SEVEN WAYS TO TAKE YOUR CHURCH’S SPIRITUAL TEMPERATURE

-copied

Have you ever wondered what makes some churches seem so vibrant?  We’re not talking about phony excitement, but a genuine display of God’s warmth and love.  Use these qualities to help gauge where your church is spiritually.

   

1. There’s a buzz in the air.  And it’s a loud and positive buzz.  When people are growing, they tend to feel good about where their church is headed.  You might see them making an effort to chat during coffee breaks or hanging around long after services are over.
2. You see new faces.  The buzz goes out the door and draws new people in who want to see for themselves what’s going on.  Then when they experience it, they’re drawn back over and over and develop a desire to stay for good.
3. Your volunteer force is strong.  If getting workers for your ministries is more painful than tooth extraction, overall spiritual growth could be lacking.  But when people are excited to serve, it means they’ve grown to a place where they want to serve out of love for God.
4. Small group ministry happens without feeling programmed.  When people want to fellowship and study God’s Word together, you won’t be able to stop small groups from happening.  But if spiritual growth is stagnant, people will be just as happy to stay home and watch sitcoms.
5. People are compelled to care for each other.  Care grows out of truly knowing each other and realizing that the ties to God’s family can be as strong as ties to our biological families.
6. People are using their spiritual gifts.  In other words, people are serving where they’re content.  They’re aware of their spiritual gifts and where they can best use them.
7. Lay leaders desire to lead. This is a sign of personal stewardship. Empower your members to seek ways of leadership. Don’t stop that from happening – it’s a good thing!

Now, on a scale of one to seven (one point for each section) how do you rate your church?  Are you running a fever or are you in danger of hypothermia? Where are your strong points?  Where are your weak points?  Now the big question - what are you doing about them?

THINGS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN ….

FOR LEADER TRAINING: GO Georgia, a Total Leadership Training Conference, August 6 & 7, 2016 - http://gogeorgia.net

FOR LEADER TRAINING: Leadership Pipeline Conference, October 13 & 14 - http://myleadershippipeline.com/

FOR LEADER TRAINING: Ministry Pathways by Ministry Grid; Simplified plans for training ministry leaders throughout your church. http://buff.ly/1jZJIW5

FOR LEADER TRAINING: On Track National Sunday School Conference, Hendersonville, TN, March 17 & 18, 2017 - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/OnTrack?type=events

FOR BIBLE STUDY LEADERS: Growing Groups Forums, October 6, 13, 20, & 27 (check the link for a location near you) - http://gabaptistgroups.org/2016-growing-groups-forums/

FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: National Sunday School Director Seminar, October 22, 2016, Norman Park, GA - http://www.lifeway.com/event/Leadership-Training-National-Sunday-School-Director-Seminar-2016-Norman-Park-GA

FOR SMALL GROUPS: Top 3 Bible studies for the summer (from Bible Study Insider) - http://biblestudyinsider.com/2016/05/05/top-3-summer-bible-studies/#.V04hcOTEKZE

FOR DISCIPLESHIP:  DevoHub, a new way of delivering a daily devotional to your church and community - http://devohub.com/

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Disciples Path, a plan for developing disciples - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/Disciples-Path

FOR FAMILY MINISTRY: ETCH (Equipping The Church & Home) Conference, Nashville, TN, October 3-5, 2016 - http://etchconference.com/

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: 4 Ways to Encourage Women to Pray - http://www.lifeway.com/womensministry/2016/05/25/4-ways-to-encourage-women-to-pray/

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: A Woman Who Doesn’t Quit - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/A-Woman-Who-Doesn't-Quit

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: The Main Event, Nashville, TN, July 22 & 23, 2016 -  http://www.lifeway.com/Event/mens-event-the-main-event-2016-nashville-tn?intcmp=TheMainEvent-MTX-Text-Nashville-20160107

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Student Ministry That Matters: 3 Elements of a Healthy Student Ministry by Ben Trueblood - http://www.lifeway.com/Product/student-ministry-that-matters-P005787702

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: When Students Ask Questions - http://www.lifeway.com/studentministry/2016/05/25/when-students-ask-questions/

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Disciples Path for students – a new series for developing your student’s discipleship - http://www.lifeway.com/Disciples-Path/Youth/c/N-1z0znzeZ1z141ym?intcmp=DisciplesPath-MTX-Text-Students-20150625

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Involving Men in Your Kids Ministry - http://www.lifeway.com/kidsministry/2016/02/22/involving-men-in-kidmin/?EMID=CW-lwkids-newsletter-20160301

FOR KIDS MINISTRY:  Attracting Parents to Your Kids Ministry - http://www.lifeway.com/kidsministry/2016/05/02/attracting-parents-to-your-kidmin/?EMID=CW-lwkids-newsletter-20160501

I Visited Your Church Today

 - copied

I visited your church today.  Let me tell you how this happened.

I saw your church earlier in the week as I was driving around lost. I found you on your website but couldn’t easily find out address and service times so I had to ‘google’ you to find up the address and phone number. I called the church hoping to speak to a person but listened to your “list of menu options” for service times, and got myself and my three children ready on time.

We’re new in town, and this is the fourth church we’ve visited.  We step inside, hopeful.  Perhaps here I’ll find help teaching the Word to my children.  Perhaps here we’ll grow spiritually.  Or maybe we’ll receive the same welcome we got at the other churches.

“Good morning!  And isn’t it a fantastic day!”  says the greeter, handing us programs.

“Yes.  I’m so glad it’s cooling off.”

“Are you visiting?” he asks.

“Yes.  We just moved here.”

“Isn’t that grand!”  He says, stepping back and looking over our shoulders.  “Mr. Charlie!  And how are you today?”

Evidently everyone has taken the same greeter class.  Again and again someone offers a limp hand saying, “I’m so glad you came,” without smiling at all, quickly moving on, job finished.  I am itching to ask about the women’s Bible study, choir practice, and Sunday school.  But then they’re gone, chatting with a good friend in the next pew.

After wandering around between Sunday school and church, trying to find a door to the sanctuary that doesn’t open into the choir loft, we’re late.  The sanctuary is nearly full, but there’s one empty row – at the very front.  So we walk past hundreds of eyes, “new people” on parade.

As I settle the kids, a lady on the end whispers to someone behind her, “I just don’t know where John and Steve are going to sit now.”  I chose the deacon’s row.  I cringe and turn, searching for another pew to move my family to, but the place is packed and the music is starting.

After the service, I buckle my children into the car, pile the take-home papers and Bible on the dash, and I start to cry.

This is a true story.  I have been an active church member, serving in a number of capacities before we had to move to a new state.  I have visited four churches over the last three months, and I am frustrated and disheartened enough to quit church altogether.  Why has it been so difficult to find a new church home?

After our experience, I’ve come up with four things pastors, Sunday School teachers, and folks in the pews can do to help visitors feel at home.

1.       Develop a greeting ministry with the visitor, not the greeter, in mind.  This goes beyond shaking hands and handing out programs.  This extends to escorting me to my children’s classes, answering questions about the different ministries of the church, and seeing to any obvious needs I may have.

2.       Choose hospitality over visitation.  I’d rather have someone from the church invite me to their house, so I can get to know them a little better and so I don’t feel I am and my house (which wasn’t unpacked yet) is on inspection.

3.        Recognize Sunday School as an initial contact point.  Often a visitor’s first experience with a new church is dropping a child off at Sunday School.  Greeting new students and their parents warmly, with interest, is encouraging.  Adult Sunday School teachers also serve as important first contacts.  We attended one Sunday School class for a few weeks.  In those weeks, only one couple learned our names.  The rest smiled that little smile that told us, “I’m so glad you came, but I’m not really interested in you.”

4.       Become visitors for a day.  Those who have belonged to the same church for several years may not remember what being a visitor is like.  A simple exercise can re-sensitize you; visit a church where no one knows you.  Go outside your community, outside your denomination.  Go without knowing what to wear or what ministries are available.  Pay attention to how you’re received.

Welcoming someone new does not happen automatically.  It involves intentionally setting aside natural habits to show genuine caring.  It involves welcoming your visitors in same way that Christ would: with open hearts.

THINGS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN ….

FOR LEADERS: Leadership Pipeline Conference, October 13 & 14 - http://myleadershippipeline.com/

FOR TRAINING LEADERSHIP: Ministry Pathways by Ministry Grid; Simplified plans for training ministry leaders throughout your church. http://buff.ly/1jZJIW5

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Free Discipleship webcast, May 3^rd at 1:00pm (EDT) - https://www.facebook.com/BibleStudiesForLife/videos/840055016099166/?pnref=story

FOR SMALL GROUP MINISTRY: Small Groups and Summer, yes or no? - http://www.lifeway.com/groupministry/2016/03/29/small-groups-in-summer/

FOR SMALL GROUPS: Unstoppable Gospel - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/Bible-Studies-for-Life-Small-Group-Studies/Unstoppable-Gospel?emid=BL-Product-BSI-UnstopGospel-04192016

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Re-Finance by Michael Catt - http://www.lifeway.com/Product/re-finance-ancient-wisdom-for-modern-money-management-bible-study-kit-P005784573

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Unanswered: How to address those unanswerable questions - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/Unanswered

FOR DISCIPLESHIP:  DevoHub, a new way of delivering a daily devotional to your church and community - http://devohub.com/

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Disciples Path, a plan for developing disciples - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/Disciples-Path

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: 33 The Series, A Man and His Fatherhood - http://www.lifeway.com/Product/33-the-series-volume-6-a-man-and-his-fatherhood-leader-kit-P005717351

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Essential Skills for a Student Pastor webcast -  buff.ly/1ONUXbD 

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Disciples Path for students – a new series for developing your student’s discipleship - http://www.lifeway.com/Disciples-Path/Youth/c/N-1z0znzeZ1z141ym?intcmp=DisciplesPath-MTX-Text-Students-20150625

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Free registration for background checks for your VBS and Summer staff - http://www.lifeway.com/Article/composite-home-background-checks?intcmp=ChAdmin-Promo-Text-BackgroundChecks-20121001

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Customized VBS promotional helps and address lists - https://prospectservice.lifewaystores.com//default.aspx?intcmp=iTeam2-Tiled-Church-Admin-Mailing-Lists

Start From the Foundation

(copied from Michael Kelley)

I can’t lift my arms today.

    That’s because my wife and I, along with some hard-working and very meagerly compensated volunteer friends, spent the vast majority of the last three days building a patio in our backyard. So far, some measure of our building party has visited Home Depot 5 different times, we’ve unloaded over a hundred bags of various kinds of sand and gravel, and dug up more shovelfuls of dirt than I’d care to remember.
   Without getting too much into the technical details of the build (which frankly I still don’t completely understand, but one of our friends is an engineer, so you trust and go), we had to build a retaining wall around the area where the patio would be in order to account for the changing elevation of the yard. In regular terms, we had to dig an enormous hole so we could refill that hole.
   If you add up the time we spent on this project, you’d get roughly 27 hours. But here’s the crazy thing:  24 of those 27 hours were spent on the foundation. Only the last 3 hours were spent on the visible portion of the patio. Fascinating, right? To spend so much time on what’s beneath the surface compared to so little on what’s actually visible? Given that ratio of time, I’ve got a couple of reflections this morning that relate to our lives and the lives of those we are leading:

1. Strength and stability lie in the foundation.

   You can have the most beautiful paving stone or the most eye-catching paint color, but in the end, they don’t really mean anything if you don’t put the right amount of time into the foundation. In our project, for example, we had to dig down approximately 18 inches in order to build the retaining wall so that not only the wall but the surface of the patio would have the right shape, definition, and strength when we were all done. I’d like to think I didn’t need this experience to know that Jesus’ words were true:

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!” (Matthew 7:24-27).

   Still, seeing this principle lived out in front of me in a physical way made me think a lot about the amount of time we are tempted to allocate to what, in actuality, are the most inconsequential things. Like people who focus on the paint color while neglecting a crack in the foundation, we become those who choose to close our eyes to the greater issues inside of us. The battle and the work of the Christian is to be done at the heart level. And though it might not be as immediately gratifying as focusing on the surface, this deep soul work where the Holy Spirit molds and shapes you is where strength for the journey is made.
   As Jesus’ words tell us, this foundation work might not be visible until the rains and storms truly come, but when they do, the private and quiet work of the soul will show forth. The structure will stand and endure.
   Today, Christian, no one might know what internal fear, insecurity, or idolatry the Holy Spirit is convicting you of and walking you through. And because it’s internal, you might be tempted to put it to the side in favor of something seemingly more flashy and exciting. But don’t neglect His work. Embrace it. Because the storm is coming.

2. Most surface issues are really foundation issues if we are courageous enough to find the source.

   We spent a lot of time on the foundation of this patio. A LOT. And hopefully, we got it right. But someday, there is going to be a crack. There will be some shifting. Sometimes when that happens, you can correct the issue by a surface level tweak. But if we really care about the stability of the structure we would do well to investigate the source, and that’s going to mean some hard work. It might even mean messing up the carefully crafted exterior and then putting it back together. But such is the way of building.
   Similarly, think about this passage from the Book of James:

No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God.” For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death (James 1:13-15).

   Do you see the progression? Long before sin has become fully grown, it has been conceived and birthed in our own evil desires. When we see sin manifesting itself, then, and we truly want to root it out, then we should be willing to retrace that progression back to the root. That will no doubt mean messing some of our own carefully crafted exterior. It will be hard. And it will be messy. But in the end, that’s the only way to truly move forward. Otherwise, we are deluding ourselves about the supposed victory we claim to live inside of.

   You are building today, whether you know it or not. So are the people under your care. In that building, don’t neglect the foundation. And don’t be afraid to re-examine it from time to time.

THINGS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN ….

FOR CHURCH LEADERS: Register for a webinar by Dr. Thom Rainer on “Three Secrets for Reaching and Retaining Church Guests” - http://revitalizedchurches.com/church-guests-signup/

FOR CHURCH LEADERS: After Easter: How the Resurrection of Christ Changes Your Life Forever by Jeremy Royal Howard & Doug Powell – a great Easter guest gift to give and use as a ‘hook’ Bible study - http://www.lifeway.com/Product/after-easter-P005773744?emid=KP-AfterEaster-20160301

FOR BIBLE STUDY LEADERSHIP: Connections: Taking Sunday School to the Next Level, April 15-16, 2016, FBC/Sevierville with speakers, Johnny Hunt, Allan Taylor, Eric Geiger, and age group specialists - http://www.fbcsev.org/community/connections

FOR TRAINING LEADERSHIP: Ministry Pathways by Ministry Grid; Simplified plans for training ministry leaders throughout your church. http://buff.ly/1jZJIW5

FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: National Sunday School Director Seminar, April 16, 2016, Toccoa, GA - http://www.lifeway.com/Event/Leadership-Training-National-Sunday-School-Director-Seminar-2016-Toccoa-GA

FOR SMALL GROUPS: New Studies posted in smallgroup.com - http://home.smallgroup.com/  

-  Life on Mission by Dustin Willis

-  Kingdom Man by Tony Evans

-  Faith Works: a 9 week study on James by David Platt

-  The Household of God: a 10 week study on 1Timothy by David Platt

-  I Am: a 7 week study of Jesus’ ‘I Am’ statements by Daniel Fusco

-  Assured: a 5 week study of the assurance of salvation by J.D. Greear

-  First Love: a 6 week study on marriage by J.D. Greear

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Re-Finance by Michael Catt - http://www.lifeway.com/Product/re-finance-ancient-wisdom-for-modern-money-management-bible-study-kit-P005784573

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Unanswered: How to address those unanswerable questions - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/Unanswered

FOR DISCIPLESHIP:  DevoHub, a new way of delivering a daily devotional to your church and community - http://devohub.com/

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Disciples Path, a plan for developing disciples - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/Disciples-Path

FOR MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT: The 7 Rings of Marriage by Jackie Bledsoe - http://www.lifeway.com/Product/the-7-rings-of-marriage-leader-kit-P005644102

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: Priscilla Shirer Live Simulcast, April 23, 2016 - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/Priscilla-Shirer-Live-Simulcast?type=events&emid=women-pslsimulcasteblast1-pslsimulcastfamilypage-20151118

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: 33 The Series, A Man and His Fatherhood - http://www.lifeway.com/Product/33-the-series-volume-6-a-man-and-his-fatherhood-leader-kit-P005717351

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Essential Skills for a Student Pastor webcast -  buff.ly/1ONUXbD 

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Disciples Path for students – a new series for developing your student’s discipleship - http://www.lifeway.com/Disciples-Path/Youth/c/N-1z0znzeZ1z141ym?intcmp=DisciplesPath-MTX-Text-Students-20150625

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: 4 Reasons why VBS is important to a church - buff.ly/1oW6tNl

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Ways We Should Minister to Kids and their Divorced Parents -  http://buff.ly/1YsWyev

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: I’m a Christian Now resources, newly revised! - http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/I'm-a-Christian-Now