Often, introverts volunteer for the Greeting Team because they feel a little uncomfortable at the beginning of the service. So filling the role of Greeter helps them fit in.
First time guests always ask the unspoken question, “Are there people here like me?” If your first line of greeters is a homogenous group of older males, most of your first time guests’ initial answers will be, “No.”
Upgrade your Greeting Team by recruiting a few younger people, both male and female, if you don’t already have them. Remind them to smile, be friendly but not accosting, and show sincere interest in everyone, especially newcomers.
5. Give your people incentive to invite others.
Most of your people live busy lives. They love coming to church, but rarely think about inviting others just because it’s not on the top of their to-do lists.
At New Song, we have found that people really will invite friends if they know that what they’re inviting them to is going to be relevant, really good, and won’t embarrass them or their friends. So 3-4 times are year, we offer exceptional opportunities to invite friends. We call these opportunities, “Church -Wide Campaigns” (CWCs). In the past two years, are attendance has grown by 500. 100% of that growth has come from CWCs.
CWCs are the most effective strategy we’ve found for reaching the lost of our community. Next week I’ll describe them for you.
Taking Action
(There are a lot of these this week, but they don’t have to be time-consuming. Put them on your to-do list and check them off one at a time.)
Assignment 1 = Make a note to include “What our Friendliness Factor looks like” in your Capturing God’s Heart sermon series, or do a week or two of sermons on it.
Assignment 2 Adapt and improve LINE-UP for your setting and decide when and how you will teach it to your church.
Assignment 3 = Pray about who/how/when/where and whether to start an R.U. New Café, or a newcomers desert, or something that shows hospitality to newcomers and connects them with your core.
Assignment 4 = Adopt or adapt our “I hope by now you’re discovering that ______ Church is one of the friendliest churches in the world” announcement script and ask your announcements people to memorize and use it every week.
Assignment 5 = Evaluate and upgrade your Greeting Team as you are able.
And … email me (robnigro@sbcglobal.net) or post your comments here to let me know what you’re thinking and how things are progressing.
1,000 blessings!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
#3 Momentum Starts With You
#3 - Momentum Starts With You,
It Moves To Your Leaders,
Then It Lodges In The Hearts Of Your People.
Hi!
How is your heart these days?
Do you find yourself praying, “Lord, I don’t ask for much… just your heart for lost people…” more than once a day? Are you seeing people differently than you did two weeks ago?
David wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Ps. 51:17) God is pleased when our hearts are broken for the things that break his heart. I hope you’re experiencing a broken heart for lost people, and I hope it never heals.
In my experience, a pastor who wants to reach their community for Christ has no chance if it’s just an academic exercise, or “the right thing to do.” If you want to fish for men, you’ve got to be brokenhearted about their condition. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the people there were like sheep without a shepherd.
Momentum builds like this: it starts with the Holy Spirit and you, it moves to your leaders, then lodges in the hearts of your congregation.
Please take a minute to pray, asking God to give you an undistracted fifteen minute window to speak to you just now, as you read.
Lodging Love In The Hearts Of Your People
The pastor’s three greatest tools for equipping and growing his people all start with “P”:
1. Prayer.
2. Personal touch.
3. The Pulpit.
You’ve already begun to infect your people with love for their neighbors by the prayers you’ve been praying. If you want to expand your prayer, you might add this: “Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask you to give me your heart for lost people, and to infect my people with that heart as well.” Now you’re up to 30 words. Pray it out loud right now, and time yourself. You’ve probably added an extra three seconds to your prayer time – and an extra burst of momentum that will reveal itself over the next few months and years.
As you hang out with your people, share what God is doing in your heart. Share your dream for reaching your community, especially what it might feel like for them to see people they love come to Christ, and what it will feel like for the Lord as he sees people he loves coming into his family.
Your personal enthusiasm will be contagious. Maybe you can schedule a sermon series on capturing God’s heart. Couple contagion and preaching, and you’ve got a powerful combination!
Sermon notes
Here’s a passage I suggest you use in your series: 2 Kings 6:19-7:11. It’s a long passage, so you’ll want to summarize parts of it.
2 Kings 6 and 7 is about a time when the city of Samaria was surrounded by her enemies. Things got so bad that starvation was imminent. Cannibalism took place. The king was desperate. The people were in despair. Then, the Lord provided salvation.
God drove off Israel’s enemies, who left behind incredible amounts of food and booty. Four lepers, who had nothing to lose (2 Kgs. 7:3-11) discovered this unbelievable treasure trove and at first, kept it all for themselves. Then (like me), they came to their senses. “We’re not doing right.” They said. “This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves… Let’s go at once and report this…!”
During my 90 Days of Prayer, 2 Kings 7:9 struck me so deeply, I memorized it. Prepare and present a sermon on it and I’ll bet it will strike you and your people deeply as well. After you’ve exegeted the passage, tell them about the people who live in your neighborhoods. Describe what it’s like to be missing God in your life. Paint a picture of reality, then paint a picture of “what it could be like if God used us to love our neighbors and share the good news with them.”
Call it, “A Day of Good News,” or, “Keeping It to Ourselves,” or something like that.
The Momentum Plan
What I’m suggesting is that you infect your leaders by doing a God Questions study with them as soon as possible. Then, as soon as practical, do a Capturing God’s Heart series with your whole church to bring them into the vision as well. In my situation, “as soon as practical” would mean 3-4 months from now. So don’t feel rushed on this, but do feel urgent about it.
I’ll give you the third passage next week. Assuming this Heart series goes well, you’ll be dying to reach your community and your people will be up for it as well.
For this week…
Taking Action
Assignment 1 = Continue praying your 90 Day Prayer.
Assignment 2 = Set the date, recruit, remind, and/or prepare for a leaders study of The God Questions.
Assignment 3 = Look at your preaching calendar and schedule a 3-4 week series on “Capturing God’s Heart” for as soon as practical. – Ideally you’ll want to do the study with your leaders and begin your Heart series 4-6 weeks afterwards so you don’t lose momentum.
And… email me to let me know how you’re doing.
1,000 blessings,
It Moves To Your Leaders,
Then It Lodges In The Hearts Of Your People.
Hi!
How is your heart these days?
Do you find yourself praying, “Lord, I don’t ask for much… just your heart for lost people…” more than once a day? Are you seeing people differently than you did two weeks ago?
David wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Ps. 51:17) God is pleased when our hearts are broken for the things that break his heart. I hope you’re experiencing a broken heart for lost people, and I hope it never heals.
In my experience, a pastor who wants to reach their community for Christ has no chance if it’s just an academic exercise, or “the right thing to do.” If you want to fish for men, you’ve got to be brokenhearted about their condition. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the people there were like sheep without a shepherd.
Momentum builds like this: it starts with the Holy Spirit and you, it moves to your leaders, then lodges in the hearts of your congregation.
Please take a minute to pray, asking God to give you an undistracted fifteen minute window to speak to you just now, as you read.
Lodging Love In The Hearts Of Your People
The pastor’s three greatest tools for equipping and growing his people all start with “P”:
1. Prayer.
2. Personal touch.
3. The Pulpit.
You’ve already begun to infect your people with love for their neighbors by the prayers you’ve been praying. If you want to expand your prayer, you might add this: “Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask you to give me your heart for lost people, and to infect my people with that heart as well.” Now you’re up to 30 words. Pray it out loud right now, and time yourself. You’ve probably added an extra three seconds to your prayer time – and an extra burst of momentum that will reveal itself over the next few months and years.
As you hang out with your people, share what God is doing in your heart. Share your dream for reaching your community, especially what it might feel like for them to see people they love come to Christ, and what it will feel like for the Lord as he sees people he loves coming into his family.
Your personal enthusiasm will be contagious. Maybe you can schedule a sermon series on capturing God’s heart. Couple contagion and preaching, and you’ve got a powerful combination!
Sermon notes
Here’s a passage I suggest you use in your series: 2 Kings 6:19-7:11. It’s a long passage, so you’ll want to summarize parts of it.
2 Kings 6 and 7 is about a time when the city of Samaria was surrounded by her enemies. Things got so bad that starvation was imminent. Cannibalism took place. The king was desperate. The people were in despair. Then, the Lord provided salvation.
God drove off Israel’s enemies, who left behind incredible amounts of food and booty. Four lepers, who had nothing to lose (2 Kgs. 7:3-11) discovered this unbelievable treasure trove and at first, kept it all for themselves. Then (like me), they came to their senses. “We’re not doing right.” They said. “This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves… Let’s go at once and report this…!”
During my 90 Days of Prayer, 2 Kings 7:9 struck me so deeply, I memorized it. Prepare and present a sermon on it and I’ll bet it will strike you and your people deeply as well. After you’ve exegeted the passage, tell them about the people who live in your neighborhoods. Describe what it’s like to be missing God in your life. Paint a picture of reality, then paint a picture of “what it could be like if God used us to love our neighbors and share the good news with them.”
Call it, “A Day of Good News,” or, “Keeping It to Ourselves,” or something like that.
The Momentum Plan
What I’m suggesting is that you infect your leaders by doing a God Questions study with them as soon as possible. Then, as soon as practical, do a Capturing God’s Heart series with your whole church to bring them into the vision as well. In my situation, “as soon as practical” would mean 3-4 months from now. So don’t feel rushed on this, but do feel urgent about it.
I’ll give you the third passage next week. Assuming this Heart series goes well, you’ll be dying to reach your community and your people will be up for it as well.
For this week…
Taking Action
Assignment 1 = Continue praying your 90 Day Prayer.
Assignment 2 = Set the date, recruit, remind, and/or prepare for a leaders study of The God Questions.
Assignment 3 = Look at your preaching calendar and schedule a 3-4 week series on “Capturing God’s Heart” for as soon as practical. – Ideally you’ll want to do the study with your leaders and begin your Heart series 4-6 weeks afterwards so you don’t lose momentum.
And… email me to let me know how you’re doing.
1,000 blessings,
Monday, September 19, 2011
#2 - Momentum Starts With You
#2 - Momentum Starts With You, Then Moves To Your Leaders.
Hi!
How is your prayer life going?
Last week we pressed the ignition switch on the momentum of your church (and, hopefully, your heart). We said that the Holy Spirit and you are the most powerful forces for generating momentum and fulfilling the Great Commission. I hope you and he have had some intimate conversations about where he wants to lead you and what he wants to do in your church and community. If so, you’ve started on a habit that will reap benefits all the way into eternity.
Pastor, the truth about you is, you are one of the most important people in your community – maybe the most important person. You are God’s messenger and direction-setter for the people of your church. And your church (along with others in your area) is the only hope for the peoples in your surrounding neighborhoods.
Your church will never be able to play its intended part in the Great Commission without having a heart for the lost, and you will never be able to lead them unless you have an oversized heart for the lost. If you want your people to bleed for the lost, you must hemorrhage for them. So this week I want to give you a tool for increasing your heart for the as-of-yet unsaved people around you, along with a passage to share with your congregation so they increase their burden for the people around them.
Please take a minute to pray, asking God to give you an undistracted ten minute window to speak to you just now, as you read.
Developing a Heart for the Unsaved
In 1989, a pastor I had never met before encouraged me to pray a prayer I’d never heard before. It was a simple prayer: Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask that you give me your heart for lost people.
Twenty words. Twenty-two syllables. Seventy letters. One request.
I prayed that prayer every day, slowly and fervently, for the next 90 days. It took me less than 30 seconds in total, each day.
At the end of the first week, I saw everyone around me differently. I saw the unsaved as objects of God’s affection and the saved as God’s means to reach them.
At the end of the first month, I broke down in a grocery store because it occurred to me that of the fifty people standing in lines around me, 30 to 35 of them were going to spend a Christless eternity if someone didn’t do something to communicate God’s love to them.
By the end of the second month I determined that I had to do something personally. I attended my first “Matthew party” (Luke 5:29) to rub shoulders with lost people and decided that I would learn to answer every question a pre-Christian might have before coming to Christ. To do this, I taught a Sunday School class called, “Answering Questions Pre-Christians Ask.” After doing a ton of research, I discovered there are eight questions which cover 95% of what pre-Christians ever ask before coming to faith.
By the end of the third month, I felt God leading me to plant a church in order to reach lost people. – So, beware! If you pray my prayer, you are in for a lot of changes in the next 90 days.
Assignment #1:
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to pray these 20 words every day for the next 90 days: Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask that you give me your heart for lost people.
Helping Your Church Develop a Heart for the Unsaved
My little Sunday School class had a dozen students in it. Before beginning Questions Pre-Christians Ask, I spent the first lesson walking them through Matthew 4:18-22. It’s the passage where Jesus calls four fishermen to follow him, with the promise that he will in turn make them fishers of men.
In Matt. 4:18, Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee. It’s a tiny lake – eight miles wide, twelve miles long. The men he called were all professional fishermen. They’d grown up fishing that lake. They arose early every morning, thinking about fishing. On their way to the dock, they talked about fishing. On their way home, they talked about how they could catch more fish the next day.
Those men knew just about everything about that little lake, and just about everything about the fish in it. They knew the habits of each species, where and how they bit best. They knew the changes of the seasons and how those changes affected the catchability of each type of fish.
Most importantly, they knew the market-price of each fish. At the end of the day, they would sell most of their fish. The amount they received was what fed their families. These men fished as if their lives depended on it.
It was to these men that Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” – Not just recreational fishers-of-men, but professional fishers-of-men.
After I unpacked the lesson, our class started making applications: If these men knew everything there was to know about their lake, shouldn’t we? If they knew the best conditions to fish in, shouldn’t we? If they knew the best days of the year to catch the different types of fish, shouldn’t we? And if they knew the market-price of each fish, shouldn’t we as well?
I had just finished my 90 days of “Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask for your heart for lost people.” And I confess, as we were talking about what it might look like to work and pray like professional fishers-of-men, I broke down and wept. I gasped out one more question: “What’s the market-price of the fish God has called us to catch?”
Someone said, “It’s priceless.”
I asked, “How do you know that?”
“Because God set the price himself. It was the life of his one and only Son.”
No one in the class was ever the same again. We learned the answers to the questions pre-Christians asked. Every class member prayed my 90 day pray. We started living like fishers of men. Today, more than 7,000 people have come to Christ as a result of that prayer and that passage.
Answering Questions
Fifteen years after teaching the “Questions…” class, I wrote a book on them. It’s called, The God Questions. If you are going to build a heart for the unsaved into the DNA of your church, you’ve got to start with the leaders. That’s how momentum works. It starts with the leader, moves to the leadership, then to the church members, and finally to the community around them.
Assignment #2:
So here’s your second assignment: Make a list of the top leaders and staff in your church and ask them to join you for a six week Bible study so you can share your heart with them.
(I know, they’re busy people. But this is something special they get to do with you. So if they can make it, they will. Get this group study onto your calendar as soon as possible. Try to start within the next four weeks, if you can.)
By the way, you are on a course to change your heart, the hearts of your leaders, your church, and the eternities of a lot of people in your community. Expect some opposition. Overcome it with love, faith, and prayer.
Taking Action
#1 = Pray The 90 Day Prayer. Write it out on a 3 x 5 card and pray it now!
#2 = Invite your leaders to a six week God Questions Bible study as soon as practical. They’ll probably need 3-4 weeks advanced notice, so look at your calendar and figure out a good time to start. – Make it soon, because you’re building momentum in your own heart and you don’t want that to wear off. But don’t be panicked about it. Schedule it for as soon as practical.
# 3 = post your comments and thoughts to let me know that you’re still listening to God in prayer, that you’re beginning your 90 Day Prayer today, and the date you hope to begin your God Questions leaders study.
God bless you,
Hi!
How is your prayer life going?
Last week we pressed the ignition switch on the momentum of your church (and, hopefully, your heart). We said that the Holy Spirit and you are the most powerful forces for generating momentum and fulfilling the Great Commission. I hope you and he have had some intimate conversations about where he wants to lead you and what he wants to do in your church and community. If so, you’ve started on a habit that will reap benefits all the way into eternity.
Pastor, the truth about you is, you are one of the most important people in your community – maybe the most important person. You are God’s messenger and direction-setter for the people of your church. And your church (along with others in your area) is the only hope for the peoples in your surrounding neighborhoods.
Your church will never be able to play its intended part in the Great Commission without having a heart for the lost, and you will never be able to lead them unless you have an oversized heart for the lost. If you want your people to bleed for the lost, you must hemorrhage for them. So this week I want to give you a tool for increasing your heart for the as-of-yet unsaved people around you, along with a passage to share with your congregation so they increase their burden for the people around them.
Please take a minute to pray, asking God to give you an undistracted ten minute window to speak to you just now, as you read.
Developing a Heart for the Unsaved
In 1989, a pastor I had never met before encouraged me to pray a prayer I’d never heard before. It was a simple prayer: Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask that you give me your heart for lost people.
Twenty words. Twenty-two syllables. Seventy letters. One request.
I prayed that prayer every day, slowly and fervently, for the next 90 days. It took me less than 30 seconds in total, each day.
At the end of the first week, I saw everyone around me differently. I saw the unsaved as objects of God’s affection and the saved as God’s means to reach them.
At the end of the first month, I broke down in a grocery store because it occurred to me that of the fifty people standing in lines around me, 30 to 35 of them were going to spend a Christless eternity if someone didn’t do something to communicate God’s love to them.
By the end of the second month I determined that I had to do something personally. I attended my first “Matthew party” (Luke 5:29) to rub shoulders with lost people and decided that I would learn to answer every question a pre-Christian might have before coming to Christ. To do this, I taught a Sunday School class called, “Answering Questions Pre-Christians Ask.” After doing a ton of research, I discovered there are eight questions which cover 95% of what pre-Christians ever ask before coming to faith.
By the end of the third month, I felt God leading me to plant a church in order to reach lost people. – So, beware! If you pray my prayer, you are in for a lot of changes in the next 90 days.
Assignment #1:
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to pray these 20 words every day for the next 90 days: Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask that you give me your heart for lost people.
Helping Your Church Develop a Heart for the Unsaved
My little Sunday School class had a dozen students in it. Before beginning Questions Pre-Christians Ask, I spent the first lesson walking them through Matthew 4:18-22. It’s the passage where Jesus calls four fishermen to follow him, with the promise that he will in turn make them fishers of men.
In Matt. 4:18, Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee. It’s a tiny lake – eight miles wide, twelve miles long. The men he called were all professional fishermen. They’d grown up fishing that lake. They arose early every morning, thinking about fishing. On their way to the dock, they talked about fishing. On their way home, they talked about how they could catch more fish the next day.
Those men knew just about everything about that little lake, and just about everything about the fish in it. They knew the habits of each species, where and how they bit best. They knew the changes of the seasons and how those changes affected the catchability of each type of fish.
Most importantly, they knew the market-price of each fish. At the end of the day, they would sell most of their fish. The amount they received was what fed their families. These men fished as if their lives depended on it.
It was to these men that Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” – Not just recreational fishers-of-men, but professional fishers-of-men.
After I unpacked the lesson, our class started making applications: If these men knew everything there was to know about their lake, shouldn’t we? If they knew the best conditions to fish in, shouldn’t we? If they knew the best days of the year to catch the different types of fish, shouldn’t we? And if they knew the market-price of each fish, shouldn’t we as well?
I had just finished my 90 days of “Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. I just ask for your heart for lost people.” And I confess, as we were talking about what it might look like to work and pray like professional fishers-of-men, I broke down and wept. I gasped out one more question: “What’s the market-price of the fish God has called us to catch?”
Someone said, “It’s priceless.”
I asked, “How do you know that?”
“Because God set the price himself. It was the life of his one and only Son.”
No one in the class was ever the same again. We learned the answers to the questions pre-Christians asked. Every class member prayed my 90 day pray. We started living like fishers of men. Today, more than 7,000 people have come to Christ as a result of that prayer and that passage.
Answering Questions
Fifteen years after teaching the “Questions…” class, I wrote a book on them. It’s called, The God Questions. If you are going to build a heart for the unsaved into the DNA of your church, you’ve got to start with the leaders. That’s how momentum works. It starts with the leader, moves to the leadership, then to the church members, and finally to the community around them.
Assignment #2:
So here’s your second assignment: Make a list of the top leaders and staff in your church and ask them to join you for a six week Bible study so you can share your heart with them.
(I know, they’re busy people. But this is something special they get to do with you. So if they can make it, they will. Get this group study onto your calendar as soon as possible. Try to start within the next four weeks, if you can.)
By the way, you are on a course to change your heart, the hearts of your leaders, your church, and the eternities of a lot of people in your community. Expect some opposition. Overcome it with love, faith, and prayer.
Taking Action
#1 = Pray The 90 Day Prayer. Write it out on a 3 x 5 card and pray it now!
#2 = Invite your leaders to a six week God Questions Bible study as soon as practical. They’ll probably need 3-4 weeks advanced notice, so look at your calendar and figure out a good time to start. – Make it soon, because you’re building momentum in your own heart and you don’t want that to wear off. But don’t be panicked about it. Schedule it for as soon as practical.
# 3 = post your comments and thoughts to let me know that you’re still listening to God in prayer, that you’re beginning your 90 Day Prayer today, and the date you hope to begin your God Questions leaders study.
God bless you,
Friday, September 9, 2011
Lesson #1 - It Starts With You
Lesson #1 - It Starts With You
Hi Pastoral team,
Thanks for your desire to build Jesus’ church. Nothing on earth is half as important.
Years ago I committed to do whatever I can to fulfill the Great Commission and to help as many people as possible do same. I suspect you have too. I’m looking forward to partnering with you over the next eight weeks.
Let me tell you a little of my story:
My wife and I founded New Song Community Church in 1992.
In 1996 I was reading Acts 2:47, where Luke reported that in the church in Jerusalem, “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” I remarked more than prayed, “Lord, someday I’d like to be part of a church like that.”
He said to me, “Then why don’t you ask me for that?”
So I did. I said, “Lord, would you enable the church I pastor to someday see a person a day come to Christ.”
The previous year, New Song had led 53 people to Christ – one every seven days. That year I asked him to enable us to lead 61 to Christ – one every six days. The following year it was one every five days. Then every four days, then three, then two, then one.
As of 2010, we are seeing four people a day come to Christ. Sometimes I still can’t believe what’s happening here. God has been so good.
I can’t promise this will happen for you. I can almost promise it won’t. The Lord seems to like to do something unique in every work of his hands. What I can do is help you and your church move towards greater effectiveness in seeing newcomers come to Christ and veterans grow in Christlikeness.
If this is the desire of your heart, please take a minute to ask the Lord to lead us together in further effectiveness for the cause of Christ. “Lord, I want to see you use me and my church to reach and grow as many as possible in Christ. Please grow me as a leader, and entrust our church with more and greater fruitfulness for you. I recommit myself to your Great Commission.”
Amen!
Your Three Most Powerful Forces
I asked you to pray because the Holy Spirit is the most important entity in increasing the effectiveness of your church. We can do nothing without him (John 15:6,7).
You might be surprised at how much I’m going to ask you to pray over the next few weeks, and how important increasing prayer is in your church. More on that later.
Next to the Holy Spirit, the most powerful force for enabling your church to reach its community is momentum.
With momentum, everything is easier. Without momentum, everything is harder. Your leadership is perceived as stronger, better and more dynamic when momentum is on your side. Life is more fun, ministry is more fun, and sometimes even your family life is more fun with the wind momentum at your back.
The really good news is, momentum is usually built one simple step at a time.
A Definition
No doubt you’ve read stories about churches growing by hundreds and thousands a year. That’s a great kind of momentum, but it’s not the kind of momentum I’m aiming for. To be clear, for our purposes, when I say momentum, I mean:
1. Seeing newcomers coming to Christ and
2. Seeing your members growing in Christ.
If we can develop this kind of momentum in your church, you just might see a large numerical increase. But if all you see is a numerical increase without new people coming to Christ and older ones growing spiritually, I won’t be satisfied - and I hope you won’t either. If most of your attendance increase comes from transferring Christians from one church to another that will do nothing to fulfill the Great Commission.
Next to the Holy Spirit and momentum, the third most powerful force in your church is you. If you are the lead pastor or one of the key leaders in the church, you have been called by God to lead and inspire a group of people to build Christ’s church. It starts with you. You (and the Holy Spirit) are the key to momentum. Your church will never outpace your vision, your enthusiasm or your sense of faith in where God is leading and what he can do.
Gaining and Sustaining Momentum
Great movements are built by implementing one simple step at a time. So, for the next ten weeks, I’m going to ask you to take several simple steps forward every week.
This first week’s actions may seem too slow for you. Trust me. When a rocket fires its engines, it doesn’t move very far in the first few seconds. Momentum is a force that builds, then moves, then accelerates - and keeps accelerating - over time. Three weeks from now you will have plenty to do, and be excited about doing it all. Ten weeks from now, you’ll have at least a year’s worth of implementations that will set your church on a new trajectory.
The first step I’d like you to take is to gain momentum by putting more of the Holy Spirit in you through prayer. Eph. 1:18 -20 tells us that the power that raised Christ from the dead is available to you. Begin building momentum by tapping into that power!
Taking Action
Here’s what I’d like you to do this week:
1. Pray.
Spend time in Acts 2:42-47 looking at what God did in the first church. As you read and pray, ask him to reveal to you what he is doing and wants to do in your community. As you gain clarity on his vision and activity, pray with increasing fervor that he will find favor with your church and allow you to join him in his work.
Prayer is a mixture of asking and listening.
The region where I pastor was formed by a river which carved a valley to the sea. Every morning I ask, “Lord, give me this valley.” I also pray, “And Lord, if you want to bring revival to this area, like Isaiah, I am raising my hand. If you’re looking for someone to lead, or use in any way, choose me.”
When you’re stopped at a stoplight, pray for every person in every car you can see. Ask God to bring them to Christ, and, if he’s willing, to use you and your church to bring them to Christ.
When you’re at the gym, look around and silently pray that God would use you and your church to reach each person you see. Don’t just pray this generally, pray it specifically for every face you see. “Lord, if that man doesn’t know you, please use me and our church to lead him to you.”
When you’re picking up your kids at school, when you’re in the grocery story, when you’re walking into the theater, pray for the people of your city.
If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit. … If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. (John 15:5, 7)
More importantly, on the listening side, I want to hear whatever the Lord wants to say to me and do whatever he wants me to do. So, with the vision he has so far revealed to me, I pray, “Lord, what are your marching orders? How do you want me to join you in your work today? Is there anything else you want to say to me? Anything else you what me to know or be aware of today? My greatest desire is not to make my own plans and ask you to bless them, but to follow you and be used by you however you want to use me.”
Listen for God’s voice (John 10:27). Ask him specifically,
- “Lord, how do you want me to play a part in the Great Commission?”
- “What is your vision and desire for my church?”
- “For my city/town/village/region?”
- “Based on the type of person you made me to be, and the background, size, personalities and resources you’ve given our church, how do you want to love the world through us?”
The most important pieces of information you are seeking are, what is God’s desire for your life, your ministry, your church, your area? You may have to ask your questions a few times to hear and/or confirm what you’re hearing. And you may need to ask them in several different ways. Each time you pray, begin by asking the Lord to speak to you. Tell him you want to hear nothing but his voice - not your voice or any other voice, only his voice. Then listen and write down what you hear.
There is no action you can take that is more powerful than hearing from God and discerning his desires. Begin praying more frequently, fervently and faithfully, and never cease (1 Thess. 5:17).
2. Fast. (If your health will allow.)
Sometime this week,(for us we have choosen Monday) skip food and spend extra time in prayer. If you’re not in the habit of fasting (especially if your body is used to caffeine and sugar), fast until noon, devoting that time to prayer. If you’re up for a bigger challenge, try fasting from sun up to sundown. If you’re able, fast for 24 hours.
Fasting will refine you, and reveal what owns you (Mt. 4:4).
Remember what the Lord said in 2 Chronicles 16:7? “The eyes the Lord range throughout the earth to strength those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
You are committed to the Lord, or you wouldn’t be purposing to improve your leadership like this. Fasting will increase your commitment to him, and rivet his eyes on you.
You were hoping to start doing something earthshaking with this first letter. Believe me, you are. (See Acts 4:31 and 16:25-26.) This first week is like pressing the ignition switch. Your momentum rocket won’t get off the launching pad, but it will be building up power for an incredible ride!
3. Post your comments / Email me.
For accountability’s sake, post your comments and thoughts on this blog. if you have something sensitive to say email it to me me at robnigro@sbcglobal.net . Your note and comment doesn’t have to be long or detailed. Just spend 60 seconds letting all of us know you’ve begun and you’ll be praying and fasting.
I will ask you to post/email me after every letter I send. It’s not because I’m lonely or need more to read. It’s because your success will multiply by the accountability. Taking 60 seconds to post/email will be one of your most important actions in moving your church forward. Every time you hit “send,” you’ll know that we're all with you and cheering you on!
Next Week
Expect your second letter a week from today. Each letter will include several assignments to help you build momentum. As you complete these assignments, I believe the Lord’s eyes will be on you and he’ll be strengthening you for the building of his church.
Next week I will teach you a technique for deepening your burden for the people in your area. And, I’ll give you the first of three scriptural lessons you can use to help your church develop a burden for your area. After that, we’ll be hitting the ground rolling!
God bless
you,
Hi Pastoral team,
Thanks for your desire to build Jesus’ church. Nothing on earth is half as important.
Years ago I committed to do whatever I can to fulfill the Great Commission and to help as many people as possible do same. I suspect you have too. I’m looking forward to partnering with you over the next eight weeks.
Let me tell you a little of my story:
My wife and I founded New Song Community Church in 1992.
In 1996 I was reading Acts 2:47, where Luke reported that in the church in Jerusalem, “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” I remarked more than prayed, “Lord, someday I’d like to be part of a church like that.”
He said to me, “Then why don’t you ask me for that?”
So I did. I said, “Lord, would you enable the church I pastor to someday see a person a day come to Christ.”
The previous year, New Song had led 53 people to Christ – one every seven days. That year I asked him to enable us to lead 61 to Christ – one every six days. The following year it was one every five days. Then every four days, then three, then two, then one.
As of 2010, we are seeing four people a day come to Christ. Sometimes I still can’t believe what’s happening here. God has been so good.
I can’t promise this will happen for you. I can almost promise it won’t. The Lord seems to like to do something unique in every work of his hands. What I can do is help you and your church move towards greater effectiveness in seeing newcomers come to Christ and veterans grow in Christlikeness.
If this is the desire of your heart, please take a minute to ask the Lord to lead us together in further effectiveness for the cause of Christ. “Lord, I want to see you use me and my church to reach and grow as many as possible in Christ. Please grow me as a leader, and entrust our church with more and greater fruitfulness for you. I recommit myself to your Great Commission.”
Amen!
Your Three Most Powerful Forces
I asked you to pray because the Holy Spirit is the most important entity in increasing the effectiveness of your church. We can do nothing without him (John 15:6,7).
You might be surprised at how much I’m going to ask you to pray over the next few weeks, and how important increasing prayer is in your church. More on that later.
Next to the Holy Spirit, the most powerful force for enabling your church to reach its community is momentum.
With momentum, everything is easier. Without momentum, everything is harder. Your leadership is perceived as stronger, better and more dynamic when momentum is on your side. Life is more fun, ministry is more fun, and sometimes even your family life is more fun with the wind momentum at your back.
The really good news is, momentum is usually built one simple step at a time.
A Definition
No doubt you’ve read stories about churches growing by hundreds and thousands a year. That’s a great kind of momentum, but it’s not the kind of momentum I’m aiming for. To be clear, for our purposes, when I say momentum, I mean:
1. Seeing newcomers coming to Christ and
2. Seeing your members growing in Christ.
If we can develop this kind of momentum in your church, you just might see a large numerical increase. But if all you see is a numerical increase without new people coming to Christ and older ones growing spiritually, I won’t be satisfied - and I hope you won’t either. If most of your attendance increase comes from transferring Christians from one church to another that will do nothing to fulfill the Great Commission.
Next to the Holy Spirit and momentum, the third most powerful force in your church is you. If you are the lead pastor or one of the key leaders in the church, you have been called by God to lead and inspire a group of people to build Christ’s church. It starts with you. You (and the Holy Spirit) are the key to momentum. Your church will never outpace your vision, your enthusiasm or your sense of faith in where God is leading and what he can do.
Gaining and Sustaining Momentum
Great movements are built by implementing one simple step at a time. So, for the next ten weeks, I’m going to ask you to take several simple steps forward every week.
This first week’s actions may seem too slow for you. Trust me. When a rocket fires its engines, it doesn’t move very far in the first few seconds. Momentum is a force that builds, then moves, then accelerates - and keeps accelerating - over time. Three weeks from now you will have plenty to do, and be excited about doing it all. Ten weeks from now, you’ll have at least a year’s worth of implementations that will set your church on a new trajectory.
The first step I’d like you to take is to gain momentum by putting more of the Holy Spirit in you through prayer. Eph. 1:18 -20 tells us that the power that raised Christ from the dead is available to you. Begin building momentum by tapping into that power!
Taking Action
Here’s what I’d like you to do this week:
1. Pray.
Spend time in Acts 2:42-47 looking at what God did in the first church. As you read and pray, ask him to reveal to you what he is doing and wants to do in your community. As you gain clarity on his vision and activity, pray with increasing fervor that he will find favor with your church and allow you to join him in his work.
Prayer is a mixture of asking and listening.
The region where I pastor was formed by a river which carved a valley to the sea. Every morning I ask, “Lord, give me this valley.” I also pray, “And Lord, if you want to bring revival to this area, like Isaiah, I am raising my hand. If you’re looking for someone to lead, or use in any way, choose me.”
When you’re stopped at a stoplight, pray for every person in every car you can see. Ask God to bring them to Christ, and, if he’s willing, to use you and your church to bring them to Christ.
When you’re at the gym, look around and silently pray that God would use you and your church to reach each person you see. Don’t just pray this generally, pray it specifically for every face you see. “Lord, if that man doesn’t know you, please use me and our church to lead him to you.”
When you’re picking up your kids at school, when you’re in the grocery story, when you’re walking into the theater, pray for the people of your city.
If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit. … If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. (John 15:5, 7)
More importantly, on the listening side, I want to hear whatever the Lord wants to say to me and do whatever he wants me to do. So, with the vision he has so far revealed to me, I pray, “Lord, what are your marching orders? How do you want me to join you in your work today? Is there anything else you want to say to me? Anything else you what me to know or be aware of today? My greatest desire is not to make my own plans and ask you to bless them, but to follow you and be used by you however you want to use me.”
Listen for God’s voice (John 10:27). Ask him specifically,
- “Lord, how do you want me to play a part in the Great Commission?”
- “What is your vision and desire for my church?”
- “For my city/town/village/region?”
- “Based on the type of person you made me to be, and the background, size, personalities and resources you’ve given our church, how do you want to love the world through us?”
The most important pieces of information you are seeking are, what is God’s desire for your life, your ministry, your church, your area? You may have to ask your questions a few times to hear and/or confirm what you’re hearing. And you may need to ask them in several different ways. Each time you pray, begin by asking the Lord to speak to you. Tell him you want to hear nothing but his voice - not your voice or any other voice, only his voice. Then listen and write down what you hear.
There is no action you can take that is more powerful than hearing from God and discerning his desires. Begin praying more frequently, fervently and faithfully, and never cease (1 Thess. 5:17).
2. Fast. (If your health will allow.)
Sometime this week,(for us we have choosen Monday) skip food and spend extra time in prayer. If you’re not in the habit of fasting (especially if your body is used to caffeine and sugar), fast until noon, devoting that time to prayer. If you’re up for a bigger challenge, try fasting from sun up to sundown. If you’re able, fast for 24 hours.
Fasting will refine you, and reveal what owns you (Mt. 4:4).
Remember what the Lord said in 2 Chronicles 16:7? “The eyes the Lord range throughout the earth to strength those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
You are committed to the Lord, or you wouldn’t be purposing to improve your leadership like this. Fasting will increase your commitment to him, and rivet his eyes on you.
You were hoping to start doing something earthshaking with this first letter. Believe me, you are. (See Acts 4:31 and 16:25-26.) This first week is like pressing the ignition switch. Your momentum rocket won’t get off the launching pad, but it will be building up power for an incredible ride!
3. Post your comments / Email me.
For accountability’s sake, post your comments and thoughts on this blog. if you have something sensitive to say email it to me me at robnigro@sbcglobal.net . Your note and comment doesn’t have to be long or detailed. Just spend 60 seconds letting all of us know you’ve begun and you’ll be praying and fasting.
I will ask you to post/email me after every letter I send. It’s not because I’m lonely or need more to read. It’s because your success will multiply by the accountability. Taking 60 seconds to post/email will be one of your most important actions in moving your church forward. Every time you hit “send,” you’ll know that we're all with you and cheering you on!
Next Week
Expect your second letter a week from today. Each letter will include several assignments to help you build momentum. As you complete these assignments, I believe the Lord’s eyes will be on you and he’ll be strengthening you for the building of his church.
Next week I will teach you a technique for deepening your burden for the people in your area. And, I’ll give you the first of three scriptural lessons you can use to help your church develop a burden for your area. After that, we’ll be hitting the ground rolling!
God bless
you,
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