DNA Coaching - Dr. Don Nations - The DNA Update for United Methodists, Mid-February 2015
The DNA Update for United Methodists, Mid-February 2015
In This Issue:
"Would I Miss Something?"
About Those Large Growing Churches
“Would I Miss Something?”
Think about someone who has visited your church a few times. It is Sunday morning and they are waking up. It has been a busy week and they still have some things to accomplish before heading back to work on Monday. They are getting breakfast and thinking about getting ready for church when they ask themselves this question, “Would I miss something if I did not go to church this morning?”
Now try to answer this question objectively. We know we would like to say “of course you would miss something!” but would that really be the case?
When was the last time you planned something truly surprising in worship?
When was the last time the congregation was so caught up in celebrating what God was doing, the service went long and no one complained?
Would a relatively new person already be strongly connected to at least a few people in your congregation or does that take most people a longer amount of time?
Is the congregational singing really a joyful experience or is it often filled with poor playing, poor singing, a lack of leadership and or distractions from a poor sound system?
Is the message/sermon so memorable that people are talking about it during the week and attempting to put into practice what they learned?
When was the last time you Skyped during worship with a missionary supported by your church, a mission team from your church, a student who grew up in your church and is now involved in campus ministry, etc.?If we want to help people be more consistent in their attendance then it is helpful if they believe they would miss something if they did not attend. How are you intentionally creating a faith community that people do not want to miss?
About Those Large Growing Churches . . .
They were not always that size. Some were new church starts which had between 5 and 50 people at the beginning. Others were established churches, often between 50 and 200 people, which entered into a time of growth. Either way, they took some specific steps which led to reaching and retaining more people.
They did not get there overnight. I know churches which have grown from 10 to 300 in three years, 10 to 1700 in ten years and from 300 to 2200 in fifteen years. It took time for the growth to happen. It was not all linear and some years were better than others. It is tough to build something great overnight.
They had help. Most leaders of large churches are learners. They read books by those who are successfully reaching new people, they attend conferences where they are stretched and they visit churches that are doing something well. No one and no church is “self-made”.
They are willing to share. The large church leaders I know are happy to share what they have learned. They welcome other church leaders to visit and take a look around. They want other churches to be successful. They usually view other churches as “being on the same team”.
They are not perfect. They can point to where they need to improve. They have a lot of people but that also means that they deal with a lot of people-related issues. They have more money than other churches but their overhead is much higher. They may appear awesome at first look but no church has its act together 100%.
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