When It Comes to Guest Experience, What You Manage Is What You Get

by: Tim Brown

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How often have you experienced unfriendly or grumpy service on an airline, in a restaurant, or in another service environment? Quite a few times, I imagine. In the vast majority of cases, I would take a bet that this is not so much a result of poor hiring or training, but a reflection of a poor internal culture.

Service brands often use the vocabulary of theater to describe what good service looks like. They talk about “performance,” “scripts,” and “stages” when instructing their staff. However, they forget one crucial difference between acting and working as a service provider. On the stage, the performer has a chance to prepare, and can treat the moment as a separate experience. A sales clerk in a retail environment has to cope with unpredictable customers and shifting levels of demand — never having the opportunity to distinguish the “performance” from the rest of the job.

When brands attempt to script their service performance, but do not give equal attention to their internal culture, it should be no wonder that these organizations inevitably fail to meet consistent service standards. Companies that have combative relationships with their employees, or fail to engage staff in a respectful way, risk seeing these same negative attitudes filter into staff interactions with customers.

Famously great service brands — such as Nordstrom, Southwest Airlines, and Four Seasons Hotels — go out of their way to develop respectful and positive corporate cultures that act as the foundation for great service. One of my local favorites in San Francisco is Bi-Rite Market. Owners Sam and Raph Mogannam have created a positive and inclusive culture that extends beyond employees, all the way to suppliers and the local community. A few simple behaviors guide how staff interact with customers, known as “guests.” Everything else comes down to the naturally optimistic and helpful personality of staff who work in an enjoyable and supportive culture.

Where might your corporate culture be obstructing your ability to deliver the best experiences to your customers?

Read more from Tim here.

Tags: Assimilation, Guest Experience, Tim Brown

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Three Bottom-Line “Musts” for Your Church’s Guest Services Ministry

by: Mark Waltz

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I’ve been asked lately about some bottom-line “musts” to establish and/or take guest services excellence to the next level. This isn’t an exhaustive list (that’s why I wrote a few books on the topic), but these core essentials will provide a foundation to make your serve to guests excellent and personable.

• Leadership: 
  • Are the right leaders in place?
  • Do they carry the DNA, mission, vision and values of the church?
  • Do they hold the experience of the guest as a top priority over personal convenience?
  • Are they gifted leaders – not merely doers (although they may “do” fantastic work)?
  • Do these leaders have chemistry, trust and love for each other?
  • Do they model the level of personable service you want every team member to practice?
• Values:
  • Are values defined and communicated (whatever those are… Team, Engagement, Next Steps, People Matter, etc)?
  • Are teams using those values as lenses to serve guests? That is, are they operating from a motivation of values rather than mere technical training or a task list?
• Systems:
  • Are systems defined and functioning so guests are served well?
  • Are systems facilitated and owned by team members who utilize those systems to serve people?
  • Do systems help team members understand their schedule, expectations, and feedback loop?

Of course if you’re providing guest services in the local church, it’s assumed, but should be stated – the love of God in Jesus motivates everything you do. It is the number one driving value. Helping people experience the grace of God is the point – or there is none.

Read more from Mark here.

Want to learn how to create an EXCEPTIONAL Guest Experience at your church? Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp, coming to Orlando, FL on April 3-4.

Tags: Assimilation, Guest Experience, Guest Service, Mark Waltz

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Duplicatable Process

by: Will Mancini

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For a leader, the maxim is true: it’s not about what you can do, but what you can duplicate. At some point your vision must transcend your skills and be deposited into the basic reproducible habits of the entire congregation.

There are three processes to start thinking about about: (1) How do people move through your strategy? (2) How do your people do the work of evangelism? (3) How does your church body multiply itself?

First, remember that programs don’t attract people; people attract people.

As the leader you want to lubricate the gears of this process. This means motivating people to do whatever it takes to help others move through your strategy. It’s like building a customer service impulse into every heart and hand that calls your church home. Churches talk all the time about assimilation as an important function. Don’t miss the opportunity to leverage your vision generally, and your strategy specifically, to make assimilation a function of culture through micro steps that everyone can take.

Second, give your people reproducible steps, skills, tools, and processes for them to become evangelists.

Keep in mind that we are not talking about formulaic approaches. What we are talking about is more in line with the eloquent plea of authors Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch in The Shaping of Things to Come: “We yearn for something richer and more complex, more dangerous. The one-size-fits-all to church mission and evangelism must be abandoned. Fewer and fewer churches seem to be developing evangelistic ministries specifically contextualized to the geographic area or subculture in which they are living.” These words are apt, remind us that knowing our local predicament is essential in creatively, yet thoughtfully, engaging our culture.

Third, you must decide how you duplicate.

One of the values of the missional church is healthy orientation toward kingdom growth over the necessary growth of one local church. On the basis of your Kingdom Concept and your Vision Frame, you must decide what size is best, what timing is best, and what kind of multiplication is best.

There are many questions to ask about the duplication process, making it critically important that the process be tied to the vision.

Tags: Assimilation, Evangelism, Multiplication, Will Mancini

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Innovate Your Guest Experience by Focusing on Ministry Model and Brand

by: Kerry Bodine

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Your Guests are your customers.

At Forrester Research, Inc., customer experience is defined as how customers perceive their interactions with your company.

Kerry Bodine, Vice President and principal analyst serving Customer Experience Professionals at Forrester Research, has written a great blog post entitled: “Business Model And Brand: Keys To Customer Experience Innovation” (May 17, 2013)  that church leadership teams need to consider. Here’s an excerpt:

“If you want to shift your customers’ perceptions, you have to examine those interactions on a deeper level. Specifically, you need to look at the types of interactions customers have and the qualities that those interactions embody. And that’s where your business model and your brand come into play.

While the connection between business model and customer experience might be obvious, I don’t find that many companies actively consider the two in tandem.

• Your business model determines the types of interactions customers will have.
• Brand values drive the qualities of those interactions.

Organizations that want to differentiate their customer experience need to go beyond find-and-fix efforts that result in incremental improvements. They need to innovate the customer experience by refocusing on their business model and brand.

Read the complete blog post by Kerry here.

Read more from Kerry here.

Tags: Assimilation, Guest Experience, Kerry Bodine

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Measuring Ministry Progress in Your Church, Part 1: Introduction

by: Steve Kryger

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Several years ago my wife and I visited Canada, to see my sister and brother-in-law. While in Vancouver, we walked up the infamous Grouse Mountain. Here’s how the walk is described:

“The Grouse Grind is a 2.9-kilometre trail up the face of Grouse Mountain, commonly referred to as ‘Mother Nature’s Stairmaster.’   This trail is very challenging. Keep in mind that there is a wide range of mountaintop trails that might better suit the average hiker.”

As far as short hikes go, this one is indeed challenging – every step of the way is a vertical step – there’s no flat! As the fog set in and my unfit-excuses-for-legs started to strain, I remember thinking “How much longer to go? Are we making any progress?”. And just when I was doubting, we’d come across progress markers like this:

These markers were just the encouragement we needed, and the cause for celebration as step-by-step we progressed towards the finish line.

1.5 hours later we crossed the finish line as the snow started to fall – it was a sweet feeling to have got to the end and then celebrate with lunch by the fire, as the blizzard commenced outside!

Measurements help us to see our progress towards a destination.

We make these kinds of measurements all the time:

• Is all this effort I am putting into healthy eating and exercise helping me lose weight?
• Is the extra study I am doing helping me to have better conversational Japanese?
• Am I any closer to my goal of saving for a deposit for a house?

When there’s no clear destination, and/or when this is combined with a lack of progress markers along the way, it can be very frustrating – in life, and also in ministry.

As Andy Stanley explains:

It is impossible to know if you are making progress if you are not clear about your destination…If you give good people a clear goal, then most of the time they’ll work like dogs to get there. But if the goal is unclear, they’re forced to guess or, worse, decide for themselves what a win really is.

But apart from the risk of frustrating and discouraging people, there are other good reasons to measure progress in ministry. Here’s 5 – I’m sure you can think of more, and I invite you to share them in the comments and as the series progresses.

1. To evaluate if our church activities are actually helping people to mature.

Willow Creek asked this hard question:

Are all the things that we do here at Willow Creek that these people so generously support really helping them become fully devoted followers of Christ—which is our mission—or are we just giving them a nice place to go to church?

It was a question that sparked a lot of soul-searching and prompted some fascinating research.

Activity isn’t necessarily progress. Busyness isn’t necessarily fruitfulness.

But you need to know where you’re progressing in order to evaluate the activity.

Andy Stanley again:

The tendency in business, or in church work for that matter, is to mistake activity for progress. We think that just because people are busy and doing a lot of stuff that we are being successful. The fact of the matter is, if all that activity isn’t taking you where you want to go, then it’s just wasted time.

2. To evaluate how faithfully we’re stewarding the limited resources God has given us.

We don’t have endless resources, and we’re accountable to God for how we use the money, gifts, time and energy he’s given us.

To pour hundreds or thousands of dollars into a ministry may be a great demonstration of faithfulness and trust in God.

Or it could be just unwise and reckless.

Taking measurements, praying hard, and asking hard questions might bring about some realisations:

• Perhaps we could (should) do things differently.
• Perhaps we could mobilise people who aren’t serving.
• Perhaps we could stop something in order to start something else.

3. To clarify why we’re doing something.

It’s very easy to lose sight of the purpose of a ministry of program. Why did we start this?

Until you have an objective, every idea is a good idea. If it’s not achieving the goal you set out for it, then it’s time to rethink it.

If the playgroup was started to share the gospel with mothers from the community and this isn’t happening – something needs to change.

4. To give thanks to God for his goodness and kindness.

God is the one who gives growth, and by measuring the growth that God gives, we can give Him the glory for his work amongst us.

The measurements allow us to extend beyond a general “Thanks for the growth” to “Thank you for the 3 people who completed Christianity Explored this year”.

5. To help us pray.

Not only do measurements provide meat on the bones for our thanks to God, they help us to pray.

• Pray for more unbelievers to come to church.
• Pray for more members to be sharing their faith.
• Pray for giving to increase so that more mission partners can be supported.

The purpose of this series

I’ve been asking a lot of ministers how they measure their ministry progress, and while nearly all agree that measuring is a good idea, most are still thinking through how to do it (and lots of very helpful ideas have been graciously shared).

Do we measure attendance? Giving? People in small groups? How can you measure spiritual growth (I think there are ways!).

The subsequent posts in this series will explore the measurements we might use for evaluating ministry progress in the local church.

Keeping in mind it’s not about us, and it’s all about Jesus. May many more people come to know him. May we never boast in anything but the cross of Christ.

I pray this series will be helpful for you.

Read Part 2 here.

Tags: Assimilation, Evangelism, Multiplication, Steve Kryger

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Gospel Hospitality

by: Jeff Vanderstelt

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Hospitality is a forgotten art. It also has a lost biblical history. We can recover the art of hospitality by understanding what it is and discerning how the gospel changes our notions of hospitality. In general, hospitality is about treating strangers as equals by creating space for them to be protected, provided for, and taken care of, followed by assisting and guiding them to their next destination. Let’s see how this holds up to scripture.

The Origin of Hospitality

There is a lot of history to consider in understanding the act or art of hospitality, but it all goes back to the beginning. In Genesis 1-2, we discern God’s first hospitable act. Consider what God did when he created the world and the garden of Eden for humanity to live in it. He gave Adam and Eve all they needed to enjoy life restfully while doing the work He created them for. He gave them space to exist, to enjoy creation, and to enjoy each other and fellowship with Him. They were given both the space and the capability to create, to work, and to exercise authority, with all the resources necessary they needed.

Israel: God’s Hospitable People

Consider God’s commands to His people regarding hospitality to strangers (Lev 19:9-10, 33-34; Deut 10:18-19). Through Abraham and Sarah, God created a new nation – a People blessed to be a blessing to all nations. He gave them all the resources and capabilities to exercise hospitality to strangers, orphans, and widows. Similar to the Garden experience, Israel offered His people a place of refuge where others could rest and receive all they needed, enabling them to do what God had created them to do. However, now this rest came in the midst of a broken, sinful world.

On the flip side, think of the number of occasions where Israel found itself as the strangers among a host people. In some cases they found a hospitable reception (Egypt with Joseph in charge; the spies and Rahab). In other cases they found themselves treated like enemies or slaves (Slavery in Egypt; Babylonian Captivity). God had called them to be hospitable, yet they often failed to do so. After, receiving hospitality this must have become clearer to them.

God allows us to experience grace as recipients so that we might be distributors of grace to others.

God allows us to experience grace as recipients so that we might be distributors of grace to others. Hospitality toward Israel was a clear example of God’s gracious gift, once again, and should have motivated generous hospitality. Unfortunately, Israel failed to enter God’s rest because of their unbelief and disobedience (Heb 4). So, they not only failed to rest in the work of God, but also failed to offer that rest to other nations. In all their hospitable failures, they needed one who would fully rest in God in order to become an enduring place of refuge for others.

Rethinking Hospitality with Jesus

Jesus entered into a culture shaped by a variety of world views (The Imperial Cult, Jewish Monotheism, and Hellenistic Philosophy to name a few). In this culture, the concept of hospitality was rooted in several different traditions. First, the idea of taking in a hostile stranger or enemy and treating him as you would yourself. Second, the Greek practice of hospitality in which a stranger passing outside a Greek house would be invited inside the house by the family. The host washed the stranger’s feet and offered him/her food and wine. Only after the stranger was feeling comfortable, could the host ask his or her name. This practice stemmed from the thought that the gods mingled among men, and if you played a poor host to a deity, you would incur the wrath of a god.

A third shaping force in the concept of hospitality in Jesus’ day was the Hebrew understanding (as briefly considered in the passages above and demonstrated also in the story of Lot and the angels– Genesis 19). Jesus comes into this cultural context and calls the weary to himself, feeds the hungry, mends the broken, eats with sinners and tax collectors, washes his disciples’ feet…and ultimately gives his life to cleanse us from sin, deal with our unbelief and provide a way and place for us to rest. Jesus lives, loves, obeys, works, dies, and rises again so that we might find a place of rest, renewal and recreation. He offers us rest in order to send us on our way to be about God’s purposes – rescued to offer rest. Jesus saved us to be His Hospitable People!

3 Ways the Church Can be Hospitable

In light of the gospel, we might define hospitality as the creation of a space that allows people to BE themselves, to BECOME renewed, and to DO the works God has saved them for. When we properly exercise hospitality, we welcome people to be themselves in the warmth of the light of Christ, to become renewed by being changed by the work of Christ, and to do works we have been created for in Christ.

TO BE RESTED

In a broken world, marred and diseased by the effects of sin, people need the space to rest. This is why Jesus called people who were weary and heavy-laden to come to him. He would give them rest for their weary souls. Jesus calls us to rest in His work on our behalf so we can be a people at rest who provide sanctuaries of rest for others.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. God had created a place and made space for them to be themselves without covering or facades. If we are in Christ, we are clothed with His righteousness. We don’t need to cover up or hide. One of the ways we create space for people to experience and come to understand the gospel is by creating space for people to reveal their true self and see that they are loved regardless of the “wrinkles and scars” of sin. How do we create space for people to be their true self?

TO BECOME RENEWED

The gospel isn’t only about loving and forgiving sinners. It is also about restoring broken and marred people into healed and whole people who grow up to become imitators of Jesus Christ – restored image bearers of God. Jesus created space for people to be and to become (Think of Mary, Peter, Thomas, the woman at the well, the blind man, the paralyzed). Gospel hospitality implies creating space for people to be known, to be real, to be loved, and ultimately to be led with the Holy Spirit’s help to healing and wholeness through the work and person of Jesus Christ. How do we create space for people to be led toward healing and wholeness?

TO DO WORKS

The gospel moves from who God is and what Christ has done on our behalf into the works He created us to do (See Ephesians 2:8-10).

This is the result of Jesus’ gospel hospitality. He got on the same level with his enemy – becoming human. He became our servant – to the point of death. He spent all that He had in order to clean us up – by becoming our sin and giving us His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21). Then He sent us His Spirit to empower us to do good works for His sake so others could be welcomed in to the family. When we engage in gospel hospitality, we are regularly asking ourselves this question:

How do we create space for the stranger to be rested, restored, healed, and prepared in Jesus Christ for the work God has called them to?

Will you join God’s rich history of providing rest in order to extend rest? Remember, everything he has called you to do he has already done for you in Christ Jesus. You have everything you need to offer gospel hospitality to the strangers, friends, and even enemies around you.

 Read more from Jeff here.

Tags: Assimilation, Hospitality, Jeff Vanderstelt

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Creating Memorable Guest Experiences is More Important Than You Know

by: Andrew McFarland

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Customer service consultants frequently suggest mapping the journey and defining the touchpoints of customer-company interactions.  But perhaps this map and these touchpoints miss the most important part of the journey – memory.  Perhaps the memory of the experience is more important than the experience itself.

Watch Daniel Kahneman in this TED video, keeping customer experience in mind, and see how your thinking changes.  Try substituting ‘customer satisfaction’ when the speaker says ‘happiness’.  (Resist temptation and watch without reading ahead.)

[Vision Curator’s Note: Your Guests are your “customers,” so think “Guest satisfaction” when Dr. Kahneman says “happiness” in this video. When you do, it will be a whole new ballgame.]

Now, reflect on these questions…

1. Do attempts to map the journey address the experience or the memory of the experience?
2. When improving the customer experience are efforts focused on the ‘experiencing self’ or the ‘remembering self’?
3. Could this effect (i.e. the difference between happiness with an experience and the memory of our happiness) explain why customers have greater loyalty to companies that make mistakes and recover versus those that have flawless execution to begin with?
4. Is the meaningful part of the experience really the memory of it?  Do people tweet about the experience or do they tweet about their memory of the experience?
5. What makes experiences memorable?

If the ‘remembering self’ tells stories and makes decisions and if our happiness with an experience can be (and is) fundamentally different than our memories of the experience, then the pivot point is that creating memorable customer experiences is essential.  We must address both the journey and the memory of the journey in our efforts.  Perhaps this is what is meant by the Japanese proverb, “When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you are only halfway there.”

Read more from Andrew here.

Tags: Andrew McFarland, Assimilation, Guest Experience

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First Impressions: 10 Ways to Make Your Guests Feel Welcome

by: Devin Maddox

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People never get a second-chance at a first impression. Neither do churches. My family recently visited a church (no, it wasn’t your church) and were able to get in and out undetected. Had it not been for our toddler’s need for childcare, we could have avoided human contact altogether. Needless to say, we didn’t feel very welcome.

Nearly everything about a Sunday morning worship service communicates something to first-time visitors. From the church bulletins to the parking lot layout, churches demonstrate how much – or how little – they care about people. Here are some things I learned from my last church visit.

1. Create a culture of hospitality

Hospitality is not just for Martha Stewart types. In fact, the Bible exalts hospitality as a godly virtue (3 John) for all believers. Emphasize, as often as it takes, the value of hospitality with your leaders.

2. Train your greeters

Not everyone at your church is qualified to be a greeter at the door. Not only should you be selective when you choose greeters, you should invest time in training. A genuine smile that engages the eyes, a handshake, and a friendly “Hello!” all go a long way to make visitors feel welcome.

3. Design a logical flow of traffic

This point applies both to large churches and small ones, both cars and pedestrians. First-time visitors can become easily frustrated when it’s unclear where they should go.

4. Spell-check everything

Typos on your website, signage, worship guides, and even song lyrics can send the message you don’t care. Set up a system to ensure all written communication is checked for spelling errors.

5. Mark your entrances

When visitors come to your church, do they know what entrance they should use? A well-marked entrance takes some of the pressure off of visitors who might be too nervous to ask for help.

6. Avoid awkward greeting times

Many churches include a time of greeting between members at the beginning of a worship service. For visitors, it’s the first day of school all over again. Explain the purpose behind the greeting time and coach your people on how to do it well.

7. Prepare a concise explanation of the child care system

Families with young children will be anxious about leaving their kids with strangers. Don’t overwhelm them with information, but explain your church’s plan for taking good care of their children while they attend the worship service.

8. Be careful how you gather information

Some churches are too pushy. While it’s important to gather information for follow-up with visitors, be careful you don’t send the wrong message in how you ask. Consider including a communication card in your church’s worship program. Ask everyone, including members, to fill out the card and drop it in the offering basket.

9. Train members to assume they’re the only point of contact

Unless everyone has this mindset, everyone will defer their responsibility to be hospitable. Don’t miss an opportunity to take an interest in visitors. Invite them to lunch after church if you attend a morning service.

10. Treat visitors like VIPs

Most of all, visitors want to feel respected and welcomed. Offer reserved parking close to the front door. Have volunteers escort visitors from the parking lot to the child care area and auditorium.

Remember, first impressions matter. With a well thought out, pre-service plan, your church can show visitors just how much you care and want them back.

This article reproduced with permission from Facts and Trends.

Tags: Assimilation, Devin Maddox, First Impressions, Guest Experience

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Aligning New Ministries Within Established Churches

by: Thom Rainer

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If you have ever designed a room or redecorated a house, you know that it is much easier to work with new furniture. You buy furniture with the room in mind. If it does not fit into the design of the room, you do not get it. The challenging part is figuring out where your existing furniture and pictures fit.

The same is true for alignment.

The most challenging aspect of alignment is pulling existing ministries and existing staff in the same direction, especially if they have been moving in opposite directions. It is much easier to align new people and new ministries to the overall direction.

If they do not fit, you simply do not allow them to begin.

According to the research we gathered for Simple Church, we found it is vital that you make sure new ministries fit into the simple process before they begin. Finding out afterwards is always too late.

We asked vibrant and comparison church leaders to state their level of agreement with the following statement: “Before we begin a new ministry, we ensure that it fits within our process.” Of the vibrant churches, 68 percent strongly agreed or agreed compared to 40 percent of the comparison churches. The vibrant church leaders tend to ensure new ministries understand their place in the process prior to their launch.

Checking the Fit

Before you purchase a new pair of shoes, you wear them in the store. You walk around in them. It would be unwise to buy them without knowing if they fit right. Shoes that do not fit are found at the bottom of your closet. They create more clutter. Checking the fit is essential.

Simple church leaders check the fit. Before a new ministry is launched, they ensure it is a viable part of the simple ministry process. They clarify specifically how the new ministry will move people through the process. And they ensure that the leaders of the new ministry understand how the ministry is part of the big picture.

We are drawing a distinction between a program and a ministry. Ministries are different from programs. Ministries are either entire departments (ministry expansions) or specific groups (see ministry additions) that help move people through one aspect of the process.

In a simple church new ministries can be divided into two broad categories: ministry expansions and ministry additions. Checking the fit prior to inception is critical for both.

Ministry expansions are new ministries that are geared toward a specific age group or life stage. The church ministry is expanding to focus intentionally on a specific group of people. The new ministry is going to be a new department within the church such as a new middle-school ministry department or young couples department. In both of these cases, these groups were formerly a part of a different ministry. Now they will have their own identity. For ministry expansions, begin the new ministry with the same simple process. Be sure the programs within this ministry are placed to move people through the process. Ministry expansions are a great opportunity to highlight the simple process. You can begin them without the clutter. You can use these new ministries to show existing ministries the benefits of a streamlined approach.

Ministry additions are new ministries that fulfill a specific function within the simple process. These ministries must be set up to help move people through the process of transformation. For example, the baptism ministry team makes it easy for people to move to baptism. The guest reception ministry helps move guests into the life of the church. If it is unclear how a ministry addition will move people through the simple process, do not launch it.

In either case, whether you are expanding or adding a ministry, always ensure the ministry fits within the larger church process and vision.

If you’re interested in evaluating the clarity, movement, alignment, and focus of your church, you can take a free online Process Design Survey at EricGeiger.com.

Adapted from Simple Church (B&H Publishing Group, 2006)

Read more from Thom here.

Tags: Assimilation, Multiplication, Serve, Thom Rainer

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4 Systems Every Church Needs

by: Artie Davis

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You may or may not be a systems person. You may lead a large or very small church. Regardless the context, systems need to be in place or success will always elude you.

Every church needs to ask and answer these questions in the context of a measurable system they have put in place.

#1 Attraction

When are we attracting people to the Kingdom?

If we never attract people to us, they will never experience the Jesus in us. So we need a system that allows those on the outside to see what we have on the inside. When do we do that….intentionally?

• Sunday morning? How?
• Missional communities? How?
• Personally? How?
• Outreach? How?

#2 Assimilation

How are we keeping those God sends us?

We are very poor stewards of the Kingdom, if God brings us people and we don’t do everything possible to keep them. If a new person is introduced to our church, then what?

• Once someone gets to know us or the church what is the next place? Where?
• Do we know how many we have seeking? How do we record it, Where?
• What is our definition of the person who is “committed?”

#3 Action

What are we challenging people to do?

We must have a system that takes people from their first steps to equipping them to be productive missionaries in a lost world. If the church doesn’t train them, then Who?

• What do we consider our “roads to outreach?”
• Is a lifestyle of living out our mission expected?
• How do we record new additions? Who contributed to that action?

#4 Activation

Where are we sending people?

Once a follower is fully trained, they should be like their teacher, i.e., Jesus. Jesus went from town to town, from person to place demonstrating and communicating the Kingdom. When our people are trained, what opportunities do we provide or encourage them to engage in. Where?

• How are our groups working toward our mission?
• Where do we encourage individuals to make contact with those outside the Kingdom?
• How do we measure how effective our strategy is in accomplishing our mission

These are some questions we have had to answer recently. Can you add any to the list?

Tags: Action, Activation, Artie Davis, Assimilation, Attraction, Vision Frame

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