A Congregation that had Lost its Spirit
A Congregation That Had Lost Its Spirit
(10 Minutes) To Be Used in Conjunction with free Video
Jorge Acevedo, Pastor of Grace UMC, Cape Coral, FL
http://www.egracechurch.com
The key to this lesson is to see how an effective turn around pastor arrives at the church with a strategy and sets it into motion the first Sunday.
When Jorge Acevedo came to Grace Church the congregation had dwindled to around 400 in worship. Within in five years Grace was averaging 1400 in five services. Jorge had been an associate under a fine pastor named Dick Wills so he had seen what a large church could do and how it functioned.
The following explains how Jorge turned that spiritless church around in a very short time.
One, he began talking about the reality of the church. He simply laid out the reality of where they were and it wasn’t good. He called a group together and took them from the seats to the streets.
Second, he shared a picture of a preferred future through a series of sermons. He remembers one called “The Exciting Church.”
Notice how everything he did was geared toward the turn around. He started immediately upon arriving. This is key to almost every turn around.
Third, at this point some people left the church. Some simply always like it the way it is.
Note that such loss is normal in turnaround situations. That is why you must have the ability to bring new people into the church early in the process if your are going to turn it around.
Next, he taught that the staff needs to lead and the laity need to do the ministry. That is the way a biblical church functions.
Next, Jorge began to add services. The church had two identical services when Jorge arrived. They have five different types of services now. Note that it is very unusual for a traditional church to turn around with the same worship services that it had in decline.
Did you hear what Jorge said about traditional worship? That it results more in transfer growth than in conversion growth as do non traditional services.
Notice “Grace Place” which takes the place of S.S. for children. They have children’s worship instead.
Jorge gives this advice “Stay close to Jesus and nurture that relationship.”
Notice how well he uses the parable of the two guides and how he used it in his advice.
How do you feel about his statement “You can’t take people where you haven’t been?”