Archive for the ‘evangelism’ Category
My takeaways from Creating Community (Andy Stanley)
My takeaways from Creating Community (Andy Stanley)
- We must push people to get in groups. The alternative is "disconnected, isolated, lonely people…not a viable option."
- Group experiences across the church need to be predictable – not in boring but in what their purpose is, how they will meet, etc.
- Clarify the "wins" for groups
- Strive for 100% participation
- There are easily identifiable levels of relationship in a church.
- Stanley uses the metaphor of a foyer (guest), living room (friend), to kitchen (family) to identify the different levels.
- Our opportunity as the church is to help people discover the power of each relationship in community.
- We must be directional about helping bridge each gap. What is a specific step that will help them make the jump?
- Good intention is not enough.
- Be honest with people up front as to what groups are NOT about: i.e. not a social club, meditation group, support group, or an expert group.
- The primary purpose of groups is simple: social fellowship, Bible study, and prayer.
- Through implementing a process to the groups system, Stanley's church has seen 90% involvement in small groups.
Connecting the concentric circles with social media
Rick Warren introduced an idea several years ago in his book "Purpose Driven Church". The concentric circles represented the influence and relationships of a community in this order:
- Community
- Crowd
- Congregation
- Committed
- Core
It provides a handy framework for understanding influence and commitment among the people in any given church environment. I began thinking recently about the use of social media and the context within which they operate for pastors and churches.
To me the correlation between technologies goes something like this:
- Community = mass media (radio, tv, youtube)
- Crowd = Twitter
- Congregation = facebook
- Committed = email/phone
- Core = face to face / coffee
Community is a larger body that pretty much allows one-way communication or limited two-way. Community has been traditionally fostered through mass media and now perhaps some narrowcast media as well. At Coffee Creek we implement a weekly podcast and our media team produces a vimeo video that is available 24×7 for streaming on the internet.
The crowd is a smaller group that raises it's hand and says – I'd like to know more. Twitter facilitates this sort of relationship with a feedback channel through retweets and direct messages. With twitter I send updates on service themes, topics, and links to resources that fit our current theme or teaching series. This is a natural occurrence as I read, highlight, and copy the thoughts into 140 characters or less. follow @clarkfrailey on twitter
Next a congregational relationship is a little bit closer in that I know your kids names and care what you might have done over the holidays. facebook facilitates a closer connection by sharing photos, videos, and more posts of a more personal nature that engages a conversation (via comments). Our Coffee Creek facebook fan page allows us a level of more personal connection to a smaller group of people that have expressed an interest in knowing what's going on around Coffee Creek.
The committed group is a tighter group that expresses a desire to be on the "inside track" – to me communication in email and by text/phone provide this group a deeper connection with volume of content and ability to ask questions and receive responses. At Coffee Creek we send a weekly email update with little text and big pictures that link back to website pages for further info or registration forms as appropriate. MailChimp is an excellent and reasonable service for sending regular emails to targeted mailing lists.
The final group, the "core" is the group that probably deserves to be communicated with regularly (monthly/weekly) in face to face conversations, coffee meetings, and brainstorm sessions. It's hard for me to envision how this group could maintain the direction and unity necessary for a core if they did not have some significant face time outside of social media.
One major upside of social media to me is that crowd, congregation, and committed prior to this technology were largely omitted from these channels of communication (outside of a newsletter or special mailing). Social media allows an extra layer of connection that should strengthen the bonds of all levels of relationship
3M’s – Message, Music, & Munchkins
I was recently asked to give the top 3 things that were my priorities in ministry. After thinking about it there are three things I’d die for – battles that I’m willing to fight for in church work and they go like this:
- Message – biblical and relevant
- Music – contemporary and passionate
- Munchkins – excellent children’s ministry, the best hour of their week
These priorities indicate a lot about my perspective on those things that are impossible for a church to ignore or overlook. I think these three things have the power to transform an unchurched/dechurched person from jaded or lost in the mix to someone that has an opportunity to explore the claims of Christ.
Isn’t that why we exist in the first place? Andy Stanley says, “The Church is a family expecting guests in their home.”
Guests deserve our best message, music, and care for their munchkins every Sunday. The way I like to frame it is that our facility and our friendliness needs to have the attitude that Jesus is walking in through our doors every week, because His guests certainly are.
So put on those winning smiles I see so many Sundays, get those hands out of your pocket, and welcome everyone with a simple thought in the back of your mind, “God loves you and so do I!”
-Pastor Clark
2:00 am and driving to a hospital
The pastor that helped me begin to follow Jesus Christ, baptized me, taught me to golf, preached at my ordination and wedding, and mentored me through my early years in ministry died recently from complications with a brain tumor.
Phil embodied to me the calling of a pastor and the desire to pursue God in all things. As I drove home at around 2:45 am this morning from the hospital it was Phil I remembered teaching me about the life of a pastor. He told me to never be surprised when in the middle of the night I’d be called upon to offer comfort, hope, and peace to a family in crisis.
I was reminded of Matthew 18:19-20 as our small group huddled in prayer in the ER, “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” NIV
Phil exemplified a simple life of prayer and care as a pastor. It was evident in his prayers and his leadership that he was not an angry man but rather a determined person seeking to walk in the presence of God as he did his best to shine the light of Christ into the dark times of our lives.
Perhaps the most telling thing Phil taught me was by an action where he didn’t say a word. When my grandfather died while I was a teenager at youth camp, Phil drove 6 hours roundtrip to stand in the back of the crowded room in a little Nazarene church. I didn’t see Phil to talk to him that day…his presence spoke volumes.
-Pastor Clark
Asking the tough questions
An increasing trend among my fellow pastors on facebook is the collaboration during message preparation. Often I’m the one asking for help with a text or thoughts on an illustration.
This week a friend posted a need for info on the topic of the “uniqueness of Jesus” in the context of faith. I offered my humble and probably insufficient words but as others add to it one has several thoughtful beginning points.
I wonder how many messages could be improved by use of other ideas, research, and viewpoints if we all took time each week to ask the tough questions?
I’ll be honest many times my in-depth study is frustrating as the more I study the more questions I have. Sometimes Sunday creeps up and I’m still mid-struggle and up to my ears in research without a clear victor.
That’s why you’ll hear me offer options and sometimes say, “I don’t know” – because the simple fact is as I approach the interpretive task many times the questions are haunting.
However I don’t see the message as a mountain-top experience – it’s just another step on the journey, another opportunity for us to talk about what it looks like to try to describe the undescribable.
Sometimes in my life I’ve been afraid to ask the tough questions – it seemed easier to just bury my head in the sand and pretend they didn’t exist. I’m sure I could have done much more good by authentically trying to answer those questions – even when the answers might never come.
Clive Staples Lewis once wrote, “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”
Are you ready to ask the tough questions? What if doing so meant “loosing” some things that you’d “bound”?
About
Clark Frailey is a husband, father, and Lead Pastor of Coffee Creek Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma.
clarkfrailey.com
