The Connection With New People Must Extend Beyond the Minister

It’s back to school season. How is your church using this season as a relaunch opportunity? As the cooler days set in, summer vacations come to an end, and people reset their schedules for a new fall routine, what has your church planned to leverage this moment? Connecting or reconnecting doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. In this series, we will explore a few ideas to consider if your church would like to leverage this fall opportunity.

Connecting with guests, neighbors, and the community are not solely the pastor’s responsibility. In fact, if we solely rely on this approach, the potential capacity and impact of the church will be gravely minimized. One person or a paid ministry team has a cap on their time and energy. Furthermore, the ministry of the church needs to be in the hands of the laity. Pastors are meant to be spiritual guides and disciple equippers - not the doer of all. It is the disciples who are sent out to do the ministry.

Connecting with guests, neighbors, and the community works best when it is a personal connection with people in the congregation. The pastor may or may not have grown up in the area or have the cultural awareness of the community compared to those in the congregation who have lived in the area for decades. The pastor may also be appointed to a new church at any time. The connection of laity with guests, neighbors, and the community is likely to be much deeper and lasting.

Too often laity are fearful of being the connectors. They are often concerned that unchurched people will ask them complicated theological questions they will be unable to answer. By and large this is not the case. Rather, people are seeking to understand how they might connect with others and if the church will meet their needs. Equipping laity for this important ministry (even offering some role playing) is absolutely necessary to grow a healthy, vital church. Here are some blogs on the topic to use as training tools:

LINK - How to Easily Strengthen Your Fall Connection Event and Its Impact

LINK - 10 Easy Tips for Building Genuine Connections with Your Neighbors

LINK - Revamp Your Event Strategy: Unleash its Power of Connection to Boost Engagement

As individuals and families find themselves establishing a new routine this time of the year, be sure your church is on their radar for a space in their schedule. Without meaningful or valuable connection points, families will become too busy with other activities and not have the time or desire to engage in the life of the church. Which idea or two from the list might your church decide to try?