Years ago, I was in charge of evangelism for a large congregation, adding in the range of 300 new persons each year, about half of them by profession of faith. I discovered that we would receive up to forty percent of the membership commitments for the year in the first two months. People approach new years as opportunities for a better life - even if they do not consciously or formally make ‘resolutions.’ There is power in the turning of the year. This was the topic of one of my coaching calls this past week, where a pastor client has the delight of working with a donor to give away 200 bicycles at Christmas, inviting the families to Christmas Eve worship in multiple socially-distance rounds, followed by bicycle distribution. The real gift to offer these families is so much more than a bicycle. It is the invitation to begin anew in 2021 in any aspect of life that has been battered in the year(s) just past.
There will be few New Years in our lifetimes that will come packed with more built-in energy that the one approaching! People around the world are feeling the hope that 2021 is going to be better. For the purpose of the work we do at Epicenter: there are two applications of this truth:
1. For pastors: this is your best shot ever for a strong New Years’ invitation! Don’t just send them off with a benign holiday blessing after Christmas Eve worship! Give them a concrete challenge for the new year, a challenge that commences in January. Get organized. Make it easy for folks. Help them start the year with new practices, new ways of connecting - help them make good on their desire to make 2021 a robust adventure with Christ. Churches that ride this wave will be delighted at the response!
2. For those of you who equip pastors: now is the time to help our folks prepare for the world that is dawning post-Covid. For much of 2020, we have tried to help churches thrive in a pandemic. Very soon, that life skill will have little value, about as helpful to us as knowing how to do ministry in Mongolia. Because the pandemic will be over, and surviving it will no longer be much of a point. Thriving BEYOND Covid in the hybrid world of digital and physical gathering is critical. Right-sizing worship space and possibly decreasing the number of services held in large rooms may also be in order in many places as they discover fewer worshipers coming out to gather at any specific hour on Sunday morning - even as more folks are connecting online most Sundays. Thinking in terms of staffing - who is going to oversee church communications in this digital age?? And what other positions may have to be downsized or consolidated in order to free up funds for digital communications? And, as people are feeling safe again to flow into sports arenas, pubs and church sanctuaries - how might we re-launch physical gatherings in the fall so that we can effectively re-gather in ways both fresh and winsome to newcomers?
During much of 2020, Epicenter Group sponsored ‘Covid Cohorts’ of pastors who compared notes as to what was working in Covid ministry conditions. We will be launching new cohorts in 2021, focused on the questions above. If you would like to partner with us to provide such cohorts in your conference, synod, district or association, please let us know!
A blessed Christmas and hopeful New Year to you all!
Paul Nixon
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