Newcomers are the life blood of a church

There are two competing values for any church - building community among the attendees and reaching and assimilating new people. Both are necessary. But as a church grows, often the cry of the attendees overshadows the silent whisper of the new people.

We all do some things to welcome new people. Today I want to mention 4 ideas from one church I worked with that are value added.

1. After every service they have a 10 minute Newcomers Reception.
This is in a room set up like a nice Living Room right off off the lobby. There
are light refreshments, a 5 minute greeting and vision cast by the senior pastor,
a 5 minute "these are your next steps" by the Pastor to New People, and an
opportunity to ask questions. Several staff and volunteers are there to talk with
people afterwards. They only present 3 things on next steps: connecting through a
small group, growing through Christianity 101, etc. series, and serving
through a ministry team. Keeping it simple is a key. They have a collage of pictures on 3 walls
representing those 3 areas. The Newcomer Reception is part of the announcements
every week.

Now what about a small or new church? Same idea but on a smaller scale. Ask new people to meet "Tom and Sue" under the banner in the lobby titled "New to ____ Church" where "Tom/Sue" will answer your questions and give you a free gift.

2. After every service they also have a 10 minute Connect Meeting. This
is in another room set up comfortably close to the lobby. Here people hear a 8
minute talk and testimony on small groups, have opportunities to ask questions,
and fill out an application to be in a small group. At least one staff and a
number of volunteers are there to help. The Connect Room gathering is part of the
announcements every week. The best approach to get into a small group is someone
invites you. Second is a gathering like this where there is a personal connection
with someone.

OK, now what about a small or new church? Same idea in the lobby with a banner, but maybe not as frequent.

3. You notice they have a Pastor of New People Ministries. Every
staff person is a "pastor of new people" but this staff person focuses on meeting
and connecting. A small or new church can have a volunteer team do this.

4. In your church you have some people who are great people people
for welcoming and helping, but they are not disciplined and consistent enough to
be a greeter team member or leader. Great! Don't fire them. Call them
Ambassadors. Ambassadors roam the lobby looking for people who look like they
need someone to talk to them. Aim for 2-4 Ambassadors roaming the lobby. If an
Ambassador does not show up some Sunday, no sweat. Several others will.

The life blood of a church is new people. Prioritize them. Keep what you tell them SIMPLE. Don't overwhelm them.

Sharing the Vision

When we lived in Jacksonville, Florida I learned a great lesson on vision. I was with Campus Crusade for Christ and as part of out ministry we often conducted evangelism training classes for churches. We always had a great time and the people appreciated it. However the result was that most did not share their faith.

At the same time I observed a large church in town , First Baptist Church, where they did very little training yet many shared their faith. I wondered what was going on. We trained and the people did not share. They did not train and the people did share their faith.

After observing I realized the main difference. Their pastor at the time, Dr Homer Lindsey Jr., always did two things. First he always kept the vision of changed lives before the people. Before churches had vision statements he always said, "Fall in love with Jesus and reach our city for Christ." These words came out everywhere.

Second they kept stories of changed lives before the people. There were opportunities in various settings for people to share how they were able to share their faith and how God was at work.

I realized that as they shared vision and changed lives it produced zeal in the hearts of the people. We produced training. They produced zeal. Guess which goes further.

Vision: Capturing hearts for the Cause

Communicating vision is critical for any church planter. It involves painting a picture in people's minds of what the future could look like. It requires listening to God to capture his vision for us.

I like to refer to communicating vision in two arenas: Vision casting and Vision instilling. Vision casting is what we usually hear about. This is when we speak before the audience and "cast" the vision like a gardener sowing grass seed. Vision instilling is different. This is when we sit across the table from someone and "ooze" the vision till they catch the disease. Some leaders are more effective at vision casting, some at vision instilling. Both elements are critical and need to be cultivated.

Don't just expect vision casting to be sufficient. Your leaders need you to sit with them and instill the vision. This is when they capture what their role is in fulfilling the vision. Here we make it personal.

And as Bill Hybels says, "Vision leaks." So don't be afraid of being redundent. Next time I will speak to creative ways to share the vision.

Go out an "ooze" the vision!