by NewChurches.com: In Episode 486 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss how to introduce church membership as part of a church plant.

“I am calling in with a question regarding introducing church membership as part of launching a church. I’m in a team which is planting in the UK. We’ve been running an outreach mission center for the past 16 years, but in the next few months we plan to launch our church. One of the things that is worrying us is, up to know, there has been no distinction between the people who come to the groups and the outreach center and we are looking toward church plant with a membership as we would have in our sending church.”

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

Why a clear vision is important
How to equip launch team members for the minstry

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“My first recommendation would be to not lose the mission and the vision of your outreach mission center.” – @danielsangi
“When you start the church and there are individuals who are part of other churches who will be joining this, everyone will come with their own existing values.” – @danielsangi
“As you are recruiting a launch team, make sure that your vision, mission, and values are so clear that people know what the church will look like.” – @danielsangi
“Church membership has gotten hijacked in the last several decades. Make sure that they understand that God didn’t give us the local church to become a country club.” – @toddadkins
“God placed us in churches to serve each other and our community, and care of others, and pray for each other, and learn to teach, give, and in some places die for the gospel.” – @toddadkins
“Help people understand from a biblical context what it means to be a local church and the responsibilities that come with it.” – @toddadkins
“Your church is only as healthy as its average attendee or member.” – @toddadkins

Recommended Resources:

Read No Silver Bullets by Daniel Im
Learn more about Developing a Core Team

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This Episode’s Sponsor:

For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams.

The post Episode 486: Introducing Church Membership appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 486: Introducing Church Membership

The post Episode 486: Introducing Church Membership appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Greg Curtis: There is nothing that can deflate a Sherpa leader (one who leads guest on the climb to connect with your church) quite like these 2 things:

An empty room.

A full room missing guests who attended last week.

That’s why when I am talking to leaders who want to see their guests go the distance and get connected to their church, I always share these 8 attrition busting practices I have learned over the years.

8 ways to minimize attrition at your multi-week assimilation program

Here is Diana Rush and her graduates from a Saturday night session of Next Steps at our Anaheim Campus. Those faces say it all.

Change your expectations of guests.

Sometimes we expect too little. Sometimes we expect too much. As with most things in life, I think you can expect guests at your church to respond to what brings them something they value.

If you expect guests to want to come to an exegesis of your statement of faith, to come to a 2 to 3 hour class, or come to hear all the things you think God expects of them to be a member in good standing of your church and please God, you are expecting too much and not enough at the same time. I wouldn’t even attend that if I was visiting your church or mine.

If you give them what they want (an environment where they can connect to other people and find out how they are unique and necessary to strengthen the ministry of your church), you can expect them to come to 2 weeks, 4 weeks, or even 7 weeks (I have had or seen success with all of those). Make it fun, interactive, inspirational and relational and you can expect big things.

When we went to a 4 week version of our assimilation program, offered it every month, and allowed guests to start at any time and finish at any time, the amount of graduates (those who finished all 4 sessions) increased by 72%. What are your expectations of guests? Is it too much or too little? By accommodating their availability, we have more people finishing.

Give a Certificate of Completion.

I am always surprised at how much guests value these. If we don’t have one printed out for a guest for any reason, they are visibly sad. If we misspell their name for any reason, they ask if we can reprint it. Each one is signed by Gene Appel and their Campus Pastor and I ask the campus pastors to pray for each person God has added to their church as sign each one.

We make and sign their certificate after they attend their third session of Next Steps so it is waiting for them when they attend the 4th time. Guests know it will be presented to them at the end of their 4th session and since every week is a 4th session for someone, guests see these given out and celebrate other people’s “graduations” along the way, looking forward to their own.

Send mid-week emails to attendees.

We send emails to all those who sign the attendance sheet each week, previewing some of the things to come in the next session and giving teasers about some of the other things. They know these emails will include links to videos that allow them to go-deeper and win more prizes for their tables so they are looking for these emails.

Certain weeks have emails with custom content. After Step 02 an email is sent with recommendations for small groups and leader contact info to set up a visit based on a survey they took. Contacting those leaders and visit a group is one of their assignments to discuss the following week. After Step 03, an email is sent from a volunteer champ from the ministry they signed up for in session. This email invites them to take their first step in joining the team of their choice Returning that email gets them a camping mug with our Change Maker logo on it on Step 04 (Change Makers are what we call members of our volunteer community).

Our office gets called if someone can’t find their mid week email for any reason. By giving guests a mid-week reminder of the journey they are on, they stay more engaged.

Offer progressive giveaways.

I already mentioned the camping mug we give for returning the email to take their place on a team. But we also give everyone a backpack at their first session, whatever session that might be. We let them know that following Jesus with us a journey, an adventure, not a classroom experience and that we are going to give them a new piece of equipment for that backpack to reinforce the training we are giving them in following Jesus with us.

That may sound expensive but it’s really not. The cost of the backpack on the 4 items we put in it over the course of Next Steps adds up to just around $10 per guest. That’s the best $10 your church may ever spend. Children actually ask their parents, “What did you get this week?” The anticipation and sense of wanting to complete the whole program is an attrition buster for sure. Click here to find out what we give away and how you can get them.

Provide Table Hosts.

We have an army of men and women who lead discussion, welcome new guests who sit at their table each week, explain each week’s assignments, challenge them to complete them so their table wins prizes, and prays for them at the end of each session. We assign people to these tables by demographic (young adults, empty nesters, young families, etc.) so that the connection at those tables is enhanced and people look forward to seeing their new friends the following week. The table hosts don’t have to match the demographic of the table however. My most effective Table Host for young adults is a 67 year old engineer named Dave. They love him. All that matters is that their are other people like them sitting at the table as Dave leads discussion.

Table Hosts ask newcomers, “How did you find our church and what made you come back?” It’s not too personal and everyone has the answers to those questions in common so it creates connection from the get go. Some Table Hosts even connect with them by email during the week to check in on issues and prayer requests that were shared in Next Steps.

I have seen Table Hosts get a gift from their table on their final session! It is no wonder that on our Next Steps Graduate Survey, people listed their Table Host as their favorite feature of the program. Table Host keep people wanting to come back for the next session.

Contact those who are one session away from completion.

We run reports on our database each week that identify people who only have this weekend’s step left to complete Next Steps. Then our Assimilation Directors contact them and let them know we have their Certificate of Completion waiting for them and would love to see them at the coming session.

One time Diana Rush, our Assimilation Director at our Anaheim Campus, contacted a woman who had only the coming session left to complete her Next Steps experience. What happened blew me away. She had left our church a year at a half earlier. A good friend had invited her to attend her church with her and she went for her friend but never got involved. When Diana called her, she stated how she was astonished that we would even notice that she was gone much less that she had only one more session to go. She showed up that weekend, got her grad certificate, and ended up joining a team! Now that’s an attrition buster.

Incentivize completion of assignments but don’t require completion.

On the first page of their Field Manual (which they find in their backpack on their first week), there is a welcome page that our Table Hosts point out to them. It says that a significant percentage of the value of Next Steps comes through the weekly assignments BUT to never let not completing one keep you from coming back. That freedom keeps people from not returning when their week gets the best of them.

At the same time, we incentivize their completing these assignments by giving prizes to the tables with the highest percentage of completion. My expectation was that if we got a third of them to complete the assignments and Go Deeper Videos, that would be solid. The trouble is, 80% to 100% complete them! I am still astonished when I type these words. Grace and incentivizing are a powerful way to maintain attendance in your assimilation program.

Don’t require sign ups and let them jump between services.

Though we have ways to sign up, we encourage people just to show up. Once they do, they are also allowed to go to Next Steps on another day or service if that means not missing a session or keeping the steps in order for them. People take advantage of that option every month as well as coming to the week they missed the following month. All this helps minimize attendance drop off over the course of our program.

This is Next Step Bingo where people are getting to know others in the room by having them sign a square that describes something they’ve experienced. Check out their faces: it’s fun and they are getting to know each other. This is what matters when someone is new to your church.

So when the room you host your assimilation program in is missing some of the guests you met the week before, try one or more these things to keep people engaged so you can help as many as possible reach the summit of full connection with your church.

Which idea did you find most helpful for maintaining attendance in your assimilation program? Share using the comment section at the bottom.

How many of these attrition busting measures to you currently have in place? Which ones do you not?

Out of the ones that you already have in place, which do you sense works best in maintaining attendance at your assimilation program? Out of the ones you do not practice yet, which do you think would be most worth the energy required to implement in your current assimilation program? Why?

By what date would you like to implement this new measure for minimizing attrition?

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Which idea did you find most helpful for maintaining attendance in your assimilation program? Share using the comment section below.

Source: 8 ways to maintain attendance during your multi-week assimilation program

The post 8 ways to maintain attendance during your multi-week assimilation program appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Geoff Chang: In 1854, when Charles Spurgeon began pastoring the New Park Street Chapel, he had a handful of deacons and a membership of 313 (though the actual attendance was much smaller). In just twelve weeks, they outgrew their space and made plans to enlarge their building. But almost immediately, they needed even more space, and so the church made plans to build a new building that would eventually become the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Space issues were a problem, but more than that, Spurgeon suddenly found himself caring for a congregation that had grown far beyond his capacity.

This mattered to Spurgeon because of his ecclesiological commitments. He was not an itinerant preacher, and his church was not merely a preaching station. For all of his evangelistic preaching, Spurgeon refused to separate the call to the gospel with the call to be accountable to a local church. Spurgeon once stated, “I would rather give up my pastorate than admit any man to the Church who was not obedient to his Lord’s command; and such a course would certainly promote the downfall of any Church that practiced it.”[1]

For Spurgeon, this was not an idle commitment. In Spurgeon’s first six-and-a-half years at New Park Street Chapel, the church added 1,442 new members. That’s 1,442 membership interviews, 1,442 meetings with Spurgeon, 1,442 membership visitations, 1,442 testimonies before the congregation, and 1,442 approvals by the congregation—not to mention over a thousand baptisms, as most of these were new converts.

These numbers would only increase. For any pastor, Spurgeon not excluded, caring for a growing church can become a crushing load. And yet, Spurgeon refused to compromise his convictions for conveniences. Throughout his ministry, he pursued meaningful, regenerate church membership—and in doing so, the Metropolitan Tabernacle became an engine for gospel-ministry all around the world.

Here are five ways Spurgeon did this.

1) A Careful Membership Process

In the February 1869 edition of the Spurgeon’s magazine, The Sword and the Trowel (S&T), Spurgeon provides a six-step description of their membership process:

An enquirer meets with one of the elders on a Wednesday evening and shares with them their testimony. Assuming a clear testimony has been shared, the elder records each testimony and schedules a meeting with the pastor for an interview.
If the pastor is satisfied, at a congregational meeting, he will nominate an elder or church member as a “visitor.” This visitor will “enquire as to the moral character and repute of the candidate” by meeting with the candidate and talking to their neighbors, co-workers, family members, former church, etc. The goal is to find out whether there’s evidence of a life consistent with their profession of faith.
If the visitor is satisfied, he will invite the candidate to attend a congregational meeting in which he or she will come before the church and answer any questions. According to Spurgeon, this happens “to elicit expressions of his trust in the Lord Jesus, and the hope of salvation through his blood, and any such facts of his spiritual history as may convince the church of the genuineness of the case.”
After the statement before the church, the candidate withdraws, and the visitor gives his report.
The church then takes a vote to receive him into membership.
The person is publicly given the right-hand of fellowship after being baptized and participating in the next communion service of the church.[2]

With so many applying for membership, Spurgeon refined and made this process more efficient over the years, but never in a way that compromised the careful consideration of every potential member.

2) Working for Meaningful Membership

Spurgeon didn’t want to simply have people on the church rolls. He wanted to make sure Metropolitan’s church members continued in their profession of faith. In his last sermon to the Pastors’ College, Spurgeon urged his students,

Let us not keep names on our books when they are only names. Certain of the good old people like to keep them there, and cannot bear to have them removed; but when you do not know where individuals are, nor what they are, how can you count them? They are gone to America, or Australia, or to heaven, but as far as your roll is concerned they are with you still. Is this a right thing? It may not be possible to be absolutely accurate, but let us aim at it. . . . Keep your church real and effective, or make no report. A merely nominal church is a lie. Let it be what it professes to be.[3]

In a church of thousands, one of the ways Spurgeon pursued this was by tracking those who regularly came to the Lord’s Table. Upon joining the church, members were given a communion card, divided by perforation into twelve numbered parts, one of which was to be delivered every month at the communion. These tickets would be checked by the elders, and if any member was “absent more than three months without any known cause, the elder in whose district he resides is requested to visit him, and send in a report.”[4]

Often, in these visits, the elders would uncover pastoral needs. They’d find members who had drifted away from the faith, joined another church, or simply moved away. In every case, this prudential choice enabled the church to work toward meaningful membership either by providing better care and discipleship, or by removing some members from the membership.

3) Congregational Meetings as Discipleship

Congregational meetings became an essential part of Metropolitan Tabernacle, even though they primarily dealt with membership matters.

These meetings could last a long time. On May 18, 1860, 42 candidates appeared before the church, each giving his or her testimony. This meeting began at 2PM, and according to Spurgeon’s notes in the margin, “This most blessed meeting lasted till a late hour at night. Bless the Lord.”[5]

Unsurprisingly, these long meetings couldn’t be sustained, so the congregation began to host shorter meetings whenever they had the opportunity. Between the March and April communion services of 1874, the church held 12 congregational meetings and welcomed 93 members.

As is evident from Spurgeon’s note above, these congregational meetings were meant to be edifying. They were a necessary complement to the Word ministry of the church. According to both Spurgeon’s autobiography and Wonders of Grace, a book of testimonies from his early years, the congregation heard dozens of testimonies of people converted under Spurgeon’s preaching. But they also heard from new believers who heard the gospel through other ministries, or because another member invited them to church, or shared the gospel with them, or faithfully prayed for them for decades, and so on. In these meetings, the whole congregation saw both God’s power in salvation and their role in bringing the gospel to the lost.

4) Calling Elders

When Spurgeon first began his pastorate, the church only recognized the offices of pastor and deacons. However, as the church grew, the work of caring for the spiritual and temporal needs of the congregation became too much for the deacons to handle. And so, in January 1859, Spurgeon made a biblical case for the office of elder as one dedicated to the spiritual care of the church. The following motion was passed:

Whereupon it was resolved that the Church having heard the statement made by its pastor respecting the office of the eldership desires to elect a certain number to serve the church in the office for one year. It being understood that these brethren are to attend to the spiritual affairs of the Church and not to the temporal matters which appertain to the deacons only.[6]

From that time on, the congregation would annually appoint elders to labor alongside Spurgeon in the spiritual care of the congregation. The February 1869 edition of the S&T describes the elders’ job description:

The seeing of enquirers, the visiting of candidates for church membership, the seeking out of absentees, the caring for the sick and troubled, the conducting of prayer-meetings, catechumen and Bible-classes for the young men—these and other needed offices our brethren the Elders discharge for the church. One Elder is maintained by the church for the especial purpose of visiting our sick poor, and looking after the church-roll, that this may be done regularly and efficiently.[7]

Spurgeon lamented that most of Baptist churches didn’t have elders, and so he encouraged them to follow the New Testament pattern.

5) Cultivating a Working Church

An accurate membership roll is never a goal in and of itself. Rather, Spurgeon understood that a congregation full of people who genuinely loved Jesus and believed the gospel created an army that could shake the world. He constantly called his people to do something for God’s kingdom:

What odd notions people have of joining the church. Many a young man joins a rifle corps. There he is! When he joins the church, where is he? We have the distinguished honor of having the names of many young gentlemen on our books. But where are they? What are they doing? They think it enough that they have joined the church; and they don’t think that anything more is required. When they join a literary institute, or anything of that kind, they do so for the purpose of doing something, and obtaining an advantage from it; and I say to such young men, “Do you believe the Christian church to be a farce? If you do so, we could even dispense with your names; if you do not believe the Christian church is a farce, then show that you don’t by working so far as you can in the cause of Christ.” But we hear some say, “I could do nothing, though I were to try it.” Well, I would reply, “I would not have liked to say that of you. There is not a nettle in the corner of the churchyard without its virtues; there is not a spider in the world but has its web to spin; and there is no man in the world but has something to do for the cause of Christ, which nobody else can do but himself. I don’t think it is possible for you to be powerless. Can’t you speak to someone? Can’t you do something in your own place as a member of the church?”[8]

Oh, to get a working church! The German churches, when our dear friend Mr. Oncken was alive, always carried out the rule of asking every member, “What are you going to do for Christ?” and they put the answer down in a book. The one thing that was required of every member was that he should continue doing something for the Savior. If he ceased to do anything, it was a matter for church discipline, for he was an idle professor, and could not be allowed to remain in the church like a drone in a hive of working bees. He must do or go.[9]

The Metropolitan Tabernacle planted over a hundred churches. They sent out hundreds of pastors and trained hundreds of missionaries. Dozens upon dozens of charitable organizations began, and publications, tracts, and pamphlets were distributed throughout the world. The impact of this healthy church continues to be felt today.

To be sure, not every church will be the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and not every pastor will be Charles Spurgeon. But that’s never the goal. The goal is for every church and every pastor is to be faithful—in doctrinal purity, in guarding the membership, in active gospel ministry. In this, both Spurgeon and the Metropolitan Tabernacle remain a model for pastors and churches today.

Editor’s note: This has been adapted from an article that originally appeared on The Spurgeon Center’s website.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Charles H. Spurgeon, “Meeting of our Own Church,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit: Sermons Preached and Revised by C. H. Spurgeon (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1970-2006), Vol. 7, 260.

[2] Charles H. Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon’s Works in His Magazine The Sword and the Trowel, Volumes 1-8 (Pasadena: Pilgrim Publications, 2004), 2:149-151.

[3] Charles H. Spurgeon, The Greatest Fight in the World: The Final Manifesto (Fearn: Christian Focus

Publications, 2014), 92-93.

[4] S&T, Vol. 2, 150.

[5] Church Meeting Minutes 1854-1861 New Park Street. Metropolitan Tabernacle Archives. Entry on May 18, 1860.

[6] Church Meeting Minutes 1854-1861 New Park Street. Metropolitan Tabernacle Archives. Entry on Jan. 12, 1859.

[7] S&T, Vol. 2, 149.

[8] Charles H. Spurgeon, Speeches at Home and Abroad (Pasadena: Pilgrim Publications, 1974), 60.

[9] Spurgeon, The Greatest Fight in the World, 96.

Source: 5 Ways Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle Cultivated Meaningful Membership

The post 5 Ways Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle Cultivated Meaningful Membership appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Jim Davis: It’s more than a month into the semester and some first-year college students are narrowing down their church search. If that’s you, you’re in a small minority of college students, so well done!

Most church-going college students never join a church during their time away, electing either to retain membership at their old church or not join anywhere. The question they ask is this: If I have community, am mentored, receive Bible teaching, and am engaged in mission, then why do I need to join a church?

If you’re asking that question, then you’re believing some combination of these four myths.

Myth #1: There’s no real benefit in church membership.

Church membership isn’t simply a name on a piece of paper—and if that’s how your church views membership, it’s time to look for a new church. Church membership is clarifying to the leaders of the church who it is that God has placed in their care. Hebrews 13:17 teaches church leaders that they have a special responsibility for those in their care, a responsibility for which they will be held accountable.

Now, local churches should certainly want to care for anyone inside their relational circles, especially those who are suffering. But the responsibility toward church members is different. For one, it’s not just a reactive caring, but a proactive one. If you’re a member of a church, you’ll have people proactively walking with you and thinking about ways you can be equipped for a lifetime of following Jesus.

At our church (and others in our town), the college students who join will be known, prayed for regularly, and equipped in a way that we simply can’t do with everyone. Not to mention the free meals and career advice!

Myth #2: Membership at my church back home is enough.

Simply put, 99% of the time your home church can’t care for you the way a church in your college town can. How can they when they don’t see you for months on end?

I appreciate the emotional attachment many students (and parents) have for the church in which they grew up, but I’m almost certain your pastor back home will agree with me: You should join a church where you live.

Myth #3: I get everything I need from my campus ministry.

I was in campus ministry for nine years, and the church I pastor now was started by Cru staff. I have a deep appreciation for campus ministry. I know the student ministry leaders at our local university and can say with 100% assurance that they agree with me in saying that their ministry is no substitute for the local church.

Campus ministries are vital to universities. If they were to disappear tomorrow, churches would hopefully act quickly to recreate them. They provide students with Christian friendships, tools to engage the campus well in evangelism, and contextualized teaching at a crucial juncture in life. But they don’t connect you to the larger, more diverse body of believers.

The church’s goal is to equip college students to be fruitful in the post-college world. While plugging into a campus ministry can be a vital part of that mission, it’s never the whole part. A campus ministry doesn’t baptize, serve communion, or practice church discipline—or at least it shouldn’t. College students need to be around people younger than 18 and older than 25. After all, while it’s great to be invested in by an upperclassman, the advice you’ll get from someone in their 20s is quite different than someone in their 40s, 50s, and older.

On top of that, the local church loses out if we don’t have you. College students bring life into a church. They bring energy, excitement, world vision, and optimism that would otherwise be lacking. If you believe Myth #3, then we both suffer.

Myth #4: I’ll worry about that after college.

Here’s the main problem with this: you won’t. Overwhelmingly, students who are plugged into a campus ministry but not a church don’t go on to join a church after graduation. At least not until they have children.

The habits we develop in college are often true for the rest of our lives. Church is no different. The reasons students don’t join a local church during college are the same reasons they don’t join after graduation. But there’s one big difference: there aren’t any campus ministries and their spiritual lives begin a downward spiral.

Students who appreciate the local church will become graduates who appreciate the local church. They’ll also be on the fast track to becoming leaders in their churches and making the difference they dreamed of in college.

CONCLUSION

I recently had the pleasure of leading a new member class with college students and will be introducing them soon to our church as new members. Each time we recognize a college student as a new member, the maturity of that decision is seen, felt, and greatly appreciated.

Do you want to faithfully follow Christ during your college years? Then join a church.

* * * * *

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on Jim’s personal blog.

Source: 4 Myths that Keep College Students from Joining a Church

The post 4 Myths that Keep College Students from Joining a Church appeared first on Passion for Planting.