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How to Activate Your Congregation

Have you ever said that you just wished your congregation would jump in?

Or maybe you hosted an outreach event and the turn out was less than optimal?

You rack your brain to try to figure out why people didn’t show. Maybe you start with blaming the lack of promotion and then you make it all the way to believing that the people in your congregation are simply uncommitted.

Here’s the reality though: Your members are looking to you for motivation.

Motivation is not found in a mission statement nor is it simply a stirring message or narrative. Motivation can be encouraged by these things but at the source, motivating someone is about appealing to their desires.

My generation (Millennials) has a huge desire for meaning, purpose and encouragement. I have a desire to succeed and blow some hearts and minds in the process because I want to make an impact. Why? Because I’m motivated. In all honesty, if your church or ministry doesn’t appeal to my desire to make that impact, I won’t be as interested.

For me, impact has a very important bedfellow on the mattress of success—consistency.

I can respect a missions trip and be motivated to join it, but I can’t remain motivated to be a part of outreach if I have to wait a year until the next trip or venture. Consistent impact-facilitating events are crucial!

I apologize for my generation’s short attention span.

We have made it a full time job for pastors just to keep us interested. However, you can appeal to the heartstrings of your congregation if you facilitate their engagement in ways that appeal to their desires. Talk to your congregation. Engage them. Be the church that says “We will not sit still simply because our members are currently sitting still.” They are told to do that in church!

Get ‘em out. Get ’em going. Hand out coffee to strangers. Clean toilets in gas stations. Get creative and get interesting. The gospel is relevant, revolutionary and completely opposed to rigor mortis.

Your congregation is waiting.