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8 Phases of Moving Guests From Anonymity to Community at Your Church

Connection beyond needs

Once someone feels that the church has met his or her needs, they realize there’s something bigger than them happening at the church. Here we are, seven steps in, before we begin to acknowledge that there’s something greater than our own needs. This is what happens in the lives of people in a church community when they start to volunteer, and they realize that volunteering at the church is not just about helping make church happen but about living out God’s purpose for the community around us.

This is what happens in the life of someone when they move from just focusing on getting answers to their own questions about the Bible to helping others explore their questions. It’s at this point that there’s an internal shift within our people. They go from focusing on just themselves to feeling driven by more altruistic or external motivations. Our discipleship process needs to move people beyond their own needs to where they’re connected to the broader story that God is trying to write.

Unfortunately, too many churches start with step seven. They assume a level of maturity and dedication that, frankly, is beyond where most people are at when they first arrive at church and ultimately miss the community that they’re attempting to reach.

Who in your church “gets it”? What if you celebrated those people ahead of others to help point people to connections beyond their needs?

Advocate for the church

You know those people at your church that make you sit back and say, “Man, if I had 100 of those people, we could take on the world”? Those individuals are true advocates. They’re the folks that have not only internalized the mission of the church but have decided to reorient their life around seeing others get connected to the mission too. They find themselves advocating for the life of the church outside of the walls of the church itself. They realize that at the end of the day, the local church is the only organization in the world that exists for people beyond it.

People access the deepest level of discipleship when they look beyond both their own needs and the walls of the church to find other people who have needs that the church can meet.

There may only be 2 or 3 percent of your total community that is asking the question, “How do I invest in the relationships I have in my world and invite those people into relationship with Jesus and with the church?” However, a motivated and focused group of advocates can make a massive difference in the life of a church.

Who are the advocates at your church?

Which phases should you work on next?

Those eight phases, I believe, are active in your church whether you recognize them or not. Each phase is an important transition point to move people from complete unawareness of your church to ultimately become advocates of the church, both inside it and beyond.

Which step do you think you need to work on?

Where does your church excel?

What do you need to change in the coming six months to shore up those areas that need more support?

I’d love to hear your feedback on these eight steps and see if you think I’ve missed any. Your church needs vibrant examples at every step of the way to help move people to the next phase. I’d love to hear from you about how your church is helping guests move through this transition.

This article originally appeared here.