Curious
I had two conversations yesterday. Well, actually I had more than two, but two in particular stood out. One was with the pastor of an ethnic church and the other with the minister of a church in a mainline protestant denomination.
The purpose of my calls were to both give and get feedback regarding Alpha during the Alberta2013 initiative last fall. The two conversations could practically have been played on top of each other in sync. Both loved the Alpha material. Both were aware of Alpha's excellent reputation as an evangelistic tool. Both said that those who attended the course enjoyed it.
But both were disappointed in the numbers. Both complained that their people didn't invite others to join them. Both seemed to have expected that the ads and publicity would have been enough to bring people through their doors.
Well I, and anyone else in the Alpha organization will be the first to tell you that that is an unreasonable expectation. All the ads do, and all they are intended to do, is to make it easier for congregational members to invite their friends, family or neighbours to an Alpha. but the personal invitation is still necessary. It is still THE most effective way of getting people to #tryalpha, as the twitter hashtag goes.
It strikes me we all may suffer from this weakness; that is, the tendency toward laziness, if you like, by which we expect some advertising campaign or promotion, in other words some outside mechanism, to do our work for us, and that by putting such a campaign in place, or by launching such a promotion, we have somehow done our job; accomplished something. Perhaps it's a function of our times, where there seems to be some machine or electronic device to do our work for us. Perhaps it's another function of our times where we seem more and more to be, "cocooning;" spending more and more time in our own little bubble and not associating so much with our wider community, and a sign or ad of some sort replaces personal contact.
And perhaps even senior church leaders can fall prey to these tendencies - expecting some program to motivate their people instead of motivating them themselves, setting the example themselves or encouraging them personally and specifically to be a more inviting people. And it's not enough merely to set the example, one has to be SEEN to be setting the example.
One of the things that my friend Michael Harvey tells Senior Pastors to do is to say to their congregation, "I'm going to invite someone to come to church (or Alpha). How about you?"
I have stated before that this blog is a diary, as the name implies, no, states specifically. Therefore, it functions exactly as I see the purpose of a diary - a place to express my thoughts as they come to me. This particular post is an example. When I sat down I had an idea where I would begin, but no idea how it would end, so forgive me if it seems a little rambly.
I reserve the right to be so.
Blessings,
John
The purpose of my calls were to both give and get feedback regarding Alpha during the Alberta2013 initiative last fall. The two conversations could practically have been played on top of each other in sync. Both loved the Alpha material. Both were aware of Alpha's excellent reputation as an evangelistic tool. Both said that those who attended the course enjoyed it.
But both were disappointed in the numbers. Both complained that their people didn't invite others to join them. Both seemed to have expected that the ads and publicity would have been enough to bring people through their doors.
Well I, and anyone else in the Alpha organization will be the first to tell you that that is an unreasonable expectation. All the ads do, and all they are intended to do, is to make it easier for congregational members to invite their friends, family or neighbours to an Alpha. but the personal invitation is still necessary. It is still THE most effective way of getting people to #tryalpha, as the twitter hashtag goes.
It strikes me we all may suffer from this weakness; that is, the tendency toward laziness, if you like, by which we expect some advertising campaign or promotion, in other words some outside mechanism, to do our work for us, and that by putting such a campaign in place, or by launching such a promotion, we have somehow done our job; accomplished something. Perhaps it's a function of our times, where there seems to be some machine or electronic device to do our work for us. Perhaps it's another function of our times where we seem more and more to be, "cocooning;" spending more and more time in our own little bubble and not associating so much with our wider community, and a sign or ad of some sort replaces personal contact.
And perhaps even senior church leaders can fall prey to these tendencies - expecting some program to motivate their people instead of motivating them themselves, setting the example themselves or encouraging them personally and specifically to be a more inviting people. And it's not enough merely to set the example, one has to be SEEN to be setting the example.
One of the things that my friend Michael Harvey tells Senior Pastors to do is to say to their congregation, "I'm going to invite someone to come to church (or Alpha). How about you?"
I have stated before that this blog is a diary, as the name implies, no, states specifically. Therefore, it functions exactly as I see the purpose of a diary - a place to express my thoughts as they come to me. This particular post is an example. When I sat down I had an idea where I would begin, but no idea how it would end, so forgive me if it seems a little rambly.
I reserve the right to be so.
Blessings,
John
Ramble on John, ramble on.
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