Church Growth Checklist for Pastors
Invite Other People
Your congregation needs to be inviting people to church. The more people who get invited to church, the greater the chance that someone will say yes…
- Facilities
Are your facilities clean and in good repair? - Is your church Welcoming
How does it feel for people visiting your church for the first time? - Music
Does it honour God and is it done with excellence? - Pace of the Service
Is the pace of your service done in a way that flows smoothly and doesn’t get tied up with extraneous “stuff”? - The Message
Is it biblical and done with purpose and getting to the point? - Call to Action
Do you have a call to action that brings people to a point of decision? - Are People Encouraged
Do people leave the service encouraged, or are they discouraged and feeling beaten down?
Help Prospective Mothers in Papua New Guinea
Sometimes it’s amazing how much you can help, through something so little…
In rural Papua New Guinea one in seven women die in childbirth! Yep, that’s right, 1 in 7 women die in childbirth! That’s a shocking statistic to say the least. To give birth to a child a mother has a 15% chance of dying, can you imagine?
A friend of mine, Adriel Booker, in Australia works with YWAM Ships, a ministry that is currently working on delivering medical help into Papua New Guinea. She is a Mom, blogger and fellow YWAMer who has a strong passion for helping other mothers in need. To help expectant mothers in Papua New Guinea she has started a program called Bloggers for Birth Kits to help reduce maternal mortality in rural Papua New Guinea.
The way to help is so simple that anyone can do it…
For as little as a $2.00 donation you can purchase a Birth Kit. The Birth Kit is very simple, but according to the Birthing Kit Foundation can greatly help to reduce the incidence of infant and maternal mortality and morbidity. The kit includes:
- 1 plastic sheet to provide a clean birthing surface
- 1 bar of soap for clean hands during the birthing process and to clean the umbilical stump
- 1 pair of plastic gloves for clean hands
- 1 sterile scalpel blade to cut the umbilical cord
- 3 cords / pieces of strong string to tie the umbilical chord
- 5 gauze squares to clean the baby and mother
The kit is simple, yet effective. Adriel made up her own (which you can watch on the video at the bottom of this post), but I think the most effective way for us to help is to donate.
If you do want to help with this great project, and for only $2.00 who wouldn’t want to help, you can read more about it at Bloggers for Birth Kits.
This post was originally posted on my personal blog at Help Prospective Mothers in Papua New Guinea – Bill Hutchison
Church Growth – Does Children’s Ministry Enter Into the Equation?
Church growth is a sign of a healthy well-balanced church. A big portion of a church’s budget can be easily spent on trying to reach those in the local community with the Good News of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
I will never forget the time, years ago, when I was looking for a new church home for my young and growing family. During the process, I visited quite a few churches in the community. One Sunday I visited a church that initially looked wonderful. The church had a nice cheerful sign out front, modest landscaping and a facility that appeared to be well maintained. I attended the service and really enjoyed the sermon. The people were friendly; I thought I might have found the church I was looking for.
After the service, I asked if I could see the children’s ministry area. My hosts obliged and took me down a flight of stairs into the basement. My feelings quickly changed, as I saw that the children’s area was in total disrepair and clearly not a priority of the church. I thanked my hosts and left, never to return.
Many aspects enter into the mix as church leaders plan on how best to meet the spiritual needs of those in the community. Sadly, there are times when one of the most important areas of the church are over looked, that area being the children’s ministry departments.
Young families want to know that their children are well taken care of and that their kids are being taught in a fun and educational manner. If parents are worried about their children, they will not enjoy the services or get plugged into classes of their own. Is that to say that the children’s area has to be a dream palace or a miniature theme park? No of course not, but the kids area of the church is very important, maybe more important than the adult sections of the church. Parents may overlook imperfections in their own facilities but the standard is definitely raised when it comes to the areas in which their children will be taught.
Considerable thought should be given to the design and upkeep of the children’s facilities. The children’s areas of the church should be clean and inviting. The walls should be painted in child friendly colours and decorated with murals, banners, posters and other assorted artwork. The artwork should grab the children’s attention and draw them into the wonderful world of Sunday school.
The teachers should care about children and teach in fun and creative ways. Teachers should use every tool at their disposal to make their lessons meaningful and invite the children to explore all the wonders that God has to offer. Children’s Sunday school should be a fun and exciting place to visit.
Maps of the various children’s classrooms and children’s worship centre should be predominantly displayed within the entrances into the children’s area. This allows parents to locate the area in which their children belong and reassures the children that they will not be lost in the shuffle.
Matthew 6:21 states "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Today’s families treasure their children.
About the Author: 
Mike Covell writes Sunday school curriculum for Kids’ Sunday School Place.
For more information on exciting new children’s ministry ideas please visit http://www.kidssundayschool.com – Make it count, make it fun!
(c) Copyright – Kid’s Sunday School Place, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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