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Your Church ALIVE

Your Church ALIVE. David Schoen – Congregational Vitality and Discipleship schoend@ucc.org. Your Church ALIVE. Going Local – Getting Your Church Outside Itself Missional and Relational Outreach Becoming Public with your Faith Conversational Faith Sharing and Invitation

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Your Church ALIVE

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  1. Your Church ALIVE David Schoen – Congregational Vitality and Discipleship schoend@ucc.org

  2. Your Church ALIVE • Going Local – Getting Your Church Outside Itself • Missional and Relational Outreach • Becoming Public with your Faith • Conversational Faith Sharing and Invitation • Getting Digital What Does YELP Say About Your Church? • Online Ministry, Outreach and Invitation

  3. Times Have Changed • 96% claim spirituality • 48% participate in faith communities • Total church participation in US has declined even though 51 million new people • Younger generation opting out in masses • Growth in Racial ethnic population decline in Anglo growth rate • Mobility rates increased • 500 Year Phenomena

  4. Disciples and Churches ALIVEMissional, Relational & Conversational • Missional in purpose • Relational in outreach • Conversational in witness in person and online

  5. Missional Discipleship • “The Church exists to serve God’s Mission” ~ Mission as Missio Dei, UCC Committee on Structure, 1992 • The church of Jesus Christ is the instrument and sign of God’s mission and realm. • God’s mission is calling and sending us, the to be to be a missional church in our own societies, in the cultures in which we find ourselves.

  6. Missional in Purpose • Vital disciples • clear sense of purpose • Vital disciples • are sent people • Vital disciples • reach out beyond themselves • reclaim Biblical focus on neighbors • Vital disciples • multiply new disciples/ministries/congregations

  7. Who are they, and where do they come from?(Revelation 7:14) • MissionInsite Demographics • http://missioninsite.com/ • flexible web based information system • comprehensive socioeconomic and lifestyle data • interactive mapping platform • strategic information resource for ministry

  8. Meeting Your Neighbors

  9. MissionInsite Reports

  10. Population Growth

  11. Population Age

  12. Racial/Ethnicity

  13. Religious Practices

  14. Socio-Economic-Consumer Types

  15. Who Are they?

  16. Survey of Religious Beliefs, Preferences and Practices

  17. How to use MissionInsite • Map your congregation homes • Learn their mosaic types • Compare to communities, learn your niche • Gear programs, small groups to meet population to to needs and interests • New neighbor listings • Track guests and friends • Cluster home groups

  18. How to Register

  19. How to Register

  20. QUESTIONS?

  21. Missional in PurposeRelational in Outreach • The days of waiting for people to us to welcome them in church are over. • Instead of waiting inside, we go outside • Bridge the gap by building relationships

  22. Celtic Evangelism The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West…Again George Hunter writes about the difference between what he describes as the evangelism approach in Roman and Celtic Christianity.

  23. Celtic Evangelism Roman Model Celtic Model Presentation Fellowship Decision Ministry and Conversation Fellowship Belief, Invitation, Commitment

  24. Belonging and Believing Christianity is more caught than taught! As Professor Robin Gill observes, belonging comes before believing. For this reason, evangelism is now about helping people belong so that they can believe.

  25. No Matter Who You Are, or Where You Are on Life’s Journey, You Are Welcome Here!

  26. You Are Welcome Here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5BzusJvw_io http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5BzusJvw_io

  27. Relational in Outreach • “I stopped wondering about how to draw younger folks into my church and started focusing on how to draw my congregation out of its building and into relationship with the world outside its doors.”

  28. Missional Outreach • Walk or Drive your neighborhood • Watch for where God is at work • Take notes, make a map, collect contact data • Who lives where • What are community needs • Who are allies and good neighbors • Do this again and again • Talk to your neighbors & community leaders • What are the hopes and challenges of neighbors • How can the church be a good neighbor?

  29. Relationship Building • ‘Hang out’ with your community • Meet neighbors where they gather • Spend Sunday morning with your neighbors • Soccer matches, Lowes, Coffee Shop, Exercise • Pastors ‘office’ in a coffee shop, fast food, bookstore. • Make Worship and Faith Public • Have meetings outside the church. • Bible/book studies in coffee shop, book store • Council meetings in neighborhood context • Create Community Garden • Engage in conversation, build relationships, Collect data of names/addresses/e-mails

  30. Joining God in the Neighborhood • Getting Started • Develop New Eyes for Your Neighborhood • Teach Radical Neighborliness – “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey…” • Meet Neighbors where they are, Listen to Neighborhood Stories • Discern What God is Up to in the Neighborhood • Get Involved • The congregation will begin to do ministry “with” the community—not “to” it. • What am I/We learning - What Do I/We Do Next?

  31. Michigan 2 x 2

  32. Faith,In Project

  33. Be Bold !

  34. Becoming Public with your Faith through Conversations • Conversational ministry is central to the future of the church in 21st Century • Count conversations, not conversions • Brian McLaren, More Ready than You Think

  35. Conversational Ministry • The postmodern world calls for disciples who reach out to a world that is hungering for good conversation about faith, values, hope, meaning, purpose, goodness, beauty, truth, life after death, life before death and God. Engaging in everyday faith conversations will not only help others become disciples, it will help us become disciples, who know and love the stillspeaking God more than ever.

  36. Just because people aren’t in church doesn’t mean they don’t believe

  37. Unchurched USA • Since 1991 adult population in the US grew by 15%. • During that same period the unchurched population grew by 92%! 75 million US adults do not attend church • 'Unchurched' Americans say church is 'full of hypocrites'  consider Christianity to be more about organized religion than about loving God and people, …“unchristian”.

  38. 44 percent -- agreed that "Christians get on my nerves.“ • Vast majority of young non-Christians view Christianity as anti-gay, judgmental hypocritical, unwelcoming, too political, out of touch. • But 78 percent said they would be willing to listen to someone who wanted to tell them about his or her Christian beliefs. • Almost three-quarters -- 72 percent -- agreed that God "actually exists“ and an even larger percentage -- 86 percent -- said they believed they could have a good relationship with God without church involvement.

  39. Start Conversations • Spiritual Seekers want to talk. • We are the ones not talkingFear of Intruding on Other’s faith • Missional outreach is faith-sharing. • An unchurched world doesn’t know but wants to hear why we do what we do and believe what we believe.

  40. If God is still speaking, Shouldn’t we be?

  41. Still Speaking Conversation and Invitation with Neighbors • Informal moments at work, shopping or…. • Be attentive for moments for a still speaking word • Wear your still speaking witness • Home dinners with neighbors • First Welcomers • New Neighbors Sunday Guests • Public Worship/Activities • Ashes to Go • Communion to the street • Community Fairs/Events

  42. Stillspeaking Witness!

  43. God is still speaking, Through you and me!

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