Getting Ready to Go! - Part Three

CMS has made more mistakes in missionary work than most other organisations!  That's a function of having been in the business since 1799.  Hopefully that means we're getting a bit more competent at what we're doing.
We've learnt that contentment in relational status is a major indicator of a person's ability to thrive on location as a long-term cross cultural worker.  If married, then happily married.  If single, then happily single.  Couples who have marital issues and are discontent, or singles who are unhappily single, tend to not last the distance in our kind of work.
It's easy to understand why.  Living and working cross-culturally puts you under lots of stress and pressure.  New language.  Foreign culture.  New relationships.  Different Christian culture.  Getting on with other missionaries.  The list goes on and on.
If you're unhappily married or unhappily single, then there's no real relational 'safe space' where you can simply 'be' to process all that other stress.  Things can quickly overwhelm you.  Married or single, you may end up coming home a little bit more broken.
Part of getting ready to go as a missionary involves doing a realistic self-check on how you're going in your relational status.  Am I happily married?  Are we happily married and both united in our hearing God's call to go?  Or am I happily single, and content to remain single as I go?
Some single people go hoping to be married one day, and perhaps hoping to meet someone overseas.  That's altogether possible, but that scenario comes with a heap of complications.  I would want our CMS missios to be thinking through them before they leave, not after!
If you're less than content with your relational status - work on that before you go, work on that before you decide to go - it's worth the preparation. 

Click here for Part Two

Getting Ready to Go! - Part Two

  CMS requires that its missionaries have at least a year (or equivalent) of Bible or theological college studies under their belts.  If the assignment is to ministry leadership or teaching position, then more formal qualifications will be required.  Indeed in many Majority World countries, a research degree is now almost a standard requirement for teaching positions in their training colleges.
  If you're getting ready to go, you'll need to factor in the time and expense involved in such studies.  Here are a couple of example pathways based on stories of people I know. 
  Andrew finished his undergraduate studies and did a Diploma in Education to qualify as a teacher.  He thought he might be a teacher in a mission setting overseas.  All the while he was actively involved in his local university student group, getting ministry experience in student work.  When he finished his DipEd he went straight to Ridley to begin theological studies.  As a Ridley student he began his application process with CMS and upon graduation went straight to St Andrew's Hall for CMS training before going overseas as a missionary working in university student ministry.  
   Emma completed medical studies and an internship.  She then took a year out to study at Ridley, before commencing specialist medical training.  She then took a posting in a remote area hospital which enabled her to support the local church as a CMS affiliate.  Mission remains high on her agenda and she is thinking about an overseas posting with CMS.   
  Jonathan finished his law studies and worked for five years, all the while remaining active in local church work.  He saved aggressively in order to be able to study full-time for the next four years, in preparation for full-time ministry either in the local church or as a missionary.  He ended up being ordained with the Anglican church, serving in local churches, doing more theological study and ending up the State Director of CMS Victoria.  Hey, that's me!
  Each of these stories indicate that planning to take some time out to do serious Bible or theological studies is essential and costly.  If you don't plan for it in a deliberate way, it might not happen.  So plan!
  Assuming that you're already a young worker, you might plan to:- 
- take a year out of full-time employment to do a GradDip or similar one year course
- chip away at subjects part-time while you work, aiming for at least one full-time semester
- develop an appetite for theological study, upgrade and take time out to complete a degree.
  I tell Christians that Bible college study is valuable for anyone who wants to increase their involvement in and passion for God's work in his world.  Do it!  You may even end up getting ready to go overseas with CMS! 

Click here for Part One! 
Click here for Part Three!

Getting ready to Go! - Part One

  What kind of preparation is required for missionary service?  What do you need in your kit bag before you go with CMS to another country and culture?  How much experience - and of what kind? 
  CMS sends long-term workers who cross cultures with the Good News of Jesus Christ.  
  Let's assume that you're already a follower of Jesus Christ and someone for whom the Good News is simply the best news ever.  Living for the Lord Jesus and his mission in the world is already your number one priority.  In fact, God's heart for all the nations, and for all peoples and cultures, is something that resonates strongly with you - to the point that you've considered some sort of missions work. 
  That being the case, the next step is to get some serious cross-cultural ministry experience under your belt.  CMS looks for people who have a proven record of such ministry.  Many have worked with overseas student ministries, or with churches that have  multicultural or ethnic-specific congregations.  Others have gone on missions exposure trips overseas, or to Australian indigenous communities - often more than once!  Get as much experience as you can!
  Getting this sort of experience will help you work out if you enjoy cross-cultural work.  You might find yourself developing an interest - even a passion! - for a particular people group or language.  Relationships might come easily for you within a certain culture.  Finding joy in cross-cultural ministry is important.  It is one of the things that will sustain you in the long term.  If, upon persisting, you find that ministering cross-culturally consistently frustrates you, then it's probably not a good long-term option! 
  There are lots of options for getting this sort of experience in Melbourne and across Australia.  If you need help finding something - drop me a line!  

Click here for Part Two!

My theme verse for the year ahead

It's a bit late for new year resolutions, but then I've had an unusual start to this calendar year with a new job and all.  Each year, as I pray and plan ahead, I pray for a Bible verse that will perfectly encapsulate God's leading for me for the season ahead.  Here is the Word for the season ahead.  Paul, apostle, evangelist, church planter and missionary, writing to the Corinthian Christians says:

¹⁵ ...Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, 

our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, 

¹⁶ so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you...

2 Corinthians 10:15-16

What perfect words for someone involved in missions work!  My great hope is that your faith - the faith of mission partners in churches everywhere - may continue to grow.
And as your faith grows, I hope that our sphere of activity, our involvement with you, your involvement with us, our partnership together, may greatly expand.
Why?  For what reason?  So that we can preach the Gospel, take and sow the seeds of the Good News of Jesus Christ in regions beyond you.
That's how missions societies like CMS work.  They work together with local Christians for the sake of taking the Gospel to regions beyond.
They have a dual work: first, to see that faith continues to grow locally, to be active among local believers; and second, to build partnerships locally so that the Gospel goes beyond the local into all the world.
I am sometimes asked to defend the existence of missions agencies.  'Isn't CMS just a 'middleman'?  Why can't a church do their own thing in country X?'  Of course they can!  I'm tremendously excited by churches that want to engage globally, and encourage such activity!
But there are many smaller churches that do not have the resources or connections to engage directly.  So the missions agency acts to gather up such enthusiasm and resources.   Because we've been doing it for a long time, we've also developed a large body of expertise around the enterprise of global mission. We've made a lot of mistakes in the past 214 years!
Churches and Christians who 'go it alone' run the risk of making mistakes we've already made and hopefully have learnt from.  There are many examples of bad missiology unfolding all over the world today - well meaning people who are painfully unaware of everything from sheer cultural blindness to  blatant neo-colonialism.  To grow in faith means to grow in wisdom too - and mission specialists exist to encourage churches (large and small) in that.  All for the sake of telling the whole world about Jesus.

My hope is that your faith will continue to grow... so that we can preach the Gospel in regions beyond. 

Priscilla and Aquila

On the past two Sundays I've been preaching from Acts 18.  Last Sunday the focus was on Priscilla and Aquila, from the second half of the chapter.  Paul slips out of the picture as he leaves Corinth and Ephesus, but we get the clear picture of the Gospel strategy of leaving Priscilla and Aquila behind as the new leaders of the church in Ephesus.  As if that weren't enough, we then get the dynamic duo taking Apollos under their wing and instructing him in the way of the Lord 'more adequately'.  So it's really 2 Timothy 2:2 in action in Acts.
The question the passage poses is, 'How does the Gospel grow?'
The answer it supplies:

1. by Gospel teamwork; and
2. by Gospel teaching.  

In particular, by Gospel teaching that is accurate (v25) and adequate (v26).
The good folks at St Mark's have made the sermon available here.  Do let me know what you think!  While you're at it, I'd also like to know what you'd like to see here on the blog.  Happy to serve!

Finding the friendlies on mission

I'm preaching this fortnight from Acts 18, at St Mark's Forest Hill.  What a delight to be in the book of Acts!  It contains the story of the beginnings of Christian mission, as the first followers of Jesus took the Good News from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then to the ends of the earth. 
Last Sunday I looked at the first half of Acts 18.  Here's the basic outline:
Two principles of Christian mission

1. Find the Friendlies
2. Expect the Enemies.

The strategy that Paul and his team adopts is to connect with the friendlies, people who are already seeking God.  As they talk about Jesus and the meaning of his life, teaching and crucifixion, some opposition is sure to come.  So we too should expect enemies and animosity.  In fact, the clearer we are about Jesus and the Gospel, the more certain our opposition will be! 
We also looked at the encouragement from God in verse 10 of that chapter.  I won't give it all away, you might like to listen to the sermon, available from St Mark's here:
http://www.stmarksfh.org/Home/downloads
Blessings on you this weekend. 

How to become a missionary

My post on How to become a CMS missionary generated some feedback.  Including the notion that for younger folk, "Wei-Han is a scary monster, heavy-duty CMS dude... what if I'm not ready to talk to him yet?"  If that's you, re-laaaxx.. as an ex-young adults pastor, I eat your type for breakfast.  (Just kidding - I'm more a brunch kind of guy.)
If you're the kind of person who loves Jesus and is thinking about spending a life working in Christian ministry or missionary work, then the right thing to do is:

1. pray and seek the Lord's direction
2. talk and pray with your pastor
3. talk and pray with your close Christian friends
4. make contact with someone who is already working in the sort of ministry you see yourself moving towards

To find out more about missionary work, follow this advice from one of our missionaries, given at a recent CMS young adults' gathering:

1. find out more about the country or people group you're interested in
2. sign up for newsletters or prayer material 
3. talk to missionaries who’ve been there
4. speed date some missions agencies (like CMS) to ask them what they know/ think 

At CMS Victoria we have a couple of staff whose job it is to be friendly, chat with you about missions, and encourage you along the way.  If you mention this blog post and the code phrase ('Wei-Han would like a meconopsis betonicifolia for Christmas') I'll make sure they pay for the coffee.

How to become a CMS missionary

What are the steps to becoming a missionary with CMS?  The question comes up quite a bit, which is tremendously encouraging for someone in my position!

The person who has administered applications in Victoria has just retired.  Myrla left me a document outlining a forty-eight point process!!!  What??!?  

Let me make a few brief points about CMS missionary culture:

- we aim to place long-term cross-cultural Gospel workers

- long-term means something like a decade or more

- we believe that the longer a missionary stays on location, the more effective they are for the Gospel

- that kind of staying power requires thorough preparation, training and careful selection

- it also requires a high level of support and pastoral care throughout the deployment

- under God, everything depends on the quality of the people we send

So the forty-eight point process reflects the care we take in selection and training. Truth be told, it also reflects on the history and complexity of a missions society that's been around since 1799!  

I'd be happy to talk about more details - just ask if there's something you want to know.  If you're a person interested in missionary service, here are a few pointers:

- talk to your pastor and ask what they think

- start a prayer group with trusted friends who know you well, get their wisdom and discernment

- get to know the different missions agencies - we're different!  

- check out websites, publications, missionaries, keen supporters

- make a time to have a coffee n chat with a staff member (like me!) or drop us an email

CMS....

- requires that our missios have the equivalent of one year of full-time theological or Bible college training 

- never works independently, all our missios work under the authority and leadership of a local partner with whom we have a partnership agreement

- the CMS process can take up to two years

- it all starts with a conversation with someone like me (good thing I'm friendly, and like good coffee)

Mmmm... coffee...

Being Missional May Hurt Your Church

Here's a re-blog from http://theresurgence.com/2010/10/10/being-missional-may-kill-your-church

I didn't like the 'kill' language - why do people have to be so extreme in their statements?  Can't they trust that we'll pay attention if they have a good idea?  Anyway... enough with the gripe.  Here's the quote that I thought we could think about together:

In Breaking the Missional Code, Ed Stetzer explains how the church has shifted to missional thinking in the following way:

• From programs to processes
• From demographics to discernment
• From models to missions
• From attractional to incarnational
• From uniformity to diversity
• From professional to passionate
• From seating to sending
• From decisions to disciples
• From additional to exponential
• From monuments to movements

Surprising Insights: More on Unchurched-Reaching Pastors

OK, so I’ve been away a long time.  Blogging is a bit like that.  Let me continue my review of Rainer’s research findings.  Chapter Eight is entitled ‘What makes these Leaders Tick?’  What struck me most about this chapter was the clear emphasis on evangelism and theology.  

Rainer described four key motivational factors in these effective pastors:

1. a theology of lostness - they are personally and deeply convinced that people without Christ are lost and feel it emotionally too. 
2. passion and enthusiasm - especially for personally modelling evangelism
3. accountability in personal evangelism
4. excellence in all things - as Rainer observes elsewhere, excellence is intrinsically attractive

The chapter also lists 15 other lessons and features, well worth pondering, but I’m still getting over the emphasis on the need to model evangelism personally.  I’ve committed to that over several years, but I guess the question I’m asking now is if I’m doing enough.  Hm.  Any comments? 

Surprising Insights: Profile of Unchurched-Reaching Pastors

Apologies for the long-ish silence!

Chapter Seven takes us in to Part Two of the book.  Having surveyed the recently unchurched and heard the overwhelming importance of the role of the pastor/ minister/ leader, Rainer undertook a second round of interviews.  He surveyed 101 pastors of churches who are reaching the unchurched.  

Those surveyed came from churches across a range of denominations (but no significant percentage (if any) were Episcopalians/ Anglicans), age groups, ethnic backgrounds, social settings, and church ages (ie. local churches from less than 10 to more than 100 years old).  

A number of findings are summarised in this chapter:

1. Interview results from the 101 pastors have a statistically highly consistent degree of correlation with the results of the main survey of recently unchurched. 
2. Their average tenure was 11.8 years, compared to just 3.8 for all pastors.
3. 87% were seminary trained (47% had masters/ seminary training, 40% had doctorates).
4. An unquantifiable passion for reaching the lost and unchurched world was evident through the interviews.
5. Leaders are readers - the top book cited was Rick Warren’s ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ followed by Oswald Chambers’ ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ and J. I. Packer’s ‘Knowing God’.
6. Preaching - biblical preaching - was an absolute priority.  
7. They tended to be theologically conservative: 99% affirmed that salvation is only through Christ, 98% held to the inerrancy (complete or limited) of the Bible.  
8. They desired to be better leaders: through reading books on leadership, undertaking further study, formalising a mentoring relationship with another leader, seeking to upgrade skills in new areas like finance or administration. 
9. Having an intentional plan to reach the unchurched, and executing on it, was critical. 
10. Personal holiness, integrity, leadership by example, a vibrant prayer life, personal Bible study, ability to institute change, ability to cast vision, Bible knowledge, personal evangelism and communication skills were, in order, the top ten personal characteristics as rated in relation to leading their local church.  

That’s quite a list!  And knowing something about how difficult it is for many local churches in Melbourne to find a pastor when they need a new one, this list makes me want to keep praying that the Lord of the harvest raises up more workers for His harvest field. 

If you’re in need of a pastor, I think this list suggests that you either look to a good theological college, or find the most godly and capable person you can to send to one.  It takes a while to cook them properly, so we’d best start sending them now!

If you’re a pastor already or wanting to be one, be encouraged!  Here are some ways forward from this study.  If you haven’t already, start working on your personal holiness; preach the Bible; find a godly leader to be a mentor; start reading; start praying and planning. 

Breaking the 500 barrier

Nelson Searcy is a pastor in New York City, has worked on staff at Saddleback with Rick Warren and is a church leadership consultant.  http://www.churchleaderinsights.com

I’ve been listening to a Searcy audio talk on churches ‘breaking the 500 barrier’.  It’s widely acknowledged that churches approaching that size of membership need to overcome several cultural changes to grow beyond 500.  (Of course another option is to send off a portion of the congregation to a church plant, and stay below 500.)

Here are four bits from his introduction which I took note of:

1. Change is essential - with optimism and faith in God - to break through 500. 
2. Ask, ‘What is keeping my church from growing?’
3. Go from ‘good’ to ‘great’.
4. Move ‘occasional attenders’ of church to become ‘committed attenders’. 

These overlap nicely with what I’ve seen in Surprising Insights.  I noted the observation there that  excellence is intrinsically attractive.  If we’re determined to serve God with excellence, we’ll change some things that we do at church presently.  

The direction of change that I’m interested in is change for growth.   So I’m already asking, ‘What’s keeping us from growing?’  We’re already doing many things well, but how do we go from ‘good to great’, and in which areas first?  Moving occasionals to becoming committed attenders is certainly a top priority!  (I sometimes call it ‘discipleship’.)

Surprising Insights #7 - Doctrine Really Matters

This is the final chapter in Part One, which deals with results from the survey of 353 formally unchurched persons.  True to the title of the book, the counter-intuitive finding is that doctrine really matters to the unchurched.  

The highest scoring factor influencing choice of church was theological beliefs or doctrine.  Interestingly, this factor was slightly more important for the formerly unchurched (91%) than for the control group of transfer churched (89%).  

Four headings in the chapter caught my attention:

Looking for absolutes:  the qualitative comments from the survey indicated that the unchurched were looking for absolute values in a world filled with uncertainty and the proliferation of relativism.  They picked it up not just from the sermons, but also in publications where the church’s doctrinal position was clearly set out.

Sensing certitude: certitude is the conviction of belief, which was also attractive and convincing.  One remarked, ‘there are a lot of wishy-washy churches out there’, and another said of the pastor, ‘this guy really believes this stuff’.  

Pastor, doctrine and certitude: Pastors who were unafraid to deal with difficult doctrinal issues also stood out in the remarks.  Their clarity and conviction was refreshing, and carried across not just in the pulpit but across a range of contexts like a welcomers’ gathering and Bible study class. 

Speaking the truth in love: Above all the grace, warmth and love communicated by not just the pastor, but the entire congregation as they held on their doctrinal clarity, was attractive and convincing.  

Surprising Insights #6 - Closing the Back Door

Well, that’s what I would have titled Chapter 5, instead of ‘Why They Returned and Stayed’.  Rainer opens the chapter with the burning issue a senior minister of a large and expanding church was wrestling with: low retention rates among newcomers.  The study of 353 formerly unchurched persons produced 6 key factors for retaining newcomers and encouraging return visits among guests:


1. Doctrine clarified

There is a desperately intriguing sentence in this section: ‘In a culture that prides itself on religious pluralism, we found that perhaps millions of Americans are on a quest for objective truth’.  I’m not so sure about the average Australian’s confidence that there is such a thing to be found - but I’d be very happy to be corrected!


2. High expectations

‘People have no desire to be a part of something that makes no difference, that expects little.  And, frankly, many churches have dumbed down church membership to the point that is has no meaning at all.’  Rainer combines results from an earlier survey of 2000 churches and concludes emphatically that churches with high and clear expectations of members to commit to living and ministering in a way consistent with New Testament teachings are better at evangelism and retaining guests (as members).


3. An “entry point” class

By this Rainer means a class or session for new members or potential new members in which the culture and identity of the church, and the expectations of members, are communicated and clarified.  This is typically done by the senior minister.   Further there was a positive correlation between the rate of retention of new members, and the requirement of attending such a class.  The more ‘optional’ the classes were, the lower the rate of retention.  

4. Small groups or Sunday School 

Forming meaningful relationships is the critical factor in retaining new members.  And involvement in a small group or a ministry area are the two most effective contexts in which those relationships form.  The study found an overwhelming correlation between membership of a small group or a Sunday School class and forming a long-lasting commitment to the local church.  

For some new converts, a Sunday School option was preferable, as it kept church involvement to a Sunday and decreased potential resentment from non-church going family members - a factor that I’d not considered more seriously before.  

‘Busyness’ is a common catch-cry these days, but this observation is not dissimilar to the narrative argument in Tim Chester and Steve Timms, Total Church - relationships matter, and relationships and community-building take time and energy and a degree of prioritisation over other competing demands.


5. Clarity of purpose

More than 90% of laity in evangelistic churches can name 4 out of 5 of their church’s purpose statements.  The figure for non-evangelistic churches is 17.7%.  Full-stop!


6. Ministry involvement

When asked what kept them ‘active in church’, 62% of the study’s respondents mentioned some form of ministry involvement.  55% mentioned the Sunday School - what we would call the Bible study small group.  But it was ministry involvement that generated enthusiastic, ‘eyes lighting up’ responses.  

So in summary, the formerly unchurched want to be in a church that makes a difference, that has clear direction and vision.  And they want to be in small groups, and serve in ministry - and they want to do this in a church that sets a high bar on what it means to be a Christian and church member today.  

Surprising Insights #5: Impressed by First Impressions

I’ll never forget a story a colleague told me about going to church in a small Victorian country town where she and a friend were holidaying.  They found the local Anglican church on Sunday, and went in at service time.  The place was mainly empty, so they picked a pew and slid in.  The first person to talk to them was an elderly lady who came over and said grumpily, ‘You’re sitting in my spot’.  

This chapter discusses the study’s findings that first impressions matter.  Interestingly, most respondents were more affected by the impressions on their second visit, rather than their first.  But they had decided within a few minutes of their first visit as to whether they would come back or not.  Many put it down to being overwhelmed by everything first time around.  

Be that as it may, the point is that the formerly unchurched notice things about both people and facilities that influence their decision to return.  There wasn’t much about this in the chapter, but I rather suspect that the transfer churched are fussier about things like worship and music preference. 

The study showed that the top five first impressions had to do with:

1. Friendliness - 311
2. Nice facilities/ adequate space -161
3. Nursery/ preschool/ children’s ministry - 102
4. Organisation (instead of chaos) - 111
5. Greeters and welcome centres - 117

The numbers refer to the number of respondents (out of the study total of 353) who mentioned this factor as a positive towards their decision to return and eventually join the church.  

Rainer rightly discusses the impact of consumerism and the consumer mentality on churches.  Two or three generations ago church was where you went locally to serve others.  Now visitors ask what the church can do for them, or their children.  He acknowledges that it is difficult to draw the line between being seeker-friendly and driven by consumerism, but uses the example of one outstandingly evangelistically successful church as the paradigm: excellence is what matters.  ‘Mediocrity breeds indifference, but excellence attracts…’ says that church’s pastor.  So even if you’re starting a church in a dingy rented living room, with no children’s ministry, you should be encouraged to strive for excellence in the service and in quality of your friendly welcoming fellowship.  

Surprising Insights #4: Relationships that Click

This is a really interesting chapter.  Rainer cites a number of other studies which indicate that relationships are highly significant for people connecting to a church.  The received wisdom is that relationships matter, but in this chapter he outlines this particular study’s surprising findings.  The methodological nuances take a bit of careful thought to get through, but they’re worth it!  

Two significant differences between this study’s and other studies’ findings are identified.  1. The reasons the formerly unchurched chose a particular church are complex and cannot be simplified to one or two major issues.  2. Relationships is an important factor, but not the overwhelming reason as some other studies suggest.  

Five major conclusions are outlined:

1. Relationships Are Very Important
2. Rarely Do Relationships Alone Explain the Best Way to Reach the Unchurched
3. God Sometimes Works to Reach the Unchurched Without Using Any Relationships
4. Family Relationships Are the Most Important
5. The Wife is the Most Important Relationship in Reaching the Unchurched

The formerly unchurched were asked, ‘If a family member influenced you to come to church, which person was most influential?’  The highest score was 35% - ‘wives’.  The next highest was 18% - ‘children’ and then 16% for ‘other’.  Parents, siblings and parents-in-law returned 9, 5 and 2%.  Husbands didn’t even score. 

Rainer observes that women are, on anecdotal evidence, more likely to visit a church without any relational connection, whereas men are not likely to visit a church where they do not know anybody.  

The end result, in my opinion, is that women tend to be over-represented in churches.  The good news is that wives are such an important relationship for reaching unchurched husbands - one third of respondents!  So, how many churches do you know about with an intentional ministry to help wives reach their unconverted husbands?  St Alfred’s doesn’t have one… yet. 

Surprising Insights #3: Pastors and Preaching are Critical

Rainer gives two reasons why he was hesitant to publish this chapter.  

Firstly, earlier research on four thousand churches in the USA showed that a majority were abandoning the biblical model of pastoral ministry: that is, a commitment to Acts 6:4 and a model of leadership that allowed pastors to focus on ministry of the Word and prayer.  

Secondly, he feared that many readers would use this material to say that the reason their churches weren’t growing was inept pastoring - when in fact his research shows that ‘pastors are among the hardest working and yet least respected persons in America today’. 

But publish the chapter he did, because the ‘pastor and preaching’ factor was found to be so outstandingly critical to evangelistically effective churches.  97% of respondents answered ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Did the pastor and the preaching play a part in your coming to this church?‘  Asked a more open-ended question about factors that led to respondents choosing their church, ‘pastors or preaching’ were mentioned in 90% of cases, ‘doctrine’ in 88% and the next most mentioned factor was ‘friendliness’ at 49%.  

Around ‘pastors and preaching’ there were 8 statistically significant characteristics:

1. preaching that teaches the Bible - by which is meant expository or ‘line-by-line’ Bible teaching (as one respondent described it. 
2. preaching that applies to my life
3. authenticity of the pastor - down-to-earth, friendly, willing to admit mistakes, real, regular guy
4. pastor’s conviction - of the truth and the importance of it
5. personal contact by the pastor
6. pastor is a good communicator
7. pastor is a leader - especially with regard to the vision and purpose and direction of the church
8. pastor’s class - by which is meant an introductory class to the church, or a church membership class that is taken by the senior pastor. 

Each of these eight are described in more detail in this chapter, which ends with a word of encouragement for pastors - for it does seem that a ‘superman pastor’ is what is required!  Rainer notes that in a previous study he discovered that a majority of pastors spend around two hours a week on sermon preparation.  That staggered me, I need most of the week whenever I’m preaching!  So he concludes that making a few decisions about the relative importance of preaching and teaching, the ministry of Word and prayer, can yield great fruit in a pastor’s ministry.  That’s not a bad conclusion, nor a bad word of encouragement.  

Surprising Insights - 9 Myths about the Unchurched - Pt II

Myth #6 The pastor must be a dynamic and charismatic leader for the church to reach the unchurched

Only 4% of the churches in the USA meet the definition of evangelistically-effective laid out for this study.  Of these, most of the pastors are not the mega-star ones whose names evangelical Christians would be familiar with.  Pastoral leadership was such an important factor that the entire latter half of the book deals with this.   

Myth #6 We must be careful in our teaching and preaching so that we do not communicate deep and complex biblical truths that will confuse the unchurched

91% of respondents indicated that doctrine was important in their decision to choose the church to join.  Interestingly, this was a slightly higher percentage than the 89% of transfer churched respondents (ie. Christians who transferred their membership).  My observation is that the world is not a simple place, and people - churched or unchurched - are looking for robust and coherent, not simplistic, answers.  

Myth #7 The Sunday School and other small groups are ineffective in attracting the unchurched

By Sunday School the study means the practice of holding Bible study classes on Sunday afternoons, after the morning service.  These often take the place of our mid-week Bible study small groups.  The Sunday School is for all age groups, highly organised, and syllabus driven.  They are, in effect, a means of providing Bible teaching in an organised age-appropriate setting.  An Australian equivalent might be the parachurch Bible Study Fellowship or a Bible overview course run in a local church.  

Myth #8 The most important evangelistic relationships take place in the marketplace

By marketplace the study means the place we spend most of our working time: work, university, school, neighborhoods, shops.  We might spend most of our time in the ‘marketplace’ but it ranks poorly as a fertile place for evangelism. 

When asked who was most significant in influencing their decision to come to church, the formerly unchurched ranked family members highest at 43%.  Next, in order, came ‘No one’ (25%), ‘Other’ (17%), ‘Coworker’ (8%), ‘Neighbour’ (6%) then ‘Merchant’ (2%).  Familial relationships were far and away the most significant.  

Of family relationships, wives were far and away the most significant (35%), children next (18%) then parents (9%) and siblings (5%).  Parents-in-law (2%) and other relations (9%) complete the list.  Husbands barely ranked.  

What this tells us is that marketplace evangelism is extremely difficult for a variety of reasons that we might speculate about.  It also indicates that churches would do well to develop an intentional strategy of equipping wives to evangelise their husbands.  

Myth #9 The unchurched are concerned only about their own needs

The study showed that the motivation of the unchurched for seeking out church or religious influence is complex and varied.  One-in-three respondents indicated that the desire to have religious influence in their children’s lives was the main factor for them.  Many also indicated altruistic motives, the desire to be challenged to make a difference.  

Some preaching tends to denigrate and condemn ‘the world’ and the unchurched, when in reality there is sin both inside and outside the church.  I’ve found that people appreciate it when I point this out in my preaching and teaching, and when I affirm what I can in the world while passionately defending my conviction that Jesus is the pinnacle of all wisdom and altruism and service.

Great MythBusting!  I’m looking forward to the rest of the book!  

Surprising Insights - 9 Myths about the Unchurched - Pt I

Here's a summary of the next chapter in the book. 

Myth #1 Most unchurched think and act like Anglo, middle-class suburbanites with no church background

The study shows that the unchurched are a diverse group, and that people come into church for a variety of reasons from a variety of backgrounds.  We must not fall into the trap of stereotyping the unchurched.  

Myth #2 The unchurched are turned off by denominational names in the church name

Church names rank incredibly low on the range of factors influencing the unchurched to join.  81% of respondents say it did not influence their decision.  8% were uncertain and of the 11% who said the name influence their decision, two-thirds said that the denominational name was a positive influence.  This is probably less true in Australia, but worth investigating further.  If my local church is any guide, there is plenty of local community goodwill and lots of people who have a basically positive view of St Alfred's Anglican Church.  

Myth #3 The unchurched never attend church

On average the unchurched attend around one or two times a year.  The book highlights Christmas and Easter, but we might add baptisms, weddings and funerals as well.  Rainer says, 'Visitors do come - are we ready for them?'  In my experience, this is desperately correct!  Unchurched visitors come to a church for a variety of reasons, not least because someone they trust invites them.

Myth #4 The unchurched cannot be reached by direct personal evangelism

There is plenty of testimony from the interviewees of the impact of a personal visit from the pastor or a visiting team from the church, in which direct evangelism occurred, leading to conversion and their joining the church.  In the majority of stories recorded the visit happened within a month of their visit to the church (and presumably filling out a visitor’s card).  Of course we only hear the success stories - there would have been many failures.  By one calculation only 1 in 5000 who heard Whitfield and Wesley preach were converted.  It is my observation that our contemporary fear of rejection and public shame is the main thing that keeps us from proclaiming the Good News in season and out of season.    

  

Surprising Insights from the Unchurched - Introduction

I'm going to offer potted summaries of each chapter as I go along. The point is to present the book as it is, and save my comments and reflections for the end. 


In the Introduction Rainer outlines the parameters of the  research project, which I began to describe in the post below, and provides a high-level summary of findings.  This is the key chart: What factors led you to choose this church?  The percentages are of the total pool of 353 formerly unchurched who were surveyed. 

Pastor/ preaching	___________________________________90%
Doctrines	_________________________________88%
Friendliness of members	________________49%
Other issues	_____________42%
Someone from the church witnessed to me	____________41%
Family member attends	__________38%
Sense God’s presence/ atmosphere of the church	_________37%

Rainer says, "This simple graph alone could speak volumes to a strategy for reaching the unchurched". 


In fact, the study revealed that pastors, preaching and doctrine were such a significant factor that the project went on to interview 101 pastors of evangelistically effective churches.  The entire latter half of the book is devoted to describing these results.  A group of the same number of pastors from 'comparison churches', that is churches that did not meet the criteria of 'evangelistically effective', were also interviewed.  


In a similar vein, a comparison group of 'transfer churched' were also interviewed. These were people who had joined a church, not because of conversion, but from another church.  

I like the methodological premise of the study. It seems to me that to better understand the reasons why people have actually chosen to join is a very fruitful exercise.  And the comparisons with 'transfer churched' and pastors of 'comparison churches' should be extremely interesting.  


At least one person has asked me where they can get this book. If you click on the title above, it will take you to www.bookdepository.co.uk which I'm a fan of: free delivery worldwide, very competitive prices, often the same or better than our local retailers.