Archive - October, 2011

The ‘Thursday midnight’ rule for organising church services

October 31, 2011 in Church Services

Excellence requires organisation.

Here’s an idea to (as much as possible) avoid last minute organisational disasters for your weekend church services:

“By midnight on Thursday, we are totally prepared for Sunday—down to every last detail. We don’t want to run into any unexpected problems on Sunday morning. By Thursday at midnight, everything is printed and ready to go, so we don’t run the risk of last-minute printing issues. All the equipment for the worship team is packed and loaded in the van to take to our portable venue. We’ve learned not to wait to do anything that can be done in advance—even if it is just bringing an extra microphone wire to the stage. Leave nothing to chance. God honors preparedness.”

Lots more interesting thoughts on preparing weekend gatherings in ‘Engage’ by Nelson Searcy.

Communicate Jesus makes Top 200 Church Blogs list

October 28, 2011 in Websites

Thanks for your support. Just snuck in to the final spot!

Continue reading…

“Hey, can church promote…?”

October 27, 2011 in Church Life

How do you respond when people say “Hey, can church promote…”

Churches are often asked by members if the church will promote a particular cause that the member is involved in.

They might be passionate about a kids’ shelter, or an aid agency, or a Christian band, or any number of other worthy causes. And let’s face it – there’s thousands.

They want to promote this cause to the rest of church, and invite other people in the church to join them in supporting it. They want this cause to get airtime in the church newsletter, or church news, or whatever other communications channels you have available.

It’s difficult, but there comes a point at which your church can’t support any more causes. Where promoting additional causes just adds noise, and is in fact detrimental.

I realised this when I got home from holidays and looked at the mail. I can’t support all the causes that want my attention. I’ve got limited time, money and attention, and I’ve decided to ask some causes to stop sending me promotional material.

The tricky part is telling people ‘no’. This doesn’t mean that can’t talk to people about it, it just means their cause won’t receive any public air time through church communications channels.

But every ‘yes’ is a ‘no’ to something else, afterall.

So here’s what I’m thinking through for church:

  1. Which causes do we, as a church, want to corporately support and promote?
  2. How will we tell people about this decision to promote this limited number of causes?

How does your church approach this question? How do you respond when people say “Hey, can church promote…”

Go on! Invite a mate to church

October 26, 2011 in Websites

For several years now, my church has been producing postcards and encouraging church members to give the cards to friends and colleagues to invite them to church events.

I’ve discovered that the cards haven’t got a lot of traction. There’s a few reasons for this, but one of the reasons is that in the culture of my church, we’re far more likely to use online means to invite people along to things. Email, Facebook and SMS are far more common than meeting up with a friend and handing them an invitation card.

City on a Hill has an email invite tool on their website, to make it super easy to invite a friend to church:

You can see the form in action on their site here.

The easier we can make it for the members of our churches to invite friends to church, the better. After all, the personal invitation is far more effective at introducing people to Jesus than the most creative billboard in the most prominent location.

Does your church website include this functionality? How do you help the members of your church to invite their friends?

UPDATE

Here’s another example from NewSpring Church:

We need more testimonies of God’s grace

October 26, 2011 in Church Services

While I was away I read ‘Men of the Bible‘ by D.L. Moody.

Moody writes:

One of the greatest hindrances to the progress of the Gospel to-day is that the narration of the experience of the Church is not encouraged. There are a great many men and women who come into the Church, and we never hear anything of their experiences, or of the Lord’s dealings with them. If we could, it would be a great help to others. It would stimulate faith and encourage the more feeble of the flock.

He gives the example of the blind man at the pool of Siloam in John 9:

He [the blind man] answered: “A man that is called Jesus made clay and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.” He told a straightforward story, just what the Lord had done for him. That is all. That is what a witness ought to do—tell what he knows, not what he does not know. He did not try to make a long speech.

It was a simple testimony to the work of God in his life.

How good it is to hear these stories, and how encouraging to be reminded of God’s transforming work in our lives!

Do we encourage people in our gatherings and Bible study groups to share of the Lord’s dealings with them?

Question: How does your church encourage people to share?

A final exhortation from Moody, to speak up for our Saviour:

It is a very sad thing that so many of God’s children are dumb; yet it is true. Parents would think it a great calamity to have their children born dumb; they would mourn over it, and weep; and well they might; but did you ever think of the many dumb children God has? The churches are full of them; they never speak for Christ. They can talk about politics, art, and science; they can speak well enough and fast enough about the fashions of the day; but they have NO VOICE FOR THE SON OF GOD. Dear friend, if He is your Savior, confess Him.

What a hole-in-the-wall vegetarian restaurant can teach the church

October 21, 2011 in Outreach

Vegetarian is never my first choice for a meal.

But as my wife and I looked through Trip Advisor for a place to eat in Banff, Nourish – a vegetarian restaurant – stood out. It was ranked #1 of 83 restaurants in the alpine town. We couldn’t ignore that.

Nourish was hard to find. It was on the second floor of a nondescript arcade opposite the office to a tour guide company.

The entrance was even more average, and as I peered into the kitchen, I wondered how anything exceptional could come to life in that space.

I was so wrong.

The pear and lychee ice whip was delicious.

The nachos had 27 ingredients – 27! Including strawberries!

The ravioli was the best I’ve ever tasted.

And don’t get me started on the blueberry pie!

Now, this isn’t a food blog, so let me get to the point.

Get your main business right, then focus on secondary details later (or never).

Maybe as the church we can put too much effort into secondary details and window dressing.

Maybe the unbelievingly world would look beyond our ugly entrances if we radically loved each other in a way that was so evident when they met with us.

Maybe this would cause people to talk – about how low their expectations were, but how their positive experience blew them away.

Maybe they would tell other people to go.

Maybe the church can learn from this experience at a hole-in-the-wall vegetarian restaurant in Banff.

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