The process of making disciples for Jesus Christ has changed in the last 100 years. This is true for long established churches and for new church starts like New Season.

There was a time, before the 1950's, when we lived in a culture where persons were disposed to Christianity. There was little suspicion of Chrsitianity and the well respected people of the day of course went to church. There were two things done for entertainment- going to school and going to youth group at church. If one started a church or wanted to revitalize an existing church one simply undertook an evangelism campaign which usually included knocking on doors and raising awareness that a church was now in the area to serve people's spiritual needs. People came. Basically, this was the "build it and they will come" stage of church planting and revitilization. This was how a majority of the mainline protestant churches got started in America. Most of them are still around today and averaging 200 or less (which is OK by the way if they are doing all they can to make disciples). In one area where I served there were three small United Methodist Chruches within 5 miles of each other because when they were started the served the village they were where people could only comfortably travel a couple of miles to go to chruch.

As times changed and mobility increased we saw a differnet model used to make disciples. All of a sudden chruches dotted the landscape of counties, towns and cities. No longer did people come to a church because it was there or convenient. There were many churches to choose from. Life was becoming more hectic as schedules became a flurry of activities. Entertainment options multiplied. This is when churches began to realize that they could no logner just "Build it and they would come" or just "be there" in the case of existing churches and people would naturally come. Something needed to be done. This is when we witnessed things surface like direct mail, newspaper advertisement, radio, television advetising and more forms on interruption advertising. What the church was communicating here was "we are here, why don't y'all come on." This worked for a time and these churches are to be commended.

But, alas, times have changed again- especially in the last ten years. With the quick spread and proliferation of information and advertising through the Internet, mobile phones, and other technology people have come to be bomarded with competing messages. While technological advances have made great strides, persons are as busy as ever. We no longer live in a culture where persons are disposed to Christianity but are leary of Christians. New religious beliefs have arisen with great speed. What is a church to do?

While I don't have all the answers I think what we will and are witnessing is that the churches that will thrive and effectively make disciples of Jesus Christ are those churches that are incarnational. Here is what I mean: you used to be able to just "buildit and they would come". Not anymore. You used to be able to just say to a community "hey, we are here come to us now." Now, I think we have to say "yes, we are here but we are going to come to you." We need to leave the idea that the four walls of the church make up the church and realize that Christ calls us to be hands and feet in the world. Here is what some of that might look like practically.

• Instead of having your Vacation Bible School or Easter Egg Hunt at your church (within the four walls) make provision to have it at one of the commons area of a subdivision, at the local YMCA, or in someone's backyard.
• Instead of worshipping one Sunday in your chruch building worship one Saturday during the day at a local park or a popular square. Really this is Biblical, though make sure you get any necessary permits from the powers that be.
• If you have a sizeable company in your area that will let you use their break rom or a shop of stores and can find space, have a lunch time Bible study about contemporary issues that requires no preparation.
• Demonstrate Christ's love in a practical way through a servant evangelism project.