20. Connect: How to Grow Your Church in 28 Days Guaranteed. Don Corder. 2019. 233 pages. [Source: Borrowed] [3 stars, christian nonfiction]
First sentence: The vision of every church is the first macro--the Great Commission: to make disciples of all people everywhere: From that macro-vision, churches today more or less adopt a vision that is either attractional or missional. The attractional churches want to build crowds. The missional churches want to make disciples.
Premise/plot: Don Corder is "guaranteeing" church growth in 28 days. Do I believe it? Nope. He does offer twenty-eight chapters worth of ideas. But those ideas would take a LOT longer than one month to implement. In fact, I would argue that this "28 day" plan is the work of years--yes YEARS plural. The chapters are meant to build on each other, I believe. But some ideas are more likely to be doable than others. And all of them require not just the work of three or four people but the work of dozens and dozens of people. So if you don't have dozens of vision-filled, inspired, passionate people who want to pour themselves--heart, mind, soul, body--into these projects, well, the guarantee is looking less and less likely.
Main points:
CONNECTION comes before evangelism and conversion. You have to have connections with people before the other can happen.
Assume that people want to come to church to find answers, and want to come to YOUR church to find those answers.
Assume that people want to give out their contact information and be communicated with several times a week or at least weekly.
People don't like to read -- communicate in very short paragraphs if words are necessary, video messages have more of a likelihood to be watched than a paragraph read. Keep both videos and paragraphs short.
Host community outreach events where the goal is to get names, names, and more names. The point of the event is not Christian-related but just something--anything--to get them on your property and the name and contact information provided.
Don't assume that people that don't come to your church regularly are gone.
Focus on those that just come once a month or less and work on getting those to come back and come regularly.
Forget the golden rule and treat others the way they want to be treated. Ask regularly how can I serve YOUR needs and wants.
See those coming in the door as customers and your church as a product and brand.
My thoughts: It was a quick read. I read the first three days a few months ago. I read the last twenty-five in one sitting. I think the assumption is that the church in question is "only" a few hundred people and wanting to grow. OR maybe five or six hundred people and wanting to grow. At one point he was talking about how to fill your church with 1500 people. I think the book assumes many, many, many things. More than one pastor, for example, and perhaps even more staff that are working full-time throughout the week. There's even a talk of YOUR CHURCH'S BOOKSTORE.
The focus is on numbers, numbers, more numbers. The numbers in the pews each week. The numbers in your DATABASE. The number of members. The money.
I think my favorite quote was "We can't serve the people we wish we had. We can only serve those [that] actually come; and more importantly, come back. They're the reason we're here."
I think the title is misleading. And the ideas are far-fetched for many. That being said, I think the author does challenge readers to think outside of the box. To not assume that everyone thinks like you.
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