Holidays and special seasons are great opportunities for the church to reach out to the community. Most churches respond by offering special services, often with great creativity. The response by the community is often positive and many non-church people attend the events. However, the results often don’t lead to church membership or even further attendance beyond the event. Following are a few thoughts for consideration as to why we may not be seeing the results we might hope for.

When we personally or as a church face life transitions, we often begin to plan before we pray. Then we ask God to bless our plans. Praying for renewal and revitalization is often the missing part of strategic planning in the church.  

The church at Antioch in Acts 13 is an example of the kind of church God uses to accomplish His Mission. The obvious strength of this church is the leaders mentioned.

In the last several Equipper articles we considered the importance in life and ministry to establish a clear mission and vision. The goal is not to simply have an engaging statement but to build a strategic plan based on the mission and vision. This is often where mission and vision statements fail.