People may first go to a church because they like the preacher, but if they stay, it will be because they like the people.

The most effective outreach to new people is at the small group level. The built-in small group unit is Sunday School. Sunday School class members should be on the look out for new people who are age appropriate for their class. Age appropriateness is extremely important in the matter of retaining them. A class of 70 year olds may get a 30 year old to attend their class on his first Sunday there, but more than likely, he will not be back again. When members spot someone who is age appropriate for their class, they need to get acquainted with the person, welcome them to the church, and invite them to their class.

The more visitors a class has, the more social meetings they need to have. These meetings are not only fun get-togethers for the members, but they are a valuable tool to enable the new people to bond with the class. Once that bonding takes place, it is very likely that they are going to stay.

Have you ever visited a church where you didn’t know anybody?  That’s a whole different experience from that of walking into the church where you have attended all your life.  Where do you need to park?  Which door is best to enter?  How will you find where you are supposed to go?  Can you sit anywhere, or are you in danger of getting a seat that is owned by somebody else?  Will they ask you for a lot of information you don’t want to give them?  These are all questions that are going through the minds of a first-time visitor.  Not knowing the answers keep a number of people away from church. 

Have you notice the church growth trends over the past 10-15 years?  Mega-churches are developing and growing like wild-fire, but the far majority of churches are platued or declining.  Most of those that are platued or declining have good preaching and friendly people, but they can’t keep new people who come their way.  The difference begins with how we minister to new people.

New people are at church as soon as they pull into the parking lot.  That’s where our ministry to them needs to begin.  Some parking lot assisters/greeters are of great value in this aspect of the ministry.  There should also be greeters at each of the main entrance doors.

Imagine yourself a first time visitor in this scenerio: you pull into the parking lot and someone walks over to where you have parked and welcomes you and confirms that you have parked in a good place.  That person walks with you to the entrance door, while telling you that a great service is expected for that day, then introduces you to a greeter at the entrance door.  If it is before Sunday School, that greeter turns the greeting at that door over to someone else and walks you to where your age appropriate (he doesn’t ask you, he guesses) class meets and introduces you to the class.  An out-reach leader in that class repositions himself/herself and invites you to come and sit beside them, and they make sure you are involved in any “small talk” before the class begins.  Somebody has made sure that seating is available for a guest to be in the class that day.  At the end of the class, someone else in the class invites you to sit with them in the following worship service.  As the service progresses, this person makes sure you have a bulletin and a pen to fill out guest information at the appropiate time.  At the end of the service, they express their pleasure in meeting you and tell you that they hope you willl be able to return to the evening service.  If you are visiting a church for a worship service that takes place before Sunday School, the greeter at the door tells you that he has someone he wants you to meet, and he takes you to a seat and introduces you to someone whom he believes would be in the same Sunday School class you should be in, and when the service is over, that person asks you to go with him/her to class.

When you leave that church, that day, you are going to be thinking, “That’s a great church.”  The music and sermon may have been no better than you could have gotten anywhere else, but you would be able to see yourself “fitting in” with those folks.

There are other important things to be done when people come back for follow up visits, but first impressions are powerful.  If you don’t make a good first impression, you may not get a chance to make a second!

I’ve always heard, “It’s not how much money you earn, but how you manage what you have.” Management is important for every area of life.

Making a list, either literally or mentally, of priority things is an important aspect of life management. There are a host of important things, but some must be given priority. The list really shouldn’t be too long. If you’re not careful, the list will become ineffective, by virtue of the number of things you have on it.

Think about the things that you want/need to accomplish most in a given week, then rate those things according to their priorities. There will be many other things that you will do, but these are the “must get done” things. Once you have your list, determine when you will do them. Once you get into the routine of establishing this priority list, you will be amazed at how conscientious you will find yourself to be at actually carrying it out.

An added bonus is that you will become more efficient at accomplishing many other tasks that are not on your list, but important, nevertheless. If you go in and sit down, waiting to see what you feel like tackling first, the chair may be the only thing you really tackle!

A good starting point is to begin showing discipline in when you do routine, but necessary things, like a set time for eating, getting in bed, and getting up in the mornings.

The problem with not doing these things is that your life becomes sloppy, and those over whom you have influence will follow in your footsteps. The Bible says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

The answer may seem obvious, yet a number of people who profess to be believers do not feel a real need to be regular church attenders. Some churches teach that if you are out of church, you are out of the good graces of the Lord and you would not even go to heaven if you died. It is my understanding, however, that salvation is by God’s grace, and that grace is received by believing on Christ, and any subsequent obedient action on your part is not to secure your salvation, but is a result of that salvation.

You should first be confident that the church you are attending is one where you can truly have your soul feed on God’s word. People sometimes say they are seeking a church where they “feel comfortable,” but is that really the purpose of a church, to make you feel comfortable? A good church should always challenge your thinking a bit and motivate you to walk by faith and not by sight.

When the question of whether or not a particular church is the church where the Lord would have go is settled, you should go regularly because hearing God’s word builds up your faith. Everyday, you are confronted with dilemmas and decisions and a strong faith will guide you through those things with a minimum amount of stress.

God made us to be social creatures. It is not good that man should be alone. Friends are an important part of life, and you can develop some great friendships in church. Before becoming a Christian, I had no idea that church people had fun; they do, and it’s the kind of fun that you can still feel good about in time to come.

Church provides a network of support. When a crises comes, it is very comforting to have a group of people stand with you, who not only like you as a friend, but love you with the love of Christ. You need people who can rejoice with you, when you rejoice and weep with you, when you weep.

The June issue of Christianity Today Magazine had an article entitled, “How To Pick a President.”  That started me thinking about what I believe the important issues to be, from a Christian viewpoint.  Don’t misunderstand, I am not saying that if we don’t both vote for the same candidate, we can’t both be Christians.  What I am saying, however, is that we Christians should share some common values and hold them to be important.

For me, the issue of abortion is a major moral issue.  Sadly, we don’t have a good choice in either of the major candidates.

I hear people saying that this candidate, or that candidate, is going to bring down the price of gasoline, along with all kinds of other things that are really not in the power of the president to do, in the first place.  There is one thing, however, that a president can do, and the upcoming president most likely will do, and that is appoint supreme court judges, who will serve for life.  This is where the future moral climate of this country will be decided from a political standpoint.

The economy has a history of rising, falling, and recovering.  The nation can survive a bad economy, if that is to be our fate, but it very well may not survive a moral collapse.

What do you do, when you don’t really have a good choice?  You choose the lesser of two evils, hold your nose, and vote!