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The Florida Baptist Association is a networking ministry of diverse churches seeking to stimulate church health, develop leaders and multiply ministry in Leon, Wakulla, Jefferson and Franklin counties |
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Ideas for Impact by Garry Goodin, Associate Executive Director Florida Baptist Association, Tallahassee, Florida
Table of Contents Creativity in Worship Helping Your Pastor Financially Questions for Churches Questions for Associations Questions for Families Block Parties Monthly Fellowships Starting Small Groups College Ministry Single Adult Ministry Family Ministry Partnering with the Next Generation As We Do Ministry Growing our Sunday School Bible Studies Moving from Worship to Small Groups to Ministry Dealing with the Fear of Change New Member Training Training Missionaries in Our Churches World Changers and Other Mission Projects Getting the Most From A Discipleship Conference How We Do Conferences at Our Churches Space Needed for Nine Mission Churches to Meet 10 Mission Churches Need Help Helping Disciples Grow in Your Class Help to Build a New Church Building
CHURCH BUILDINGS, EXPANSION AND REMODELING Even in these challenging economic times, churches in our Association are growing, reaching new people, baptizing new believers, starting new small group Bible studies, and starting new ministry projects.
If your church needs to build a new building or to expand an existing building, here are some resources that may help you from the Florida Baptist Convention: www.flbaptist.org Architecture, Building Design and Space Needs - Sunday School Dept., John Boone, Director Church Loans - Church Revitalization and Loans Dept., Jim Robinette, Director Church Fund Raising - Stewardship Department, Clarence Hackett, Director
Also, there are opportunities to have a volunteer work crew help your church: http://www.namb.net/destination/ For information about Volunteer Teams that do building projects - call Baptist Builders (Florida) 1-904-396-2351
HELPING DISCIPLES GROW One of the main questions we want to know about our Sunday School class is - "how can I help people become followers of Jesus Christ and grow in their faith?" One thing to remember is this - many people learn better by doing something, rather than only hearing about it. Often, as teachers, we do a lot of "telling" and class members do a lot of "listening." As part of your lesson each week, why not think about how your class can "do" some things that will help them learn. Examples of actions: - praying - expressing gratitude and thankfulness - sharing a testimony - making a visit - reading the Bible - explaining a passage of scripture - memorizing a verse - helping someone inside or outside the church who has a need - using a spiritual gift of leadership, encouragement or mercy
CREATIVITY IN WORSHIP The choir, a praise team, a solo, using a variety of instruments, and drama. These are the traditional ways churches have used expressions of creativity to help us participate in praise and listening to God’s Word. How could some of these other parts of a church service also be used in a creative way to help people connect to God? 1. Prayer 2. The Lord’s Supper - Example: providing fresh baked loaves instead of the crackers 3. Baptism - Example: showing a video testimony before baptism, or hosting a reception for the family and relatives afterwards 4. The invitation - Example: using a response card occasionally on a Sunday to allow people to share a decision or need 5. Fellowship time and welcome - Example: Ask members to get up and sit by someone you don't know well 6. Testimonies - Example: have someone ready to share a testimony that relates to the sermon that day 7. Celebration and thanksgiving for what God is doing - Example: Have all the families who have joined in the last 6 months come forward and be introduced 8. Video clips to illustrate God’s Word during the preaching - Example: a movie or television clip, a YouTube video 9. Introducing new members - Example: when introducing a new member, explain who helped them come to know Christ or feel welcome at the church 10. Giving - Example: a testimony of how your giving helped a person in the community or a family in the church 11. Welcoming new visitors - Example: taking a welcome card and a balloon to leave on their front door while they are still in the worship service that morning
Tips for Creative Planning 1. Plan a month (or two or three) ahead of time. In order to find the resources of props, people, videos, music, food, or whatever is needed, it takes time. Have a list of volunteers who are ready to help make it happen. 2. Form a Creative Team for brainstorming - teenagers, college students, adults and senior adults. They should be people with a desire to try new things. 3. When more people are allowed to participate in planning the worship service, they develop a greater sense of pride about what the Spirit of God is doing, a deeper understanding of the difficulty in leading people in meaningful worship, a greater urgency for prayer, enthusiasm about inviting their friends and ownership for their God-given spiritual gifts. 4. Your Creative Team must learn to enjoy debate during the planning phase, and constructive evaluation after the worship service is over.
HELPING YOUR PASTOR FINANCIALLY You can help your pastor save on his taxes and help the pastor and the church office to comply with IRS guidelines by following some of these suggestions below:
1. Every December, have your ordained pastor turn in a written request for a Housing Allowance to the person who prepares the church payroll and the personnel team.
2. Have the church set aside an amount in the budget for mileage reimbursement. This is not an allowance and it is not salary. When the pastor drives his car for visitation, the hospital, weddings, funerals and other church business away from the church office, he can turn in his mileage each month for reimbursement from the church.
3. Set up a reimbursement account for books, DVDs, magazines, conferences and other materials your pastor may need to purchase for sermon and Bible study preparation and leadership growth.
4. Health insurance for your pastor, church staff and secretaries should be paid by the church.
5. Retirement for the pastor can be sent to Guidestone or another annuity.
6. Give your pastor a W-2 each year, not a 1099. He is an employee for income tax purposes.
WHAT KINDS OF QUESTIONS SHOULD OUR CHURCHES BE ASKING? 1. What is God's plan for the church and how are we doing? Are the activities we are doing helping people connect to God and others?
2. The people in our worship service - what do they think, what do they feel, what do they need? Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well had very different backgrounds, but Jesus met each of them with the gospel at their point of need.
3. What do people say is most helpful in the worship service - the preaching, the music, prayer, or what? Why? The message of the gospel will never change, but communication styles and methods are constantly changing. Our congregations are certainly changing as our culture changes. For example, in the past church members knew where to look up books of the Bible, now they often don't.
4. What is most helpful about the sermon each week? Some pastors include interviews or testimonies. Some pastors have a Question & Answer time. Some use movie clips. Some churches have small group discussion during the week based on Sunday's sermon. What will help us to most effectively communicate the message?
5. What kinds of music and preaching in our community will help draw people to God, heal broken hearts and inspire people to service?
6. Does our church help people to find a small group that can be "family" to them? The twelve disciples learned in a small group for almost three years while they tried to understand who Jesus was and how to put his teachings into practice. When a church creates 30 small groups, they have created 30 places where ministry can occur during the week and in addition to the worship service.
7. When the worship service is over, is it easy for people to find some friends to eat lunch with? How many people come and sit alone in worship, don't know anyone's name, and go home to an empty house for lunch? Would it raise the friendship level at your church if 10, 20 or 30 groups of people went to eat lunch together after the worship service?
8. What is most effective in helping people to learn and bond together as a team - lecture only or hands-on activity? Hearing or hearing + doing? Talking about prayer - or praying together? Talking about service - or serving together to help someone? I learned a lot by going with other church members to visit a prison, jail and hospital when I was a new Christian.
9. Is our church a castle with a moat around it - a place to defend ourselves? Or is our church a place where we train Christ-followers in how to go make a difference in the world?
10. Are we actively helping the next generation to be part of our church or holding them at arm's length? How many ways can we engage people under 30 years old in the work of the ministry - singing, teaching, preaching, greeting, deacons, ministry teams, ministry projects, home groups, drama, sound and lights, sports activities, etc.? I became a Deacon at my home church when I was 21 years old because our pastor had a policy that encouraged the Deacon Ministry to include younger men.
WHAT KINDS OF QUESTIONS SHOULD AN ASSOCIATION OF CHURCHES BE ASKING? 1. How can we help a pastor to be an effective leader for his church? What does he need?
2. Does a pastor have some friends he can talk to who encourage him? Many pastors say they don't. Can we help pastors and staff members to find a peer group for learning and fellowship?
3. Can we assist busy pastors with continuing education that exposes them to creative ideas for ministry and leadership?
4. Is a particular Association conference helpful, and if not, what would be better to help a church with their unique needs?
5. What would help church members feel better connected to the community of believers in our Association?
6. What ministry can several churches do together that would be difficult for one church to do alone? (Example: Project Big Bend, Peer Learning Groups, a concert or drama presentation, a youth camp or Disciple Now retreat, brining in a guest speaker or conference, and sharing facilities with a new church plant.)
WHAT KINDS OF QUESTIONS SHOULD A CHRISTIAN FAMILY BE ASKING? 1. Some teenagers stop attending church when they reach college-age. What kind of family environment will help our children to have a positive, life-long hunger to know God and serve people?
2. What experiences will help our family to bond and grow together spiritually?
3. How can we study, pray and serve together as a family and a team?
4. Many people say the thing that helps them most is when they read the Bible for themselves. How can we build this practice into our family member's schedules?
5. Jesus said "let your light shine." As a family, what can we do to help others in need and get personal "hands-on involvement?"
BLOCK PARTIES The second day after we moved to Tallahassee, our family walked down our street and we introduced ourselves to our new neighbors. When we discovered that our next door neighbor was going to be married soon, we asked if we could host a wedding shower for them in our neighborhood and invite the neighbors. Everyone enjoyed the social time at the shower and it built a foundation of friendship that grew deeper and deeper over the following years. We had July 4, Memorial Day and Labor Day cookouts. We had Thanksgiving and Christmas parties. Soon our neighbors were calling and inviting people to cookouts at their homes. Normal everyday conversations provided ways to share our faith and our testimony. When the inevitable crisis came to families on our street, we were there to pray with our neighbors, to watch their children, or bring a meal. The “church” sometimes has a hard time getting into a neighborhood to make “cold turkey calls,” but every Christian has an opportunity to reach out to their neighbors. Throw a block party! You can do this!
MONTHLY FELLOWSHIPS In most churches, there are people who attend worship but are hesitant to attend Sunday School or small groups during the week. They are often timid about leaving the “safety” and anonymity of the worship service and attending a class where they don’t know people well. One step to help solve this problem is to change and expand the idea of the traditional Sunday School class party. When only class members are invited, you usually get just a small group of class members attending. Why not combine a couple of classes together (adults in their 30s and 40s for instance) and then make a real effort to make some phone calls and invite all adults in that age group who usually attend worship only. Also, invite all your recent worship visitors, married or single, who fall within that age group. Don’t call it a “class” party, just make it a church party. A monthly fellowship like this, with 20 to 40 people attending each month, can be a warm, fun, friendly place to meet new people. It really helps the “worship-only” person to take a step closer to becoming a part of a Sunday School class or a small group.
STARTING SMALL GROUPS As a Sunday School teacher for the last 25 years, I want to say that I love Sunday School! But I have also been part of some fantastic small groups that met in homes. One family I know hosted a small group every week for 15 years. My high school son attended a small group for seniors that was designed to last one year and he looked forward to it every week. We hosted a small group for our un-churched neighbors that met for 6 weeks and they loved watching a marriage video by Gary Smalley and discussing how to have a better marriage. It was a great opportunity for us to share our faith and build deeper relationships with our neighbors. Here are some tips for starting a successful small group:
REACHING TEENAGERS In a recent book, it stated that of Americans 12 to 29 years old, less than 10% claim to be a Christian. If that is true, it ought to give us a reason to think long and hard about how we go about youth ministry in our churches. It seems to me that our basic approach is often to separate all the middle and high school students away from the rest of the people in the church. At the same time, we encourage parents to spend time with their children – as long as they don’t do it at church. We say we believe in training the future leaders of our churches, but we often don’t invite them to be part of the process until they graduate from college and seminary. At that point, 80% of our students who used to attend have already dropped out of church. For the sake of discussion and brainstorming outside the box, I would like to throw out a few ideas to think over.
MENTORING If we were fortunate, we grew up in a family where our father taught us how to change a tire, lay tile in a bathroom, and study the Bible. Perhaps our mother showed us how to cook a ham and cheese omelet, balance a checkbook and pray. If we were fortunate, we grew up in a church where people took time to walk closely beside us and help us grow in our relationship with God. I became a Christian in a church like that. When I was a college student, a deacon asked me if I would become his apprentice. He took me with him to visit the hospital, to share the gospel, and to pray with grieving families. An older woman in our church asked me to be her visitation partner. Week after week we visited homes and I watched her lead people to faith in Christ. A man in our church had a lot of compassion for people in prison. He asked me to go with him to visit and pray with men in jail and in the state prison. You cannot imagine the impact it had on me when older men and women the age of my parents and grandparents asked me to come with them and help in the ministry of the church. It helped me to grow tremendously when I not only heard sermons about loving people, but also got to see church members demonstrate that love. I hope you will remember this week the important influence you can have on a young person’s life by just inviting them to go with you, and help you, as you serve others in Jesus’ name.
COLLEGE MINISTRY It is exciting to live in a town like Tallahassee with 80,000+ college students. The potential to make a difference in the lives of these young adults is awesome. One resource you should consider is a partnership with the Baptist Campus Ministry. 1) The BCM has a large fellowship group that can welcome the newly graduating high school seniors from your church. But don’t leave it to chance. Call the BCM and set up a time when some of their strong Christian students can come to your church and meet with your graduating seniors. Plan a time to take your seniors over to FSU and take a tour of the BCM so they can meet the Director and some of their student leaders. Invite a group from the BCM to supply music, drama or testimonies during your worship service. 2) Help welcome new students each Fall on move-in day. Churches also help host a progressive supper for new students who are looking for a church. 3) Attend a weekly meeting at the BCM. 4) Churches are needed to help supply a meal once each semester for a BCM event. 5) Help a student with financial assistance for summer missions. 6) Students who did summer missions are available to come to your church and share an extended testimony. 7) Help reach Internationals – Thanksgiving food and furniture donations are collected each year.
SINGLE ADULT MINISTRY There are thousands of single adults in Tallahassee. Here are some tips to help your church build a single adult ministry.
Resources: We have video tapes at the Association office for Divorce Recovery or Grief Recovery. Check them out to use at your church.
FAMILY MINISTRY Here are some ideas about passing along our faith to our children and grandchildren:
PARTNERING WITH THE NEXT GENERATION AS WE DO MINISTRY
Last Sunday 2 college students from the FSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry went with me to Forest Heights Baptist where I was preaching. They spoke for 5 minutes about their involvement in international ministry on the campus and did an outstanding job.
This month I will lead a witnessing workshop at Crossway Baptist and two college students will go with me to help with leadership of this workshop.
A FAMU BCM student went with me to share a testimony at a local church.
A panel of seven college students helped me during a sermon as we talked about the "Future of the Church".
We took conference leaders from the Florida Baptist Convention to meet with students on the campuses of FSU and FAMU and lead discipleship workshops there.
This past February, when the Association hosted our Operation: Training Church Leadership conference, we had three workshops just for students on "Leadership" and "Evangelism".
The BCM sends out teams to local churches to share music, drama and testimonies.
This summer, dozens of college students from our Association are all over the world doing mission work. Every week I receive an email from one team as they travel through Southeast Asia.
I was in a local church this past Sunday night and was thrilled to see more than 30 students taking places of leadership with the music, drama, taking up the offering, leading in prayer, greeting visitors, taking care of technology needs, running the web site and leading in small group Bible studies all over town.
This summer, hundreds of students will help our churches lead mission trips, camps and VBS weeks.
June 8-13, around 100 students will come in to Tallahassee and do construction projects all over the city of Tallahassee in the name of Christ. They will share the gospel verbally and through their sweat and blisters as they care for families who need help.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. We have a tremendous resource in our students on the campus and in our churches and I thank God for them.
GROWING OUR SUNDAY SCHOOL BIBLE STUDIES In every area of life we struggle with change and getting out of our comfort zone. The same is true with our Sunday School class. Sometimes we need someone to come observe our class and give us “fresh eyes” and a fresh opinion on what would help us improve our effectiveness.
MOVING FROM WORSHIP TO SMALL GROUPS TO MINISTRY Most of what we do at church falls into one of three categories: worship services, small groups and ministry. Our goal is to help our church members move in a process from one to the other.
How can we help move church members from worship into small groups? One way might be testimonies in the worship service by the pastor and others about what they are learning in their small groups. A second way could be to set up tables with small group representatives in the foyer as people leave a worship service.
How can we help move church members from small groups into ministry? One way is to ask small groups to choose a ministry project or an on-going ministry that their group would like to be involved with. One church actually forms small groups that are centered around the type of ministry they will do. For example, the Children’s Ministry small group meets for Bible study and then does ministry once a week at the Children’s Home.
DEALING WITH THE FEAR OF CHANGE One of the hardest things for many churches to deal with is change. Change is hard because it often brings up an emotion of fear. Church leaders want to facilitate change because they want to make sure their church is going to be effective in reaching our present culture and community, as well as the next generation. So, they think about changes that might be needed for worship services, Sunday School, youth and children’s programs, mission projects, and building space. At the same time, Church leaders are hesitant of making too many changes which might cause people to be uncomfortable who have attended there a long time. It is just human nature that once we get used to doing things a certain way, it is more comfortable to keep it that way. So what is the answer? From my perspective, I want whatever church we attend to do the things that are necessary to reach the next generation. I want my church to teach us to live and share the unchanging good news in a way that communicates with today’s culture. I am okay with new styles of music, and different methods of preaching, if it helps us keep focused on the goal of sharing the Son of God with our world. The God who helps us with everything else can also help us face the fear of change.
NEW MEMBER TRAINING It used to be (in the old days) that when someone joined your church they already had some basic Bible and church knowledge because they grew up attending a church. It isn’t safe to assume that anymore. Many of our church members have never read the Bible all the way through, they don’t know what the Bible says about the Christian life, and they don’t feel comfortable trying to explain what it means to be a Christian to someone else. A New Member Class can provide part of the solution. New Member Classes can help people get to know the staff, the basic teachings of the Bible, the vision and goals of your church, and a little bit about your ministries. In a relaxed atmosphere, new members may feel comfortable enough to ask the questions they have been dying to ask. After spending several hours or weeks together, new friendships will often be formed. If your church needs more information about resources for new member training, please contact the Association at 877-7600.
TRAINING MISSIONARIES IN OUR CHURCHES Jesus has already called us and sent us to make a difference in the world (Acts 1:8). Now, how can our church help our members to be successful in their calling?
One way is helping our church members to experience hands-on missions. A children’s class can help widows or single mothers. Teenagers can help collect winter coats for the Haven of Rest homeless shelter or take school supplies to a neighborhood school. Families can help a sick neighbor and more.
The more we all interact with the people in our community, the more compassion God will develop in our lives for hurting people.
WORLD CHANGERS AND OTHER MISSION PROJECTS Every Sunday, David Southerland and I are in one of our Association churches, sometimes preaching and sometimes just enjoying the fellowship and worship. It is so exciting to hear pastors each Sunday talking about the local mission projects that their churches are involved in. Working together we can make a big impact and change lives. Thank you for helping with our World Changers construction project which will involve over 100 Southern Baptist students coming to Tallahassee to do construction and repair work for low income families. At the same time these students will share the gospel in each neighborhood. Last year, 20 people made a decision to trust Christ.
GETTING THE MOST FROM A DISCIPLESHIP CONFERENCE This month, Feb. 19-20, is our annual Discipleship Conference. Here are some ideas for getting the most from this conference: 1) In addition to inviting the whole church, also ask some specific people to be your church’s representative to a particular workshop. There are 15 workshops so 15 people from each church would be a great goal! 2) Focus on the youth and college group. These are our future leaders. Ask 10 specific students if they would be willing to go to a workshop on either Monday or Tuesday night. 3) Invite all your college students to attend either the lunch meeting at FSU on Monday, or the lunch meeting at FAMU on Tuesday. 4) Call the Association office and ask us to email you the bulletin insert. This ½ sheet of paper can be used for worship or Sunday School classes. It has the place and times as well as a description or each workshop. 5) Schedule a conference speaker to come to your church during the day on Monday or Tuesday.
HOW WE DO CONFERENCES AT OUR CHURCHES On average each year, the Florida Baptist Association will publicize fifteen to thirty local conferences or training opportunities to our Association churches. In addition, many churches host conferences or revivals for their own members. Finally, some churches get a group together to travel to Orlando, Jacksonville or Atlanta to attend large national conferences. Here are a few ways we can make the most of these training opportunities: 1. Reaching a Tipping Point: Try to get a majority of your target group to attend the conference. Even if the conference gives wonderful ideas for deacon ministry, it is harder to discuss them if only one deacon attended instead of the whole group. 2. How Change Happens: The truth is that change does not happen just because we hear something – whether it be a sermon, a Sunday School lesson or a conference speaker. We will forget most of what we heard within a few hours. In order for change to happen, the hearing must be followed up by thinking, reading, discussion, experimenting, planning and small action steps. Most of the time, we would be wise to get all the people together who attended a conference and discuss which of the creative ideas that we heard would be good for our church and how to implement them. 3. Coaching: After attending the conference, people are most successful in making permanent changes when they have a coach who assists them. This is the idea behind small group discipleship. Jesus discipled the twelve and He sent to Holy Spirit to come along beside us as our encourager.
SPACE NEEDED FOR NINE CHURCHES TO MEET If you know of an empty space where a church could meet, let us know at the Association office. Several thousand Christians praying and thinking together should be able to solve this opportunity. There are currently nine churches in our Association looking for a better place to meet so their churches can continue to grow. These nine churches have between 20 and 300 members attending each week. They are meeting in rented facilities, like schools and restaurants, which they have either outgrown or are too expensive for a small church to afford. Five churches need worship space for less than 100. Two churches need space for 200 in worship. Two churches need space for 400 in worship. All of the churches need some additional space for child care and Sunday School.
10 MISSION CHURCHES NEED HELP If your church is considering a local mission project this summer, there are ten local churches being planted that might welcome your help.
If your church would like to provide some help to a church plant, please call Garry Goodin at the Association office, 877-7600
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