• 25 Questions for people who want to make churches grow

    1. Do you have a decent church website?
    2. Is it up to date?
    3. Is it responsive – ie does it work on mobile phones?
    4. Does your own online profile feature your ideas and hopes and dreams other than a desire for people to turn up to church?
    5. Do you know what you are doing with twitter and facebook?
    6. Who could you learn more about social media from?
    7. Do you have a compelling reason why people should come to your church other than where it is or what denomination it belongs to?
    8. Can everyone in the church tell you in one sentence what that compelling reason is?
    9. What is your beginners’ course like?
    10. What comes after the beginners’ course?
    11. Do people like the preaching?
    12. Do people enjoy the music?
    13. Have you dealt with conflicts from the past?
    14. Are the people friendly?
    15. Do you have any new groups starting soon?
    16. Do you talk about making the world a better place?
    17. How will people experience joy if they come to your congregation?
    18. If someone from your past turned up unexpectedly at worship how would it make you feel?
    19. How do you identify newcomers and what do you offer them?
    20. What problems will arise if you do grow and how will you deal with them?
    21. Do claims that you welcome everyone stop you working at welcoming those who traditionally find it hard to find a home in church?
    22. Do you use language that is inclusive of everyone?
    23. How do you know?
    24. Is there any identifiable group of people that you can’t explicitly say are welcome because of how an individual or group in the congregation will react?
    25. Do you want to grow or not?

8 responses to “Baptism!”

  1. annie t Avatar
    annie t

    Great photos Gordon/Kelvin. Thank you. I love the extravagance of the pouring water speaking of ‘God’s reckless generosity’, and the way ‘baby’s’ eyes are fixed on the Light.

  2. Hermano David | Brother Dah•veed Avatar
    Hermano David | Brother Dah•veed

    Such a cute little baby. Black socks, is it a little boy? Handsome parents he has.

    1. kelvin Avatar

      Yes, baby boy.

  3. kelvin Avatar

    Oh, and a handsome priest too. No?

  4. Zebadee Avatar
    Zebadee

    A handsome priest most certainly he takes after his father

  5. Steven Avatar
    Steven

    Hey Kelvin – I’m back blogging – please check out the link below and invite your friends!

    Things have changed. Things have stayed the same!

    http://compassionatechristianity.wordpress.com/

  6. Ritualist Robert Avatar
    Ritualist Robert

    Nice to see the world’s newest Christian … love how he seems transfixed by his baptismal candle.

  7. Kay Avatar
    Kay

    love feet in the font! but of course in a pisky way!!!

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