Source: Diffusing an Angry Volunteer

The post Diffusing an Angry Volunteer appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: How to Accommodate – and Engage – Kids in a Multisite or Portable Church Venue

The post How to Accommodate – and Engage – Kids in a Multisite or Portable Church Venue appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By NewChurches.com: In Episode 589 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Ed discuss what student ministry can look like in micro-churches.

“How, as we launch micro-churches or small church plants, can we encourage and develop strong student ministries?”

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

What student ministry looks like in micro-church context
Why student ministry volunteers are important

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“The idea is that the house church is not going to be age-graded in the same way.”  – @edstetzer
“Students will be brought into the life of the congregation as the young adults that they are.” – @edestetzer
“If it is a movement, sometimes the student ministry does connect across the movement.” – @edstetzer
“There can be community student ministry. There can be collaborative student ministry with other micro-churches.” – @edstetzer
“My experience has been that most people in micro-churches who have student age participants, they are actually involved in the life of the church and are often engaged in the student ministry of another church in town in a larger context.” – @edstetzer
“As a volunteer, you have an opportunity for profound impact.” – @edstetzer
“Perhaps your role within a micro-church context within a student ministry is about equipping students and developing them into leader-developers and disciplers who can disciple others in their context.” – @danielsangi

Recommended Resources:

Read Organic Church by Neil Cole

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

This Episode’s Sponsor:

No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can.

So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’

Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

The post Episode 589: Student Ministry in a Micro-Church Context appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 589: Student Ministry in a Micro-Church Context

The post Episode 589: Student Ministry in a Micro-Church Context appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Jay Fast: I’ll never forget the moment when I was struck with the fact that Jesus intentionally used short-term, cross-cultural mission trips as part of his disciple-making process. It was the spring of 2013, I was sitting on a bench made from rough-cut logs on a beautiful day at the property of the Latin America Multiplication Center in Heredia, Costa Rica. I was living there as a missionary, overseeing FUSION, Sonlife’s short-term missions process for teenagers.

Consider What Jesus Actually Did

As I sat on that bench, evaluating the investment of time, energy, and resources that churches (and student ministries in particular) pour out every year toward short-term mission trips, I was struck with a frightening thought: What if I’ve moved my family overseas to invest our lives in something that Jesus never did? At that point in my life, I had participated in and led numerous mission trips, but I had never stopped to consider if this whole “short-term, cross-cultural mission trip” thing was something that Jesus had done. And if Jesus didn’t do it, I didn’t want to either.

Of course, I knew the impact that short-term mission trips have. Like many of you, I first participated in a short-term mission trip as a teenager. It had a profound impact on me, and God used that experience to change the course of my life. After college, I served as a youth pastor for 13 years. During that time, I took students on dozens of short-term mission trips. I had the opportunity to see God work in, and through, the lives of students over and over again. Most (if not all) of us would agree that short-term mission trips are generally good experiences, but maybe you’ve found yourself asking similar questions as those on my mind that day:

Are short-term mission trips worth all the hassle?
Is the work being done actually accomplishing anything?
Are the mission trips we plan actually just glorified exotic vacations for our students?
Is the money being spent really the best investment of Kingdom resources?
Do our mission trips teach and equip our students to engage with the mission of Jesus and live as disciples in their own culture and context, or just when they go overseas?
Would it be more beneficial if we simply wrote a large check to a missionary instead of taking up a week of their time and adding significantly to their workload, hoping that we make some sort of impact?
Does anything about the way we do short-term, cross-cultural mission trips need to change?
Did Jesus model taking his disciples on short-term, cross-cultural mission trips?

We Have a Model for Short-Term, Cross-Cultural Missions

In studying the life and ministry of Jesus, I’ve discovered that the answer to that last question is a resounding YES! Additionally, a careful study of Jesus’ use of mission trips actually informs all of these other questions as well. In our blog post entitled “Equipping Cross-Culturally,” we saw that Jesus took his disciples on short-term, cross-cultural mission trips on at least 6 different occasions. Not only did Jesus take his disciples on multiple short-term, cross-cultural mission trips, but as we study them, we find a model for how we can and should do likewise.

This study of Jesus’ model for short-term, cross-cultural mission trips and how he used them as a disciple-making tool has led to the development of Sonlife’s FUSION process. FUSION is a short-term mission experience that strategically partners churches in North America with churches in Latin America for the purpose of multiplying healthy, disciple-making student ministries. It’s a four-step process that’s specifically modeled after Jesus’ ministry strategy and how he did short-term mission trips.

Although there are four short-term mission trips throughout the process, FUSION is anything but a typical mission trip experience. The primary purpose of FUSION is not to construct a building, lead a vacation Bible school program, or do street evangelism. Instead, we ask our FUSION teams to incarnate, invest and multiply. This is a reflection of Jesus’ strategy of entering our world, pouring his life out into a few, and reproducing his character and priorities in them. Students on FUSION teams have the opportunity to enter the world of Latino teenagers, invest their lives in building relationships with those students, and help them build a healthy, disciple-making student ministry by reproducing the character and priorities of Jesus in them.

Jesus Used the Trips to Develop the Disciples’ Hearts

Looking at the short-term mission trips that Jesus did with his disciples, it’s clear that his focus wasn’t solely on the people where they were going. He used these trips as a tool to develop his disciples’ hearts and to teach them necessary skills in disciple-making. In the same way, FUSION is designed to be a tool that can be used by youth pastors to develop a disciple-making ministry. As students engage with the mission cross-culturally, they develop both the heart and skills necessary for making disciples back home in their own culture and context.

Throughout the process, there are a number of key ingredients that make the experience fruitful. FUSION is student-led, which means that once a team arrives in-country, the students are responsible to take the lead in building relationships, group training experiences, English classes in the local public schools, living as disciples in their host homes, and various outreach opportunities. The emphasis during the entire process is developing relationships between students in the partner ministries so that disciple-making DNA can be shared. The adults who are part of the team (youth pastor, volunteer leaders, etc) serve in the role of shepherds during the process, praying for, caring for, and encouraging the students by reminding them of the training they’ve received to prepare them for their cross-cultural disciple-making experience.

The FUSION Process

Each step in the FUSION process involves a short-term mission trip, and each step has a different focus.

STEP 1 focuses on the foundational priorities from Jesus’ life and ministry. Students lead the training, looking at how Jesus built a disciple-making ministry and what it looks like for us to do the same.
STEP 2 shifts the focus to targeted ministry training and outreach. Students equip their peers in the partner ministry to share their testimony and the Gospel with a spiritually lost friend, and then both groups go on an outreach retreat together where those lost friends hear the Good News.
STEP 3 is all about transmitting the DNA of cross-cultural missions and equipping a team of ministers. In this step, things are reversed and students are challenged in a new way as the student ministry from Latin America does a mission trip, traveling to their partner church in North America.
STEP 4 focuses on multiplication. The student ministry from North America returns and travels with their partner ministry to a third location where the students “pass the baton” and the four-step process begins again. In this way, both student ministries are learning to make and multiply disciples like Jesus.

Regardless of where your student ministry finds itself in the process of becoming a disciple-making ministry, we’d love to talk with you about how cross-cultural, short-term mission trips can play a significant role. If we’re serious about following Jesus’ example, we have to recognize that we can’t build disciple-making ministries without taking our students out of their comfort zones and across cultural barriers. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a trip to the other side of the world, which is why we’re currently developing the FUSION process domestically as well. We’d love to talk with you about what it might look like for you to engage in the process, and how we can serve you as you continue investing in students.

By Jay Fast

Originally posted here:

The post Jesus-Centered Missions appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: Jesus-Centered Missions

The post Jesus-Centered Missions appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By unSeminary: Thanks so much for joining us for another unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Benjamin Windle. A native Australian, Benjamin has worked as a youth and young adult pastor in the US and currently helps churches develop Generational Intelligence in reaching Millennials and Gen Z through an assortment of resources, coaching, and speaking.

According to Barna research, six out of every ten millennials who grew up in the church have dropped out. Americans 18-29 years of age who have no religious affiliation have nearly quadrupled in the last thirty years. By 2030 millennials will represent 75% of the global workforce—will they represent 75% of your church? Listen in as Benjamin shares how we can close the gap and reach younger generations in our churches.

Develop generational IQ. // Millennials, Gen Z and the generations coming behind then have only ever known a digital world. This means their worldview starts at a very different place than all other generations and that fundamentally changes the way we relate. Additionally because life expectancy has grown, up to five generations can be living at the same time and they are marked by very different things. Businesses, community groups, charities, families, and churches are needing greater generational IQ because we are relating to such a diverse range of cultures.Focus on leadership style and church culture. // We can’t close the gap in attracting younger generations just by having a “cool church” with sophisticated branding, cool music, and so on. Instead focusing on church culture and leadership style will direct you to new ways of talking and relating with younger generations, giving you a place to start. Benjamin has a book called “8 Innovations to Leading Millennials: How Millennials Can Grow Your Church and Change the World” which is available on Amazon and as a free PDF on his website. It goes over everything from the use of technology and social media to what to do with your organizational structure and how to have a relational leadership style.Focus on children’s ministry. // Another area that is key for connecting with millennials is investing in children’s ministry. Right now a lot of millennials are in their 30s and are raising their own children. Being family-focused ministers to the parents because of the importance you are placing on their children’s spiritual health and growth.Focus on truth. // We may put all our focus on giving younger generations entertainment as a way of attracting them to church, but we really need to focus on things of substance. The message of scripture shouldn’t change, but methodology and church culture need to. Have total clarity on what is the unchanging doctrine in your church and how you can be faster at changing the things that do need to be changed.Focus on depth. // In a culture that’s shallow, depth is attractive. Content-driven depth influences our preaching, programming, small groups and more. Equip generations coming up to read, study and understand the Bible for themselves because we’re talking largely about biblically-illiterate generations. Focus on depth in community because younger generations are craving these things. Focus on empowering young leaders. // We need to be putting 20-somethings in genuine leadership positions even before they have all of the qualifications and experiences. Take time to coach and mentor them. Ask how you can move younger people into leadership roles faster. Don’t keep them in the background because they don’t have all the competencies you may think are needed.Resources for reaching Millennials and Gen Z. // Benjamin has wrote a few white papers for churches including “The Promise of Pain: Seven best practices for pastoring Millennials and Gen Z.” and “8 Innovations to Leading Millennials: How Millennials Can Grow Your Church and Change the World”. These resources and more can be found on his website.

You can learn more about Benjamin and his resources at www.benjaminwindle.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!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Plain Joe Studios

Create a space people love coming back to. With a combination of architecture, concept & graphic design, technology integration and a deep love for the church, Plain Joe Studios will elevate your building into an immersive asset that propels your mission and connects more people to your story.

Schedule a FREE 30 minute consultation and discover the power of spatial storytelling.

Source: Millennials, Gen Z and Your Church with Benjamin Windle

The post Millennials, Gen Z and Your Church with Benjamin Windle appeared first on Passion for Planting.

This post on influencing Gen Z is written by Shane Sanchez. Shane is The InsideOut Director for Gwinnett Church (a campus of North Point Ministries.) I recently interviewed Shane on ChurchPulse Weekly. You can listen to the interview here. 

By Shane Sanchez

Does the idea of influencing the next generation (Gen-Z) ever overwhelm you?

Chances are for the last decade you’ve spent time learning how your church can increase influence with millennials. You’ve tried new methods, and done your best to refine a ministry approach that connects with Generation Y. And just as you started feeling like you’re gaining traction with millennials, here comes Generation Z!

Pew defines Gen Z as individuals born between 1997-2012. What’s quickly becoming clear is that they are very different from older generations. Just look at these extraordinary insights from Barna’s Gen Z research project:

Gen Z is…

Recession Marked – Born in the midst of the early 2000’s recession.
Wi-Fi Enabled – Common Sense Media found that teens spend 9 hours a day online.
Multiracial – Most diverse generation in American history.
Gender Fluid – 48% say gender is based on “sex a person was born as”.
Post-Christians – 78% believe in the existence of God but only 41% attend weekly religious services (and that was before the COVID disruption).

If we’re going to influence a generation marked by recession, the attention economy, unprecedented diversity, identity fluidity, post-Christianity, and now a global pandemic, we’re going to need to try things we’ve never tried before.

If we’re going to influence a generation marked by recession, the attention economy, unprecedented diversity, identity fluidity, post-Christianity, and now a global pandemic, we’re going to need to try things we’ve never tried before. – @shanesanchez

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

Well, good luck with that…

I’m kidding. I’m right there with you! In fact, I might be an eternal optimist but what I’m already seeing in the emerging generation causes me to believe that the best days of the local church are still ahead of us.

It’s easy to take Gen Z at face value and simply dismiss them due to attributes we don’t understand. However, dismissiveness doesn’t build disciples. As a millennial, I’ve heard plenty of knocks and dismissive generalities about my generation from pastors, thought leaders, and older adults. So here’s what I will ask on our behalf: Please don’t do the same thing to Gen Z. It’s time that we seek to understand what makes younger generations so unique and look at their attributes as opportunities for the gospel to work in new ways.

Dismissiveness doesn’t build disciples. – @shanesanchez

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

If you seek to understand someone and assume to believe the best about them, it’s amazing how much influence you can gain with them.

Jesus took this approach with tax collectors, zealots, and prostitutes…at very least; we can do this with kids and teenagers.

This means that if you and I want to go where God is leading the church of the future, we have to choose to open our hearts and minds to methods that are built for a generation unlike any before.

Here are 3 foundational ideas to jumpstart your approach to influencing Gen Z:

Jesus looked to understand tax collectors, zealots, and prostitutes…at very least; we can do this with kids and teenagers. – @shanesanchez

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

1. Develop a strategy that outlasts your personality.

It’s time for you and I to confront an underlying issue that has existed in next generation ministry for decades: the personality driven model. You know what this is. It’s the kind of kids or student ministry that dissipates as soon as the key leader moves on to another opportunity. We can do better.

The next generation doesn’t need more big personalities, they need leaders who think strategically.

There are plenty of charismatic YouTube stars and social media Influencers that can entertain and draw a crowd of kids and students to their platform…Gen Z doesn’t need ministry leaders to try to do the same.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be the fullest of who you are or that good old-fashioned charisma isn’t important in next generation ministry, I’m just saying that these things cannot be the only things.

If you think the effective church of the future will be able to hang on the personality or speaking ability of a person, you’re missing the point. For older generations, the charisma of leaders and “cool” factor of the experience was often times more than enough to pique interest. Yet, Generation Z is growing up with unrivaled access to the greatest entertainers on the planet.

Personality can’t be our knockout punch anymore.

Instead, we need to be leaders who put as much emphasis on strategy as we do charisma. We should be inspiring but we should also be focused on playing the long game of building a sustainable ministry. One that continues helping kids and teenagers own their faith, far beyond our tenures.

Are you building a ministry that will last beyond your personality? Are you hiring leaders for how they think or simply how they speak? The local church needs more leaders who are willing to dive into the deep end of strategy and have thoughtful and nuanced dialogue about the best methods, means, and models of the local church for the next generation.

If you don’t have a strategy or have been banking solely on personality, it’s time to start thinking strategically. Charisma has a place in leadership but it’s only as powerful and effective as it is coupled with an effective strategy.

How much time do you spend strategizing methods for a new version of the local church (like digital reach, implementing daily faith practices, and vocational discipleship) rather than just an upgraded version of the current one?

Ok, now that you’re thinking strategically, it’s important to consider the people who are making your strategy possible, the volunteers.

We need to be leaders who put as much emphasis on strategy as we do charisma. – @shanesanchez

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

2. Build a system that attracts adult leaders that are worth following.

My pastor, Andy Stanley, has said that one of the biggest steps for someone exploring faith is “trusting a Christian”. What does it look like to build a volunteer system that is focused on finding, training, and supporting the kinds of small group leaders (SGLs) you want kids and students to trust and model their lives after? (Note: Groups aren’t going anywhere. 81% of Gen Z say that community is part of their “ideal church”.)

Let me ask you something: Are your current adult volunteers the kind of adults you want students to become someday?

I know we always need more volunteers, but what if the truth is that you need the right volunteers rather than just more of the mediocre ones? This may sound a bit harsh, but the next generation deserves adults worth following.

I can tell you from personal experience that I’ve seen small group leaders take kids away from church, leave leadership vacuums that kids dissolve in when they leave unexpectedly, and create drama that rivals that of 7th graders.

On the other hand, I’ve seen adult volunteers who have engaged entire families in the local church, helped kids navigate extreme crisis, and breathed momentum into the vision of the ministry. This is why doing the hard work of identifying, recruiting and developing adults worth following is so worth the effort.

Are your current adult volunteers the kind of adults you want students to become someday? – @shanesanchez

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

Here are a couple of tips for building a system that attracts the right people:

Set a high bar

I truly believe that volunteers will rise to the level of expectations you set for them.

It’s why years ago our small group leader roles shifted from a year-by-year commitment to a 4-year commitment for high school leaders. Additionally we asked all of our SGLs to commit to embodying the principles laid out in the book, Lead Small. Yes, over the course of implementing new expectations, we saw about 80% turnover of our team. However, within a couple of years we re-staffed our SGL roles with quality, consistent, and mission-oriented leaders.

As I said earlier, the truth is, leaders will rise to the level of the bar you set…no matter how low or high that is. Our adult volunteers will almost always respect what we as ministry leaders expect and inspect. Don’t expect extraordinary results when you set ordinary expectations for volunteers.

Don’t expect extraordinary results when you set ordinary expectations for volunteers. – @shanesanchez

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

Develop them spiritually

One of the most important roles for next-gen ministries of the future is to create volunteer systems that help adult leaders grow spiritually.

Many of the volunteers we’re recruiting nowadays are millennial adults. Millennials are the most biblically skeptical people on earth today (even more so than Gen Z).

This means that we can’t millennials to be biblically founded spiritual mentors for Gen Z by default. Instead, what if we started taking the spiritual development of our volunteers just as seriously as that of our kids and students? What if we gave our volunteers spiritual mentors? What if we created environments where they could build their theological foundation? Or what if we wrestled with and studied the Bible alongside them instead just hoping it happens as a part of their daily routine?

We have an opportunity to help Gen Z build a faith of their own, but we also know that we cannot do this alone. We need incredible adult small group leaders that kids and students can trust. When we set a high bar and choose to believe that fostering the spiritual growth of our leaders is our responsibility, we’ll start heading in the right direction.

3. Change your perception of parents.

Ok, let me talk about the elephant in the room. Kids and student ministry leaders just wished parents would care about the spiritual development of their children a little more.

Not to pick on student pastors (I am one), but Barna’s research shows that:

68% of youth pastors say their biggest struggle is parents who don’t prioritize their teen’s spiritual growth.

Maybe you feel this deeply. Well, you’re not alone. However, if you stop here you may also be missing one of the greatest opportunities for building a next gen strategy that reaches Gen Z. Here is another fascinating insight from Barna’s research:

4 out of 5 Christian teens say they can “share honest questions, struggles, and doubts with their parents”. (79%)

This is a really big deal. Christian teenagers feel incredibly safe sharing some of their most personal and pivotal perspectives with their parents. This means that it would be foolish for us to discount the influence of a parent in the spiritual formation of a child or teenager. So, if we want to be strategic about reaching Gen Z, we have to be strategic about including their parents on the journey.

If we are going to strategically prioritize parents we have to genuinely change our perceptions.

We must choose to believe that parents care about the faith of their kids.

If we make this assumption, it means we will also take the time to build a strategy for resourcing, supporting, and encouraging parents of kids and teenagers. There are so many ways we can act out the assumption that parents care about their kid’s faith. From resources that help them navigate social media with their children, to gift cards for a hot coffee on a weary day of parenting.

If we want to be strategic about reaching Gen Z, we have to be strategic about including their parents on the journey. – @shanesanchez

Click to Tweet

END .ss-ctt-wrapper

Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.

/* FORM STYLES */

#nf-form-44-cont .nf-form-title h3 {
font-size:35pt;
}

/* FIELDS STYLES */

.nf-form-content .nf-field-container #nf-field-588-wrap {
display:block;
}

TODO: Move to Template File.
var formDisplay=1;var nfForms=nfForms||[];var form=[];form.id=’44’;form.settings={“objectType”:”Form Setting”,”editActive”:true,”title”:”Church Engagement Summit – End of Blog”,”default_label_pos”:”above”,”show_title”:”0″,”clear_complete”:”1″,”hide_complete”:”1″,”logged_in”:””,”wrapper_class”:””,”element_class”:””,”key”:””,”add_submit”:”1″,”currency”:””,”unique_field_error”:”A form with this value has already been submitted.”,”not_logged_in_msg”:””,”sub_limit_msg”:”The form has reached its submission limit.”,”calculations”:[],”container_styles_show_advanced_css”:”0″,”title_styles_show_advanced_css”:”0″,”row_styles_show_advanced_css”:”0″,”row-odd_styles_show_advanced_css”:”0″,”success-msg_styles_show_advanced_css”:”0″,”error_msg_styles_show_advanced_css”:”0″,”conditions”:[],”formContentData”:[{“order”:1,”cells”:[{“order”:0,”fields”:[“the_online_church_engagement_summit_1600435685509″],”width”:”100″}]}],”changeEmailErrorMsg”:”Please enter a valid email address!”,”changeDateErrorMsg”:”Please enter a valid date!”,”confirmFieldErrorMsg”:”These fields must match!”,”fieldNumberNumMinError”:”Number Min Error”,”fieldNumberNumMaxError”:”Number Max Error”,”fieldNumberIncrementBy”:”Please increment by “,”formErrorsCorrectErrors”:”Please correct errors before submitting this form.”,”validateRequiredField”:”This is a required field.”,”honeypotHoneypotError”:”Honeypot Error”,”fieldsMarkedRequired”:”Fields marked with an * are required”,”drawerDisabled”:false,”container_styles_border”:””,”container_styles_height”:””,”container_styles_margin”:””,”container_styles_padding”:””,”container_styles_float”:””,”title_styles_border”:””,”title_styles_height”:””,”title_styles_width”:””,”title_styles_font-size”:”35″,”title_styles_margin”:””,”title_styles_padding”:””,”title_styles_float”:””,”row_styles_border”:””,”row_styles_width”:””,”row_styles_font-size”:””,”row_styles_margin”:””,”row_styles_padding”:””,”row-odd_styles_border”:””,”row-odd_styles_height”:””,”row-odd_styles_width”:””,”row-odd_styles_font-size”:””,”row-odd_styles_margin”:””,”row-odd_styles_padding”:””,”success-msg_styles_border”:””,”success-msg_styles_height”:””,”success-msg_styles_width”:””,”success-msg_styles_font-size”:””,”success-msg_styles_margin”:””,”success-msg_styles_padding”:””,”error_msg_styles_border”:””,”error_msg_styles_width”:””,”error_msg_styles_font-size”:””,”error_msg_styles_margin”:””,”error_msg_styles_padding”:””,”allow_public_link”:0,”embed_form”:””,”ninjaForms”:”Ninja Forms”,”fieldTextareaRTEInsertLink”:”Insert Link”,”fieldTextareaRTEInsertMedia”:”Insert Media”,”fieldTextareaRTESelectAFile”:”Select a file”,”formHoneypot”:”If you are a human seeing this field, please leave it empty.”,”fileUploadOldCodeFileUploadInProgress”:”File Upload in Progress.”,”fileUploadOldCodeFileUpload”:”FILE UPLOAD”,”currencySymbol”:”$”,”thousands_sep”:”,”,”decimal_point”:”.”,”siteLocale”:”en_US”,”dateFormat”:”m/d/Y”,”startOfWeek”:”0″,”of”:”of”,”previousMonth”:”Previous Month”,”nextMonth”:”Next Month”,”months”:[“January”,”February”,”March”,”April”,”May”,”June”,”July”,”August”,”September”,”October”,”November”,”December”],”monthsShort”:[“Jan”,”Feb”,”Mar”,”Apr”,”May”,”Jun”,”Jul”,”Aug”,”Sep”,”Oct”,”Nov”,”Dec”],”weekdays”:[“Sunday”,”Monday”,”Tuesday”,”Wednesday”,”Thursday”,”Friday”,”Saturday”],”weekdaysShort”:[“Sun”,”Mon”,”Tue”,”Wed”,”Thu”,”Fri”,”Sat”],”weekdaysMin”:[“Su”,”Mo”,”Tu”,”We”,”Th”,”Fr”,”Sa”],”currency_symbol”:””,”beforeForm”:””,”beforeFields”:””,”afterFields”:””,”afterForm”:””};form.fields=[{“objectType”:”Field”,”objectDomain”:”fields”,”editActive”:false,”order”:1,”label”:”The Online Church Engagement Summit”,”type”:”html”,”default”:”

The Online Church Engagement Summitnn

nn

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

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.nnnn

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. nnnn

Learn more and register for free. n”,”container_class”:””,”element_class”:””,”wrap_styles_border”:0,”wrap_styles_width”:””,”wrap_styles_margin”:””,”wrap_styles_padding”:””,”wrap_styles_float”:””,”wrap_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”label_styles_border”:””,”label_styles_width”:””,”label_styles_font-size”:””,”label_styles_margin”:””,”label_styles_padding”:””,”label_styles_float”:””,”label_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”element_styles_border”:””,”element_styles_width”:””,”element_styles_font-size”:””,”element_styles_margin”:””,”element_styles_padding”:””,”element_styles_float”:””,”element_styles_show_advanced_css”:0,”cellcid”:”c7949″,”key”:”the_online_church_engagement_summit_1600435685509″,”drawerDisabled”:false,”wrap_styles_background-color”:””,”wrap_styles_border-style”:””,”wrap_styles_border-color”:””,”wrap_styles_display”:”block”,”field_label”:”BOOST YOUR TEAM’S PRODUCTIVITY AND HIT YOUR GOALS”,”field_key”:”boost_your_team_s_productivity_and_hit_your_goals_1597338105384″,”id”:588,”beforeField”:””,”afterField”:””,”value”:”

The Online Church Engagement Summitnn

nn

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

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.nnnn

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. nnnn

Learn more and register for free. n”,”label_pos”:”above”,”parentType”:”html”,”element_templates”:[“html”,”input”],”old_classname”:””,”wrap_template”:”wrap”}];nfForms.push(form);

What matters to you? 

These are 3 ideas to jumpstart your church’s influence with Gen Z but we could process 300 more. Continue the conversation by commenting with what you think matters most as we build ministries that will influence Gen Z.

The post 3 Ideas For Increasing Your Influence With Gen Z appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 3 Ideas For Increasing Your Influence With Gen Z

The post 3 Ideas For Increasing Your Influence With Gen Z appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: unSeminary

Kids ministry has always cultivated some of the most innovative church leaders. And kids ministry is a growth engine behind the fastest growing churches today. To reopen your church without a kids ministry, I would contest, is not actually reopening the church.

Listen in today as I’ve gathered four kids ministry experts from across the country to gives us a peek into their reopening plans.

Heather Celaya, Executive Pastor of Ministries – NorthRock Church, Texas. // This season has allowed the staff to add new levels of creativity and parent engagement to the programming. Pre-school and elementary services are available online and KidzRock increased its engagement on social media. These changes have proved a great success and will continue as parents now see KidzRock as more of a ministry than a childcare option. Plus parents have become more active participants in their children’s faith journey. As NorthRock has reopened, initially kids sat with their parents during the services to help them feel comfortable attending church. The following weekend the kids ministry fully reopened. When entering, children’s temperatures are checked, and their parents are asked if their kids have experienced any COVID-19 symptoms in the last seven days. Traffic in the halls is limited by allowing only one parent at a time to check in their child with a QR code for a touchless experience. Classes are kept small and parents are required to reserve a spot for their children so staff know how much space is needed. Start by assessing your volunteers’ readiness to come back. Keep class ratios small at the beginning and establish plans for cleaning and safety.Christine Kreisher, Executive Director of Ministries – GT Church, Pennsylvania // At GT Church they are looking to do a soft-launch approach where attendees come back and get acclimated before reopening kids ministry environments. In the meantime the staff has worked hard to enable parents to have church at home by providing resources from Orange. Every couple of weeks the kids team is making phone calls to check in with every family, to pray with them, and to make sure they know how to access all the church’s resources. Families are engaged and the church has seen a shift where parents are recognizing that they are the number one influence in their kids’ spiritual lives. During this time parents are developing intentional rhythms at home and the church is looking to partner with them even more by making resources easily accessible online moving forward as well as engaging more on social media. It’s easy to get caught up in the logistics of reopening and forget about your staff and volunteers; take a step back and check on their emotional health. Create a solid mental health plan so that the staff and volunteers can talk with a counselor to help them care for their souls and the souls of the people around them. Prioritize people over programming.Aanna Smalley, NextGen Pastor – StoneBridge Church, Nebraska // Use this time to get creative about dealing with the COVID challenge. Although social media has been a great way for the team at StoneBridge to connect with parents, it needs to be done in moderation. This is already a really overwhelming time for parents and rather than being encouraged, parents can feel like they are being weighed down with a list of things they haven’t done. Ask parents what resources are most helpful and plan activities with easy-to-find and inexpensive supplies. Refine what is shared so it’s the very best and attainable for families. Have multiple contingency plans in place to move forward as things continue to change. Think about what has been successful as well as what has been failing so that you can polish or replace those systems. Keep in mind what serves families best.Suzi Soares, Kids and Special Needs Pastor – Liquid Church, New Jersey // At the start of quarantine, everything was moved online and the LiquidKids team began sending out a parent prompt each day. They broke up small group teachings to allow parents to do activities with their kids at home. Additionally they created midweek calls on Zoom so that kids could hang out for an hour at lunch time with each other and team members. Parents also needed a chance to talk, pray, and relax together so eventually a Zoom call was created for them too. In July and August LiquidKids is creating online small groups for all age groups, including toddlers as well as sending daily devotionals and boredom busters to parents via texts. Previously Liquid Church focused so much on getting families to come through their doors that the building had become a crutch. They never thought about how to reach families who might never walk through their doors. But now they are working on plans to maintain their digital presence so families can engage online and the building won’t be a barrier. Think carefully about what it communicates to your kids if your church reopens without including kids ministry options. What is the story that kids will one day be telling about these days we are living in? What message is it sending if they can’t be included in a gathering? Help parents and kids process this time through a lens of faith.

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!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Ministry Grid

Ministry Grid makes it simple to train every volunteer and leader in your church. With a library of over 3,500 videos and 850 courses, you will find training for every ministry area and leadership level.

To get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for just $597, just go to? MinistryGrid.com/unSeminary?

Source: Kids Ministry in the Reopening Phase: Roundtable with Christine Kreisher, Suzi Soares, Heather Celaya & Aanna Smalley

The post Kids Ministry in the Reopening Phase: Roundtable with Christine Kreisher, Suzi Soares, Heather Celaya & Aanna Smalley appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: Thanks for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have Josh Finklea with us today. He’s the lead pastor at The Rock in South Carolina.

With five campuses, The Rock is one of the fastest growing churches in the country. It attracts people from a variety of backgrounds, ages, ethnicities and socioeconomic classes, encouraging people to come as they are and experience God. But The Rock may be most known for its passion for reaching Gen Z.

Today Josh is with us to share some of the intentional steps The Rock Church is taking to reach this generation.

This generation. // At The Rock, they are extremely intentional about focusing on reaching Gen Z. A focus on Gen Z will help you reach all generations because parents are excited to see that their children love church, and grandparents equally want to see their grandkids in church. This perspective even affects the language they use at The Rock, speaking of Gen Z as “this generation”. The Rock does everything they can to help young adults, teenagers, and kids understand that they are kingdom workers today. As Josh notes, this group is not ‘next’, they are now and God’s going to do great things through them today.Empower them to lead. // An intentional focus on this generation means putting them into leadership positions, whether they are volunteers or you’re hiring them as staff. Children in elementary school can lead small groups of younger children alongside a coach, for example a fifth grader leading kindergarten children. Or let a group of teens and young adults lead worship during a weekend service. They may make mistakes, but you get the chance to empower them and walk alongside them as they learn to lead.The weekend service is for this generation. // The Rock is clear in their services that what they are doing during the weekend is for this generation. Rather than having a separate midweek service for students, The Rock connects with them during the main Sunday experience. When serving, students are connected with coaches to come alongside them. And in his sermons Josh focuses on terms that this generation will know and understand, so he’s constantly thinking about how a teenager will receive what he says. Disciple the next generation of leaders. // Many churches hire leaders from within, and it’s no different at The Rock. They began by looking at people from their church who were currently in college and had great potential. Through internships and residencies the staff then worked to develop them as leaders. As you hire staff from this generation, empower them to make decisions and defer to them when it’s possible. For example, this might look like trusting a Gen Z graphic designer to make the call on what sermon series artwork will best connect with their generation.Meet the needs of the community. // In addition to focusing on this generation, The Rock is passionate about planting churches. As they felt the call to expand the church, however, their limited budget forced them to get creative and try some different things by looking at the needs of the community. This led to doing church services inside a local jail as well as opening public coffee bars in a few different locations for the purpose of marketplace ministry. These coffee bars serve coffee six days a week and hold a church service on Sundays. Rather than being a Christian coffee bar, it’s a separate facility from the church which attracts a different segment of people. People have come to the coffee bars looking for community and this has led to some great conversations about Jesus and an interest in the church.

You can find out more about The Rock at rockc3.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!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: LifeWay Leadership

Ministry Grid makes it simple to train every volunteer and leader in your church. With a library of over 3,500 videos and 850 courses, you will find training for every ministry area and leadership level.

To get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for just $597, just go to? MinistryGrid.com/unSeminary?

Source: Leading a Church for This Generation with Josh Finklea

The post Leading a Church for This Generation with Josh Finklea appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Bobby Harrington:

First – Learn from Disciple Making Leader: Steve McCoy, the leader of Small Circle

Steve is one of our trusted disciple-making partners. Here’s what he told us about his ministry during our interview with him:

Tell us about the name of your ministry.

Our organization is called Small Circle because of our focus on this “circle” of church environments. We can think of these in terms of “circles”: Big Circle is our worship gatherings, Mid Circle is group dynamic, Small Circle is a one-to-one relational approach to disciple making.

What is your unique disciple-making emphasis?

When you think of Jesus-style discipleship, he taught crowds (his Big Circle), he gathered his core (his Mid Circle), but he also had another dimension beyond the crowd and the group (his Small Circle). On special missions, he called out Peter, James, and John; he sent his disciples out in pairs; he had a great number of one-to-one interactions (Nicodemus, Martha, Thomas, Peter, and so on).

Every relational circle has a distinctive value and effectiveness. There’s an irreplaceable dynamic when we collectively gather for worship and the preaching of the Word of God. On the other hand, the closer connectivity that is experienced in a Mid Circle (home groups) cannot be replicated in most worship services.

As with the uniqueness of Big and Mid Circles, there’s a beautifully designed experience that ignites in Small Circle. There is no question that the conversations that Jesus must have had with John on a one-to-one level were different than what happened within the group setting. Transparency, vulnerability, safeness—all reach unparalleled depths in the distinctiveness of the Small Circle.

You’ll see that Jesus masterfully interweaves between all of these relational Circles. Being the Creator of our human design, Christ understood that we need the relational revenue that each circle engenders.

Pick up from the blog . . .

How do you help everyday disciples who aspire to be disciple makers?

Without intentionality and strategy, these relational circles will not permeate our church cultures. Without a doubt, there is a significant amount of premeditated planning for our worship services on many layers – worship, preaching, children’s ministry, follow-up, hospitality, and so on. And most every church has a strategy for small groups and Bible studies.

But when it comes to the Small Circle, this valued relational layer is often left to chance with a palpable absence of strategy. The result of this void of intentionality is hazardous with a flood of troublesome repercussions.

In order to create a culture of a Small Circle experience and not just a pocket of this relational tier, we need to equip our people and not merely advocate a concept. This is the very heartbeat of Small Circle. We have provided tools that are being used throughout the US and around the world to foster a Small Circle culture in local churches. The results have been phenomenal. The key that is critical: Provide tools for the everyday person in our church to catalyze a Small Circle movement. The culture of disciple making is possible and the outcomes are powerful.

Who are the key leaders in your network?

As God continues to expand 360 in the US and around the world, our key leaders are expanding. We now have trainers across the US and on 4 continents. Our primary navigator at the home base is Steve McCoy and Clay Barnett. Steve is the Lead Pastor at the 360 Church and Clay is the smallcircle navigator.

How can people connect with you?

Small Circle tools can be found at smallcircle.com. For the mobile app, search smallcircle on Google and Apple stores (free download). For the web app, smallcircle.io. All of our tools can be printed at no cost. Text the word disciple to 941-300-1371.

Second – Come learn from our partners at the National Disciple Making Forum in November!

Over the last several weeks we have been introducing you to our partners. Each of our partners that we have introduced will be leading track sessions at our National Disciple Making Forum in November.

Take advantage of our current ticket price of $169 today!
Groups of 5 or more are only $120 per ticket – Bring your Team!
This Friday night ticket prices will increase, so register now!

For King Jesus,

Bobby Harrington, Point Leader, Discipleship.org

Join us at our National Disciple Making Forum!

November 7th- 8th in Nashville, TN

Sign up Today!

New Blogs

“The Wow! of Discipleship”

by Radical Mentoring

READ THE BLOG

“Recognize a Mature Disciple by Looking for These 5 Character Traits”

by Jim Putman

READ THE BLOG

“Discipleship and Money Management”

by Impact Discipleship Ministries

READ THE BLOG

New Podcast Episodes

LISTEN NOW

S6 Episode 47: Viewpoints: Stories of Life Change (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

S6 Episode 46: Breaking the “Cycle of Same” (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

S6 Episode 45: Measuring Disciple Making Results (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

The post Two Things to Know for Back-to-School Time appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: Two Things to Know for Back-to-School Time

The post Two Things to Know for Back-to-School Time appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: This summer millions of children and youth across the country will attend a Christian camp. While this subculture has its own robust ecosystem of conferences, books, and thought leaders, there seems to be a strange disconnect between local churches and Christian camping ministries. From my perspective, local churches miss out on significant benefits that come from working closely with the Christian camps in their communities (especially those connected to people affiliated with their church).

Now, I’m completely biased because I have a deep, decades-long connection with a Christian camp called Camp Mini-Yo-We, located in the heart of Muskoka. I’ve always encouraged church staff to become more engaged with Christian camps, directed families to get plugged into Christian camps that are the right fit for them, and worked to see youth become involved with these amazing ministries as young leaders. I firmly believe that Christian camps are ministries that churches should work with closely—and here’s why:

Camps reach unchurched families.

Unchurched families value what Christian camps are doing. Not only do they allow these camps to teach and host their kids, they even pay them to do it! Christian camps take different approaches to how they position themselves in the broader marketplace, but the vast majority of these camps see unchurched families come to their programs more readily than weekend church services do.

This is an incredibly rich resource for local church leaders to learn from. Having conversations with Christian camp leaders to understand how they’re engaging the community and impacting unchurched families will help church leaders to wrestle with and think about their own ministries. This is vital: If we’re going to continue to see people move closer to Jesus, we need to concern ourselves with how we’re helping young people make steps toward the church. We’ve all seen the statistics that the vast majority of people make the decision to follow Christ at an early age. Christian camps are a powerhouse for seeing young people take steps closer to Christ, regardless of their background. We all can learn from how these organizations relate to families in our communities.

Christian camps develop young leaders.

All Christian camps are a leadership development pipeline in motion. In fact, the only way these organizations are able to self-perpetuate is by turning young campers into cabin leaders and then staff who will push the ministry forward. When you take an up-close look at any Christian camp, you’ll see this robust leadership process in action.

Christian camps are particularly effective at developing next-generation leaders through life changing adventures in God’s creation. These ministries view leadership development holistically rather than as something that happens in a classroom or by reading books or watching videos. Christian camping leaders consistently develop the next generation of leaders through lifestyle-based ministries that target whole-person development of spiritual life, physical life, emotional life, and social life.

Camps provide compelling volunteer experiences.

Your church lives and dies on the back of its ability to attract, keep, and multiply volunteers. These folks are willing to show up for zero pay and make the ministry happen. In fact, this is one of the greatest things about the local church all over the world: it’s the world’s most prolific volunteer machine.

Christian camps provide volunteer experiences where adults and young leaders work tremendously hard in a compelling context that keeps them coming back for more. More than just handing out programs or greeting at the door, camps are full of a variety of roles on both the facility side and within the programs. As church leaders, we could learn from this mixture of meaningful work, connection to the mission, and good old-fashioned fun as the ingredients of compelling volunteer experiences.

Camps continue to stay relevant.

If you find a Christian camp within a few hours’ drive of your church—one that’s growing and reaching new people—it would be worth your time to ask, “What is it that God’s using to grow their organization?” Because of the constant need to feed these organizations with new campers and guests, camps work hard to stay relevant and current every single year. This includes adjusting their programs to meet the needs of the market. It involves freshening up or reinventing old programs, scrapping things that no longer work, and asking their people what it is that they would like to do in the future.

From a church leadership perspective, this would be a valuable habit for us to integrate into our churches. We need to keep our view on the horizon and dig into what it means to stay current with the communities we’re serving. Sure, camps have a financial need to stay current, but while churches may not have the same fiscal immediacy, churches will lose long-term effectiveness if they’re unable to connect with new audiences on a regular basis.

Camps provide holistic ministry.

Camps provide a view of the Christian life that goes beyond sitting in rows or watching videos.

Christian camps really do portray what it means to follow Christ in a 24/7 sort of way. I’ve often joked that “Jesus at church” is sometimes kind of boring and stale. He has weird mismatched colored rooms in the basement and might even use flannel graphs to try to communicate. On the other hand, “Jesus at camp” knows how to drive the latest wakeboarding boat or is ready to take you on a rock-climbing adventure. That portrayal of what it means to follow Jesus is an engaging and compelling one.

Beyond the fun experiences though, this idea of living out our faith in community with each other is a powerful teaching mechanism that drives people to a deeper faith experience. This type of community is an intrinsic and core characteristic of Christian camps, and it enables people to tap into that deeper faith life in different ways.

Camps scale relationships well.

If you visit a growing Christian camp this summer (which I strongly recommend you take the time to do), what you’ll find is an intricate balance of relationships in almost-perfect harmony seeking to fulfill the mission that God has called these organizations to achieve. Camps are relational ministries.

They’ve figured out that friendship is shared experience, so they develop a series of shared experiences with the people who come into their sphere of influence. Camps do this in order to build a bridge for presenting the gospel and help people get a clearer sense of what it means to follow Jesus. Look closely at how Christian camps do relationships at scale, and you’ll get a clearer picture of what your church should be doing to reach more people and get them plugged in.

Camp is fun!

Camps offer fun—it really is their product.

It’s the thing they sell to people to convince them that they should leave their kids in the camp’s hands on a regular basis. Camps at their core are fun factories, but they are also capable of producing a deeper joy during their day to day activities. The word “gospel” literally means “good news,” and camps have done an excellent job of portraying what that good news looks like on a daily basis. They’ve figured out how to manufacture an enjoyable day. Even if it’s raining and the sun hasn’t shone in three days, great camp leaders always figure out how to turn that around into the most amazing experience possible for their guests, all the while demonstrating the good news of Jesus through that fun!

Too many times the local church is seen as stale or disconnected from the community; fun is an amazing bridge to build incredible connections with people. It’s disarming, which makes fun a strategic tool that helps people who don’t normally attend our churches become willing to lean in and learn more.

What have you learned from Christian camps?

I’d love for you to leave a comment below on lessons that you’ve learned from Christian camps over the years. I’d also love for you to shout out to the Christian camp that you’ve been a part of or encouraged your people to be connected to!

Download PDF Article

Source: 7 Reasons Your Church Should Partner with A Christian Camp

The post 7 Reasons Your Church Should Partner with A Christian Camp appeared first on Passion for Planting.