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Observations on Great Churches # 7 – Age of Conversion!

Posted in Great Churches Series, tagged church growth, church strategy, conversion, evangelism, Great Churches Series, missions, youth on March 26, 2010| 1 Comment »

The Pew Forum recently surveyed the changing religious scene in America, and although not highlighted, one of the obvious conclusions from the report is that most religious decisions, including conversion, abandonment, and switching, are made before a person’s 24^th birthday. (http://pewforum.org/Faith-in-Flux.aspx)

My own experience is the same. Other workers in Germany often teased our mission team about not having planted a church, just a youth group! (Notice the just in that sentence!) We did have mostly children, university students, and young working adults. But ten years after we began, we had a church of young marrieds, which after another few years was a church of young families. The church had matured into a vibrant community of faith.

Great churches focus evangelistic efforts on young people! Most churches focus on 30-50 year olds and then wonder why they don’t grow. Most people have already made their religious decisions and very few—comparatively—are in a searching mode any longer. Here are my suggestions for focusing on young people:

Every new church plant should be near a university and should include a campus ministry as one of its main thrusts. I would include a particular outreach to international students on that campus.
Churches should plan events like camps, weekends, concerts, for highschoolers from the community, not just church kids (but these are great for church kids too!) These should have priority over gospel meetings, lectureships, and potlucks for adults.
Worship services do not have to be completely focused on youth, but if your services are exclusively for the 50 year olds, then that is who you will attract (Not!). What can you do for the teens/college-aged youth in your service?
Youth mission trips should be a high priority for your church, and you should take non-Christian youth with you! There is no better evangelism than an unbeliever seeing a believer in action.
Special Bible studies for youth—and not just a Sunday school class—are essential. Unaffiliated youth are not going to get up and come to Sunday school, but they might meet you at Starbucks on Thursday afternoon after school for a small group study.
The minister and church leaders other than a youth minister MUST be involved with this outreach. Especially 18-24 year-olds want to be considered full members, fully adult, but in some ways, they don’t even understand what that means yet. Mentoring groups are great for this age group.
Church budgets should reflect the emphasis on seeking young people.

I’m sure many of you have other ideas which I would love to see you share. Remember, I’m not talking about maintaining the church kids—although that will be a byproduct—but rather, reaching out to younger people during their age of decision. If I were going to the mission field now, I would focus 80% of my time and energy on people 25 years old or less.

Question: What portion of your church’s time, resources, and energy are focused on evangelistic outreach to young people?

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Observations on Great Churches #3: How Long Does It Take?

Posted in Great Churches Series, tagged church growth, church strategy, evangelism, missions on March 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

A church in Eastern Europe invited a campaign group of American Christians to come for about a week. For the last weekend of that effort, the campaign group’s schedule predicted simply “Baptisms.” As was expected, over 1000 people were baptized that weekend with great celebration. Less than a year later, however, not one of those people was attending that church. Without judging what God did in the hearts of the baptized, we can say for sure that this growth strategy for the local church was not effective.

Another foreign church plant that we have worked with had virtually no growth for the first ten years! But the next ten years have seen an abundant harvest. I would like to suggest that great churches understand two principles that help them develop strategies for real growth.

1. Great churches understand that harvest is the result of a process that is particular and cannot be abbreviated. Notice in this generic website explanation of how to achieve “successful growth” of seeds, what seem to be God’s laws about growth, then apply them to your efforts:

A seed is an embryo plant and contains within itself virtually all the materials and energy to start off a new plant. To get the most from one’s seeds it is needful to understand a little about their needs, so that just the right conditions can be given for successful growth.

One of the most usual causes of failures with seed is sowing too deeply. . . .
Another common cause is watering. Seeds need a supply of moisture and air in the soil around them. Keeping the soil too wet drives out the air and the seed quickly rots, whereas insufficient water causes the tender seedling to dry out and die. . . . .
Most seeds will of course only germinate between certain temperatures. Too low and the seed takes up water but cannot germinate and therefore rots, too high and growth within the seed is prevented. . . . .
Some perennials and tree and shrub seeds can be very slow and erratic in germination. This may sometimes be due to seed dormancy, a condition which prevents the seed from germinating even when it is perfectly healthy and all conditions for germination are at optimum. The natural method is to sow the seeds out of doors somewhere where they will be sheltered from extremes of climate, predators, etc. and leave them until they emerge, which may be two or three seasons later.

2. Great churches have a strategy for each stage of development. The process begins with ground preparation and seed planting. After germination (length varies), the young plants must be cultivated and protected. Finally, the time—the right time–for harvest arrives. Churches that hurriedly skip from one stage to the next—sometimes even omitting the more time-consuming steps—if they have any results at all, often produce genetically weak Christians.

Two Questions:

What are the implications for mission philosophies that set specific timetables for new church plants to mature?
What are your church’s specific strategies for each stage of development in the people you hope to harvest for the Lord?

Next: #4 Great churches are the result of group efforts, not individual efforts.