Conserve the Results

By Franklin Dumond

Any outreach strategy that focuses only on expanding the attendance at one worship service may have the unintended consequence of settling back into the routine of business as usual after that day passes.  Successful outreach strategies include special efforts to conserve the results of this special day.Lancaster_Baptist_Church_Main_Auditorium

Three types of effort are necessary to conserve the results of any outreach strategy, and especially those of a Big Day.

First, efforts must be designed to identify, connect with, and encourage the return of first time guests who are present on any Big Day.

Second, leaders must have a disciple-making strategy in place that will not only introduce first time guests to faith in Christ, but will also facilitate their spiritual growth.

Third, leaders must have a working strategy in place to involve as many new people as possible in service roles in the ministries of the local church.

Because of the conservative nature of most of our General Baptist churches, the third effort just described is often the most difficult.  Nevertheless, assimilation strategies that work can be identified and customized to each local church.

This is also true of disciple-making.  There are many small group and one-on-one disciple-making strategies that can be easily adapted to most local settings, if we will simply make the adaptation.

Working with the structures of a local church, however, to quickly empower new servants can be very, very difficult.  Here are a few suggestions that can assist church leaders from any size congregation to develop a mindset and a practical strategy to include more people in the working life of the church by serving in a ministry setting.

1.  Identify how many volunteer positions are required to operate the ministries of your church.  Think through every ministry task that is needed.  In the established church, many of these roles will be identified in the organizing documents that guide the life of the congregation.  In the growing congregation, there will be just as many informal adaptations to new ministries and new opportunities.  Be sure to identify all the ministry tasks that occupy volunteer time and effort.

2.  Identify who is currently serving in these positions.  Write down their names beside the ministry role they occupy.

3.  Review your list.  Are a few people engaged in several ministries?  If so, you could expand your list of volunteers if folks are limited to how many positions they can hold.  Perhaps they can mentor and train those who will come alongside to share the load.

4.  Expand your opportunities.  Can the opportunity to serve be shared?  Can several people take turns doing ministry?  For example, if four ushers generally collect the tithes and offerings along with the communication cards, ask these questions:

  • Should the same four people serve in this capacity every Sunday?  Could a team of 16 serve by each serving one Sunday a month?
  • If four ushers can collect the offerings and communication cards, why not use eight and expand the number of workers by purchasing a few new offering plates and by dividing the auditorium into smaller sections?

By applying this same logic to greeters, parking lot attendants, welcome center attendants, and those who set up the coffee makers, it is possible to double or even triple the number of people actively engaging in ministry!

5.  Identify how many volunteers would be required to operate as a church twice your size.  This will at least double your volunteer base and will probably expand it even further.  Keep in mind that as you gain new people, they are not coming to just watch the show.  They are coming so they can find meaningful opportunities for relationship and responsibility.

 

We Only Have Two Kids!

By Franklin Dumond

“We only have two kids,” the pastor reported. He then asked, “How do we connect with younger families?”

girls-462072_1920This scenario plays out in all too many single cell, well-established churches. The single cell church only has one group of folks. Typically there will be only one worship service and perhaps only one adult class. Generally, attendance will average 30-50 weekly. The single cell church embodies the organizing principle that we are always more comfortable around people who are similar to us.

In the single cell church the group tends to age together and over time can become a senior citizen’s church with few, if any, children present.

The obvious answer to connect with young families would be to invest in children’s ministries that would include both Sunday morning and weekday options for children. Sometimes the missing ingredient is the lack of ministries targeted for children and their families.

Often this obvious answer requires too many people to implement and to many dollars to provide it. When the obvious answer is not appropriate, then some short-term entry events and adapted on-going programming is necessary.

  • Organize a one-day Vacation Bible School and recruit children. If you can get them to the church once then you have an opportunity to work with their families in follow-up activities to enlist them in the local church.
  • Consider week-day ministries. Many churches provide after school programs for latch key children. Others invest in some of the club type ministries like Pioneer Clubs or Awana.
  • You can consider a video curriculum that will include recorded music so the children you have can sing along with the other children on the DVD.
  • Include a children’s message as part of your morning worship. The children’s message should be presented by the pastor in a story telling, object lesson format. When the pastor announces, “Children, meet me down front” both the children and the adults will share in this special message. One way to start this practice is to use Advent, the four Sundays prior to Christmas, to light candles on an Advent Wreath and tell portions of the Christmas story using figurines to build a Christmas display. Children love to help and young boys especially like playing with fire, which is essential if you are to light a candle!
  • Use a children’s bulletin. These are available from several sources and can generally be photocopied on site so the proper number can be prepared. These may provide age appropriate learning activities that could even be the focus of the children’s message.
  • Develop an organized prayer ministry. It is amazing what the Lord does when we ask him to do things! Pray for children to attend. Pray by name for the children you know who should attend.

Continue teaching and training even if you only have a few children. If you only have a few, then be sure to find a way to provide individualized instruction. Make it part of your church’s discipleship plan.

“I was that kid.” This was the report from a pastor reflecting on growing up in smaller churches where he was often the only child in a class. As he reflected on that heritage, he realized that the faithfulness of a few teachers and leaders had positioned him to hear the Lord’s call and to enter vocational ministry. That faithfulness continued week after week when someone studied and prepared a lesson even when there was only one student enrolled in the class. That type of faithfulness will someday warrant a “well done” from the Lord Jesus himself!

6 Reasons Churches Never Address Decline

By Franklin Dumond

Churches, like other organizations and the people who participate, move through predictable cycles.  In the institutional memory of every church there is the awareness that average attendance varies from year to year.  Anyone who has been part of a congregation for any length of time will have experienced those occasions when more people attend now than used to attend.  Seasoned members will also have experienced those occasions where fewer people attend now than in the past.

Some years ago, one church consultant described churches and their attendance patterns as either being on the incline (growing and increasing), on the recline (stable, on a plateau), or on the decline (fewer attending now than used to attend).  Most observers of the American church landscape suggest that at least 80% of churches are reclining or declining.

The net result of long term decline is always death.   So why don’t more churches address the serious issue of decline?

  1. Poor record keeping disguises decline.  I once helped stage a picture for some church publicity.  We wanted to show the auditorium as full of people, but it was a weekday and only a handful of people were in the building when the photographer arrived.  No problem.  He simply staged them along the center aisle and framed the shot looking down the aisle.  By cropping out the rest of the picture we had a full house with only a couple of dozen folks present!

inside-of-a-church-pews-hanging-cross-shiny-aisleMy wife observed recently that the church looked “pretty full this morning” but in actuality the seating capacity was seriously          underutilized at only about 50% occupied.  I counted.  She observed.  My count did not match her observation although she admitted the seating patterns made it look like a larger crowd was present.

Unless church leaders count and compare the counts from week to week, from month to month, or from year to year decline may easily be disguised.

  1. Righteous Remnant Theology often predicts a falling away from the church because people in general just cannot accept the hard truth of the Gospel.  Decline in this scenario has to do more with decline in standards and errors in theology rather than loss of numbers.
  2. Decline is the new normal.  Congregations that experience long term decline can reach the point that decline is expected.  Many worshippers have little if any experience in another church and are simply unaware of any other scenario.
  3. We’ve built it so they should come.  This philosophy of ministry worked very well in the 1950’s when it was expected that folks should attend church.  That social or cultural expectation no longer exists, so new folks now attend church only if they are invited by someone they know and trust.
  4. A lack of introspection, and thus lack of personal responsibility, can speed decline.  As a young pastor I found a box of old church newsletters.  While reading through them I noticed a particularly personal confession from a former pastor.  He was a seasoned veteran.  He also took a hard look around and noticed that there were no conversions for three months.  At that point, he began looking inside himself since he felt a keen responsibility to model personal evangelism.  If he had not taken the time for this personal introspection the decline would probably have continued.
  5. Churches prefer to reach one person rather than one neighborhood full of people.  Remember a broken clock is still correct twice each day.  It is very easy to excuse what we are currently doing because once in a while we connect with one person.  Isn’t it worth it to reach even one?  Maybe not, when similar resources of time, talent and treasure could reach a neighborhood full of people by intentional outreach.

Periods of decline are inevitable.  Persistent decline, however, was never the intention of the Lord Jesus who announced that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church.