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Gospel Opportunities Right Outside Your Door

Sean Cronin — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 09:00:00 +0000

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Gospel Opportunities Right Outside Your Door

By Ed Stetzer

“Good fences make good neighbors.”

Published in 1914, Robert Frost’s famous “Mending Wall” is a classic American poem. Every year, middle school students are tasked with memorizing it and high school students with explaining it. In it, Frost tells the story of two neighbors rebuilding a wall between their two farms. Reflecting on the fact that each year they have to rebuild the same fence as nature persistently tears it down, one of the farmers says “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down.” Yet each time, the other neighbor merely responds that “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Few people will confuse me with a poet, but this poem has stuck with me. So many people have bought into this thinking, believing that the optimal neighborhood is one where people stay on their side of the fence. We chose safety and stability of carving out our spot instead of the unknown and difficulty task of developing relationship. Fences are meant to free us from actually engaging our neighbor, that’s what makes them good.

A common realization of COVID-19 that many have had is that this view is antithetical to our gospel mission. Stuck close to home, we’ve been awakened to these people who live on our street or in our apartment building. Suddenly, those we previously had tried desperately to ignore became a lifeline for human connection. Underneath this realization is a central truth: engaging your community begins with engaging those around you.

God has placed you in your neighborhood or your apartment complex for a reason. He has given you a mission field to build his kingdom by showing and sharing the love of Jesus with those around you. In response, I want to offer three practices Christians should consider in tearing down these fences and engaging their communities with the gospel of Jesus.

1. Submit your Friendships

When I was young in ministry I received one of the most important pieces of advice I ever received: Submit your friendships to the kingdom.

Most people can only have a certain number of friendships in life at any given time. If you want to truly reach your neighbors you need to be willing to make those people your friends. Instead, Christian too often want to engage their neighbors but only to a certain point. They want to reserve their friend slots for church or work. Their neighbors are merely acquaintances, people they just happen to live close to. Yet if you want to engage our community effectively and see lasting fruit you need to be willing to give your time, energy, and affection to your neighbors.

Within this season of COVID-19, this requires intentionality. While I’m thankful for digital technology, our dependence on it this season has the unintended consequence is that many people have allowed opportunities to make connections to slip through the cracks. My point is simple: if you want to grow in this area, now more than ever, this requires purposefully focusing on maintaining connections in your community.

2. Map the Neighborhood

In Christians in the Age of Outrage, I recount a story of when my wife, Donna, and I became convicted over how we were failing to reach our neighbors. We had moved to the neighborhood with grand plans to show and share the love of Christ to those around us but for a host of reasons we hadn’t made much headway.

In talking through what we should do, I remember getting out a piece of paper and drawing a map of our neighborhood:

We drew a diagram of the streets and cross streets, and began to fill it in with everything we knew about each neighbor. Our intention was to be mindful of all the people in the immediate proximity of our house. We wrote down the names of eight of our nearest neighbors who didn’t know Christ. We started to find excuses for our kids to play together. We hosted cookouts and Super Bowl parties, and then we started a Bible study. With every trial, success, and crisis came the opportunity to preach the gospel. Avoiding the “Christianese” that can obscure the gospel, we would emphasize that only in Jesus can we find fulfillment for those most common desires of the human heart—to be known, loved, and valued. Several people attended, and over a year, we saw a key couple in the neighborhood trust Christ, be baptized, and start leading a Bible study in their home.

Drawing a map of the neighborhood was a way of crystalizing our community as a mission field. Reaching our neighborhood can be very abstract until you begin to understand who lives where and what is going on in their lives.

Mapping our neighborhood helped us to visually understand that these people were our neighbors. They weren’t just people who lived near us, they were real people with real lives that we were called to show and share the love of Jesus to while we lived among them. It made us speak and act in concrete terms rather than in the abstract.

In essence, mapping out our neighborhood challenged us truly know the scope of our community.

3. Lead with the Table

Christians can’t expect to make inroads in their neighborhoods and in their broader community if they believe evangelism and mission only takes place at the front door. One of my close friends and fellow pastor once told me, “You can’t say someone’s a friend until they’ve sat at your dinner table.”

In exploring the importance of hospitality in Scripture, Joshua Jipp offers this important definition:

Hospitality is the act or process whereby the identity of the stranger is transformed into that of guest. While hospitality often uses the basic necessities of life such as the protection of one’s home and the offer of food, drink, conversation, and clothing, the primary impulse of hospitality is to create a safe and welcoming place where a stranger can be converted into a friend.

This is a powerful definition for Christians seeking to engage their communities. Hospitality is a primary way we convert strangers into friends. The vulnerability and intimacy of welcoming others into space that society is increasingly telling us to guard, tells them that we value both them as human beings and the opportunity to be in relationship with them.

Obviously, creating any sort of social connection can be challenging in our pandemic world. Yet, if you just look outside your door, God may open your eyes to the work He has already been doing in the houses or apartments you pass by every day. The burden will be upon you to think creatively about how to bring them into your “socially distanced” space. You could have a bonfire, offer to buy groceries or other necessities, or even just go on a walk.

God is already at work in the hearts and minds of those around you, and He invites all of us to join in with Him. In this season, let yourself be surprised by how the small act of opening your home, and offering your time, can open people’s hearts to hear the gospel of Jesus.

Source: Gospel Opportunities Right Outside Your Door

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Find the Evangelism Style That Excites You

Sean Cronin — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 09:00:09 +0000

Home > Blog > Find the Evangelism Style That Excites You

Find the Evangelism Style That Excites You

By Ed Stetzer

If you find yourself enjoying chips, cookies, and sugary cereal more than you should during the pandemic, you aren’t alone. What you may not realize is how many millions of dollars of research in the food science field is aimed at making really bad-for-you-food surprisingly attractive to you.

The perfect soda fizz, the right combination of crunch in a chip, or the meticulous attention given to making french fries crunchy on the outside and smooth on the inside are all products of a lab and resemble little to nothing of the food sources created by God in nature.

If I’ve just made you hungry for a piece of pizza, crisp crust and gooey top, sorry. But it does illustrate a point: we are drawn to things that we enjoy, which is why a bag of Oreos sounds— and tastes—better than a bowl of kale.

In Part One of this series, I talked about the importance of a mindset of advance, renewing our mission and looking toward gospel outreach and care.

Here, I want to look specifically at ways you might share the gospel in your community. Let’s be honest; for a lot of Christians, evangelism is more like kale than comfort food. How can we create momentum for evangelism that will cause believers to engage?

Start Where People Are

We do so by looking at ways that fit our people and their gifts and abilities. In a conversation with Rick Warren some time ago, he observed the biblical truth in John 14:6 that there is only one way to come to the Father, and that is through Jesus. Then he added,

But, there are a lot of ways to Jesus. People come to Christ for different reasons. Some come out of fear. Some come out of questions. Some come out of hunger. Some come out of pain. Some come out of suffering. Some come out of guilt, or worry, or boredom, or bitterness.

Rick’s point is a fundamental one in evangelism: start where people are and take them to Jesus. But that doesn’t only apply to the unchurched. We also take believers where they are and help them take the gospel to unbelievers. How do we do this?

Take a good look

Begin by looking to God in prayer.

Ask God for wisdom in how best to connect people who love Jesus with people who need Jesus. James reminds us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting” (James 1:5-6a). We aren’t smart enough to lead without God’s guidance; thankfully, it is only a prayer away.

Next, look at the people in your church.

Every believer has abilities, gifts, and interests that can be used for their witness. What are some of the more obvious ways people serve well in your church? Is hospitality a common thing? Do you have a number of extroverted, gregarious types? Do you have a number of people talented in music or creativity? Who are the people who serve readily?

Third, look to the fields, as Jesus said (John 4:35).

What are the pressing needs? Who are the groups of people most in need of care? Who are the unbelievers that people in your church already know?

Evangelism examples

Here are specific ideas for churches to be engaged in evangelism right now.

First, serve through acts of kindness and intentional witness.

Steve Sjogren pioneered the concept of servant evangelism. Here are some examples for our current season:[1]

Purchase $5 gift cards from Chick-Fil a, Starbucks, or McDonald’s. Add a personal note explaining how you want to simply show them the love of Jesus in this simple, practical way. Include a card with information on your church. Give them to neighbors.
Become a pen pal to a senior adult in a nursing home or confined at home.
Use chalk to write encouraging and Jesus-centered messages on the sidewalk: “Jesus loves you,” “We are praying for you.” Give chalk to neighborhood kids as well.
Take elderly neighbor’s trash cans to and from the curb.

Second, use social media.

Post on Facebook or Instagram that you will be praying for the next 30 or 60 minutes. Encourage people to send requests publicly or privately. Pray for them and follow up with them later.

Go through your connections and identify anyone you know or think may be unbelievers. Intentionally, privately reach out to them to ask if you can serve them, pray for them, or take time to speak to them about Jesus.

Third, use your interests for the gospel.

Remember the quote from Total Church: “Ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality.”

Hospitality: most Christians aren’t drawn to the “evangelism is what I do two hours on Saturday afternoon” approach. But those gifted in hospitality can develop ongoing relationships with the unchurched that open up gospel conversations. This could include hosting a gathering in the driveway with a couple of neighbor families, sitting distanced, but enjoying conversation. It could also mean organizing a block party for when things normalize.
Using your talents: Do you sing? Serenade your neighbors, in particular those who are most vulnerable.
Do you love to serve? Offer to mow your neighbor’s yard, wash their car, or go pick up groceries for them.

When the church has been the most focused on reaching people, it has also been the most creative.

George Whitefield stepped into the fields to preach the gospel and saw multitudes follow Christ. John Wesley took the idea of Societies in his day to create an organizational approach that became the Methodist movement. People reaching hippies in the Jesus People Movement started coffeehouses as a safe place for marginalized youth to hear the gospel.

Let’s be focused on the gospel and use our creativity for Christ.

[1]Some of these ideas come from David Wheeler, Outreach During Covid-19 (Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, 2020). Used with permission.

Source: Find the Evangelism Style That Excites You

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One Way to Destroy a Discipleship Relationship

Sean Cronin — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:00:45 +0000

By Joanne Kraft: As a new Christian, I didn’t know how to read my Bible or how to grow in my faith. Nor, did I really even know how to keep a house, and I certainly didn’t know how to love my husband and my children the way God wanted me to.

I was a grown woman who was painfully thirsty for someone to come alongside and pour wisdom into me. What I was really craving was discipleship.

To fill the desire for a spiritual mother, I made sure I was at church every time the doors were open. I saw these people almost daily. We were at their kids birthday parties, impromptu pizza nights and weekly swim days in the summer. Our small church became like a family. My baby years of faith were filled with teachable moments watching dozens of godly women I loved and respected.

But, there was this one woman who knew her Bible so well. I was drawn to her. She always seemed to know the right scripture to share and the right thing to say. Her wisdom and influence was huge in my life. She was beauty and grace to me. I wanted to trust and follow Jesus like she did.

Except, she only opened her heart a little bit. She only let us come so far. When this woman’s young daughter married a man who wasn’t a Christian, her mom-heart was crushed. I watched her grief from the sidelines, selfishly hoping that when this painful chapter passed, I could learn what to do if I were in her shoes. Yet, she refused to speak a word of what their family was going through.

Discipleship died the day she refused to be transparent.

Discipleship dies without transparency.

Transparency is key to helping another person grow in faith. It is the ability to share our walk of faith with honesty and humility.

When we take on the heavenly task of discipling another we agree to live out authentic faith. This means trusting and following Jesus no matter what the cost. It means we lay down our reputation. We pick up our cross and die to self. We let the Lord use us, even if that means we don’t have all the answers. Humility is the truest mark of a disciplemaker. Pride says, “I know more than you.” or “Come and learn how to be like me.” If this is what I’m thinking then I have discipleship all wrong. It’s not about me and it’s not about being perfect in another’s eyes. If I want others to think I’m perfect then I’m not the right woman to disciple another.

Every time I invite a woman into a personal discipleship relationship I am saying, “As I follow Jesus, follow me warts and all.” No one is perfect. As a matter of fact, when we disciple another, the less perfect and the more humble we are, the stronger the disciple will become.

The story of Mary and Martha gives us a perfect example of what authentic discipleship is all about.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha”

the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Martha was busy serving. The house had to be perfect. The food had to be perfect. Her service to Jesus was in her own strength. Could it be, she also worried about what her guests thought of her? The Bible is silent about her need to do things perfectly, or if she worried about what others would think about her hospitality, but I know when I care more about what others think than what Jesus thinks.

Martha’s number one concern was to be the perfect hostess.

Mary’s number one concern was to be the proper disciple.

Are you worried about being the perfect disciple or disciple maker? Then repent of this stinkin’ thinkin’. Jesus never asked us to be perfect. He asked for humble hearts willing to die to self.

It’s the transparent life that makes discipleship the perfect fit for you. Be authentic sweet friend. It’s the authentic humble soul who draws others to Jesus.

By Joanne Kraft

Joanne Kraft is a nonfiction author and national speaker. She’s a mom of four grown kids and the founder of Discipleship for Women. Join her daily for Facebook Live encouragement.

The post One Way to Destroy a Discipleship Relationship appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: One Way to Destroy a Discipleship Relationship

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5 Ways to Improve Your Church Parking Without Breaking the Bank

Sean Cronin — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 10:00:23 +0000

by unSeminary: Your parking lot is the very first of first impressions that guests at your church experience.

When was the last time you thought about how to improve that experience?

Is the parking experience at your church turning people off before they even get to your building?

What is your parking lot communicating to people who are looking to attend your church?

Recently I reached out to some church leader friends and asked the question: “What’s the biggest “facility lid” that is holding you back?” It was fascinating how often parking issues were raised as concerns that church leaders had. Here are just a few examples of what leaders like you had to say:

Not enough parking along with unpaved grounds too soggy to park on.We are full in the parking lot when our auditorium is only about 65-70% full. By far, the biggest issue is parking given we share a lot with another church that moved in across the street from us.

Your parking lot is an essential piece of infrastructure that can easily be overlooked by church leaders. If you don’t address the parking issues at your church, you might be limiting the redemptive potential of your church.

Consider what other people-oriented organizations do for parking. Have you ever stopped and looked at the amount of parking at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in relation to the size of the actual theme park? Or look at how much parking space a Walmart has in any town across the country? How does that compare to what your church is attempting to do with your parking? Here are five ways to improve the parking situation at your church that (mostly) won’t break the bank.

Get Clarity on the Issues

When was the last time you saw your parking lot on “game day”?

Most church leaders arrive before the majority of people get to the church and are gone long after the crowds have exited. This fact can give you a skewed sense of what happens with your parking. You need to get clarity on what happens in your parking lot during any given week.

Zoning bylaws have created a situation that causes parking issues in lots of churches. In most cases, the zoning requirements when your building was put together means that you don’t have enough spots to function comfortably as a church. The issue is compounded when you’re settling on the project costs because parking can be expensive to do well and means that fewer interior spaces are built in your building. These two realities have left lots of churches with not enough parking to go around.

Here are a few ways to get clarity on what’s happening in your parking lot on Sunday mornings:

Greet Guests // Spend some time on a few weekends in your parking lot greeting guests. You’ll pick up what happens and some potential areas for improvement. The real-life input from your people will be invaluable as you attempt to get better at this. Video // Mount a small video camera, like a GoPro, on the roof of your building and record your parking in action. You’d be amazed how a time-lapse video quickly identifies problem spots on the operation of your parking lot. Data // It would be good to get some measurable data on how many cars use your parking lot. What is the ratio of vehicles to actual attendance? I’ve seen lots of time that it’s one car for every two people attending. Getting data on how your parking lot functions will give you options to move forward.

Get Team Members Out There … Every Week!

One of the fastest and most effective ways to improve your guests’ parking lot experience is to build a volunteer team to make it better!

Your team should focus on making the parking experience both “faster and funner” for your guests. If your team can help your guests get to their spots quickly in a more pleasant manner, that would be a win!

3 Ways Your People Could Make Parking Faster

Direction // Giving clear paths of exactly where to go as guests enter the parking lot will reduce hesitation and potential bottlenecks. Load Balancing // Rather than people just picking where they want to go, have your team fill the parking lot one section at a time. Fine Tuning // Sometimes certain spots are a little tricky to navigate for guests. Ensure team members are proactively helping people.

3 Ways Your People Could Make Parking More Fun!

Extra Help // Empower your team to look for guests that need extra help getting from their car to the building. (Single parents, elderly, etc.) Lending a helping hand goes a long way! Music // What if your team set up speakers and had high energy music playing as people got out of their cars? This communicates joy and builds anticipation for what’s about to happen. High Fives & Big Waves // You’d be amazed how far a great big high-five or a goofy wave to kids in the backseat of a van go towards making a fun parking experience! ?

Ensure that you build a team that’s committed to being in the parking lot every weekend of the year. In the northern climates, that means suiting up your squad with winter jackets! In the south, that means ensuring the team is well-hydrated in those long summer Sundays!

Increase the Signage

After your team has been in the parking lot for several weeks, it will become apparent where they could use some signage to help guests.

Signage can be a relatively inexpensive solution to making your parking lot experience better. You’d be amazed at how a few hundred dollars could go a long way to make this a clearer and more pleasant experience for your people. Here are just a few examples of simple signage to improve your parking experience:

Welcome | Thank You A-Frames // Simple A-frame signs that welcome guests as they arrive and then on the back, thank them for coming as they leave!Feather Flags // These add energy to the parking lot and can serve as guidance for people on which entrance to head towards. “New Here” Parking // Signs that help point guests towards special parking for people who are new to the church. Parents with Kids Parking // There might be a part of your parking lot that in which it makes more sense for parents with young kids to park. Walk This Way // Signs that point people where to head once they get out of their car.

Multiply Services

Church leaders are most likely to see a packed auditorium and be motivated to launch a new service. Sometimes they will respond to children’s ministry workers who are talking about the fact that those environments are too full. However, a full parking lot is one of the last-to-be-noticed growth “pinch points” that could be holding back your church.

Count the number of available spaces, and work with your parking team to maximize those spaces or find other reasonable solutions. Like the main auditorium, if you are reaching somewhere around 70% capacity in your parking lot during a service, then you need to start thinking about adding another service.

If you don’t have empty spaces in your parking lot, it’s time to launch more services.

The multiplication work that is required to launch another service will help your church develop new leaders and will stretch your team to reach new people. Particularly when you consider the financial cost of acquiring more parking spots, this is usually the best option.

Resurface & Restripe

Finally, you might just need to exercise the most capital intensive option and change the parking lot.

A civil engineering firm could do a parking study on your space that could garner you more spots on the same size parking lot. They can look closely at the current “best practices” for parking lots and squeeze more cars in.

Over the years, the way we design parking lots has changed, and often a second opinion on the layout is worth the investment. (Also: you might have a volunteer within your church who does this work for a living and could give you an educated guess before you even invest any money!)

Investing in a resurfaced parking lot with a new parking scheme not only gets you more parking spaces but improves the visual appeal of the church. A freshly resurfaced parking lot looks fantastic! You’d be surprised at how economical this cost could be for your church to pursue.

Feeling the Growth Pinch? 3 Free PDF Resources for Church Leaders.

If your church is feeling the pinch of growing, we have some additional resources to help you! These three PDFs are designed to be great discussion starters for your team. Use them to help guide conversations with your team around growth issues you might be facing. Click here to download free resources to help your church. In this download, you’ll receive 3 PDFS:

5 Ways Your Parking Lot Might be Holding Back the Redemptive Potential of Your Church5 Factors That Should Move Your Church to Add Another Weekend Service21 Easy Ways for Your Church to Be More First-Time Guest Friendly

Click here to download these resources!

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Source: 5 Ways to Improve Your Church Parking Without Breaking the Bank

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What Is Discipleship?

Sean Cronin — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 10:00:09 +0000

by Joanne Kraft:

“Discipleship”

Have you heard this word buzzing around lately?

Do you know someone who’s in a discipleship relationship?

If so, you’ve more than likely nodded your head up and down as your girlfriend droned on and on about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

But, you still have no clue what she’s talking about?

You wonder, What is she so excited about and why won’t she stop talking about it?

You’re trying to keep up, but you’re way too deep into the conversation now. You’ve passed the point of asking.

I promise, you don’t have to be fluent in Christian-speak to make sense of a two thousand year old word.

What does discipleship even mean?

Disciple, Disciples and even the word Discipleship is being batted around conversations these days like a grad party beach ball. So, what does it mean, anyway?

Let’s start at the very beginning. The word DISCIPLE occurs 32 times in the Bible, while the word DISCIPLES (plural) shows up in God’s Word a whopping 267 times.

The Greek word for disciple is math?t?s (math-ay-tase) and it means to be a learner or a pupil and also the following:

to increase one’s knowledge
to hear, be informed
to learn by use and practice

As a new Christian, we need others to come alongside us and help us understand how to walk this road. God wired us for relationship and to need one another. Trusting and following Jesus is an intimate relationship that takes time. We are spiritual babies in need of help to grow up in our faith.

John MacArthur has this to say about our growth in Christ, “We are born spiritually just as we were born physically, with everything complete and intact. We do not add arms or legs or organs as we mature physically. These grow and develop but they are not added. Likewise when we are born spiritually, we are undeveloped but complete. We need spiritual food and exercise in order to grow, but we do not need and we will not be given additional spiritual parts.

This blog is from our partner Discipleship for Women. Download for free their 42 Scripture Memory Cards here.

Jesus cared about the spiritual growth of his apostles, so he modeled this relationship by inviting the apostles to come and follow Him.

They walked with Jesus for three years.

Our spiritual transformation is immediate and unseen by the naked eye–but the Lord sees. He knows the second we’re born into a new life in His son. From this point on, we’re babies of the faith. We need others to come alongside us and show us how to live out what the Lord’s gently placed in each of us–His spirit.

Paul reminds us in his letter to the Corinthians, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1

But, what does that even mean? How do we follow Paul and what does that look like on a daily basis?

A Road Map to Women’s Discipleship

I believe a simple road map of discipleship exists in Acts 2:41-42.

Salvation

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:41-42

That moment God’s word walks into your heart and pulls up a chair. What you decide to do with what you know about Jesus will change the course of your physical and eternal life forever. Baptism and belief work hand in hand. If Jesus thought baptism was important, than we should, too. Once you’re saved, sanctification is next.

God’s Word

The gospel was taught by the apostles and thousands were saved. Once these people believed, they continued unwavering in and through the truth of the scriptures. They took sound doctrine seriously and remained faithful to it each and every day. They believed Jesus was the full Word of God. (John 1:1-4)

If Jesus said it, they believed it. End of story.

Fellowship

This is where encouragement takes its rightful place. The word used here for fellowship is koin?nia which is the Greek word for an intimate and soul-deep relationship. Your words will never be loud in a woman’s ears if she doesn’t feel close to you first. That old adage fits quite nicely here: No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. Fellowship is not your everyday women’s Bible study relationship. It’s much more than that. Just short of pledging allegiance to one another, people knew this group of men and women loved one another well and took each others needs seriously.

Hospitality

In the middle east, eating together is a sign of trust and friendship. The same can be said about us in today’s American culture. Over 70% of families eat everywhere except around the kitchen table. Making a meal and inviting someone to sit around our table for a meal would be a kind and vulnerable gesture of hospitality.

Prayer

Prayer is a key ingredient of a disciple’s life. It’s an area where the woman who is discipling needs to encourage growth. Often times, women have never prayed out loud. They need gentle encouragement to begin taking small steps to praying for themselves and others.

Helping women trust and follow Jesus is not a one-time Bible study. It’s not a women’s conference where a weekend together will do the trick. Women’s discipleship is a loving commitment from an older woman of faith to a younger woman of faith.

Daily steps of one part God’s Word, one part fellowship, one part hospitality, and one part prayer can make up a powerhouse of a women’s discipleship relationship.

The next time your girlfriend drones on and on about discipleship, you’ll know exactly what she’s talking about–and my prayer is, you’ll ask her how to find a woman who can disciple you, too.

Joanne Kraft is a nonfiction author and national speaker. Her passion is for women to catch the Titus 2 vision of discipleship. Author of The Mean Mom’s Guide to Raising Great Kids and Just too Busy — Taking Your Family on a Radical Sabbatical, she’s a frequent guest on Focus on the Family, Family Life Today and CBN. Her articles have appeared in ParentLife, Today’s Christian Woman, In Touch, P31 Woman and more. Her podcast Discipleship for Women is coming June 2019.

Originally published on Discipleship for Women. Used by permission.

The post What Is Discipleship? appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: What Is Discipleship?

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5 Ways Your Parking Lot Might be Holding Back the Redemptive Potential of Your Church

Patrick Bradley — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 10:00:56 +0000

by Rich Birch: Believe it or not, your parking lot could be the thing that is holding back the potential of your church. In fact, your church might not be living up to its total calling because of what is happening at the parking lot. We call this site unSeminary. Today, we’re diving into an issue we can guarantee that no seminary has talked about anywhere before:

Your Parking Lot Might be Limiting the Redemptive Potential of Your Church!

Cars have a profound impact on the manner in which we “do” church across the country. As the adoption of the car took off in the first half of last century, our approach to churches changed and morphed accordingly. The local parish gave way to the regional church which ended up paving the way for the entire mega-church movement, which became a fertile ground for the multisite movement. We would do well to understand the impact of cars and connecting our parking lots to our ministry because they are so connected to what we do. Here are a few ways that parking lots might be negatively impacting your ministry.

A Full Parking Lot is Limiting Your Church

Obviously, most church leaders are inside their buildings when their services start. Your people might know that you have a problem and you’re never around to see it. Full parking lots are a great sign because that implies lots of people are attending your church. However, if they are “too full” like a packed auditorium, it can actually turn people off.

Most municipalities’ bylaws are inadequate to tackle the required parking spots per seat in the main auditorium. Lots of cities typically only require 1 spot for every 4 seats in your auditorium. (I know one city by us that only requires 1 for every 40!) My experience suggests that your church needs 1 spot for every 2 seats in your auditorium. Most legacy church buildings were not built with this much space and might get cramped every week.

If your parking lot is more than 70% full as your services are starting, it’s time to start looking for better parking solutions. You want your guests to be able to find a spot easily.

Four Tactics for Dealing with a Full Parking Lot:

Street Parking // Diving into your municipalities parking bylaws might reveal that your area allows street parking on Sunday. In many regions, the rules pertaining to weekend street parking are different during the week. It’s worthwhile investing the time to figure out if this type of opportunity exists on the streets around your building.
Cross Use Agreements // Look around your immediate neighbors and find someone who you could borrow spots from. Oftentimes, other businesses and organizations will be open to you using their empty parking spots. However it’s much better to approach them and talk about it rather than just starting to use it.
Park Your Leaders Off Site // Those who volunteer and lead at your church should be encouraged (or even required) to park off your location. Cast vision with them around the idea of creating more space for visitors and ask them to do the extra walk.
Shuttle Buses // Churches facing a more acute parking problem might need to resort to off-site parking that isn’t adjacent to their property and might need to offer remote parking supported by shuttle buses. This approach should ideally be the “last stop” before you look at building more parking spaces. It can be a great solution and provide good service for families connecting with your church.

Church Parking Lots without Volunteers Are Missed Opportunities

If your church doesn’t have people serving on a parking team, you must know that people within your church are missing out on a perfect service opportunity. Over the years, I’ve found that churches that have parking teams are actively engaging a group of volunteers that lots of other churches seem to be unable to connect with. I love the churches that have parking teams which espouse an almost superhero-like ethics as they serve outdoors all year long. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this team from the swift completion of their appointed service” … even the postal service can’t claim that anymore!

Your church grows when more people get plugged in and they spread the word among their friends. As you get this group of volunteers plugged into your church, they will start telling other people. Also, churches develop faster when they see more people getting plugged into the community. As you move a group of people from anonymity to community through serving on a team, the church is inevitably strengthened.

5 Tips for Launching a Parking Team

Start with the Who // The team leader is critically important for this team. (Any team, really!) Find an outgoing team builder who doesn’t mind asking people to join the team. Typically these are high energy folks because it takes a lot to push and stay outdoors all year long!
Launch in a Mild Season // Please don’t launch this team in July if your church is in Florida, or in January if you’re in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Launch the team in a “shoulder season” where your team can effectively do its task before the heat or cold sets in.
Consider the Uniform // Give your people something to wear that will help them stand out while serving. Think about the different kinds of weather when considering various parts of the uniform.
Training! Training! Training! // Make sure to think through exactly what kind of experience you want your guests to have upon their arrival. Talk it over with the team before they start. Draw it out on a diagram or two for the visual learners. Oftentimes, theme parks do a fantastic job of parking people. Maybe you could take your people to visit a theme park to watch and understand what they do.
Celebrate Lots! // This team needs lots of public celebration and admiration. These people are considered to be heroes of the church because of what they do for you. Talk lots about them from the stage and celebrate their service. You can’t overemphasize how amazing this group of people really is!

Your Church’s Parking Lot is a First Impression … all week long!

The first thing that most people typically see about your church is your parking lot. This is not only the case on weekends when your guests arrive, but also all week long as most people just drive by your parking lot.

I’ve seen some churches with a small forest growing between the cracks in the parking lot by communicating that it’s a very long time since anyone parked there. We’ve all seen a worn out parking lot that hasn’t been painted since the Spice Girls were on Top 10 radio and it all looks far too depressing.

Stand back and look at your parking lot. If it were the only thing that people knew about your church, what would it communicate? For most of us, it is the only thing people know about and identify with our churches because they simply drive by and don’t come in. Ensure your parking lot communicates that your church is welcoming and open for one and all!

On a related note … have you ever stopped to consider what your parking lot communicates if it’s empty throughout the week? All of our buildings have their heaviest usage during the weekends, but does that mean they’re completely empty during the week? Does an empty parking lot throughout weekdays implicitly communicate that your church isn’t relevant to the lives of rest of the people? Just wondering.

Is Your Parking Lot Holding Back Single Parents?

Today, 1 in 4 kids are raised by a single parent. [ref] If your church isn’t seeing at least that number of single-parent-headed families in your church, the onus may lie on the parking lot. Traveling with young kids can be particularly challenging as a single parent. By the time a single parent has arrived at your church, they have already braved a lot to make that happen. The last daunting task is getting out of the car and across your parking lot into your facility.

5 Ways Your Church Can Be More Single-Parent-Friendly in Your Parking Lots

Designate “Parent Parking” Spots // You don’t need to make these “single parent parking spots” because people do appreciate some level of anonymity. Having spots that are closest to the front and have easy access to your children’s ministry is a gift to all parents!
Train Leaders to Look for Single Parents // The simple act of helping a parent with a stroller in your facility can be a sign of selfless love and care. Having team members walk with single parents and help their kids get into your ministry can make all the difference.
Have “Fun Transport” Options // Wagons are a simple yet effective tool that some kids love to jump into and get driven into church in style. A next level option would be to have golf carts or even a tram! (I love the tram at Disney World!)
Umbrellas Are A Must // Train your people to look out for parents on rainy days to meet them with an umbrella at the car. There is nothing more thoughtful than when someone steps up beside your car with an open umbrella on a rainy day to help you get your kids out!
Great (Obvious) Signage // If you have two or three kids in tow, you are focused on keeping them safe coming across your parking lot. It can be difficult to discern where to go. You can’t make your signage too obvious to people. Make it better, simpler and brighter so that a frazzled parent doesn’t need to exhaust their brainpower to figure it out!

Parking Lots Are a “Hidden In Plain Sight” Stewardship Issue.

Finally, parking lots are expensive. It’s not uncommon for parking lots to cost at least $5,500 per spot on a fairly low complexity build. [ref] As a point of reference, let’s say your church has 500 seats in the auditorium with only 100 parking spots. You’d ideally like to add another 150 spots to match the 1 spot for every two seats we quoted above. After factoring in all the design, drainage, curbing, painting, etc., it would be an investment of $825,000 for your church – assuming that you don’t run into any significant problems along the way!

Once parking lots are built, they become a recurring maintenance issue that often gets differed longer than it should; ultimately costing the church more than it needs to. If your church doesn’t keep up with resurfacing and patching on a periodic basis, you can be forced into a situation where major renovations need to be done at a massive cost. No one wants to invest massively in maintaining a parking lot when there are so many other pressing ministry needs, but ignoring its significance may have severe consequences down the road. You should be looking at regular maintenance of your parking lots on a bi-annual or at least annual basis!

We often take this resource for granted and hence, it’s easy to not invest in. Typically, the cost of a parking lot gets hidden as part of a major capital expansion. This is why we don’t consider what an important resource it is to the church. Challenge that mindset because it really is an amazing tool for our ministry!

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Source: 5 Ways Your Parking Lot Might be Holding Back the Redemptive Potential of Your Church – unSeminary

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What Would Jesus Disrupt and Other Articles Church Leaders Should Read

Patrick Bradley — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 13:00:25 +0000

by Dave Travis: Here’s a collection of interesting, thought-provoking articles from around the web from recent weeks. For more links, check out our Flipboard magazines: Leadership Network Today, Leadership Network Deep Trends, and Ideas to Implementation to Impact, where we curate the best in innovative ideas for church leaders.

Multicultural Churches are Addressing Racial Divides in Trump’s America (Thinkprogress.org) As widespread reports of racial harassment and white supremacist activity continue across the country, the small, but growing, number of racially integrated churches are organizing. They’re organizing workshops, serving immigrants, and vowing to stand in solidarity with Muslims. In this difficult political climate, they contend that they are uniquely qualified to foster dialogue about race and advocate for marginalized groups?—?and bring diverse groups of Americans together in faith.
The Large Parts of America Left Behind By Today’s Economy (Axios.com)U.S. geographical economic inequality is growing, meaning your economic opportunity is more tied to your location than ever before. A large portion of the country is being left behind by today’s economy, according to a county-by-county report released this morning by the Economic Innovation Group, a non-profit research and advocacy organization.

The Extraordinary Case of Mr Yamazaki (Medium.com) What happened when a Japanese headteacher imported his ‘Hitaisho’ teaching method to a rural Cornish primary school?

It’s Not a Problem to Solve It’s a Polarity to Manage (Organizationalphysics.com) As a leader, being able to discern the difference between a problem and a polarity will help you to build a culture that makes the right decisions about the right things. This is true even if, from an uneducated eye, those efforts can sometimes appear to be in support of “old” ways of thinking. But they are not old ways of thinking! You are just boosting up an aspect of a polarity that is needed in your organization at this period in time. Later on, you may boost up “new” ways of thinking, depending again on what’s really needed. Let’s see how to do that…

Life In a Fishbowl Survey Gives Voice to Pastors’ Spouses (Religionnews.com) The vast majority of U.S. Protestant pastors’ spouses say ministry has had a positive effect on their families but many report being isolated and under financial stress. A new LifeWay Research survey, released Tuesday (Sept. 12), finds that most spouses are directly involved in the work of their churches, with 1 in 5 holding a paid position and two-thirds serving in unpaid capacities.

What Would Jesus Disrupt (Bloomberg.com) “The most successful startup in history!” Of the parable of the talents, in which two servants are lauded by their master for turning a profit with money he staked them: “The first recorded instance of venture capital and investment banking in history!” Of ancient business elites: “A church is the oldest marketplace in the history of the world.” Of the promised land of angel investing, where divinely inspired entrepreneurs dwell: “Because God creates things, too!” Mark Burnett, the producer of The Apprentice and Shark Tank, shows up to remind everyone that “the Bible is full of merchants and people doing work.”

The Turquoise Table Movement Wants You (Christianitytoday.com) As she sat outside every morning praying, she began to meet people she had lived next to for years. “I started learning the difference between entertaining and hospitality,” Schell says. “Entertainment… you can’t do all the time, you can’t do that at every opportunity. Hospitality is a way of life. It’s not what we’re doing; it’s who we are.”

Survey Spotlights American Views On Sin (Bpnews.net) As America becomes more secular, the idea of sin still rings true, said Scott McConnell, executive director of Nashville-based LifeWay Research. “Almost nobody wants to be a sinner,” he said. The survey question about sin was inspired in part by an exchange McConnell witnessed on his way to a Nashville Predators hockey game. A religious group of protesters began preaching at people on the street outside the hockey arena, calling them sinners, McConnell said. That led a few people in the crowd to embrace the title with enthusiasm. “I wondered how many people really think of themselves as sinners,” he said.

What the Single in Your Pew Needs From You (Christianitytoday.com) Singles are on the rise. Here’s what forward-looking churches need to know.

Life.Church Digerati Ship-It Week (Medium.com) To create an atmosphere that welcomes people, that meets people right where they are, you have to inject a little human-ness into a website, and they did that through a ‘blue button.’ It’s a chat-like integration that allows team members or volunteers to talk with people, answer questions, and pray with people in real time. They even created a set of custom premade interactions that…

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Source: What Would Jesus Disrupt and Other Articles Church Leaders Should Read

The post What Would Jesus Disrupt and Other Articles Church Leaders Should Read appeared first on Passion for Planting.