In Episode 392 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss if corporate worship or a mid-size community is the best entry point into a new church.
“My question today is about discipleship pathway, particularly in regards to mid-size communities. There are a lot of churches in our area that are using an attractional model, and we are definitely leaning more into a missional/incarnational model. What I’m struggling with is will our corporate worship services be the best entry place for a disconnected person? Will the people who like Jesus but aren’t big on organized religion be comfortable walking into the most organized thing we will do as a church? This seems to be working for most of the church plants in the area, and it is the Bible belt, so most people are at least familiar with the gospel, but I want to make sure we have considered this carefully. What advice would you have for us as we begin to form our discipleship pathway? What is the first step that we lead with – is it worship, or small group communities, or is there a way to utilize that mid-size community as the entry point?”
In This Episode, You’ll Discover:
- A basic structure of a discipleship pathway
- The benefits of mid-size communities
Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):
- “The ongoing steps are what everyone in the church can be doing to grow as self-feeders.” – @danielsangi
- “What’s a next step that is short-term, that’s temporary, and that can grow you and really direct you back to the ongoing steps?” – @danielsangi
- “If someone is de-churched, when they come back to church they will typically go to a church that is of the same denomination or tradition that they went to growing up.” – @danielsangi
- “Transition points in a person’s life are the most opportune times when people will consider going back to church.” – @danielsangi
- “Is the corporate worship service the best entry point for non-religious people? It can be.” – @danielsangi
- “We were a regional church and we wanted to make our really big church, really small.” – @toddadkins
- “Typically mid-size communities have been tied to the missional or incarnational model church.” – @danielsangi
- “The biggest benefit of the mid-size community is that it really helps with assimilation.” – @danielsangi
- “To accomplish the vision of your church you need a discipleship pathway and a leadership pipeline.” – @danielsangi
Additional Resources:
- Listen to Episode 390: What Are Some Cost-Effective Advertising Practices?
- Read No Silver Bullets by Daniel Im
- Read Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger
- Visit Lifeway Leadership
- Listen to Making Disciples with Robby Gallaty
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Published June 3, 2019