In Search of a Silver Bullet
Every generation it seems wants a silver bullet. They want the secret formula for instant church growth. Do this. Say that. Play these songs. Preach those sermons. And…voila! You’ll be doing four Sunday services just like the big boys do!
Yeah…it doesn’t work like that.
The most effective strategy (ironically, it’s the most biblical strategy as well) for evangelism will always, always, always be one-on-one, one person telling another person what God has done in and through his life.
Sorry.
Jesus told his followers to be witnesses — to just get out there and tell folks what they’d seen and heard. And that’s precisely what they did. Theologian Michael Green says the message of the gospel spread in the first century like gossip over the back fence. That’s how they turned the world upside-down in a generation.
At North Point – perhaps the most innovative and techno-savvy church I know – they call that strategy “Invest and Invite” (I know — how lo-tech can you get?). Regular members just invest in other people and wait for an opportunity to invite them to a church event. That’s it. No smart lights or high-speed internet connection needed. Andy Stanley isn’t even involved in most of it.
It’s old school and unsexy, but it works to the tune of, like, 500 baptisms per year at the Alpharetta campus alone. And it’s worked consistently like that for the last decade.
If any other church had a program that boasted numbers like that, we’d be knocking down their door, begging them to put it in a box and giftwrap it for us. If First Baptist of Podunk, Utah, had a Halloween Trunk-or-Treat Hell House Extravaganza that brought in 500 new people each year – if Trinity Presyterian of East Bumble, New Mexico, came up with a personalized automated email marketing software that got around all those pesky spam laws and guaranteed you one new member for every 25-30 current members – we’d be screaming to the top of our lungs: SHOW US HOW TO DO IT! WE DON’T CARE HOW MUCH IT COSTS!
But this? This involves things like people…having conversations…with other people…who don’t go to church. And that might be…uncomfortable.
Give us doorhangers to hang on people’s doors. Give us postcards to mail to people’s homes. Give us clever slogans we can put on our church marquees. Better curriculum. More creative programming. Cooler music. A better website. Give us a spiky-haired preacher wearing a long-sleeve striped shirt untucked and $300 jeans.
But please do not ask me to go next door and ask my neighbor if he needs help with anything. And, if you do, you better pray he doesn’t ask me anything about Jesus or God or the Old Testament or gay marriage or why I voted the way I did.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
“invest then invite”. I really like that articulation of the battle plan. Was there a specific question your asking here? If you threw it I dropped the ball.
In junior high I will tell you the greatest motivation for me to bring friends to Church was a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. I won by bringing four (of my already saved friends) to the devotional.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Nope. No question today, Iz. Just a rant.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
An ocassional rant (is that like vent?) is good for the soul. Catharsis carefully done can be healing. Most just like to throw up but then go eat it up again w/ no desire to change (like my dog).
“Silver Bullet” Sailing….
There are two types of people in this world. Those that wait for thier ship to come in, and those that swim out to it.
May we swim in search of a better mouse trap and Church. Or way to just do life.
Now we’re kinda sounding like John Mayer song “waiting on world to chnage” in last months’ blog.
So do you feel better after the rant?
November 19th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I strongly agree. In the end it’s about creating relationships with people and leading them to a relationship with God. No magic formulas. It’s still about people.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
November 19th, 2009 at 10:54 am
You don’t happen to have contact information for First Baptist of Podunk and/or Trinity Presyterian of East Bumble, do you? I’d love to learn more…
But I think you’re right – file evangelism in the “Easier and Harder Than It Looks” folder. In a world full of experts and techniques and such, it’s sort of hard to believe that the Lord really wants to use plain old me in such a simple way.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Your recent blogs regarding VBS, Sunday School and Silver Bullet all revolve around terrribly relevant questions for the church of today and how it will “effectively” exist in the culture of the next generation, as opposed to what this generation has done/experienced. I suppose the bottom line is are we effectively “presenting God” and can we do it better. These questions I ask myself every day, without satisfactory answers. For sake of expediency here are some other thoughts in considering this topic:
1. Are those who call themselves “the Church” today truly and pleasingly worshiping God in “Spirit and in Truth”. If so we are accomplishing our own mission before God which I believe is primary. If our individual worship is empty of what God desires then bringing more people into it can become a hindrance to the real mission.
2. “”If you seek God you will be found by him”. Looking back on my own experiences the classes and educational process of the church was very effective, but only after I really wanted the information. I sat and listened and learned enough to teach, then the real education began. Those who are not “seeking” probably won’t find. I am always looking out for those rare “seekers” in the class. Most make no prepartion and go no further than what is taught that morning.
3. ” No one can come to me unless the father…draws him” The ultimate responsibility is between the father and the seeker. We (the Church) either become facilitatiors or inhibitors of that process.
My current thinking (subject to change often) is that encouraging and “reestablishing” the solid family unit is the most important method of reaching the next generation. If Fathers aren’t teaching and modeling and pursuing God themselves then all other pathways are second best. Considering the state of the family in today’s society, we have our work cut out for us.
Good questions, but tough questions
November 20th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Although “Invest and Invite” sounds like a strategy that is definitely working on some or many levels, I wonder what other options we have? I’m not writing to say it’s necessarily a bad idea or lacks biblical backing, but it is disconcerting to me that even the biggest and “best” of churches still aren’t moving beyond attractional ministry. No matter how “in the community” our starting point for evangelism or service is, we always seem to stop once we’ve gained access or unearthed interest. And then it’s back to the same old “…and invite them to church [where we'll do the rest].”
I remember talking to a group about this idea of attractonal versus incarnational ministry — inviting people to where we have Jesus (almost in a church building box), versus living Christ into their community. We were discussing how we might reach out to a group of internationals, whom we knew played soccer all day every Sunday. It was a big family event with blankets, food, and fellowship. We were trying to think incarnationally, and ideas like these came up:
- we might could play soccer with them
- we could offer to cook for them
- maybe we can organize some games / activities for the children
- we could just go watch their games and talk with them, and maybe be welcomed just by having shown interest in who they are
Not concerned with how fruitful these very ideas might be, but wanting to look at the process of incarnational ministry, we moved on to discuss what we should do after forming relationships (investing?). The first idea was to invite them to church.
We already know they play soccer on Sundays, while we’re “having” church. So now we want to pull a few of them (who might accept an invitation) out of their culture and community, to bring them into ours, so we can give them Jesus. We can’t find a way to do that on their soil? If we did bring some of them to God (Sunday or not) in our church building and culture, we have possibly just alienated them from their community, not only hurting their family relationships, but diminishing their ability to witness into their own community. All because we feel we have to get them into our church building, which requires them learning / joining a new community — or because we’re unwilling to invest on a deeper level.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t ever invite people to our Sunday gatherings (though I do have some questions about how much they exist for believers vs. non), but sometimes we’re must go beyond investing and inviting, to actually sharing our lives. From inviting them into OUR community to helping them engage in a God who will transform THEIR community. In this case we might have even needed to miss the Sunday morning assembly ourselves?
In the end, the group thought it would be good to form relationships with the “soccer community,” and offer some type of service to them — English classes, childcare, etc. The group even decided they should find a non-church building in which to hold the classes. I’m not suggesting this as the only method, but I am hoping we don’t forever end with an invitation to our church, so that our ministers can share the gospel where we left off, inviting people to leave their culture, relationships, and family for ours.