By: Stan Rodda

It’s amazing the places you can learn truths about disciple making when you are aware enough to pay attention. I was reminded of a disciple making truth recently when I was watching my 15 year old son workout. He has been wanting to get bigger, faster, stronger. He’s a high school boy and made JV lacrosse at his high school. He wants to grow as an athlete and I’m sure wants to look good for the girls at his school as an ulterior motive. We don’t have a lot of weights at our house and I don’t have a gym membership anywhere, so I encouraged my son to get creative. And creative he got.

He has been making weight plates out of concrete mix and five gallon buckets. He is using zip ties and small dumbbells to tie to a barbell for shoulder and bench press. He’s watching everything on YouTube he can to learn about getting stronger and faster. He implements everything he sees and gives it a try. Over the last year or so of watching him do this, I am beginning to see the signs. He is a little bigger. He’s gotten a lot stronger. He’s definitely faster. The results are starting to show up. But it has taken a year to even begin to see.

That’s where the disciple making truth comes in…

When it comes to disciple making, you must think marathon, not sprint!

Hebrews gives us a glimpse into this truth.

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer an perfecter of our faith. [Hebrews 12:1, 2 CSB]

I get it. You want results…TODAY! You’re direct. You’re hard charging. You have goals and a vision for your church or ministry. You want to take your neighborhood, city, state and globe for God by tomorrow afternoon. I want results too. Results show you that you’re headed in the right direction and that you’re doing right things. I’m with you.

Unfortunately, like many things, disciple making doesn’t work that way. When I want to lose weight and get in shape, I must plan for the long haul. I can’t eat right for one day, do a few pushups, run around the block and expect my body to respond the next morning. I won’t wake up with chiseled pecs, six-pack abs and rippling biceps. I’ll wake up sore and hangry. I must get after it again that day, and then the next day, and the next day, and…you see where this is going.

You won’t have a disciple making movement tomorrow after one day of talking about it. You aren’t necessarily going to win your city to Jesus by this afternoon just because you talk about making disciples one time. As with most things, results simply don’t show up that way. You have to push again today, and then the next day, and then the next day, and…you see where this is going.

After six months, a year or five years of this constant pushing toward movement, you will start seeing results. It might take time, but the effort expended to get to this level of spiritual maturity and depth will make a much healthier disciple making movement in the long run. In order to get there, I must constantly be asking God, “What’s my next step? What step of obedience can I take today?”

Obey Today

When you spend time with God in your secret place, in the quiet, early morning hours (or whenever you spend your time with God), ask the question, “God, what step of obedience would you have me take today?”

What sin do I need to confess?

What attitude do I need to change?

What in my life must I change to walk in better alignment with You?

When God gives you the answer…obey! Confess your sin. Change your attitude. Make amends where needed. Love your spouse differently. Love your kids well. Change how you lead. Whatever it is that God is asking you to do in your own discipleship, take the step of obedience.

You can only lead a disciple making movement as far as you are willing to obey God in your own personal life!

Help Your Disciples Obey Today

Share with your disciples what God is telling you to do. Share your plans for obedience and ask for accountability. Then ask them how God is speaking to them.

What next step is God calling them to reach?

Who is God asking them to share with?

When is God asking them to do it?

Help them hear God’s voice and obey in their own life. As you are moving toward obedience, growing spiritually and reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus in your own life and as God does the same in the life of your disciples, you will see depth and growth. You will see the movement beginning to form and grow. It will take some time, but it will absolutely be worth it.

The journey toward a disciple making movement looks so much more like a marathon than a sprint! May you hear God’s voice today and obey. May you help someone you are leading do the same.

Let’s take Kingdom territory!

Source: Think Marathon, Not Sprint!

The post Think Marathon, Not Sprint! 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?

To have more topics like this delivered to your inbox, let us know a few quick things about you:

Name *
Name

First Name

Last Name

Email *

Church Name *

Church Website *

Thank you!

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 Greg Curtis: I will never forget the Sunday night service this year where we offered Step 04 of Next Steps at the same time the Oscars was being aired…

Next Steps is our One Place where we invite guests to connect with each other and our church. Being in Southern California, the Academy Awards is a pretty big competition for things like this (think Oscar parties, pools for your pick in each category, etc.).

The reason I won’t soon forget that night of Next Steps was that we only had 1 person show up…..yes, only one! But it gets crazier: he was a film major at a local university. Astounded by his singular presence on such a big night for people in his chosen field, I asked him why he wasn’t watching the Oscars at some party somewhere. His answer was an education for me on how guests are so unique and that one size truly does not fit all. He said, “I am an introvert and I prefer 1 on 1 experiences like this anyway. Besides, I graduate from Next Steps tonight and I wanted to complete it this month and receive my Certificate of Completion.”

I swallowed my shock and sat down at the table instead of standing behind the podium, used my remote to forward slides in the presentation and went to get coffee during the discussion time so he could bond with the table host at the 8 seat table he was seated at.

But here’s the cool part: It went great, and I learned something: guests that God will lead to your church and mine this weekend are not all the same and one style of connecting does not fit all of them. There is simply not a formula that takes their uniqueness into account.

But there is a tool.

The guests that God will lead to your church and mine this weekend are not the same and one style of connecting does not fit them all.

How can you create pathways for connecting guests who are very different from one another?

The answer is found in an ancient tool that organizations from Motorola to the Vatican have used. The Enneagram was used in communities and groups of people called to important tasks long before the DISC test, Strengthfinders and Gary Smalley’s Lion, Otter, Beaver, Retriever personality inventory.

Here’s a little background on the Enneagram.

No one knows exactly where it came from or who originally came up with it. It appears to be used in Monasteries as early as the fourth century to help monks live in community by better understanding their unique perspectives. It’s origins and influences probably predate Christianity though. Finding a resurgence in Bolivia during the 1960s, this tool assigns people a number from 1 thru 9 to describe their basic approach to life, while pointing them toward growth steps that integrate them holistically in a way that looks like Jesus, who bore the strengths of each number without exhibiting their weaknesses.

I used free food to form a young adult Enneagram Focus Group that I used for research into my new understandings of how someone’s number affects their guest experience. They are standing in this photo in Enneagram order: 1. Dave the Reformer, 2. Nathan the Helper, 3. Ivan the Achiever, 4. David the Individualist (thus, the hair), 5. Carly the Investigator, 6. Olivia the Loyalist, 7. Jake the Enthusiast, 8. Evan the Challenger (which seems to be affecting his attitude toward Jake in this photo), and 9. Kendra the Peacemaker. Most of their direct input will appear in my Instagram posts during this series.

The 9 profiles or “types” of people on the Enneagram can be summarized by number like this:

The Reformer

The Helper

The Achiever

The Individualist

The Investigator

The Loyalist

The Enthusiast

The Challenger

The Peacemaker

Furthermore, each number can split into 3 possible sub-profiles:

A pure singular number

A number plus a little bit of the characteristics from the number above them*

A number plus a little bit of the characteristics from the number below them*

*When you have some characteristics from an adjacent number, that number is referred to as yout “wing”. For instance, I am a 3 wing 2 (Achiever/Helper) which makes me a coach-type personality that wants to help others achieve something they believe is worthwhile and important.

So how can understanding the different ways guests approach life make us more effective at helping them make meaningful connections in our faith communities?

That is what we are going to explore in the next 9 posts where I will…

Summarize the distinct characteristics and motivations associated with each number

Define the “Dos and Don’ts” of relating to people of each type as guests in your church

Share their unique “Superpower” if they were to join one of your teams as a volunteer.

Since connecting at church for your guests is more of a climb than a coast, we all have to become Sherpas that identify the best route for each of them to reach the summit of full connection. Understanding people’s Enneagram number will make you more effective at helping people find their small group of friends at your church and their unique role in serving others on a ministry team.

Understanding people’s Enneagram number will make you more effective at helping people find their small group of friends at your church and their unique role in serving others on a ministry team.

Here are 3 resources to make this journey of understanding the Enneagram a very profitable one for your assimilation ministry (and 2 of them are free!):

The Road Back to You.

This is by far my favorite book on the topic. I have always enjoyed Ian Morgan Cron’s perspectives on life and ministry and his humor and powerful insights on the Enneagram do not disappoint here. The structure of the book is the WIN for me, which includes…

A chapter on each type

20 questions before each chapter to discover if you or someone else is that number type (I personally find these more accurate and helpful than the paid ones online)

Which number you or someone else of the same type (like your guests) become when they are stressed, secure, as a child, in the work place and in relationships.

A 10 point growth plan to become more like Jesus for each number.

Typology Podcast

This is Ian Morgan Cron’s new podcast where he interviews leaders who represent the various numbers on the Enneagram and what environments they thrive or falter in (imagine what that knowledge could bring you and your ministry in relationship to guests at church!). Subscribe to this free resource. You will enjoy it and find it very interesting.

My Instagram.

I know this sounds self aggrandizing but I can’t help how excited I am about the assets I have had designed that will appear on my Instagram during this series. I will be posting guest experience scenarios (parking lot, greeters, altar calls, volunteer sign ups, membership classes, etc.) and how each one receives them from the perspective of their number on the Enneagram. This kind of awareness will be priceless as well as fun and will largely only appear on my Instagram account where I post my assimilation learnings in real time during the average week of my life as a Sherpa.

So what about my lone guest at Step 04 of Next Steps during the Oscars?

When I realized he was a 1 wing 9, an introverted rule keeper who finishes what he commits himself to, I was able to calibrate the experience in a way that made him feel valued and a part of the church. He declared himself a member of our church that night. He even won a fleece blanket by winning the Unleash Compassion game. How you may ask? Instead of having him go up and sit on the stage we had set up, I had him stay in his seat at the table and challenged him to get 4 out of 6 questions right to win. And…he did! (I would have given him the fleece blanket anyway but don’t tell him).

After giving him his Certificate of Completion I realized that he came to us feeling like a guest and left us that night a unique member of our spiritual family. That’s why I love our Next Steps environment and what it does almost automatically for those who experience it, customizing and easily scaling the experience along the way.

In the coming posts in this series, I want to encourage all of us to see and respond well to the unique needs of each guest so we will become Sherpas with mad skills in helping them reach their summit successfully (spoken like a 3 wing 2, I know…).

What is the one personality inventory or strengths assessment that told you the most about you? How did it help you understand others? What is one relationship in your life that it helped you understand better?

Have you ever had a guest that didn’t seem to gel with the way your church normally connects people? How did you handle that?

On a 1 to 10 scale, how much freedom do you have to customize a connection experience for the guests at your church? How can your team strategically take advantage of that degree of freedom to benefit your guests?

Want to get the next post about Type 1 guests at your church delivered right to your inbox?

Name *
Name

First Name

Last Name

Email *

Church Name

Church Website

Thank you!

Source: How the Enneagram can help you reach a bigger variety of guests at your church

The post How the Enneagram can help you reach a bigger variety of guests at your church appeared first on Passion for Planting.