CHURCH FOR THE UNCHURCHED
At Crosspoint, one of the things that makes us run is that we want to be a Church Unchurced People want to Attend. Sounds great. We work hard at that. We track that. According to what we've found..Working Hard..A-...Results of Tracking...F+. Not good. Seriously, we're trying hard. We're just not being very successful. So, what's the key? What do we need to do differently to reach unchurched people? Well, I ran across an article this week, and thought I'd share part of it with you:
"Crawl underneath the hood of any growing church that is actually growing from the unchurched, and you will find that the number one reason newcomers attend is that they were invited by a friend.
Churches grow from the unchurched because their members and attendees talk about it to their unchurched friends. It comes up in their conversations like the mention of a good movie, a favorite restaurant, or a treasured vacation spot.
There is a culture of invitation.
As Michael Green noted about the explosive growth of the early church, which was entirely conversion growth, Christians were talking about the church, Jesus, and the gospel like it was gossip over the backyard fence.
We also track how they came to the church. Was it through direct mail? Did they see a sign? Did they drive by and see the campus?
The number one answer has never changed: “I was invited by a friend.”
One of the four challenges of CONNECT 4 is to invite 4 friends. If we are to be a church that actually makes a dent in the unchurched population, it's basically not up to me to preach really great or Nathan o make sure the music kicks or the Welcome Team to roll out the red carpet. None of that matters if YOU don't invite your unchurched friends, neighbors, co-workers, teachers, students, etc. YOU MUST BECOME AN INVITER!
It may not come natural. It may be uncomfortable. It may not be in your personality. So what? Lives are on the line and it's up to you. Nuff said!
INVITE SOMEBODY! ANYBODY. AS MANY ANYBODIES AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE...
"Crawl underneath the hood of any growing church that is actually growing from the unchurched, and you will find that the number one reason newcomers attend is that they were invited by a friend.
Churches grow from the unchurched because their members and attendees talk about it to their unchurched friends. It comes up in their conversations like the mention of a good movie, a favorite restaurant, or a treasured vacation spot.
There is a culture of invitation.
As Michael Green noted about the explosive growth of the early church, which was entirely conversion growth, Christians were talking about the church, Jesus, and the gospel like it was gossip over the backyard fence.
We also track how they came to the church. Was it through direct mail? Did they see a sign? Did they drive by and see the campus?
The number one answer has never changed: “I was invited by a friend.”
One of the four challenges of CONNECT 4 is to invite 4 friends. If we are to be a church that actually makes a dent in the unchurched population, it's basically not up to me to preach really great or Nathan o make sure the music kicks or the Welcome Team to roll out the red carpet. None of that matters if YOU don't invite your unchurched friends, neighbors, co-workers, teachers, students, etc. YOU MUST BECOME AN INVITER!
It may not come natural. It may be uncomfortable. It may not be in your personality. So what? Lives are on the line and it's up to you. Nuff said!
INVITE SOMEBODY! ANYBODY. AS MANY ANYBODIES AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE...
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