July 2006 Archives

Beware of Professional Christians
by Dan Reiland

At Crossroads, we pray what can seem like a strange prayer. We pray that God does not send Christians to our church. Before you yell "heresy" and push your delete key, keep reading. We have such a passion to reach the un-churched that we don't want to fill up the limited space we have with Christians who are looking for a new church to attend.

I have been asked: "How can you pray such a prayer?" "Do you turn away followers of Christ?" Of course we don't. We don't turn anyone away. We don't have our parking lot attendants "carding" people, asking if they are Christians and turning them away. It's easy to pray such a prayer when your heart is hot to reach people far from God.

We pray also for a second group. We pray for Christians to come who are nominal in their faith. We would love for the majority to be non-Christians, but particularly in the Southeast, that is not our reality; there are many who have some church background and consider themselves Christians even though their lives give no evidence. (Don't go theological on me, stay practical here.)

We pray for a third group to attend. We pray that the Christians that do come are leaders who are ready to serve. For these believers we are most grateful. We ask God to make this a small but powerful percentage of new people.

If we must choose who we offend (though it is not our desire to offend anyone), we will offend Christians, not the un-churched. If we offend anyone, we are most likely to offend what I call "Professional Christians." Professional Christians are believers, but have no intention to roll up their sleeves and serve. They are looking, in contrast, for a church to feed them, meet their needs, serve their schedules, and offer many of the latest and coolest programs in town. If you felt a little heat there, it is intentional. The consumer mindset in the local church is killing us.

Want people to read and respond to your bulletin announcements and other publicity? Don't just tell them when and where the event will be - tell them why they should participate. Give them a reason to attend.

How to Write a Church Activity Headline that Really Gets Read
by Chris Forbes

Everyday in the United States people are bombarded with a communication avalanche. It has been estimated by communication experts that the average American experiences 1,500-3,500 attempts to get his/her attention per day.

With all that competition, what hope do we who want to communicate to church members and unchurched people about our church events and ministry opportunities have of getting people to hear us? How do we keep the message we know is so important from getting drowned by the information tsunami?

The answer? Learn to broadcast! No, not by buying a radio station! But by learning to speak to people in a way that makes them naturally tune-in. Communication experts tell us, people are like radio receivers tuned into a single radio station. It seems all people are tuned in to “WII FM”. That stands for “What’s In It for Me?” Want to attract attention of the people you’re trying to reach? Tell them “what’s-in-it-for-me.” Tell them what the ministry event can do for them, or why they should be interested in it through the headline. In other words, give them more than facts, give them benefits.

The fact is, people’s needs drive what people pay attention to. People usually only notice what will benefit them in some way. So it never hurts to give them more than just the mere facts in your headlines, event announcements and sermon titles. Learn to think more strategically when writing brochures, newsletters and advertisements.

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