How Do We Help People Engage Deeper With Mission?

As church leaders, we know people won’t become disciples by sitting through services or just studying the Bible in classrooms. Jesus showed us that mission is the context for making disciples who can make disciples. Every church leader faces huge barriers like busyness and fear, keeping our people away from mission.

At Granger Community Church, we’ve seen thousands move out on mission, culminating in redemptive movements locally and globally from Monroe Circle Community Center, a hub for neighborhood renewal in the inner city, to a movement of more than 1.000 reproducing churches in India that includes more than 120,000 people. We’ve realized that people need a series of steps into deeper engagement with mission.

But that revelation didn’t come overnight nor did it come easy. In 2009, we began to notice that despite the innovative nature of most of our access-oriented events and the relatively large turnout and momentum they first generated, interest and momentum were definitely waning. I liken what was happening to swimming. Any competitive swimmer will tell you that swimming is about technique and consistency. It’s about working with the water and minimizing your effort for maximum effect to get where you are going as fast as you can. It’s about cutting through the water like a blade, not pummeling it into submission. The harder you fight when you swim, the slower you go and the more exhausted you get.

Contrast that with surfing, which requires a different sort of talent. A surfer needs good technique, but radically different from swimming. You can’t just keep doing the same thing with good technique over time to achieve the result. A surfer has to anticipate swells and troughs, watch for turns in the current, be sensitive to what’s beneath. A surfer needs an impeccable sense of timing.

Every month, we had the predictable routine of Second Saturday (all-church community service event). It became too predictable. We were still doing it with excellence. We had made each event operate with a level of efficiency and technique that would make the most meticulous process-engineer beam with pride.

But somewhere along the way, it had lapsed into swimming, and we realized that swimming wasn’t helping us. Sure, our attendance at access events like Second Saturday didn’t plummet, but one Saturday after evaluating the event, I (Rob) remarked, “We’ve effectively achieved ‘wallpaper’ status with Second Saturday. It’s there. It looks nice. It accomplishes its job. But no one notices it anymore. We need to change or improve it.” In short, we realized that we needed to start surfing.

With some difficulty, we began modifying our monthly access rhythm. We needed greater variety that leveraged people’s desires to have both increasing commitment but also periods of rest. We also realized this required a level of interest that would undermine the yawn-response and easy predictability to which we had all grown accustomed.

In short, we started to create some waves of activity that would allow people to surf rather than swim. We call it the Wave. Here’s what our rhythm is now being molded to resemble as we focus on creating a spectrum of involvement:

Large Scale Quarterly Events (SWARM) Every year at our annual Food Drop, more than 2,000 volunteers and just under 200 volunteer leaders show up to distribute between 130,000 to 250,000 pounds of food and personal care items into the communities surrounding Granger. These volunteers regularly brave blizzards, sub-zero temperatures, unplowed neighborhoods and a host of other obstacles to participate in the day’s activities. We consistently hear that it is one of the high points for many people who attend our church in their annual serve cycle. In fact, many people who normally take vacations at this time of year (or evacuate to warmer climates for longer periods of time altogether) have over time, rearranged schedules to avoid missing our Drop.

Because of this, we began to design large-scale, “all hands on deck” sorts of events that are similar in size and scope (though not in cost) to our Food Drop, giving people a predictable rhythm of mass participation and encouraging a completely anonymous, no-strings-attached feel that is typical of our standard access ministries, but with the heightened sense of buzz that accompanies having 2,000 people show up at a given event to impact the community. These events are called SWARM events, and occur approximately each quarter.

Another example of a SWARM event was our Supply Drop. Starting in 2012, we began to think through how we might be able to target large-scale SWARM events around the key domains of society. We began grouping ideas around domains that seemed to be on opposite ends of one spectrum or another. Examples included the potential of events that targeted both government and religion since our “Separation of Church and State” ideals often see those two domains as impossible to engage together. Or perhaps an event that seeks to serve business and art, two seemingly opposite concepts since one operates on the utility of economy and the other the aesthetic of beauty.

We decided first to try to put our attention on healthcare and education, since they’re cultural hot buttons. We refined that focus by singling out Medicare-Medicaid recipient nursing homes, which usually cater to the elderly and the forgotten. We also focused on Title One schools in our area, which identify low-income children and families.

We simply called our first event “Supply Drop.” More than 2,000 members from our Granger and Elkhart, Ind., campuses joined together to create care packages specially designed for Title One schoolteachers and Medicare-Medicaid nursing home residents. These packages reached more than 50 schools and facilities throughout our community.

As a follow-up to the event, one Granger member said, “The Drop was a great opportunity to serve with my whole family. I got to teach one of my sons the life skill of talking with someone that’s quite shy, which was a bonus opportunity for me to pour into my children.”

ONE Day Experiences are built around longer-scale commitment than what our original Second Saturdays required, but still require no more than a single day from a given individual or family’s schedule. Also similar to Second Saturday, ONE Day Experiences provide transportation and limited time/scope opportunities to meaningfully serve (in approximately two-hour chunks) throughout the community. Unlike original Second Saturday opportunities, we charge a small fee to cover the cost of the transportation and lunch. We require pre-registration to participate.

Promotion for ONE Day Experiences (the following month after a SWARM event) occurs on the back end of these types of experiences, giving people a chance to understand better what their next step may be as they move from pure access across the spectrum toward ongoing teams and leadership.

MOVE Weekends MOVE is a concept that was actually pioneered by our student ministries, and operates as a weekend-long local mission trip where people are permitted to return to their homes at the end of every night and sleep in their own beds. During a MOVE weekend, the commitment is considerably higher (MOVE experiences start on Friday night and run through Sunday afternoon and include worship, prayer and devotional elements in addition to service). We also charge for participation and require pre-registration, and have more time to discuss movement into the ranks of Ongoing Teams than at SWARM events and One Days.

Rest It’s helpful to program in rest simply because people will take it anyway. Programmed rest gives our leadership teams the opportunity to take a break, and it allows time for promotion and communication in the process of ramping up for the next SWARM event.

This new wave still honors the desire for some predictability, but also provides enough variety and deepening opportunities for involvement that people can more easily and fluidly cross the Spectrum of Involvement to deepening levels of commitment and service. It also allows people to more easily customize their journey and keeps all of us from settling into a nice, sleepy rhythm.

Ongoing Teams and Leadership continue to operate as they always do. But the greater diversity of our experiences and the progressively increasing and more moderated type of opportunities offered draws people closer and more intentionally toward them than our previous Second Saturday experience did. The hope is that we see more and more of Granger’s members taking steps across the access and project lines to greater exposure and eventual membership into the team and leader ranks as their stage of life and commitment allow. As with all things at our church, even the above model will be continually subject to evaluation and change to ensure that it stays innovative and is not permitted

We’re not suggesting that you or your church should carbon copy our Second Saturday, Food Drop, Wave or other processes just because they have worked for us. You’re welcome to implement and adapt everything we have, but that’s not the point of any of the above. Rather, the point is to get you thinking about helping your people take steps toward deeper and deeper levels of personal commitment and experience in the mission of God in the world.

We are firm believers that having a spectrum of involvement is a good idea and a fantastic place to start, but the individual manifestations of what your church’s spectrum might look like may be very different from those of our church’s. That’s okay. That’s fantastic, actually. We’ll bet that you’ll discover things that we haven’t, and we’ll take great joy in learning from and alongside you as you do so.

 Read more from Rob here.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rob Wegner and Jack Magruder

Rob Wegner and Jack Magruder

Rob Wegner is pastor of life mission and Jack Magruder is director of life mission at Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind. This article is an excerpt (chapter 4) from the free eBook The Spectrum of Involvement: Moving Your People Out On Mission, the fourth supplemental eBook for Missional Moves (Exponential Signature Series, Zondervan) by Rob Wegner and Jack Magruder, which describes 15 tectonic shifts that unleash missional energy and have the power within them to transform churches, communities and the world. These shifts are explored through the compelling story of Granger Community Church, one of America’s best-known attractional churches on a 10- year journey toward apostolic movement.

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Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.

10 Commandments for Creating a Culture of Mission in Your Church

1. Thou shalt have a clear statement of mission and no agenda above that mission

2. Thou shalt  have a clear definition of what mission success looks like

3. Thou shalt NEVER rely on attendance and giving alone for validation of the mission

4. Thou shalt have a clear picture of how every church activity relates to the mission

5. Thous shalt eliminate any activity that does not contribute toward the mission

6. Thou shalt structure leadership team roles around commandments 1, 2 and 4

7.  Thou shalt create understanding of the mission through preaching

8. Thou shalt tell stories so that people feel the mission whenever possible

9. Thou shalt give to every person someone who will personally model the mission

10. Thou shalt recruit and train leaders who will follow the first nine commandments

Read more from Will here.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Will Mancini

Will Mancini

Will Mancini wants you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, Will has worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing megachurches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. He is the founder of Auxano, creator of VisionRoom.com and the author of God Dreams and Church Unique.

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COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.

Church Unique Snapshot for NorthPoint Community Church

NORTH POINT COMMUNITY CHURCH VISION FRAME

Our Mission

… to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our Strategy

… to create environments where people are encouraged and equipped to pursue intimacy with God, community with insiders, and influence with outsiders. This is also known as the foyer, living room and kitchen progression. See the visuals here.

Our Values

… the 7 core values are posted here.

The Five Faith Catalysts (We call these mission measures on the Vision Frame)

  1. Practical Teaching
  2. Providential Relationships
  3. Private Disciplines
  4. Pivotal Circumstances
  5. Personal Ministry

Because Andy is so intentional I admire the way he keeps the Five Faith Catalysts in front of their people. Here are two examples that are great benchmarks to learn from. The first is how he introduces them to new believers. The second is how they create a unique website to support sermon series on the Five Faith Catalysts.

The FIRST EXAMPLE  is Starting Point: Check out how the the Five Faith Catalysts are introduced into small group material for new believers and “new to church” folks in this piece by Andy called How Do People Grow

The SECOND EXAMPLE  is the Five Things God Uses Website: Check out the media, notes and curriculum at this tool that supports the sermons series on the Five Faith Catalysts here. If you want to learn more about these, be sure to pick up Andy’s book, Deep and Wide.

I hope this inspires you to “frame up” the four sides of your church’s DNA. Also, if you have completed your Vision Frame recently, I would love to hear about it!

Read more from Will here.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Will Mancini

Will Mancini

Will Mancini wants you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, Will has worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing megachurches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. He is the founder of Auxano, creator of VisionRoom.com and the author of God Dreams and Church Unique.

See more articles by >

COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.

What’s Your Mission?

What’s the big deal about a mission statement?

You see them on walls in company lobby areas and inside promotional brochures. But do they really mean anything? Do people actually careabout mission statements?

Well…yeah. Just ask Dave Ramsey.

Along with lead counselor Russ Carroll, Dave drafted his company’s mission statement nearly two decades ago. This one sentence drives everything his organization does. The statement is simple and straightforward:

We provide biblically based, common-sense education and empowerment which gives HOPE to everyone from the financially secure to the financially distressed.

Dave’s mission statement gives a quick summary of exactly what you can expect from his company. Every word is intentional. The sentence has no unneeded words, no tacked-on principles. It is clear and concise.

Every organization needs a mission statement. It’s the driving force of the company, not just a brochure-filler. It says exactly who the company is—and who they are not.

If the goal of a project doesn’t fit within the confines of their statement, then the organization shouldn’t follow through with it. Something may be a cool idea, but that doesn’t mean you need to bring it into the company. Follow your strengths and “dance with the one who brought you.”

Dave says that a good mission statement becomes an out-of-bounds marker for your ideas. If your company builds lawn mowers, then is interior design really a good thought? Be real with yourself. Examine why you started the business, and don’t set yourself up for failure.

Organizations fail because they lack clear goals and focus. They run down too many rabbit trails and lose sight of how they became successful in the first place. In other words, they ignore their mission statement. But any long-term successful organization will have a rock-solid vision—clearly spelled out in the mission statement.

Not only that, but each team member should have their own personal mission statement that guides them. When companies bring the right people on board, the goals of each team member should naturally flow into the goals of the organization as a whole.

That’s the type of unity that helps organizations succeed. And it can only come when everyone on the team knows which direction the train is moving and why it is moving there. That stems from leadership and the mission statement.

If your organization is struggling with its direction, re-examine your mission statement. And if you have never written or verbalized one, then what are you waiting for?

Learn more from Dave about growing your business out of your mission statement at his business conference, EntreLeadership.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dave Ramsey

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COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.