The Top 10 Things Great Churches Do - And You Can Too

Doug:
Hey, we're talking about the top ten things great churches do, and you can too. We hope you'll listen because we're gonna get some ideas of how we can serve one another, serving our church, maybe some things you haven't heard of before or thought of before, so we hope you'll tune in. So you can get a big fill-up of ambassador fuel.

Brad:
Welcome everyone to Go Mad with Doug and Brad. And uh Jesse is right there as well.

Doug:
Hey Jesse! Hey Jesse!

Brad:
Yo! Today, as you heard Doug say, we are talking about Top ten things great churches do and that you can too.

Doug:
Wow, I can't wait to do this one. This is a this is a fun list Hey, doing we're doing this because look, weekly community with believers, it's life fuel. It's ambassador fuel.

Being Christ's ambassador isn't always the easiest work. We gotta fill the spiritual tank up together, so we're gonna get some ideas of how to do that. Look, we tried to make this list where you don't have to have massive stages or big budgets to be an awesome church.

Most of what we'll cover here takes having the right people, maybe like you. Um versus having endless resources. It's about the body being the body, pitching in, serving.

Real quick, this isn't what this is today. This is not a church shopping list where you well, my church does four of those but not seven, so I'm moving. No, no, no. Uh it's not a Monday morning email campaign to Pastor.

Pastor, I heard a podcast and we aren't our soap stinks. Why are we needing better soap? Um No, uh no church will do all things awesome all the time.

But if something on this list inspires you, maybe talk to someone about it, they can do something about it, especially if you can do something about it. You don't have to be pushy about it, but um, you know, in the right time, share an idea, especially if you can offer yourself to help lead or serve. Um, we happen to be recording this on uh on 9-11 And I was watching some 9-11 coverage today, and an FBI guy said, The most important thing you can do for your country is to serve.

Well, the most important thing you can do for the body of Christ is to serve. So hope we'll spark some of that today So in in that uh in that flavor, I gotta ask you guys a question.

Brad:
I wanna make sure that we aren't getting emails later from pastors saying, hey, so Someone in my church came up and said Doug and Brad said you should do this.

Doug:
This is not about it. Doug and Brad, who? Um so guys, uh before we get into this list.

I gotta ask, because I was thinking about this a lot uh yesterday, what was the most awesome thing as a little kid for you at church? The list changes a bit as you get older, but like when you're really little kindergarten, first grade Is it flannel graphs? Um for me, it was cookies.

I mean, I the our our teacher, uh uh Mrs. Worthington, second grade especially, man. She brought in the best cookies, ones you could eat there, ones some children who were naughty stuffed in their coat pockets for later. I'm not saying that's me.

Oh, and the other thing, very watered down, cherry c Kool-Aid. That was a staple. Delicious.

That was a staple. That was no doubt. That's a food staple in early church.

Yes. What do you guys got?

Brad:
You know what? I think for me it was um when you uh mentioned that, it is um our pastor when we were growing up would talk to kids. Uh not like the children's sermon. I mean they would do that sometimes, but it was just when mom and dad were standing there, he wouldn't ignore

Doug:
Uh your level too of the yeah.

Brad:
So Pastor Comfort, which I mean, it's one of those it's like those weathermen where it's like Stormy Gale and it's like Pastor Comfort, but that was his name.

Doug:
And your last name is Comfort, you have to be a pastor.

Brad:
Just so I really appreciated that.

Doug:
That's one of the things that's successful. What about for you, Jesse?

Jesse:
Oh yours is a lot more spiritual than mine. We had a nurse.

Doug:
The cookies and the Kool-Aid?

Jesse:
Well, okay. All right. See, my mine fits in with that pretty well Uh I definitely had that, but we had a nursery that had this supply of VHS tapes. And for some reason, sometimes a new VHS tape which is like magically appear there. And it was like this big deal when, you know, your parents are at choir practice or like there's like a random meeting and you're just like hanging out and it's like Dude, this VHS was not here last time.

Doug:
There's a new Veggie Tales and I'm all over it. Guys, I can't wait to get into the Celeste. Let's just get rolling with this. Let's do it.

Brad:
Uh oh I I do have to say we did ask on our social media what's one awesome thing that your church does. We want to say a big thank you to everyone that commented.

Doug:
It hundreds of comments.

Brad:
Yeah, it was amazing To see, and there was something that is really clear in this, and and a lot of it fits into what we're going to share today, actually, but it is one thing is clear, people are passionate about church. The majority commented, I was great glad to see this, about really good things that they appreciate about their church.

Doug:
That was cool that most did that.

Brad:
Yeah, but others did. comment on some areas of hurt and we get that. We get that either way. Thank you for sharing your heart with us and wherever you're at with how you view church. We pray that you will just be encouraged by what we're gonna share today to maybe if you haven't been for a while, give it another shot.

Doug:
Maybe that might help heal a little bit of church hurt. So here we go. The top ten things Great churches do.

And you can too. I'm gonna start here, number one. You ready?

They worship God, not tradition. Now Some things are traditions for good reasons and they should stay put. There are some beautiful things that are traditions that are in churches.

I'm not saying tear those down. You shouldn't, but Sometimes being chained to tradition can make us miss opportunities for growth. I'm not just talking about, you know, whether you go to a church with this kind of steeple or this kind of pew.

Uh but I mean an example, some churches have lowered their stages so they don't communicate like a hierarchy with the higher stage, like the pastor or the I'm I want to be communicating to you as a family. Um Some have done away with like the no food or drink in their auditorium, so there it can be more of a community feel, um, especially if you're carrying in the water down Kool-Aid. There we go.

Um they must those rules came up from me carrying Kool-Aid around in the church. Um, but you know what? Some now are combining Sunday school and grown-up church to encourage a more family feel.

Now, a big one for me I've always appreciated in our church. Brad, we go to the same place. Our on the spot baptisms.

Now, they have a way beforehand of just to be clear. Not as people are walking in that they're just like throwing water at Make next week, be sure you're wearing galashes. I just wanted to clarify.

So Oh man. Now you go, oh man, on the but what are are people gonna understand what they're doing? Yes, they have a way, the church has a way beforehand of making sure a new believer knows what they're doing, why they're doing it.

And they do offer some instruction before Baptism Day for those who want that. But if you're there, you're a new believer and you know what that is, and you want to be baptized on that day and you haven't gone on the sign-up sheet You're in the pool, brother or sister. So um yeah, number one.

Number one, worship God, not tradition.

Brad:
Who's got number two? Well, number two, I I'm gonna go with make new folks feel like family and what we're talking about here is just radical hospitality and this can be for uh whether it's a small church medium big whatever church you can make people feel welcome and i'm gonna say it starts with you Uh i it for me it was uh this we we'd been going to the same church for uh uh getting close to 15 years now, maybe uh eleven, twelve years, whatever. And Uh we had been going there for a little bit and um uh they started talking about serving at the church.

And I Sarah started she kind of did that elbow nudge to me and everything, and I'm like Uh you know, we're in full time ministry. The life elbow they call that. Well, I don't know.

Isn't this our time to just chill? And then I the Lord really laid it on my heart. No, this is another opportunity to serve and I love our church.

I love what our church is doing. I love the w the way they point people to Jesus. And so why wouldn't I want to help people feel welcome?

So Sarah and I and it's just once a month. I it's We serve on the greeting team, a welcome team, and we're there just holding the door for people, smiling. And it's the the reason this is important is because uh there's been studies done about this that basically show that people's first impressions of church from the parking lot on.

In the first moment. Is the first moments that within with in just moments they are deciding how have I been welcomed at this church. I the I I know our church and the welcome team and everything.

Someone posted on Facebook what's about it, they were just like, I didn't feel welcome. I'm like, What church did you go to? I'm like, I people are like tackling each other to welcome you.

Doug:
There's like sixteen people that will welcome you as you're walking in.

Brad:
You know, so they there is uh what what was this the ten foot rule staff and volunteers are trained to greet anyone who comes within 10 feet of them but that can be for you too you can be that person hebrews 13 2 Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. You may this Sunday at church be greeting an unknown angel. Oh man, especially if Brad is joining you. So there you go. Making folks feel New folks feel like family.

Doug:
I absolutely love that. And you can do that. If you've got forty people going to your church, hang out in the in the lobby there where people come in and just Welcome them.

Yep. Yeah. Be careful.

There are some introverts out there. You don't want to overwhelm them. Overwhelm them with welcoming.

But you can anyone can do that. So make new folks feel like family. Um I uh let's see.

Oh, we've got a number three. Who's got that? Could it be I got a number three?

Jesse:
And here's what I love about this. This is such a dug title. Here's how it goes.

Make parents feel like they're attending Fort Knox Church. And if there's a place called Fort Knox Church out there, this is just for you. You know there is.

N now this will show up differently in different churches, especially at a a really small church. Um this may have a very different w way of working itself out. However, the principle can be extracted, I think, wherever you are, wherever you go.

big church or small church, ri really any tradition. Um the idea is when kids when parents feel like kids are safe they feel loved.

Doug:
And the kids feel loved.

Jesse:
It's a win-win for everybody. Um, when there's security, when there is a thorough uh check-in system, when there's background checks for volunteers and and just uh practical things like that. We're not only doing due diligence though that is what we are doing, we're loving families, especially families uh who are coming to visit or who maybe are stepping foot in a church for the first time, I know my I'm okay here because my kids are safe here. Yeah.

Brad:
First things we noticed going to our church when w our kids were a lot younger when we started going, walking through the kids' area and you noticing. So like is this safe? Is this safe? So that's great. Fantastic.

Doug:
If the parents know you're valuing their kids, loving kids like they love them. They are gonna feel real good about coming back. Fort Knox Church.

Fort Knox Church. All right, here we go. Oh, I've got number four here.

This one is so this is perhaps the most spiritual. Everyone just take a deep breath. You can re release it now.

Because this is probably the most deep spiritual one. Ready. Okay.

I know my voice is not dripping with sarcasm. No, um, but this I'm serious with this one. So number four, have awe-inspiring soap.

Now you go, what in the world? You're very deep. But you know what?

There was a new church. We moved to the a new area. New church I was checking out when we moved to this area.

They were great in lots of things, but for some silly reason what I remembered the most after the service was the soap. My wife my wife got tired of me raving about it on the way home. Um it was some call some one of those soaps like mountaintop mega mountain musk.

Um but you know what for some reason it communicated to me that we care about your experience And Jesse was saying, extract the principle here. We know that details in the house of God are important. So don't don't skimp on them.

Maybe you're like, look. All we we're glad to just afford dial, and that's fine. You don't have to do that.

But what are some things you might be able to do that make people feel seen, valued, safe? Sometimes it's okay to splurge a little bit if you can Um is any anyone else in your uh anyone else listening, uh maybe you guys have no sense of direction and can get lost in a large Walmart? Or a small one.

Um I feel you're blessed more with that. I can they have sent search parties out for me in Walmart. So I appreciate here's one quick well done detail.

uh what I call stunningly thorough signage that just about anybody Oh it's good, yeah. But over communicating through signs because especially for new people, man, you might know nothing causes newcomer anxiety faster than not knowing where the restroom is or where to drop off their kids. Um so and maybe even rather than using like church jargon that we understand like This way to the North X. I'm I'm fifty-four and I don't own a North X is.

I've been going my entire life. Uh or maybe use like universal time terms like the library Like the lobby is here or the auditorium is there. So just don't don't skimp on the details.

There's lots of cool things that you can do that communicate to people we care about you.

Brad:
I like that really good, Doug. I'm going to go with number five is you are all the uh your church is always agape-ing. It's a word.

Doug:
Hang on a second. It is. This is our f this is from our dad.

Brad:
No, it it really has it is.

Doug:
It has to be. He goes, if you're wondering if that's a word, it is now.

Brad:
By the way, if you're r reading it, it looks like agaping.

Doug:
But it is agapeing. So you are always agapeing. So this is your church that in planning meetings, when they're strategizing

Brad:
I they are thinking about how to love people because agape love, there's different forms of love that are talked about in the Bible, Philet oh, brotherly love, but we're talking about agape love, it's the highest form of really kind of this uh Christ-like love. It's defined as a selfless love that is not based on emotion. It sacrificially seeks the good for others.

It is unconditional. Now, I I heard a pastor say this, uh, who I I won't name because someone's gonna be like, no, that's wrong. He said I came into church and I smelled weed in the parking lot.

We're glad you're here. And people are like, well, you shouldn't be. No, but he's so good.

Because he went on to say we Also, agape you. We love you too much to not come alongside you to help live the life Jesus meant for you to live. So you're welcome here.

It's unconditional love. It's not that they want them in that spot. but they would rather have them coming to church like that.

Uh two uh we had two folks online, um Joyce and Patricia, who talked about their church being like family. uh welcoming people, not it just come as you are. Someone else mentioned they're able to dress just kind of not sloppy, but they don't have to look a certain way.

Doug:
Um and they are welcome there.

Brad:
Uh uh and Joyce and Patricia also pointed out that when they aren't there, sometimes someone, even if they just miss a week or two, will give them a call and just say, Hey, are you all right? Not a pressure thing, but just it's agape love of I care about you. John 13, 34 talks about agape love.

Jesus said, Love, agape one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. So if you're like, man, am I loving that person?

Uh uh maybe I'm loving them too much. Well, think of Jesus. Are you?

I love like Jesus. And when a church does that, and again It starts with you, and you can do this as a very small church or ginormous church. In fact, as a mega church, it becomes almost more challenging to help people feel that they are being loved.

in a very Christ-like way. So there you go.

Doug:
Three people get together, uh th that serve in your church and go, what are what are l let's think of ten things we can do to make people feel unconditional love. Maybe, maybe it's a a In the parking lot, saying this is this is reserved for first-time guests or something like that. Um, okay, here we go.

Number six. I got this one, don't I? You have pulpit guts.

That sounds gross. It is. Guts courage.

Oh. So 75% of folks in in a a big church gallop will say teaching that relates to their daily lives. That's what they hope for most when they're listening to teaching.

We encounter some really messed up stuff. living in this world that we do. So our teachers have to have courage to cover the tough stuff.

Sometimes the most important stuff topics are ones no one else is tackling. Like mental health. Oh, yeah.

Brad:
For sure.

Doug:
Church are I mean, many are walking away from the church because of what they view as hypocrisy and legalism. Some folks call it I'm deconstructing. Um What do I do about people that I love who are gay?

How do I give towards God's work when I can't even afford groceries? These are tough things that people are wondering about and are hungry to hear answers and wisdom about from people they trust. So just Stay be strong and courageous in the pulpit.

Brad:
Man, so we have already crushed through six of these.

Doug:
We're up to number seven. That's sixty percent, by the way, Brad, that we've done. Wow.

Six out of two. Wait, hold on. We're all about the stats today.

Jesse:
Carry the one. Good job, good job.

Doug:
So number seven?

Jesse:
Number seven. Number seven. Keeps the news desk notified.

Here's the principle, communication. Um uh this can work out I I at least in two ways. One is general events, keeping your congregants, the people in your church aware of what the church as an organization is doing, how they can serve, events that are coming up.

Um I had a friend who was like you you can't overcommunicate. Like you just can't. Ha having these things um front and center consistently is so helpful for people.

Brad:
Yeah, and if you've told them once and think they're gonna remember, tell them again and again and again. So that I love that.

Jesse:
Yeah, because I know at when I go, it's not like the first time I see th something, I'm not like, oh, I'm writing it on my calendar. It just Yeah. Another way this works out, I think more practically in the flow of the service, um, is when a a pastor or a church leader leads the congregation through a part of the service or the liturgy, such as Hey, we're about to take communion.

Here's why we do this. Here's what this is about. Let me explain this again from a different angle than last time.

Hey, we're about to get up and sing. Why do we do this? Here's what the Bible says about singing to the Lord.

Hey, we're about y you you fill in the blank. When that happens, first of all, uh if someone hasn't been to church They're like, oh, this isn't just a weird thing Christians do. There there is a reason why we do this.

But secondly, um I know uh me When I go on Sunday, a lot of times I just, yep, this is what we do. We sing, we take communion, we listen to the word. Um, and it just bec becomes a habit when it's explained to me, here's why we do this.

Here's what's happening while we do this. Here's what this is really about. It reminds me again, oh, this is why I'm here when it's communicated to me and uh makes me all the more excited about what we're doing together as God's people

Doug:
ABC always be communicating. I I love our church is very um they they give financial updates. They're very transparent about where the church's dollars are going. Hey, did you know you guys gave sacrificially? So we're we're gonna go.

Brad:
Yeah, we didn't give you guys gave. Yeah, we gave us a family.

Doug:
We gave it as a family, we gave us a family because you because you're generous, we can be generous, and here's what we're doing with those dollars

Brad:
Yeah, and you can do simple explanations for very meaningful things. I love that, Jesse. That helped bring people along, especially first-time attenders.

I love that. Um number eight here uh sounds very probably unspiritual. Um and actually you mentioned on the first time guest, Jesse, when uh the Fort Knox side of things with the kids area, but preferred parking and security that is seen.

I put those two together because both of these are about people knowing the church cares about them and their safety. Um, you may be in a smaller church, you're like, well, we can't have a big parking team. Well, if you're in a smaller church, you probably don't need a big parking team, but Parking when you have some of these spots that are reserved for even Walmart nowadays, you see that they've got something reserved for for law enforcement.

They have something Reserved in some places for expectant mothers, for families with small children.

Doug:
Oh that's so good.

Brad:
Um and so if you can kind of do that for church at church. Well you can. You can set aside Even if it's a small number of spots.

Doug:
And it even says you honor, we honor an expected mom. We honor law enforcement.

Brad:
I love that. And even if you don't have 14 guys that can be in an orange vest out there, have one person out there that's waving, welcoming people so they see if I've got an issue, someone is there. So parking and then the security side, Jeremiah online, uh on our social media, all caps, has reliable security.

That matters in today's world. Um, most churches nowadays do have some form of security. They have someone looking out, and I'll just say it straight out, you should Uh even if it's is someone in the church that they just have a little training in that, yeah, former law enforcement, whatever it is, when at least some of that security is seen Uh like we have an officer in uniform there each week, but we know there's others that are there, uh kind of undercover or whatever.

It brings another level of peace in this crazy world. So what that means, why this is important, is it allows a deeper level of focus for the individual that's attending. Because they don't have all of a sudden subconsciously, I don't have to worry about security.

They have it covered. So we of course trust God first and foremost for our protection. But a great security team verse for on for people as Nehemiah 4.

9, we pray to God And set a guard.

Doug:
And set a guard. I I love churches that do parking grade. I'm just gonna say that.

There and there's always especially the ones that might might have well maybe it's just one guy, but they d i every now and then you run into a guy who like takes parking. Extremely serious. Oh my god.

They don't only have only have the vest on. They've got the lights on the vet. They've got huge those two like parking wands that you usually use for like a plane and it's like if you're not talking about parking, don't talk to them that in that moment.

Brad:
That's right. I'm gonna take number nine as well here. Yeah, yeah.

Um and this one is So important. Your church has an each one reach one spirit. Bottom line here, they are teaching the congregation that each one is supposed to be an evangelist and no matter your spiritual gifts every one of us is supposed to be sharing the gospel realizing that our situation is our assignment and they are encouraging you in that They're providing.

So you're in that your church, every church should be a lighthouse providing at least some training on how to share the gospel. What is the gospel? Right.

Doug:
How do I share it? How do I get the sphere?

Brad:
Yes, what is it? Yeah. And then how to share it?

Because guess what? Sometimes that church is going to lead some of their very own to know Jesus who thought they knew Jesus because they're like, wait, I didn't know the gospel. And then you can share it with others.

And the church models it in what they do as a church. So they're saying Hey, we need to be telling people this. So we're going to do it this week.

We're going to do it in our small groups. We're going to do it in our Sunday school times. We're going to get out there as a church and do this.

So if you are listening, just so you know, and whatever church size you have and you need help, we mentioned this in uh one of our recent episodes. You your church or you lead a small group, you're a pastor, and you're like, how do I do that? Seriously, I strongly encourage you to check out your hope story.

com.

Doug:
Your hope story.

Brad:
com. A small group curriculum that can help. We really believe that it has helped other churches. It will help your church become even more of an each one reach one kind of church.

Doug:
That's so good, man, being gospel centric. Man, if I was if I was a pastor, head pastor of a church, I would say every now and then I'd be saying something like Look, you might be waiting for me as a professional uh gospel bringer to lead your friend to Christ. What are you waiting for? You're in the best possible position to to rescue, uh, to offer spiritual rescue.

Brad:
So pastors model it well by doing it in church. And then equip your your congregation do it and send them out. Model equip send. Did you do that right just on the spot that I did

Doug:
You did you have coffee or get some more sleep or something? That's really good. We're already up to number 10.

Woo! If you can believe it. All right, so Number ten.

Hold on. Let me do it. Okay, I'm doing a uh thank you, Brad.

The the drum roll. Uh great churches go outside the walls. They go outside the walls of their church.

Remember high school cliques like um you know you've got you've got uh this th the jox are over there and the the um you know the the uh science guys are over there. We only do what our circle does. We don't care much about what happens outside of it.

You know, churches can get like that. Ye even without realizing it sometimes. Being real territorial, man, if it's not our thing, I don't know how much I care about it.

Brad:
Dad talks about that that uh our dad talks about the lifeboat mentality. Yeah. Titanic, the those in the lifeboats didn't want to go

Doug:
So, I think that's a good thing. 54% of the folks said the uh list meeting the physical and material needs of the poor. is a core, highly important church experience.

That was like number three on the list. Um that's because deep down we know we need to be going outside the walls to be a church that the Lord Blesses. We're offering help without strings attached.

Doesn't this box of diapers for your baby look enticing? It's free. As long as you come to Bible study this week.

No, let them come to that conclusion themselves. Um, salvation is a free gift, so should what we offer as churches. Couple quick examples.

I love when a church offers community aid. There's a place uh I b uh locally here that uh has a place called Mercy Mall. They offer groceries and diapers and hygiene stuff and there's a process, you sign up, uh it's a great process and people who are in real need get those needs met.

Maybe they offer crisis aid. Not every place can do this, but for addictions, for an unexpected pregnancy, marry mar marriage counseling, your pastor, or maybe in some churches you might have a certified professional that goes to your church and maybe they might be willing to to volunteer a couple of hours a week for counseling. Just something where we are communicating as a church.

We aren't don't just care about us. We care about you, whether you come here or not.

Brad:
And Doug, actually uh you look at the social media comments again. Jimmy, Greg, Anita, so many others mentioned what their churches do outside the walls. Yes.

That was so on so many comments. in the comments because people want to make a difference outside of the walls of the church. And I love what you said.

No strings attached. We're just here to love you like Jesus. So that's our top 10 list right there.

It is that top ten list. And and let's face it, it's not an exhaustive list. We know you have other thoughts.

other comments. Hey, keep commenting. Let us know what you appreciate.

We're reading, we're listening. That's how some of these got on here today. And be an ambassador in your church.

Make a difference where you're at. Serve well this week and and encourage your pastor. In fact We didn't actually plan this, but in just a couple weeks comes uh pastor appreciation month.

I just realized that October is pastor appreciation month. Use that as a time to let them know how much you appreciate maybe one of the specific things on this list that they lead in at the church. I think that would be a fantastic thing to do leading into October.

Doug:
I love that. Hopefully this has been great, Ambassador Fuel For you today, so until next time, we really are praying that you will go mad