Back at it

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 Back @ it good ppl





Hello Good People,

So sorry for the delay...it's been a long time and I should have left you with some dope words step to. I didn't and I'm so sorry but getting used to this newly wed life took longer than expected. I am ready to jump back in and provide good content for this amazing tribe. I know there are some readers who haven't read about how the blog and my church got started so lets recap that info. 18 years ago my Pastor the honorable Bishop Vincent E. Yancey aka "The Bishop with the heart of Gold" started RTTMTP2B Returning to Truth Ministries in the local rec center in a Detroit Suburb. From there we moved house to house until renting a storefront, from there we converted a 2 family flat( a huge money pit that  never got completed, we rented spaces, and finally we have a permanent home. My church is a like most, we just came together on Sunday played music, said a prayer, and heard a word. 

Those are great things but to keep the door open and keep the church relevant we discovered we needed more.  I want the tribe members of "Growing the small church" to do more than just have church. The bibles says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." 

Small churches tend to fall on traditions and don't feel the need to get knowledge beyond what "the bible says' or "what my leaders before me said". The issue is those things remain true but just like all other industries and parts of human nature their has been innovation. Small churches typically (not all the time) hold on to what is known and won't allow new tactics to be apart of their movement going forward. I apologize if this comes off as church bashing, I promise you it is not. My goal is to move our tribe in the direction of being mega while remaining miniature if that is your goal.

Growing isn't about just the numbers, I would hope we have a growth mindset first; then we are able to grow numbers. " I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." God can't add the increase without the seed to grow. Small churches tend to be what Malcom Gladwell call "laggards". We are last to the party and by the time small churches get on board the movers and shakers are on to the next thing. We are about to embark on a series that focuses on the one thing above all I see with small urban churches hold us back...I want to write this word as big bold letters.

Business!!!

Not sure why this word and action concerns the small church but many rather have church until the bills pile up, the membership dries up, and the community forgets of our existence; as opposed to creating a business plan, learning that we serve an audience and have a market share and technologies we need to learn to thrive. In the next few weeks we will dive into tools( mostly free or inexpensive...that is a whole other issue small churches have to get over. It takes money to make money.) and techniques to help move small churches into the 21century. The one good thing to come from Covid-19 in the church work and church world...finding ways to reach people outside the church walls pushed small churches 20 years ahead of the future. I am looking forward to growing with you all and I promise there won't be a long wait again, we will grow and get better each week.

Later Dayz,

J 

#rttmtp2b #detroitschurch2belong

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