Tag: small church pastor
Remember the Friday is for Freebies! giveaway each week in 2009. Good free church stuff all for the taking. Click here for this week’s freebie and rules.
Outreach2Go.com is now live and has some good stuff on it. I’ll be blogging there about the “mobile effect” — how mobile technology is changing the way we work and live, and the implications for church. Outreach2Go.com works on mobile phones, too. Let me know what you think. I think 2009 will be a huge year for mobile tech.
SmallchurchPROF.com is also up now. My good friend, Jim Stovall, professor of journalism at the University of Tennessee, is building a series of PROF.com sites. He put up SmallchurchPROF.com, and I’m the editor. SCPROF aggregates the best of small church related stuff on the internet. I hope you’ll consider it the go-to site for all things about small church. Categories include News, Features, Outreach, Worship, Leadership, Service, Discipleship, and Technology. Let me know what you think.
That’s our line-up for 2009 so far. The flagship blog is still right here at Confessions of a Small-Church Pastor. I hope you’ll stick around in 2009, invite some more friends, and let’s help each other figure this out. Happy New Year!
With apologies to whomever wrote the original.
On the first day of Christmas my ministry assistant gave to me, one cup of coffee, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the second day of Christmas my VBS director gave to me, two nice craft projects, her resignation, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the third day of Christmas my Building chairman gave to me, three bills for paying, two bulbs for changing, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the fourth day of Christmas my choir director gave to me, four great musicians (one played off-key), three new hymns, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the fifth day of Christmas my missions coordinator gave to me, a missions prayer calendar from 1953, four missions goals, three unreached peoples, two missions projects, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the sixth day of Christmas my children’s worker gave to me, six dirty diapers, all were quite stinky, five recalled toys, four had lead in them, three melted crayons, two volunteers, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the seventh day of Christmas our webguy gave to me, more bad news, six google searches, five metatags, four busted mouses, three new solutions, two more excuses, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the eighth day of Christmas my finance chair gave to me, some worthless stock with seven strings attached, six pastdue bills, five unhappy members, four benevolence cases, three check requests, two more reports, and a broken chrismon off the chrisom tree.
On the ninth day of Christmas our choir gave to me, nine singing lessons, eight Bach etudes, seven Gregorian chants, six offertories, five Anglican hymns, four Gospel quartets, three string ensembles, two familiar songs, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the tenth day of Christmas our worship chair gave to me, a tiny baby Jesus, stolen from our own na-tiv-ity.
On the eleventh day of Christmas our seniors gave to me, lots of hugs and thank yous, much appreciation, and one broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my deacons gave to me, Spurgeon’s Complete Sermons, with some suggestions, eleven names of prospects, ten hospital visits, nine grumpy members, eight more meetings, seven budget cuts, six urgent problems, five words of encouragement, four happy faces, three days off, two new watches, and a broken chrismon off the chrismon tree.
I hope your Christmas brings you at least as many wonderful gifts as ours has this year — no kidding! Merry Christmas to each of you and thanks for staying with me for another year.
I just read that small churches make up 90% of the churches in America, and most of those have 75-100 in attendance. Of course, I already knew that, but it helps to read it somewhere besides my own blog. Which brings me to a perennial topic — looking for another way to describe small churches other than as small.
After all, small is only one measure. Small usually refers to attendance, not buildings. If we were talking about buildings some small churches wouldn’t be small at all. But, that’s kind of silly. “Oh, we go to a big building church. So sorry you’re attending one of those tiny building churches.” See what I mean — silly.
So, I’m reading some guy’s comment on some other guy’s blog last week, and the commentor says something about being from the “majority world.” Here I’m still calling it the “third world,” which is kind of demeaning and not very PC of me. For awhile the new jargon was “two-thirds” world, meaning developing countries. But, this guy calls it the “majority world.” Meaning: there’s more of us than you. Which brings me to small churches, again.
We (small churches) are the majority. Why not call our churches “majority churches?”
Hi, my name is Chuck and I pastor a majority church.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? All of a sudden we’re not ecclesiastical outcasts anymore. No more ducking at the pastors’ conference when you see Reverend I. M. Abigdeal coming. Nope, you hold your head up, stick out your hand, and say, “Rev, sorry you megachurch guys are in the minority. What’s the matter, why aren’t you serving a majority church, like I am?”
So, from now on this is “Confessions of A Majority Church Pastor.” Now if I can just get the art department to change my blog header…
I’m playing around here and this is the rough draft of 101 Outreach Ideas for Small Churches. Any others you want to add? I’d love to hear any stories you have about any outreach ideas you’ve used. I’m working on a book, and would like to include real stories from real churches. Time for your 15-minutes of fame! Here’s a start —
101 Outreach Ideas for Small Churches
- Sponsor a school or classroom
- Angel Food Ministry
- Family movie night
- Super Bowl party
- Resource center for senior programs, etc
- Host a music concert
- Block party
- community festival
- Halloween alternative
- Community heroes
- Christmas nativity tour
- community garden
- art show
- build a labyrinth
- free hotdog lunch
- school supplies
- parents’ night out
- mothers morning out
- partner to raise money for a local cause
- invite former members back — homecoming
- themed worship
- recognize special groups
- pulpit exchange or joint worship with other congregations
- community vbs
- community thanksgiving service
- thanksgiving for singles, seniors, and others
- trunk-or-treat
- day camps
- multi-generational groups
- crafting, scrapbooking, quilt-making groups
- day trips for seniors
- senior adult programs, lunch
- talent show
- church yard sale
- blessing of the animals
- free carwash
- make a difference day
- martin luther king day events
- english as a second language
- computer access
- computer training
- grief workshop
- grandparents day
- mothers day
- fathers day
- advent activities, booklet, devotion guide
- milestone celebrations — anniversary, debt-free, etc
- achievement recognition — ball teams, championships, etc
- election day activities
- county or state fair booth
- tradeshow booth
- tourism booth
- homebound ministry
- grief ministry
- nursing home ministry
- report card rewards
- skate park
- soundcheck like event
- lock in
- lock out
- youth service corps
- door-to-door food collection
- christmas parties for seniors, kids, families, target groups
- school recognition
- college day
- financial peace courses
- driving courses that target very young or AARP groups
- election forums
- non-profit helping agency fair
- volunteer recognition and thanks
- social services, community action partnerships recognition
- literacy program
- addiction programs
- single adult programs
- single parent groups
- special needs events
- health screenings
- diet and cooking classes
- book discussions
- neighborhood inventories and assessments
- prayer ministry
- open sanctuary or prayer room
- daily office
- taize services
- community celebration events
- community unity events
- community newsletter or bulletin board
- newborn gifts
- newcomer welcome baskets
- graduate recognition
- community music program for children, seniors
- helping resource inventory and volunteer directory
- home blessings
- weddings and funerals
- boy scout, girl scout, b&g club sundays
- second sunday fellowships
- personalized invitation
- Easter, palm sunday invitations
- food, clothing, and cleaning supplies pantry
- civic club sunday
- family skate nights
I pared down my Google reader list several weeks ago. I was trying to keep up with too many blogs, too many bloggers, and too many categories. Now I have 5 categories — culture, emerging church, marketing, simple life, and small church — 33 subscriptions in all, down from about 100.
But, even with my reduced list, I still don’t get to read everybody everyday. Sometimes I hit the ‘mark as read’ button and just start over the next day. (Sorry, but it’s true.) But, there are two blogs I always read — Seth Godin and anything Kevin Kelly writes. Seth always has a pithy, slightly off-beat post. Which you might expect from the guy who wrote “All Marketers Are Liars” and “Purple Cow” and so on. Kevin Kelly is one of the founders of Wired magazine, a Christian, and an amazing thinker.
Now I’ve added one new blog to my list, Reaching the Online Generation. The guys at CityTeam have some really good ideas about using the wired world to reach people for Christ. Now, in my setting I don’t get to use all their ideas, but I don’t get to use all of Seth Godin’s or Kevin Kelly’s either. I just find them interesting. Hope you do, too.
We’re rolling over 30,000 page views by this weekend!
That’s right! We’re going over 30,000 sometime in the next couple of days. And to celebrate this milestone in the digital world, here’s what I’m gonna do —
Add me to your blogroll and I’ll add you to mine!
Now for the tiny print: This offer is good for a limited time only, and subject to all federal, state, and local taxes. Rebates do not apply, and the dealership reserves the right to withdraw this offer at anytime. 🙂
So send me an email or comment on this post, and I’ll add you to my blogroll for all the world to see…if you’ll do the same. There’s lots of good stuff out there and together we’ll reach more people with more good stuff. Okay, I’m waiting….
ChuckWarnock.com 
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