how to connect every person in your church?
How do you connect people in your church? How do you meet them where theyâre at? Your church will only be as connected as you are dreaming and praying for. If youâre at 30 percent, dream of the day that youâll get to 35 percent. If youâre at 50 percent, dream of the day youâll be at 60 percent. Eventually you want a goal of connecting 110 percent of your congregation in life-changing small group communities.
In Genesis Chapter 2:18, when Adam was in the Garden of Eden â the most perfect environment known to mankind â God said, âIt is not good for man to be alone.â How much more important is it in our broken, destroyed world for people to find community through Christ?
Letâs look at six ways you can connect the people at your church.
- Remove the barriers and focus on the benefits. Connection is about true community. If people are worried about not fitting in, or not being spiritual enough, or not having time for a small group, itâs your job to remove those barriers and focus on the benefits.For example, one concern people often have is a lack of childcare. To help remove that barrier at Saddleback we started family small groups. This allows the kids to participate too. Another idea is to get your high school guys and girls to serve at the church by offering free babysitting for the couplesâ groups that need it. Â
In addition to removing the obstacles, you need to make sure the benefits are clear. What are some of the benefits of group life? Â
- Support
- Accountability
- Spiritual growth
- Friendships
- Ministry partnership
- Prayer covering
- And the list goes onâŚ
- Utilize all communication avenues. You need to be aggressive in your communications. You need to make fellowship a verb, and you need to pray for the Lord of the harvest to bring people into groups.Here are just a few of the communication avenues we use at Saddleback:
- Personal invitations â People are starved for real connections to happen. Sometimes all it takes is a printed or e-mail invitation. Whatever you do, this is the number one way!
- Pulpit announcements â Pastor, you are key to connecting people in groups. Donât be afraid to share from personal experience how important your small group is to you. And make it clear from the platform what the next steps are for people.
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- Multiple entry points â However people come into our church, we make sure they hear about small groups. They hear about them in our membership class, on the weekend, and at our classes and events. And we make it easy for them to join a group online or after our weekend services.
- The bulletin and Website â We regularly promote small group connection events, curriculum studies, and other opportunities in our weekend bulletin and electronic newsletter, and we have a page dedicated to small groups on our Website.
- Testimonies â We often include testimonies as part of our weekend message â either live or in video form. This is a great way for people to hear firsthand how important small groups are, especially during a crisis. Remember, you are the sales person and testimonies are the satisfied customer.
- View transitions as strategic times to connect people. When people share significant life events together, itâs a great opportunity to connect them in groups. You can connect people through baptisms, baby dedications, weddings â things like that. Life struggles are another one. Maybe there are people in your church with spouses overseas in the armed forces. Or maybe there are people caring for aging relatives. You need to have a strategy for connecting people going through similar spiritual steps and seasonal changes in life.Â
- Unleash the power of a campaign strategy. If youâve ever done 40 Days of Purpose, 40 Days of Community, or 40 Days of Love, you know what Iâm talking about. This is the time when we grew exponentially in our small group ministry. The 40 Days of Purpose campaign just rocked our church. The one thing that helped add groups was changing some of the terminology. We used to call our small group leaders lay pastors and we got them by the tens. Then we changed the names to shepherd leaders and we got them by the hundreds. But for whatever reason, when we started calling them hosts, we got them by the thousands.HOST stands for:
- Have a heart for people
- Open up your home
- Serve a snack
- Turn on the DVD player  Â
We didnât hassle anybody. We said, just try it for six weeks and if you donât want to continue, thatâs OK. A lot didnât, but a lot did. The small group was also the distribution point of the campaign materials. If you wanted the book, if you wanted the key tags â you had to be in a small group. This strategy added hundreds of small groups to our church.
- Host small group connection events. Invite people to a small group connection event on your church campus. Put people around tables and give them discussion questions to help them get to know each other. You might mark the tables for couples, singles, men, women, etc. Once people have made a connection and want to continue as a group, select leaders. There are several ways to do this. The ideal approach is to find the people in your church who want to plant more small groups. Theyâll launch the groups, and then after six weeks, theyâll help raise up new leaders.
- Provide a safe environment for building relationships. You need to provide a safe environment for people once theyâre connected. Small groups need to be a place where people can be real and authentic. When thereâs safety in a group, people feel comfortable to just show up just as they are. Theyâre with friends who accept them. They are making authentic connections.
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One way to create safety in small groups is to teach good listening skills. Accepting others means giving them your full attention. You canât âskimâ relationally. If youâre going to build a safe environment, people have to know that youâre listening to them.
Another way to create safe small groups is to teach good conflict resolution. Every group has what I call EGR people. EGR stands for âextra grace required.â You know who these people are. Theyâre the ones we describe as âheavenly sandpaper.â But hereâs the thing: Jesus died for those folks too. And we need to teach leaders good conflict resolution skills to keep groups healthy.
Abraham Lincoln
i learn that if you want to create a resrvoir of good feeling, and that involves not only acknowledging your errors but even shouldering the blame
for failures of some of your surbordinates.
Because this can create a feeling to people that we are are doing things together, no one is left out.
i also learn that as a leader, you need to know how to relax so that you can replenish your enegeries for the struggles facing you tomorrow.
like wise: if you have no Sabbath day, Sabbath day will come and find you.
we must remember that our God is unlimited God and He can give us unlimited strength.
Basically, leadership is never about “Me the leader” alone.
Vivien
Leadership Lessons from “Abe” :D
okay first off..don’t know why in short his name is Abe..but its Abraham Lincoln đ
anyway..he made a team of rivals , which in christian terms its a Kingdom Dream Team or A Core Team for every leader đ Basically ppl who dare to voice out their opinions on what is best for the Kingdom . But in the end Leaders have the final say , if not discussions will never end..lol
Successful Leaders > surround yourself among Kingdom dreamers (a.k.a. those spiritual giants or leaders) to get different perspectives . yea . REMEMBER to replenish your physical and spiritual energy for the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day…(you get the idea)… ALSO acknowledge errors and learn from mistakes >put your past hurts behind and don’t allow wounds to fester..Every man has his flaws ..>>also have time to reflect(SABBATH) cuz its a LUXURY most leaders dont get hahaa..(seriously though,it is)
So ending this is , Leaders can make a difference , leaders are change agents and they’re the ones that Lift HOPE > In times of crisis,things become possible that wouldn’t be possible in ordinary times THIS IS ONE OF THE TIMES GOD USED LEADERS đ
bye bye..
D2S
Abraham Lincoln
It certainly takes alot of guts to choose to surround himself with strong rivals. This just proves that he wasnt a self centred man who cared only ”I, ME, MYSELF” or how others might overtake him, but chose to choose what’s best for the country and the people.
There are many things that I can and should learn from him. But there’s really only one thing that I really want to see it in myself in time to come. TO LEARN TO TALK BETTER. As stated, his speeches were filled with poetry and clarity that people felt that they were watching him think! Aiseh, I wannae be like that too. Incredible! In the book of AXIOM, Bill Hybels stated that vision live or die on the basis of the words the leader chooses. The right words will make a vision talks soar. I want to be able to articulate my thoughts, convictions and vision to people just like how Mr. Abraham Lincoln did.
JoanHoe
Reflection
i learn that we must always be prepared for God’s blessing to pour down đ
But not ourselves planning God’ move.
it’s always what God wants us to be. not the other way round.
so i’m gonna prepare myself for even more to come and camp as well!
Because if we prepare and expect God greatly before the camp,
God is really going to move big time and i can encounter God too đ
Vivien
Reflection on the leadership thoughts
For one… i think that i think , yea its true that we don’t plan God’s move . He IS GOD after all .
 So i think the best we can do is Do our best and keep growing and always be prepared for God’s OVERFLOW .
Yes , we have goals for growth and events , BUT i think that , growth (for both our personal spiritual life and for the Souls in our group) is under one criteria –> How Is Your Walk With God ? Simply put, that the thing that would help you in your efforts to grow and to reach out to Souls !
So from this article , i take away this thing “we just need to be willing to do whatever it takes to get ready for HIS moving! and not to Plan when God moves !” cuz if we plan when God should move , then doesn’t that mean we are trying to take on God’s role ?
so yea..lets grow and be ready for God’s move cuz its “SUDDENLY” and “UNEXPECTED” but atleast we are prepared for it đ
-DS
Reflection; Acts2:1-5
Acts2:1-5
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
Man, I’d definitely like God to reveal Himself in such a way. Strong wind and Fire. But then again, God sometimes, or rather, often, come in a gentle whisper. That, however, doesn’t make him as unreal compared to the dramatic ways which He might choose to use. So cool. If I were to be God, I’d definitely use big typhoons and big fire and scare the butts off my children. HAHA. Kidding!
After reading the article, I just got reminded of the things David Hoe once shared about ‘systems and structures’. These are basically just tools to help us. At the end of the day, we don’t really know what/ how God’s gonna do.
Just like our daily preparation for worship in caregroup. We practice, we prepare. But we’d never know how the Holy Spirit’s gonna work.
Somehow, I’m just so glad that this God I’m serving always moves oh so unexpectedly (but never unknowingly). He’s full of surprises, isn’t He?
”your job is not to orchestrate a move of GodâŚbut to get ready for it!!!” – How true.
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-JoanHoe
leadership lesson from Abraham Lincoln
Through the entire article, there were many parallel links between godly leadership and Abraham Lincoln style of leadership.
Firstly, I must say that for a leader to have a team of rivals it takes him/her to be a very secure leader. This is because a team of rivals means the people are unafraid to take issues with the leader. For a leader who is egocentric, only his ideas count but he does not delight in what others think. Therefore, I must say that this is one leader who is certainly secure in his leadership. More so, they must be leaders who are confident of their leadership abilities.
Only when we have a team of leaders that dare to give their opinions about certain issues and leaders who know their authority given by God will then be a team that will take heights with God.
Questions to pounder:
- Do I know that God has given me the authority to lead his people?
- Do I have convictions in whatever Iâm doing?
There are so much more things that we can take away from the article, but I just leave all of us with this that as leaders we must lead with convictions (this is why we will be excel in what we do, because we will seek to improve) and we have to lead Godâs people with his authority.
Though both leaders have a team of rivals but they know that as leaders they will have the ultimate say in what should be done. We should listen to those valuable contributions by our team, but our leadership is based upon God and not what people think. Hence, leaders itâs time to lead with Godly authority.
hoe
reflection on article
heeheehee… looks like its my turn to post out my reflection wahaha…actually it is quite true that we should prepare for God’s will instead of estimating God’s plan for us as God is the ultimate heart of our body. therefore i have decided to follow God instead of myself muahahaha yea .
daniel
My reflection on the article:
I couldnât help but to agree that we never slot in our quarter calendar the date or time for revival to happen. Rather, we are in constant preparation for the day of revival to come where God will open the floodgates of heaven and do as what he did in the Acts church.
I think one thing is true is that we can have many programs that seemed to facilitate revival to happen such as special service, massive gathering contacts and all. But far more than the doing to see revival coming to past through programs what about the preparation of my very life? Everyday and every situation we land ourselves in is a form of preparation to revival. Either, we become closer to revival or further away form revival. Revival preparation begins with our daily life- to not only yearn to see the day coming but living as if the day will be coming.
The author wrote about what they have been doing day in and out as a form of preparation.
All we know is that from the start we were dogmatic about the vision God had given usâŚwe knew we werenât going to please everyoneâŚwe wanted to see people come to know JesusâŚwe believed the church was His idea to reach AND change the worldâŚand we were dedicated to keeping the vision simple and only doing what we knew He had called us to doâŚ
What about our lives? We can be studying, working or anything. But are we living our lives in such a way in preparation for revival to happen in our lives and ministry. It comes when you do not know, but do we think that at the current state of our living is in such a way that God can pour in the harvest to our lives and ministry?
One thing I caught from this entire article is simple- everyday is a form of preparation for me to see revival happening in our ministry and lives. But our preparation could be the simple and usual things that we do daily- such as outreach, shepherding and all but importantly we do it in such a way that we know this is what God has called me to do. This is why I exist on this planet called earth.
So captains, I urge us that live our lives in preparation for revival to happen in our ministry. Walk closely with God, serve him with him and follow his way of righteousness. So are you ready for a revival to happen in your ministry? Honestly, I yearn and want hence living in preparation for it to come. This explains why we work hard because we want to see people coming to the truth.
-davidhoe
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