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Your Church Can Grow SPIRITUALLY this Summer
Yesterday we talked about numerical growth. Today, let’s focus on spiritual growth.
Don’t let this summer pass without challenging your people spiritually. Even though some people are traveling, visiting the lake, or have simply gotten distracted, you can still challenge people spiritually.
- You might invite people to fast with you.
- You might challenge people to read through a book of the bible for a month (even if they are traveling.)
- You might invite people to participate in a service project.
- You might inspire people to intentional acts of spiritual kindness.
- You might devote the month of July to praying for 31 different things that affect your community.
- You might ask all your small groups to do a specific study together.
So many ministries coast through the summer on autopilot. Ask God how He wants you to push the people spiritually this summer!
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Great thoughts Craig. Each summer we challenge our folks to join us in a 40 Day period of prayer and fasting. I like the idea of having everyone read through a certain book of the Bible, that is a good way to keep people growing and the same page even if they are apart.
our “journey communities” are being challenged to GO out into the community…i’ve scheduled our group to do at least one service project night each month, usually two…and we are holding our devotional/fellowship time in local parks to get minds away from the idea that church has something to do with a building…
i’m excited to see what God does!
I have decided to preach out of Proverbs this summer and beginning this Sunday will challenge them to read a chapter of Proverbs a day for 3 months.
I am curious about something. 40 days of prayer and fasting…in the summer? How do you get that done? This may sound “unspiritual” but summer is my most active time physically and fasting is the last thing i would consider doing. Any thoughts?
Clif, I’d love to hear more about your 40 Days of fasting and prayer. What kind of fast? How many of your people participate? What do you pray for? (Praise God for what you are doing!)
Jon, Very rich stuff!
Bill, Blessings on your study through Proverbs. I used to read a Proverb a day every day. (I did that for several years.) It was amazing how the same book would speak different ways each month.
Found a 61* day reading through the major events in the Bible (www.biblegateway), and I happened to notice there are 61* days in June and July combined challenging the students in my ministry this summer to make these 61* days of summer special. An asterik always means there is something different or special about it. Also set up a blog so students can comment each day on the sriptures…http://61asterik.blogspot.com/
Since we are starting a new church in east Tennessee and hoping to launch in September, we are counting on both spiritual and numerical growth during the summer. In July we are hosting a Seymour “Neighbor Serving Neighbor” week. Our goal is to have 100 people, including our launch team, doing home repair ministry through-out our community.
I love One Prayer, I wish we could do it in a pre-launch setting. Can we!?!
with a few of my high school guys - i am starting a bible study / accountability / discipleship group. i really think that training these guys and getting them to get in the Word and stay in the Word is going to be a very beneficial for them as well as me.
Hey Craig, here is the deal with our 40 Days: Our Church mission statement is “Love God, Love Each Other, & Love The World” We are are giving them a list of things to pray for in each of those three areas. On the “Love The World” list we are giving them specific things to pray for in our community. We are kicking off with a night of worship & prayer and recasting the vision for the 40 Days. Last year we had about 60% of our congregation participate and we are trusting God for more this year. We put out a calender and ask folks to sign up for at least one day, but we challenge them to do more. The goal is to have multiple people praying and fasting every day for the whole 40 day period. As far as the fasting goes our people get creative, some do a traditional fast, others give up coffee, others give up TV, it varies and it is always fun to hear how are people are sacrificing during the 40 days. We are going to follow up the 40 Days with some service projects in our community as well.
Hey Bryan,
We would be honored if you did One Prayer in your Pre-Launch. Let us know if we can help in any way!
Clif,
Thanks for the explanation. That makes more sense to me. Takes awhile but I catch on!