“Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers.”
–Max Lucado, Pastor and Author

Summer small groups are also an ideal way to raise up new group leaders, for two reasons.

Number one, many of your regular leaders will want to take the summer off. In fact, we encourage a summer break. You don’t want leaders to get burned out. And through their break, you open up the opportunity for people who have never led before to step in.

Number two, many of your potential leaders will be most interested in leading their first group during the summer. Since the atmosphere is more casual and the groups do plenty of fun activities together, summer groups are easier to lead and provide good training ground. They are the perfect initiation for brand-new small group leaders.

Remember that sweet taste of freedom that summer brought with it when you were a kid? Well, the great thing about being a church leader is that you still get a new kind of freedom each and every summer. You get the freedom to be creative, to think outside the box and try new things.

Some of the things you try will work and some won’t. That’s okay. You’ll come out of the summer heat with new ideas, new people plugged in, and huge momentum for the season to come. Summer is just around the corner! Plan now to plant, so you can reap the harvest this fall.

Learn how your church can maximize the opportunities of summer.

Sign up for  your FREE Grow Your Church Webinar here:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/grow-your-church-webinar

Many churches decide to take a break from small groups during the summer, which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do. But if your structure allows for it, summer groups can be extremely effective for getting new people plugged in… especially if you do them creatively.

The summer weather gives you and your group leaders the opportunity to plan lots of fun groups that wouldn’t work during other semesters. You can do regular groups outside, sports-themed groups, or picnic groups. You can do just about anything that combines peoples’ desire to be out in the sun with their desire to meet new friends, learn more about God and have some fun.

As you start filling these summer groups, you’ll find that new people will often join just because they are interested in hiking or biking or whatever the group may decide to center around. That interest will get them connected so you can start the process of discipleship.

Since people have fluctuating schedules during the summer, we also like to set up a few open groups in the park. These are groups that require less dedication than a regular small group. They keep the people who can’t make a true summer commitment connected by giving them a group that they can pop into as they are available.

Plus, open groups are a perfect way to get brand-new attenders involved over the summer. Say a new person comes to church one Sunday and decides to attend a movie play group the next Friday night. Then, they learn about the open Bible study in the park on Tuesdays and decide to stop by. You aren’t asking them for a big commitment yet, but you are getting them connected and setting them up to become fully involved in the fall.

Learn how your church can maximize the opportunities of summer.

Sign up for  your FREE Grow Your Church This Summer webinar here:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/grow-your-church-webinar

As part of your creative summer series planning, try tying in fun events to complement your teaching.

For example, during the God On Film series, we have weekly “play groups” available where people can go see one of the featured movies with others from the church, and then grab dinner to discuss it. This goes hand-in-hand with your creative outreach. People will want to go see the summer blockbusters anyway, so why not invite them to go with you?

They’ll meet new people, have fun, engage in relevant conversation, and be more likely to attend church the day you are discussing what they’ve seen. When you can creatively tie your outreach and your messages together, you will see exponential results. 

In addition to your attractional series, keep in mind that the summer is a perfect time to spice things up and draw a crowd by bringing in guest speakers.  Think of the respected pastors that you would like to have preach at your church and then make the invitation. Their schedules will be more flexible in the summer, so they may just agree. Your attenders will be excited about having a fresh, new face come in and you can take your summer vacation without worry!

Learn how your church can maximize the opportunities of summer.

Sign up for  your FREE Grow Your Church This Summer Webinar here:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/grow-your-church-webinar

Summer is the time to be extra creative in your message planning.  You have the freedom to intentionally teach on topics that will draw a crowd.  Around The Journey, we always plan this kind of “attractional series” for the summer, in an effort to reach people who may not otherwise come to church. 

Each year we do a series called God On Film, where we pull spiritual themes out of the summers biggest movies and teach on them.  This series always attracts new people.  Especially if a movie is creating a lot of buzz in the media, people in the community want to know what the local church is going to draw from it.  One of the key advantages to this series it that it is fresh every summer.  The messages center on new movies, so there are always new themes to talk about.

In planning your summer teaching, make sure you structure your series so that all of the messages fall into the same theme or category, but don’t build on one another.  You want your new and sporadic summer attenders to be able to connect with the few messages that they may hear, without feeling like they are missing important background information because they haven’t been around for the entire series.

Whether you are doing a ten-week series or two shorter series, let each message under the umbrella stand as its own entity. Use every one as an opportunity to bring someone new in and help them get connected.  If you do,  you’ll find yourself with a lot of new people who are excited about going deeper with you in the fall.

Learn how your church can maximize the opportunities of summer.

Sign Up for  your FREE Grow Your Church This Summer webinar here: 

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/grow-your-church-webinar

“There is more power in a mother’s hand than in a king’s scepter.”
- Billy Sunday

Summer is one of the best times of the year to reach out to the community around you.  The weather and the relaxed mindset open doors that stay closed during other months – literally.  Everyone is out and about.

Your potential attenders are throwing Frisbees in the park, making small talk at baseball games and mingling on the closest beach.  You have unprecedented opportunities to make connections with people you may never see in another season. So plan some creative outreach.  The possibilities are endless.

At The Journey, we try to be as creative as possible when it comes to summer outreach.  At least once a week, all summer long, we will have groups doing Servant Evangelism in local parks.  This simply means that they hand passersby a cold bottle of water and a postcard invitation to the church.  It’s a great way to provide people with something that meets a need (cold water on a hot day) and some information about the Journey.  On top of Servant Evangelism, we’ve been known to do everything from dog parties for dogs and their owners to neighborhood block parties to big barbeques.

In the summer, people are much more open to doing something that doesn’t fit with their normal routine.  They are more willing to attend an event that sounds like fun, even if they may not know anyone there.  If you set up something that interests people in your community, they will come.

If you aren’t sure what to do, try piggy-backing on an event that people in your area will be attending anyway.  For example, if everyone in your area goes downtown to watch fireworks on July 4th, use that to your advantage.  Why not set up a July 4^th fireworks outing through your church and encourage your attenders to invite their friends?  If they are going anyway, why shouldn’t they go with you?

Learn how your church can maximize the opportunities of summer.

Download your FREE Maximizing Summer E-book here: 

www.churchleaderinsights.com/summer

Summer means many things.  We get longer days, luminous weather, leisurely vacations…. and lastly  church growth.  Okay, maybe that last one seems a little out of place.  As church leaders, we all know that summer is the worst time of the year for church growth, right?

When the temperature rises, we stare down a slump that’s as inevitable as a breaking wave.  We’ve been taught by those who have gone before us that summer is a time to strap in and make the best of what we’ve got, while look forward to the tide’s turning in the fall… but what if that thinking is all wrong?  What if it is actually possible to grow our churches through the summer?

Since it’s launch in 2002, The Journey Church in New York City has seen growth each and every summer.  How?  By discovering what it takes to use the tricky months of June, July, and August to our advantage.  If you know how to maximize summertime, you can continue to be effective throughout the season and set yourself up for a huge growth spurt in the fall.

The key is to keep your attendance consistent when our regulars head out for their vacations by using the summer to reach new attenders.  While you may not see actual numerical increase over the summer, you will see consistency and you will set yourself up for a strong start when school is back in session.

So, the onset of warmer weather means that you have a decision to make.  You have two options before you pack away those jackets and sweats: You can either choose to plant in the summer or beg in the fall.

We recommend planting, planting, and planting some more.   Plant the seeds of the gospel in the the summer sun by making an intentional decision to be creative in three important areas:

• Creative with Outreach
• Creative with Message
• Creative with Small Groups

Learn how your church can maximize the opportunities of summer.

Download your FREE Maximizing Summer E-book here:  

www.churchleaderinsights.com/summer

“He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.”
– Aristotle, Greek Philosopher

We’ve all heard this line from a frustrated pastor (or ourselves):

“We would be growing if we could just close the back door.”

The first step in closing the back door and keeping more first time guests is eliminating the mistakes you’re making now in assimilating new people!

After coaching over 1,200 Senior Pastors – of all types, church sizes, denominations, worship styles and geographic locations – I’ve identified the 3 most common mistakes churches make over and over when it comes to helping new people get connected.

I want to share these mistakes with you in a new, FREE webinar I’m doing called “The Top 3 Assimilation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.”

www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/AssimMistakes

In this 75-minute free webinar, I’ll walk you through each of these three most common mistakes and what you can do this week to correct them.

Will you join me for one of these FREE webinars Today, Tomorrow or Thursday?
(same webinar – 9 different times for your convenience):

• TODAY, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• TODAY, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• TODAY, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern OR
• Thursday, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• Thursday, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• Thursday, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern

Here’s what you can expect to learn:

• The #1 reason you’re unable to follow up with first-time guests and what you can do about it this Sunday!
• How you can WOW guests into coming back as a second-time guest
• The mistake every church makes and how you can avoid it
• Plus much more

It is FREE to participate but I do need you to Sign Up & Reserve Your Spot here:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

Space is limited on each webinar!

I hope to see you on the webinar this week!

Nelson

P.S. People have asked me why I offer these Free Webinars and the truth is, I’m passionate about training, equipping and coaching you for maximum Kingdom impact in your church and community.

Here’s the link again to let me help you identify and avoid these Assimilation mistakes:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes