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Christmas is coming! There's no better time of year to invite neighbors and friends to church. Let's do it! |
Church of the Resurrection, Kansas City
| At the beginning and end of the Christmas Eve service we take a moment to announce our upcoming sermon series, which will begin the second week of January (we've found that folks are not back in town from the Christmas break the first week of January). |  |
We usually show a short video promo for the January sermon series. We will also have a postcard that advertises the upcoming sermons. If the series of sermons is enticing to the unchurched, we will see a significant increase in January over our prior year's attendance.
We call these January sermon series fishing expeditions, drawing from Jesus' invitation to the first disciples to become fishers of people. Our aim is to cast out the net on Christmas Eve when the largest number of nonreligious and nominally religious people are present in our worship, and try to encourage them to return for worship after the holidays. Examples of the fishing expedition series of sermons are: Most Frequently Asked Questions; Controversial Issues; The Problem of Evil; Love, Marriage, and Sex.
From Unleashing the Word by Adam Hamilton, Pastor, Church of the Resurrection (thanks to Tom Dykhuizen for sending this in).
Another Christmas Eve "Hook" -- Drawing Non-Christians Through a Mission Trip
Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, Long Beach
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The hook we used last year at Christmas was to show a video of our mission trip to Mexico. This hook involved two steps. |
First, we planned a mission trip not just for the members of our church but one that would be attractive to the non-religious and nominally religious people of our community. We have found that people want to help others but they need to see that they are making a difference. Passing out food and toys to children at Christmas enables people to experience the joy of giving first-hand. Also the trip is practical and does not involve a major commitment. The entire mission takes 12 hours round-trip from Long Beach. That's the first thing we did. We designed a mission trip for pre-Christians (the unchurched).
Second, we developed a MTV-style music video of the trip to be shown during worship for recruiting purposes. On Christmas Eve, after the video, we invited visitors to respond by signing up for the next trip the following month. As you know, anyone who goes on a mission trip, even for a day, can have his or her heart touched forever.
This outreach effort is working for us. Prospective recruits may start off hesitant, saying, "I don't know." or “I don't have the training." But when they take the risk and go, afterward they're glad they did.
As I said to the congregation on Xmas Eve, here we are a bunch of missionary rookies down in Mexico on the Saturday before Christmas having the time of our lives.
Our next mission trip attracted 18 participants, up from the previous five, including some visitors to the Christmas Eve service.
For more information, e-mail Tom Dykhuizen.
Intentional Hospitality, Part 3
Geneva Presbyterian Church, 11/13/04
| In the “Theater Mentality” of today, we attend movies, sporting events and other forms of entertainment expecting to receive something. At these events we only talk to friends. Try a “Ministry Mentality instead. |  |
When others arrive on campus, try some “Intentional Hospitality.” This encourages them and is a form of giving. It is a talent you can polish, a gift from God. I have found while visiting churches in Pennsylvania and Ohio that you can feel a church whose members use this gift of “Intentional Hospitality.” Most don't, honestly, probably by a majority of 90%. Even most greeters seem to lack enthusiasm. I don't understand why we spend budget dollars for advertising asking the community to visit our churches when the zero cost of making visitors feel at home is so neglected. It has been suggested that if a visitor returns for three visits, they are extremely interested in your church. I believe that a congregational culture of meeting and remembering the name of a first or second time visitor, thereby showing Intentional Hospitality, should be in place before dollars are spent on inviting the community into an unwelcoming environment.
For more information, e-mail Bill Klimek.
Intentional Hospitality, Part 2
Geneva Presbyterian Church, 9/16/04
When I think about “Intentional Hospitality,” the scripture passage that comes to mind is Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” There are many ways our visitors could have chosen to spend their Sunday morning, but they chose to visit our church home. This is an honor and spending time with them is as much a part of our ministry as any other Sunday morning activity for which we volunteer. I would like all churches to consider the much talked about three minute rule. The first three minutes of your conversation after a church service on any Sunday morning are with someone you don't know. It can actually help change your church culture. It doesn't have to be a big production. It isn't difficult to simply say, “I don't believe we've met before. My name is---.” Even if you are introducing yourself to a charter member, there is no downside risk. Or how about, “Welcome, I'm glad you are here.” The Spirit acts in strange ways, who is to say you may not be showing “Intentional Hospitality” to an angel. Be alert to the people you don't know who God places close to you.
For more information, e-mail Bill Klimek.
A Place for the Community to Pray
Community Presbyterian Church, Long Beach, 6/10/04
Chris Logan, pastor of Community Pres writes: We leave our prayer chapel open during the day with a sign that says "Chapel open for Prayer." Many people from the community stop in, and I often have opportunities to meet them and pray with them.
For more information, e-mail Chris Logan, pastor of Community Pres.
Pastor's Welcome for Outside Groups
Community Presbyterian Church, Long Beach, 6/10/04
One is to be open to outside groups renting your facility, and when they do, as the pastor I try to connect with them and maybe even say "hi".
For more information, e-mail Chris Logan, pastor of Community Pres.
Intentional Hospitality, Part 1
Geneva Presbyterian Church, 6/10/04
Bill Klimek, elder at Geneva Pres and member of the Presbytery Evangelism Committee writes: My passion for evangelism at Geneva is to move the culture to one of showing “Intentional Hospitality.” By frequently using this term I believe more members are showing IH to our visitors. I was pleased to receive some reinforcement from our new church planting effort at Village Presbyterian Church in nearby Ladera Ranch. I noticed, in one of their letters, that one of the five elements in their mission statement is, “We are committed to hospitality.” Now that's the way to start a new church. If you start with hospitality as a core value, you don't have to worry about adding it to your culture later in the life of the church. In a March newsletter, Pastor Steve Wright used a quote that I felt should be passed on. “Hospitality is the creation of a free and fearless space for people to be authentically themselves, a space which transforms hostility into community and offers food, comfort, warmth, friendship and strength.” What a beautiful commentary for the core value of a church. Steve added that this is the kind of space that all need in this world, but it does take courage and determination to create it. But that's what the church is called to do. What kind of grade do you give your church on “Intentional Hospitality?” Watch for more about these precious words.
For more information, e-mail Bill Klimek.
Mom's Group Reaches the Community
Laguna Presbyterian Church, 6/10/04
Keith Thomas, chair of the Evangelism Committee at the Laguna church writes: Our Moms' Group has been a dynamic evangelism tool. We began a couple of years ago by inviting young mothers who sent their kids to our preschool. We set up a weekly morning class for discussion on parenting and faith issues. The program has expanded to the community, developed new leaders and brought many new members to our fellowship. We just opened a web site.
For more information, check out the web site or contact Keith Thomas.
The "Blog" as a New Way to Communicate
The day of the "blog" has dawned. Already there are more than two million bloggers throughout the world, with more being added every day.
What is a "blog"? It is a "web-log," a log of personal thoughts that a writer "puts up" on an Internet website so others can read it. Many blogs are personal, with family pictures and journal like entries. Others offer political or social commentary.
At least three pastors in our Presbytery have entered the blogging world: Craig Williams (Trabuco), Steve Wright (Ladera Ranch), and Mark Roberts (Irvine). Craig and Steve are using the Typepad website, which allows one to do a blog easily and inexpensively. Mark does his own programming with Dreamweaver, which allows for greater flexibility, but is a tricky program to learn. (If you're not "into" computers and you don't have a lot of time, go with Typepad.)
Many of those who visit these pastors' blogs are Christians, often members of their churches. But a blog also provides a way for folk outside of the church to get to know a pastor -- even before visiting a church. Several members of the Irvine church have told Mark that they've recommended his blog to non-Christian colleagues at work, who have indeed followed up on the recommendation. At least two of these people have actually visited the Irvine church after checking out Mark's blog.
For more information on blogging, contact Craig, Steve, or Mark via their websites.
Irvine Presbyterian Church, 5/2/04
Many lay people -- and even some pastors -- consider evangelism as rather a pain. It's something we realize we should do, but we just don't want to do it. For many years the Irvine church has been advocating an evangelism model that plays with the perception of evangelism as a pain -- the P.A.I.N. model. It's something that everybody can participate in. It's non-threatening and suitable to new and mature Christians alike. P.A.I.N. stands for Prayer, Availability, Invitation, and Neighborliness. For more information on this model and how it can be used in a congregation, check out the Irvine Presbyterian website.
Looking from the Perspective of a Visitor
Irvine Presbyterian Church, 4/30/04
Dr. Mark Roberts, pastor of the Irvine church, reports that several years ago he heard the Rev. Bill Hallliday, pastor of St. Paul's, Anaheim, talk about the need to print The Lord's Prayer in the worship bulletin. "Many of our visitors have never even heard this prayer before," he explained. This was an eye-opening moment for Mark, who had never before thought about how it might feel for visitors to be excluded when everyone else prayed a prayer they didn't know. Mark took this information back to church leaders at Irvine, who began an ongoing project of examining everything in worship services from the perspective of a visitor. Unlike churches which, in the name of seeker-friendliness, take away from their services anything that visitors may not like, the Irvine church continues to utilize many traditional elements of Reformed worship (prayers of confession, Lord's Prayer, etc.). But leaders make an effort to draw visitors in. This effort takes different forms at different times: explanations in the bulletin, a brief word of instruction in a service, an invitation to participate "when you are able," etc. Leaders in the Irvine church also try to listen to the comments of visitors. Periodically, leaders re-evaluate everything they are doing in worship, trying to see from the perspective of those who aren't familiar with the church and its ways. This has become even more important in recent years as the Irvine church is drawing more people from the community who aren't Christian and have little or no experience of Christian worship (Muslims, secularists, etc.) Maybe the influx of non-believers at Irvine has something to do with the church's attempt to pay more attention to their needs and perspectives? For more information on this evangelistic approach to worship, contact Mark Roberts.
Chinese Presbyterian Church, 4/29/04
Rev. Wayland Wong, Pastor of the Chinese Presbyterian Church of Orange County, reports that his church has given away dozens of free Jesus Films to visitors who are not believers. The Jesus Film, which has now been viewed by over 5 billion people worldwide, and translated into over 800 languages, is a fairly literal telling of the story of Jesus based upon the New Testament gospels. The Chinese Presbyterian Church keeps a number of the films on hand in several different languages. Wayland says that it has been great to be able to give a copy of the Jesus Film to interested non-believers. For more information about this ministry, e-mail Wayland Wong. For more information about the Jesus Film, you can visit the Jesus Film Project website.
Geneva Presbyterian Church, 2/15/04
“Visitor Home Fellowships”, have been the best and newest idea for
outreach at Geneva in 2003. We got the idea from our sister church, Church Of
The Master, who began the program in 2002. This sharing of ideas happens at our
SOCPresTeam (South Orange County Presbyterian Team) meetings, when the seven
South Orange County churches (eight with newly planted church, Ladera Ranch),
meet to discuss evangelism in South Orange County.
The objective of “Visitor Home Fellowships” is simply to allow
Geneva's guests to get to know some Geneva members so that on campus visits
become more comfortable since they will recognize more people. It begins by
inviting visitors from a past time period, generally two months, to a fellowship
in a members home. The group is generally made up of about ten visitors and
four members. The objective is not to discuss church, although the conversation
usually comes around to that. We ask each person in our invitation letter,
that when they RSVP, they include a little information about themselves, such
as an interesting event in their lives, a special vacation or an interesting
place where they have lived. This becomes the base of the conversation. It's
surprising that when all get a chance to introduce themselves, that the hour
and a half is gone. We do serve coffee, soda and desert as we wait for all
to show up. We have found that Sunday evenings between 6:00 and 7:30PM work
best. We have had about 75% of the visitors in these home fellowships ultimately
join Geneva. For more information, e-mail Bill Klimek, at klimek226@aol.com.
A Great New Book By One of Our Pastors
| Tod Bolsinger, Pastor of the San Clemente Church, has just published a new book: Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy by Living Out the Faith.This book, though not specifically about evangelism, is all about how we can live in the world so people will see the truth of the gospel in us. |  |
If you're looking for more info on this book, check out this interview with excerpts.
Evangelism is Effective Among Kids
| The Barna Report has recently published fascinating information on the effectiveness of evangelism among children. |  |
Presbyterian Evangelism Resources
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The Knox Fellowship is a PCUSA organization that specializes in evangelism. Some great resources on this site. |
Here and Now: Creative Advertising Resources
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The Evangelism and Church Development division of the PCUSA has produced some creative advertising resources that can be easily adapted for your church. Check out these resources by clicking here. |
Fastest Growing Presbyterian Churches
| What helps our churches to grow? What holds us back? Should we change worship styles? Add programs? Advertise? Or . . . ? Check out this survey from the PCUSA. Full of helpful information and plenty of surprises. To download this report, click here. |  |
Does Your Church Answer the Phone?
In a recent study, the Barna Group found that most churches aren't answering their phones. Not exactly the message we want to send to the community! To check out the study, click here.
June 2004 Connections Letter: Website Wisdom
More and more people do their spiritual seeking, and their “church shopping”, on the web. One Los Ranchos church – which has done mass mailings, phone calling, door-to door visitation and newspaper advertising – has discovered that the church web page has motivated far more people to visit the church than all other media combined.
For wisdom on how to have an effective website, click here.
Lots of very helpful resources for individuals, leaders, and churches. Great training outlines, study guides, etc. To access, click here.
For some helpful events, links, and resources, click here.
Great source for demographic data on church and culture. Especially helpful for understanding the world into which we are to go with the gospel. See The Barna Group website.
www.markdroberts.com The website of Dr. Mark D. Roberts, pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, has lots of resources for church leaders, including several articles that will equip you and your church to defend the gospel. These articles include: "Was Jesus Married? A Careful Look at the Real Evidence?"; "How Can We Know Anything About the Real Jesus?"; and "Recovering the Scandal of the Cross."
| The Jesus Film has been viewed by over 5 billion people throughout the world, and has been translated into over 800 languages. It is an exceptional tool for basic evangelism. For more information, see The Jesus Film Project website. |  |
The Alpha Course is a basic, video-based introduction to the Christian life. It's intended primarily for non-believers, but is helpful for Christians as well. Many churches in our presbytery have used the Alpha Course with encouraging results. For more info, visit Alpha's website.
A Great New Book on the Church
It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives (Brazos, 2004). by Tod E. Bolsinger Click for more information from amazon.com. |
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Dr. Tod Bolsinger, pastor of San Clemente Presbyterian Church, has just published a great new book on the church: It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian.Although this book is about more than just evangelism, it has much to say about how we reach out to others with the gospel. Highly recommended for pastors and lay leaders!
Click here to read an online interview with Tod about his book.