Searcy, Fusion

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Nelson Searcy and Jennifer Dykes Henson, Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church. Regal Books, 2008.

Referenced in: Welcoming and New Member Ministry

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

This is one of several resources authored by Nelson Searcy, the founding minister of the Journey Church in New York City, and based on their success in reaching over 1,000 new people (primarily twenty- and thirty-somethings) in a relatively short time. Before summarizing Fusion, here is a brief list of other works by Searcy. Most are featured on LifeandLeadership.com:

Each is written in the same style, weaving ministry philosophy into a narrative of Searcy’s experience with Journey church. They present first-level exposure , step-by-step guides, and ready-made forms for those who resonate with his philosophy.

In Fusion, Searcy presents an integrated Greeting and New Member Assimilation process of four stages: first-time guest, second-time guest, regular attender, and member. The chapters discuss the theology of hospitality and other pieces of the ministry philosophy, and refer frequently to the linear greeting and assimilation process that is laid out thoroughly in the appendices. The approach begins with an intentional response to the first seven minutes guests encounter with the church, followed by an email response within the first 36 hours, a first-time guest online survey, a 96-hour snail-mail response, and one-month follow-up letter, all of which are repeated after the second visit. Fusion outlines how they provide service opportunities for non-member visitors. It also overviews the Journey membership classes, class schedules, and membership covenant.

From the Publisher

Creating an environment that both embraces our newcomers and excites them enough to return does not happen by chance. We must be prepared to be effective stewards of those God brings us. And why shouldn’t the Church be the epitome of service at its best, as modeled by the greatest server of all time? Built on The Journey Church of the City s Assimilation Seminar, Fusion embodies a step-by-step, biblically grounded, tested and proven plan for establishing a relationship with newcomers that ultimately prompts them to become fully developing members of our congregations. This innovative, practical guide is full of how-to information, testimonials from the recently assimilated and from participating church leaders, examples of the assimilation materials used and check points to make sure the reader is on track.

About the Author

NELSON SEARCY is the founding pastor of The Journey Church of the City in New York, New York, which reaches more than 1100 twenty- and thirty-somethings each week. Over the last three years, Nelson has personally trained more than 1100 church planters through his own seminars and training events with Saddleback Church in California. In addition, he has produced a wide range of successful church planting resources through his website churchleaderinsights.com and has co-authored Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch. Nelson is an active church planting coach, church growth consultant and publisher of the semi-monthly online resource Evangelism Online, which is distributed to 16,000 pastors each month. Prior to starting The Journey, he was the founding director of the Purpose Driven Community at Saddleback Church.

Jennifer Dykes Henson is a freelance writer based in New York City. Prior to moving to New York, Jennifer worked with Dr. Charles Stanley as the manager of marketing communications for In Touch Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

***For additional information on this resource, including reviews, click the bookstore links. Check the reference at page top or the links below for resource guides on related topics.***

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Greeting, Involvement, Member Retention, New members, Welcoming New Church Members