Whew! It's been a while, but no time like the last day of 2013 to talk more on sharing our faith.
The last post dealt with elementary school evanglism, or "relational evanglism through service". In this process, not only do we serve others, but we add the Good Word with our good deeds. This post is about middle school evangelism, where we learn to share our faith in safe places with people we already know - through small groups, Bible studies, and/or Sunday school classes. Middle school evanglism is about identity, communication, and relationships, all of which are key to rediscovering our faith stories.
One trend in small group/Bible study/Sunday school ministry processes that Farr/Anderson/Kotan have noticed is that a great deal of the time, people within these groups spend a great deal of time talking about what we think about God, what we understand about God, what we believe about God, what we think of the Bible, and what we understand to be true about the Bible. These are wonderful and important things to talk about. But do you see what's missing? Talking about our own experiences with God.
To talk about our life experiences in relationship with Jesus Christ was foundational to the small group process in Methodism. Methodists were a people who not only shared their understading of God, but also their experiences with God. Within the earliest Methodist class meetings, members were asked questions of accountable discipleship that would enable sharing of their faith; questions like "How goes it with your soul?" (or "How have you experienced God recently in your life?"). These questions and others were shared so that people could not only talk about what God did for them in the past, but also what God is doing for them now in their lives.
Methodists were able to widely connect with disconnected person because they shared their faith regularly in calls meetings. In this way, they were able to practice sharing their faith, the underlying idea being that if you want to share your faith outside of church, you need to be able to share your faith inside the church.
FAK lift up three vital benefits to sharing our fiath with other persons of faith within a small group:
1) Sharing your faith can reorient each each of our lives with God's presence in the very center. In responding to questions about your faith regularly, you consistently are looking for God is involved in your life, and.. you begin to see life differently, surrounded by the grace-filled presence of God.
2) Sharing your faith may help others within your group to deepen their faith, and perhaps even come to faith. Hearing how God is present in your life opens their eyes to consider how God is present in theirs, and opens a channel for God's prevenient grace to do its work.
3) Sharing our faith regularly and consistently within our small groups allows us to share our faith beyond the group through the network of relationships that we have.
Not everyone in a small group/Bible study/Sunday school class is going to be ready to share their experiences of God within a group. The invitation, however, can always be extended, and with other members of the group sharing, trust develops so that people can begin to share what God is doing in their lives.
Something to lift up... middle school evangelism doesn't just happen within the walls of the church. Many of us live within a small group everyday, and that's the small group of our families. Sharing our faith within our familes is really (Kevin's opinion) the best and most effective way to instill faith in our children.
Many of you may be in groups where you have experienced the type of faith sharing that is middle school evangelism, and if so, you've been blessed. These are groups where people talk about bonding and growing closer and growing spiritually and... In fact, the faith sharing done, via email, in response to my previous post about elementary evangelism is a wonderful example of sharing your faith in a small group environment where trust has developed.
Next post in a brand new year (2014) will find us graduating to high school evangelism - sharing our faith in worship!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Elementary Relational Evangelism
Evangelism = Building authentic relationships with people we don't know
That's the definition of evangelism shared by the authors of Get Their Name, and is one of the best definitions I've heard. Although you don't see the word "Jesus" as part of that definition, I believe that the mission of sharing Christ's love is a part of the "authentic relationship" we should cultivate with others.
So how do we build authentic relationships with people we don't know, and how do we as leaders teach others to do so? As Farr/Anderson/Kotan query, how do we equip churched people to practice with competence and confidence a new style of relational evangelism?
FAK outline a step by step process based on our educational system, beginning with "elementary school" evangelism, and progressing toward "college" evanglism. An outline of their process is as follows:
Elementary evangelism - sharing your faith through service
Middle school evangelism - sharing your faith in small groups
High school evangelism - sharing your faith in worship
College evangelism - sharing your faith with the unconnected
FAK report that "many mainline churches across the country are doing an outstanding job of serving persons in their communities and regions, and across the globe." FAK lift up that service is an essential part of our Christian walk and what churches do, but they also point out that very few persons are connected to Jesus Christ and Christ's church as a result of service alone. So while we are very good at doing good deeds (and Community, you are very good at this), we are not so good at adding God's Word to the good deed. According to FAK,
Good Deed + Good Word = Good News
Serving others is the center for elementary relational evangelism, but it is different than service alone. The authors give the following example:
"Shady Creek United Methodist Church" decides that they will hand out cold water bottles to persons attending a festival in their community (Think Roots 'N Blues). The church intentionally decides that in addition to serving festival attenders good cool water, they also want to practice active relational evangelism through this service. What they decide to do is to take rubber bands and attach as single card to each bottle that says something like, "This bottle of cold water is a free gift from your friends at Shady Creek United Methodist Church. This is our way of sharing with you and showing you God's love, because God's love is always free and is available to everyone, including you." Not only will those at the festival get free cold water, but they will also receive the message "God loves you, and that love is free all the time for everyone." The Good Deed is the free cold water, the Good Word is the message on the card, and together, they become Good News!
Each year at Earth Day, CUMC is represented by our Global Market in a booth right on the south side of Shakespeare's Pizza. Each year, they give away free Fair Trade coffee, and share information about Community. I applaud this outreach, but I also believe that what we can also do is to be intentional about sharing the good news about God's love as the primary message shared.
FAK distinguish elementary relational evangelism through service from mission fundraisers. For example, a chicken noodle dinner where money is charged to raise money for missions can't be considered relational evangelism because isn't free, and therefore isen't an example of God's free love. It's not that the chicken noodle dinner to raise money for missions isn't good ministry, it's just that it isn't relational evangelism.
One ministry that was designed to incorporate elementary relational evangelism through service, and one that I believe will grow more and more with that intention in mind, is our Second Saturday program. This ministry allows for people both inside and outside our church to participate in serving the community, and also offers possibility of sharing written communication of the Good News. Our Second Saturday ministry was inspired by the Missouri Conference's participation in the once a year SERVE events that happen each autumn. Both of these mission opportunities also allow for people unconnected to the church to become involved in making a difference.
What makes relational evangelism through service "elementary" is that it doesn't require people to personally articulate their faith, but to demonstrate that faith through their service. This form of evangelism also gives us all the opportunity to get outside the bounds of the church walls, and to "meet people where they are, not where we are."
Questions to ponder:
How do you see relational evanglism helping persons in our community of Columbia to discover and experience God's love?
How might we modify our current service opportunities so that they function more and more as relational evangelism through service?
That's the definition of evangelism shared by the authors of Get Their Name, and is one of the best definitions I've heard. Although you don't see the word "Jesus" as part of that definition, I believe that the mission of sharing Christ's love is a part of the "authentic relationship" we should cultivate with others.
So how do we build authentic relationships with people we don't know, and how do we as leaders teach others to do so? As Farr/Anderson/Kotan query, how do we equip churched people to practice with competence and confidence a new style of relational evangelism?
FAK outline a step by step process based on our educational system, beginning with "elementary school" evangelism, and progressing toward "college" evanglism. An outline of their process is as follows:
Elementary evangelism - sharing your faith through service
Middle school evangelism - sharing your faith in small groups
High school evangelism - sharing your faith in worship
College evangelism - sharing your faith with the unconnected
FAK report that "many mainline churches across the country are doing an outstanding job of serving persons in their communities and regions, and across the globe." FAK lift up that service is an essential part of our Christian walk and what churches do, but they also point out that very few persons are connected to Jesus Christ and Christ's church as a result of service alone. So while we are very good at doing good deeds (and Community, you are very good at this), we are not so good at adding God's Word to the good deed. According to FAK,
Good Deed + Good Word = Good News
Serving others is the center for elementary relational evangelism, but it is different than service alone. The authors give the following example:
"Shady Creek United Methodist Church" decides that they will hand out cold water bottles to persons attending a festival in their community (Think Roots 'N Blues). The church intentionally decides that in addition to serving festival attenders good cool water, they also want to practice active relational evangelism through this service. What they decide to do is to take rubber bands and attach as single card to each bottle that says something like, "This bottle of cold water is a free gift from your friends at Shady Creek United Methodist Church. This is our way of sharing with you and showing you God's love, because God's love is always free and is available to everyone, including you." Not only will those at the festival get free cold water, but they will also receive the message "God loves you, and that love is free all the time for everyone." The Good Deed is the free cold water, the Good Word is the message on the card, and together, they become Good News!
Each year at Earth Day, CUMC is represented by our Global Market in a booth right on the south side of Shakespeare's Pizza. Each year, they give away free Fair Trade coffee, and share information about Community. I applaud this outreach, but I also believe that what we can also do is to be intentional about sharing the good news about God's love as the primary message shared.
FAK distinguish elementary relational evangelism through service from mission fundraisers. For example, a chicken noodle dinner where money is charged to raise money for missions can't be considered relational evangelism because isn't free, and therefore isen't an example of God's free love. It's not that the chicken noodle dinner to raise money for missions isn't good ministry, it's just that it isn't relational evangelism.
One ministry that was designed to incorporate elementary relational evangelism through service, and one that I believe will grow more and more with that intention in mind, is our Second Saturday program. This ministry allows for people both inside and outside our church to participate in serving the community, and also offers possibility of sharing written communication of the Good News. Our Second Saturday ministry was inspired by the Missouri Conference's participation in the once a year SERVE events that happen each autumn. Both of these mission opportunities also allow for people unconnected to the church to become involved in making a difference.
What makes relational evangelism through service "elementary" is that it doesn't require people to personally articulate their faith, but to demonstrate that faith through their service. This form of evangelism also gives us all the opportunity to get outside the bounds of the church walls, and to "meet people where they are, not where we are."
Questions to ponder:
How do you see relational evanglism helping persons in our community of Columbia to discover and experience God's love?
How might we modify our current service opportunities so that they function more and more as relational evangelism through service?
Monday, November 25, 2013
A Little More on Context...
Before I dive into ideas about relational evangelism, I wanted to share a little more about the context of which we live ministry. These are some ideas from the Bills - Bill Easum and Bill Tenny-Brittain, co-leaders of 21st Century Strategies, Inc. These ideas come from their book Effective Staffing for Vital Churches, and offer another perspective (although related).
- "People don't come to church on their own anymore." Now they must be brought by a friend, relative, neighbor, or co-worker. Several of you who have commented on this blog have spoke to your efforts to do just that with your friends and co-workers. The Bills believe that this is one of the most profound changes for Christianity in our lifetime.
- "When people do show up at church they are blank slates we must write on." This statement reflects the "de-churching" of American culture. In the past, a majority of children in the United States either grew up in church, knew someone who did, or had at least some secondhand knowledge of what happens "at church." No more. According to the Bills, it now takes longer and requires more staff to disciple people than it did two decades ago. I also believe it takes more diligence from all of us.
- "When people think of Christians and church they are skeptical about our motives." No more are pastors revered even by people who attend worship. Now, before we disciple people, we have to gain their trust.
- "People are defecting from the church in record numbers." Today, paretns are more apt to leave the church when their kids leave home than they are to remain in the church. I've seen this happen at Community. The Bills explain that's why effective churches focus much of their attention on adults. That doesn't mean that younger kids and youth are ignored, it's all about building relationships with adults so that they stay after their childre are grown.
- "Global migration is changing demographics and culture." In the near future, if a church isn't multicultural, it probably won't be growing. We are blessed in this college town to have a diverse congregation, but we need to pay attention to how we can be more so.
The Bills state that the results of all of these changes is that "fewer people are attending worship today than every before in the history of Western civilization, and when they do attend they are mostly clueless about what it means to be Christian." Some recent Gallup polls report that although 79% of the US population consider themselves "Christian," these same polls also report that only 30% actually attend church regularly. The Bills believe that figure to be inflated, and that actually 17% of the US population attend church on any given weekend.
In the eyes of the world, the United States is seen as one of the largest mission fields in the world.
The Bills lift up that "the church must spend most of its time, energy, and money filtering people out into the community. The measurement of effectiveness shifts from 'How many in worship?' to 'How much difference is the church making in its efforts to transform the city.' The question 'What is God doing in our community that we can be a part of?' is replacing 'How can we get more people to come to church?'
The future is outward!
Next post will be some practical ideas on relational evangelism. Share your thoughts good people.
- "People don't come to church on their own anymore." Now they must be brought by a friend, relative, neighbor, or co-worker. Several of you who have commented on this blog have spoke to your efforts to do just that with your friends and co-workers. The Bills believe that this is one of the most profound changes for Christianity in our lifetime.
- "When people do show up at church they are blank slates we must write on." This statement reflects the "de-churching" of American culture. In the past, a majority of children in the United States either grew up in church, knew someone who did, or had at least some secondhand knowledge of what happens "at church." No more. According to the Bills, it now takes longer and requires more staff to disciple people than it did two decades ago. I also believe it takes more diligence from all of us.
- "When people think of Christians and church they are skeptical about our motives." No more are pastors revered even by people who attend worship. Now, before we disciple people, we have to gain their trust.
- "People are defecting from the church in record numbers." Today, paretns are more apt to leave the church when their kids leave home than they are to remain in the church. I've seen this happen at Community. The Bills explain that's why effective churches focus much of their attention on adults. That doesn't mean that younger kids and youth are ignored, it's all about building relationships with adults so that they stay after their childre are grown.
- "Global migration is changing demographics and culture." In the near future, if a church isn't multicultural, it probably won't be growing. We are blessed in this college town to have a diverse congregation, but we need to pay attention to how we can be more so.
The Bills state that the results of all of these changes is that "fewer people are attending worship today than every before in the history of Western civilization, and when they do attend they are mostly clueless about what it means to be Christian." Some recent Gallup polls report that although 79% of the US population consider themselves "Christian," these same polls also report that only 30% actually attend church regularly. The Bills believe that figure to be inflated, and that actually 17% of the US population attend church on any given weekend.
In the eyes of the world, the United States is seen as one of the largest mission fields in the world.
The Bills lift up that "the church must spend most of its time, energy, and money filtering people out into the community. The measurement of effectiveness shifts from 'How many in worship?' to 'How much difference is the church making in its efforts to transform the city.' The question 'What is God doing in our community that we can be a part of?' is replacing 'How can we get more people to come to church?'
The future is outward!
Next post will be some practical ideas on relational evangelism. Share your thoughts good people.
Friday, November 8, 2013
How Does CUMC Engage Evangelism?
I want to thank all of you who were able to read and share your ideas on my first post! I know I have been blessed by the conversation, and I hope that all of you have too.
Continuing our conversation on Get Their Name: Grow Your Church By Building New Relationships, Farr/Anderson/Kotan next tackle the big question of "why". Why do most Christians rarely share their faith in Jesus Christ with other persons - especially persons who are not yet followers of Jesus Christ?
The authors of the book suggest that the mainline church hasn't done a good job of defining and practicing evangelism over the last five or more generations, at least evangelism understood as connecting persons to God through Jesus Christ in a vital, dynamic, personal relationship of faith. Farr/Anderson/Kotan (who I will now shorten to FAK in my blog posts) share the following statistics (note: where they received these statistics are not clear):
Generation born 100 years ago
80% connected to God through church
If Protestant, vast majority connected to older established churches
Generation born 80 years ago
65% connected to God through church
If Protestant, majority connected to older established churches
Generations born 60 years ago (Baby Boomers)
35% connected to God through church
If Protestant, majority NOT in older established churches
Generations born 30-40 years ago (Gen X)
Less than 20% connected to God through church
If Protestant, strong majority not in mainline Protestant church
Generations born 10-20 years ago (Millenials)
Less than 10% connected to God through church
If Protestant, vast majority not in mainline Protestant churches
FAK suggests that the reason for this drop in connection for the last five generations is because mainline churches have understood evangelism as reconnecting disconnected churched people who come through our church doors - we are waiting for people to arrive who are already Christian but are disconnected from a church home.
Even knowing our heritage as United Methodists, we pastors sometime assume that people may be Christian, and are only looking for a church home, as opposed to someone who has never been to church. I remember having lunch with Bob Farr several years ago, and he shared with me how he engaged strangers to find out their faith background. When she came back to check on our table, Bob asked our waitress, "Do you have a church home?" Our waitress replied that she did have a church that she attended. I wonder, though, where Bob would have gone with the conversation if she replied, "No, but I've never been."
Questions for all of you reading this post... What are your thoughts on how Community UMC engages in the practice of evangelism? Are we "building relationships with people we don't know," or are we more interested in "reconnecting disconnected churched people who come through our church doors"? Because... there is a decrease in the number of churched people... and an increase in the number of unchurched people.
Engage!
Continuing our conversation on Get Their Name: Grow Your Church By Building New Relationships, Farr/Anderson/Kotan next tackle the big question of "why". Why do most Christians rarely share their faith in Jesus Christ with other persons - especially persons who are not yet followers of Jesus Christ?
The authors of the book suggest that the mainline church hasn't done a good job of defining and practicing evangelism over the last five or more generations, at least evangelism understood as connecting persons to God through Jesus Christ in a vital, dynamic, personal relationship of faith. Farr/Anderson/Kotan (who I will now shorten to FAK in my blog posts) share the following statistics (note: where they received these statistics are not clear):
Generation born 100 years ago
80% connected to God through church
If Protestant, vast majority connected to older established churches
Generation born 80 years ago
65% connected to God through church
If Protestant, majority connected to older established churches
Generations born 60 years ago (Baby Boomers)
35% connected to God through church
If Protestant, majority NOT in older established churches
Generations born 30-40 years ago (Gen X)
Less than 20% connected to God through church
If Protestant, strong majority not in mainline Protestant church
Generations born 10-20 years ago (Millenials)
Less than 10% connected to God through church
If Protestant, vast majority not in mainline Protestant churches
FAK suggests that the reason for this drop in connection for the last five generations is because mainline churches have understood evangelism as reconnecting disconnected churched people who come through our church doors - we are waiting for people to arrive who are already Christian but are disconnected from a church home.
Even knowing our heritage as United Methodists, we pastors sometime assume that people may be Christian, and are only looking for a church home, as opposed to someone who has never been to church. I remember having lunch with Bob Farr several years ago, and he shared with me how he engaged strangers to find out their faith background. When she came back to check on our table, Bob asked our waitress, "Do you have a church home?" Our waitress replied that she did have a church that she attended. I wonder, though, where Bob would have gone with the conversation if she replied, "No, but I've never been."
Questions for all of you reading this post... What are your thoughts on how Community UMC engages in the practice of evangelism? Are we "building relationships with people we don't know," or are we more interested in "reconnecting disconnected churched people who come through our church doors"? Because... there is a decrease in the number of churched people... and an increase in the number of unchurched people.
Engage!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Post Numero Uno
Greetings in Jesus' name, and welcome to this new blog space. This is the place where I will be sharing some ideas from my reading, my prayers, my experience, and vision - all with the goal of provoking conversation on how we can best achieve the mission of Community UMC. That mission is to make new disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!
In January of 2013, I took a three and half week sabbatical to reflect on our church, its ministries and the effectiveness of those ministries, and on our mission. I came back from that sabbatical with the conviction that we need to pay more than lip service to our mission by "doing church" the way that we've always done church... we need to truly figure out and act on ways to reach out to our community in service and love and in sharing Jesus Christ so that each life the church touches will be transformed in God's grace.
We've had conversations in staff meetings, Ministry Leadership Team meetings, Church Council, Lay Leadership, and in many other areas on various ways that we can become the church that reaches out to those who need to know Christ's love, and those conversations have been fascinating and fruitful. In September 2013, we changed our worship services, offering a Traditions service at 8:30 am, and a Catalyst service at 11 am. The dream for the Catalyst service is that, as it grows and evolves, this service will be the primary service where those new to Jesus Christ can worship and grow in a life-transforming, saving faith.
However, all the changes to our worship services and all of the conversations won't accomplish anything unless we find new ways and use old ways to connect with people outside of our four walls.
I'm going to begin by sharing some ideas from the book Get Their Name: Grow Your Church By Building New Relationships by Bob Farr, Doug Anderson, and Kay Kotan. This book was written in order to challenge and inspire churches and their leaders to engage in active, relational evangelism - relational being the key word here. The ideas expressed should help us in visioning ways that we can connect with our neighbors in order for our mission to happen.
This will take several blog entries for conversation on this book. If you would like to purchase a copy, here is a link from Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Get-Their-Name-Building-Relationships/dp/1426759312/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382636585&sr=1-1&keywords=get+their+name.
For this post, I want to share four observations and a consequence to get your brains a thinkin'...
Observation One - "Inwardly focused churches tend to define and practice evangelism as "reconnecting disconnected church folks."
Observation Two - "Outwardly focused churches define and practice evangelism as connecting the unconnected folks to Jesus and then to the church.
Observation Three - "The pool of churched people to connect with is dramatically shrinking, while the pool of the unchurched, never-connected population is growing exponentially. This is especially true among the millennial generation."
Observation Four - "Early denominational movements focused on unconnected folks, while the established churches of the day focused on and supported the folks who were already churched when they arrived in America. These movements became institutionalized over time, and they focused on membership rather than discipleship. The mainline churches were dislodged from the center of American culture by the upheaval of the 1960s. The situation became further confused by the resulting rise of religious conservatism in the 1970s and 1980s. This led to the American polarization of religious liberals and religious conservatives, which in turn led to the disaffection of youth from religion in the 1990s and 2000s. The mainline churches as a result are bewildered and unsure how to proceed through an accelerated state of decline."
Consequence - "If any denomination is to have a future, it must reconnect to the biblical purpose and mission of making new disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. To accomplish this mission, it requires us to be once again people who widely, continually, and fervently share their faith in Jesus Christ with those who do not yet have such a faith."
So, are Bob, Doug, and Kay correct in their observations? Why or why not? The mission of our church matches the mission for all churches that the authors believe is necessary in order for ou churches to have a future - what do you believe it will take for us to become a people who widely, continually, and fervently share our faith in Jesus Christ?
*All quotes come from pages X and XI of Get Their Name: Grow Your Church By Building New Relationships. Abingdon Press. Nashville. 2013.
In January of 2013, I took a three and half week sabbatical to reflect on our church, its ministries and the effectiveness of those ministries, and on our mission. I came back from that sabbatical with the conviction that we need to pay more than lip service to our mission by "doing church" the way that we've always done church... we need to truly figure out and act on ways to reach out to our community in service and love and in sharing Jesus Christ so that each life the church touches will be transformed in God's grace.
We've had conversations in staff meetings, Ministry Leadership Team meetings, Church Council, Lay Leadership, and in many other areas on various ways that we can become the church that reaches out to those who need to know Christ's love, and those conversations have been fascinating and fruitful. In September 2013, we changed our worship services, offering a Traditions service at 8:30 am, and a Catalyst service at 11 am. The dream for the Catalyst service is that, as it grows and evolves, this service will be the primary service where those new to Jesus Christ can worship and grow in a life-transforming, saving faith.
However, all the changes to our worship services and all of the conversations won't accomplish anything unless we find new ways and use old ways to connect with people outside of our four walls.
I'm going to begin by sharing some ideas from the book Get Their Name: Grow Your Church By Building New Relationships by Bob Farr, Doug Anderson, and Kay Kotan. This book was written in order to challenge and inspire churches and their leaders to engage in active, relational evangelism - relational being the key word here. The ideas expressed should help us in visioning ways that we can connect with our neighbors in order for our mission to happen.
This will take several blog entries for conversation on this book. If you would like to purchase a copy, here is a link from Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Get-Their-Name-Building-Relationships/dp/1426759312/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382636585&sr=1-1&keywords=get+their+name.
For this post, I want to share four observations and a consequence to get your brains a thinkin'...
Observation One - "Inwardly focused churches tend to define and practice evangelism as "reconnecting disconnected church folks."
Observation Two - "Outwardly focused churches define and practice evangelism as connecting the unconnected folks to Jesus and then to the church.
Observation Three - "The pool of churched people to connect with is dramatically shrinking, while the pool of the unchurched, never-connected population is growing exponentially. This is especially true among the millennial generation."
Observation Four - "Early denominational movements focused on unconnected folks, while the established churches of the day focused on and supported the folks who were already churched when they arrived in America. These movements became institutionalized over time, and they focused on membership rather than discipleship. The mainline churches were dislodged from the center of American culture by the upheaval of the 1960s. The situation became further confused by the resulting rise of religious conservatism in the 1970s and 1980s. This led to the American polarization of religious liberals and religious conservatives, which in turn led to the disaffection of youth from religion in the 1990s and 2000s. The mainline churches as a result are bewildered and unsure how to proceed through an accelerated state of decline."
Consequence - "If any denomination is to have a future, it must reconnect to the biblical purpose and mission of making new disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. To accomplish this mission, it requires us to be once again people who widely, continually, and fervently share their faith in Jesus Christ with those who do not yet have such a faith."
So, are Bob, Doug, and Kay correct in their observations? Why or why not? The mission of our church matches the mission for all churches that the authors believe is necessary in order for ou churches to have a future - what do you believe it will take for us to become a people who widely, continually, and fervently share our faith in Jesus Christ?
*All quotes come from pages X and XI of Get Their Name: Grow Your Church By Building New Relationships. Abingdon Press. Nashville. 2013.
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