Roses for new believers
We put a white silk rose on our Communion table when someone comes to faith in Christ through one of our ministries or members. (The new Christian doesn’t have to attend our church.)
We print the details in the bulletin and explain during the announcements how it happened. We hang a banner of a cross covered with white roses close to the Communion table, and I quote Goethe: “There the cross stands, thickly wreathed in roses. Who put the roses on the cross?”
On occasion, we’ve listed all the converts represented by white roses in the past year. We’ve also presented roses to our evangelism committee chair.
White roses have been the best incentive to personal evangelism at the church. Members are excited about the stories of conversion and now say, “I think I have a white-rose story.” Last year we had 64 roses.
Lee Eclov Chippewa Evangelical Free Church Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
Telephone evangelism
Using a recorded telephone message, our church found an inexpensive way to evangelize.
The Dial Hope phone message includes a Scripture verse, thought for the day, prayer, chance to request prayer, and invitation to attend church. The tape takes an hour a week to record. It is changed daily (except Saturdays and holidays) and is available 24 hours a day.
If a caller requests prayer, we place the request on our prayer chain and with our weekly prayer group. If callers leave their telephone number, we contact them to pray over the phone. We also give Dial Hope business cards to our members to pass out.
Over the past five years we’ve received 25,000 calls with 2,500 requests for prayer, using only one telephone line.
Richard B. Hayward Linda Vista Presbyterian Church San Diego, California
Worship feedback
Every eighteen to thirty-six months, we perform a worship “audit” for six Sundays to help us improve our worship. I propose auditors, and the worship committee makes the final list. The common denominator is regular attendance at worship for at least a year. Our first group ranged in ages from 15 to 82.
Every participant is asked to: attend as many worship services during the designated six weeks as possible and fill out the audit forms; be forthright with opinions; attend an evaluation session on the final Sunday.
They evaluate components of each service from one (highest) to five:
General
1. What did you like most about today’s service?
2. What did you like least?
3. If you could change one aspect of today’s service, what would it be? How would you change it?
Music
Please list today’s songs and rate them from one to five with comments:
Prayers
1. The prayers were helpful.
2. They were understandable.
3. They reflected my life.
Sermon
1. I know what today’s sermon was about.
2. It dealt with a real issue.
3. It will help me in my life.
Readings
1. The readings were understandable.
2. The psalm was helpful to my worship experience.
3. The readings and the sermon related.
Other
1. I found the bulletin easy to use.
2. Announcements were clear.
3. I thought the service flowed.
4. If I could change one element to make our service more welcoming for a newcomer, it would be:
5. The atmosphere at the service helped with worship.
6. It was friendly.
7. I was able to focus on worship.
The evaluation process identified areas that most needed to be refined.
I. Ross Bartlett St. Andrew’s By-the-Lake United Church Kingston, Ontario
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1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
