It's All About Relationships
Are you connecting with people? Are you effectively communicating vision and purpose with church members? Are you intentionally interacting with people in your community? Do you follow up personally with first-time guests? Are you enthusiastic about your church’s ministry? Do your people know that you love and appreciate them?
These are significant issues for a pastor seeking to grow and develop his church, and each of them deal with relationships. Resources I read on church revitalization devote significant attention to the importance of developing significant relationships with members and prospective members. It’s about connecting with people.
I connect with many pastors of churches needing revitalization. Every step we lead a church to take in the revitalization process deals in some way with intentionally creating and building relationships with people. That includes restoring relationships between church members and initiating new relationships with people in their community.
Pastors Set the Pace
Pastors, your members and your Sunday morning guests take their cues from you. They feed off your enthusiasm. They adopt your attitude toward the church and your community. They gauge your compassion for them and others, and they eventually will exude that level of compassion. Your people know when you love and appreciate them. I heard this response from a member whose family was in the process of leaving their church, “Our pastor seems very disappointed in us. He rarely lets us know that he appreciates what we are doing.” Are you communicating your love and appreciation? What three steps can you take this month to improve in this area? Whom can you communicate these steps to who will hold you accountable for carrying them out?
Church member, how effectively are you communicating to worship guests how excited you are that they are worshipping with you? How helpful are you to guests who need assistance? Rate yourself on your friendliness on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being not at all friendly and 10 being outstanding. Then find some way to allow your guests to rate your friendliness on the same scale. You might be surprised. What three actions can you take next Sunday to be more welcoming to guests and fellow members as they enter the facility? Do it for a month, and see what happens.
Taking the Challenge Seriously
An older couple in a church I served seriously accepted my challenge to connect with more people on Sunday morning. Each Sunday for six consecutive Sundays, they moved a few pews from their regular seats and interacted with the people in each area. They even sat in the youth section one Sunday and sought to connect with the young people. They settled back into their regular pew but with one difference. People of all ages, when they entered the worship center, made their way to greet and hug them, and that spirit noticeably swept through the room. It made a significant difference in the feel of our worship service and how our people interacted with each other and with guests.
It’s all about people. What will you do this Sunday to connect with the members and guests at your church?
Jack Carver
Church Strengthening Strategist
Nashville Baptist Association
jcarver@nashvillebaptists.com