Keeping
Newcomers With a Pastor's Class
Admiral Perry planted the American flag at the North Pole. To accomplish
this feat, he employed a dog sled, three Eskimos, and an African-American
named Matthew Henson. Years later Congress awarded Henson a medal for
being part of the expedition. The medal's inscription expressed Admiral
Perry's reason for selecting Henson to be part of the team: "I can't
get along without him."
The church and the Sunday school are vital to reaching and keeping
people. The pastor's class for newcomers is one strategy we can't get
along without if we want to reach and keep people.
A pastor's class is one of the best places to accomplish the two Rs
of assimilation: Relationship and Responsibility.
People generally drop out of the church within the first year if they
don't develop seven meaningful friendships within the congregation and
become involved in a role or task. The pastor's class naturally helps
people build significant relationships and find meaningful responsibility.
A pastor's class contributes to reaching three objectives:
- Inform. People look for a church that has a clear vision and a strong
sense of mission. Their hesitancy to become involved often is overcome
when a church has a clear, challenging, motivating mission. Communicating
such things as the church's history, vision, goals, beliefs, and worship
style helps newcomers understand a church. If this information is
not shared formally, it is often shared informally, and this can be
undesirable.
- Interact. Relationship is the core of Christianity. Help participants
build relationships with others in the class, within the congregation,
and with Jesus Christ by creating an informal, warm, friendly atmosphere.
Serving coffee, tea, and donuts may help generate this kind of environment.
- Involve. Each person should be expected to become involved in an
appropriate ministry role or task. By informing people about the ministries
of the church and helping them find a place, we increase the chances
of their staying.
The time and meeting place of the class are not as important as the
objectives. Still the class should be held in a comfortable room. We
want newcomers to know that we value them.
In some churches the pastor's class meets on a weeknight; in others,
on Sunday mornings. This helps people develop the habit of going to
Sunday school. The class can run from 3 weeks to 26 weeks. if it runs
too long, it will hinder its starting over with another group of newcomers.
The pastor's class is just one step in the process of assimilating people
into the congregation. The total assimilation process may look something
like this:
Pastor's Class - 4 weeks
Week 1: New vision, understanding the goals of the church.
Week 2: New church, understanding the beliefs, history, and
style of the church.
Week 3: New Life, understanding you relationship with Christ.
Week 4: New family, understanding ministries and membership.
Ministry Gifts Discovery - 4 weeks
Discipleship Class - 8 weeks
Leadership Training - 12 weeks
In a small church, this process might be done in individual or small
group sessions with the pastor at times other than Sunday mornings.
In a large church, these classes may be held on a continuous rotation
as part of the Sunday school track.
In starting a pastor's newcomers class consider the following:
- Every newcomer, including transfers, should be encouraged to attend
the class. Every person needs to know the vision, goals, beliefs,
style, expectations, and ministries of the church.
- Every person who wants membership in the church should be required
to attend the class. This helps eliminate future problems. People
who want to join the church need to know what the church's vision
and goals are. However, the pastor's class should not focus on merely
getting people to join the church.
- The pastor should either lead or be a vital part of the class. This
gives newcomers the opportunity to get acquainted with the pastor
and vice versa.
- Building relationships is to be an important part of each class.
By the end of 4 weeks, people should have developed friends that are
more than just Sunday acquaintances. This helps give them a sense
of belonging.
What do we want to develop in the lives of newcomers? Spiritual growth
is our primary concern, but that is difficult to measure. Five measurable
signs of an assimilated and growing believer are:
- Regular friendships - making six or seven friends within the church
within 9 months.
- Regular worship attendance - attending 85 percent of the time.
- Regular small group Sunday school involvement - attending 85 percent
of the time.
- Regular ministry - taking an active ministry role/task.
- Regular giving - making financial contributions to the church.
These visible measurable behaviors in newcomers mean they are becoming
properly, naturally assimilated into the church. The pastor's class
can get people started on the right track.
God has selected a partnership to bring people into relationship with
himself. With a pastor's class for newcomers we become His hands extended
in love.
Five Steps To Starting a Pastor's Class
- Make a list of prospects/newcomers who are relatively new to the
church.
- Analyze the needs, concerns, and interests of the prospects.
- Enlist leaders for the class. You may want to appoint a class leader
and a class host/hostess.
- Establish the time, place, format, and curriculum.
- Begin the class.
