eBookGet Their Name: Coordinator's Guide - eBook [ePub] (Get Their Name: Coordinator's Guide - eBook [ePub])
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Overview
The Coordinator’s Guide is twofold, helping the pastor (or other
leader) to implement worship/sermons, and a congregational study
experience. It contains worship helps for each week of the series,
including sermon plans and instructions for using the video
illustrations. It also includes instructions for implementing the
all-congregation study, along with tips for next steps—ways to follow up
after the month-long experience has ended.
Church leaders and members should all read the original Get Their Name book during the month of this church-wide experience.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781501825446 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 05/17/2016 |
| Series: | Get Their Name |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 349 KB |
About the Author
Kay Kotan is a credentialed coach, church consultant, speaker and author. She serves as the Director of the Center for Equipping Vital Congregations for the Susquehanna Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Read an Excerpt
Get Their Name Coordinator's Guide
Grow Your Church by Building New Relationships
By BOB FARR, KAY KOTAN
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2016 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5018-2544-6
CHAPTER 1
PLANNING
In order to have a successful sermon series and congregational study, planning ahead is essential. The larger your church is, the more time you will most likely need for planning and promoting. Get Their Name is designed to help create a new culture of being an invitational church. The more planning and congregational participation you have, the greater chance you have of beginning to create a new invitational culture. Make sure you select an optimal season in the life of the church to conduct this congregational study and sermon series to gain the most momentum and participation. You might consider conducting this series as part of Lent or Advent. Or you might consider it as a fall or spring series.
When recruiting your group leaders, there are a few things you might want to consider.
First, be sure to include a variety of people (age, tenure, spiritual maturity, gender, etc.).
Second, make sure your leaders are able to offer a variety of times (daytime during the week, weekday evenings, during Sunday school, maybe Saturday morning, etc.).
Third, offer enough groups so that everyone has the opportunity to participate. Group sizes are best at around six to twelve people.
Fourth, encourage Sunday school classes or other ongoing small groups to participate. They could use the materials during their regular meeting time, or they could include a second meeting time if they want to continue with their current study but add this study, too. If the existing class or group does not choose to use the materials, suggest that the class leaders encourage their members to join another group for the four weeks at a time that does not conflict with their existing group. Consider challenging your congregation to reach a certain number of group participants.
Fifth, be prepared to resource group leaders whose groups choose to continue the small group experience after this study. They may enjoy their time and study so much that they don't want it to end! Be prepared to help them consider next steps in sustaining and equipping.
Small group leaders will need to know their faith story, so part of your training and equipping will be to help these leaders discover or refine their story. Small group participants will want to hear an example of a faith story, so the group leader will need to be prepared to share his or her story in order to encourage their participants to discover their own. Help your leaders work on this as you prepare them to lead.
The suggestions and steps described here are best practices. Some churches will have the resources to implement every step. Others will not. Implement as many of the steps as possible, but if you can't, don't let them intimidate you and keep you from conducting the series. Adapt the steps as needed for your church and its resources. Do the very best that you can. Stretch yourself a bit if needed, but don't overwhelm yourself in the process.
Remember, this study is only the first step. This is the equipping piece of the process — step one. Your church will also need to provide the next two steps in closing the gap on evangelism. Step two is helping the congregation understand the importance of evangelism — the "why." The third step is the action step — the practicing, going, and doing.
Think about what opportunities you might include during this study, immediately after, and in the upcoming year to emphasize the importance of being an invitational church and create opportunities for people to practice and implement the plan. People will be in various stages of their learning and confidence in implementing the steps, so be sure to create opportunities for a variety of levels. If possible, offer a servant evangelism opportunity during the study or right afterwards, since this is the first step in learning and practicing evangelism. If possible, ask some of your groups (new ones, already existing ones, and ministry teams) to begin to share their faith stories. If someone is ready, think about the possibility of having someone share his or her faith story in worship. If you have some people who really "get it," have them apprentice others by taking them out in the community to start conversations and build relationships in the mission field.
CHAPTER 2SUGGESTED TIMELINES
We have provided a suggested timeline and best practices for your consideration for planning purposes once you have the study and sermon dates on the church calendar. Larger churches may need more ramp-up time for certain tasks. Adapt the list to fit your local context and needs. You will need all resources (Coordinator's Guide, Participant Workbooks, and DVD of video clips) in hand before implementing the steps below.
Three Months Ahead
Gather a prayer team together to pray for this study, the participants, your pastor, and the unchurched in your community; also pray that the sermon series and study will result in reaching new people for Christ.
Gather small group leaders for planning and equipping.
Gather the worship design team & AV together to plan for series.
Gather the music team and worship leaders together to plan for series.
Gather the promotion team for creative planning.
Note: Those involved in leading (e.g., coordinator, pastor, small group facilitators, worship leader, staff, promotion team) need to read the original book Get Their Name: Grow Your Church by Building New Relationships.
Best practice would be for those leading to also work through the individualized questions in the Workbook.
Two Months Ahead
Begin to use the teaser promotion.
Make sure you have a variety of times and days available for small groups.
Meet with adult Sunday school teachers and invite them to join in by using the group study during their class time for four weeks.
One Month Ahead
Begin official promotion and group sign-ups.
Set the vision for everyone to be in a four-week group.
Pastor uses sermon outlines to prepare the message.
Worship design team is in final prep stages.
Music team is practicing music.
Prayer team continues to meet regularly to pray.
Print the steps to relational evangelism cards to be handed out to the congregation in week one.
One Week Ahead
Ensure everyone has had an opportunity to sign up for a group.
Call those who have not yet signed up to invite into a group.
Check in with pastor, music team and worship leaders, and worship design team on final preparations.
During Series
Check in with group facilitators.
Encourage and support group facilitators, pastor, music team and worship leaders, and worship design team on their participation and execution.
Evaluate execution weekly and make changes as needed.
After Series
Gather worship leaders and group facilitators to evaluate: What went well? What didn't? What did we learn? How might we incorporate our learnings in the future? Next steps?
Celebrate!
What's next? How will we continue to build an invitational culture? In worship? In small groups? In leadership?
Might you consider going deeper by offering the ten-week class using the full, ten-week Get Their Name Workbook? Have at least the Evangelism Team and Council participate.
Encourage leadership (e.g., pastor, staff, and council) to evaluate. What changes might we want to make in order to grow our church by reaching new people? Consider actions such as the following:
• Sharing faith stories in small groups
• Sharing our faith in worship
• Practicing servant evangelism
• Encouraging and supporting new relationships in the community with our radar engaged
After Series, continued
Also evaluate ways the church might focus on an invitational culture through use of the following:
• Church signage (inside and out)
• Church hospitality
• Guest friendly website
• Connection process
• Discipleship process for new people
• Ongoing outwardly focused prayer team
• Leadership development process
• Strategic ministry planning
CHAPTER 3PROMOTION
Proper and timely promotion will not only increase awareness of the upcoming series but it will also increase participation. Promotion will increase excitement and momentum. Have fun with it! This can be a scary or intimidating topic for some, so the lighter the mood, the higher the probability of participation.
You will want to gather your promotional team (or create one if you don't already have one). This team will include those working on the website, newsletter, bulletin, congregational e-mails, Facebook (and/or other social media), worship AV, drama team, graphic designer, and so on. You don't necessarily need a separate person for each of these duties. This is just a checklist of methods you might consider using to promote this study. Analyze the talents and resources in your church and gather what makes sense for your church. Jot down a list of people you think should be a part of this team:
Ideally the team providing the promotion should begin gathering at least three months in advance. This will give everyone time to plan, prepare, and execute without feeling rushed. This lead time will also provide the best quality promotion, execution, and participation. The team will focus on two different elements:
1. Creating excitement about the upcoming sermon series.
2. Promoting participation in small groups.
About two months prior to the study launch, your team will want to start "teasing" the congregation about the upcoming series. Make sure you are using multiple modes of communication on a weekly basis. Not everyone will be in worship, so make sure you offer alternative means of communication. Here are some ideas for your consideration to "tease" the congregation. Don't limit your imagination to just this list. It may only serve as an idea starter. Let your imagination run wild! Have fun with it! Use the book Get Their Name as a resource.
Find funny videos about "goofy" ways to evangelize and use the big circle with the line through it showing this is NOT the way we reach new people. Or design a skit that would illustrate how NOT to evangelize in today's culture.
Interview people in your congregation about what scares them or makes them feel uncomfortable about evangelism. Use people's fears in either a video or article to promote how we will help remove the fear about reaching new people.
Find stats on how many people are unchurched in today's world (e.g., pewresearch.org). Write an article and/or show a slide in worship with this information. Then challenge the congregation to think about what we must do to reach them since this is the mission of the church.
Design a skit with ten people out and about in a daily setting. Have another "churched" person learning about the ten people through conversation — how approximately seven of the ten are unchurched and why. Matthew 28 calls churches to make disciples, yet approximately seven of ten people are not disciples. How will our church reach the unchurched in our community?
If your church has been in decline, interview someone from the congregation that remembers the heyday of a bygone era.
• Ask them about the number of children or young families that were around.
• Ask them about how the activity level might be different today than back then.
• Ask them why they believe we are no longer reaching new people.
• Ask them what they think about evangelism in today's culture. How do we do it? What works? What doesn't? Have we seen fruits of our evangelism efforts in the past couple of years? If not, why? If so, how?
Use the interview in an article or video. This should illustrate that in bygone days, people came to us — the church. But in today's culture, we must go out and build relationships first and then bring them back with us to the gathered community. Design a skit of an evangelism team or the pastor trying to recruit an evangelism team. Have people talk about all the "icky" thoughts/feelings/experiences that usually go along with the idea of evangelism. Have fun with this! Make it light-hearted. Finish the skit up with the message, "If you have these same thoughts and feelings about evangelism, stay tuned for how we might be able to reach new people in 'weird-free ways.' You won't want to miss the sermon series. Be sure to sign up for a small group."
Create so much buzz about the series and small groups that people won't want to "miss out" on what everyone else will be experiencing.
Talk about this as an opportunity for people who are not engaged in Sunday school or another group to get involved and "sample" small group community. This is short term — only four weeks. It is a chance to meet new friends and maybe try new desserts. It is a "taste and see" opportunity for small groups — it is a short commitment.
Have your pastor, staff member, or someone else write an article describing why they decided to participate in this study. What do they hope will occur as a result of this study? What participation do they dream about having within the congregation? How will this study influence the community in which the church resides?
Think about having the youth participate in some of the ideas above. Or ask them about ideas they might have about promoting the series.
Make sure you place information about the upcoming series and small group experiences using the newsletter, the bulletin, the screen, e-mail blasts, a phone campaign, Facebook, and so on. First it will be "coming soon," "watch for," and "you won't want to miss" messages. Then a month out, the messages will change to "sign up," "don't be left out," "only one week left to join," and so on.
Jot down the ideas from the suggestions above, and some of your own, that you'll pursue in order to promote the Get Their Name experience for your congregation:
RESOURCES
See bobfarr.org, gettheirname.com, or cokesbury.com for downloadable resources to use in implementing the study with your church. These resources include the following:
The 5-10-Link Card from Clip In, by Jim Ozier
WEAVE Card from Clip In, by Jim Ozier
Invitation
Six Steps to Relational Evangelism Card
Video Promos to show in worship and to share via social media
Graphics for use in worship and for customizing print and video promotional media
Downloadable Tips and Helps for Facilitating the Get Their Name Group Study (for distribution to small group facilitators)
CHAPTER 4WORSHIP DESIGN TEAM
The purpose of the worship design team is to fully prepare and create a meaningful worship experience that provides opportunities for people to experience the Holy Spirit during worship as God moves, shifts, and opens their eyes to a new way of reaching people. You will want to create these experiences through all the senses. Draw on ideas in the following areas: music, prayer, sermon, altar decorations, other chancel props, video, still images, handouts, drama, and scripture.
This Coordinator's Guide provides suggested scripture, prayers, songs, and sermon outlines for this series. Remember, there will be small groups gathering to go deeper into the topics each week, so not only is the team creating a worship experience, it is providing a springboard for the small group experience. Hopefully this is the beginning of a congregational cultural shift to become more outwardly focused to reach new people for Christ.
Following, you will find some idea starters for each week based on the sermon and scripture. Song suggestions are listed in the overview on pages 30–34. Videos for sermons and worship will be available online at bobfarr.org, gettheirname.com, and cokesbury.com. These will be useful to illustrate the main ideas in each sermon, or for emphasizing the sermon theme in another part of the worship service.
Each week, we will offer ideas on a physical takeaway for your congregation. These will serve as reminders of the message for the week and help to promote action as a result of the message.
CHAPTER 5WORSHIP OVERVIEW FOR DESIGN TEAM
SERIES TITLE SUGGESTIONS
Back to the Basics – Church Edition
How to Reach New People
Going Out Together
Sharing My Story, Your Story, Our Story
Why Church?
Building Relationships for Real Life
WEEK ONE: DO YOU KNOW YOUR OWN STORY?
Scripture: "So how can they call on someone they don't have faith in? And how can they have faith in someone they haven't heard of? And how can they hear without a preacher?" Romans 10:14
For week one, the idea is to help people think about evangelism in a new way. Evangelism is building relationships with people we don't know. The teaching is on faith sharing in groups and faith sharing in worship. Participants will work on developing and communicating their own faith stories.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Get Their Name Coordinator's Guide by BOB FARR, KAY KOTAN. Copyright © 2016 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Planning,Suggested Timelines,
Promotion,
Worship Design Team,
Worship Overview for Design Team,
Worship Overview for Music Team and Worship Leaders,
Sermon Outlines,
Appendix Tips and Helps for Facilitating the Get Their Name Group Study,
Participant Workbook,