Churches that grow beyond 1,000 in attendance are today among a radical minority. In fact, 98% of all churches never reach this size. During my interaction with hundreds of churches that have been able to overcome this barrier, I have realized that they present several striking common characteristics. Correspondingly, effective and growing Kids’ Ministry is one of the things evident across the board in churches that have smashed the 1,000 barrier. These churches have invested both finances and leadership to lead their Kids’ Ministry to a healthy place where it constitutes an essential thriving aspect of the church’s ministry.

Kids’ Ministry is vitally important to build the strength of your church if you want to break the 1,000 barrier in the weekend service attendance. This might seem as a surprise to a leader who doesn’t spend much time directly engaged in Kid’s Ministry, so here I’ve pulled together a few reasons to stress upon its significance:

Kids’ Ministry Requires A LOT of Volunteers – A Very Good Thing!

Churches that break the 1,000 barrier have unlocked the super-secret that getting more people plugged into the church service drives the growth in attendance. People who are committed enough to the church to volunteer are thus bought into the Ministry vision and are willing to invest their most prized possession – time. Prevailing churches are looking for more ways to get the congregation plugged into the service and similarly a thriving Kids’ Ministry requires lots (and lots) of volunteers to make it happen.

Three things result in the process when someone decides to volunteer within your Kid’s Ministry:

Understand the Vision // Serving in the Kids’ Ministry in your church is a totally selfless act, which requires a strong connection between the vision of the church and the individual’s personal action. Only churches with a high level of vision casting at work are normally able to convert volunteers into this area. A growing Kids’ Ministry volunteer team implies that the church is thriving at explaining the “big why” behind everything they do which in turns drives the growth of the church.

They Tell Their Friends // Once someone starts to volunteer in your Kids’ Ministry they are bound to tell their friends. They’ve gone beyond just merely attending the church to making a conscious and willing decision to invest time, effort and energy into the church. The accompanying sense of accomplishment and pride is high, which in turn drives these individuals to share the Kids’ Ministry idea with their friends. We know that the church grows when people tell their friends about it and this gives another excuse for the people of your church to talk and share with their friends.

Kids’ Ministry Improves! // There is a positive upward spiral effect of adding more volunteers to your Kid’s Ministry. As more people start to initiate, get involved and serve – the ministry starts to improve and become even better, which in turn encourages more people to serve. This marked improvement drives more and deeper engagement with this aspect of your ministry, with increasing number of people joining the team.

I’ve seen lots of churches where the Kids’ Ministry department is somewhere around 50% of the total volunteer team. Growing your Kids’ Ministry team persuades people to see your church because it will help you engage a higher number of people in the mission of the church.

Kids’ Ministry is All About The Next Generation

Effective Kids’ Ministries are all about impacting the next generation. This sort of “next generation” thinking gets inherently woven into the fabric of the church as each generation turns to draw in the next. In the end, this drives innovation at the largest scale of the church. The focus being: “How we are going to reach those people who aren’t here yet?” Churches that break the 1,

Thanks so much for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. I am so excited to have Frank Bealer back on the podcast today!

Frank was at Elevation Church the last time we spoke with him, but he is now the executive director of Leadership Development at The reThink Group (also known as Orange) and the CEO of Phase Family Centers. He helps make decisions that move the overall organization forward as well as oversees the resources, books, podcasts, initiatives, and coaching that help give church staff the tools and training they need in order to better lead.

Frank joins us today to talk about his book The Myth of Balance and how church leaders can find ways to handle their busy work, life and ministry schedules.

* The role of ministry is relentless. // You are not alone in your never ending list of events and tasks. Most church leaders across the country have the same tensions and concerns. It doesn’t matter if it’s a church of 100 or 5,000, ministry leaders are always in a “busy season” and the work is never finished. Because we want to help people find Jesus and take their next steps with God, it’s hard to cut something out of our schedules because it’s all good work. Frank shares that in addition to ministry work, which at times can feel relentless, he has four kids and they have their own schedules and activities that can feel like a full-time job. The reality is that the tiredness you or your staff might feel isn’t due to a lack of passion, it’s just exhausting balancing it all.

* The routine and the sporadic. // There is the routine of ministry, the regular schedule, where organization and productivity tips can help. Frank believes that the routine—which can be managed—is not the problem, even if it is more than we ask for. Rather it’s the sporadic part of the schedule which is the exhausting part. The sporadic is the parts that we know will happen, but we don’t know when. These are things such as weddings, visits to the hospital, pleas by the people for the leader’s help. We know they will come up at some point, but we don’t build a plan for them. Ultimately Frank’s book is about learning to make a plan for the sporadic things which can feel disruptive, rather than treating them like surprises. Frank uses the When This, Then That leadership formula to do this, and shares how you can use it too.

* Schedule both the sporadic and the routine. // When the sporadic events come up, it forces you to move the things you had planned to another time. This could end up being on a Friday night when you were supposed to be relaxing with family. When Frank was gone for a trip, or something unexpected came up in his schedule, his first instinct when he returned was to focus on work and what needed to be done and caught up. But now he puts everything on his calendar, including time with his family. By putting everything on his calendar, it forces Frank to move these blocks of time around when something unexpected comes up, and make sure he isn’t neglecting time with family.

You can learn more about Frank’s book The Myth of Balance at www.mythofbalance.com where you can find free resources and worksheets. You can also find Frank’s Discovering Leadership Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and ratin...

Thanks so much for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. I am so excited to have Frank Bealer back on the podcast today!

Frank was at Elevation Church the last time we spoke with him, but he is now the executive director of Leadership Development at The reThink Group (also known as Orange) and the CEO of Phase Family Centers. He helps make decisions that move the overall organization forward as well as oversees the resources, books, podcasts, initiatives, and coaching that help give church staff the tools and training they need in order to better lead.

Frank joins us today to talk about his book The Myth of Balance and how church leaders can find ways to handle their busy work, life and ministry schedules.

* The role of ministry is relentless. // You are not alone in your never ending list of events and tasks. Most church leaders across the country have the same tensions and concerns. It doesn’t matter if it’s a church of 100 or 5,000, ministry leaders are always in a “busy season” and the work is never finished. Because we want to help people find Jesus and take their next steps with God, it’s hard to cut something out of our schedules because it’s all good work. Frank shares that in addition to ministry work, which at times can feel relentless, he has four kids and they have their own schedules and activities that can feel like a full-time job. The reality is that the tiredness you or your staff might feel isn’t due to a lack of passion, it’s just exhausting balancing it all.

* The routine and the sporadic. // There is the routine of ministry, the regular schedule, where organization and productivity tips can help. Frank believes that the routine—which can be managed—is not the problem, even if it is more than we ask for. Rather it’s the sporadic part of the schedule which is the exhausting part. The sporadic is the parts that we know will happen, but we don’t know when. These are things such as weddings, visits to the hospital, pleas by the people for the leader’s help. We know they will come up at some point, but we don’t build a plan for them. Ultimately Frank’s book is about learning to make a plan for the sporadic things which can feel disruptive, rather than treating them like surprises. Frank uses the When This, Then That leadership formula to do this, and shares how you can use it too.

* Schedule both the sporadic and the routine. // When the sporadic events come up, it forces you to move the things you had planned to another time. This could end up being on a Friday night when you were supposed to be relaxing with family. When Frank was gone for a trip, or something unexpected came up in his schedule, his first instinct when he returned was to focus on work and what needed to be done and caught up. But now he puts everything on his calendar, including time with his family. By putting everything on his calendar, it forces Frank to move these blocks of time around when something unexpected comes up, and make sure he isn’t neglecting time with family.

You can learn more about Frank’s book The Myth of Balance at www.mythofbalance.com where you can find free resources and worksheets. You can also find Frank’s Discovering Leadership Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for...

There are five precious minutes in your service that are solely intended to move people to action. The announcement time in your church service is a high leverage opportunity to encourage your people to move from where they are to where you want them to be. It really is the quintessential leadership moment during the service. However, it’s usually under-planned and under-leveraged in most churches. You’re missing out on the opportunity to make sustained progress in your church simply because you’re not leveraging those critical five minutes in your service.

Over time, bad habits creep in and loom large on this aspect of your services that neutralize the efficacy of announcements. These habits reduce this part of the service – from potentially maximizing an incredible opportunity of getting people plugged into your church’s mission to an incredible waste of time. If your church can eliminate these 5 unhealthy habits from its system, the impact of your announcements will soar exponentially!

You’re Talking About the Weather … way too much!

All communicators know what you need in order to build rapport with your audience. You’re looking for quick ways to make a strong connection with the crowd that’s in front of you. Chances are that everyone has experienced the same weather that you did on the way in, so you quickly make some random comment about the sunshine or the rain – or whatever else you’ve just experienced.

Stop it … it’s lazy. Unless there’s something truly remarkable about the weather, like a history creating storm, talking about the weather is just verbal diarrhea and besmirches the effectiveness of your announcements. It’s loose, excessive and doesn’t help anyone. People know what the weather is like, and what you are experiencing most days is pretty much what they’ve experienced the day before.  It’s really not something your audience connects with you over. It’s like saying:

Wow! Isn’t there a lot of oxygen in this air today?

How many people are thankful that the sun came up today?

Hey friends, hasn’t all this gravity been weighing us down lately!

While the urge to talk about the weather comes from a good place, you instinctively go there because you somehow feel the need to break the ice with your audience. By all means, do attempt to build a bridge with your audience, but resist the temptation of stating the obvious. Here are a few more effective ways to make an emotional connection with your audience:

Eye Contact // Studies have proven time and again that the best way to effectively engage with an audience is when the speaker actually looks people in the eye. Slow down and actually notice people!

Stories // Our minds are hardwired to lean in and listen to a good story, so you might as well use that to your advantage. Draw your audience in by weaving your announcements through a narrative arc to come across as someone they can relate to. As you do that, your people can’t help but listen!

Humor // I know being funny is hard. It takes insight and perfect timing to deliver a joke well and not come off as a hack. Hone this skill over time and it will surely draw your people in.

Availability // Finally, this might seem obvious, but people tend to listen to people they know. This is why at weddings, you can listen to people you love break every known rule of communication and still enjoy the speeches. On the other hand, if you don’t know the best man you can’t wait for them to sit down! Whoever is delivering the content during your services needs to be “known, liked and trusted” by your people; this means they need to available to build a relationship with them. At the bare minimum, your hosts can’t be sitting in a green room somewhere before and after the service but be out there to mingle with your community!

You’re Talking About Too Many Things!

There are five precious minutes in your service that are solely intended to move people to action. The announcement time in your church service is a high leverage opportunity to encourage your people to move from where they are to where you want them to be. It really is the quintessential leadership moment during the service. However, it’s usually under-planned and under-leveraged in most churches. You’re missing out on the opportunity to make sustained progress in your church simply because you’re not leveraging those critical five minutes in your service.

Over time, bad habits creep in and loom large on this aspect of your services that neutralize the efficacy of announcements. These habits reduce this part of the service – from potentially maximizing an incredible opportunity of getting people plugged into your church’s mission to an incredible waste of time. If your church can eliminate these 5 unhealthy habits from its system, the impact of your announcements will soar exponentially!

You’re Talking About the Weather … way too much!

All communicators know what you need in order to build rapport with your audience. You’re looking for quick ways to make a strong connection with the crowd that’s in front of you. Chances are that everyone has experienced the same weather that you did on the way in, so you quickly make some random comment about the sunshine or the rain – or whatever else you’ve just experienced.

Stop it … it’s lazy. Unless there’s something truly remarkable about the weather, like a history creating storm, talking about the weather is just verbal diarrhea and besmirches the effectiveness of your announcements. It’s loose, excessive and doesn’t help anyone. People know what the weather is like, and what you are experiencing most days is pretty much what they’ve experienced the day before. It’s really not something your audience connects with you over. It’s like saying:

Wow! Isn’t there a lot of oxygen in this air today?

How many people are thankful that the sun came up today?

Hey friends, hasn’t all this gravity been weighing us down lately!

While the urge to talk about the weather comes from a good place, you instinctively go there because you somehow feel the need to break the ice with your audience. By all means, do attempt to build a bridge with your audience, but resist the temptation of stating the obvious. Here are a few more effective ways to make an emotional connection with your audience:

Eye Contact // Studies have proven time and again that the best way to effectively engage with an audience is when the speaker actually looks people in the eye. Slow down and actually notice people!

Stories // Our minds are hardwired to lean in and listen to a good story, so you might as well use that to your advantage. Draw your audience in by weaving your announcements through a narrative arc to come across as someone they can relate to. As you do that, your people can’t help but listen!

Humor // I know being funny is hard. It takes insight and perfect timing to deliver a joke well and not come off as a hack. Hone this skill over time and it will surely draw your people in.

Availability // Finally, this might seem obvious, but people tend to listen to people they know. This is why at weddings, you can listen to people you love break every known rule of communication and still enjoy the speeches. On the other hand, if you don’t know the best man you can’t wait for them to sit down! Whoever is delivering the content during your services needs to be “known, liked and trusted” by your people; this means they need to available to build a relationship with them. At the bare minimum, your hosts can’t be sitting in a green room somewhere before and after the service but be out there to mingle with your community!

You’re Talking About Too Many Things!

Welcome, everyone, to this week’s edition of the unSeminary podcast. I’m happy to have Dr. Josh Whitehead with us today. He’s the executive pastor of Faith Promise Church.

Faith Promise Church is a vibrant church in Tennessee with a really relevant message and worship experience. Today the church has eight locations and an average attendance of 7500 people, as well as an online presence. While most of Faith Promise’s campuses are in permanent locations, their most recent one is portable. Josh talks with us today about how Faith Promise made that decision and the way they approached a successful portable church location.

* Learn how to start off right. // Few churches in their Knoxville, TN area have survived being a portable location and so Faith Promise was hesitant to try it. Early on they had attempted campuses as portable locations, but ultimately made the decision to move them to a permanent sites. In these previous situations, Josh says that they began portability in the worst way by choosing a location that took hours to set up, or not having the right supplies and tools to set up efficiently. These experiences turned them off from seeking a portable location again for a long time. But when they considered the idea again, the staff at Faith Promise knew they had to find a way to make portability work. Finding permanent locations for each campus is an expensive business, so portability is well worth considering in spite of the challenges. So Faith Promise worked with Portable Church Industries to develop a solution in an area high school.

* Use demographics. // Faith Promise knew they had a community nearby where a lot of people had visited their church, but didn’t stay because of the distance. It was a prime area for a campus, but a permanent facility would be far too expensive in this area. So Faith Promise used a system called a Campus Launch Dashboard to evaluate what sites might be feasible for a new campus. In this form they fill out information and color code using red, yellow, or green based on where they are in each area. It identifies concerns such as available parking, space for kids’ ministry, and number of households in the area, as well as how many people have visited another campus from that community, but not stayed. As Josh notes, even driving 20 minutes to church is a stretch for people around rural Knoxville, so having a campus nearby is a big deal. You can download the Campus Launch Dashboard document for reference here.

* Make an investment. //Ultimately Faith Promise decided to reach out to a local high school in the area they were targeting. Early on, the principal and school staff were hesitant to allow the church to use their building. But the staff at Faith Promise worked to come alongside the school and truly foster a win-win relationship with the school. Though this high school was located in an affluent area, they were severely under-resourced. So Faith Promise made it clear that they wanted to invest in the school through the use of the location. Whenever the school had an assembly, they had needed to rent AV equipment, so one of the ways Faith Promise served them was by working with Portable Church Industries to update the school’s equipment. The church uses the technology to provide the sound and video system they need for their weekend services, and in turn the school uses it for their own presentations during the week.

* Look for ways to serve. // The church also cleaned the high school and improved the look of the building, by pressure washing the outside and planting new flower beds. Needless to say this took a huge burden off of the principal and staff who would otherwise have been responsible for cleaning ...

Welcome, everyone, to this week’s edition of the unSeminary podcast. I’m happy to have Dr. Josh Whitehead with us today. He’s the executive pastor of Faith Promise Church.

Faith Promise Church is a vibrant church in Tennessee with a really relevant message and worship experience. Today the church has eight locations and an average attendance of 7500 people, as well as an online presence. While most of Faith Promise’s campuses are in permanent locations, their most recent one is portable. Josh talks with us today about how Faith Promise made that decision and the way they approached a successful portable church location.

* Learn how to start off right. // Few churches in their Knoxville, TN area have survived being a portable location and so Faith Promise was hesitant to try it. Early on they had attempted campuses as portable locations, but ultimately made the decision to move them to a permanent sites. In these previous situations, Josh says that they began portability in the worst way by choosing a location that took hours to set up, or not having the right supplies and tools to set up efficiently. These experiences turned them off from seeking a portable location again for a long time. But when they considered the idea again, the staff at Faith Promise knew they had to find a way to make portability work. Finding permanent locations for each campus is an expensive business, so portability is well worth considering in spite of the challenges. So Faith Promise worked with Portable Church Industries to develop a solution in an area high school.

* Use demographics. // Faith Promise knew they had a community nearby where a lot of people had visited their church, but didn’t stay because of the distance. It was a prime area for a campus, but a permanent facility would be far too expensive in this area. So Faith Promise used a system called a Campus Launch Dashboard to evaluate what sites might be feasible for a new campus. In this form they fill out information and color code using red, yellow, or green based on where they are in each area. It identifies concerns such as available parking, space for kids’ ministry, and number of households in the area, as well as how many people have visited another campus from that community, but not stayed. As Josh notes, even driving 20 minutes to church is a stretch for people around rural Knoxville, so having a campus nearby is a big deal. You can download the Campus Launch Dashboard document for reference here.

* Make an investment. //Ultimately Faith Promise decided to reach out to a local high school in the area they were targeting. Early on, the principal and school staff were hesitant to allow the church to use their building. But the staff at Faith Promise worked to come alongside the school and truly foster a win-win relationship with the school. Though this high school was located in an affluent area, they were severely under-resourced. So Faith Promise made it clear that they wanted to invest in the school through the use of the location. Whenever the school had an assembly, they had needed to rent AV equipment, so one of the ways Faith Promise served them was by working with Portable Church Industries to update the school’s equipment. The church uses the technology to provide the sound and video system they need for their weekend services, and in turn the school uses it for their own presentations during the week.

* Look for ways to serve. // The church also cleaned the high school and improved the look of the building, by pressure washing the outside and planting new flower beds. Needless to say this took a huge burden off of the principal and staff who would otherwise have been responsible for cleaning the school...

Christmas is a really big deal at your church. It’s the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and it also represents some of the largest services you may host all the year long.

From this vantage point, all these weeks away from the crunch time, we’ve pulled together 5 things to do, in order to give your Christmas Services more impact than ever before. Typically, these services represent your best time of year to reach people who usually don’t attend any church. Here are just a few ways to ensure that these services have as much impact as they possibly can!

Get Your Services Listed Online

Don’t wait to get your Christmas Services listed online. There are websites that list local events that you need to ensure your services get on-board. It’s not the best idea to leave this to the last minute because the longer they are listed, the better chances they have of being seen by people. Also, the longer they are listed, the search engines accord them more authority.

A few places to make sure your Christmas services get listed on are:

* Your Own Website // Start by ensuring your church website has a page with all the required information about your Christmas services listed on it. Link back to this page from across the web when you list the services on other event sites.

* Facebook Events // Two billion people use Facebook every day and all of those users are no more than 3.57 connections away from each other. [ref] Although you might not be an active user of the Events tool on Facebook, the audience is just so large that you need to make sure you’re listed here, to promote your services!

* Hyper-Local Sites // Undoubtedly your community will have a site focused on local school board politics or talk about potholes on the main street. These hyperlocal sites typically have an events section looking for content to fill in. Patch is the leader in this space with over 900 active local sites. Nevertheless, browse through and you might see someone else offering this service too.

* Government Sites // Check your town and country websites because they often provide event listings about what’s happening in your community. These services are seen as encouraging local businesses and can offer a great source of community connections!

* Google, It // Finally, drop by Google and just enter your city name and “local event listings” and you’ll find more places to get your services listed.

Buy Your Volunteers a Gift

Serving at your Christmas services is a sacrifice. Typically, your volunteers are away from their family during this busy time of the year. In addition to it, these services are some of the busiest of the year, which means that they are stretched during these experiences. If you act now, you can get a gift for them at a relatively low cost, as a token of gratitude.

Here are some ideas for a small gift for your Christmas volunteers:

Custom Printed Christmas Ornaments from 4Imprint (same from Alibaba)

M&Ms with your logo on them!

Everybody loves a cool swag … a classic!

Go the extra mile and “merchandise” your gifts to your volunteers in such a way that it communicates how special they are. Roll the t-shirts and put a simple thank-you note on them.

Christmas is a really big deal at your church. It’s the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and it also represents some of the largest services you may host all the year long.

From this vantage point, all these weeks away from the crunch time, we’ve pulled together 5 things to do, in order to give your Christmas Services more impact than ever before. Typically, these services represent your best time of year to reach people who usually don’t attend any church. Here are just a few ways to ensure that these services have as much impact as they possibly can!

Get Your Services Listed Online

Don’t wait to get your Christmas Services listed online. There are websites that list local events that you need to ensure your services get on-board. It’s not the best idea to leave this to the last minute because the longer they are listed, the better chances they have of being seen by people. Also, the longer they are listed, the search engines accord them more authority.

A few places to make sure your Christmas services get listed on are:

* Your Own Website // Start by ensuring your church website has a page with all the required information about your Christmas services listed on it. Link back to this page from across the web when you list the services on other event sites.

* Facebook Events // Two billion people use Facebook every day and all of those users are no more than 3.57 connections away from each other. [ref] Although you might not be an active user of the Events tool on Facebook, the audience is just so large that you need to make sure you’re listed here, to promote your services!

* Hyper-Local Sites // Undoubtedly your community will have a site focused on local school board politics or talk about potholes on the main street. These hyperlocal sites typically have an events section looking for content to fill in. Patch is the leader in this space with over 900 active local sites. Nevertheless, browse through and you might see someone else offering this service too.

* Government Sites // Check your town and country websites because they often provide event listings about what’s happening in your community. These services are seen as encouraging local businesses and can offer a great source of community connections!

* Google, It // Finally, drop by Google and just enter your city name and “local event listings” and you’ll find more places to get your services listed.

Buy Your Volunteers a Gift

Serving at your Christmas services is a sacrifice. Typically, your volunteers are away from their family during this busy time of the year. In addition to it, these services are some of the busiest of the year, which means that they are stretched during these experiences. If you act now, you can get a gift for them at a relatively low cost, as a token of gratitude.

Here are some ideas for a small gift for your Christmas volunteers:

Custom Printed Christmas Ornaments from 4Imprint (same from Alibaba)

M&Ms with your logo on them!

Everybody loves a cool swag … a classic!

Go the extra mile and “merchandise” your gifts to your volunteers in such a way that it communicates how special they are. Roll the t-shirts and put a simple thank-you note on them.

Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited be speaking with Mark Hearn, pastor of First Baptist Duluth in Georgia.

First Baptist Duluth really is a multi-cultural church. Currently it is composed of 42 different nationalities. There is music in different languages and people from all over the world worshipping together under one roof. When Mark first arrived at First Baptist in 2010, however, the church was the typical Anglo-Saxon monolithic church and not representative of the Duluth area. Duluth has quickly changed into a diverse and multi-cultural city, about 40 years ahead of the national average. First Baptist wanted their church to reflect the community where they were located, so they took on the task of changing the church’s culture in order to embrace a diverse congregation that reflected the diversity of the city. Mark is with us today to share what this process has looked like.

* Make crossing cultures a mission. // First Baptist is a very mission minded church, and so the first thing they decided to do was to be very intentional about their global missionary initiatives. They researched what were the largest unreached people groups locally, and they began to plant churches in those countries globally. Planting churches in these areas around the world allows for a unique opportunity for conversation with these people groups in your own city. You can share about your own travels to these countries, or mention that your church is sponsoring a church in their native area.

* Celebrate diversity. // The church began to look for ways they could celebrate alongside of the people from other nationalities. Mark explains that it’s the difference of ministry with versus ministry to. There are a lot of churches that do ministry to the people groups in their community, but don’t ask what could they do with the people. First Baptist Duluth began to recognize and celebrate special days, such as Indian Independence Day, East Asian New Year and Tres Reyes Magos (Three King’s Day), in its communities alongside the people of those cultures. These occasions allow the church members to celebrate together, learn more about the other cultures around them, and show deference and receptivity to other people groups.

* Use translators. // Language is the biggest barrier in crossing cultures, and so First Baptist wanted to do everything they could to eliminate that. As Mark notes, the local schools are made up of people from diverse groups and they are able to communicate across cultures, so how much more should the church do the same? First Baptist didn’t want different services in different languages meeting at different times, but rather everyone together in one place. One way they do that is by offering language bible study classes during the week, and then encouraging people to come together for weekly worship services in which they try to cross that language barrier. The weekend service offers headsets with live translation so the sermon can be experienced in one’s native language if needed. By hearing both the English sermon and their own language at the same time, it becomes a great tool for learning English. Don’t be afraid to start translation services without “enough” of a specific people group. For example, at first, the Korean translator at First Baptist was only translating to herself, but once the Korean community learned about this translation feature, their presence in the church began to grow.

* Reflect diversity in words and images. // Serving a multi-cultural congregation is a learning process. Mark often works with his translators to make sure that his sermons and humor interpret well and translate between cultures in a way that makes sense. As a result, he has tried to simplify some of his illustrations and avoi...