We want to connect people from the outside with the inside.  As Christians, our basis of our existence is our common bond in Christ.   

There are at least four kinds of unchurched people whom we come across from time to time. 

Fringe churchgoers.  These are the people who are occasional visitors, church hoppers.  They come to us during Christmas service, Easter service and other special services.  We are perhaps not too bothered about them because they come only occasionally.  We could then miss this opportunity to reach out to them. 

Geographically and relationally close.  These are the people who live or work near the church but haven’t attended a service or event.  Our Christmas event some years ago is a good way of reaching out this group of people.  We also have social activities targeting people who are in need.  These are commendable efforts and we should continue to do more in this area and to develop new ways of reaching to them. 

The third group are those who are geographically close and relationally distant.  These live near the church but have little interaction with church members.  They would not turn up in church.  So, we do have yet a great number of people that we have not reached out to yet. 

Finally, the last group is those who are both geographically and relationally distant.  They live far from the church and do not know we exist.  This area I think we are doing well and will continue to do so in years to come. 

May I recommend some tried ways of reaching out to these four different groups of unchurched people. 

For Fringe Churchgoers, we should give a warm welcome.  As soon as that is done, we should be linking them up with church members who have something in common.  And then follow up quickly with a call or a visit after their first visit. 

For those who are geographically and relationally close, may I suggest that we continue to motivate and equip members to evangelise and provide some creative ways to engage the community with events and activities. 

For those who are geographically near and relationally distant, we could contact them those existing organisations; the halfway house, jail, crises hotline centre.  We can also do volunteer work at those organisations. 

For those geographically and relationally distant, we could encourage vision for the world and plan short-term mission trips. 

These are some of the ways that we could reach out to these four groups of unchurched people. 

May I also say that ‘cliques’ for Christ are ‘cliques’ based on Christ.  Today, cliques tend to exclude others.  In the early church, the ‘clique’ was base on Christ – not income, hobbies, or musical tastes.  So let us learn to bring newcomers into our clique of Christ. 

In order to make insiders of newcomers.  Do the following helpful gestures: 

• Introduce yourself to newcomers

• Ask how you can pray for them

• Invite them into your home

• Include them in your next outing

• Put their needs ahead of yours

Discuss the following questions

• Many newcomers want friends and a sense of belonging.  How does our church make that happen?

• How can we move from simply being friendly to plugging newcomers into the life of the church?  Name some ways.

How to tap into the needs of newcomers? 

To connect people with church we need to: 

• Begin with their motivations, not ours

• Realise people are desperate for a spiritual experience

• Know they are intrigued by folks who are committed to them

To connect people with the church we:

• DON’T just hand them a packet of information

• DO meet with tem, asking what they want to happen in their lives in a spiritual way.

• DON’T try to fit them into the way we do things

• DO show genuine interest in their spiritual growth

Discuss the following questions

• What does it mean to start with what people want to learn?

• Hoe does Jesus’ model in Philippians 2:7 show us how to meet the needs of those seeking after God?

• What process do we currently use to connect people into the church?  How can we improve that?

Finally, let us assess ourselves in the light of all that we have said 

Based on Acts 16:14-15 and Matthew 5:13-14, how does our congregation measure up? 

5 Welcome Checks. 

• Visibility

• First impression

• Worship experience

• Reinforcement

• Nurture

Discuss the following questions:

• In which areas are we strong?  Where do we need improvement?

• On a scale from 1 to 10 (high), how much do we value bringing new people into our church family?  What evidence proves that?

• What one change would you like to see our church make to welcome people better?

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Church of the Ascension, 13 Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339
Mailing Address: Toa Payoh Central Post-Office P.O. Box 162 Singapore 913106 
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