Friends, I ran across this post a week ago and wanted to share.  Note the credit info at the bottom of the page.  I found this a stimulating conversation.  Enjoy!

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We claim the Unchurched in America are hard to reach. Yet coffee bars and cafes, those places that at least own the brand of conversational community, flourish. Social media also is exploding… another indication that people crave human contact more than ever. Yet most of the week, in our churches, in the one place they should find the warmth of human contact, no one is home. A phone call typically gets a long voice-mail recording of the weekend service times. Even with many program options, meaningful conversation is often missing. We all believe that “faith is the substance of things hoped (dreamed) for…” yet nine out of ten pastors cannot tell you a single, God-given dream of one of their parishioners. Something is wrong with this picture. 

We Americans have become so accustomed to being frustrated in our attempts at real talk that we’ve developed our best skills around small talk… “Hey, how’s it going?” “Great, how about you?” “Kids doing well, work going OK?” “Great, and you?” 

Churches spend much effort rolling out the Sunday invitation then reward the visitor with hurried small talk, a comfortable seat, and what can appear as a musical stage production followed by a monologue. Less than 1 in 8 return for a second try and far fewer bother to tell a friend about their wonderful experience. This may sound harsh, but if we’re really serious about reaching people have we ever stopped to think about how Sunday morning can feel to the average visitor? And we wonder about the diminishing trust-brand of the Church in America. And stop and think for a minute what would happen, if in today’s connected world we regained the lost art of being fully present with people in life-changing conversation, the kind that makes passionate, dream-fired disciples.

Let’s consider some changes.

Obviously its not a simple, quick process to find real solutions … or is it? Because there is so much human desire for the depth of real community, I believe we can get dramatic results from even small changes.

Over the next few Mindstorm letters, I’d like to discuss some creative and strategic options, but here are what I see as the broad steps:

1. Know what God wants.

2. Know what you want. 

3. Ask what people want.

4. Measure what you want.

5. Foster empowerment.

6. Communicate the culture you wish to form.

7. Employ today’s technology to serve your goals.

Meaningful conversation and community flow out of those very meaningful things God is already speaking to each of us in the depth of our own soul. The heart of the Called community is the Call itself… the voice of God speaking through dreams, visions, and desires, calling us to the reason we are here. That is both the object and thread of discipleship. And whether “unchurched” at present or churched our entire life, we all respond to the fanning of that internal ember.

As we develop tools and media supports for the Dreamfire initiative, I welcome your dialog. Tell me about YOUR dreams. What big dream has God used to ignite your vision? I would love to come along side you to support those dreams in any way I can. Feel free to reply with a quick email, or call me at 804-366-7761.

When it’s complete, if you’d like to receive this entire series as a single whitepaper: Starting Dreamfire, just email me with the title in the subject line.

Also, we are developing a completely new approach to how churches reach and empower people via their Internet presence. If you’d like to see what we’ve done or be part of a beta group for this exciting project, let me know.

Blessings!

C. Michael Johnson 
President