Rocking Around The Christmas Tree.

I have to say it actually is a lot like the way we do Christmas decorations!

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!

Kelly

1.  Write your own pamphlet to give away.  It could be your own testimony with a simple evangelistic invitation at the end.  This method works because people are more likely to read something if they know the author personally.  You can add some evangelistic verses and a prayer at the end.

2.  Wear something that gets people’s attention and makes them ask you a question.  This could be as simple as a T-shirt, or buying a unique lapel pin with a message, or a wristband.   www.ctainc.com Christian tools of affirmation.

3.  Carry copies of your favorite book, CD, or DVD to give away that has a Christian message.  Jesus Movie, Purpose Driven Life, More Than a Carpenter, American Tract Society, www.atstracts.org

4.  Master at least one, easy to follow gospel presentation.  After someone asks you a question, or after you have given your testimony, or they have read your pamphlet, you still have to be able to lead them to Christ.  All effective soul-winners follow some presentation or plan.  Whether it is the 4 spiritual laws, the Romans Road, or the ABC’s, you must have a plan to follow.  I suggest you have more than one, so you are able to choose the one you think will fit best.  Here are the three I like best:  Good News Sandwich, ABCD, and One Verse Evangelism.  All are clear, simple, easy to remember, easy for the listener to follow, non-threatening, actually present the gospel message, and call for a decision.  All of them are very easy to lead into.

5.  A good idea for Pastors and churches is to have one Unified Plan, to teach and use as a church family each year.  Choose one of the methods above, or something different like “power beads” or “one verse evangelism.”  Preach a series on the Plan you are using.  Have a special training session and let everyone know that this is THE plan your church is using this year.  Whenever possible, invite a guest speaker / authority to come in an speak on the subject.  Get all of your leaders on board.  Ask for testimonies of how people have used this to lead someone to Christ.  People will be bolder since they know the entire church is doing this and they are not on their own.  Testimonies will keep people encouraged and motivated.  Use One Verse Evangelism which focuses on Romans 6:23 and call it “One Sentence That Changed The World!”  Example:  “Would you like to hear one sentence that changed the world?”  “Can I tell you how it changed my life?”

Try one of these tactics and see how well it works for you or your church.  Send me a note to let me know or leave  comment at the bottom of this page.

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It is so easy for people to simply get out of the habit of church attendance.  Even Christian people sometimes find it easy to find a reason to just stay home.  In spite of all the scriptural reasons for believers and church members to be in the fellowship with other believers, many will find a “good reason” to skip church.  After 3 or 4 weeks, it is not just “skipping” church, it is high risk for losing them altogether, especially if they have not been contacted by someone they feel is a significant church leader.

Here is an outline for a low keyed, low budget inreach campaign that can help you boost attendance after one of those natural slumps, and help to bring the straying lambs back into the fold where they will be safe and fed.  Inreach is a term that is used to refer to reaching out to church members or regular church attenders.  Outreach is used to refer to reaching out to the unchurched or unsaved in the community.

First, set a date on the calendar about 4 or 5 weeks out and invite someone local to sing, give a testimony, or preach and plan a pot luck or cookout with it.  Begin advertising it through your regular channels of promotion, your bulletin, newsletters, email, etc.  It is a good idea to begin a new Sermon Series in conjunction with that Sunday that you can also promote and that people will find interesting when they attend and be motivated to return for the rest of it. 

Next, begin your “postcard campaign.”  Everyone likes to receive personal mail.  Postcards are fun.  Purchase fun, age appropriate postcards for all of your department workers to mail out.  It might be helpful to let the church leaders in each department choose the postcards they will be sending.  You could give them a Lifeway catalog and let them choose what to order.  Sometimes I like to just go to Walgreen’s or Walmart and find postcards with local color such as a desert scene, or desert animals, or the state emblem, state flower, state bird, etc.  Those will catch someone’s eye when they arrive.  Count back from the date you set for the special date, or “inreach Sunday,” and ask all of your department workers to get involved.  Each department, children, youth, adult, senior adult, etc. should plan something special on that day.  It does not have to be big, just different.  It could be something as small as a promotional video, a new study, an update, or face painting. 

Week One:  Ask all of the Preschool and Children’s Workers to write a personal postcard, which the church has provided, to everyone on their rolls.  This includes visitors and sometime attenders.  After all, your goal for irregular attenders is to help them to become regular attenders.  Use Sunday School and Extended Session rosters and ask the workers to get personally involved.  Make each note personal from the leader who works directly with these children.  Say how much you enjoy having them in your class and that you are thinking of them, and mention the date for the special “inreach Sunday.”  Ideally, no leader should have to write more than 10 postcards.  The more church workers that are enlisted, the fewer cards each will have to write and the more participation you will have throughout the campaign and on the special day.  Have them mailed before Wednesday.

Week Two:  Ask all of the Youth Workers to write a personal postcard, which the church has provided, to everyone on their rolls. Again, this involves members, occasional attenders, and visitors.   Use the same procedure in enlisting your youth leaders.  As before, each note should be a personal note and also mention the date for the “inreach Sunday.”  It is important to let the youth workers add their own special touch.  They tend to know the pulse of the youth better than most.  But the postcards are still key.  They must be mailed before Wednesday.  It is also important to get many of the youth leaders involved, not just the youth staff.  Part of what makes this campaign work is the involvement with the lay leaders in planning something special and writing the cards.  Let your leaders know that they have a personal stake in the success of the event.

Week Three:  Ask all of the Adult Workers to write a personal postcard to everyone on their rolls.  This is the Sunday School, Men’s Ministry, Women’s Ministry, and any other adult ministries of your church.  Sometimes, people who attend one of these ministries may not have their name on a Sunday School or small group roll.  Use the same procedure as before.  Remember the key is involvement and have about a 1 to 10 ratio or smaller. 

Week Four:  Send a Postcard announcing the special inreach Sunday. (Do not call it inreach Sunday, if you name it, call it something different like “Round up Sunday” or perhaps something that has to do with the events of the day or the new sermon series)  Mail this from the office on Monday.  On this week, ask each department to make a personal phone call to each person on their list that that sent a post card to.  Talk for a few minutes if they are home and then remind them about the special day, or invite them.  This should be no more than a 1 to 10 ratio. 

By week four, there will be a momentum effect.  Every person in the church will have received at least one individual, personal postcard.  Everyone will have heard about the special day through several different mediums.  Most families will have received more than one personal post card from someone they know in the church that also knows them by name. 

Week Five:  Enjoy a great day for your church family.  The benefits are that your church organization has been re-engaged and involved after a natural time of inactivity.  Many absentees will begin to show up after the initial contact.  So, hopefully, your attendance will begin to get back on track before your special Sunday, your atmosphere and attitudes will begin to brighten since people are busier.  The entire church family has been working together toward one goal and can celebrate together.  Members who might have been in danger of dropping out have been re-connected with your church family in a personal way.  People who have been marginal in their attendance will begin to be more regular.  Some relationships will form and become stronger because of the personal contacts. 

One of the beauties of this type of campaign is that it is low-keyed.  In other words, there has not been a lot of hype from the pulpit about it except to talk about the special inreach Sunday.  The organization has been working diligently behind the scenes.  The cost is very low.  You may or may not have to pay a special speaker.  You will have to pay for postcards and postage for every person on your church roll that God has led to your church.  You will have some expenses for a church wide dinner, but if it is pot luck, then that is a small expense.  The increase in attendance throughout the campain and afterwards should easily pay for these expenses and much more.

Let me know how you use this campaign in your church and how effective it was for you.  Also let me know any suggestions or special twists you may have added to it.  Just write a comment in the comment box or send me an email.

Lyle Schaller tells us that morale seems to be the number one problem in the local church.  In other words, keeping everyone positive, focused on a common goal, having real harmony, and a “can do” attitude.  The leader, the Pastor, the people who speaks in front of the congregation each week must model that good morale.  When they slump, so do the people around them.  This works in a family, too.  If the leader of the family is down, the family will be down even more.

So how do leaders stay inspired?  Well there are so many sources of inspiration and no one knows your sources of inspiration better than you do.  Some of those sources of inspiration are spiritual, and some are not, but they are all important.  Everyone needs a Daily Quiet Time, but sometimes we need more.

The Bible, the Word of God is a wonderful source of inspiration.  The Psalms, the stories, David and Goliath, the life of Paul, the death of Jesus, the love of God, are all rich sources of inspiration.  I love Philippians 2:5-11.  My pastor in college, Jerry Falwell, loved to preach on 2 Corinthians chapter 1, the God of all Comfort.  It seemed to be his signature sermon and I also noticed that he preached on this topic at times when he seemed to need inspiration.

Christian music is a rich source of inspiration.  If you are down, pull out your favorite CD, or now you can download it to your iPod.  Play it in your office.  Listen to inspirational music, not music that will depress you.  It is called “mood music” for a reason and it will put you in a mood, good or bad.

Current events provide many inspiring examples.  Someone said that every dark cloud has a silver lining.  We often find the most inspiring stories in the most difficult tragedies.  When Flight 1549 left LaGuardia Airport in New York and had to make a crash landing in the chilly waters of the Hudson River, the cool-headed heroic actions of Pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, enabled all 155 passengers and crew to emerge alive.  How inspiring is that picture of those passengers standing on the wings of that US Airways plane.  The stories of passengers and crew who prayed and helped one another get out, of mothers who needed the help of fellow passengers to get their small children out of the plane.  As I write I am hearing about the disaster in Haiti.  I am also hearing reports from Christians and Christian organizations who are there doing their best to help people.  Keep a notebook with inspiring stories or clips you can keep on your wall.

Speeches and poems can also provide a rich source of inspiration.  I know we are not a nation who loves speeches, at least we don’t think we do.  However, we really do love what we hear contained in speeches.  Where would our nation be today with the Gettysburg Address, A Day that will Live in Infamy, or I Have a Dream.  By the way, all three speeches came from inspirational leaders who found it necessary to stay inspired and inspire others in the midst of very difficult circumstances.

I can remember a time in my own ministry when everyone around me was so negative and bringing me down to the point that I could not inspire anyone.  It got my attention one day when I was calling a list of prospects and I asked one of them how she was doing.  She responded by asking me how I was doing because I sounded so down and discouraged on the phone.  Well, that is not a very good way to attract new people to your church.  I decided I had to take action and do something about it.  I had to actually get away from the negative people and surround myself with some motivational books and tapes until I could emerge.

One of my favorite inspiritational poems or speeches comes from President Theodore Roosevelt.  It is often quoted as a poem or short saying, but it comes from a much longer speech that he delivered to the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.  It was a speech about citizenship in a republic and the important of everyone to be involved and to invest in the citizenship.  It is usually called “In the Arena.” 

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

I love this brief paragraph.  It inspires me because it reminds me and others of the importance and dangers of being personally involved.  But Roosevelt, familiar with how leaders and doers are so severely criticized when they stumble, or fail, by people who themselves, are not willing to step in the arena.  The arena is where the battles are fought and unfortunately, many are afraid to get into the arena.  Many are afraid of the unsympathetic criticism of the uninvolved crowd and so they stay clear of the arena.  Since I know what it is like to be in the arena day after day, and to hear the crowd, I can relate to his words, and I’ll bet that if you are a leader, you can, too.

Regardless of the methods you may use, as a leader, it is your daily responsiblity to stay inspired.  Read the words of Teddy again and see if you can relate.  Print them out and read them from time to time.

Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know some of the things you do to stay inspired. 

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So many Pastors and staff people who love people and want to minister to them in a time of need confess a real silent frustration with the time that Pastoral Care takes away from other equally important ministries.  Pastors want to be at the hospital before a surgery, they want to bless those who have extended illnesses, and they really want to encourage the people around them.  Time is the big limiting factor.  Stan gave me this tip many years ago and I have used it regularly since.

How to care for seven people in an hour and a half:

1 hour

• Intentionally spend one hour with one person
• Encourage and praise them.
• Do not conduct church business.

15 minutes

• Make 3 five-minute phone calls to three people.
• Encourage and praise them.
• Tell them you simply called to tell them you were thinking about them.

15 minutes

• Write three short notes to three people.

Use the Four “S’s” of Note Writing.

1. They are sincere.
2. They are short.
3. They are specific.
4. They are spontaneous.

• Encourage and praise them.
• Handwritten, just two or three sentences telling them what you appreciate about them.

Never underestimate the power of a brief, genuine note of praise and encouragement. 

Thanks Stan.  This has been a lifesaver many times.

Feel Free to Leave a Comment below in the “Comment Box” and share a tip of your own on this subject or another.