Missional AND Attractional

Many of us are burdened as we watch church attendance continue to shrink.  Some churches have tried the attractional model of ministry and drawn many people in, but that can lead to people simply attending church, not engaging in discipleship.  Other churches have focused on the missional model to make disciples and live out what Jesus called us to do, but how do you first reach people who aren’t in church to help them become disciples?  And that is where it all begins….The Genius of AND.

Last week, over 400 church leaders converged at AND to engage in discussions with thought leaders like Alan Hirsch, Dave Ferguson, Hugh Halter, Mark Beeson, Brandon Hatmaker, Eric Bramlett and many Granger staff members about the power of AND….using the attractional ministry model to bring people in AND the missional model focused on making disciples. 

A dedicated group of bloggers sat in on every session of the conference.  Here are a few blogs from several of the sessions at AND.  We hope they will get you thinking about how we will reach that 60% who will not go to church as they know it today AND how we will develop disciples to reach the world for Christ.

Hugh Halter
The question isn’t how we should “do” church.  Church is something God builds.  We need to teach people not just to know Jesus, but to take on the life of Jesus.  The genius of AND by Hugh Halter.

Alan Hirsch
In the session “Permanent Revolution” Alan Hirsch stated that to problems of the church cannot be resolved by the same type of thinking that has got it there.  We took a deep dive into Ephesians 4 for the answer to what the church is called to be. 

Mark Beeson
Mark Beeson put it all in perspective by reminding us that it really is all about attractional.  Jesus was attractional; look at the crowds he drew.  People will be attracted to our lives as they see how we live like Jesus. 

It Takes More than Just Turning it On

By Lynn Noe, Customer Relations Coordinator

If you are like me, you look forward to the time of Praise and Worship at the beginning of church service. The music sets the tone for deep worship, reflective moments, and giving glory to God through song. In these moments, you stop and take time to focus your full attention on God. The music, lyrics, lighting and video combine to set the environment for our all-out engagement. And this helps prepare our hearts for the message that day. Ask any tech team and they will tell you, this is their passion.

So what does it take to create the ideal environment for worship in a new auditorium? We took the opportunity to meet with Steve, Casey and Ben, the pros at Acoustical Dimensions, as they were commissioning the Audio-Video-Lighting(AVL) for the new auditorium at College Park Church in Indianapolis.  They partnered with Aspen Group to help create the best AVL dynamic for church services. Even with technology, the first step begins with an assessment of who the church is, how they worship, and how they have and will use AVL technologies.  For optimal results, the planning begins early in the design process. 

Many design details impact the quality of sound in a worship area including the shape of the room, type and placement of seating, type of floor and ceiling, and wall material.  The HVAC systems have to be designed so the noise they produce isn’t intrusive to the sounds within the room. All of this is considered from the time of early stage design planning through construction and installations. 

As the move-in date approached for College Park, commissioning of their AVL began. This when all of the systems were tweaked to achieve the desired output and the staff was trained to use the new equipment. Any church that has undergone a large construction project knows what an intensive time it is for their tech team. Speakers were tuned, wiring checked, microphones tested, frequency responses analyzed, and delayed timing systems assessed. Add in the video piece with cameras, large screens in the auditorium, plus various screens throughout the building, and you can begin to grasp the scope of the AVL components, not to mention the software that is used to mix graphics, music, video and live feeds, and what it takes to learn and operate the tech booth and tech room equipment. It gives me a whole new appreciation for tech teams who master all of the various media to creatively do work for the Kingdom.  

Construction Site = Ministry Site

By Lynn Noe, Customer Relations Coordinator

To the average eye, it looks like a construction project.  But to people with a big heart for outreach, that church construction project looks like a huge opportunity to reach out and show the love of Christ.  Here are some examples of outreach that our construction teams have experienced from churches over the years:

CARE KITS - When those cold winter winds started blowing, one church put together bags of goodies for each worker on the site.  The kits had lip balm, hand warmers to fit inside of gloves, beef jerky and other items to help them endure the freezing temperatures.

LUNCH - Enough can’t be said about the impact of feeding the “troops”.  Whether it is a cook-out on site, a sit-down catered meal, or a bunch of pizzas, we haven’t met anyone yet who didn’t appreciate the church providing a meal.  Recently at a catered lunch put on by a church, one of the construction workers remarked “he had never had anyone serve him before.”  What a great opportunity to show love and appreciation.

FELLOWSHIP - Either during meals or at other times on the jobsite, take time to talk to the people building your church.  Do they have family?  What’s going on in their lives?  Let them know you are praying for them.  Tell them you appreciate the gifts they bring to the project.

PRAYER  - There is nothing more powerful than prayer.  Regardless of beliefs, we’ve heard many stories of workers who were moved by knowing they were being prayed for.

TREATS - Simple things like a cooler of Gatorade on a hot summer day or donuts dropped off one morning are great ways to acknowledge the hard work of the construction team.

PICNIC TABLES - One church plans to put a couple of picnic tables on their construction site so the workers have a place to sit, eat and take a break. It sure beats sitting in their cars or using a cooler as a chair!  And even more special is the church plans to have prayers, blessings and messages written on the tables when they are delivered to the site.

We would love to hear your stories or ideas with regards to using construction as an opportunity to share the love of Christ.

(One word of caution---Always talk with your Construction Manager about what you would like to do.  He/she can partner with you while assuring jobsite safety is maintained.)

Ditch Fear and Be Transparent

By Lynn Noe, Customer Relations Coordinator

We’ve all done it. Asked a dumb question or made a dumb suggestion in front of a customer. Can you remember a time when you just wanted to shrink into a corner to avoid the embarrassment? Or the excuses you then used to try to rationalize your mistake?  

Our team has been reading Patrick Lencioni’s book, “Getting Naked.” Once we got past the title, some great discussions ensued about his recommendations on how to shed the three fears that sabotage client loyalty.

Those fears are:

1. Fear of Losing the Business
    
2. Fear of Being Embarrassed
    
3. Fear of Feeling Inferior

In short, the book illustrates how client loyalty and trust is achieved when we shed these three fears and allow ourselves to be vulnerable and transparent. Lencioni mixes solid, practical knowledge and experience with humor, making this book a fun, easy and valuable read.

My biggest take-away from the book is the model I believe we strive for at Aspen. And that is “to embrace uncommon levels of humility, selflessness and transparency for the good of the client.” So in the spirit of “Getting Naked” I’ll be honest and confess I do not have this perfected. I’m human and sometimes pride, competition and fear become issues. That being said, my target is to keep working towards that goal and look towards all that could be accomplished when we “get naked.”

So what about you? Are there fears that keep you from being the best you could be to those you serve?

Where is the church in the midst of an emergency or disaster?

By Lynn Noe, Customer Relations Coordinator, Aspen Group

Blizzard?  Extended power outages? No matter where you live, it is likely that you and your community were impacted by the weather during these last few days.  So what if churches across the country had been able to help their communities in preparing for and dealing with our recent weather emergencies?  What about other emergencies like the recent Tucson tragedy?

The Christian Emergency Network (CEN) is a network of Christian volunteers, community leaders and emergency professionals uniting to equip Christians to be aware, ready and there to respond to crisis and disaster. The organization rallies Christians to be aware of God's purpose in uncertain times, and helps them to be ready spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically, and to "be there" responding as courageous, mature Christ-followers who are praying, caring and sharing effectively in emergencies. Local chapters are formed to maximize the capacity of Christians to give a biblical response to emergencies.  And that is just what a group of leaders have done in the Indianapolis area.

Nearly 60 church, ministry and communications leaders came together in Indianapolis for a vision-casting meeting to learn about CEN and talk about a local chapter.  The goal for the chapter is to establish connections in order to respond locally or globally with resources in three areas:

Photo courtesy of Rick Nohl Media1. Train people to assess and prepare for an emergency

2. Enable churches to teach members how to coordinate with each other

3. Identify each church's resources and capabilities

Representatives from the Governor’s, Homeland Security and Indianapolis Mayor’s offices were at the meeting to discuss the needs during emergencies and welcome the partnership with CEN chapters. 

This is an opportunity for churches and faith-based organizations to show the love of Christ when people need it the most.  Here are just a few possibilities of what this could look like:

• Prayer warriors in crisis situations
• Trained volunteers ready to go into action
• Space to offer as a shelter or storage space for food and supplies
• Meal preparation
• A van or bus to help transport volunteers or those in need

The key is organizing as a community to know what resources are available, establishing a communication system for fast, effective response, and having key personnel trained for various situations. 

Who will be there to help and pray for those hurting should a disaster or crisis strike in your area?  Our hope is it will be the church.

Has your church mobilized to aid the community in a time of need? Please share with us in the comment section. We would love to hear your story.