Is Your Church Engaging at Every Step?
The gospel is compelling. The challenge is our ability to communicate it effectively to the people God has called us to reach.
From the first social post to the next step of growth, every moment is a chance to help someone come face to face with Jesus. How engaging is each step at your church?
A number of years back, a friend asked me, "Richard, you've served churches for 20-plus years, helping senior leaders clarify and fulfill God-given vision. What's the one thing that drives you more than anything right now?"
I said, honestly, the thing that's been in my heart the longest is engagement. If we can improve engagement at every step along the journey from someone who's far from Christ to someone who's coming face to face with Jesus, then we can steward those moments and increase the likelihood that people will have an on-ramp into the knowledge of God. That's what's been driving me for years.
So as a firm, our focus has shifted more and more to these questions: How do we create holy moments? How do we help people who are far from God come to know Him? How do we help church people go deeper in their walk with God? And how do we walk alongside church leaders and help them accomplish God-given dreams and God-given visions, by carrying the weight with them and helping them steward their journey, so that more people come to the saving knowledge of Christ? That's what's been driving us.
That's why engagement is so important. I want a church to have engaging social media. I want it to have an engaging website. I want that website to drive people to an on-campus experience that's tremendously engaging, so that by the time they get out of their car, they're excited about what they're walking into. I want them to walk into a lobby experience that's completely engaging, where they meet friends. I want them to experience worship that's engaging, hear a message that's engaging, and then be presented with steps of growth that are truly engaging and help them step into what God has called them to.
That's what Engagement Group is all about. It's about all of those factors. How do we help people come face to face with the knowledge of Christ? How do we become more engaging as a church?
We have one fundamental belief that is the foundation of our organization: the gospel is compelling. The gospel is not the challenge. The challenge is our ability to communicate effectively to the people God has called us to reach. If we can help the gospel be more engaging in the lives of people, we'll fulfill our purpose.
To the church leader out there, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for what you do for the King and the kingdom. Together, let's be more engaging to reach people for Christ.
