What Does This Equation Tell Us...

Today I had some GREAT conversations at a missions conference about evangelism. I had a rather large banner behind me that had a "math equation" on it. Well, it's not so much an equation as it is a hidden message in numbers and symbols. The banner worked and it created a little buzz at the conference. 

The equation is...

+20 = 3 out of 10
3-20= 5 out of 10
-3= 7 out of 10

This is a set of stats I read a few years ago from a church planting researcher. It says that churches that are over 20 years old typically reach 3 new believers for every 10 people that join the church. If a church is between 3-20 years old then half of the new "members" will be baptized in that church. And, for every 10 people that are new members of a typical new church, 7 will be baptized in that church. That means that most older churches grow through transfer growth and most young churches reach the unchurched. I asked the folks coming through the conference today what this tells us about reaching non-believers. They all said, "we should start more churches". Of course, this is the reply I really wanted. 

There were a couple of interesting things said during these conversations. Many of the people there are members of older churches. Not one of them argued with the numbers and most of them told me that they hold up perfectly within their church. They asked if these numbers are saying that older churches are dying or losing their fire. This isn't what I wanted to communicate. I explained that if a church is reaching "3 out of 10" in a year, then that is still very, very good. It's also important to remember that few new churches weren't started by old churches. We need both and everything in between. A few folks wrote down the information and are taking it to their churches. One dude, "stole" my banner and is hanging it in his church tomorrow. Fortunately, he's not the pastor and can't get fired. :)

Also, on the banner is says "Live Sent". This saying is not original to me. My boy Jason Dukes came up with that and teaches it every second of everyday. The dude, must dream about living sent! Personally, I love it. God is never stagnant and has never called us to be immobile. The Kingdom is always advancing. You can't be a true disciple without living sent to your community and beyond. If you're looking for a good tagline for your church you might want to steal his. You can also go to www.livesent.com and join in the conversation. 

The other thing I did at the conference was put little flip-flop stickers on people who committed to live sent. I explained that to truly go you must have the proper foot wear. We all know the proper footwear are flip-flops. It was cool seeing people walk around with these little reminders. (if you see me in person ask me about the couple that refused the flops)

Today was a good day.