When we do a church consultation, we always recommend that the worship services should be designed around their target audience … that worship should be indigenous to those you’re trying to reach. And so it happened that I was asked, “What do you mean by developing Indigenous Worship? What is indigenous worship?”
Ahh. Good question […]
We get asked about how to turn visitors into returning guests pretty regularly. Over the years, we’ve been gathering some of the best ideas we’ve seen. Below is a list of some of the best practices we’ve seen used from first visit to membership. You’ll notice that most of the initial contacts are during […]
This shouldn’t be news to you … but I keep running into the practice in declining churches.
If you’re still doing a Meet and Greet – or if your “Passing Peace” is a disguised version of the Meet and Greet (and they typically are!) – then
Stop It
Now!
To begin with, the Meet and Greet […]
Few churches know how to offer adequate hospitality to a non-Christian visitor. Being nice, loving, warm, and friendly isn’t the same thing as being hospitable. For instance, does your church bulletin use any of the following words:
InvocationBenedictionDoxologyPrayer ResponsePastoral PrayerHymnOfferingIntroitPreludePostludeor a host of others)
If so, then the bulletin isn’t pre-Christian ready because a […]
I suspect we’ve all done it. I’d spotted a new face in the crowd on Sunday morning and I made a beeline to them when the service was done. I introduced myself and asked the fatal question:
Are you visiting this morning?
The visitor’s eyes furrowed and her face flushed slightly, “I’ve been a member of […]
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.Romans 14:4
I got another one of those church planting postcards in the mail the other day. I’m quite sure the pastor and/or the marketing team had […]
It happened again. I was visiting a church on a recent Sunday morning and apparently parked in the “wrong” parking lot. You know the one, it looks like it’s near the main entrance, but the main entrance isn’t really the main entrance (because “everyone” knows that “everyone” enters through the side entrance on Third […]
Let me start out with a thought … if you’re using screen technology, a worship bulletin is a colossal waste of resources. Why do you need a bulletin to follow the Responsive Reading? I mean, it’s up there on the screen? Besides, your office manager probably spent an hour typing it up, proofing it, […]
Imagine finishing your meal at the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant. The server brings you the bill and snuggled up against it is a very special Fortune Cookie. I say it’s special because this time it’s going to accurately predict the future. With great anticipation you break open the cookie and eat it completely before […]
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