By unSeminary: Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast! This week I’m chatting with a repeat guest, Danny Franks, Pastor of Guest Services at The Summit Church. The Summit Church has twelve locations around North Carolina and the heart of the church is set on sending. They continually want their people to be asking: how does God want to use me and send me?

As a church grows, it’s not uncommon for the culture and DNA to get watered down. The Summit Church realized that as they launched more campuses and moved to a central model, the guest experience looked drastically different from one campus to another. Listen in as Danny shares how to examine your church’s DNA and replicate it by developing high-capacity volunteers that will in turn invest in others.

We can’t send people that we don’t keep. // In order to be a good sending church, we first need to learn how to be a good receiving church. For The Summit Church this meant taking a good look at their guest services experience at each of their campuses. Guest services covers a person’s visit from the street to the seat and everything in between. It’s about making sure the church is doing everything it can to help its guests know that they’ve been expected, planned for, and that the church is excited to have them return.What is your DNA? // To create a uniform guest services experience at each of your campuses, first ask: What is our DNA when it comes to caring for guests? It will be a process to talk through who the church is and what it looks like to welcome guests well and help them take their next step toward the gospel. After a lot of prayer and discussion through these questions, Danny developed a High-Capacity Volunteer Cohort to help communicate the church’s DNA surrounding guest services clearly to all the campuses.Identify your high-capacity volunteers. // The High-Capacity Volunteer Cohort is an eight-month journey where a small group of two to five volunteers from each campus come together. At The Summit Church there are about thirty volunteers that are a part of the Cohort at one time. They meet each month for an hour and a half to discuss books and principles that help everyone understand what the church’s DNA is. The books cover a wide swath of topics and serve as a springboard for the monthly conversation and there is always a practical component to what they teach. Ultimately the goal of the Cohort is to equip volunteers to be better leaders.Invest and Influence. // As the Pastor of Guest Services, Danny has a dotted line relationship with the Guest Services Directors at each campus. They report directly to the campus pastor and may be responsible for guest services as well as things like small groups and membership. Sometimes all of their responsibilities feel like an impossible task but when they are identifying high-capacity volunteers who are in turn trained, they are replicating themselves in a smaller group that can then go on to invest in and influence others. The Cohort process has allowed the Directors to be more like shepherds and less like administrators. And it’s empowered volunteers to find areas of need where they can pitch in and help with specific problems.Where to begin? // You don’t have to be a multisite church or a mega church to start a High-Capacity Volunteer Cohort. Any leader should be looking for who their high-capacity people are and invest in them. The first question to ask as a leader is what’s the win? What are you trying to accomplish with this cohort? What is your timeframe? Your cohort doesn’t have to last 8 months – you can do a smaller, focused version over six weeks. Next define the parts of that DNA that you want to clearly communicate. If you have trouble identifying who your high-capacity volunteers are, that may indicate there is a problem with your leadership pipeline. Something needs to shift to make sure you are regularly identifying and bringing in those potential high-capacity people. Also be aware of not having a clear end goal in sight. For more tips on how to begin, download this PDF: High-Capacity Volunteer Cohort: A How-To Guide.Resources for your cohort. // Danny has a wealth of resources on his website, including articles, workshops, training events, a coaching network and more, that you can access by visiting dfranks.com. In addition, a great book to read with your cohort would be “People are the Mission: How Churches Can Welcome Guests Without Compromising the Gospel“. In it Danny shows churches how to take a balanced approach to hospitality by developing ministries that are guest-friendly from the outset and gospel-centric to their core. Churches will learn not only how to effectively bring people in and convince them to stay, but also why our hospitality to honor the stranger doesn’t stand in opposition to honoring the Savior. Lastly, download this PDF for an overview of The Summit Church’s High-Capacity Volunteer Cohort: Guest Services 2020.

To connect with Danny Franks, reach out to him on Twitter @letmebefranks, and learn more about The Summit Church by visiting their website.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe

Is your church ready? Are you re-opening? Ready to welcome MORE people to worship and grow with your church? Are you out of space or are your interiors dated and needing improvement?

The architecture and design team at Risepointe want to help you align your facility with the mission and vision that God has given your church. That’s why Risepointe developed The Needs Analysis. The Needs Analysis is a comprehensive look at your site to seat experience through the lens of your first time guests. Learn more by visiting www.theneedsanalysis.com. Let them know you heard about The Needs Analysis on unSeminary for $500 off!

Source: Practical Strategy for Developing High-Capacity Volunteers with Danny Franks

The post Practical Strategy for Developing High-Capacity Volunteers with Danny Franks appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Greg Curtis: Let’s face it. 2020 has taken a huge bite out of our volunteer apple.

As churches cautiously regather, many volunteers have chosen not to return because…

The spike in COVID makes them afraid to regather

They are in a high risk demographic

They are moving away due to the economic impact of 2020

They have gotten used to church online

They have changed churches during the shutdown

They felt the need for a break and now is their chance

Their reasons may vary, but the reality is that only 30% to 60% of church volunteers nationally are returning to serve at this point.

Because attendance averages are down as well, not quite as many volunteers are required to serve as before. But even before the pandemic, my church established a way of letting an overlooked group of people taste what it means to serve God and others. In fact, for years now we have earmarked volunteer positions in every ministry for this group of people. These are individuals who would not be allowed to serve in many churches.

Curious as to who they are? Meet Katie by clicking on the video before reading on. She represents someone from this group who recently begin serving at my church. I dare you to keep a lump from raising in your throat as you watch.

I love Katie’s story as she represents a group of people largely overlooked by churches: those who don’t know what they believe yet.

Many churches do not let people who are unsure about God or who have not made a commitment to following Jesus yet. I even know many large churches where you cannot serve unless you are a full fledged member.

I think this is a mistake for 2 reasons:

Jesus didn’t make disciples that way. In fact, his followers were serving alongside him for about a year and a half before one of them finally figured out who he was! (Matthew 16:13-20)/

Many people figure out who Jesus is by getting their hands dirty first. Seeing God move through them toward others (like Katie did) is what draws them to the discovery of who Jesus is for them.

As a result, I think serving is not for the discipled. It’s how you make a disciple.

Here are 3 things you can do over the next month or two to tap into this group for the sake of not just your church’s ministry, but for their own spiritual journeys.

Determine what qualifications are necessary for people who do not believe yet to serve at your church.

Our qualifications for them are these: they are regular attenders, they can show up on time, and they play well with others. If you have those 3 things going on, come serve with us. You can come up with your own. I just encourage you to define them.

Have each ministry leader at your church make a list of volunteer positions that could be filled by a “pre-christian”.

We call these “green level positions” I think around 20% of all your serving opportunities should be in this category. Here are the 3 levels of volunteers

Green means “go”: “Are you new to this, still exploring your faith but want to give back in some way?” These opportunities include things like data entry, tech team, playing a musical instrument, nursery, craft lab, facility maintenance, local compassion, greeting, and more.

Yellow means “caution”: “Do you consider yourself a new follower of Jesus or one who has not served through a local church before?” Let’s have you move into opportunities like being a next steps discussion leader, being a live chat moderator at our services, video editing, social media, info counter, virtually any team member.

Red means “stop”: “Have you been following Jesus for awhile now and want to expand his influence in a new way through your life? We would like to have some time get to know you and train you so you can consider roles like being a small group leader (in homes or online), Next Step Host, or a team leader of any kind.. Stoping allows time for these people to hav their readiness assessed so they and others do not have a negative experience serving or being served.

Communicate these opportunities where new people at your church gather.

I suggest communicating your entry/”green” level positions in these ways:

On your website. Make a webpage where people can not only see these opportunities, but sign up for them.

Through your team leaders. If they know which positions are “green” and know people that are still processing their faith in their relationship circle, empower them to invite them to serve on their team.

At your One Program for guests. We have a connection environment called Next Steps where new people to church can identify what they have to offer and match it to our entry level opportunities to serve. Watching this happen is one of the most meaningful things I get to witness in my role.

At physical Next Steps and at Next Steps Online, guests are given links to forms so a volunteer champ can set up an orientation, interviews, and training so they can be onboarded.

If this kind of approach to volunteering intrigues you, get my online course. Watch session 5 on volunteer placement processes and how to automate them for every department in your church through a volunteer champ system. You won’t regret acting on that concept.

In the mean time, try leading your team through the discussion below and land the plane on making disciples by creating volunteers out of people like Katie-people who are not sure what they believe yet.

Once they see God use them, the game could change forever.

1. What qualifications for serving do you think Jesus has for new people exploring faith at your church? List them.

2. What kind of volunteer roles are appropriate, even advantageous for people still exploring faith to serve in?

3. How will you make these easily available to this group of potential volunteers so they can jump in easily?

4. When will you have this new recruitment emphasis in place?

If you would like more resources like this delivered to your inbox 2or 3 times a month, let me know here:

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Source: A way to add new volunteers to your teams this year that you are probably overlooking.

The post A way to add new volunteers to your teams this year that you are probably overlooking. appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Greg Curtis: Hint: it wasn’t outreach.

Watch my 23 minute video interview with Robby Smith who pastors Redemption Church, a small church that has tripled in size in less than 3 years (including growth in during the quarantine).

I love this guy, his leaders and his church. They are the real deal, caring deeply for people and modeling what Sherpa Leaders look like.

Their 10 year journey as a small church of 120 in attendance was fairly typical for U.S. churches. What happened in year 11 was not.

Robby attributes the growth not to outreach, but to establishing a clear assimilation pathway for the guests at his church. Hear the incredible story of what happened, especially if you pastor a church under 200.

Just click on the video below.

Want access to the same resource I brought to Robby’s church in 2018 to shatter the 200 barrier? Go to “Experience a Base Camp” or take the Climbing the Assimilayas Video Course with your team to begin learning how to create a church-wide assimilation strategy of your own.

If you do, it will one of the most significant and meaningful things you will do as a church.

Want instant access to interviews, resources and tools like these? Subscribe using the form below:

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Source: How did this small church more than triple in size in less than 3 years?

The post How did this small church more than triple in size in less than 3 years? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Greg Curtis: It’s a humbling experience to be speaking alongside thought leaders of this caliber. I am so excited about this conference and the help it will give to all of us who strive to serve and connect guests….and it’s coming in just a few weeks from now!

Are you concerned about the number of guests you are able to connect in the current and post COVID world?

Sherpas leading guests on their climb to connect at your church will benefit greatly from this conference.

Register for the conference now and enter promo code CURTIS to save $20!

I will be doing a session on how to create an online program that actually connects guests to small groups and ministry teams. Others in the line up will be bringing their A-game on other topics that are crucial to understanding guests in the New Normal. With people like Rick Warren, Carey Nieuwhof, Nona Jones, and Bob Goff speaking reality and empowering insights to steady us and our teams, this conference is not be missed.

So, if you want to become a more welcoming church and help your in-person and online guests take their next steps, then click here to get your ticket for the First Impressions Conference.

Can’t wait to see you there, my friends,

Here are just some of the others in the line up…..

P.S. Click here and enter promo code TEXT to save $20 when you register for the First Impressions Conference so you can lead your church with innovation, purpose, and clarity.

Source: Ideas and strategies for church guests in the “New Normal”.

The post Ideas and strategies for church guests in the "New Normal". appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Greg Atkinson returns to the podcast to talk about welcoming guests online.

So much has changed since COVID hit, and Greg shares best and worst practices for engaging online and in-person guests, how to move attenders into engagers, and how to best deal with trolls and other people who threaten to take you off mission.

Welcome to Episode 369 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Plus, in this episode’s What I’m Thinking About segment, Carey talks about vanity metrics and why we should stop focusing on attendance.

Guest Links

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Connect with Greg

Episode Links

Pro Media Fire

Are you a leader of a church facing these challenges?

Your digital team is at max
Your social media team can’t keep up with the need for content
Your creative team is overwhelmed
And you’re cautious about spending money with new staff to help

But how do you increase your quality and output of content without a huge expense?

The solution is Pro Media Fire, where you can hire an entire creative team of professionals for less than the cost of a staff hire. And the best part is the plans are month to month.

You can get help today with professional graphics, videos and content to make an impact while navigating this season of digital expansion.

Book your free strategy session today at promediafire.com/churchgrowth.

The Ascent Leader

This is a unique season that is often the most challenging environment to lead. You may find that you’re inheriting a prior leader’s staff, culture, elders and much more.

If you’re a new lead pastor who is leading a church after a recent senior leader transition, I want to invite you to The Ascent Leader cohorts.

In these cohorts, you’ll get to learn from many of the best transition leaders in the church, you’ll be connected with like-minded A-level peers and you’ll have access to a coach who has experience with dozens, and even hundreds, of church leadership transitions.

Apply today at theascentleader.org.

CONVERSATION LINKS

First Impressions Conference

CNLP 132: Greg Atkinson on the Secrets of a Secret Church Shopper: What People are Looking for When They Come to Your Church

CNLP 132 Transcript

CNLP 185: Greg Atkinson on How First Time Guests Get Alienated by Your Church Services

CNLP 185 Transcript

CNLP 357: JP Pokluda on the Future of Online Preaching, What Pastors Can Learn from YouTubers, and How to Influence the Next Generation

Church Online Platform

Crossroads Church Cincinnati

Church Anywhere

Elevation Church

Life.Church

Churchome

Hillsong East

The Summit Church

North Point Community Church

ChurchPulse Weekly: with Thom Rainer and Myron Pierce

Some Awkward Questions About How to Measure Online Church Attendance (+ 5 Growth Strategies) by Carey Nieuwhof

The Online Church Engagement Summit

Text CAREY to 33777 to join more than 70,000 subscribers to our leadership content

INSIGHTS FROM GREG

1. Questions your team should be asking in the online chat

It seems like most online chat experiences are either trivial or divisive. People are asking questions like, “What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?” Or, there are trolls who make everything political, making it a point to disagree with anyone who speaks up. How can you avoid this?

To avoid trivial conversations, have the members of your greeting team intentionally go into the chat and ask highly emotionally intelligent questions and give great answers. The quality of your questions will determine the quality of your chat.

For the trolls, Greg recommends that you try and take the conversation offline. If they’re a member of your church, have a phone call or text with that person. If they’re someone you don’t know, and refuse to take it offline, you will likely have to ban that user. Greg and Carey both often have to ban people online. It’s okay.

2. You’ll be tempted to view your online audience as “secondary” to your in-person audience, don’t

Greg has watched pastors completely forget about their online audience over and over throughout his career, and he thinks that pastors will begin to fall back into that habit as they come out of the current crisis.

Many pastors are already saying things like, “The 30% who have returned to in-person church are the devoted ones, and those staying home are less committed members.” This simply isn’t true.

Some of your most committed members have serious health risks that are keeping them at home. Don’t forget about them in your quest to refill your room.

3. Your church’s future depends on what you learned (or didn’t learn) in the crisis

One of the big questions coming out of the COVID crisis is, “Will church attendance go back to what it was pre-COVID?” Greg thinks that it will return for some churches and won’t for others. He thinks it will totally depend on whether a church learns the lessons that we need to learn from this pandemic.

If you go back to the old way of doing things, your church isn’t going to thrive. But if you learn from this season about how powerful online can be, reinvent yourself, and add a healthy online experience and community to your church, your church will likely thrive.

Quotes from Episode 369

If a church feels like they can’t be a church because of missing a one-hour service out of building, we were missing the point all along, ministering to people. @GregAtkinson

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During times of uncertainty, lead with your humanity. @Andy Stanley

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The gospel has never been proclaimed so largely, so broadly, so loudly as in the past five, six months of this COVID experience. @GregAtkinson

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Never forget your online audience. We’re in that phygital world from here on out. There are always people watching at home. @GregAtkinson

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That front door experience, that very first impression, starts online. @GregAtkinson

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When you tune into an online experience, there should be somebody that sees you and acknowledges you and thanks you for tuning in. @GregAtkinson

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Pastoral care has never been so important. @GregAtkinson

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Let people see your heart, because people really resonate with emotionally engaging content. @cnieuwhof

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Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 369

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Read or download a free PDF transcript of this episode here.

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The Online Church Engagement Summit

So you’ve got people watching your church online. How do you turn them into engagers?

On October 8th, 2020, Carey Nieuwhof is hosting The Online Church Engagement Summit. It’s a free, 90-minute value-packed event where Levi Lusko, Nona Jones, and Bobby Gruenewald will give you their best practical strategies to turn viewers into engagers.

If you feel like you don’t even know where to begin, or if you’ve had success but want to reach and engage more people, this is for you and your team.

Learn more and register for free.

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Next Episode: Brad Lomenick

Brad Lomenick returns to the podcast to talk about his new podcast, H3 Leadership, and how to grow your influence without producing more content. Brad explains the power of curating content and connecting people, and how he used that to build one of the largest leadership networks out there. Brad also discusses future trends every leader should watch. Plus, Carey and Brad talk about the launch of a brand new podcast network: Thrivicity.

Subscribe for free now so you won’t miss Episode 370.

The post CNLP 369: Greg Atkinson on How to Grow Engagement in Online Attendance, Best and Worst Digital and In-Person Church Practices, and Improving the Church Guest Experience appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 369: Greg Atkinson on How to Grow Engagement in Online Attendance, Best and Worst Digital and In-Person Church Practices, and Improving the Church Guest Experience

The post CNLP 369: Greg Atkinson on How to Grow Engagement in Online Attendance, Best and Worst Digital and In-Person Church Practices, and Improving the Church Guest Experience appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: Welcome to today’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Senior Pastor Tony McVickers from RockFish Church in North Carolina.

RockFish Church is a multi-racial, multi-cultural church located near Fort Bragg and draws a large number of military members and families to its services. But this also means that RockFish Church has to grow by 25% every year just to stay the same size because so many of its attendees are constantly moving around to other parts of the country or world. As a result keeping the church engaged has been very important in order to continue reaching people.

Listen in as Tony shares some of the keys to increasing engagement at your church.

Invite God into your work and decisions. // Because RockFish only has a percentage of their attendees for a short time before they move elsewhere or are deployed, they’ve had to learn how to be really agile and provide good resources to equip people in a brief time. While this can feel like a daunting task, it forces them to lean heavily on God. Remember we have access to the presence of God and through it receive wisdom and the ability to course correct when needed. Have a compelling purpose. // In a transient community you can’t assume the people at your services have been there before and that they know your mission or even the resources available. You need to have a compelling vision and continually communicate it. The “why” is powerful in shaping culture. Purpose produces passion and passion is what leads to action. Model purpose and lead by example; if the mission isn’t motivating you, it’s not going to motivate anybody else. Most of all remember that while you might get tired of communicating your purpose, you still have to keep it in front of your people all the time.Have obvious opportunities. // Obvious opportunities are ones that seek you out. They are felt needs and we need to be ready to respond to them. Help your people to make the missional paradigm shift to see needs as opportunities. Young people in particular are activists by nature. They want to do something and we have to be agile enough to be able to empower them. This can feel messy because we are giving up control, but when people are empowered to make a difference, it inspires even more people to to get involved.Have intentional preparation. // If someone has an idea for an outreach they wish to do with their small group or an event they want to hold, equip them to be able to get the word out quickly. Develop a system that will help ministry leaders with communication and put something in people’s hands that helps them move to action. Releasing control is not tidy so it’s important to prepare on the front end so you can be more agile on the back end. Be a forward thinker with good processes and people in place when launching new initiatives.Acknowledge the obstacles. // If a church hasn’t already been intentional about cultivating a creative culture, it will be difficult for them to be agile. Work to think outside the box and be open to new ideas. Be on guard against laziness, complacency and busyness which are enemies of engaging obvious opportunities and will create roadblocks.Get people engaged from home. // The situation with COVID may cause people to feel like they can no longer participate at church. Look for ways to empower people to do things from home such as putting up signs in their front yards that invite people to join them for church online. Even communion can be done at home. Keep the purpose front and center and remind people to look for obvious opportunities so the mission moves forward.

You can learn more about RockFish Church at www.rockfishchurch.com and connect with Tony at  www.tonymcvickers.com.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Industries

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Source: Increasing Engagement at Your Church with Tony McVickers

The post Increasing Engagement at Your Church with Tony McVickers appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: Greg Curtis

I recently had a person make a confession to me. They were at a weekly men’s prayer breakfast with 4 new men attending. During the prayer request time, he had asked everyone to pray against our current president and his policies as he believed all Christians should. After his lengthy diatribe on the matter, the 4 new people left early never to return.

The person confessing this to me felt badly and apologized to the leader of the prayer breakfast who told him, “No need to apologize. You were right.”

As a person who cares deeply about guests to our church, this story makes me wonder what business are we in as Jesus’ called out ones, especially in a year like this one.

To say this is a challenging year to be a spiritual leader would be an understatement. After quarantining for months, protests breakout that have polarized the culture we serve so severely that it has politicized whether your church even reopens or remain closed.

Enter guests checking out your church. Rather they are doing it online or in person if your church is regathering physically, new people to your church are:

Wondering where the church stands on some of the important issues facing their communities today (reopening or not, protesting or not, voting red or blue, etc.).

Looking for a place where God can be found and sense can be made of this season of life.

Hoping to find a place where people love and respect each other regardless of where they stand on any of the above.

It may be that we have to stop preaching the gospel in order to make room for our opinions and preferences politically. When that happens, many new people seeking God role their eyes, and look for the door while church members say “Amen!”.

How can we stay focused on the right thing when forces are pulling us to one extreme or the other, especially when so much is at stake? I find Jesus’ example here very powerful and instructive.

Two ways to handle political division like Jesus did.

Use stories when addressing division

We may not be quick to realize it, but when a conservative religious leader asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10: 29 f/f) that leader was asking a politically charged question. He was hoping to label Jesus as a liberal if he answered with the name of a gentile, or a conservative if he said only Jews. If he said only Jews, the religious leader could attack him based on his actions.

Jesus did what I wished more of us did right now. He answered by telling a story.

He told a story where a person who was considered half Jew/half gentile was the hero. We know it today as the parable of the Good Samaritan, but in Jesus’ day it was a highly charged response.

Today it could have been called the Parable of the Protestor or the Parable of the Police Officer, depending on which one you fell the the most negative about.

No matter what you would call the parable, I find that following Jesus’ example of story telling deescalates a conversation and makes people think outside their boxes.

That’s why a few weeks ago when people asked me if I believe that “Black Lives Matter” or if I believe that “All Lives Matter”, I answered with a story. I have been to Rome and stood in the colosseum where many early Christ followers lost their lives for their commitment to Jesus. I would love to imagine someone running from the stands into that arena and shouting, “Hey! We have got to stop this because the lives of Christians matter!” Can you imagine though if someone then ran into the arena to correct that person by saying, “No! All lives matter!”

Or, can you imagine being in Nazi Germany where officers were piling Jewish people onto a train and a courageous person runs into the crowd to shout, “Stop! The lives of Jewish people matter to God and they should matter to us!” only to be corrected by a well meaning German saying, “I’m sorry, that is incorrect: All lives matter to God!”

Obviously all lives matter to God and obviously there comes a time where a group that is vulnerable needs to be pointed out and protected more specifically when they are at risk.

A story can expand a persons view. an argument causes them to dig in their heels a little deeper. I want to be a story teller.

I hear you though. “But Greg, do you know the platform of the organization called ‘Black Lives Matter’”? Yes I do. And personally, I do not support their platform. Many parts of it have nothing to do with black lives.

But do you know what I also refuse to support? The highjacking of truth. While I do not support the organization called “Black Lives Matter”, I refuse to let them or any other group redefine a truth that is self evident to all: the lives of black people matter.

If a strange cult that believed Jesus was an alien coming to abduct those who do not follow him and torture them on his spaceship adopted the hashtag “#Jesus saves”, I would not cease to believe it because they chose to use it.

We need to be careful when we allow others to redefine biblical truth, lest we be seen as the one in gross error when we oppose them.

Offer the 3rd option

Another thing Jesus did when he found himself in a polarized environment where people wanted to play “gotcha!” politics with him, was to not get trapped into either/or thinking.

Jesus represents the God of the 3rd option.

I would love to do a Bible study someday on how God offered a third option to people who only saw two extremes. For now, just let me draw attention to 2 magnificent examples to inspire you as you serve guests (and members) from your church coming from the far right and left of the current political spectrum.

The first is when religious leaders wanted to label Jesus as either a liberal “one world order guy” or a conservative rebel securing one’s rights against the oppressive Roman government. They did it by asking a simple, but dangerous question: “Is it right to pay the Imperial Tax to Caesar or not?” (see Matt 22:15-22).

Jesus could have answered yes or no. Yes meant he was a liberal Jew who saw benefits to canceling their cultural distinctive and becoming part of the larger global empire. Saying no would make him a conservative Jew, demanding the freedom to be autonomous and free from the controls and requirements of the prevailing occupying government

We could also yes or no to people’s questions on all matter political. But Jesus didn’t. He simply held up a coin and asked whose image was on it. Then he said to give Caesar what is Caesar’s and to give to God what is God’s.

Dang.

A second example among many was when a woman was thrown in front of him after being caught in the act of adultery (John 8). The conservatives wanted the death penalty. The liberals wanted to feel that she had done nothing wrong and should be free to go in the grace of God.

Jesus then said that she was guilty and that the person who is without sin should throw the first stone.

Do you here the pin dropping?

Everybody left and after Jesus asked the woman where her accusers went, he said that he would not accuse her either but to go and sin no more.

Bam. 100% truth. 100% grace. No polarization on either side.

I want to join Jesus in the same. I want to offer a 3rd option to all this nonsense and division so I can do the harder job that Jesus did-that of a Peace Maker.

Notice I didn’t say Peace Keeper. Jesus kept little peace. Controversy surrounded him continually. He took on the more difficult task of making peace where there was none: between Jews and Samaritans, poor and rich, God and mankind. Bloody work to say the least but that is who we follow.

What if we offered people a third option, instead of just being on the left or on the right?

I don’t think the 3rd option is somewhere in between right and left, red and blue. Jesus is not the purple candidate. He is not moderate. He is not half way between the two. He is completely other than.

Consider how C.S. Lewis put it:

“I am going to venture on a guess as to how this section has affected any who have read it. My guess is that there are some Leftist people among them who are very angry that it has not gone further in that direction, and some people of an opposite sort who are angry because they think it has gone much too far. If so, that brings us right up against the real snag in all this drawing up of blueprints for a Christian society. Most of us are not really approaching the subject in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party. We are looking for an ally where we are offered either a Master or—a Judge.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

Where do we find our Master’s game plan during divisive times? I find it in answering the question posed in Andy Stanley’s book Irresistible:

What would love require of me?

Acting on the answer to that question would place us in the shoes of Jesus and make peace in a way that would be hard to oppose.

It would also be an irresistible environment for guests at our churches.*

*For more on this, see my facebook live video here.

Source: Two ways to handle political division like Jesus did (Facebook Live summary session 11).

The post Two ways to handle political division like Jesus did (Facebook Live summary session 11). appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: Greg Curtis

When I was a kid, I never dreamed I would watch TV the way I do today.

In first through third grade, one of my all time favorite cartoons was “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. It came on once a year. That’s not a typo. I’m talkin’ once a year. About the 2nd week of December. I thanked God for commercials so I could run to the bathroom and not miss a minute of it. We had to be home when it came on because, well, if we weren’t there when it aired, I would have to wait one year before I could possibly see it again. A whole year. No rewinding, no DVR. The grinch was live or he was nothing.

As an adult, I never dreamed I would experience church the way I do today.

I lead Next Steps Online during services so during the last 3 months of quarantining, I haven’t experienced church live. I haven’t even experienced it with my wife. I watch it on demand (like it was Netflix) the next day. No need to be there at a certain time. When i am ready, church is always there for me. I can even sign up for things using my phone during the announcements. If I was new to the idea of following, I could make a first time decision to do that by texting “Isaidyes” and receiving a congratulations back with a link to discover my next step.

Amazing. My church experience is more like watching Netflix now and less like watching the Grinch around Christmas time. Who’d a thunk?

This has made me realize 3 things that I shared on my 9th Facebook Live session.

1. Members don’t use your website like you think

We think they are using it to find the latest information on events at the church. What they are are really using it for is registering events they find out about during announcements or through emails. They also share links to pages that describe the latest event or message series with friends who they think will benefit from them. They share these links via text, email and on social media.

2. Guests don’t use your website like you think

Some people think guests are searching their website to find out what the church believes before they decide to come. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you can see a ranking of what pages are visited on your website, most of the time your statement of faith registers dead last. Few people care. One of the highest ranking, if it’s easy to find, is your service archive. Guest are wanting to experience portions of your service to see what it would be like to attend there before they actually do.

No longer does the average church seeker visit 5 churches over 5 weekends before making a decision. What they do instead is watch 5 services from 5 different churches over one or two nights to figure out the one or two they might actually visit with their family.

These leads to the following realization…

3. Your website is your new lobby, your new “front porch”

Your website is where people “check you out” and form their opinions of you before actually attending. Even in this online zoomified post-COVID world, a guest may not attend a live service until they have sampled it on demand.

In fact, once they have sampled and tasted something they like, they will binge watch an entire sermon series that spoke powerfully to them in your archive. I know this because guests have told me many times that they have done this.

Basically, they are watching church in the same way they are watching Netflix: watching trailers and then binge watching all the episodes that they connect with the most.

How can you connect with guests who are not even attending your live online services but watching on demand midweek?

Here’s an idea. Make a decision that your website is primarily for your guests since they use it more than your members do. Then, put what guests are looking for right on the homepage where they first land.

Here’s what they’re looking for:

A quick look at your Lead Pastor, so put a 2 minute video from him introducing himself, sharing something personal about himself, a quick statement of the church vision and an invitation to watch last weeks service online and click on the “get an answer” button if you’d like an answer to a question or get more info. Remember what they want to figure our about your pastor: Do I like him? Do I relate with him? Can I understand him?

A video of last week’s service, so put it write under the pastors intro video so they see it clearly and can get an idea what your service feels like, what you all really look like (“is there anybody here like me?”) and what the current message series is.

Answers to questions that matter to them. Put that “get an answer” button in a prominent place so that when they click it, they can type their question and choose whether they want to get their answer from a person via live chat, text or email. If you can get their contact info, you can design a drip campaign to invite them to a live service online or otherwise and make them feel like they know someone by name through personal texts or email replies.

Remember: she’s not your girlfriend till you got her phone number and they’re not your guest until you have their contact info. Getting their contact info allow you to begin building a relationship with them and if you use it wisely, you can get yourself a date!

It is not uncommon for us to get contact info from 10 guests watching on demand midweek. We even get around 5 people making decisions to follow Jesus during the week by text. Our follow up will invite them to Next Steps or Next Step Online at the right time.

2 ways to go deeper

Watch here for more I shared on this topic including what we learned about matching people to online volunteer positions.

Get ready to to receive 4 bonus sessions on assimilating people online, free keynote presentations and new checklists for each part of your assimilation strategy via my Climbing the Assimilayas Video Course for FREE if you already have it (it will all just appear soon when you log in to watch) or included when you purchase the course from now on. Click here for more info.

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Source: How to connect with guests who are watching your services on demand instead of live (Facebook Live summary session 9)

The post How to connect with guests who are watching your services on demand instead of live (Facebook Live summary session 9) appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: The Church.digital

When I was a kid, I was told that talking in church was not allowed. My parents would allow me to draw or put my head down, but talking was not permitted. As I got older, I was permitted to sit in the student section of church and keep quiet passing notes to my friends during the service. We would pay attention, but we also had our own conversation going on by passing notes. This was in the stone age that preceded text messaging and instant messaging available on a cell phone. We would actually talk about what we liked about the message and made plans for hanging out after church. It helped me solidify friendships in church and dig in deeper into conversation. Now imagine, I grow up and oversee Church Online now. Should I encourage people to be quiet during the service? No way! This is the big benefit of Church Online. You can encourage chat during the service. Online chat during the service builds community and helps people stay connected to the content of your church service. Online chat is a great way to begin the conversation that moves your online audience from a crowd into community. All this starts with a quality chat host.Here are three things chat hosts can drive:

Conversation: Your chat hosts are both greeters and small group leaders in the chat. They help people feel welcome, but also keep the conversation stimulating throughout the service. This is why it’s important to have primary and secondary chat hosts at each online service hour. Someone should be driving the conversation and someone should be supporting, as well. This way guests can also feel comfortable joining in. If two people are affirming guests, it makes them feel welcome and keeps them engaged throughout the service.
Consistency: Having the same team on a regular basis drives community. Think of it this way, who was the person you constantly said “hello” to when you first began visiting your church. You felt like you knew someone. It was the beginning of community for you. You might have had someone notice when you were out. They said things like “we missed you last week.” We see the same kind of community developing in our chat at Christ Fellowship. Volunteers are building friendships with guests. Guests are feeling more comfortable and choosing their service hours based on the chat volunteers that are attending. It’s creating consistency in their online attendance.
Conversion: I don’t just mean salvations. Yes, people are being led to Christ through our online services, but the chat helps get them connected to our church. Chat converts attendees by offering next steps and opportunities to connect to groups and attend our membership class. Chat hosts provide urls to forms and encourage guests to connect to our church. This is how we move from content to conversation to community.

Could you imagine if we offered chat, not just online but in physical services? I guess we’ll have to explore that idea soon. But in the meantime, think about how chat can make an impact on your digital platforms. Consistent chat volunteers can help you connect viewers to your church. It will require time and investment, so be prepared to build a core of people who are dedicated to serving your church. You can start small with just two volunteers at one service hour, but it is a great way to begin moving online guests into your discipleship strategy and get them connected to your church.

Source: The Need for Chat

The post The Need for Chat appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: New Churches

In Episode 498 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss how to assimilate new members to your church as you work to worship together through limited circumstances.

“This is James with Foundation Presbyterian Church just outside Columbia, S.C. We are a church plant that began Sunday morning worship in September of 2019, and until COVID-19 we were averaging 40 per Sunday. Since moving online we have tripled our engagement, but the question I have is about assimilation. We are going to start in-person worship on May 31st,  but the space we rent will only allow 15 persons in it per Sunday as opposed to the 75 that it could hold. So, it seems like a big part of the journey from evangelism to assimilation going forward will need to be online. What’s the best thinking on assimilation for church plants during this strange time?”

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

How to determine the best way to spend your time in regards to gathering
Why connection leads to assimilation

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“If the experience is going to be different, let it be different in a good way.” – @toddadkins
“People are going to be stickier than your preaching.” – @toddadkins
“Think of it as a unique opportunity to build leaders, to build your capacity for development, to build your capacity for building mini biblical communities.” – @toddadkins
“The goal is how can we be the church and how can we reach our city and how can we reach our neighbors and see our city come to Jesus?” – @danielsangi
“You need to consider where is your time and your volunteers’ time best spent?” – @danielsangi
“If you want them to assimilate, introduce them to another couple or family with things in common.” – @toddadkins
“Assimilation is about that connection to community. The culture that you create will carry that forward once they are connected.” – @toddadkins

Recommended Resources:

Read Missionary Methods by Roland Allen
Learn more about Church Planting Leadership Fellowship

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The post Episode 498: Assimilating Through Connection During Limitations appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 498: Assimilating Through Connection During Limitations

The post Episode 498: Assimilating Through Connection During Limitations appeared first on Passion for Planting.