Neighborhood Ministries

Providing Entry Points Worship doesn’t have the draw like it once did. Many people have no idea what church is and see no reason to attend.  Until people get to know Christ, worship is just entertainment and there are lots of different kinds of entertainment out there which are more professional and have more resources than the average church has. Vacation Bible School once attracted unbelievers but rarely does today. Entry points, like the ministries I have described on my blog under church ministry, not only minister to people where they are, they often provide opportunities for people to get to know you and find a reason to become a part of your church. For entry points to be effective, the church must follow up on visitors, but few do, so very few visitors return. Visiting those that visit the church often leads them to visit the church again. As they attend church, they can get to know Christ. Once they get to know Christ, worship will take on a whole new meaning for them. However, worship alone will not hold them. Unless there is fellowship and members are being ministered to, they will not stay. However, keeping them in the church is not the final goal. They need to grow in Christ and learn what it means to serve Christ and very few churches today have active programs to train members to become disciples. Once members are trained as disciples, they can become points of light leading unbelievers to Christ.

Lately, God has been impressing me with our need to expand our work in reaching the lost and making disciples. I have had a burden for the lost ever since God called me to serve Him but lately it has become a heavy burden as I see people struggling to survive in our increasingly secular society with reaching out to help them. I reach far more people than the average pastor, outside of radio and television preachers, yet it is mostly with pastors and the number of unbelievers I have contact with is only a small number when compared to the number of those who don’t know Christ and it isn’t the close personal contact needed to bring someone to conversion and nurture new believers. With the changes in our society, many pastors don’t have the close personal contact with unbelievers to bring them to conversion or the personal contact with their members to nurture them in the faith. That is why I wrote the three courses in the “Church That Transforms” series that details the changes in our society and how it has affected the church, how the church has dealt with similar problems in the past, and how it can become more effective in reaching the lost and making disciples. But it will take more than just church leaders. Christ calls all believers to reach out and touch those around them. That is why I am looking for churches who are willing to reach their neighborhoods and believers who are willing to gather their family, friends, and neighbors to study the Gospel.

In addition, many large churches were at a distance that made it difficult to attend beyond the worship service and they could not attend many of the programs offered. As a result, many people are also seeking churches close by where they can participate more. That offers hope for churches, especially in rural areas with very few similar churches. Different people prefer different forms of worship and people will seek churches with worship they are used to. Because the membership of rural churches may include a sizable area, small groups made up of clusters of members who live close together and meet regularly will provide support for members in times of stress. While neighbors once provided support for those with no family nearby, neighbors no longer know each other and don’t know who around them that they can trust. Small groups whose members live close to each other can provide that support. Trust is also a factor in outreach. With the increasing mistrust of media, Ad campaigns no longer attract many. While door-to-door campaigns attract more, the response is still low, due to the fact residents do not know those who visit them. Empowering members to reach their neighbors increases the success greatly. By reaching out to their neighbors, they can make successive visits to get to know their neighbors. As members get to know their neighbors, their neighbors begin to see that they are interested in them and not just in filling the pews or the collection plates.

Rural churches continually tell me they feel they have very little future, but the evidence is increasingly in their favor. The big rush to large churches with professional grade services and lots of programs is ending in a bust. The people liked the fact that the large churches were welcoming but felt lost once they started attending. With increasing isolation, people are increasingly feeling isolated and Covid has intensified that feeling. As a result, many are returning to smaller churches where they feel welcome. Due to Covid, many people are avoiding large crowds in favor of smaller gatherings. Size alone doesn’t cut it, the small church must be genuinely welcoming. Many small church members shun strangers or ignore them and are not reaping the harvest. The programs don’t have to be fancy, the people just want to feel accepted. However, the average church size from 2000 to 2020 has dropped from 137 to 65, indicating that the smaller churches are not reaching those who leave the larger churches. While rural churches tell me most people around them attend church somewhere, surveys show that very few of them do. Many could be attracted to smaller churches if the church showed them it cared about them.