Lessons: Working with Jesus

Basic Leadership Skills

Budgeting. For better or worse, we are the stewards of this segment of God’s creation. At first, this was simply care for the physical creation: animals, gardens, each other, etc. Over time, as sin and its consequences loomed larger in the people’s lives, so did God’s work grow clearer and more visible. People began to rise up who were called to preach, prophesy, and otherwise carry on what has come to be called “God’s work,” though in truth it is all God’s work.
Planning. Strategic planning is a set of tools that allow the people involved in ministry to have a common direction to move towards. In a sense, strategic planning is what makes the mission of the church real. If everyone simply does their own thing, based on their individual understanding of what God wants, the church really has no common mission that it is implementing. To be honest, this is the way many congregations behave and it explains why so little of what they do is mission-driven and why they may be dying on the vine instead of spiritually vital and growing.

Establishing Effective Worship Teams

Part 1: Introduction. Worship as God’s tool to connect us with Him and bring us completion and resolution in our lives is of primary significance. But if the way churches plan and facilitate the worship experience often is not as effective as it could be, then this divine tool doesn’t accomplish what it was designed to. Perhaps sloppy and poorly executed worship experiences actually increase our sense of incompleteness, like the composer painfully experienced when his son left the final note of the scale unplayed. That is actually the way many worshipers describe their feelings when they attend church services.
Part 2: How to Develop Worship Teams. The New Testament develops a theology of the church using the human body as a metaphor. Each part belongs to a system of parts that must work together to accomplish its mission and sustain life. No one is more important than another. Each has its unique and special place in the “body.” Effective ministry takes place when the whole “body” is functioning together interdependently. God is best honored and the people most blessed.
Part 3: How to Operate Worship Teams. If you have worked through parts one and two on worship teams, you are ready to pull together a team and begin its work. How many people do you need? What will they do? What about rehearsals? How do you keep the team going? How often will you meet? This session will focus on a variety of suggestions gleaned from the experiences of worship teams both in Adventist churches and other Protestant congregations. Think about how these ideas apply to your situation and customize them to fit your church.

Ethical Issues

Bioethics. In the beginning of each human being born since Adam and Eve, there was an egg and a sperm. They came together in a perfectly planned way so that the parents’ DNA would combine and produce a perfectly unique individual. Cells began to divide at an explosive rate as primitive systems began to form. Soon the heart was beating and blood was coursing through tiny vessels. DNA was in place to map everything this person would become. Whatever a person is was already laid out in their genes from the moment they were conceived.
Relationships. When most people think of God, they think of descriptors such as omnipotent (all- powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (everywhere-present). In the battle between world religions, everyone imagines their God to be the most powerful. In head-to-head combat, we know our God will win. This is part of the reason why God is described in these powerful and impressive terms. The Israelites celebrated the mighty acts of God in their worship and annual festivals. Passing on the memory of God’s mighty acts in history is a major part of what it means to be Jewish, even today. Christians celebrate the fact that our God is powerful, even over death, as demonstrated in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
War and Peace. War has been glamorized by Hollywood for decades. It shows the bravery, the valor, the dedication and heartwarming relationships between fellow soldiers. It portrays one country as “good” and another country as “bad.” Explosions and gunfire are just a part of hair-raising action scenes, and death is only seen as a loss when in happens to a main character. Hollywood simplifies war down to the elements of clever storytelling. But this is not the reality of war.
Social Implications of the Gospel. Have you ever been told that the Adventist mission really doesn’t include helping the homeless? Or have you been given the feeling that community service is a low priority compared to verbal proclamation of the message?

Friendship Evangelism

Part 1: Why Friendship Evangelism? Let’s begin by defining friendship evangelism. Most people become Christians and join the church because of a friend, a relative or someone they know. In the late 1970s, Dr. Gottfried Oosterwal, director of the Institute for World Mission at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, did a major survey on why people join the church. The study showed that two-thirds to three-fourths of Seventh-day Adventists say the main reason they joined the church is because of a relative, a friend, or a neighbor who told them about the church.
Part 2: Mingle with Others. The paradigm we are using is found in The Ministry of Healing on page 143. It describes the approach used by Christ and includes five verbs. The first one is introduced in these terms; “The Savior mingled with men [people] as one who desired their good.” The first verb used is “mingle.”
Part 3: Show Compassion. Showing compassion to those around you is the second step in friendship evangelism. A simple but powerful demonstration of compassion is through the act of listening. The paradigm in The Ministry of Healing (page 143) helps us better understand the ministry of Christ. The second key verb in this paragraph states that he showed sympathy. When this passage was written in the 19th century, the word “sympathy” had a broader meaning than just “to feel sorry for a person.”
Part 4: Ministering to People’s Needs. The third step in sharing your faith with others is to minister to their needs. Ministry springs from a heart touched by God’s unconditional love expressed in service toward the practical needs of those around you.
Part 5: Winning Confidence. Trust is built through compassion. Winning the confidence of others cannot be forced or manipulated, but it is built through non-manipulative, caring love. It often happens in everyday little things. Doing something specifically to try to “make someone trust you” not only won’t work, but is counterproductive. People can smell hidden agendas a mile away. To gain trust, you must simply be trustworthy, and that comes only from your own close relationship with God, which causes you to love those around you.
Part 6: Follow Me. Sharing the gospel best happens in an open, trusting relationship, using language relevant to the context and needs of the person with whom you are sharing. In the paradigm for the ministry of Christ from The Ministry of Healing page 143, the fifth and last step is an invitation. After mingling with people, after demonstrating compassion for them, after meeting their needs, after winning their trust, then Jesus said, “Follow me.”

Member Care

Listening Skills. Why do we need to learn to listen? We’ve been hearing since before we left our mother’s womb, and we haven’t stopped yet, in this noisy world of ours. Well, for one thing, “hearing” and “listening” are not exactly the same thing, not to mention learning and understanding. If it were that simple, would we have so many misunderstandings and communication breakdowns?
Visitation. An informal visit to someone’s home, once or other appropriate place are probably the oldest and most universal of all social interactions. In our busy, contemporary world, however, it has lost most of its informality, at least in North America. There are social norms and protocols to follow. Now only family or a few very close friends can just “drop by.” But it has not always been thus.
Reconnecting. Disappointments. Unfulfilled expectations. Unwelcome surprises. Very often they result from unrealistic expectations and vague hopes. Sometime they hit us broadside, when we should have seen them coming. Think of the Children of Israel, month two. They’re out of food and water, and they thought freedom was going to solve all their problems! Now they’re angry and ready to go back to slavery! Did they think the “Promised Land” was only a week or two away?

Mission Group Process

Part 1: Finding a Call. The emphasis of church outreach of all kinds has been “come to church” or “come to the meetings.” That is the focus of all of our efforts and the basic message to the general public. That approach is simply not working in many places and with many kinds of people. The book City Reaching, by Jack Dennison, points out that we need a new approach—a “go to” approach in which church mission goes to people where they are. That is, after all, the example of Jesus who came down from heaven to incarnate the gospel message as a human being living in the midst of humanity.
Part 2: Sharing A Call. When it comes time to start talking to others about a potential Mission Group—announcing a call to mission—it is very important to have the key message points well in mind.
Part 3: Developing a Covenant. The spiritual foundation of a Mission Group is expressed in its “covenant.” This is a document which states the mission of the group and then outlines the basic operating rules of the group. These operating rules must focus primarily on how the spirituality of the group will be maintained if it is to be a Christ-centered group with missional activities empowered by the grace of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. All Mission Groups become deeply engaged in the business of their mission and spend much time working to understand and impact the conditions in the secular world that they seek to transform. Considerable attention is given to information and experiences that could be seen as entirely secular in nature. The only way to ensure that the group does not become just another secular enterprise is to adhere firmly to a core set of spiritual practices.
Part 4: Exploring the Mission. Once a Mission Group has developed its covenant and identified the gifts of its members, assigning each of them a definite role in the enterprise, it is then ready to launch out into its new mission. But it is not ready to roll out a big program. There is a “learning curve” in any mission. All veterans will tell you that what they started doing at first is not exactly what they do now. They learned from their mistakes. A few are aware that they also learned from their successes. Mission is by nature experimental. Small initial steps, carefully observed, teach us what works and what does not work.
Part 5: Getting Acquainted with Mission Context. Once your Mission Group has begun to implement some initial projects, the next major task is to begin to study the culture and needs of the people you are attempting to minister with. This is not something that can be taken care of in one meeting or a short period of time. Getting acquainted with the people that you are trying to reach is simply the first step. The task of learning about their culture, values and needs is a task that will continue throughout the life of your mission.
Part 6: Seeking Partnerships. Collaboration is vital to the development and effectiveness of your missional project. Without collaboration you will not get people from the target group to come into your project, you will not have a suitable location to work in or any of the supplies, materials and funding you need. Without collaboration you will find it difficult to provide the training your volunteers need and the additional services that people may require as you discover health, emotional and other needs in their lives. And without collaboration your project will certainly not gain the visibility and credibility in the community that you want it to have.

Personal Evangelism

Part 1: Readiness for Bible Studies. Public evangelism is often the only way we think of evangelism. There is also the evangelism that occurs in the privacy of one-to-one relationships and small circles in the home. Ellen White writes, “of equal importance with special public efforts is house-to-house work in the homes of the people.” In fact, she asserts that “there are certain classes that cannot be reached by public meetings.” She points out that “the work of Christ was largely made up of personal interviews. He had a faithful regard for the one-soul audience.” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, p. 111; Vol. 6, p. 115)
Part 2: Giving Bible Studies. Public evangelism is often the only way we think of evangelism. There is also the evangelism that occurs in the privacy of one-to-one relationships and small circles in the home. Ellen White writes, “of equal importance with special public efforts is house-to-house work in the homes of the people.” In fact, she asserts that “there are certain classes that cannot be reached by public meetings.” She points out that “the work of Christ was largely made up of personal interviews. He had a faithful regard for the one-soul audience.”
Part 3: Getting Decisions. Public evangelism is often the only way we think of evangelism. There is also the evangelism that occurs in the privacy of one-to-one relationships and small circles in the home. Ellen White writes, “of equal importance with special public efforts is house-to-house work in the homes of the people.” In fact, she asserts that “there are certain classes that cannot be reached by public meetings.” She points out that “the work of Christ was largely made up of personal interviews. He had a faithful regard for the one-soul audience.”
Part 4: Preparing a Person for Baptism. Public evangelism is often the only way we think of evangelism. There is also the evangelism that occurs in the privacy of one-to-one relationships and small circles in the home. Ellen White writes, “of equal importance with special public efforts is house-to-house work in the homes of the people.” In fact, she asserts that “there are certain classes that cannot be reached by public meetings.” She points out that “the work of Christ was largely made up of personal interviews. He had a faithful regard for the one-soul audience.”

Preaching

Part 1: Getting Started. Local elders and other lay leaders often have to preach a sermon or even preach quite often in some congregations. This series of five units on preaching brings together the experience of pastors who have taught lay leaders to preach and seeks to provide a simple and complete presentation that is written with the amateur in mind. It draws from the best of the preaching art; the many great preachers who have written the basics of preaching. These presentations are meant for the weekend warrior, but will also prove helpful to the preaching professional.
Part 2: Study the Text. “You can’t just read the Bible and do what it says.” His words are a bit shocking but he has a point. Dr. Donn Leatherman, an Old Testament professor, is a master at word craft. He knows just how to frame an idea to make it notable. What he means is that we always interpret Scripture. It is true. You read the story of David’s adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11) and you interpret David’s behavior as bad. If you just read the story and did what it said, you would commit adultery. We always interpret the Bible—and we should.
Part 3: Drafting an Outline. Structures are everywhere, though you rarely notice them. It’s like watching a movie. You see the story but forget the screen it shows on. Each sentence you speak is a structure. When you whisper gossip, there is a structure to the way you tell it.
Part 4: Choosing Illustrations. Illustrations are pictures in books that show what the book tells. They add force to its message. In a sermon, they serve the same goal but the medium has changed. Instead of ink and paper, you have words and the listener’s mind. You paint mental scenes with words. In some cases, you will start from scratch. At other times, you can use an image already etched in their brain— instead of painting it fresh, your words bring it into focus. This works best with familiar scenes. Either way, your goal is to turn ideas into pictures.
Part 5: Preparing Notes. The mind has a way of forgetting things when you need them and recalling things at just the wrong moments, like forgetting your sermon flow and remembering that you’re scared of public speaking just when you step up to the pulpit. There is hope. It has much to do with prayer and something to do with making usable notes to take with you. Since you likely know about prayer, let’s address the issue of notes.

Recovery Ministry

Recovery Ministry Introduction. Anyone leading a recovery ministry must be a recovering addict with solid sobriety while continuing to work rigorously at the 12 Steps as a model for those being led. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I buffet my body and make it my slave lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” The leader must not be above strict accountability, and needs to have a mentor; someone who can help point out blind spots, and keep him or her on the right track in recovery and in relation- ship with God. That mentor, by the way, needs to be a recovering addict also. Otherwise, it’s like a golfer trying to train a football player. You have to have been there to know how to lead another through that landscape.
Step 1: Powerlessness and Unmanageability. This unit introduces Step One. The assignments are broken down into four week-long sections. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is effectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion—the four-week breakdown is just a guideline. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery.
Step 2: There’s hope out there, and I want it. This unit introduces Step Two. The assignments are broken down into four week-long sections. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is effectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion. The four-week breakdown is just a guideline. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery.
Step 3: Discovering the Real God. This unit introduces Step Three. The assignments are broken down into four week-long sections. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is effectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion—the four-week breakdown is just a guideline. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery.
Step 4: Just the Facts. This unit introduces Step Four. The assignments are broken down into four week-long sections. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is e! ectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion. The four-week breakdown is just a guideline which can be modified. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery.
Step 5-7. This unit introduces Steps 5, 6, and 7, which are taken together because they are inextricably interconnected. Being out in the open, ready to change, and facing our shortcoming with humility all go hand in hand.
Step 8: Softening the Heart. This unit introduces Step Eight. The assignments are broken down into four week-long sections. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is effectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion. The four-week schedule is just a guideline. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery.
Step 9: Making the Past Right. This unit introduces Step Nine. The assignments are broken down into four week-long sections. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is effectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion—the four-week breakdown is just a guide line. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery.
Step 10: Keep the List Short. This unit introduces Step Ten. The assignments are broken down into four week-long sections. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is effectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion. The four-week schedule is just a guideline. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery.
Step 11: Keep in Touch. This unit introduces Step 11. The assignments are broken down into four weekly segments. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is effectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion. The four-week schedule is just a guideline. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery.
Step 12: A New Way of Life. This unit introduces Step 12, the final step in the process. The assignments are broken down into four weekly sections. You can give fewer assignments during that week if the mentee needs more time, or give more assignments if the mentee is effectively completing the work with the appropriate level of commitment and emotion—the four-week breakdown is just a guideline. Using the H.O.W. method will help you to determine a mentee’s state of mind and readiness to take the next Step in recovery. Step 12 is the last Step you will be guiding your mentee through. From this point, the relationship will change. As you make these final assignments, begin the transition to allowing the mentee to take over the responsibility more and more.

Seminar Leadership

Teaching Techniques. The very fi rst teaching experience took place at the Garden of Eden. Here’s Adam, fresh from the dirt, perfumed by the natural oils found on the ground, facing his teacher. I can imagine in his face the same inquisitive look that I get from my dogs whenever they see that I have something in my hands. What is it? Is it for me? Can I eat it? Now Adam was not asking those types of questions, but I imagine his look full of eagerness. What am I looking at? What is this that I see? And God is next to him showing him, teaching him. In Genesis 1 and 2 we fi nd God fi rst as Adam’s teacher and then as teacher of both Adam and Eve. Can you imagine such experience? Can you imagine God showing you around? Look, this is a tree. And let me show you something unique about this tree. This is an apple tree and here you go. This is called apple. Try it. Good, eh? Now let me show you this little beast. This is a dog …
Leading a Seminar: Learning Styles. For many of us, the idea of different ways of learning is relatively new. And any time someone introduces new approaches to teaching Biblical truths, some people will be uncomfortable, and some will be critical. We have become so accustomed to lecture style preaching that we may regard anything else as somehow inappropriate for a church setting, or even for teaching spiritual truths in another setting.
Storytelling. For Christians the mother lode for storytellers is the Bible. A quick glimpse at the book of Genesis alone reveals more than 40 stories, depending on how we divide them. The Pentateuch contains enough stories—most of them are the core of our children’s divisions program—to keep a Christian storyteller supplied for several years. But what about us, now? Do we have a story to tell? Can we still find a story?
Use of Audio Visual Materials. There are many types of audio and visual materials available to speakers today, from the blackboard to DVDs. In between, there’s everything from whiteboards with colored markers and overhead transparencies to computer-generated slide shows. The computer-generated slide show has become the most common, and it often incorporates many of the other media. Since most of the same principles apply to other types of presentations, this chapter will focus primarily on composing and presenting a computer-generated slide show. Even if you are never called on to put together one of these, but only to present one created by someone else, understanding how to most effectively compose one will assist you as you select and present them.

Small Group Leadership

Understanding Group Dynamics. No human being could begin to peer into the inner workings of what we call the Trinity or Triune God. We can barely grasp the concept that there is one God in three personalities. However, it seems safe to say that God works, and created people to work, in groups. From the very beginning (in which the three Persons of the Godhead are specifically mentioned, if one links Genesis 1 with John 1), God said it was “not good” for human beings to be alone. Central to the very first blessings bestowed on the new human race were marriage and parenting, thus establishing the most basic and foundational of human groupings—husband and wife, parent and child—the family. It could even be argued that harmony in the garden depended on the willingness of Adam and Eve to trust their “group,” defined as God, the angels and each other, and that sin entered because a divisive outside influence succeeded first in dividing the human pairing and then in conquering their trust in their one and only group leader.
Dealing with People Problems. There are innumerable books, essays, articles, courses, sermons, and blogs on the subject of dealing with difficult people. They range from how to handle difficult people in your family or at work to how to counsel, pastor or lead difficult people. A large number of resources are available for small group leaders. There are lists that include “the dominator … the victim … the sneak… the guerilla fighter,” etc. Each has suggestions, sometimes even specific word-by-word instructions on what to say or do. There is so much material of this type, that it is impossible for a good group leader needs to memorize it all.
Asking Discussion Questions. An essential task in leading a small group is to ask questions that get the group involved in discussion. People have been asking questions about themselves and the meaning of existence for millennia. No matter which philosopher one reads, which religion one studies, or even which brand of scientific thought one consults, life’s Great Questions can be distilled to a handful: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? How do I get there?
Consensus Decision-Making. There are only a few basic ways to make decisions in a group. It could even be said that there are only three, though each has a number of forms and subcategories: (1) One leader makes the decisions; the rest follow. (2) Everyone has a vote and the majority rules. (3) The whole group makes and owns the decision together by coming to consensus.
Developing Agendas for Small Group Meetings. Many units in the discipleship curriculum include materials about why small groups are so important to the Christian life. Humans were created by a God who uses a plural name, Elohim, but singular verbs; a God who is One, yet shows the faces of a Parent, a Son, and an omnipresent, mysterious Spirit; a God who lives in us, and yet in Whom we live and move and have our being. We are not truly whole apart from community. We have always had our families and neighborhoods, our clans and tribes and nations. But the “New” Covenant Jesus delivered to us (a very ancient covenant, renewed in terms of a human face we can imagine) calls us to commitment to a new kind of community. We are, as we like to sing, “part of the family of God.”
Group Involvement in Mission. In any successful small group, there exists a central mission or passion which brings the members of that group together, and enables them to do amazing things. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” (Ephesians 2:10) People joined in community can motivate and inspire each other to achieve things much greater than they could do alone. The Bible tells us that “where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20) In order for people to come together and organize their missions, it’s important for each individual to know what his or her individual mission is. Once we realize what God has given us a passion for, we can find others with similar or complementary passions and work to make a difference in this world in His name.

Stewardship

The Cheerful Giver. How we choose to manage our resources and finances as Christians is a personal topic. This presentation operates with a very simple rule. No participant is obligated at any time to reveal any personal details about their finances, income, or giving patterns. We are accountable only to God for our choices in managing our money. This presentation focuses on the “why” of giving more than the “what.” In this session, we will look at the concept of cheerful generosity. We gladly give because we have first received from God, who gives with greater joy than a parent gives to their children. After looking at this concept, we’ll creatively think of ways to apply it to our own lives.
Offerings. How we choose to manage our resources and finances as Christians is a personal topic. As we discuss this topic, please understand a very simple rule. No participant is obligated at any time to reveal any personal details about their finances, income, or giving patterns. We are accountable to God for our choices in managing our money. This presentation is about the “why’s” of giving more than the “what’s.” We will take a close look at offerings. Separate from tithe, offerings provide ministries with resources to accomplish their mission. There are a variety of choices in supporting these ministries at every level. We will review methods and plans for giving to support the church and then encourage you to choose a giving plan that fits your preferences. We begin by defining a key word: What is Stewardship? The Seventh-day Adventist Church Stewardship Department website provides this definition: “Stewardship is the life- style of one who has a living relationship with Jesus Christ, accepts His lordship and walks in partnership with God, and acts as His agent to manage His affairs on earth.”
Scarcity or Abundance. This presentation focuses on church members’ perspectives on giving. It is less about the specifics of budgeting, investing, and retirement planning, and more about mental attitudes, the basic mindset that steers thinking about financial giving in the church. While other good resources provide the nuts and bolts of Christian financial management, this presentation challenges Christians to audit their thinking about why they give to the body of Christ, gain new insights from Scripture regarding the importance of proper financial attitudes and creatively plan to implement positive attitudes in their own personal life.

Understanding Your Community

Part 1: What Kind of Community Are We In? What kind of community is our church located in? This may be a surprising question for you. Seventh-day Adventists move a lot more often than the general population. An Adventist pastor averages only a few years in each assignment and research has shown that Adventist members tend to be highly mobile. (Dudley, et al.) As a result, most Adventists do not put down very deep roots in a community. This is consistent with a faith that affirms that “this world is not our home” and looks forward to “a city whose builder and maker is God.” Yet it also means that you may not pay much attention to where they live. You may not understand the local culture, and you may not realize the extent to which you are seen as an “outsider,” all of which is counterproductive to effectively pursuing the mission of the Church.
Part 2: Demographics. In the information age, the use of demographics has be- come an integral part of church ministry. The word liter- ally means, “documenting people.” Demos is an ancient Greek word for people or a segment of the population, and graphos is the Greek word for writing or documentation. Just as the invention of photography and publications like National Geographic helped a generation of North Americans to open its eyes to natural wonders and cultures around the world, so the invention of the computer and demographics have made it possible to see and understand trends and dynamics on a vast scale; the births, lives and deaths of entire populations. Demographics are readily accessible to leaders of congregations through the census web sites of both the United States and Canada. There are also many other sources of demographic data being marketed to business executives, as well as some tailored for nonprofit organizations and Christian ministries. (See “Resources.”)
Part 3: Religious Profile. When we conduct public evangelism we use a certain translation of the Bible; we use certain types of music and other approaches that reveal a number of unstated assumptions about the people in the community. These are assumptions about what people already know about religion before they step into the first meeting. For example, it is assumed that people know that there are “books” in the Bible and that they know the names of at least some of the books and approximately what order they are in. It is assumed that people have heard and understand certain kinds of religious music. It is assumed that people know not to answer when the preacher asks a rhetorical question or stand up and interrupt the sermon when they have a question. I could list many more of these assumptions. All together they make a package or cultural framework which is related to a certain religious background.
Part 4: Interviewing Community Leaders. In every group there are certain individuals who influence the thinking of many others. In our congregation it may be people who have been members for a long time and know the history of the church. Or, it may be individuals who are respected because of their occupation or education, or their contact with a significant number of other members. The same thing is true in our community. There are “influentials” or “thought leaders” who have a great deal of impact on the attitudes and opinions of local residents. These include elected officials and those who work in the news media. Beyond those few are the relatively larger numbers of individuals who each influence a much smaller circle: The barber or hairdresser who chats with a number of customers each day; the foreman or office manager who supervises a number of employees; the bank vice president who has lunch with two or three local business owners one day and attends a civic club the next; the public school principal who has coffee with her teachers every morning and talks to parents several times a day, as well as meeting with a weekly PTA group. These individuals, particularly those who are long-time community residents, are all “influentials” and in a broader sense community leaders.
Part 5: Conducting a Needs Assessment. Demographics, interviews with community leaders, published reports all give suggestive information from which to infer the needs of the people in your community, but they do not provide hard, primary data about how people actually see their needs. What do the people in our community feel they need? What needs are the focus of their lives? What values drive their lives? It is this kind of hard information that is ultimately necessary to shape a ministry so that it has significant impact in the community, and to get the funding, mobilize the volunteers and other resources necessary to sustain it. A needs assessment is an intentional effort to get that information. A needs assessment—as the term is usually meant by professionals today—involves more than simply gathering some information. It is more than a specific survey about a specific topic. It is more than bringing together two or three kinds of information. A “needs assessment” is a balanced, comprehensive look at human conditions in a specified population, and includes both the gathering of data and a careful analysis of what the information means.
Part 6: Community Systems. Our community can be understood from a systems approach. It consists of a number of complex, interrelated systems that sustain the necessary elements which make it possible for people to live in this place; jobs, housing, utilities, transportation, communications, security and order, education, health care, recreation, family and social services, justice and religious institutions. “The sheltered religious world in which most pastors live and work,” says Dr. Stanley J. Hallet, an evangelical theologian in Chicago, “is often vastly different from the rough and troubled secular world of their parishioners. This difference of pulpit and pew worlds can result in irrelevant preaching, insensitive pastoral care, and unrealistic expectations of parishioners.”