Guarantee
Guarantee
"forsake not the assembling of yourselves" Hebrews 10:25

Ways to guarantee that the "reached" don’t stay.

Prayer, work, and contributions people invest in a church to promote the cause of Christ are lost every time one of the people reached do not continue in the faith.  To be good stewards means to place high value on every person who shows any interest in Christian faith.  This means to recognize by discernment of the Spirit of God when someone is interested in simply attending versus when someone would like to be more involved.

Be unclear about beliefs and practices of the ministry up front.
Only cults have any need to hide major beliefs and practices.  Publicizing Biblical concepts underlying the churches beliefs by frequent inclusion in sermons and in written form is important.  Beliefs of and vision for the church is not enough.  Sharing underlying concepts means we are willing to hold ourselves to specific understanding of scripture and are able to maintain stable consistency in our practices.  This is just what the Dr. ordered when directing believers to not be double minded.  (James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.)

Is the churches primary purpose to fulfill the great commission and gently care for one another in our growth in faith in God?

Does the church believe in the two main slogans of the Protestant Reformation?
  "Faith is to be based on the Bible alone.”
(sola scriptura)
  "What is not biblical is not theological."
(Quod non est biblicum, non est theologicum)

Does the church uphold the two laws of the New Covenant?
  Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  38 This is the first and greatest commandment.  39 And the second is just as important, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Leave it up to newcomers to figure out the churches denomination for themselves.
  On the average, if a person does not at least know what denomination a church is then s/he will not give visiting a second thought.  If a church is not denominational then it is extra important to find a way to let newcomers and possibly visitors know what the church believes in place of a specific denomination.  For example: the word “charismatic” is not denomination specific but can be used to depict an energetic form of worship.  Likewise, the word “Pentecostal” is used to identify particular practices of several groups of churches but does not disclose whether those practices are required to meet the churches demands for reconciliation to God.  Does the church practice communion every week?  Is it a derivative of the Catholic church?  Is membership limited to a certain interest, nationality, or religion?  What is required to be reconciled to God?  Readily available and public answers to all of these questions and more allow all who might be interested know that the church is really reaching out for them.

Pressure participation without consideration for unfamiliarity.
Whether politely asking person-to-person or demanding from the pulpit, volunteerism is to be voluntary.  Many newcomers, especially those unfamiliar with church involvement, have expressed excessive feelings of guilt over not being comfortable with further involvement.  Every effort should be made to show extreme consideration in services as much as outside activities.  Even to imply that participation is mandatory is to place stumbling blocks Gods enemies use to discourage church-goers.  Too many, who are familiar with church, blindly ignore ideas that newcomers don’t see compulsory invitations to participate as friendly or welcoming as much as we tend to think they do.

Let regular attendees forget the primary purpose of the church.
On a monthly basis, remind regular attendees of the primary purpose of the ministry: to bring people to Christ and gently nurture growth in Christ.  Here are a few examples of statements newcomers have heard and correctly questioned at many churches:
  We need more people coming to keep the church going.
  If you can’t change then you’re not saved.
  Get so and so in the church, they’ll bring support and order.
  The pastor (or leaders) aren’t what they should be, we’ll never get anywhere with them.
All of these statements imply that the Great Commission is not the primary purpose of the church and express the opposite of faith in God in its practices.

There’s better ways of accomplishing participation in church.
Building fundraising – Church should have the advantage of not being the fast food, pressure driven, disposable environment like the rest of society.  Use this to the churches’ advantage!  If a new building is to be built, the church congregation has time to raise funds without excessive interest charges on years of mortgage payments.  Example: Announce on an anniversary that the church has a goal of raising “X” amount of funds by the next anniversary.  Compliment everyone’s faith in that God will accomplish what He has for the church to do without rushing or pushing for commitments.  Explain approval procedures for those who want to do fundraising activities (without placing guilt on others to participate).  Place a secure container to collect building funds as they are received and display a tally of progress toward the goal.  If the goal isn’t reached on time, then rejoice in all that has been accomplished and set a new time-period to reach the goal.  Have faith that the congregation knows the need and will participate as God leads.


Closing comments:
Have you ever ridden in a car with a driver that doesn’t give you a choice of where to go and doesn’t let you know where you are going?  There is a loss of trust for the driver if the car takes you someplace you aren’t really interested in going.  Attendees, especially newcomers, have the same uncomfortable feeling when they get the impression that a church is high-tailing to it’s goals without consideration for the concerns God has in their heart.  God let us know where we are going even before we agreed to go with Him.  Being up front with specific beliefs and practices; being assured that the churches’ primary purpose is the great commission and growing in Christ; showing humble appreciation for all types of contributions; and being extra-generous with love and consideration regardless of participation, shows that no one is going to be left aside if they do not participate in any particular ways.


To grow a church is to place confidence in the congregations’ faith in God.

CLICK HERE IF THE EASY NAVIGATION BAR IS NOT VISIBLE ABOVE THIS TEXT
This page was last updated on: September 16, 2007
TOP