How to Wake Up Your Dreams!
Cultivate your imagination—it is the face of creativity. The ability to imagine, then work toward a different future for your church or community can be the first steps towards great achievement.
Are there dreams in your heart for your place of ministry that need to be shared with key people so that they can start to come to life? Have you listened for the Father ’s dreams for your assignment? Here are some “dream” observations from Pastor Walt Kallestad:
Focus the dream—The more completely described, the more clearly focused the dream is, the better it is understood and greater the likelihood it will be embraced.
Face dream dangers with hope—“What baking powder is to biscuits, hope is to dreams.” Dreamers must face danger zones with hope, since God inspires what He desires.
Find a dream mate—A dream mate is someone who sees our potential and pushes us to achieve it.
Watch for God’s approval—His approval, evidenced by answers to prayer, energizes and empowers our achievements.
Awaken the dreams—Great dreaming is not putting your head in the clouds. Vision, imagination, creativity, and action are the raw materials of dreams. Nourish them. Cherish them.
Dreamers need renewal—Hard work and tedious setbacks create fatigue, loneliness, frustration, and weariness for dreamers. When dreams flickers, check your power connections: integrity, generosity, perseverance, and forgiveness.
Embrace great dreams, yours and others, as you envision a better future for your church and your city. Nourishing those dreams will lead to greater fruitfulness, increased satisfaction in ministry, and even more exciting dreams.
How to Use Creativity to Increase Effectiveness
Many pastors have given up on creativity, thinking it is a special gift for the talented few. Not true. Everyone has some creative power and it can be increased by using what you have. Besides, the Holy Spirit—creative agent without rival—is eager to help you find new ways to gain the Gospel a hearing! Consider these approaches:
1. Look everywhere for ideas that will work in ministry. It was said of Peter Drucker that he saw connections between ideas in many fields that he used in management.
2. Share a need or problem with a colleague—ask what they would do if they were you.
3. Ask yourself what would happen if you turned existing practices upside down.
4. Conventional practice should not be rejected just because it is conventional. New ideas should not be accepted just because they are new. Can the two be merged?
5. Innovate by translating the new ideas of others into your unique setting. Many new ideas don ’t work because we don’t work them.
6. Consider the unusual. With a bit of refinement, ideas that at first seem outlandish can provide ideal solutions.
Creativity is not rocket science, it’s fitting ideas together in news ways. That’s something we all can do!
Effective Follow-up Builds Attendance & Keeps a Church Healthy
Church researchers say that to maintain attendance, one out of ten guests need to become regular members of the fellowship. Three out of ten are needed in order to grow. All this means intentional follow-up is a top priority for every church. Here are advices from Dale Galloway concerning follow-up:
The Time Principle—Contact all guests within 48 hours. Many busy people don’t appreciate or expect a home visit. But will welcome a sincere phone call.
The Goal is to Get Visitors to Return—Getting guests to return the second, third, and fourth times is critical to moving them closer to Christ. Plan follow-up activities with that goal in mind.
Double Impact—The return rate doubles when laypeople follow-up on guests. People expect pastors to follow-up. Attention from laypeople is novel and surprising.
Entry Path—Effective follow-up must open up ways for people to become involved. The idea is to open the door but not force anyone to walk through it, to accommodate people of different types.
The Connection Necessity—People need to connect to others quickly if they are going to feel comfortable within the fellowship. Getting folks linked to small groups is a good way of building connections.
Allow Freedom to Determine Intensity—Be ready to respond to whatever level of interest a guest demonstrates. People are different in their willingness to go public with their level of interest in your church.
Friendship Factor—Growing churches teach members how to invite the friends within their circles of influence. Part of that training involves teaching them how to follow-up with their own friends who visit.
Tracking—To keep people coming, track their attendance patterns. When someone discloses that they are a “part” of your church, it is time to make sure they have some ministry assignment that will tighten their connection.
Responding to the overtures made by guests toward your fellowship is a high priority. You know that God is already at work by virtue of the contact that has been made. To miss follow-up may mean missing what the Holy Spirit is doing. To involve your people in follow-up ministry places them at the front line of the work of Christ in the Church. Everyone will be enriched and strengthened by the experience!