TEN LITTLE CHURCHMEN

10  little churchmen went to church when fine,
but it started raining, then there were 9

9    little churchmen stayed up very late
1 overslept himself,   then there were 8

8    little churchmen on the road to heaven
but 1 joined the rambling club
and then there were 7

7    little churchmen heard of Sunday Flick
1 thought he’d like to go, so then there were 6

6    little churchmen kept the place alive
but one bought a video set and then there were 5

5    little churchmen seemed loyal to the core
but the Minister upset one of them
so then there were 4

4    little churchmen argued heatedly
over all the changes and then there were 3

3    little churchmen sang the service through
got a hymn they didn’t like so then there were 2

2    little churchmen argued who should run
the next social evening then there was 1

1    faithful Christian knew just what to do
he got a friend to come to Church
so then there were 2

2    sincere Christians each brought in one more
so their numbers doubled
then there were 4

4    happy Christians simply couldn’t wait
till they got 4 others
then there were 8

Soon, every seat in Church was filled, not an empty pew –
God, supply this grace and zeal in my own Parish too!

I ask church leaders around the world to send me good news stories after Back to Church Sunday. What emerges from the stories is a hint of surprise that people would be open to an invitation. See the examples below;
“I personally was pleasantly surprised by the response to Back to Church Sunday” Church Leader
“It was lovely to see the delight on the faces of those who had brought someone new, good to see the amazement on the faces those who thought nothing would happen and a real joy to be part of BTCS leading worship and hearing comments on a positive experience enjoyed by all.”

We are surprised because we didn’t actually believe that something would happen. In some churches surprise moves to amazement I think the main issue that the church has to face is that we have an issue in the area of belief and expectation. This has happened because of the disappointments of Christian Ministry which have led to general discouragement

Discouragement is a besetting sin  - one which constantly recurs - which contains elements of failure, shame and hopelessness. It is deeply ingrained in leadership at all levels in the church. Leaders don’t reach into the future because they are trapped by the regret of the past, past failures past mistakes, or so burdened by the routine of present they don’t give enough thought to designing the future.

I love the following poem by Charles Reade

If you accept a belief,
You reap a thought.
If you sow a thought,
You reap an attitude.
If you sow an attitude,
You reap an action.
If you sow an action,
You reap a habit.
If you sow a habit,
You reap a character.
If you sow a character,
You reap a destiny

The destiny we are currently reaping comes from “surprise”, “amazement,” otherwise known as unbelief. How do we deal with it?

We clearly need to admit that there is a problem, confess it

I confess the sin of unbelief which includes doubt, fear of being wrong, mistrust in You, skepticism and uncertainty. I ask you to forgive me for this sin, for yielding to it. I ask that you might give me boldness to lead my congregation to invite their friends.

Turn in the opposite direction

Happy Inviting

One of the main reasons we don’t invite is fear. Whatever the mountain of fear we are facing, we are told “you shall say this to the mountain move .” Mark 11:23 Fear is the most destructive element of the human personality and is an enemy to the Christian. This is why we are told “do not be afraid.” Imagination is a source of fear but it could also be the solution. Romans 8 verse 31 says “if God is for us who can be against us?’. If we fill our minds and imagine God being for us we can defeat fear. When our minds are full of God there is no room for worry and anxiety over the response to an invitation. God has given the solution to fear within us. We may need to start with faith the size of a mustard seed. But even that is big enough as we face the fear. Small faith will give you small results, but it will move you in the right direction and sooner or later you will have medium faith giving medium results, which can then lead to bigger faith giving bigger results. We can use the fear to actually build a deeper relationship with God. God has laid within us through the power of the Holy Spirit all the potential we need to lead a constructive life of faith But teaching will not be enough. JK Galbraith an economist said “Faced with changing one’s mind, or proving that there is no need to do so, most people get busy on the proof.”

We spend so much time renovating and refurbishing our church buildings what we really need to do is to be constantly refurbishing our minds. Beating the culture of fear will be an on-going battle to be joined on a regular basis by the Church leaders and their leadership team.

Will we be like David, who overcame the fear faced by the army of Israel when faced with Goliath and slew that fear with one small stone, because he did the thing they feared. That is the way to defeat fear. Do the thing you fear!

80% of a normal congregation will not invite their friends to church even on a special Sunday why?

The issue is that “your congregational culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Culture tells us how we do things around here and we stick to it. Frankly, also, we are a generation of Christians that has not had the practice of invitation. We have to work out why the congregation are not inviting their friends or are not going to invite their friends. This is what I call “disturbing the ground.” Before a farmer goes to sow in the seed, the farmer will take a tractor and plough up the ground. Unless this is done effectively the seed will not be planted properly. The way we think in church right now is the ground. These are some of the ways we think

we are suffering with our act of worship
we are disappointed with last person saying no to us
we have no friends
we are reticent/shy
our services and people are unpredictable
we fear rejection

We need to disturb the way we are thinking by turning the soil over. This allows the possibility for Godly thinking to be planted.

Unless we do this important piece of work, all the strategy of enthusiastic invitation will just be consumed by the present culture which fears and resists invitation.

I once asked soneone at a seminar  why she didn’t ever invite. After being frozen for half-a-minute she said that it just didn’t feel right. She is not alone in being frozen in fear. It is not the failure which is holding us back it is the anticipation of rejection.

Timidity is an affliction that can be cured, but it needs to be recognized as a problem first. So before launching a strategy of an Invitation Sunday understand your culture by asking why don’t we invite in this congregation and then teach into the answers you hear.

A single guy decided life would be more fun if he had a pet. So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet.

After some discussion, he finally bought a talking centipede, a 100-legged critter that came with its own home — a little white box.

The guy took his new pet home and found a good spot for the box. He named his new pet “10 Cents” and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to church with him.

“Would you like to go to church with me today? We will have a good time.”

But there was no answer from 10 Cents.

The guy waited a few minutes and then asked again, “How about going to church with me and receive blessings?”

But again, there was no answer from his new friend.

Now the guy is getting really worried. He waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. He decided to invite the centipede one last time.

This time he put his face up against the centipede’s house and shouted, “Hey, in there! Would you like to go to church with me and learn about God?”

… YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS …

This time, a little voice came out of the box, “I heard you the first time! I’ve been putting on my shoes!”

I have just completed 3 weeks touring Scotland and Wales speaking to 1,000
church leaders, with comments like this

“We were blessed by your presence, your words, the challenge, the hope, and the indication of a way forward on Monday evening. ”

“Please continue to do what you are doing, the church of God needs people who have gifts in presenting ideas and enthusing with passion but simplicity and humility. Your message has not fallen on deaf ears and I am determined to carry this idea forward.”

After 1 weeks rest on Easter Monday I fly out to Canada. I
would appreciate any prayer support on the following days

Tuesday 26th Montreal

Wednesday 27th Halifax Nova Scotia

Thursday 28th Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador

Friday 29th Niagara and Burlington

Saturday 30th London Ontario and New Dundee

Monday 2nd Calgary

Tuesday 3rd Edmonton

Thursday 4th Sault Ste Marie and Regina

Friday 5th Kelowna

Saturday 6th Vancouver

On Wednesday I leave the UK for 2 weeks in New Zealand and Australia. I
had planned to base myself on the New Zealand leg of the trip in
Christchurch whilst I conduct 4 Seminars across that part of the South
Island. Due to Earthquake I am expecting the Seminars to be cancelled, but
have left it open for the decisions to be made locally. I have attached
some photos from Christchurch from where I will be staying.

The region of Australia and New Zealand have been hit by floods, fire and
earthquakes over the past few months. Whether we are a nation that
considers itself safe or a nation facing difficult circumstances I still
think there are people just waiting to be invited into a relationship with
God.

In the flood zone of Victoria Australia in a place called
Bendigo. Four church buildings and hundreds of homes have been destroyed
in the past couple of months.

I had a great response to the Seminar in Melbourne where around 60 church
leaders were in attendance. One vicar said “I came away feeling really
excited and empowered to lead my church forward.” Whilst another church
leader said “I found the seminar very helpful, instructive and stimulating
(having been a mite sceptical beforehand)”

We have a generation of church leaders who have not experienced massive
numerical growth of the church. Many are worn down, struggling to keep up
with the demands of servicing a congregation and an area. The Seminars
often act as a defibrillator. A defibrillator delivers a therapeutic dose
of energy to the affected heart.

I flew to Christchurch into a city of the earthquake where both
the people and the ground is still in shock. I led a Seminar in Timaru north of the city
.
After a very difficult beginning to the New Zealand leg of the tour with a
visit to Christchurch, the week is ending on an extremely high note with
near 300 church leaders reached across Wellington, Hamilton, Cambridge and
Nelson. A real mix of denominations were present and all appeared to go
out with the possibility of envisioning doubled congregations through
invitation.

In Christchurch I felt my first earthquakes, a 3.6 and a 4.4 on the
richter scale. I was with friends in their house and it was like a high
speed train had passed by outside the house.

The people of Christchurch are in my view in a bad way psychologically
grieving the loss of loved ones, and facing 40 aftershocks per day. There
is only one subject in town.

The visit to Australia and New Zealand has been in my judgement effective
as church leaders leave being encouraged but challenged to be all the God
has created them to be. I trust this is God’s word being living and
active. Pray that it will not be a momentary work of God but that it will
live and impact the lives of the thousands they represent.

Statistics
14 flights
12 Seminars
spoken to 450 church leaders and 250 congregational members

On Wednesday 19th January and Tuesday 25th January, I made two 7 hour return train journeys to Cardiff and Glasgow.I had 40 minutes to convince 6 welsh bishops to mobilise their congregations to invite. I had 20 minutes to convince 35 Glasgow church of scotland church leaders (25th) to mobilse their congregations to invite. This is the hidden but important side of bringing hope to the wider church. We are asked to pray for our leaders as they are gatekeepers for the wider church. I knew three of the Senior Bishops in Wales already as I had spoken for them before and so they were very kind in recommending me on to their colleagues. At the time of writing it has meant that four of the six regions of Wales will experience the double your congregation in a day Seminar.
The Scotland visit was more of a job interview with 35 Scots and 1 englishman in the firing line. Looking back on the meeting with the 35 which lasted about 30 minutes, the generosity of the group far outweighed my feelings of fear at being put through the ordeal. In fact in the end I loved the opportunity. The interview has resulted in a two Seminars for the Glasgow Presbytery and an opportuntiy of influencing church leaders across the city.

4th December
I write this from the town of Grafton at 0500 in the morning after
spending the last two hours working. Yes jetlag has still got a hold. I am
grateful that I have not fallen asleep during one of my Seminars. As I
look outside I see kangaroos grazing on the lawn and hear the sounds of an
Australian morning and I am reminded of the creativity of our wonderful
heavenly FATHER.

I have completed 4 Seminars and have two more to do in New South Wales
Australia before flying to New Zealand.

I wanted to report that the Seminars are having an even greater impact
than I have ever seen before. Over a hundred church leaders turned out in
the area of Newcastle and as we talked about the cast iron certainty that
our FATHER is at fact at work, I saw their own expectations rise. I expect
to hear of doubling congregations in Bathurst, Armidale and Newcastle

12th December
I am in Auckland airport awaiting a flight back to Australia for
the final leg of the Tour.

So far I have spoken to over 300 church leaders, battled locusts, been in
fear of snakes and had a coffin interrupt one of my Seminars.

God has been at work and whilst in New Zealand God has opened up
opportunites with the Elim movement, Methodists and Presbyterians which
will see more Chritians inviting more friends. I have heard stories of
congregations doubling from my last visit and battled the on-going
negativity of church leaders wanting to give up on ever persuading their
congregations to invite. But as I head to Sydney and North Queensland I go
with hope that the FATHER has prepared the way in advance.

I am writing this from Sydney Airport before spending 28 hours travelling
home. My final teaching Seminar was delivered in temperatures of 40c at a
place called Mount Isa. Mount Isa is a mining town. They mine lead, zinc
and a bit of gold, and it is one of the places in the world that is
keeping the world economy going. The miners are currently at depths of
2,000 kilometres below the surface. We all know this year the dangers of
mining, but I am reminded that God’s resources are limitless, there is a
variety to them, but sometimes we have to take a risk, step out of the
boat in order to plumb the depths of God’s love in order to find a deeper
relationship with Him

For those of you interested in statistics
I have been away 21 days
I have taken 19 flights
I have spent 24 hours in the car travelling 1300 miles
I have spoken to over 350 church leaders and through them will reach
20,000 Christians with a simple message of mission through invitation
I have heard from my last trip of doubling congregations and folk being
added to the church
I will have spent 73 hours in the air travelling 30,000 miles
I have seen kangaroos and their joeys, locusts and lizards,
And seen an impact wherever I have gone!

I visited Connecticut and Massachusetts on a scouting mission to see whether the Unlocking the Growth teaching might be appropriate for the church in the United States. I visited with Archbishop Leroy Bailey III who founded the First Cathedral of Connecticut. Their hospitality was fantastic and I am grateful to my chauffeur Stanley who drove me to my other meetings. To go to the First Cathedral and experience their wonderful gospel choir is a treat. They have a membership of 12,000.

I met with Pastor Rick Mckinnis of Wellspring Church Connecticut
Rick is a wonderful man of God who has a real heart for those who are suffering. He also took me out for lunch and I forgot the sizes of pizza in the US of small, medium and large, might not be the same size of those in the UK!

I visited with Mark Charette who is a church member at the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield Connectiicut at his business premises.

We had a wonderful conversation about what is stopping us Christians inviting our friends. The appointments with Mark and the others were arranged by Arnold Muwonge and I am deeply grateful.

My final appointment was in Boston with Bishop John Borders III of the Morning Star Baptist Church.

During our conversation and as a result of the other meetings my excitement level was rising. It seemed that the message of simple invitation was very appropriate to where the church in New England needs to go. As a result of the meetings I expect to be back in New England perhaps as early as May 2011 to help teach and equip the church to reach those God is calling to Himself outside of our church buildings right now.