Recently I built an addition onto my storage facility, and I needed it wired for electricity. There was only one problem--we had no main power run to the building. I decided to go ahead and wire the shed anyway, in hopes that, one day, I could run a permanent power line. Until then I would just use a very long extension cord. Through that experience I realized some principles that could be applied to connecting people to the church, particularly those who aren't already attending.

Principle One: We have to prepare for people who will visit our church. 
When wiring the building, I tried to determine what lights and outlets I would need. I then had to determine the best path for the wiring and the best placement for the outlets and lights.

When connecting to people, you have to imagine that you are a guest visiting your church for the first time. Here are some things that you will need to determine:

1. What is the welcoming atmosphere in your church? Hopefully it will be an atmosphere that expresses the love of Christ and the joy we have in Him.
2. How will people connect to the church? Evaluate the flow patterns in your facility to see if adults can find guest parking and can find their way from parking into the building and to the auditorium, classrooms, childcare, and restrooms.  Provide convenient and marked parking as well as opportunities for guests to be greeted—consider stationing greeters in the parking lot, entry way, auditorium, and classes.
3. How will you tactfully and accurately gather information so your leaders and Bible study groups can follow-up with guests?
4. How will you communicate with first time guests after they visit? Are there steps you can create to help everyone know what to do when communicating? I am very proud of the deacons in my own church. They have taken on the role of developing First Contact teams. They deliver gifts to guests' homes right after worship on Sunday afternoon. Their intent is not to visit in the home but to just introduce themselves, or, if the residents aren't home, to leave a welcome package.
5. How will your Bible study groups get connected to guests who don't visit a group? We assign every guest to a group for follow-up. This involves a phone call invitation to the group and a visit at some point.
6. How will the pastoral leaders be involved in follow-up? We assign every person to a staff member for follow-up and seek to keep accurate records on the results of visits.

Principle Two: Determine ways to keep a permanent connection with the unchurched. Remember the extension cord to my storage building? I needed a more permanent connection. What is the permanent connection that helps your church remain connected to those who visit and to those who aren't yet connected to Christ or His church? The permanent connection is a simple yet seemingly more difficult discipline that most church members struggle with; it is the simple act of developing relationships with the lost and then offering them the invitation to follow Christ or at least attend church with them.

Lead adults to passionately embrace the opportunities they have for inviting people to Christ and His Church.

• These opportunities might be parents who are discovered through Vacation Bible School, unchurched adults who attend a men’s or women’s event, or adults who are discovered through a local mission project.  Develop and teach a follow-up plan to your adult Bible study group leaders.
• Teach adults that every activity (sports, school, work, community, and so forth) is an opportunity to connect with people who need an invitation to Christ and His church.

Principle Three: You need one primary connection. My storage building only needed one main line in order for the entire building to have power. There needs to be one central place that will provide a continuing connection to the unchurched.  Your Bible study groups are that connection! They are vital to helping the unchurched and guests get connected to the church. They are the main connecting point for building ongoing relationships with the unchurched. If adults in your groups aren't passionate about reaching out to the unchurched, inviting them to their groups, and welcoming guests who attend their groups, then your connection to the unchurched will be very weak.

Principle Four: We have to experiment and try again.  I ran permanent wire to the storage building and everything worked until I turned on the air compressor. I discovered that the power line couldn't handle the load. We had to make adjustments to the wiring and add separate and stronger circuit.

As you watch your church connect with the unchurched you will discover places that aren’t working correctly. Adjust the process, add a new Bible study group, do additional training, communicate better, or do whatever is needed in order to make the connection work properly.

God has placed your church exactly where He intends it to be. There are people all around the church who so desperately need to connect to Christ and His church. We should continually be evaluating how we can better lead our churches to make, strengthen, and keep these connections strong.

We have been entrusted with the message of the gospel, so how well are we doing? We know that, as believers, we receive the Holy Spirit and He empowers us as witnesses. We know this intellectually, but are we expressing this in our daily walk as we are expected to? This is the great challenge we will focus on today as we begin our study of the Book of Acts in this week's Explore the Bible session, Entrusted.

We are coming together, not just to study the book of Acts, but to seek understanding that will help us live out our faith as the early Christians did as they overcame political, racial, cultural, and socio-economic barriers to share the gospel. It was more than a personal choice, it was the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of obedient believers that enabled them to share with confidence, courage, and compassion to everyone, especially to those who weren’t like them.

STUDY PREPARATION VIDEO


TEACHING IDEAS

Well the reports are out, and these are SplashData's top three most used passwords for 2015 according to TeamsID: 123456, password, and 12345678. Also making the top 25 was starwars! If you use one of these passwords, then you open yourself up to others accessing your personal information. Just as we use passwords to protect access to certain information, Jesus used parables to limit access or understanding to those who were and are in right relationship with Him. This is the focus of this week's Explore the Bible: Access Granted study.

Warning: You will have to remain focused on the TARGET as you walk through this study. In preparing my teaching plans, I kept struggling with the direction I should take versus the direction the curriculum was taking. We could spend a large amount of time talking about the parable and not about Jesus' explanation of why He used parables with regards to the Kingdom of Heaven. We could spend a lot of time explaining the Kingdom of Heaven and ignore the parables. We could even be tempted to expand and try to explain every parable in Jesus' discourse. I suggest you remain focused on this truth in these passages:

• TARGET: Access to understanding God's Kingdom is only available through a right relationship with Him.

Possible Discussion Questions: The focus on access or the limit of access will most likely bring up a lot of questions. You will be focusing primarily on Matthew 13:1-13, but you will have to reference Matthew 13:18-23 as well. Here are a few of the questions that you will probably end up discussing during this study:

• Matthew 13:1-2 - What kinds of viewpoints about Jesus were likely represented in the crowd? How are these viewpoints like different types of soil?
• Matthew 13:3-9 - What four types of soil did Jesus mention in the parable of the sower? Which of the soils would you say were productive, and which were unproductive? Was the problem with the sower, the seed, or the soil  in this parable? (The soil)
• Matthew 13:10-13 - What criteria limited the access of some based on Jesus' explanation?
• How are you responding to the Word of God that you hear? The way you are responding reveals the type of soil that you are at this time. Access is only limited by how you respond to God's Word.

The presidential decision our country is going to make over the next several months will impact generations to come, probably more than ever before in the history of our nation. As believers we have a responsibility to respond to this presidential election cycle with wisdom and grace. This is why we need to be discerning when it comes to political propaganda, rhetoric, and manipulation that will take place during the coming months.

How many of us have totally missed or ignored a warning sign before? If you commute to Nashville, TN or have ever driven through Atlanta you will observe probably one of the most ignored signs on the road - the HOV sign. In the Nashville area alone there are more than 64 miles of HOV lanes according to TDOT and they are in the process of upgrading signs and markings on Interstates 24, 40 and 65 at a cost of $2.9 million! Yes, we have signs and more signs but many will still probably ignore them. There was another group that ignored signs as well. These weren't road signs but signs that pointed to the Messiah. In our Explore the Bible study: What's the Sign, we will explore those signs they missed and the one's they ignored.

Here are some ideas to help you with the LOOK UP portion of the study that should help your group begin the conversation:

• Funny Signs: There is a website that collects funny signs. While you will need to be careful in choosing the ones to share it can serve as a great resource for beginning the discussion. The website is www.funnysigns.net.
• Yield Sign Challenge: Draw a yield sign outline on a markerboard. Poll the group to see if they think yield signs are yellow and black or red and white. Many will choose yellow and black. Yield signs haven't been yellow and black since 1971.
• Deer Crossing Road Sign Conversation: This is very funny! Click to Listen I have also provided the video below.