-
Are you speaking Christianese?
Chris Forbes as a great article on the danger of speaking Christianease - you can read it here. Here’s a few of the highlights:
(Start Quote) Have you ever read copy in church advertisements like the lines below?
- “Join us this Sunday for anointed Holy Ghost preaching, dynamic praise and worship and intimate fellowship in the body”
- “At our church you will hear sound expository preaching on the doctrines of Grace”
- “We exalt the Savior, equip the saints, and edify the servants!”
- “Our church is a corporate outlet for truth-filled praise and worship!”
I can’t tell you how many church signs, brochures, worship bulletins, and websites I have seen that have sentences like those above. Much marketing coming out of churches today uses terms the general populace doesn’t understand.
We may know what words like, “exalt”, “equip”, and “anointed” mean, but what do these things mean to the people who have never or rarely been inside the walls of a church? (Personally, I am working on what “magnify” really means…it’s not about magnets, right?) For example, for many people the word “gospel” is not about the message of Jesus Christ, it’s a genre of music. You can’t help people understand the real meaning of the gospel, until you understand the people you want to reach.
….
5 Steps to Cleaning Up Your Church Marketing Language:
1. Start with your audience in mind: Instead of just brainstorming in your office how you want to creatively word your message, write copy with specific people in mind. If you define your audience more clearly and have a mental image of the people to whom you are speaking, the best vocabulary will emerge in your mind from understanding them.
2. Purge your copy of words that need to be explained: Be careful to use only terms that have a clear meaning to your target audience. Try using a thesaurus to find other ways of saying what you want to say.
3. Make your meaning plain: When you have to use a specialized term, define the meaning of the word in your copy.
4. Test your copy: Show your materials and concepts to people in your target audience to get their candid impressions and reactions to your writing. It’s not as hard as it sounds, just ask, most people would love to help. Say, “I am working on a writing project and I need another set of eyes, would you mind looking at what I have written and telling me if I am coming through clearly?”
5. Make a commitment to keeping church-speak out of your marketing materials: Help ministry leaders understand the value of clear communication and revisit church documents like mission statements, descriptions of ministries, expressions used from the platform, etc.
(End Quote)
Read the full article here and then go through your website, church signs, bulletins or promotional materials and remove all Christianese. Now!
Nelson
- “Join us this Sunday for anointed Holy Ghost preaching, dynamic praise and worship and intimate fellowship in the body”
-
How to Overcome the Barriers to Baptism
Did you know that there are barriers to people being baptized? It’s true and that’s the topic of this months free Church Leader Insights Podcast. I’m particularly proud of this podcast. And I can say that without one once of arrogance as….I’m not even on this month’s podcast! Instead, Roy hosts Bob Franquiz for this insightful and practical podcast.
LISTEN TO BARRIERS TO BAPTISM PODCAST RIGHT NOW
I believe that baptism is the most new testament way of going public with your faith. Yet, a lot of people hold off on the decision to be baptized. Why? That’s what Bob Franquiz discusses in this new podcast. Bob is a three time alumni of my coaching networks, a certified CLI traniner (he’s doing a Fusion event in Connecticut soon) and the Pastor of Calvary Fellowship in Miami Lakes, FL. My huge thanks to Bob for sharing his insights!
LISTEN TO BARRIERS TO BAPTISM PODCAST RIGHT NOW
Bob is also one of the guys who pushed me to enter the blog world (I’m grateful, I think). He was blogging back before it was cool. Here’s a few of my favorite posts from his blog:
6 Years Later: Lessons from Church Planting
What Is Deep? What is Shallow?
I hope you enjoy the podcast! If you have suggestions for future topics, just let me know by commenting below or using the Ask Nelson button on the right —–>
Nelson
P.S. Why not take a moment right now and subscribe to our free podcast using iTunes or your favorite MP3 tool. This way you’ll never miss an issue! Here’s the step by step directions on how to subscribe to the Church Leader Insights Podcast
-
Lessons Learned From Rick Warren - Lesson #2
Lesson #2: Evangelism Must Always Be Our Priority
When I was working at Saddleback Church with Rick Warren, I heard him say time and time again, “As long as there is one unchurched person in the Saddleback Valley, we must keep reaching out as a church.”
Rick understands the importance of making evangelism a priority, or as I like to say, the importance of “staying outwardly focused.” It’s all too easy for us to get busy with the demands that direct our days and let the unchurched people who fill our communities slip to the backburner. But those people are the very reason our churches exist! If we don’t intentionally make it a priority to reach them, we are doing them a disservice and falling short of our responsibility to God.
As you think about how you can make evangelism a priority in your church, remember that evangelism is never an expense – It’s always an investment. Every dime you spend to reach a new person is an investment in God’s kingdom. Every bottle of water or pack of gum you hand out as part of a servant evangelism project is an investment. Every postcard you mail to promote a new series is an investment. God has commissioned us to take His truth to the corners of the earth, and that commission starts in our own neighborhoods and communities.
I challenge you to insert the name of your community into Rick’s quote. Write it out and put it on your desk, so that your focus comes back to local evangelism every day…
“As long as there is one unchurched person in _________________________, we must keep reaching out as a church.”
- Nelson
P.S. - Reaching out to ’serve others’ is always a sure way to make an impact. Click here see how one church made a big statement in their community by helping people offset outrageous gas prices. Remember, it’s an investment. BTW, Mike McGown, the pastor of the church featured in the article, is a coaching alumni who is doing a great job in Houston, TX!
-
Free Report - How to Maximize Summer
A few days ago I wrote about the Myth of the Summer Slump and argued that summer is the perfect time to reach new people and to creatively connect people to your church. I proposed that you have to learn to do one of two things:
Plant in the summer or beg in the fall!
The response to this post has been incredible with so many people asking for more! In response, our team went to work and we have produced a brand new report for you (my huge thanks to Roy and Jennifer!).
DOWNLOAD THE MAXIMIZING SUMMER REPORT HERE
In this new 15 page report, you’ll learn:
- How to experience more first time guests during the summer months than ever before
- How to design creative outreaches that will take your evangelism to the next level
- How to design creative sermons that draw in more people during the summer
- How to multiply your impact by connecting summer events to your summer sermons
- How to connect more new people through summer small groups
- How to use the summer to develop new small group leaders
- How to use the summer to connect people in small groups that would not previously join a group
DOWNLOAD THE MAXIMIZING SUMMER REPORT HERE
I can’t wait to hear your feedback. You can post comments below or contact me using the “Ask Nelson” button on the right. If you missed the original post, you can read “The Myth of the Summer Slump” by clicking here. Oh, one more thing - if you find this report helpful will you share it with others or direct people to this post? Thanks in advance!
Happy Summer!!
Nelson
P.S. If you missed my earlier report entitled Healthy Systems, Healthy Church then you can join the 2000+ others who have downloaded it by Clicking Here to Download Healthy Systems, Healthy Church Report.
-
The Myth of the Summer Slump
MYTH: Memorial Day is right around the corner. You know what that means… Low attendance. People head for the beach, the lake, or the kiddie pool in the backyard and leave you preaching to empty rows. Oh well, that’s the way the summer goes. Just hold on and count the days until fall. There’s not much you can do.
REALITY: Memorial Day is right around the corner. This is the perfect time to grow your church to the next level!
You have one week until summer (unofficially) begins. Are you ready?
At The Journey, we have grown every summer since our start in 2002. How? By choosing to take advantage of the freedom summer gives us to be creative! We have come to understand that summer is the perfect time to connect new attenders with the church, through creative outreach, creative messages, and creative small groups. So, while all of our regulars do their summer sunning, we are keeping our attendance consistent.
Just think about the effects of this approach when fall hits – All of your regular attenders will get back on track and all of the new people you started assimilating over the summer will be truly connected and ready to go deeper… That means a huge fall growth spurt! That means momentum! That means more people headed towards becoming fully developing followers of Jesus!
Or you can sit by the pool and wait for the leaves to start turning… The choice is yours, but here is my suggestion:
Plant this summer so you can reap the harvest in the fall!
- Nelson
P.S. – To learn more about how to creatively connect newcomers this summer, download our Maximizing Summer MP3 - use this code to get it for FREE: maxsummer
(Note: Coupon Expires 6/15/08) -
Pentecost Sunday and a HUGE Freebie
One of the reasons I started this blog is because we needed a great place to give away free stuff. Well, yesterday Roy took this to a whole new level by giving away our #2 bestselling resource - The Evangelism Seminar!
Why? Because tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday. Here’s what Roy said (and keep reading, I’ll tell you how to get your copy):
In honor of Pentecost Sunday , we are giving away “The Evangelism Seminar” between now and Monday. We’ve never done anything like this before! This is a $57.00 seminar that we are giving away for FREE!
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?
Because we want to thank you for being a Church Leader Insights customer and we’d like to do anything in our power to see “Pentecost” happen in as many churches in as many places as often as possible.One of our values at Church Leader Insights is generosity so I love what Roy is doing. Here’s how to get your copy of The Evangelism Seminar:
Just CLICK HERE and add “The Evangelism Seminar (Fully Downloadable Version)” to your cart. Enter the coupon code “pentecost” when you check out and you will be able to download the entire seminar for FREE! (Notes: No quotes in the code; code expires at 11:59pm EDT on 5/12/08)
And Roy makes one more request: “Would you forward this post to 3 friends so they will be able to take advantage of this free gift of ‘The Evangelism Seminar?‘”
So Happy Pentecost Sunday (or is it Merry Pentecost)!
Nelson
P.S. If you are reading this post and the 5/12/08 deadline has passed, don’t worry. Keep reading the blog, we’ll be giving away tons of other free stuff in the coming weeks and months. Or, if you are a church planter, you can get tons of free stuff anytime by clicking here.
-
Charles Arn - Church Growth Hero (If I Dare Say ‘Church Growth’)
Last Saturday, while Kelley and I were in Los Angeles, I was able to meet one of my Church Growth Heroes - Charles (Chip) Arn of Church Growth, Inc. He and his wife Ann were gracious enough to share dinner with me and Kelley at Kate Mantinlini’s in Beverly Hills (yep, we were living it up!).
Win Arn, Charles’ father, was one of the founders of the Church Growth Movement in America and he has greatly influenced my thinking about church. I’ve read everything from Win and Charles that I can find and I always discover something helpful.
Here’s some of my favorite books:
- The Masters Plan for Making Disciple by Win and Charles Arn
- How to Start a New Service by Charles Arn
- How to Grow a Church by Donald A. McGavran and Win Arn
(you’ll have to find it used, its out of print)
Part of our conversation was how ‘church growth’ is a watered down phrase and is often derided term in many circles today.
Chip responded that one of the reasons Donald McGavran (the founder of the Church Growth Movement) and his father, Win, went with the term ‘church growth’ in their initial writings (over 40 years ago) was that ‘evangelism’ had become such a watered down term in many circles.
I always suspected that Rick Warren chose the term ‘church health’ in his book The Purpose Driven Church, because ‘church growth’ had become such a watered down term.
So what term should we use? I still prefer to use ‘church growth’ and ‘evangelism’ but I’m always open to the term that best communicates to today’s leaders (as long as it retains the heart of reaching and disciplining people in the most biblical and effective way possible).
Chip, thanks for the time over dinner!
Nelson Searcy
P.S. For today only, in honor of Chip Arn, I’m going to give away a copy of my “Starting A Second Service” resource - use the Ask Nelson button on the right to request your free copy (I’ll send you the details by reply email). This offer is only good on April 29, 2008. After that, you can pick it up here
-
Church Growth Requires Action
“There are risks and costs to a plan of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” — John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
What action do you need to take this week (maybe something you’ve been putting off until conditions are perfect) that will benefit you, your church and your community?
-
The Two Questions That Can Change Everything
“Day after day the congregations became stronger in faith and larger in size.” - Acts 16:5
When I read this passage in Acts it struck my with the power of its’ clarity. These congregations that Paul and Timothy visited grew BOTH stronger in faith AND larger in size. Those are the questions I need to regularly ask about The Journey Church.
- 1) Are the people who attend The Journey stronger in faith than they were 6 months ago?
- 2) Is The Journey larger in size than it was 6 months ago?
If the answer to either of these questions is “no,” then something (maybe everything) needs to change.
-
What separates followers from fans of Jesus?
I stole this headline from my friend Bob Franquiz (Advanced Coaching Almuni and all around great guy - but don’t tell him I said so). Bob was our featured speaker at a recent Journey All-Staff meeting and he spoke about the important of baptism. He said:Baptism is what separates fans of Jesus from followers of Jesus!
I stole that line yesterday (Sunday, April 20) and used it at our afternoon Baptism. 28 people took the step! We baptized for almost an hour with two impromptu baptisms (where someone decided at the last minute to step up and be baptized - one went in fully clothed!).
I love being a pastor of a local church!
P.S. If you would like a free baptism video from The Journey just email me under the About CLI tab above or use the Ask Nelson A Question link on the right under my pic and make your request. Be sure to include your mailing address.
-
Gas Buy Down in Ohio
Got this from my friend Jeff Calloway at The Bridge Church in Perry, OH.
We’ve been collecting stories from recent “Gas Buy Down” Servant Evangelism projects because we are giving away a resource on the topic.
Recent: Evangelism
Church Leader Insights is a bi-weekly publication sent via email that focuses on effective leadership, church growth, church planting evangelism and much more.
My Books
Activate: A Totally New Approach to Small Groups
