Our Second Responsibility

So what's the second implication of those numbers we've been looking at this week? Here's what struck me about the reasons people give for actually staying in a church and becoming active in it. 3 out of the top 4 were ministry involvement, Sunday school or small group, & friendships with other church attenders. Also, notice that the importance of the actual church services is at the very bottom. That means once we do the work of inviting our friends to come and experience a service and once they decide this is a place they'd like to come back to - there is something else altogether that keeps them coming and plugging in. It's all about finding friends, finding connection and serving.

Here's the implication. Whereas it's our job when we're outside the 4 walls of the church to invest in people and invite them, our job when we're actually inside the 4 walls is to become "connectors." In other words, just like outside of church we seek out unchurched people to invite them to come, when we're inside church we seek out people who are unconnected to relationships and serving and invite them into that connection. Look at it this way:

As Christ followers, we wear two hats - "inviter" and "connector." When I'm out in the world, I wear the "inviter" hat and I make it my personal mission to reach as many unconnected people as I can to invite them to come and see and hear the gospel. When I'm at church, I wear the "connector" hat. I make it my personal mission to reach as many people as I can who have yet to experience relationship and serving in the church and I invite them into that lifestyle.

That's the 2 sided approach that we're going after as a church for the next several years. So whether you're at church or not, ask yourself: Which hat should I be wearing and what does it mean I should do right now?