Learning from Others

New wine goes in new wineskins. Don’t patch an old garment with new cloth. Jesus insisted that His followers look for new methods to reach the world. The Jews of His day had their own way to teach people about God and even a way for non-Jews to become followers of God. But Jesus had His disciples use radically new ways to draw people to the God who loves them.

Today, effective churches still try new methods to reach people. Some of these methods are already proving successful: starting new groups, meeting in non-church settings, and friendship evangelism. Others are still being tested: internet discipleship, satellite congregations, and media campaigns. Others have proven less useful than expected: “cold-turkey” gospel presentations may produce decisions, but they rarely produce disciples.

Where do these churches get the ideas for new approaches?

Denominational resources can help. In the Church of the Nazarene, each congregation can learn from others in similar circumstances. District training events, retreats, and even informal gatherings allow pastors and lay people to learn what other Nazarenes are doing to make disciples.

Interdenominational resources are also widely available in Canada and the United States. Successful pastors are willing to share their approaches, and many consultants bring their conferences around the country. While such approaches may need to be adapted for the Church of the Nazarene, the openness to new ideas will help any congregation in its efforts to improve its outreach.

There is another major source of new ideas, but first we need to discuss attitudes.

Far more important than finding resources is having an expectancy of change. The local church of any size should be looking for new ways to attract more people, disciple them, and put them to work. Such churches make time for looking at change opportunities.

Smaller churches often do their planning in the foyer after the worship service. Part of the informal discussions could be, “What can we do better so that our first-time guests will want to return?” If the congregation is regularly challenged to think that change is good, even the parking lot conversations will set an atmosphere of expected change.

Mid-size congregations often formalize the change process in boards and committees. A regular part of the agenda for each group could be “What would make the church more effective in its discipleship?” If even the worship committee struggles with the idea of “improvement is always possible,” then the church will be expecting new approaches in all it does.

Larger congregations may have task forces, or the pastoral staff may initiate most changes. In either case, those responsible can be encouraged to look for new ways to involve more people in ministry. New ministries can be created, or existing ministries adapted to allow more people leadership roles.

In any size congregation, changes are more acceptable if seen as part of the church’s mission to bring new people to Christ, to teach them how to live holy lives, and to train them to use their gifts for God’s work.

Once the congregation is looking for ways to improve, another major source of ideas is ready to be tapped: the non-Christian world.

How do successful businesses in your area operate? What after-school programs for children are most popular in your neighborhood? Which are the successful volunteer agencies in town? When the church wants to attract more people, when the church is focused on finding the best way to disciple, or when the church is actively deploying volunteers, there are already a lot of organizations doing each of these successfully. What can the church learn about attracting people from the successful supermarket? What can we learn about effective training from the local school? How does the United Way get busy people to volunteer their time?

Of course, the new approaches will need to be adapted by the local church. The congregation should not operate as a supermarket, school, or the United Way. But if the church is serious about making improvements, every other success story will inspire the congregation to adapt successful methods.

—prepared by Dale E. Jones, Kenneth Crow, and Richard Houseal