Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend

The following is Part 2 of the leadership quotes from Andy Stanley’s definitive book Deep & Wide You can read Part 1 by clicking here.  I cannot recommend enough that all Christian leaders pick up this book.  Enjoy!

  • “I’ve never heard a faith story without a relational component.”
  • “We decided not to leverage adult groups as a growth engine.”
  • “The most significant was our decision to keep group leaders with their small groups as long as possible.”
  • “We market Starting Point as a conversation rather than a class…Whereas the content is very valuable, the relationships formed in that intimate setting are of equal or greater value.”
  • “We can’t create a providential relationship.  But we can certainly create some content points.”
  • “People lose faith when life gets too easy, but people lose faith in the face of tragedy as well.’
  • “God often showcases his power on the stage of human weakness.”
  • “Your approach to spiritual formation must be flexible and dynamic enough to support you through every season of life.”
  • “Nobody matures past his or her need for prayer and meditation.”
  • “Every Sunday people walk onto your campus and determine whether or not they will return the following week before your preacher opens his mouth.  And that’s not fair.  But it’s true.”
  • “The sermon begins in the parking lot.”
  • “Your environments determine what comes to mind when people think about your church.”
  • “Time in erodes awareness of.  The longer you serve in a particular ministry environment, the less aware of it you become.”
  • “Intuition is not enough.  Leaders need objective ways to measure effectiveness.”
  • “Embracing an agreed-upon standard of excellence si how you create a culture.  More specifically, it is how you create a culture of excellence.”
  • “It could be argued that the very first thing God did in time was to create an appealing environment tailored for His prize creation.”
  • “The physical environment does more than leave an impression; it sends a message.”
  • “An uncomfortable setting makes people uncomfortable.”
  • “Let’s not do what a previous generation did and assume that what’s appealing today will be appealing tomorrow.”
  • “I don’t care how good the preaching is at your church, if parents get the impression that you are germ-tolerant, don’t ask about registering their babies.”
  • “People are smart.  If your church is disorganized in the places they can see, they will assume it is even worse behind the scenes.”
  • “The reason more people aren’t engaged with the local church is…we aren’t all that engaging!”
  • “Engaging presentations are central to the success of the church’s mission.”
  • “The presentation is what makes information interesting…Presentation determines something else as well: attention span.”
  • “If you can present something in any way other than someone standing on a stage and talking, do so!”
  • “Knowledge alone makes Christians haughty.  Application makes us holy.”
  • “Content this is perceived as helpful always addresses a need.”
  • “Helpful content is content presented in a way that is age- and stage-of-life specific.”
  • “I’m not trying to produce Bible scholars.  And by the way, teaching through the entire Bible doesn’t create Bible scholars anyway.  It creates people who think they are Bible scholars.  And those are some of the meanest, most uncompassionate human beings on the planet.”
  • “If you want your environments to be great, you’ve got to define great.”
  • “Purpose should determine approach.  At the end of the day, it’s what we do, not what we purposed to do, that defines our lives and reputations.”
  • “The approach a church chooses trumps its purpose every time.”
  • “If you don’t clarify the win for a team, they will do it themselves.”
  • “Our immediate win is when a regular attendee brings an unchurched friend who enjoys the service so much that he or she returns the following week.”
  • “Does that mean we tailor the content to a non-Christians?  Nope.  We tailor the experience to non-Christians.  There’s a big difference.”    
  • “Where a weekend experience consistently begins will ultimately determine who consistently shows up to take the journey.”
  • “Everyone, from skeptic to saint, knows what it is to hurt, what it is to doubt, and what it is to hope.”
  • “Our responsibility every week is to engage our entire audience.  Not just church people.  In my experience, this is where most churches miss the mark completely.”
  • “If you offend someone before a service, it’s going to be next to impossible to engage him in the service.”
  • “Men generally want to know how long things will last, what time they will be home.  We go out of our way to address these issues as early as possible.”
  • “In our world, it is a major win if we can get everyone in the audience to smile or laugh within the first three minutes of the service.”
  • “We only offer information that is appropriate for guests.”
  • “Putting unbelievers or different kinds of believers in situations where they feel forced to worship is incredibly unfair.  It’s offensive.  It’s bait and switch.  It’s insulting.”
  • “If you introduce your topic with a gut-wrenching emotionally charged song, you’d better have something of equal significance to say.”
  • “If you are going to create a church unchurched people love to attend, then unchurched people need to love the weekend message.”

And this book still has so much more.  Once again, if you haven’t done so already, click here or on the image above to order the book.  This resource could be the key to unlocking your ministry’s potential.

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