“Your church is a representation of the bigger family of God. As you put a system in place to effectively integrate guests into the family, you will be fulfilling part of the responsibility God placed on you when he prompted them your way. God is honored when you show your guests true biblical hospitality.” … Read More
Fusion Fridays: Practice Biblical Hospitality
“It has been said that, ‘The church is a family expecting guests.’ Is your family ready? The church – your church – truly is a family expecting guests. And you should be ready to show them intentional hospitality when they arrive. While they are in your company, they need to feel comfortable and valued, no matter where they are in … Read More
Fusion Fridays: From Crowd to Congregation
“I fully believe that when new people visit your church and establish themselves as part of the crowd, you are embarking on a journey with those people. If you commit to guiding them across the bridge of assimilation, you are giving them the best opportunity to respond to God and give their lives to Jesus. Once they sincerely profess their … Read More
Fusion Fridays: Cooperating with God
“Not one person who comes through your doors comes haphazardly. By sending a guest to you, God is giving you the privilege of cooperating with him to move someone forward in his or her journey toward Jesus.” – Nelson Searcy and Jennifer Dykes Henson The above quote is from p. 30 of Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests Into Fully Engaged Members of Your Church. This … Read More
Fusion Fridays: Having the Right Perspective
“Your regular attenders represent people in the process of becoming fully developing followers of Jesus. Your guest count gauges the effectiveness of your evangelism and outreach. When grounded in the right perspective, numbers are an indication of life change. They are a testimony that God is at work. But anyone who looks at numbers with a competitive spirit or who … Read More
Fusion Fridays: Caring About the Numbers
“I’m sure you know how the critics think: To those of us who advocate healthy, growing churches, it’s all about the numbers, right? Well, the critics are right to an extent: we do care about numbers. Why? Because every number represents a life. In a properly facilitated assimilation system, the number of new members you have is a reflection of … Read More
Fusion Fridays: The Role of Assimilation
“Encouraging people to stick around our churches is not about making our auditoriums look full and our numbers impressive; it’s about leading them to faith in Jesus, through the Spirit’s prompting. Putting a strong, strategic assimilation system in place is the best way to ensure that our newcomers will stay with us long enough to respond to Christ’s pull.” … Read More
Fusion Fridays: Assimilation Opens Unchurched Hearts
“At The Journey, the crux of assimilation is also the heart of our overall mission: to give people the best possible opportunity to become fully developing followers of Jesus Christ. We know, as I’m sure you do, that the majority of people who visit a church do not come to Christ on their first visit – or their second or … Read More
Fusion Fridays: Why Assimilate?
“Assimilation leads to life transformation by giving people the means and opportunity to become maturing followers of Christ. In broad terms, assimilation can be defined as the process used to encourage your first-time guests to continue coming back until they see and understand God’s power, accept Jesus as Savior, and commit themselves to the local church through leadership.” … Read More
Fusion Fridays: Assimilation for Kingdom Impact
“As God brings first-time guests through our front doors, our prayerfully planned reciprocation can result in changed lives for the kingdom. God has set up the perfect win-win scenario. He is bringing us the new faces. Our responsibility is to show our gratitude and commitment by doing our part to turn those new faces into fully developing members.” … Read More