Part 3. MOBILIZE BEHIND THE SCENES
This is the third part in a series which comes from the 2016 Turnaround 2020 Plan Book. A full version of this plan book is available by download at www.Turnaround2020.net or by hard copy from Congregational Ministries, 573-785-7746.
A. Prayer Team
SPIRITUAL POWER FOR A SPIRITUAL PROCESS
A wise pastor once observed “You can have a crowd and still not have a church.” Most church leaders would agree with that sage observation for they have realized from their own experiences that drawing a crowd is secondary to having a church.
Turnaround 2020 exists to equip local churches in best practices of social, religious and spiritual systems to help local churches set the stage for divine moments when the Lord of the Church demonstrates his powerful presence.
Before a church begins any turnaround activity, the first thing that should be done is build an Intercession Team. In fact, we believe so strongly in this that we do not encourage a church to engage in a turnaround project unless the project leaders have mobilized and are communicating regularly with at least 10 people who are covering the entire project in prayer.
B. 10 Steps to Follow in Mobilizing Your Intercession Team
STEP 1: PRAY AND ASK GOD TO RAISE UP INTERCESSORS
for you as the leader, for your family and for all the various miracles God will have to do if the church is to turnaround to become healthy, vibrant, and growing.
STEP 2: BEGIN TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL INTERCESSION TEAM MEMBERS.
Take the time to sit down and make a list of people who may fit one or more of the following characteristics:
- Who have said they will pray for you?
- Who calls you and ask for prayer requests?
- Who asks if you have had any answers to prayers?
- Who do you know as a person of prayer?
- Who has received ministry from you, who you really connected with? That is, you liked them, they liked you and “they carry you on their heart” (Phil 1:3-5, 7).
STEP 3: INVITE THEM TO JOIN YOUR INTERCESSION TEAM.
Personally communicate with them about how vital prayer is to your success.
STEP 4: DEVELOP THE STRUCTURE.
Remember this is not a general prayer ministry open to everyone and everything. This is a specialized prayer ministry of intercession for the church. All prayer ministries in the church should stay totally confidential, unless the person gives you permission to share with others on the Intercession Team.
STEP 5: COMMUNICATE REGULARLY.
Develop a monthly Intercession Newsletter.
This can be done very inexpensively via e-mail. Make sure you cover both answers to prayer, as well as requests in your newsletter. The thing that will motivate your Intercession Team to pray more, is God’s answers to prayer that have already been achieved!
Stay focused on the strategic! Other prayer ministries will deal with the incidental.
STEP 6: YOU SHOULD PRAY FOR YOUR INTERCESSION TEAM.
Pray that God will protect them and energize them to pray for you and the needs you have. Carrying the value of intercession on your heart is critical!
STEP 7: PERSONALLY CONTACT
the members of your Intercession Team about every six months, to see if they are active or not, and if they should be released as intercessors. At that time, you can decide if they need something different from you to stay motivated.
STEP 8: APPOINT AN INTERCESSION DIRECTOR.
Among your general list of Intercessors, pray that God will lead you to someone willing to serve as the Intercession Director for the church. This should be someone who God knits your heart with, who would assist you in the intercession task and also who would be someone you could call when you need someone to cover you in prayer immediately as situations in the church arise that need God’s intervention.
STEP 9: BUILD DEPENDENCY ON GOD
in the task at hand. All too many church leaders are activists and their first response in crisis is to panic and ponder how they are going to solve the problem. In so doing, they choose to live like practical atheists. To be an effective church leader, in the crises that will come, you should run to God as a FIRST option, NOT as a last resort!
STEP 10: SHARE THE NEEDS.
As you begin this project, take some time to think through all of the miracles from God that you are going to have between now and the time the church moves to its turnaround. If you can help your Intercession Team to see clearly the vision from God that needs to be fulfilled, they can pray much more intelligently and purposefully.
C. Church Growth Team
Just as each church exists in its own unique environment so each church will have its own unique need for an organized church growth team. In all sized churches, in all kinds of locations, the pastor must play a central role in the church’s outreach.
One tendency when organizing a church growth or turnaround team will be to assign the task to an existing group that is already structured and organized to serve together. The peril of this approach is that the organized group may drop its original assignment in favor of the new task. While there is nothing wrong with changing assignments or even discontinuing ministries, these decisions should be made strategically rather than incidentally. A strategic decision would be based on current needs or trends and could result in discontinuing a ministry. An incidental decision would result from simply abandoning or ignoring the original assignment, even if it remains a valid need for the church.
If a radical turnaround is anticipated then it is important that the church growth or turnaround team contain those who have influence with the congregation so they can explain the new endeavors in such a way that trust is gained and conflict avoided.
Most pastors can give themselves to significant turnaround efforts simply by targeting their own lives and ministry. Actions like improving preaching and regularly inviting people to attend do not cost anything, nor does the pastor need anyone’s permission to engage in these activities.
The larger the church, the more people will be needed to aid the turnaround effort.
D. Helping People Begin Talking and Inviting
1. FIRST STEPS TOWARD A CULTURE OF INVITATION.
People win people, but how can folks who have gotten out of the habit of inviting others to attend worship with them be persuaded or trained to invite?
The first year of turnaround efforts can take the first steps toward re-establishing a culture of invitation through a simple process that involves two steps.
Step one is to look at annual attendance trends. Every church has an ebb and flow to their attendance with high days and low days. By looking at the annual trend lines it should be possible to find two different seasons with higher than normal attendance. Often this will be Easter or Mother’s Day in the spring and may be Christmas or some other day in the fall or early winter. Choose those days to begin encouraging folks to invite their friends. Use many of the promotional tools from Big Day Planning but keep it safe and non-threatening. Help people learn the joy of inviting.
Once the two primary days have been identified where relationships already exist to encourage folks to attend, select a third day that can be added. Perhaps it will center on a fellowship event or some special feature that will allow your folks to invite non-churched or de-churched friends and neighbors to attend.
After this strategy has been in place for a year or two the congregation may be ready for an all-out Big Day effort designed to double or triple the normal attendance. The principle is simple: learn to swim in the shallow end then dive into the deep end of the pool!
2. PASSIONATE SPIRITUALITY
Passionate Spirituality or how the individual lives out the faith measures how Sunday impacts Monday through Friday. This goal of a spirituality that passionately guides the believer’s life is advocated in Romans 12:11-12
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
While evangelism will take on many faces, personal witness will also be an important element. Many folks are well equipped to provide an
- Instructional Witness where they will offer answers to questions about the faith–apologetics. Still others will be able to provide an
- Informational Witness as they tell their story of personal faith. Many leaders find the first steps of personal witness come from encouraging an
- Invitational Witness whereby believers invite their unbelieving friends and family members to attend a worship service or a Big Day.
Part 4. MOBILIZE – Practical Steps
A. Before You Begin
1. THINK BITE-SIZED, ACTIONABLE STEPS.
Small steps can ultimately lead to realizing the vision. Small steps often provide easy “wins” and with initial success confidence can be developed to carry forward to the larger work.
2. CONSIDER YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY.
Do you have the capacity to carry out the full vision?
Review the analysis portions of comfort zone and capacities presented earlier in this plan book.
3. RESIST AT ALL COSTS THE URGE TO HYPE UP A VISION PREMATURELY.
Announcing a plan to double or triple commits yourself and your congregation to a future that may be unrealistic. Choose incremental progress over immediate fireworks.
Under-promise and over-deliver. Set in place a process to regularly win a few and keep at it over time to achieve larger goals.
4. INTEGRATE YOUR VISION/PLAN
into the overall culture and environment of the congregation one or two steps at a time.
5. OVER-COMMUNICATE
and then be sure to say it at least one more time and in at least two more ways.