From Attending to Serving

Calling people and mobilizing them from attending the church, to active service can be a real struggle. If you’ve been in ministry for any length of time, it’s a church struggle that you’ve witnessed over and over again.

Last year, our church started a process that has produced some real wins in this area. And I’m excited to share it with you!

It started with recognizing a disconnect.

The disconnect was between new, infrequent attendees, and faithful, attenders and members. The Sunday morning gathering never gave us enough time to fully explain all the details of who we are as a church; historically, theologically, philosophically, etc.

Moreover, and more importantly, we realized that we needed to provide a specific Gospel-centred discipleship time for each new attendee. These new attendees needed to understand why our Gospel Mission needed them (the people in the pews) to actively pursue service in the church, using their gifts and abilities.

We Created “Next Steps”

Next Steps would be a class held within a small group setting, every Sunday afternoon (2-4 PM) for 4 weeks. We would walk the Next Steps attendees through 4 key components of our church. Eventually, ending the course with a call of commitment.

Here’s a quick breakdown.

Week 1: Christ (Answering the Why)

• Pre-Work: Read Church Statement of Faith
• Discussion: Gospel & Church

Week 2: Community (Answering the What)

• Pre-Work: Read Church Constitution & ByLaws
• Discussion: (1) The Global Church, (2) National & Regional, (3) Local Church

Week 3: Culture (Answering the Who)

• Pre-Work: Read Church Foundations of Leadership
• Discussion: (1) Mission, Vision & Values, (2) Leadership Structure (Pastors, Elders, Deacons, Board Members, Ministry Leaders & More)

Week 4: Commitment (Answering the How)

• Pre-Work: Complete a Spiritual Gifts Assessment
• Discussion: Salvation, Baptism (and Child Dedication), Ministry Service & Membership

Nest Steps has made all the difference!

These four steps have helped a lot of new attendees get more involved. As you can imagine, there have been adjustments, and not everyone has (or will) embrace the process.

Nevertheless, after a year of working through Next Steps, we have definitely seen a significant increase in moving people from riding the pew, to serving the church.