103 Sermon Illustrations on Church Growth

Suggestions for reversing membership declines in mainline denominations discussed. Statistics given for decline. Reasons: low white birthrate, older population, no effective urban strategy, shift from lay evangelism to dependence on professional clergy. Solutions: Emphasize hope. Emphasize community. Emphasize ethnics. Emphasize the Holy Spirit.

Book Review. Schaller recommends pastors of large churches to deal with groups rather than individuals. They can relate to newcomers through a "Pastor's Class" rather than home visits. The personal approach can build a church to 150. Part-time staff gives more "bang for the buck."

Small church pastors do not do well in large churches. Either build a small church into a big one or become an associate in a big one.

Wimber borrows from McGavran on "group conversions." McGavran did not like the "gathered church" concept and saw it as a major defect in modern missions. He focused on "peoples" rather than individuals. This approach was used in the Middle Ages. Four (3?) features:

1. Gathered church ideal, is a reaction to inclusivist state church

practices. (Wrong - reaction to RCC, and goes back to NT.)

2. Group conversions are preferable to individual conversions. Discipling

whole peoples does not involve leading each church member to a

documentable conversion experience. (Very bad doctrine.)

3. The techniques of the Jesuits or Crusaders are most effective.

4. Evangelicals have an "ice-age" view of missions.

Conversion according to McGavran/Wimber:

"All the missionary should require for discipling a people was that they collectively agree to abandon their old religion, to identify with Christ, and to claim the Bible as their authority and the church as their institution."

This view encounters the "Simon Magus" problem. Would he be a Christian by these standards?

[#598 /titles /illust]

Discusses dynamics of small churches and why they often resist growth. The key to reversing this was activity that showed people Jesus was more important than a placid church. One man befriended a prisoner.

The role of evangelism in a small church setting is discussed.

*

Large “salvation candles” on each side of the platform are lit during Sunday morning services at New Seasons Church if someone has been led to Christ that week. If no one has been saved, the candles are dark.

“Bless God, there hasn’t been a Sunday since March when those candles haven’t been burning,” A.B. Vines, pastor of the year-old San Diego congregation, said. “I’ve told my people that if there is a Sunday when we can’t light those candles, it means we have failed the Lord and we will have to come to the altar, fall on our faces and confess our sin to God that we’ve let a week go by without bringing someone to Him.”

New Seasons Church was formed in January 2005 when Highland Park Baptist Church -– a black congregation led by Vines -– and Bancroft Baptist Church –- a white congregation led by Cal Samuels -– decided to merge.

Although there have been growing pains as the multiethnic church finds its voice, the vision of the church is clear: Most of its growth has come from conversions and people new to the community.

In a seven-mile radius around the church, the population is 42 percent Asian, 22 percent Hispanic, 18 percent white and 10 percent black; poverty, gangs, violence, drugs and alcohol are a way of life in the area, Vines said.

“What we want is for the community to see us as a refuge,” the pastor said. “We want them to look over here and see us as their church, a center of ministry and healing.”

Michael Dunn, New Seasons’ FAITH [a Southern Baptist evangelism program] director, leads the teams with a contagious enthusiasm. As the teams gather to go out, he regularly exhorts, “People, we are going to usher someone into the Kingdom tonight!”

After one evening’s visits, members of one team were bursting to give their report. “We got one!” said Kim Shropshire, the church’s youth minister. “We knocked on this lady’s door and she kept saying, ‘Just a minute, just a minute.’ So we kept praying. When she finally came to the door we went through the FAITH survey. She kept asking questions. Her little boy was coming to the door, banging on it with his sippy cup, and she’d tell him, “Just a minute, just a minute.’ Then, her brother kept coming to the door asking, ‘Jennifer, are you all right?’ and she’d say, ‘Yes, I’m all right. Just a minute!’

“So when I finally asked her if she wanted to pray to ask Christ into her life, she said, ‘Right now?’ and I told her, ‘Yes, right now, right here on your porch.’ And she did! We were all laughing and crying. We invited her to church Sunday and told her we’d meet her. We gave her the church’s phone number, our home phone numbers, our cell phone numbers, everything!”

“Hallelujah!” Vines shouted. “We’ll have those candles lit on Sunday.”

*

[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

Reasons why people join a church...

1% Join because of a special crusade or revival.

2% Join because of the general visitation by the pastor.

4% Join because of some special and unique need.

6% Just walk in and join on their own.

6% Join because the church has a good pastor.

7% Join because of a good Sunday School.

10% Join because the church has a good program for children & adults.

65% Join because they are INVITED by friends, relatives or church members!

-----------------

Another question is why people stay.

Two leading reasons are Christ-centered friendships. And good Bible teaching/preaching.

#2406

*

Losing new members because of a lack of follow-up is "the greatest epidemic facing churches today," according to a prominent Southern Baptist evangelist.

Billie Hanks Jr. told more than 200 central California church leaders the Bible contains a clear prescription for solving the problem.

"The Scripture has a great deal to say about follow-up, once we understand that follow-up is a ministry of example," Hanks said. Citing the example of Jesus, he said the biblical pattern of follow-up involved new Christians learning by observation.

"Jesus didn't give a class on fishing; he said, 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.' It was instruction by observation," Hanks said.

"This principle, so common to life, was the cornerstone of early Christian education because spiritual instruction took place in an environment where relationships were the primary means for gaining personal growth," he said.

"Love, integrity, truth and even ministry skills were best transmitted in the caring context of a personal friendship. The environment was one of trust and mutual encouragement," Hanks explained. "Spiritual discipline was first observed then emulated by the original generation of new believers."

And helping new believers develop relationships remains the most important key for retaining them as church members today, Hanks said.

"Many people come to our churches aching, hurting, lonely. When they find the redeeming love of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're looking for friendship."

Still, Hanks said, 40 percent of new members will become inactive in about 18 months. He said many likely "will be picked up by a cult or a sect or one of many groups that are feeding on the poor follow-up of evangelical denominations."

"This is a global problem," Hanks told the interdenominational gathering. "If we do not deal with this, it's like not dealing with the greatest epidemic in our churches today."

Addressing a large number of Southern Baptist ministers present at the conference, Hanks noted only "2 to 3 percent of Southern Baptists win someone to Christ" in a given year. "Why? Because we didn't do a good job training them when they were teachable.

"The greatest witnesses are new believers," Hanks noted. Properly training new believers is vital for helping them "respond to evangelistic opportunity," he said.

The Feb. 1 conference in Fresno was the largest in a series of meetings Hanks held across California promoting "A Call to Joy," his new process for new member assimilation published by Word Ministry Resources of Waco, Texas. The series was co-sponsored by Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, whose president, William O. Crews, was on hand to introduce Hanks.

Crews told the group, "The issue for the next century will be to develop believers who are godly in character, competent in skills and who have the kind of influence our Lord has." He said Hanks' process for new member follow-up is one way to do that.

But Hanks stressed conserving the results of evangelism is more important than whose method is used to do it.

"If you've got tools that are better, use them," he said. "The desire is to close the back door."

Copyright (c) 1996 Baptist Press

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It pays to listen to one's critics. Recently, one church surveyed its community asking why people DIDN'T go to church. The answers are instructive.

1. There is no value in attending. 74%

2. Churches have too many problems. 81%

3. I don't have the time. 48%

4. I'm simply not interested. 42%

5. Churches ask for money too much. 40%

6. Church services are usually boring. 36%

7. Church services are irrelevant to the way I live. 34%

8. I don't believe in God, or I am unsure

that God exists. 12%

Personal observations from Roy Medley: People are looking for an experience with the Holy, and they don't necessarily think church is the place to find it. That's a devastating critique - after all, as one national ad used to say, "It's our only business." In part, it is reflective of the fact that mainline Protestantism has tended to lapse into a sterile scholasticism which stimulates the mind but neglects the heart. People want to know that we understand the spiritual aspects of life and are in touch with God. The best of Baptist worship and preaching stirs both the mind and the heart, and brings one into the presence of the Living God as a whole person.

Also, people would rather fight at home. Life for most is filled with more than enough conflict and people don't want to find it when they come to church. People are looking for community, not disunity.

Brief home visits by lay persons within 36 hours after people attend worship the first time often double the annual new-member addition rate. (When the pastor makes the first visit, results are cut in half.)

How to Make a Home Visit

1. Get out of the car.

2. Go to the door.

3. Knock or ring the bell.

4. Identify the person who comes to the door.

5. Introduce yourself. (If they have company, say thanks and give brochure)

6. Enter the home with clear goals in mind.

a. It was great to have you visit our church.

b. Get acquainted.

c. Answer questions about the church.

d. “We want to invite you to come back next week.”

e. Leave brochure.

7. After leaving, note any pertinent information on a card.

General Principles for Effective Calling

1. Don’t overwhelm people with theological talk.

2. Don’t stay very long.

3. Don’t try to visit if they have company.

4. Don’t try to high-pressure them into joining the church.

5. After initial pleasantries, keep conversation church-oriented.

6. Don’t preach.

7. Don’t try to out-talk the TV set.

8. Do not telephone ahead to make appointments. (Most people think they should call, but most experts agree it doesn’t work as well)

9. Treat people like anyone you meet for the first time.

10. Relax and be yourself.

11. Remember that God reinforces the good you are trying to do.

12. The most powerful witness is taking the time to make this visit.

Telephoning instead of visiting can work in about 10% of communities. Delivering cookies or bread can also be effective.

#3386

*

There are three basic reasons why the Church is growing so rapidly in China. First, there is an ideological vacuum in China. People no longer claim loyalty to any kind of faith, not even to communism. Because of the more open policy of the Chinese government, there is more contact with the Western world, and people are fascinated by different ways of thinking, including other religions. Religious fervor has been high the past ten years, and Christianity has benefited most.

Second, Christianity provides people with an intimate social experience: love, caring, concern, and fellowship. After a long, repressive era in which you didn’t dare reveal what you really felt and thought, this is an exciting option.

Third, there are the miracles. When I travel to the interior of China, the Christian communities all claim they’ve experienced miracles. One typical example: A Christian woman decided, after her eightieth birthday, to start preaching the gospel. She went to her daughter’s village and began preaching. Some villagers with incurable diseases, like cancer, came to her. When she prayed for them, many were suddenly healed. Then two more people came and were healed. Then three more families. After the woman left, the villagers decided her God was very good. So they abandoned their idols and decided to believe in this Jesus.

They sent one person to nearby towns to look for a place where people worshipped Jesus. When they finally found such a church, they told the pastor, “We have 80 people in our village who want to believe in Jesus. But we don’t know how to believe in Jesus.” After that, a new church was started. I hear such stories all the time in my travels.

________

COPYRIGHT(C) 1997 BY CHRISTIANITY TODAY, INC/CHRISTIANITY TODAY MAGAZINE.

April 7, 1997

Vol. 41, No. 4, PAGE 40

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Barry Posner did some research that revealed an interesting result of quality. People were 6 times as likely to talk about a business that they considered a 5 on a scale of one to 5 than they were to talk about businesses they rate as a 4. This is the power of WOW!(1)

There is a reason Jesus taught us to shock people with above and beyond, "second mile" service. It is in the second mile that we get people's attention. It is in the second mile that people pay attention. It is in the second mile that people ask, "What does this guy have that I don't?" All the results come in the second mile. This is where people say, "WOW!"

I worked as an assistant manger for a while at a Wendys. One of my favorite moments was when a cranky customer came to complain that we had not prepared her hamburger just so. We were trained to handle this in a very particular and dramatic fashion. We would apologize politely for the mistake, whether or not it was our fault. Then, we would take the hamburger that was prepared wrong and lift it above a trash can. In plain view of the customer, we would drop it ceremoniously into the trash can. Without saying a word, we would grab a fresh bun, hold it in our left hand, look the customer in the eye and say, "Tell me how I can prepare this hamburger for your satisfaction." In shocked disbelief they would stutter out their order. Often they would try to stop us from throwing it away. "No... no... no... I only needed you to add pickles." "Plop." They would insist that it was their fault. No matter. We wanted to get their attention. We wanted to watch their mouth open as we dropped the hamburger into the trash in front of them. We wanted to impress on them that we were serious about customer service. We wanted to make a story they could go and tell their friends about. We wanted them to say, "WOW!"

The interesting thing about this approach is how calculated it was to the customer's response. You see, what I was taught to do at Wendy's is not so different than what many restaurants, stores and fast food places do. Many products and services routinely come with a money back guarantee. Whether it is stated or not, if you bring a hamburger back at McDonalds or Joe Bob's Grill they will generally take it back and fix you what they want. The difference is in THE WAY we did it. Normally THEY take it to the back room and you, the customer, never really knows what happens. Do they salvage all they can and give you back the same meat but with a new bun? Do they just pull off the pickles and hope you won't notice the pickle juice? Do they take your sandwich and serve it to someone else? Do they put the preparation of your hamburger in line behind everyone else's order? What happens in that magic transforming back room? No one knows. What we did was remove all doubt.

We wanted to leave nothing to the imagination. We wanted to send a strong message to our customers that we were really sorry we had messed up their order. We wanted to visibly display to them that the were far more important to us than anything we might salvage from their sandwich in the back room. We wanted them to know that we were going to stop everything to get their order right. We were going to do it now, for all the world to see. We wanted them to say, "WOW, these people made a mistake, but they sure went the second mile to get it fixed. WOW!"

Churches ought to adopt the goal of causing people to say, "WOW!" We ought to do our advertising, our outreach, our preaching, our music, our childcare, our everything to make them say, "WOW!" The goal of Christian ministry is nothing less than to drop open jaws and hear people say, "WOW!" That is how Jesus ministered. When people saw Jesus, they said, "Wow!"

Glory is about saying "WOW!" When something was glorious, you would just look at it in stunned disbelief and say, "WOW!" "Little Kittel" defines glory as, "that which makes God impressive.(2) When churches accurately display the glory of God, they make God impressive. They show his glory. They cause people to say, "WOW!" Too many churches make people yawn.

Churches that cause people to say "WOW!" don't have attendance problems. They have parking problems, space problems, administrative growth problems and all kinds of other problems. But they do not have attendance problems. If you aspire to double your church every five years or less, it is not enough to be a pretty good church. We must make people's jaws drop to the floor. We must cause them to say, "WOW!" When was the last time someone walked out of your church and said, "WOW! I had no idea church could be that way. I had no idea church music could be like that. The people, were so, well, just different. WOW!"

Not "WOW!" at us. Of course not. "WOW! Isn't God incredible! This is all far different than I imagined!"

WOW! PREACHING

===============

Jesus in generally considered the greatest teacher that has ever lived. I agree. Jesus' teaching has been analyzed, dissected, inspected, and scrutinized. A number of books profess to show the reader how to teach as Jesus taught. Few teachers actually teach as Jesus did, however. A full exploration of the teaching style of Jesus is beyond the scope of this volume. However, I would like to make a couple of observations.

One notable distinction of Jesus teaching was its brevity. If the modern preacher were to preach the Sermon on the Mount as it he would be accused of sloughing on the job. The whole thing can be read in ** just a few minutes. Not nearly long enough to be considered a real sermon. A sermonette for Christianette maybe, but not a real sermon. How can we grow true disciples without giving them forty five minutes of meat? Following this feature of Jesus teaching could well cause people to say, "WOW!"

Another notable distinction of Jesus teaching was his lack of clarity. Yes, you read it right, I said lack of clarity. If we will be perfectly honest, we must admit that in many cases we STILL don't have a clue what Jesus meant by some of his teachings. Oh, sure, we have some theories. But, at times, honest teachers look at the parables and say, "Not a clue. Not a clue." We needn't feel bad. Jesus disciples clearly felt this way. They didn't have a clue either. That is why they asked him on several occasions what in the world he was getting at. If they disciples had not asked for an explanation, we would probably be in the dark on even more parables.

Take the brief teaching of the treasure hidden in the field (Matthew 13:44). Commentators disagree as to the meaning of the parable. Is it teaching us that we must give up everything to get the treasure of the gospel? (Luke 14:33) Or are we the treasure that God gave up everything to possess? Or, did he intend a double meaning? The best of Christian teachers and thinkers and theologians are split down the middle.

What about the teaching of the mustard seed growing to be the largest of trees. (Matthew 13:31 - 32) Most commentators say this is speaking of the tremendous growth of the church. I have heard others, however, point out that the mustard seed is not, technically speaking, the largest of trees, as Jesus said. Jesus was predicting the growth of the organized church (read Roman Catholic Church) beyond what was natural and normal. This large mustard seed plant was to be an aberration, an abnormality. This is a completely different spin from the first interpretation. Which one is right?

I know what your are thinking. You know what these parables mean. You have a clue. Yes, and more than a clue. You know for sure. Some of us are not sure. Some of us wonder why Jesus left so much up for grabs. Why make the trip from heaven to planet earth and not be Windex clear about everything you say? Why not speak in language that a lawyer could not see in more than one way? The goal is communication, isn't it? What does this lack of clarity teach us about Jesus communication style?

The teachings of Jesus beg explanation. They beg for discussion. They make you want to say, "Yeah, but... " or, "Go on." or, "Would you run that by me one more time?" Jesus doesn't run it by one more time. He doesn't go on. Jesus is so brief the listener begs him to go on. Now, that is a switch. He goes on to the next subject and is likely to leave the audience dangling again.

This feature of Jesus' teaching has always puzzled me and even, (may I say it?) bothered me a bit. I love clarity. Why wasn't Jesus more clear in some of his teachings? It seemed to me that in light of the importance of the message he was delivering that he would leave nothing to the imagination.

The genius behind Jesus' approach was not clear to me until I read Garrett Soden's treatise on communication entitled HOOK SPIN BUZZ: HOW TO COMMAND ATTENTION, CHANGE MINDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE. In the last section, Soden discusses the idea of BUZZ: "an idea, a rumor or trend that is on everyone's mind."(3) We use the word as he does when we say, "The buzz at the convention was all about cell groups." The question Soden grapples with are:

How is buzz created?

What keeps buzz moving?

How can we take advantage of the current buzz?

How can we create our own buzz?

As I read, I thought of Jesus. Whatever else he was, Jesus was a master of buzz. He was the talk. He was it. He was the hot topic. People loved him, hated him, delighted in him or were angered by him. But they did not ignore him. Jesus told people to hush the buzz. They would not. Seemingly, they could not. He created buzz like no one before or since. How did he do it? Soden offers some insight:

THE IDEAS IN BUZZ CAN BE DESCRIBED, BUT NOT DEFINED. PART OF WHAT MAKES BUZZ VIBRATE IS THE FRICTION BETWEEN DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF WHAT THE BUZZ IS REALLY ABOUT.(4) (italics added)

"That's it!" I thought as I read. That is exactly what Jesus did. He created buzz by leaving some things up for discussion. I want to leave nothing to the imagination. Jesus wanted to get the imagination buzzing. The basics were clear. The essentials were plain. But, in many of Jesus teachings, he choose to leave some things up to discussion. He knew people would be talking. He knew they would be asking, "What do you think he meant by that?" He wanted them to ask. He wanted to create a buzz, and he was a master at it.

Next, I would like to explain exactly, precisely, so that there is no misunderstanding, why varying interpretations create a friction that causes the buzz to vibrate. Then we will explore exactly, precisely, specifically how to do it so that it is perfectly clear.

Not.

Teaching that makes people say "WOW!" creates a buzz. How loud is the buzz about your preaching?

WOW! MUSIC

===========

Music has the ability to make my soul cry "WOW!" quicker than just about anything else. I will confess I have looked at my watch a lot more often during the preaching than I have during the music. I have heard many sermons that went way too long. I hardly ever tire of GOOD music. One of the easiest ways to make a worship service better is to make the music ten minutes longer and the sermon ten minutes shorter. Both will be improved.

Good music, that is the key. What is good? Simple. Good is the stuff that I like. It is true for you too. Good is the stuff that you like. Bad is the stuff that you don't like. Beauty in music is in the ear of the listener.

I grew up on the mission field and tend to think somewhat intuitively like a missionary. I have often asked myself, "If Korean missionaries were to come here to evangelize America, how would they do it?" This question has plenty of implications, but for now, let me explore only those having to do with music. Would they. . .

Use a pipe organ and a choir? (Remember, the question is, how would Korean missionaries coming to America do it, not what do I think about pipe organs and choir.)

Use 16th century hymns?

Use hard driving, heavy metal, rock?

Use rap or hip hop?

Use contemporary Christian?

If you have your missionary thinking cap on, this question is a slam dunk no brainer. You would use the music of the people you are trying to reach. People like to become Christians without having to change their taste in music. Becoming a Christian does not change one's taste in music.

People who become Spirit filled believers who used to listen to country music still tend to like country music. People who used to like contemporary top 40 and become fully mature followers of Christ tend to still like contemporary top 40 music.

Here is some good news. It does not require expensive, sophisticated demographic study to determine a culture's taste in music. We can discover the taste in music for any population group using a simple instrument found in every home and every car. It is called a radio.

Try this little experiment. Hit the seek button on your FM radio and describe each type of music you hear. Skip the talk radio. When you have done this, you will have a pretty good idea what people like to listen to your community. You have now discovered what will cause them to say "WOW!" If you were a Korean missionary who came to the United States to penetrate the culture with the gospel you would start a congregation employing every one of the types of music on your list.

This list needs to be prioritized. We need to start congregations first that employ the music enjoyed by the most people. What kind of music is this? For main street America it is middle of the road contemporary pop rock. For some places it is rap. For others it is county. (Country music has had a huge revival in recent years by moving closer to the style of contemporary pop-rock.) Different kind of music for different kinds of people. By far and away the most popular music in America is contemporary pop rock. This is the music they sell Pontiacs and Coca cola with for good reason. The marketing experts have done their home work. The sound on the streets is the middle of the road stuff of Whitney Houston and Kenny G. This is the style of music we would have if we were thinking like Korean missionaries.

The easiest way to get started on making our music more like the people we are trying to reach is to start an alternative congregations targeted toward reaching this group. Leave the existing congregation alone. They like to worship God without changing the music they enjoy. Let them. Draw a big red circle around their service and promise them you will not mess with their service. Then keep your promise. But get permission to start something else for someone else. I discuss this idea fully in my previous book, LET IT GROW!

Look at the different types of services as two tracts to lead people to experience God. One is not better than the other. People who have been in church a long time have embraced a musical culture all of its own. This is fine. Do not try to transition them. Lead them to God within the musical culture that you find them. All you need from them is permission to be a missionary and start something else designed to reach someone else.

As you think about a contemporary service, I would invite you to consider three things: instrumentation, musical selection, and feel.

You cannot sound like contemporary music without using the instruments of the contemporary culture. Most important is drums. Nothing will change the sound of music quicker than adding drums. It has always been curious to see churches miss this. They throw in "This is the day" just after "Count your many blessings," and without changing any of the instruments and call it a contemporary service.

To make a service contemporary, you have to use contemporary instruments. It is the instruments that create the sound and music is about sound. If you don't change the instruments, you have not changed the sound and it is not contemporary music. I don't care what it says on the top of the bulletin. It may be slightly more contemporary than the same instruments playing 200 year old hymns, but it is not nearly contemporary enough.

The most "visible" instrument are the drums. Nothing will change the sound of a service quicker than adding drums.

I was rather slow to accept this truth. It was six weeks after we had started a contemporary service that a drummer approached me, "Have you ever considered using drums in the service?" "You gotta be kidding," I thought, "Drums in church? Have you gone stark raving berserk mad?" I replied in a more polite way. After all, I was interested, just afraid. "What did you have in mind?" "Well, I play drums, and I was wondering if I could play with you guys?" We decided to roll the dice. The first week he played I told him, "Now, I want you to play sort of quietly. Maybe you can just use your brushes." He cooperated as best he could, but before the service was over, I was directing him to turn loose. I wanted to say to him "PRAISE HIM WITH THE CLASH OF CYMBALS, PRAISE HIM WITH RESOUNDING CYMBALS." (Psalms 150:5) Most churches are flatly disobedient to that verse. Obedience to Psalm 150 could dramatically change most churches.

I could not believe how much drums changed the sound of the worship service. I never looked back on the decision to let Terry play his drums in worship. A time or two when he was out of town we failed to get a replacement. The music went from "WOW!" to wearisome in one fell swoop. Contemporary music needs drums.

You simply will not find any contemporary songs that don't have drums. Period. The American ear is not used to listing to music that does not have drums. One of the few places in American culture that we find music without drums is in church. Contemporary music employs drums. Country music uses drums. Bands that play at half time use drums. Easy listening music has drums. Quiet drums, but drums, still. The Koreans missionaries would get this right every single time. Why do we struggle with it?

We struggle with it because we have never done it that way before and we are all a little afraid of the unknown. You may think I am making a lot of noise about something that is just a "clanging cymbal." (See 1 Corinthians 13:1) I double dog dare you try it. If you have a contemporary service, and do not have drums, try it. If you have a "blended" service and think you can pull this off without loosing your job, try it. If you are skeptical of how much difference it will make, try it. Try it, you'll like it. If you don't have a drummer, get a good key board player to play drums from his keyboard. It can be done and sound very tasteful. The nice thing about electronic drums is that you can control the volume and balance them with the rest of the instruments and voices. In other words, you can turn down the volume.

The other instruments that comprise a contemporary ensemble are synthesizer -- which can sound like virtually anything -- guitar, bass guitar and any brass that are available. If brass are not available, synthesizers can be a good substitute. Nothing can reproduce the ambiance of a live trumpet, but a synthesizer can sure come close. It is nice to have several synthesizers to add maximum flexibility. Contemporary services need a variety of instrumentation in the same way that traditional services have a piano, organ and choir.

There are some that put too much hope in MIDI. If you don't know what MIDI is, skip to the next paragraph. Although sequenced songs can add a nice touch at times, they never deliver all that they promise. It never sounds as good as all those instruments jamming down live on the stage. Any audience will prefer live musicians to a recording, which is essentially what MIDI offers. The flexibility to alter, in real time, the nuances of the tempo is lost with MIDI. (By the way, would someone explain to me what time is that is not real.) The ability to do something as simple as singing the last verse again with just the strings is lost with MIDI. In short, the ability to direct the band to do anything other than what was laid down in the MIDI file is out the window. I am not saying there are not times when MIDI is you best choice. It may be better than just one instrument. It may be better than nothing if your keyboardist is home taking care of a child with an ear ache. But it is not the goal to be aspired to. It is not, ultimately, going to cause people to say, "WOW!"

The first component of contemporary music is the instrumentation. The second is the selection of music. No song that is older than Elvis Presley and the Beatles ought to every be sung in a contemporary service. Are their exceptions? A few, but not the ones you are probably thinking about.

Some will argue that we ought to at least acquaint this younger generation with the great old hymns of the faith. I 10% agree. There are a few old hymns of the faith that are that good. But, can I be honest? There are many old hymns of the faith that could just as well be replaced by their modern equivalents. There are certain hymns that if I never heard again, it would be OK. There are some hymns that I have already heard way too many times. My list would be different from yours, which is my point.

The notion that there is a specific body of Christian hymnody that every believer ought to be acquainted with is simply not tenable.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians songs have been written by Christians of thousands of culture world wide down through the centuries. To suggest that a couple of hundred songs written in Europe and America over the past two to three hundred years are more sacred than others is just not true. Korean missionaries would never get confused about this, but we do. The important thing is to make people say "WOW!" To do this, we need to lead them to see God within the context of American culture in this century, not Europe in the last century.

Beauty is in the ear of the listener. No song or style of music is inherently better or worse than any other song or style. Bach is not better than rock. The opposite is also true.

Occasionally I will run across a zealous contemporary musician who is on a campaign to transition a congregation toward contemporary music. This is sad. People like to worship God without changing the style of music they enjoy. Let them alone. Start anther congregation if you must, but lead these people to God in the music style they enjoy.

Music written in the last 20 years -- and especially the last 10 years -- has a distinctly different sound to it. When you draw from this music, people will tend to say, "WOW!" When you don't, the yawn and look at their watches. They usually don't come back. We have lost out chance to reach them with the gospel. Seven percent of the unchurched population will sample a church this year.(5) When we do, we need to let the music drop their jaw open and say, "WOW!"

The third component of contemporary music is more subjective. It is what can only be called "feel". You cannot define it. You can hardly describe it. Everyone knows it when they hear it. You either have it or you don't. It is very difficult for this to be educated into you if you basically don't have it. If a musician has what it takes, training will make him better. If he does not have what it takes, understand that the key of E flat has 3 flats will not help very much.

Good music has a flow to it. It moves from celebrative music that reaches out and grabs the congregation from their depression or boredom or distraction or whatever state they found themselves in when the came. Slowly by slowly it moves them into the presence of God so that they loose them selves in the presence and wonder and glory of God. They sing out, "This is holy ground," and they feel as Moses felt before the burning bush. The sing, "Holy, holy, holy," and they feel as Isaiah felt in Isaiah 6. They sing the songs; their soul sees into the unseen world of heaven itself. They lift their hands; they do not know they are lifting their hands. They are not wondering what people think. They are hardly aware of anything around them. They are captivated by the presence and the wonder of God. Their soul says, "WOW!"

Worship leaders, this is your job description: you are to lead people to this experience each and every week. No exceptions. The soul longs for this kind of closeness with God. Church is about giving people the gift of this kind of experience with God. Yet, 61% of people who attend church regularly say they experience God seldom or never.(6) The world needs, more than anything else, to experience the presence of God. We must give it to them. We must cause their soul to see God and say, "WOW!"

Some may object that this is all too experiential, too emotional. I would argue that worship is about feeling because love is about feeling. I am utterly convinced that God is weary of commitment with no feeling. God wants to be enjoyed AND obeyed. God wants us to feel about him. He wants us to experience him in real time. This is what worship is all about. This is what Christianity is all about. If we are not experiencing God, if we don't have a real heart for God, we are nothing but very good Pharisees.

WOW! PASTORAL CARE

===================

In seminary they taught us how to do weddings and funerals. We learned how to do hospital visitation and help people through crises situations. We learned our lessons well. What they did not tell us is that people will hardly ever remember what is said at a wedding or a funeral. At the risk of offending the pastors who are reading, let me break it to you: you and I who officiate at weddings are not the most important thing going on. We are not the picture. I am not even sure we are the frame. We are not supporting actors. We are more like the extras -- the thousands of locals the movie producers hire to create a crowd effect. Nobody ever remembers funeral or wedding messages. So when they come up to you and say, "Oh pastor, that was perfect." don't believe it. Smile and say thank you, but don't start thinking that you did anything really extraordinary

There is something, however, really extraordinary you CAN DO in helping people through pivot points in life. It isn't difficult or time consuming, but it will mean the world to people. It will cause them to say "WOW!" these people really care around here. This simple practice, if effectively executed, will mean more to people than anything else you do as pastor. Over time, your people will develop an irresistible love and gratitude toward you. They will follow you anywhere because you have loved them well. You have "taken care of my lambs," and been obedient to Jesus' teaching in John 21. Here is how it works.

As soon as the funeral or wedding is over, plan out your follow up strategy. This is where the battle will be won. You may want to do this on your own calendar, or have your secretary keep up with it for you, or use a computer to remind you. In one ten minute session, plan out a dozen ways to remind the family that you care.

Here is an example. Suppose you do a funeral on Friday, November 26th. A 58 year old man named Bob died suddenly of a heart attack leaving a widow, Jean, and three children. They had been married 32 years. When you get back to the office, write down the following dates:

December 15: write a note acknowledging that you are understand the Christmas season may be hard with out Bob.

February 10: write a note acknowledging this is the first Valentines day in 32 years Jean has not had a date. You know it is hard. You are sorry. You are thinking of her. You are praying for her. If you want to go the extra mile, send one long stem rose. Sign the card with your wife in order to avoid any misunderstanding.

June 15: Write a letter to each of the children acknowledging their grief in Father's day without dad.

August 22: Bob's birthday. This day will come and go with a great cloud over it. To everyone else, it is just another day. Jean will be touched that you remembered.

September 15: "Jean and Bob's anniversary. Thirty three years ago she slept with Bob for the first time. Tonight, she crawls in bed alone. She is so alone. The letter she got from her pastor made her day." WOW! It is sure good to have people who care.

November 20: Write a note acknowledging the anniversary of Bob's death.

The following year you may write half as many cards and then decrease from there.

If you serve anything other than a very small church, keeping up with all these contacts will become daunting. I have some good news. The bigger the church, the more money you have to pay secretaries and support staff. Turn your secretary loose. Ask her to be creative and be an extension of you in showing care to the congregation.

Modern contact management software that salesmen use can be adapted to track this kind of thing. In ten minutes you can mark each date you want to be reminded to do something, along with a note describing what you need to do. If you turn on your computer every day it will keep you on top of these things.

Buy your cards in bulk, but don't buy cheap cards. Purchase some cards that look like you picked them out just for this person. Again, let your secretary help you.

Variety is the key. Send a card this month, call next. Send a flower next month and a gift the next. Once in a while, on a Wednesday night, ask the group to remember a beloved member of the congregation who is passing the first anniversary of their spouses death. Everyone will say, "WOW! I feel cared for."

Don't just acknowledge sad things. Acknowledge the one month anniversary of that new born child. Acknowledge the six month anniversary of a wedding.

This is pastoral care that makes helps people. This is pastoral care that makes people say WOW!

WOW! FACILITIES

================

Churches ought to be at least as nice as the malls, banks, schools and Burger Kings in the community.

In yester-years believers built great cathedrals to lift the spirit of man to God. They understood that the size and shape of the building influenced a person's soul. They asked different questions than we do. They asked, 'How can we construct this building so that it lifts the soul of man to God?" We ask, "How can we reduce the dollar per square foot figures so that it comes in under budget?" Different kinds of questions result in different kinds of answers.

I am not saying that buildings have to be opulent. Certainly not gaudy. We don't want to distract people from thinking about God to thinking about brick and mortar. Church buildings need not be the most lavish buildings in society. They should not send a symbol of wastefulness to society. They should not be an expression of materialism. Buildings need not be the nicest in society, just about the same as the schools and banks and, well, Burger Kings.

Having traveled some and having been in a number of church buildings, I would offer an observation. Being opulent with our church buildings is not our problem. Many church buildings are down right shoddy. They are far worse than the banks, the schools and the Burger Kings in the community. We really ought to do better than that.

It is often argued that home groups have an advantage over Sunday School type groups because of the building. The home atmosphere gives them a warmer feel. I have another argument. Church buildings ought to be homier. How much can wall paper cost? If we can afford comfortable chairs to sit in at home, why can't we afford comfortable chairs to sit in our Sunday Schools?

One difference between church buildings and buildings used for business is that business men generally understand that buildings deteriorate over time. One of the things investors look for when people go to buy a business is differed maintenance. This means that the previous owner beefed up his bottom line by putting off things that really ought to be fixed. This is seen in the business world as cheating. The normal and customary way to do it is to spend a little money -- perhaps in the neighborhood of 5% of gross -- on maintenance each year. This way there is no deferred maintenance that will accrue.

How differently churches think about these things. They have no plan whatever for setting a side a certain percentage of their income for maintenance. They seem to see maintenance as an unusual thing. They seem to be surprised that the roof needs to be repaired, that the painting needs to be redone, that the carpet is wearing out. It often takes and act of congress and some great special action to get these things taken care of. In order for buildings to cause people to say, "WOW!" we need to set aside a little money each year to keep them looking nice.

Another difference between Burger King and most Sunday School class rooms. Most Sunday School class rooms have a little pile of junk in the corner, whereas most Burger Kings don't. If there is a little pile of junk, it is generally not the same pile of junk as the last week you were there. Many Sunday School class rooms have the same pile of junk in the corner for years. It consists of precious things -- old Sunday School quarterlies, unused questionnaires, maps from last quarter's study of the temple, and a few prospects names that no one got around to contacting. For some reason, no one has the courage to pick up this pile of junk and drop it in the trash. At Burger King, this is fairly simple: if a pile of junk ends up the corner of a Burger King, the manager just asks someone to through it away. There are some things we could learn from Burger King.

WOW! CHILDCARE, CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS AND YOUTH WORK

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There is a way to get parents to come to church and make them stick like Velcro. We have a means at our disposal a method so effective it will keep parents coming back every single week. If executed properly, parents are nearly defenseless against the approach. They cannot resist. They are stuck. Captured by their own children. Here is how it works.

A family gets up on a Sunday morning resolved to turn over a new leaf. They are going to get the family in church. Perhaps they used to attend church. Perhaps they want their kids to have a well rounded upbringing (one day of church; six days of soccer; that's balance). For whatever reason, they lay hold of the stuff to get the family to church one time. The children go, quite literally, kicking and screaming. The parents have an OK time. Not great; not awful. OK. Then they pick their kids up from Sunday School and the kids are beaming. You would think that they just got to go to Disneyland. They got to eat some cookies, play some games, watch a really cool video and generally have a great time. The amazing thing is they seemed to have learned something. This is almost enough to snag the parents. Almost. One more thing is needed to set the hook:

"And we have to go back next week, because next week we are going to. . .

have a Christmas party, or

complete the project we are working on, or

have a special guest in the class, or

take a special field trip, or

make something really cool, or

have a contest

If any of these things happens and the kids start begging their parents to attend church the next week, the parents should send up the white flag early. They will not be able to resist. NO PARENT CAN EVER RESIST THE INSISTENCE FROM THEIR OWN CHILD THAT THEY ATTEND CHURCH. EVER. Few churches fully capitalize on this dynamic. One of the quickest ways to become a Velcro church instead of a Teflon church is to have a children's program so irresistible that kids will want to come back. It doesn't mean they feel OK about coming back. I mean they pull Mom's skirt. I mean they pound the floor. I mean they ask, "How many more days till Sunday?" I mean the walk into Mom and Dad's room thirty minutes after bed time and ask, (for the eighth time) "Can we go back to that church?" When this happens, it is over. The fat lady has gotten up, sung, gotten down and driven home. It is over. That family will be in church each and every Sunday from then on -- no exceptions.

You say it can't be done? Kids are brats? How can you plan a program around the finicky whims of kids? We planned something really special for them and they turned up their nose? Is that what I heard?

Listen. Disney does it. Peter Piper does it. McDonalds does it. Nickelodeon does it. Businesses do it all the time. And churches must learn to do it too. Businesses don't do it because they love Jesus. I am not sure they do it because they love kids. They might just do it for money. We can do it for Jesus. We can do it for kids. Jesus taught if we make a kid stumble spiritually, we are in deep weeds. I think the rewards will be pretty handsome for the people who make the gospel attractive to kids. If you want to be a Velcro church, make church attractive to kids.

"But, but, but, we shouldn't make this into Disneyland. We are not trying to entertain these kids, we are trying to teach them." No. We shouldn't make this Disneyland. It should be better. Every businessman knows you have to be better than the competition to beat them. And if we do not beat the competition we will loose our kids. That is a price I am not willing to pay. If it is not interesting we won't have the opportunity to teach them because they won't come back. And where does it say learning has to be boring?

Besides, we have an enormous advantage over Disney and Nickelodeon. We have teachers who actually love kids; Disney just wants their money. We have teachers that actually care for our kids. Let's show how much we care by being more attractive than Disney, Nickelodeon and Discovery Zone. Our caring for kids ought to show in our facilities. Our caring for kids ought to show in our programming. Our caring for kids ought to show in our activities. Our caring for kids ought to show in the most interesting, active, involved teaching that kids have ever seen. Our caring for kids ought to really show up during the week when we pray for kids and call them and send them cards. Here is a sure fire Velcro strategy: have your children's Sunday school workers send cards to their kids. Kids don't get much mail. They will love it. And mom and dad will bring them back to church every single time. Guaranteed.

We ought to do things like take them to the river and say, "Imagine what Moses felt like. . ." When we teach about the loaves and the fishes, pass out some bread. Kids like teaching they can touch and smell and hold and feel. Kids like to laugh and be amazed and cry and get involved.

Kids know something instinctively that we adults some times forget: learning ought to be fun. If you want to double your church really really fast, concentrate on doing things that make kids say "WOW!"

WOW! MULTIMEDIA

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We are all amphibious beings, with one foot in the spiritual world and one foot in the physical world. These two worlds are connected. It is hard to feel spiritual when I hit my thumb with a hammer or when I haven't slept for 28 hours. My body affects my soul.

There is also an abundance of evidence that the soul effects the body. Happy, optimistic people tend to live longer and fight disease better.Proverbs 13:12 is really true, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

Sometimes spiritual leaders are so spiritual they are no earthly good. They forget we have a foot in both worlds.

Here is the point: the stuff that I see and hear and taste and touch touches my soul. Here are some examples:

My soul is affected when I see full motion video of the Grand Canyon and Mount Rainier as I sing, "When I look down, from lofty mountain splendor, and see the brook and feel the gentle breeze... Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How great thou art, How great thou art!

My soul is affected when I walk into church and the paint on the door is chipping and pealing.

My soul is affected when someone hands me a piece of bread and says, "This is my body. . ."

My soul is affected when I hear crisp clear high sounds and warm, deep, rich low sounds. My soul is also affected by a squawking PA system and especially by the obnoxious squall of feedback.

My soul is affected when the sound man pushes a button that sets the lights into to a 120 second dim. This is so slow as to be imperceptible to the human eye. Yet, but the end of the song, the mood is completely different. My soul is quieted by the dimming of the lights. It is lifted when the lights are lifted.

My soul is touched by seeing slides of my Savior on the cross as I hear a beautiful tenor voices sing, "It was my sin that nailed him there." Sometimes someone will tell me to "just listen to the words." I cannot. My soul is affected by the words and the music and whether the singer sings on pitch and the slides and everything.

Physical stuff, the stuff of earth matters. It should cause people to say, "WOW!" Multimedia seems like an extra, something in the, "nice to have," category. It will not be true in the next century. Multimedia with full motion video on most of our songs as well as dramatic on screen illustration to our sermons will be standard fare for the growing churches of the next century. This is true, not because technology will make this all more inexpensive and do-able, but because of the basic nature of man. Our souls are affected by what we see, taste and touch.

WOW! HOW YOU TREAT GUESTS

==========================

Guest want it all. They want to be given space and distance. They want friendly people who reach out to them and sense of anonymity. They want it both ways and we must give it to them.

Ultimately, guests are impressed with us to the degree that they feel we are impressed with them. While we are busy thinking about what we do, they are busy thinking of themselves. They wonder if they matter to us. They wonder if they matter to anyone. They wonder if anyone notices them or cares. They have a deep need to stand out without sticking out.

I have some ideas about this. Why don't we set up a video camera and tape everyone who comes in? Tape the greeters introducing themselves and see how many people volunteer their names. Why don't we see if we can get their addresses off a CD ROM and have a team of people run out to their houses to leave them some small gift -- have it waiting there when they get home. That might make them say "WOW!"

Why don't we review the tapes on Monday morning, like a football team reviews films of Sunday's games? Why don't we, the staff, learn as many names as we can. If each staff member can pick up a couple of new ones a weekend, and share those with the rest of the staff each week, it would become very difficult to attend more than a couple of times without all of the staff knowing your names. I think if I attended a church twice and the pastor came up to me and said, "Hi, Josh," I would say, "WOW!" The key to impressing people is being impressed with them.

Of course there is the plan described in DOUBLE YOUR CLASS called giving Friday nights to Jesus. We can quantify how effective this is. Ninety percent of the people we have in our homes on Friday night join the church. It just makes them sit up and say, "WOW!"

Even if we can't make visitors say, "WOW!" let's not make them say "Ugh!" Like the time I visited a church in another part of my state. I arrived late because I assumed the service started at 11:00 instead of 10:45. I missed the instructions to the guests about filling out cards. Boy, was I ever glad. At the end of the service the pastor took the cards and called out every visitor by name, asking them to stand up and introduce themselves. Ugh. I was glad I hadn't filled out a visitor's card.

I had a friend who visited a church and was very impressed. He like the music, the preaching and the people. They brought a little gift to his home. He said "WOW!" The pastor called him personally and seemed very personable and warm. The attended a number of times and liked it better and better. He was starting to feel at home. One day, they attended and the pastor came up to greet him, "Haven't I seen you before? Have you visited before? What was your name?" Ugh. He thought he mattered to the pastor. Unless you have a photographic memory, I think the idea of studying the game films is a good one. By the way, he never went back. Ugh.

How well we treat our guests is one of the most easily quantifiable things in this list. The ratio of how many people visit verses how many people join tells you how well you are doing with guests. The goal is to become a Velcro church where people stick rather than a Teflon church where people slide on out the door.

This is important because if people are in the mood to get back into church the probably won't try very many. We might be tempted to think that if they don't like our church they will move on to another church where they will feel more comfortable. This is often not the case. They will try one or two churches. If these experiences are negative, you can color them gone for another ten years. Ugh. Trying to get back into church is a huge hassle, especially if you have kids. If one or two experiences are negative, they may be the last for a long, long time.

On the other hand, if we take good care of our visitors, growing a church can be easy. Most churches have over three fourths of their visitors kick tires and walk away. In many, many situations all we have to do to be the fastest growing church in town is to take good care of our visitors. WOW!

WOW! SUNDAY SCHOOL

===================

Nothing will make people say "WOW!" any quicker than love. Love is the commodity of the church, and especially of the Small Group or Sunday School class. We are in the business of loving people. How is business?

The Bible is very clear about the importance of love. Love is the shibboleth by which we can tell who are and who are not Christians: "THIS IS HOW WE KNOW WHO THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE AND WHO THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL ARE: ANYONE WHO DOES NOT DO WHAT IS RIGHT IS NOT A CHILD OF GOD; NOR IS ANYONE WHO DOES NOT LOVE HIS BROTHER." (I John 3:10) It is impossible to love God and not love people. In fact, the Bible calls us a liar if we try: "IF ANYONE SAYS, 'I LOVE GOD,' YET HATES HIS BROTHER, HE IS A LIAR. FOR ANYONE WHO DOES NOT LOVE HIS BROTHER, WHOM HE HAS SEEN, CANNOT LOVE GOD, WHOM HE HAS NOT SEEN. (I John 4:20) We are flat out commanded to be people of love: "AND HE HAS GIVEN US THIS COMMAND: WHOEVER LOVES GOD MUST ALSO LOVE HIS BROTHER." (I John 4:21)

If a church can become a place where people find love it will attract people like Velcro. People will stick. People will not be able to leave. That church will not be able to start enough services. That church will not be able to build buildings fast enough. That church will grow explosively. That church will enjoy the smile of God.

The number one need in society is love. It is true in your community and it is true in mine. It was true in the sixties and it is more true today. What the world needs now is love, sweet love.

People go to bars to find it. They have affairs to find it. They drown themselves in alcohol and drugs because they can't find it.

We have violence today because people cannot find love. Loving people are not violent people. Loving people are peacemakers. Our children get in gangs because they are looking for love.

Why is the church failing to provide this need? Because we have an inadequate theology of love. What we say about love is true. We simply don't tell the whole story.

What we emphasize in the evangelical community about love is simply incongruent with what the Bible teaches about love. Again, what we say is true; we just don't say enough. We say love is something you do. It is commitment. This is true. It is just not the whole story.

The teaching of the evangelical church about love is stated in juxtaposition of our perception of the world's view of love. We perceive the world's view of world as being solely feeling based. In the world, love is simply an emotion. It means I feel good about you. I like you. I like being with you. You make me happy. I am not promising anything about tomorrow. I am not committing. I am just enjoying being with you.

The church looks at this kind of love and says, "No." This is not what love is about. Love is about commitment. It is about action. Jesus loved so much that he went to the cross. He did something. He sacrificed. He followed through. He served. That is love. Love is not a feeling. It is action. It is commitment. It is doing. Consider that description of love in light of these verses:

IT IS RIGHT FOR ME TO FEEL THIS WAY ABOUT ALL OF YOU, SINCE I HAVE YOU IN MY HEART; FOR WHETHER I AM IN CHAINS OR DEFENDING AND CONFIRMING THE GOSPEL, ALL OF YOU SHARE IN GOD'S GRACE WITH ME. GOD CAN TESTIFY HOW I LONG FOR ALL OF YOU WITH THE AFFECTION OF CHRIST JESUS. (PHILIPPIANS 1:7 - 8)

Do these sound like the words of someone who has simply made a commitment to some people and is faithfully, dutifully living out that commitment? Read the passage again. Do you see any emotion there? Do you see some heart there? Listen to Paul as he speaks of "Longing with the affection of Christ Jesus."

Obviously, the church does not preach against emotional love. We never say that love should not be a matter of emotion. We only say that that is secondary. The really important thing about love is that it is a commitment. I remember a little chorus that was popular in the seventies that went,

Love is something you do.

Love is something you do.

Not just something you talk about.

Love is something you do.

What is your call? Is that true to the Biblical teaching on love? I don't think so. I don't think it tells the whole story. It think it would be just as valid to add a second verse:

Love is something you feel.

Love is something you feel.

Not just something you talk about.

Love is something you feel.

People crave heart love. They crave a love that is felt. They want to feel and they want people to feel toward them. Not just commit to them; feel toward them. People crave heart love because we are created in the image of God and God craves heart love. Jesus rebuked people for saying the right words but not having the right heart: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." (Matthew 15:8) Notice that the problem was not the incongruity between their words and their actions. The problem was the incongruity between their words and their heart. The problem was they didn't feel anything. Jesus never got onto the Pharisees for not doing the right things. He got on to them because their hearts were not in it. He knew that a heartless love did not satisfy God.

A heartless love does not satisfy God. It does not satisfy people very much either. No one wants to be someone else's project. We want to be loved from the heart. We wanted to be loved with feeling. We want someone to feel about us. We want someone to enjoy us.

Love, at its best is a little bit selfish. I want someone to love me for what they get out of it. I want them to gain from loving me. I don't want them to gain at my expense. I don't want them to gain some mere financial advantage. I want them to enjoy being with me. Of course, what we often say is also true. I don't want this to be all there is too it. I want them to care about me. I want them to care how I feel. I don't want a love that is completely selfish. But I do want a love that is enjoying me, benefiting from me. I am not interested in a love that is only trying to help me. That is pity, not love. I don't want to be pitied. I want to be loved.

I feel strongly about this because this kind of teaching nearly killed my marriage. For years I thought I was fulfilling the obligation of my marriage vows by honoring my commitment to Sharon. I was dutiful. I was honorable. I did what was right. Sharon's heart nearly shriveled like a raisin in the sun. She didn't want my duty. She wasn't helped by my commitment. She wanted my heart. She wanted my emotion. She wanted me home talking to her because I wanted to be home talking to her, not because I was faithfully fulfilling my commitment. She wanted me to enjoy her. She wanted a love that was a little bit selfish. She wanted to know that I was savoring each moment.

When we think in terms of loving the world, we must think in practical, as well as emotional terms. Love means having people into my home and laughing with them and playing Balderdash with them and sipping coffee together. Sure, it means being there through the thick and the thin and all that, but love is also much more mundane than that. Love is not always dramatic. Most of the time, love is composed of much more ordinary stuff.

If you are honest, you may find yourself saying, "I don't like people like that. Some people, I don't like at all. I don't want to have them in my home. I don't want to go out to dinner with them. I don't wish ill on them. I just want them away from me." I have two responses. First, it may be that you don't have to like them. You need to care that some does. There are a lot of weird people in this world. People who are weird tend to like people who are weird. This is because of the principle of rapport, discussed in a later chapter. (Weird, in this context, of course, means someone who is not like me. I am the definition of normal.) As long as weird people are loved by weird people, all is well.

The second response is this: you and I need to take our non-accepting self to the cross and let it be crucified again. We need to say to God, "If you could love someone like me, surely I could love someone like him." Loving people, at its core a spiritual issue. Church growth, at its core, is a spiritual issue.

This is what Sunday School work is all about: creating these kind of relationships. When we create hot houses of love in our Sunday School classes and small group, we will make people say "WOW!" Sometimes, with tears in their eyes they will say, "WOW!" "WOW! I didn't know I could be love like this. I didn't know this kind of warmth existed. WOW! WOW! WOW!"

Churches are in the business of reflecting the glory of God, which means making people say, "WOW, ain't God good!!" How is business at your church?

In the next chapter, we will look at the most important area of all that we should cause people to say, "WOW!" The Bible teaches that it is the divinely appointed means of attracting people to the gospel. (1 Corinthians 1:21) God warns us that many should teach because they will be judged more strictly. The work of preaching and teaching is absolutely crucial to all we are doing in evangelism an discipleship.

20 QUESTIONS

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1. What one thing does your church do that causes people to say, "WOW!" Don't be bashful. Let me hear you brag a little. What does your church do well?

2. Consider the theology of "WOW!" Should we be trying to make people say, "WOW!" ?

3. Let's look at a list of the seven areas discussed in this chapter on "WOW!" Which ones do you think we are doing pretty well in, and which ones need vast improvement. Here are the seven areas:

WOW! Music

WOW! Pastoral care

WOW! Facilities

WOW! Childcare, children's programs and youth work

WOW! Multimedia

WOW! How you treat guests

WOW! Sunday School

4. If you were writing this book, what areas would you have added to this list? Would you have left any of these areas off the list?

5. Describe a really moving music experience for you? What are the elements that cause it to come together?

6. Have you considered starting a contemporary service?

7. What benefits would there for you to start a contemporary service?

8. What price would you have to pay?

9. In what ways have you implemented Josh's plan of following up on pastoral care? What did it mean to your people?

10. Specifically, how could you organize and implements such a plan?

11. What is the most glaring deficiency in your facilities?

12. What improvements have you made in the past 6 months in your facilities?

13. How would you evaluate your children's ministry?

14. Do you think church ought to be fun for kids?

15. If you could wave a magic wand over your children's ministry, what would you change?

16. Have you dabbled in multimedia any? Tell us about it.

17. How do you make your guests feel special without making them feel on the spot?

18. What is the ratio in your church of number of guests to the number who join?

19. Do you agree with the idea that emotion has a valid and important place in biblical love?

20. What could you do to help your Sunday School to be a more loving place?

NOTES

=====

1. Barry Posner, from a tape series entitled CREDIBILITY.

2. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, Editors, THEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, ABRIDGED IN ONE VOLUME, Abridgement by Geoffrey W. Bromiley, (Grand Rapids Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985) p. 178.

3. Garrett Soden, HOOK SPIN BUZZ: HOW TO COMMAND ATTENTION, CHANGE MINDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE. (Princeton, New Jersey: Peterson's/ Pacesetter Books, 1996) p. 169.

4. Garrett Soden, HOOK SPIN BUZZ: HOW TO COMMAND ATTENTION, CHANGE MINDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE. (Princeton, New Jersey: Peterson's/ Pacesetter Books, 1996) p. 174.

5. George Barna, EVANGELISM THAT WORKS, (Ventura, California; Regal books, 1996), p. 68.

6. George Barna, EVANGELISM THAT WORKS, (Ventura, California: Regal, 1996) p. 58.

Josh Hunt, 2744 Crown Point, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88011 (505) 532 9693.

*

The church is expanding faster than ever in history, but it is not without a "horrible" cost, an expert on the persecuted church said at a seminar in Fort Worth, Texas.

"We are living in the greatest age of the expansion of the church ever," said Paul Marshall, senior fellow at the Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House, Washington, D.C., and author of the 1997 book, "Their Blood Cries Out."

Citing the growth of the church in China from 1 million in 1980 to an estimated 50 million in 1999, Marshall said, "There is nothing in the Book of Acts that shows church growth on this scale. There's nothing I know of in the history of the church in any country at any time which has church growth at this scale." [Holwick: China's church growth is high, but this estimate is probably too generous; see http://www.amityfoundation.org/ANS/Special%20Reports/howtocount.htm]

The global growth of Christianity, he said, is not coming in Western Europe or the United States, but in places outside the West. "Africa will soon be the continent, if not already, with the greatest number of Christians," Marshall said. "Christians in the world are more likely to be Chinese or Nigerian or Sudanese than to be Westerners," he said, adding that about 80 percent of those in the church live outside the West. "If the church diminishes in the West, in terms of the kingdom of God, that would be a sad, but a small thing," Marshall said.

The cost of growth has been persecution of the church, Marshall said, which is a horrible, depressing thing that God nevertheless has used for good. "These are evil, unjust things that should be fought," he said. "But what is the other side? What is the good news of which this is the dark side? The good news is the spread of the gospel, the growth of the church, the power of the gospel in people's lives."

Marshall made his comments at a seminar on the persecuted church held at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. A panel discussion included Marshall; Al Meredith, pastor of Fort Worth's Wedgwood Baptist Church; Karen Bullock, Southwestern professor of church history; and Getaneh H. Getaneh, a street evangelist who was tortured for his faith in Ethiopa.

Marshall reported to the 150 people in attendance several incidents that have occurred since the middle of September:

-- The senior Roman Catholic bishop in China, who has spent 15 years in

prison and has been repeatedly tortured, has disappeared, last seen

with Chinese government security officials.

-- A prominent national leader in the unregistered Protestant house church

movement in China was executed Oct. 14, 1999, by firing squad, the

second leader of this movement to be executed in the past two months.

-- Chechnyan militants have kidnapped a young Baptist deacon and are

demanding that his church sell its building and use the money to pay

the ransom. The deacons' predecessors have been kidnapped and

beheaded.

-- In India, a 26-year-old Catholic nun was raped and mocked for her faith.

-- The Myanmar military government attacked 22 villages of a tribe who are

mostly Christians. Witnesses said the military beat and stabbed to

death many people.

-- A Coptic Orthodox priest in Egypt was shot. A Coptic bishop faces from

eight years in prison to the death penalty on charges resulting from

his reporting that 1,200 members of his diocese had been tortured in

August and September.

-- In Vietnam, Sept. 17, security police raided a house church, arresting

and interrogating an evangelist and two others.

-- In a largely Christian Sudanese province, 700 people die from starvation

each day. An estimated 50,000 mostly Christian children have been

sold into slavery for "the going rate" of $50.

"We are talking about things that are recent -- not 2,000 years ago, not 200 years ago, not even 20 years ago or last year," Marshall said, "In these particular cases, not even two months ago. This is the situation that we live in now. It's Nov. 2, 1999."

An estimated 200 million Christians are exposed to persecution in about 60 or 70 countries, he continued. And the persecution is worsening in countries like China, Vietnam and North Korea, the latter which Marshall said is "perhaps the worst situation for Christians in the world."

Marshall also listed Islamic countries where Muslims who become Christians face the death penalty, including Sudan, Mauritania, Iran and Iraq. In other countries, he said, the threat comes from family members who have been shamed by the conversion. "Often you are much more in danger from an uncle than you are from somebody else in many Islamic countries," he said.

It is illegal to be a Christian in Saudi Arabia, he continued, and in Pakistan, blasphemy laws have been used against Christians.

In some countries like India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Butan, "increasingly aggressive Hinduism and Buddhism" persecute Christians, Marshall said, adding that in some countries like Ethiopia and Mexico, "Christians" persecute other Christians.

The reasons for persecution are political and theological, Marshall said.

"In the modern age, when the church grows, democracy grows. When the church grows, human rights grow. This is simply an empirical fact," he said, citing a 1997 report by Freedom House. In that report, 79 of 86 democratic countries were "culturally Christian." The remaining seven included Israel, South Korea and Taiwan. "The Christian faith affects the way we live and it affects the way societies go, and that worries them," Marshall said.

He quoted two Chinese newspapers and Chinese police documents that write about the importance of squashing the churches because of what happened in the Soviet Union. "If China does not want these things repeated in its own land, we must strangle the baby while it is still in the manger," a Beijing newspaper said.

"Tyrants cannot have another king of any kind whatsoever," Marshall said. "Another king means another loyalty. You have a loyalty to something more than them. That's why they kill you. That's why the church is repressed. The fear is real, because [Christianity] will open up a society."

In a Far East Economic Review cover story on China titled, "God is Back," a Beijing government official is quoted as saying, "If God had the face of a 70-year-old man, we would not care if he were back. But he has the face of millions of 20-year-olds and, therefore, we are worried."

Marshall listed five ways that churches in America can be more involved in helping the persecuted church.

-- Be informed and pray constantly. Marshall said the Internet can keep

people informed of the world situation. He also noted, "No church

should ever meet for congregational worship without praying for the

persecuted church."

-- Make contacts within the persecuted church. "We can go there. ... We

can know them and they will change our lives," he said.

-- Publicize the plight of the persecuted church. He commended non-

Christians Michael Horowitz and Abe Rosenthal who have "done more

than any Christian" to draw attention to the problem.

-- Pressure the U.S. government to take action. Last fall with a 98-0

vote, the Senate passed the International Religious Freedom Act.

-- Include the entire church, not just the church in America, in our

definition of the body of Christ.

"When we use the term church, what's the image that comes to our mind?" Marshall asked. "The first response should be, 'I am a member of these people we've talked about in Vietnam, or Ethiopia, or Nigeria or in Romania.' God has made us one with one another, as one body; we share the same joys and the same sufferings."

*

25% of South Korea's 40 million people are Christians. The city of Seoul has over 6,000 churches. 100 years ago it had none.

Costa Rica has seen a 100 percent increase in Evangelical churches in the past four years.

An estimated six million people in Africa are turning to the Lord each year. Continent wide, 5,000 new churches are started annually.

More Iranians were saved in seven years under Khomeini than during the previous 70.

One out of every three in the Soviet Union now professes to be born again. (From Servant Magazine, May/June, 1989)

Coca-Cola seems to be everywhere. But how does it get there? This motto, posted in the company's headquarters, explains it: THINK GLOBALLY, BUT ACT LOCALLY.

What this slogan is to Coke, the Great Commission is to the church. A church that wants to obey the Lord's command to make disciples of all nations must first be faithful in its worship of God.

In Northwest Ohio there is an incredibly rich section of land along the Scioto River called "The Scioto Marsh." Actually it used to be a marsh. About 100 years ago a series of ditches were dug to drain it and it became phenomenally rich farmland. Onions grew particularly well and for a while this area around Alger, McGuffey, Foraker, and Jumbo was known as the "Onion Capital of the World." One problem though--onion

cultivation was labor-intensive and there weren't enough workers. The call went out for laborers and many Kentuckians moved into the area. Most of the people in that part of Ohio have Kentucky roots. Many of the town names have counterparts in Kentucky. THE POINT: The onion fields couldn't go to Kentucky, so Kentucky had to go to the onion fields! That's the way harvests are! You have to go to it, it doesn't come to you.

Recently I read an interesting item in the newspaper that illustrates the importance of mental associations in making decisions. A high school in Virginia offered a course called "Home Economics for Boys." Needless to say, it got little attention. So the following year it was renamed "Bachelor Living." You guessed it! The effect was overwhelming - 120 boys promptly signed up. The curriculum never changed. It still offered traditional instruction in cooking, sewing, laundry, and money management. But it needed the right image before the students would give the class a second look. As we present Christ to the world, let's not forget that the message must never change, but the methods may vary.

Significant church growth doesn't miraculously happen. We dare not limit God. For centuries He has chosen men as His means to accomplish growth in His church. This being the case, it compels us to begin by asking the question, where should growth come from? Churches can grow by:

BIOLOGICAL GROWTH... Just as birth is a biological function, so is death. If a church depends solely on this means of growth, the best they can ever hope to do is maintain.

TRANSFER GROWTH... "Swapping sheep", though, from other congregations is only swelling... not real growth.

EVANGELISTIC GROWTH... This is the real growth that occurs when the gospel is taught and/or preached and lost souls are won for the Lord. The book of Acts gives us a great example of this type of growth.

RECOVERY GROWTH... Literally thousands who were once very active members of the church of Christ have currently "dropped out." They are "on the fringe" and desperately need someone to reach out and bring them back into the fold. Heaven rejoices when this occurs (Luke 15).

For significant growth, these last two groups should be our primary targets. Ask yourself, "Who really needs the Lord right now?" or "who have I not seen for awhile and can invite back?"

--FOOTE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST, Corinth, MS

The seven words that will kill any church:

"WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT THAT WAY BEFORE."

And on a serious note:

"CHANGE SELDOM COMES CHEAP. IT GENERALLY COSTS

TIME, ENERGY, TALENT, MONEY, AND PEOPLE."

What would a Kingdom-centered church look like? How could we describe its character?

Who wouldn’t want to see the church of the 21st century impact its world the way the church of the first century did theirs? Wouldn’t you love to pastor or belong to a church that your community would describe like this: “Now all the believers were together and had everything in common. So they sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need. And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were bring saved” (Acts 2:44-47).

We must be both candid and honest. This description is a far cry from what we see in many churches today. Many churches are riddled with dissension and crippled by apathy. Offerings through the church barely pay the bills. The idea of meeting the needs of church and community seem foreign to our experience. It is difficult to think about taking the world when you are struggling to keep the doors of the church open. I think we can all admit this is not how God designed His triumphant church. So let’s look together at the first-century model and pray that God will begin a process of transformation in our hearts and in our churches.

It may be helpful if we first pause to get an overview of the Kingdom-centered church. The overarching concern of the Kingdom-centered church is to disciple the nations. This is the imperative in the Great Commission. Thus it is not too simplistic to say that the Kingdom-centered church is a disciple-making community. So here is the first question we must consider: Is our church making disciples?

We have so often been guilty of first judging the quality of churches by asking about various issues related to numerical growth. Very candidly, some of these numerical issues are related to the location of the church and the density of the population. Now, hear me carefully, I am not suggesting that we ignore issues such as baptismal and numerical growth. I am, however, saying that we must first be obedient to the command to make disciples. I am just biblically naïve enough to believe that if we will follow God’s command and His directions for His church, He will give the growth. The Lord begins by developing the character of His church so that He may build His church. So let’s look at the eight characteristics of the church.

UNITED IN PRAYER

When we read the Acts account, we are bombarded by the dependence on prayer and the power of the Spirit. I have linked these two together in a single characteristic because they are linked in the Book of Acts and in our own experience. For those of us who are activity oriented -- who want to do something to see our church grow -- the first command to “wait” takes us by surprise. Why wait? Let’s do something! Organize the Sunday School, change the style of worship, begin to canvass our community -- something, anything! Waiting seems like doing nothing to us. According to Acts 1:14, the period of waiting was not simply idle time. They knew that empowering came through prayer and, thus, all these were continually united in prayer. The word “continually” not only denotes the duration of their prayer, but it also indicates their devotion to prayer. Their praying was both persistent and passionate. Do these words describe the prayer life of your church?

TEACHES SOUND DOCTRINE

We remember the dramatic beginning of the church in Jerusalem as 3,000 persons were baptized and added to them. The very next phrase tells us they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. Their first concern was to establish these new believers in the faith through sound doctrinal teaching. As I read the book of Acts, I see this commitment to doctrinal teaching as a central aspect of the disciple-making community.

The church at Antioch was the great mission-sending church of the first century. The Lord gave it a large ingathering of persons (Acts 11:24). Once again the very next verse tells us for a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (11:25). In Acts 14:21-22, Luke tells us that after Paul and Barnabas had evangelized Derbe, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the hearts of the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith.

Sometimes church growth proponents suggest we may need to downplay doctrine to reach “boomers” or “busters.” This is not only bad advice; it is patently unbiblical. We may draw a crowd by preaching messages that please the ear yet do not challenge the head and change the heart, but that will not grow His church.

PRIORITIZES WORSHIP

The description of the church in Acts 2 makes it abundantly clear that the early Christians experienced great joy as they met together to praise the Lord. Their worship was not simply the joy that characterized their fellowship; it was the passion that ignited their mission concern. It is not insignificant that the beginning of the Apostle Paul’s first missionary journey is placed in the context of worship and prayer. The phrase “as they were ministering to the Lord” actually translates the Greek word from which we get the English word “liturgy.” The Lord communicated His passion for the world as the church gathered to worship Him. Worship is not about us; it is about Him. As we worship, Christ is exalted and thus draws people to Himself.

IS INTENTIONALLY EVANGELISTIC

The Book of Acts begins with the promise: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Throughout the Book of Acts we see both the passion and intentionality of the early disciples to evangelize the world.

Listen to what Luke tells us about the ministry of Philip: Philip went down to a city in Samaria and preached the Messiah to them (Acts 8:5) and Philip appeared in Azotus, and passing through, he was evangelizing all the towns until he came to Caesarea (8:40). In the middle of this account of Philip’s ministry, we are told that Peter and John traveled back to Jerusalem, evangelizing many villages of the Samaritans (8:25). Does your church manifest passion for the lost? Does it have an intentional strategy for reaching the community entrusted to you by the Father?

NURTURES BIBLICAL FELLOWSHIP

As we read the New Testament, it becomes abundantly clear that the New Testament church enjoyed a unique sense of fellowship. We are told that they met from house to house and that they enjoyed taking their meals together. But their fellowship did not end when the meal was over. Acts 4:32-35 indicates that they were of “one heart and soul.” This unity led members of the early church to assist in meeting the needs of fellow members.

Luke notes that there was not a needy person among them (4:34). This announcement is all the more significant when we remember that many of the early converts to Christianity would have been disenfranchised by their own Jewish families when they became Christians. Some may have lost their ability to earn a living because of the hostility they encountered from fellow Jews. If the early church and its members were to survive, it was necessary that they truly become family.

PRACTICES GENEROUS STEWARDSHIP

We have already noted the willingness of various members to sell their own possessions to provide for the needs of fellow members. This generosity of the majority of members described in chapter 4 is contrasted with the stingy spirit of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, who pledge a piece of land and then keep a portion of the proceeds. Luke wants us to fully comprehend that generosity should be a natural consequence of responding to the Gospel.

The church at Antioch manifests generosity as they send a love offering for the saints in Jerusalem (Acts 11:27-30). They make this gift even though they are told that the famine will be severe throughout the Roman world. Great churches are always marked by great stewardship.

IS GLOBALLY FOCUSED

The commission in Acts 1:8 and the very pattern of Acts itself indicates that the early believers understood that the heartbeat of God was for the nations. The Book of Acts demonstrates the work of the Spirit enabling the church to evangelize Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

I have always been enamored by the church at Antioch. I especially love their vision for a global local church. In Acts 13:1-3, we see them sending Paul and Barnabas, their best-known leaders, to begin the first missionary journey. Notice that it is the local church that is at the heart of God’s plan for reaching the nations. Every church must target the entire world if it is to be faithful to God’s design and purpose.

WORKS COOPERATIVELY

The global nature of the mission task of the church necessitates that the church work cooperatively with likeminded churches for Kingdom advance. We have already noted one evidence of cooperative ministry in the offering that the church at Antioch sends to the saints in Jerusalem. As we study the Pauline letters, we will find that this offering becomes a passion for Paul as he challenges the churches in Achaia and Macedonia to abound in this generous work. The very existence of the Pauline letters indicates that the early churches found it absolutely essential to bind themselves to one another for the sake of the Gospel.

We have discovered the same truth today. No single church has the ability or resources to reach their own Jerusalem, much less the world. If we are serious about Kingdom advance, we must rediscover our cooperative spirit and become committed to a cooperative strategy.

________

Kenneth S. Hemphill is the national strategist strategist for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Empowering Kingdom Growth emphasis, on the Web at www.empoweringkingdomgrowth.net.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #9595]

My Source:

THE MESSENGER

Volume 26, #45, 6-13-99

Karns church of Christ

Author: Bill Pratt

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

YOU AND CHURCH GROWTH

by Bill Pratt

Charles Spurgeon was one of the most popular preachers of the last century. He preached to over 5,000 people each Sunday in the London Tabernacle Church. When asked how he built such a large congregation he replied, "You asked me how I got this congregation? I never got it at all! my congregation got my congregation. I had 80 when I first preached. In a short time I had 200. Everyone in the congregation was urging a neighbor to come to the service. Soon we had 400 and then 800. This is how our people got our congregation."

The secret to church growth really hasn't changed since Spurgeon's time. The best way to build up the church is for every member to be actively involved in personal evangelism. When friend invites friend, and neighbor brings neighbor, souls are going to be saved and the church will grow.

Friendship evangelism, where we work through the ties of friendship and trust that already exist has always been the most effective method of winning souls. The many studies done in the area of church growth bear this out.

The Fuller Institute of Church Growth conducted a study of why people become members of local congregations and discovered that...

Only 2 to 3% were members because of the

programs of the church.

Only 3 to 5% listed the preacher as the reason

for their membership.

Visitation and door knocking resulted in

winning only 1 to 2% of those

surveyed.

Meetings and campaigns had reached only

.0001%.

What the study revealed was that 70 to 90%

of those who became church members

did so through the invitation and influence

of a friend, relative, or neighbor.

Suddenly, Spurgeon's statement, "My congregation got my congregation," makes sense.

What neighbor, friend, or relative do you know that needs to be a Christian? Why not invite them to church this Lord's day? The chances are in your favor that they will come. All they may be waiting on is an invitation from YOU.

[This article is aimed at salespeople but it has some interesting application to how churches handle visitors. -Holwick]

____________________

Presto -- every customer returns for a second dose of whatever you sell or serve. Is that the reality? Or have you sold them once, and then got fired (and now they're being served by your competition).

You see, people don't stop doing business, they just stop doing business with you. Each of us has lost a customer or ten in our business career. Why? Lots of reasons. We all know what to do, problem is we just don't do it.

Being fired is not just maddening and frustrating, it's also an opportunity. An opportunity to figure out why and fix the problem. Here's a list of 14.5 reasons why customers fire you:

1. SHOWING NO GENUINE OR PERSONAL INTEREST. Impersonal service. Insincere people. Commission (only) hungry salespeople.

2. POOR RESPONSE. Take too long to get back to a customer or service a customer, and they will find someone else. People will even sacrifice quality for speed.

3. UNAVAILABILITY. People or product. Formula: "Can't get the stuff I need or can't reach the person I want, equals go someplace else."

4. HARD TO DO BUSINESS OR ORDER. Long waits on hold. People who are not product knowledgeable. Computer voice attendant rather than a real human being to answer the phone, and going through three minutes of crap only to get lost or put on eternal hold. Bye-bye.

5. UNFRIENDLY PERSON ON THE FRONT LINE. It never ceases to amaze me how many angry people serve on the front line of multi-million (billion) dollar businesses. The first rule of every corporate policy in America should be one word -- "smile."

6. POOR OR RUDE COLLECTION PRACTICES. This is a big one. Taking away someone's dignity when collecting a bill is common practice in businesses. Most have never taken the time to point out to collection people that keeping the customer is as important as collecting the money.

7. OVER-PROMISING. Customers are like elephants -- they never forget.You over-promise and under-deliver, you lose.

8. INADEQUATE CAPABILITY TO HANDLE THE CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM. Poor product knowledge, or too many service problems -- not enough service people. Double jeopardy if you make a lame excuse about it.

9. TOO EAGER TO DO MORE BUSINESS. (Too pushy, too much pressure) -- No one wants to buy more from a high pressure person. Help, don't sell. Create an atmosphere of buying (asking about them) -- not telling about you. Don't be a pest -- have a solid reason for following up.

10. POOR PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE OR IMAGE. Customer's want to feel that the quality of their business will be reflected by the quality of those they deal with. How's your image? How's your package?

11. DUMB EXCUSES about why you "can't." Customers are calling because they want help. They want help with their situation -- not hear a bunch of bull-ony about yours.

12. NICKEL AND DIME-ING. Charging for every incidental like copies, phone calls, and interest on late payments, puts a bad taste in the customer's mouth.

13. POOR PRODUCT QUALITY. No matter how much people pay, they expect a quality product. If you're selling price and sacrificing quality, eventually you will lose the business to someone with opposite thinking.

14. POOR SERVICE DELIVERY. Everyone expects fast service - - that's right the first time. How's yours? How's the attitude of those who deliver it?

14.5 POOR TRAINING. Don't fire the problem employee. Shoot the person who trained them. Poor or ineffective training is the root of customer dissatisfaction. Success tactic: Make "reasons for customer dissatisfaction" the basis for a new training program.

What happens to angry customers? From a variety of reliable research, here is a compilation of interesting statistics.

91% who leave will never return. 96% who leave won't tell you the real reason they left. 80% will do business with you again if their problem is handled quickly, and to their complete satisfaction. When the incident is real bad and they leave, stories about what happened will be retold for years.

Interestingly, most of the time when we lose (get fired by) a customer, it always seems to be their fault. I'd love to have a dollar for every customer who was wrongly blamed. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's easy to assess who's to blame -- just look in the mirror. Your mirror.

I'll leave you with two questions -- What are you doing to build loyalty and ensure repeat purchases? Are your customers resigning or re-signing?

================================================

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible

*

"The law of any church is, and always will be, evangelize or fossilize."

-- George E. Sweazy, in "Let’s March Abreast"

"It has been said that Evangelism is not on the agenda of the church; it IS

the agenda of the church."

-- Rev. Brett Blair

*

Key Statistics

In this part of the Factbook we seek to provide answers to some questions regarding trends in christian belief and practice. Answers are currently limited to the UK and to the US.

THE QUESTIONS :

1. What is the trend in the Christian population ?

2. What is the trend in Church Membership and Church Attendance?

3. How is the population's belief in God, Heaven and Life after death changing?

4. How many churches are growing?

5. How many new churches are being started?

6. What proportion of Christians read the Bible regularly?

7. Do Christians pray?

8. What is the cost of the day to day running of the church?

THE ANSWERS :

1. What is the trend in the Christian population ?

Figures for the United States show that the although the Christian population is rising, it is rising slightly slower than the population as a whole. In 1990, the Population of the US was 250 million, with 175 million Christian population. By 1995, total population had risen to 263 million, with 182.7 million Christian population. Projections for the year 2000 give population figures of 275 million population with 190 milion Christian population. In the UK, the Christian population is declining, both as a percentage of the population, and in absolute numbers. Christian Population declined by 0.5 million, from 38.6 million in 1990 to 38.1 million people in 1995. Projection for 2000 is for a Christian population of 37.8 million. Over the same period, the population for the UK as a whole rose from 56.9 million in 1990 to a projected 59.0 million by the year 2000. (Source : World Churches Handbook)

2. What is the trend in Church Membership and Church Attendance?

United States figures show that church membership is growing in line with the growth in Christian population. In 1990, 47% of the US Population, and 67% of the Christian population were church members. For 1995, these proportions were 46% and 67% respectively, and projections for the year 2000 are 46% and 66%. We don't have access to US figures on church attendance. In the UK, Church membership and attendance are declining relatively rapidly. Church membership figures for the UK show 6.7 million church members in 1990, 17.3% of the Christian population, with 4.4 million church attenders. In 1995, the number of church members had declined to 6.4 million (16.8% of the Christian population), with 4.0 million attenders. Projections for the year 2000 give 5.9 million members (15.6% of the Christian population) with 3.8 million attenders. (Source : World Churches Handbook / Christian Research)

3. How is the population's belief in God, Heaven and Life after death changing?

In the UK, the population's belief in these statements has shown greater durability than their adherence to the Christian Church. Unpublished research by Professor Robin Gill shows 74% of the population to admit to belief in God in the 1970's, compared with 68% in the 1990's. Belief in life after death rose from 37% in the 1970's to 43% in the 1990's, with belief in heaven being roughly constant, with 52% of the population in the 1970's, and 51% of the population in the 1990's. (Source : Christian Research)

4. How many churches are growing?

The 1989 English Church Census indicated that 25% of churches grew over the four year period 1985-89. Amongst the denominations, this was slightly higher for Anglican churches (28%), and slightly lower for Free Churches (24%) and Roman Catholic Churches (16%). This definition of growth required 20% growth in churches with more than 50 adults, or 100% growth for smaller churches. 67% of churches remained static in congregation size, and only 8% declined. (Source : Christian Research)

5. How many new churches are being started?

Data suggests that the number of new churches is increasing. Between 1975 and 1979, 654 churches were started. Between 1980 and 1984, this rose to 801, with 863 churches being started between 1985 and 1989. Between 1989 and 1998, this rose to 1867 churches. (Source : Christian Research)

6. What proportion of Christians read the Bible regularly?

The Barna Institute's 1999 nationwide telephone survey shows that 36% of adults read the bible during a typical week. 91% of households own at least one bible. The King James version is five times as likely to be read as the New International Version. A 1997 Bible Society report suggests that 16% of regular churchgoers read something from the bible every day. A further 10% claimed to read several times a week. 42% read less frequently but at least once a year, with the remaining 32% having not read from it outside of church services during the last year.

7. Do Christians pray?

The Barna Institute's 1999 nationwide survey indicates that three quarters of American adults pray during a typical week. The group least likely to pray 91% of households own at least one bible. The King James version is five times as likely to be read as the New International Version. The Teal Trust ran a prayer survey in the summer of 1998 which showed that many Christians do pray regularly . Overall 35% of the 5600 respondents spent an hour or more in personal prayer each week. 93% believe that God hears their prayers, and over half (59%) have experienced God communicating with them as they pray.

8. What is the cost of the day to day running of the church?

In 1997 it cost the Church of England £611 million to cover stipendiary clergy pay and the local mission and running costs of the Parish Church Councils. When divided by the 16,000 churches in the Church of England, this gives a cost per church per year of £38,000. (Source : The Statistics Unit of the Church of England)

In many minds, "purpose driven" and seeker sensitive are synonymous, but Rick Warren, founder of the Purpose Driven Church (PDC) strategy, says a church that is purpose driven may not necessarily target seekers.

Purpose Driven churches, Warren said, are built around the five New Testament purposes of worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship and ministry.

"Purpose Driven churches are committed to doing evangelism, not any one particular style or worship service," Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, California, said. "Thousands of purpose driven churches do not have a seeker service. They do have evangelism in many different forms."

In addition, Warren said being purpose driven is not even about one's target group: "There are countless varieties of PDCs. I know of purpose driven churches that are aimed at postmoderns, ethnics, language groups, cowboys, singles, artists and surfers. They're located all around the world in over 100 countries."

Being contemporary in worship style also is not a sign of being purpose driven. "It doesn't matter whether your worship style is liturgical, traditional, contemporary, country, charismatic, multi-sensory or casual," Warren said. "What matters is that your style matches the people you are seeking to reach."

The purpose driven strategy focuses on balance, health and strength, not size and shape, Warren said, noting there is no correlation between the size and strength of a church. "The purpose driven strategy emphasizes church health, not becoming a mega-church," Warren said. "And being purpose driven doesn't limit you to urban Southern California. We hear from purpose driven churches in small towns, in suburbs, in the inner city" -- churches from more than 100 denominations and associations. We even know of purpose driven house churches that are on boats on the Amazon River."

Warren's book, the "Purpose Driven Church," has sold more than 1 million copies and has been translated into 18 languages.

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Reaching people who think negatively about Christianity. An interview with Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren pastors inside the beltway at Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Maryland, and is author of the forthcoming book More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism and Dance in the Postmodern Matrix (Zondervan), and a featured speaker at the National Pastors Convention in February 2002 -- check out http://www.NationalPastorsConvention.com for all the details, to request a free brochure, and to register by the Early Bird deadline.

Q: How can we speak evangelistically to people today? Is it different from how we spoke to former generations?

A: Much of our evangelism here in the United States was developed in a context of Christendom, in which just about everybody knew the basic information of Christianity and were favorably disposed to it. Evangelism got people to act on what they already knew and, in a sense, already passively believed. You could call people to commitment relatively quickly. You could also use pretty forceful persuasive techniques. In dealing with postmoderns, you're dealing with people who do not know the basics of Christianity. If anything, they have a negative idea of what Christianity is. So it makes no sense to them if you come on too strong and quickly ask for a commitment. We should count conversations rather than conversions, not because I don't believe in conversions, but because I don't think we'll get many conversions if we keep emphasizing them.

Q: So what does evangelism to postmoderns look like?

A: When most people think of evangelism, the word "arguments" comes up -- arguments for the existence of God, arguments for the uniqueness of Christ, arguments for the inspiration of the Bible. For postmodern people, anything presented as an argument is less persuasive because arguments suggest a message of conquest rather than a message of peace. Postmoderns are so assaulted by advertisements and political messages that for a message to be important and true, it must come in a form other than argument.

Also, we have become good at boiling the gospel down into little four-step outlines. Modern people love diagrams; it's all about engineering. But postmodern people feel that truth comes as a mystery, a story, and a work of art; truth is more like poetry than engineering. This forces us to ask if we have a clear understanding of what the gospel really is. If, for hundreds of years, we have turned the gospel into a problem-solution mindset or series of arguments, we must ask how that may have distorted our understanding of the gospel. In many ways, the modern evangelical gospel is a message about how to not go to hell. When you step back and ask if that's really the gospel from Jesus' perspective, it's pretty hard to answer yes. When Jesus talks about the gospel, he talks about the kingdom of God. That offers a whole realm of questions that are more important.

Q: How do you train people to be authentic witnesses for the gospel?

A: We don't talk about having a missions department in our church. Instead, we tell people that what we do is missions. When we become a follower of Christ, we're signing up for his mission. That involves doing good, caring for the poor, and giving out cups of cold water in Christ's name, then telling others the story of the gospel and what God has done in our life. We talk about being and making disciples in authentic community for the good of the world. We talk about that because, according to Jesus, one of the things disciples do is help others become disciples.

Q: Besides showing kindness, how do you reach out without being pushy?

A: We emphasize that to be a good member of our church, we must get to know our neighbors. We say, throw parties. Have people over. Be nice to the children in your neighborhood. Be good people. Be good neighbors. That makes it easier to talk to people about your faith. You know that verse in 1 Peter 3 about always being ready to give an answer? Well, that implies that people are asking questions. To me, part of the issue is how we can help Christians live such good lives that people want to ask questions. If people aren't asking the questions, and we're teaching Christians how to talk rather than walk, we might just be encouraging them to be obnoxious.

Q: What questions might people ask of Christians?

A: Many would ask, "Is Christianity good, and can it make me into a better person, or will it make me a jerk?" They ask that because when they think of Christians, they tend to think of people who are narrow-minded, judgmental, arrogant, and angry. And they think, "Wow, I really want God, and I'd rather be a Christian than a Buddhist or a Muslim, but Christians look like jerks. I don't want to become like that."

They might also ask, "How can I be a Christian without becoming hateful toward people of other religions?" If we answer that question by giving reasons why other religions are wrong, we just prove that we're not the kind of person they want to become.

Q: How can churches be more welcoming to postmodern non- Christians or new believers?

A: To become this kind of church, we may have to accept people who don't dress right, don't talk right, don't smell right, and don't think right. If we're not willing to let them belong before they believe, they will never believe in our church. Because if a group says we will only accept you if you agree with us, it sounds like any other worldly group. What people are looking for is a group that accepts them regardless of whether they conform. That becomes one of the validations of the gospel.

>From BUILDING CHURCH LEADERS, a resource to train leaders, published by Leadership Journal (c) 2001 Christianity Today International.

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