What is it that attracted you to the church that you are currently attending? What was it in the sea of options (especially if you live in a "Bible belt" area) that made this church stick out? Why should others come to your church?
This question is being asked, more or less, by the leadership team of Wyoming Baptist Church recently. We have experienced some attrition lately and the leaders are looking for answers. This morning during our "SS council meeting", some suggested that it was a friendly warm greeting while others suggested that it was the solid preaching of God's Word. Some even hinted at the robust or spirit-filled nature of the worship service that acted as the drawing card. Let me know where you stand! I will be blogging a lot this next week about this discussion.
Desiring to see this local church grow,
Mike
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5 comments:
Todd and Thad, I believe that you guys are sniffing at the answer, but I do not believe that it is the removal of oneself from a local church to simply meet as families.
I heard a great speaker this weekend at the Youth Seminars in Marilla, NY. Dwight Peterson said that the key to personal growth and victory is probably not stopping sin as much as it is laying aside the hindrances! Do I have to stop doing X or start doing more of Y to grow? The answer is, how strong do you want to be? How much ground do you wnat to win?
This is huge!
It changes the question of "do i have to do 5 out of 7 Quiet Times this week to get my check-mark" into "may I do more than the short passage that is suggested reading?". YEs!
Here's hoping that I was not the only one listening! But if I was, this comment made the whole weekend worth it!
:)
Mike
What is the church if it is not a group of families meeting together?
I noticed that you only made it to the end of the second paragraph before you forgot to breathe and started switching letters again. Di Dwight have scripture to support his statement? The whole fam (petersons) are going to Argentina for a conference to celebrate their fathers birthday or anniversary or something. I wish I could go to that one!
I think the key to effective body function is vernerability and honesty. Allowing people in and showing a desire to enter in with others. -T
Mike,
This is easier to type out than to live out....
I think that the church needs to look within in order to "expand" into the community. You can have great preaching, greeters at the door, cutting edge "modern" worship, etc.... and still not draw a single person into the church unless the current body is growing.
It doesn't take long for an "outsider" to really see the health of a church. I'm sure Satan has a part in their x-ray vision abilities since he will use any little thing he can to steer people in the wrong direction.
Anyway, back to my point.... If the members of the church are growing in their relationship with God, they will be so stinking excited about what's happening in their lives that they won't be able to keep it to themselves. This could mean that they're singing out load at work, shoveling their neighbor's snow (without expecting anything in return), etc...
When I turn my focus on God, everything else seems very unimportant. I don't think that i will ever be able to take "self" out of the equation but i can certainly try!
So, again I say that relationships are key to growth. In order for church growth, the primary relationship needs to be between the church member and God. We have to do away with Sunday Christians! Unfortunately for you, this is not something that you can do for your congregation. They have to want that relationship and they are the ones that have to devote time, energy, money, whatever it takes to growing that relationship with God.
You did it again. Got excited and spelled loud load. I do the same thing only I drop letters...
Anyway back to the point. >> Relationships and community are key and our society has convieniently been making it harder for that to take place.ie big box stores- No more local market or hardware stores even DIY check-outs/ATM banking less and less do you actually have to interact with an actual human being. We as christians need to actively pursue relationships with other people. Make eye contact. Make voice contact. You will stand out.
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