A Travel Free Learning Article
By Ken Kessler at KKessler@TheColumbiaPartnership.org.
Download Connecting People to Christ
Do you ever get hit with any of these memories?
“I remember when we could pack our church on revival nights?” “I remember when a Friend Day would bring us more people than we knew what to do with on Sunday mornings.” “I remember when Vacation Bible School was the big event of the summer for our community. We would have children and adults running out of our ears during the two week time period we set aside.”
“I remember when we could knock on doors on Sunday afternoon and see at least a couple of people saved just from our visits.” “I remember when we would do a door-to-door survey in our community and find lots of prospects for our church. Why don’t we do another one?”
We long for the days of a community that revolves its life around the church and its activities. Just a few decades ago, you could put a sign up in your yard designating a special day at the church and people from all over the community would come. There was a general receptivity to the church and the gospel message wherever you went. Probably in some places this might still happen. Most of us recognize we live in a different day.
Researchers indicate we live in a time of spiritual receptivity, but many people open to spiritual things are not open to finding it at a church building. We still hope they show up at least for worship on Sunday morning. In fact, that is most of our strategy; we hope they come.
What are we doing to engage the people in our communities and develop relationships with them that will help them on their spiritual journey or lack of one? We called it evangelism where I grew up, but then we allowed some high pressure tactics of persuasion by a few smooth talkers to hijack the process of relationship building that Jesus perfected.
Remember the story where Jesus stopped by a well and told the disciples to go get something to eat while he rested? A woman showed up in the middle of the day to get water from the well. No other ladies of the town liked her so she came in the heat of the day to avoid confrontations. Jesus began a conversation with her in a simple way, and then moved it to spiritual concerns. The woman at the well experienced a life change just through this simple encounter.
On a journey of discipleship, we know the journey begins with Connecting People to Christ. How intentional are we in our efforts to engage people like the woman at the well, or the neighbor down the street, or even the stranger across town or across the world? We have become people who expect unreached people to find us. One church member told me, “They know where we are if they need us.” Sometimes we forget the strategy begins with connecting them to Christ before we ever connect them to the church.
We must develop a specific disciplemaking strategy to connect people to Christ. We must identify where they are and go on the journey with them. Books like Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room, and Rick Richardson’s Reimaging Evangelism are good contemporary resources on the connecting journey. Evangelism Where You Live by Steve Pate and Gene Wilkes in the TCP Leadership Series also addresses a proactive approach to engaging the community.
Think through your church’s strategy to the following groups:
· Prechurched: These are people who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior, and need a faith-based encounter with Christ. What steps are you taking to develop significant relationships with the pre-churched? It will stretch you to develop innovative strategies here because most of these people come from a different mindset than church people. You need to go to them rather than expecting them to come to you. What is working in your church: servant evangelism projects, Alpha courses, Starbucks evangelism, coaching, block parties, etc.?
· Unchurched: These people in your community have a spiritual journey, but are not connected to a Christ-centric community of faith. They are disconnected from church due to various reasons. They need a place to call home. Many are not sure where to turn for a viable faith community. What is the strategy you are employing as a church to impact these people?
· Dechurched: These people in your community are turned off by the church and have deliberately left it. Some have been impacted by church conflicts or personal choices that have left them bruised and hurt by church. My grandfather did not attend church for over fifty years because one of the leaders of the church defrauded him out of money from his business. There are people like my grandfather throughout our communities. The effort to reach them is difficult, but important. It is somewhat like the effort Jesus made to connect with Zachaeus in Luke 19. He was an outsider who needed to be brought back into the fold. What steps are you talking to help engage people like them with the gospel story?
· Underchurched: These people are passively involved in a church. They are members of a church. They attend less than once per month. Some are known as Chreasters and attend around Christmas and Easters, and a couple of more times during the year. They are not part of an intentional disciplemaking process. They are very casual about their faith. Renewal of their faith would be a great step forward for them.
You might think of other categories. These groups are not intended to be exhaustive. The key ingredient is to be intentional about how you are engaging people in your community. The journey of discipleship cannot move forward without a first connection to the story of Jesus the Christ.
What innovative things work in your community? Share your stories with others. We need to share good stories of connection to spread the positive word of what God is doing through your relationships with unreached people.
Find the strategy that will work in your church community. Watch and listen and engage your church in a careful look at the people of your community. Do not just look for a program that works somewhere else. Look for relationships that will work in your area. The key word is intentionality in connecting people to Jesus. They will not come any more just because you are having a worship service or a revival meeting.
Pray that God will open up more doors for you to connect God’s story to the story of the people of your community. Pray that unreached people see the story and love of Christ in the church rather than the message of politics and finances.
Important Things to Know
Ken Kessler is a Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership. He is also on staff with the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. The Columbia Partnership is a non-profit Christian ministry organization focused on transforming the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain Christ-centered ministry. Travel Free Learning is a leadership development emphasis. For more information about products and services check out the web site at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, send an e-mail to Client.Care@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, or call 803.622.0923.
