Systematic Discipleship and Community

A great challenge for many churches, and especially churches the size of McFarlin, is being able to effectively keep track of everyone in the congregation. It is difficult to know where someone is spiritually if we don't know where they are physically. For example, McFarlin has over 5,300 members on its rolls, an active membership of roughly 1,200, weekly worship attendance around 850, and roughly 690 in Sunday school (at all age levels). How can we know who is attending worship but not Sunday school? Or is involved in the church somehow, but doesn't regularly attend worship? What about the 4,000 men and women who at one point joined the church, but for whatever reason, have seemingly disappeared? It is all too real a fact that for many of us, we place much effort and energy on making our "front door" as attractive and inviting as possible, while leaving our "back door" completely unattended or neglected.

When asked, "I know someone who wants to get connected in the church, what do they need to do;" what answer do we give them? Join a Sunday school class, come to Wednesday night supper, go to the Tuesday morning Bible study, sing in the choir, go to Mexico, play in the basketball league, etc., etc. These have been our answers for years and years, and for hundreds and thousands of men and women, they were wonderful points of community and connection. Yet, especially in large churches, there is still a sizable gap between those who have come in the front door and those who have stayed once they entered. So why do we keep applying this method of connection?

McFarlin has decided it is time to try a different approach; an approach which is still very much in the developmental stages - "The Movement." Instead of connecting to any number of these small group opportunities (and yes, a 100 person choir is just as much a small group as a 4 person reunion group), we want to connect people to a process of intentional faith development. By participating in "The Movement," someone agrees to be discipled and we, as the church, agree to provide opportunities where discipleship can occur, hold them accountable to this commitment, and be held accountable ourselves. Part of this necessarily includes a system of follow-ups - e-mails, letters, lay lead care teams, and pastoral contact.

This doesn't mean Sunday school, Bible studies, choirs, sports leagues, mission trips, quilting guilds, or any of that disappears; it just means they take on a different role within the community of faith. Instead of being disciple-making opportunities, they become intentional experiences of care and community, supporting the faith development efforts of the church, and providing men and women a place to practice and live out their faith.

Will this completely close the "back door?" Probably not, but we're going to give it a try. At the very least, we'll begin to get a more clear picture of where people are - physically and spiritually - which will help us be more effective in living out our call to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Yours,
Michael C. Andres
Director of Discipleship