1. Make sure Sunday morning services are relevant, engaging and your main priority.
Here are a couple questions to ask yourself: Do the teens in your church love your services and want to invite their friends? Do YOU look forward to church? Is Sunday’s your best day of the week? Your excitement and expectation will influence everything you do and every person that comes into the doors of your church. Your messages should be relevant and engaging. Sunday’s should be the biggest win of the week!
2. Do people who attend your church actually know unchurched people?
Many Christians say they want to reach unchurched people, but they don’t actually know any unchurched people well enough to invite them. At Twin Rivers we focus on these 3 questions EVERY week:
PRAY- Who are you praying for to come to salvation?
INVITE -Who are you inviting to church?
BRING – Who are you bringing to church?
3. Don’t be judgmental
Many people who decide to start attending church have lifestyle issues that might take years to change. Cleaning up your behavior is not a pre-condition for salvation. Sanctification takes time and is a process. We need to be patient and help disciple people in their new walk with Jesus.
“Go ye into all the world and make disciples (fully devoted, followers of Christ)”.
4. Be honest about your struggles.
People get suspicious when church leaders and Christians want to appear to have it ‘all together’. Let’s face it, you don’t… I don’t. And they know it. When you are honest about your struggles, it makes people feel comfortable and they let down the wall they’ve built around their heart. They need to relate to you as the leader and to their church family. I read a post the other day that said “You lead people by your strengths but you connect with people through your weakness.
5. Think steps not programs.
Your church has to have a clear, easy path to move someone from their first visit right through the process of membership or involvment. We have 4 steps at Twin Rivers Worship Center:
1. Experience God through our worship experiences
2. Connect through Connect Track (Pastor’s Breakfast and Classes that focus on the vision of our church and how to get involved)
3. Grow in a Life Group
4. Serve on a Team
6. Don’t assume people know about Christianity.
It’s so easy to assume that people ‘must know’ at least the basics of the Christian faith. Lose that thinking. How much do you (really) know about Hinduism or Islam? That’s about how much many people (really) know about Christianity. Don’t fight it. Embrace it. Make it easy for everyone to access what you are talking about whenever you are talking about it.
