People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
A Telephone Visitation Program
by James W. Moss, Sr.Let’s contrast two words. The Gospel is unchangeable. The Gospel transcends culture and time. A church should never water down the gospel to attract people. That simply doesn’t work anyway. The second word is technique. Techniques of ministry have two qualifiers. First, they must be biblically ethical. Second, they have to work. The techniques of ministry are changing drastically in our world.
Home visitation can’t be the primary method of individual care anymore. I haven’t said "Don't make home visits." But there are three reasons this can’t be the primary method.
First, a church can’t make enough home visits to provide the care needed. Today’s ministry calls for many more contacts of shorter duration. What is your church’s annual average attendance? That’s how many personal contacts that your church needs to make in a week. Surprised? Obviously, you aren’t going to make that many house calls. The bulletin ministry will cover about a third of those contacts. One of these early newsletters defined the bulletin ministry. The telephone ministry is a second strategy. Home visits and hospital calls are a third dimension.
Second, the windows of visitation time have shrunk. Particularly with young families, life has become so hectic that time is at a premium.
Third, many families find a home visit a serious intrusion. Many families desire a home visit only when there is an emergency.
The pastor should recruit individuals who have a good quality and positive phone manner to assist in telephone ministry. Always the pastor should recruit and train people to assist in all aspects of ministry. Each church family should receive a minimum of one ministry call per month. Develop a phone list of all who have attended at least once in the past twelve months. The "bulletin ministry list" is an excellent beginning point for those doing that ministry. Add to this list persons who are prospective participants in the church.
The caller will talk to the person who answers the phone. It doesn’t matter whether the husband, wife, or one of the children answers. The caller can structure the conversation along the following acrostic of the word F O R M.
F amily: The starting point would be family or some specific interests of the person talking. People will talk about what interests them.
O ccupation: The second point of reference is the person’s work. Initially, this was filler. More recently this has been a lively point of conversation as much tension is revolving about employment recently.
R eligious experience: Where have these folks gone to church? Was there a Sunday school teacher or pastor in their past that made a dramatic impact in their lives. This is not the point where we ask, “Are you saved?” That comes within the context of a relationship.
M essage: This is the word we are leaving with them. It could be as simple as “The folks at our church really care for you!” Or, “There is a special program at the church this Sunday which you are invited to attend.”
Conclude by asking, “Do you have any prayer request?” If they say “no,” the caller concludes the conversation. Should they give prayer requests, then the caller asks, “Is it okay if I pray for this now?” If the answer is “no,” the call is concluded. If the answer is “yes,” then a prayer is offered carefully including the person's requests.
The caller makes references only with permission. Should a caller learn something that the pastor or someone else in the church should know, then the caller asks, “Is it okay if I tell . . . ?” If the answer is “no,” then don’t tell. If the answer is “yes,” then the information can be shared. No one should gossip about information learned in the calling.
This is a neat format for a five to twenty minute call. It can also be a format for a visit. Please note that you don’t have to be a good talker to use this structure. You will have to work hard to overcome the handicap of being a good talker. Listening is important in this process. Calls should then be carefully logged. The same person shouldn’t make all the calls. Pastors should be involved in this process.
Churches must actively express their caring and concern. This ministry when coupled with the bulletin ministry makes a significant expression of caring. People of the church won’t just slip through the cracks. These strategies of ministry work at closing the back door of the church so that when new people arrive, growth occurs. In addition, longer term attendees who are being properly cared for don’t tend to resent the arrival of new people quite so much.
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Also see:
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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November 20, 1998. Volume 1, Issue 15. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way with proper credit. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.