Plantation
Notes for 4/16/08
Worship & Prayer
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Oh For a
Thousand Tongues
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Personal prayers of praise and thanksgiving
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How Can I
Keep from Singing
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We are an
Offering
Share peace, sit with small groups
Testimony – Sunday worship (8:00 guests, 10:30 guests, overflow, parking) – At Council last night, they rejoiced in conversation that Community of Hope is starting to see some of the fruit of our prayers. At the 8am service, a couple has worshipped with us every week since receiving the flyer we passed out, yet still is cautious, not providing contact information yet. On the other end of the spectrum, another new guest has already transferred her membership to COH. At the 10:30 service this week, we ran out of parking, and almost all of the seats in the sanctuary were full. Pastor Dave had shared last Sunday’s theme with the Friday morning prayer group (Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the life). This is an incredibly difficult topic, especially for young people, and on Sunday, we had more young adult guests show up then we had ever had in the history of the congregation. Another couple contacted Pastor Dave looking for a pastor to marry them. She, in particular, needed to grieve some prior church hurts and pain. Pastor Dave gave them the opportunity to do that, and they were here on Sunday morning along with her 14 year old daughter.
Teaching/application
1) Video – elderly woman witnessing to robber (to view, go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=fDmp967UMds )
When a young man climbed into the woman’s car and demanded her money, she said “No!” and proceeded to witness to the man about Jesus. The robber left her in tears with a kiss on her cheek – and the woman voluntarily gave him all of the money she had ($10.00).
2) Review our progress in our evangelism tool kit
1. Pray for courage, opportunities, and effectiveness, not just for people to be saved.
2. Get other people to pray with you and for you. (i.e. prayer triplets)
3. Know the fundamentals of Christianity – i.e. “Four Questions” (Who is God? – Trinity; Who is Jesus? – fully God, fully human; How are we saved? – by grace through faith; How do we know? – the Bible)
4. Be able to define a Christian in one sentence – “I trust that Jesus died and rose for me.”
5.
“The Bridge Illustration” (see
6.
“The Morality Ladder” (see
7. Conversation turners (i.e. “We’ve been acquaintances for a long time, but I’d really like to get to know you better…” “My church is doing this crazy thing where they’ve asked us to survey people we know – do you mind…?”)
We all probably have relationships where the conversation has stalled, and the level of intimacy has never gone very deep. These may be people that we have known for decades. These questions can help to steer the conversation to get to some deeper topics.
1. “Do you ever think about spiritual things?”
2. “How could I pray for you?” – Almost no one gets offended with this question. Pastor Dave has had home or hospital visits that have turned around with this question.
3. “What brings you the most joy in life?”
4. “Where do you think you are in your spiritual journey?
5. “If you could ask God anything, what would you ask Him?”
6. “Would you like to know the difference between Christianity and religion?”
7. “Can I tell you what I experienced at church this weekend?”
8. Conversation guidelines
1. Pray constantly for sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
2. Listen more than you talk.
3. Don’t give a ten sentence response to a one sentence statement. The goal is to pique their interest, not squelch it.
4. Avoid prolonged theological arguments. i.e. “If that question/point of contention was adequately addressed, would you be ready to accept Jesus as your Savior?”
5. Personal testimonies of how God changed you can’t be argued with.
6. People’s primary question in generations past used to be, “Is it true?” Now, it tends to be, “Is it real?”
7. Be humble. Admit your struggles, and how you’re dealing with them. It is okay to admit that you don’t know the answer to a question.
8. Many (most) people who’ve left the church had a negative and painful experience. If they’re willing to talk about it, your listening will be a great gift. Empathize, don’t defend. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
9. Our motives have to match our message. If your interest in the other person is conditional on their receptivity, it will be hard for them to hear you when you speak of God’s unconditional love.
10. If you sense the Holy Spirit speaking to you (i.e. a word of knowledge), preface it humbly, “This picture/thought just came into my mind – does that mean anything significant to you?” Be bold – it’s hard to argue with the supernatural!
A question was asked on how to minister to someone who left the church after a death. Pastor Dave advised to listen more than you talk (see #2 above), and engage in a dialogue with the person. Get them to talk about the situation. Most of the time, people aren’t looking for a simple answer. Instead, they need to grieve, and they need someone to listen while they do that.
3) Strategic Planning Team report – Mary gave an update on the Strategic Planning Team effort. They have had one meeting. The team is still forming. This week they will be focusing on communication within the church when they meet.
4) Remembering Visitors Names – Pastor Dave shared how he remembers names of people who visit the congregation. When someone visits, he makes an effort to meet them. He then goes in and writes their name on an index card so he can remember them. He then showed visually about a one-inch stack of local guests within the last year without a church home (as far as we know). That was placed side by side to a stack of guests over 17 years who’ve since become members (about two inches thick.) The next stack was guests who’ve come but stopped coming after either the first or subsequent visits (about a foot high.) We’ll talk more next week about how to show the love of Christ to our guests in practical, relevant ways that have been proven to increase the number of guests who eventually become an active part of a congregation.