How's your church doing?

If you want to find out. Here's an 'instrument' that will help you understand.

It  consists of three items in each of three major areas of church life and people mark where on each radius where they think their church is. Nearer the middle, the worse, nearer the circumference, the better.

Now, the way to use this instrument is to have three teaching seminars over the months prior (you do have monthly teaching seminars: Saturday afternoon, simple dinner, evening discussions?).

 Here are the factors we score:

Worship - as defined by Paul, and James.

Transformed thinking ( Romans 12: 1-2), care for others (James 1:27), and the payoff being the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

Congregating - our gatherings where we grow. See 1 Corinthians 11-14; and no, it's not just about speaking in 'tongues'.

The important factors are; meeting to edify one another: this implies other than a one-man pulpit show; and doing so in love ( 1 Cor 13).

Learning: this hangs of 1 Peter 3:15, being prepared to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ.

Training for this might include the monthly seminars I mentioned above covering in general how to handle the 7 basic questions of Christians, and the 7 challenges Muslims often make to Christians. A set of seminars with discussion are essential for these two areas.

The other areas must include Biblical understanding: the whole show that hangs of the major events: Creation, Fall, Babel, Abraham, David, Christ, New Creation.

Also Christian theology: we all need a good grounding in Christology, Soteriology, Creation-New Creation, particularly. We should also cover Historical theology to understand the development of the wider church through history. 

Then we would be forming those who could teach (Hebrews 5:12) and people who could confidently 'chat their faith' and engage in focused proclamation in the street or marketplace.

What's in a word?

Some churches have cottoned on to the idea of running 'courses' or seminars to introduce people to Christian faith or to develop their faith further.

Good idea.

But for the intro to Christian faith lot, name choice seems to put the brake on take-up.

Here are a couple of examples: 

LIFE - Living the best one.. 

Hope Explored

Alpha

Here are my comments:

Think about the reaction to someone who goes to the office, bar, footy and lets it drop they are doing  any of these courses.

Life: "Pal are you seeing a psychotherapist?"

Hope Explored: "Things getting you down are they?"

Alpha: "Only for Alpha-males or can anyone go?"

If your event has a name with the implication of inadequacy, you'll either attract the wrong crowd, or no one.

Alpha, while one might disagree with the Alpha Course, has a title acceptable in public conversation. It attracts at worst "is this a self help course for losers", to perhaps '"course in what, ancient Greek?' or perhaps, "what's it about?" It contains no self-deprecating signals, at least to my mind. 

Here's the lesson: think of market impact of the name of your course, and play to people's strengths with positive implications! 

LIFE: Loving Intense Fun and Excitement? Nup, still sounds like a game for losers.

Happily the follow-on course for Alpha could be 'Alpha +', then 'Alpha ++' then 'Alpha Uber'. All positive.

So, some course names: 

Uber

Plus

The Resolution of Discontent (maybe).