The Pro Church Tools Show with Brady Shearer Why Churches Must Stop Caring So Much About CONVERSIONS
May 23, 2019
25:16
“Is the church’s primary goal to convert people to Christianity?” This is a question I recently asked more than 500 church leaders. And the responses I got? Frankly, they surprised me. And so in this video, we’ll breakdown how churches understand conversion - and why we need to stop caring so much about it.
***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/why-churches-should-stop-caring-so-much-about-conversions/
What's In This Session?
- My Thesis: Too many churches believe that converting people to Christianity is their primary goal - and this belief causes harm (0:32)
- 629 people were asked, “Is the church’s primary goal to convert people to Christianity?” 40% said yes; 60% said no (1:05)
- My IG Demographic: 25-34 age; 70/30 men vs. women (1:43)
- How do you quantify a conversion? 603 responses: 33% sinner’s prayer; 4% church membership; 25% baptism; 38% IDK (3:05)
- Harmful #1: Quantifying a conversion is virtually impossible - if your church’s primary goal is immeasurable, how do you know you’re on the right path? (4:25)
- Harmful #2: Reducing conversion to the sinner’s prayer (for the sake of quantification) turns following Christ into a transaction - not a lifelong pursuit of taking up your cross and following Jesus (4:48)
- Harmful #3: When a church’s primary goal is to persuade people into repeating a salvation script - services become overemphasized and programs are bent towards maximizing salvation scripts (7:41)
- Principle #1: Faith in Christ is a continuum; not an on/off switch - your church’s goal should be moving people along the continuum, closer to Christ (15:06)
- Principle #2: Our mandate is to make disciples; not converts. A convert has a lottery ticket to heaven; a disciple has a cross to die on (16:35)
- Principle #3: You will know people by their fruit (21:36)
- Is this all just semantics? (20:45)
- Holistic method: Church growth calculator (22:01)
Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:
- Church Growth Calculator
- Pro Church Tools
- Pro Church Tools on Facebook
- Pro Church Tools on YouTube
- Brady Shearer on Instagram
- Brady Shearer on Twitter
- Alex Mills on Instagram