GET REAL. Be genuinely welcoming, interested in, and hospitable to church visitors. Stop treating them as 'prey' i.e. new blood for the choir or Sunday school teachers. Find out what they need; what they hunger for spiritually; where they need healing, encouraging, hope, comfort.
We need strength in three areas--relationships with God; relationships between church members; and relationships with people outside the church. I see us really strong in one area. That means we are a lop-sided three-legged stool, barely able to stand up. We need to strengthen personal relationships with God and those outside the church. Pray, study, share what God has just taught us.
Forget about ego wrangling and tell people what's really going on in your life.
Be Spirit-led, shaped, and used. Yield yourself to God. Surrender your will for God's.
Let the Spirit ignite your faith.
GET REAL TODAY. TRY SOMETHING NEW-PRAY FOR YOURSELF WHAT GOD SHOWS YOU YOU NEED. Ask God to scramble your circuitry and show you something new.
Grow away from insider focus. It (worship, coffee hour, the color of the bathroom) doesn't have to be about me. What are you willing to give up to make that visitor feel comfortable and hear the love of God?
Things that aren't important-doctrine, theology, and denominational affiliation.
Things that are important-getting real and knowing someone.
p. 80 It's not about church, it's about Jesus. It's about one human being, at a crucial point in his or her life, learning about God being love and about Jesus being God. Then s/he decides to live life with God leading.
Do the exercise at the end of chapter six. Tale to pastor Marian or someone else about the results.
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