Church Assimilation

1. What is the name of your church? Who is the primary point person for your assimilation process on your team? (If you have one)

1. Cross & Crown Church

2. Genesis Church of the Nazarene

3. Issues of Life Church Ministries

4. Waypoint Church

5. Hope Chapel of Colorado Springs, Kurt Aichele

6. Springs First Church of the Nazarene, currently our staff

7. Rooted Church, the pastors are our point people for this

8. Eastside Church of Christ, primary point person is Richard Xox

9. Friendship Assembly, Margaret Austin

10. Missio Dei: Falcon. David Fox, our Operations Director

11. Pikes Peak Christian Church. Any one of our pastors and Anna Cole, Connections Coordinator/Adult Discipleship liaison.

12. Sunnyside Christian Church, Sean Edwards

13. Springs Lighthouse Church, Assistant Pastor Scott Stone

14. Greater Works Church, no assimilation person

15. The Sanctuary Church, no assimilation person

16. Springs Church

17. River Rock Church

18. Trace, Daesha Willingham

19. Rock Family Church, Charissa Sudbury

20. Pulpit Rock, Groups Director

21. Cragmor Christian Reformed Church

22. Ascent Church, executive assistant

2. What software do you use for your membership database (Church Management Software)?

1. Church Community Builder (CCB)

2. Microsoft Office

3. None

4. Planning Center

5. Planning Center

6. Church Community Builder (CCB)

7. Planning Center

8. Breeze

9. Planning Center

10. Planning Center

11. Planning Center

12. Planning Center

13. Planning Center

14. Share Faith

15. None

16. Church Community Builder (CCB)

17. Breeze

18. Planning Center

19. Planning Center

20. Ministry Tracker

21. Breeze

22. Planning Center

3. What company do you use to run background checks?

1. Sterling Check

2. Avast

3. Need suggestions

4. MinistrySafe

5. Sentrylink

6. Not sure of the name, but we use one.

7. Planning Center (resources through Planning Center)

8. Faith Based Security Network

9. CheckR

10. CheckR

11. First Advantage

12. CheckR

13. Protect My Ministry

14. No answer

15. Christian Background Checks

16. CheckR

17. Active Screening Faith

18. Not sure

19. Active Screening Faith

20. No answer

21. I don’t know

22. No answer

4. Which of your departments require background checks to serve?

1. Security, Children’s/Student Ministry

2. Children’s/Youth Ministry

3. Children’s Ministry

4. Anything related to kids

5. Nursery/Children’s Ministry, Leadership, Life Care Team

6. Children/Youth Ministries, Teachers, Staff, Board, Café, Security

7. All departments working with minors (17 years and younger)

8. Children’s/Youth Ministry, Security team

9. Children and Teachers

10. Ushers, Children’s/Youth Ministry

11. Kids Ministry and primary volunteers and staff

12. Kids/Student Ministry, Life Safety

13. Nursery/Kids/Teen Ministry, Security

14. No answer

15. Kids/Youth, Ragamuffin and Shower to the People key leaders

16. All Children’s departments from birth through high school

17. Children, Youth, Security, Counters

18. Kids, Students, Lead Team, Security Team

19. Nursery/Preschool/Elementary/Youth Ministries, small group leaders, worship & production team, security and shift leads, financial count team members

20. All positions working with 18 or under and all staff

21. Anyone serving with minors

22. Children’s and Student Ministries

5. What platform do you use for contributions?

1. BluePay and CardPointe

2. Denomination Software

3. Cash App, Zelle, PayPal

4. Planning Center

5. Stripe

6. MoGiv, Text to Give

7. Planning Center

8. Breeze

9. Planning Center

10. Stripe

11. Envelopes, website, and Church Center app

12. PCO Giving (Stripe payouts)

13. Stripe and Paypal

14. Share Faith

15. SubSplash

16. PushPay

17. Square

18. PushPay

19. PushPay

20. No answer

21. Breeze

22. PushPay

6. Describe the steps you take in following up with a first and second time guest?

Handwritten thank you card from Lead Pastor, e-mail follow up or phone call from another pastor.
Letter and phone call.
Call and send letter.
We have a once a month “Pastor’s Coffee” right after service to try and help new guests know what the church is all about and how to assimilate. There is a welcome form guests can fill out to get on our e-mail form and ask to connect with someone at the church. Other than that, lots of informal follow-up from regular church members.
We have greeters welcome them and answer initial questions (children's church, where's the bathroom, etc). During our transition of the children leaving the general worship service for Children's Ministry, several members greet newcomers and chat a bit (this also happens after the service is over). We have a welcome card that we request they fill out and return. If we have the info, we send a physical welcome letter through the mail and/or a deacon or deacon's wife will call them before the next Sunday to see if they have any questions. Often, someone who chatted with them gets a phone number and personally follows up.
E-mails by staff, e-mail by pastor, phone call by ministry leader.
Our members invite people out to lunch and pastors say hello. Each quarter we host an information lunch at a member’s home for people to learn more about our church. We share our mission, vision, and values and they can ask questions.
Ask guests to fill out guest cards. Letter from point person of assimilation minister. Letter from minister. Small group leaders invite them to their group.
1) Free gift for welcome card. 2) Text follow up the first week. 3) Phone call follow up for the second week. 4) Personalized welcome packet mailed 3rd week. 5) Personal invitation to next steps.
1) Welcome gift after first visit (a jar of homemade raspberry jam). 2) Text the following day welcoming them and seeing if they have any questions. 3) Invitation to a Newcomer’s Lunch to hear the history, vision, values of the church and get some next steps on getting connected.
We have a full 6 week follow up plan through Text In Church. Each guest receives a series of text messages and emails with important information about our church along with some personal messages. We also send them a handwritten card in the mail with a personal note inside. They receive a welcome bag on their first Sunday with a complimentary coffee card voucher and some literature about our church.
Gathering their information through Connect Card or kids check-in. Automated e-mail welcoming them. Phone follow up with any boxes checked. If they met with one of our Connectors at the Hub, they are encouraged to offer a personal follow up as well.
Connection cards. We send a letter to the newcomers and if they request to speak with a pastor or want to get plugged in, a pastor will contact them.
We send a text message thanking them for joining us.
We don’t have official steps. Only follow up if the guest request further help.
Guests fill out a connect card. Our assimilation pastor calls them and invites them to our once a month Connect Sunday event.
Send a follow up letter.
E-mail from Lead Pastor that is automated with an invitation to meet with me personally, if desired. We also send them access to right now media as a gift.
Welcome letter hand signed from the lead pastor, and phone call from Welcome Team for first time guest. ‘Welcome Back’ e-mail for 2nd time guest. We also give out a welcome bag filled with RFC goodies and a free Otis Spunkmeyer cookie voucher for the entire family. For 2nd time guests we give them a $10 gift card to Chick-Fil-A for coming back the second time. We also have “The Link” which is an open house and dinner hosted by the Lead Pastors in their home nine times a year for everyone who is new to Rock. This is an opportunity to get to know the pastoral staff and to meet others who are new to Rock. We also have a Discover class every 1st Sunday of the month that shares our church history, vision, mission, and gives them an overview of who Rock Family Church is to assist them in deciding if we are a good match for their family.
Guest fill out card. Invitation and follow up to a Sunday morning meal we call “First Table.”
Get back with a text or phone call. Insert them into our database if they provide the info.
First time: a phone call from our assimilation team and an e-mail from me. I don’t believe we have a response for a 2nd time guest.

7. What methods do you use to promote or get members to get connected in a small group?

No answer
Announcements and phone calls.
My church is basically a small group.
We have small groups that only last for semesters (Fall, Spring, Summer) so we have an “enrollment” period when we advertise them to the congregation. It’s also discussed at our “Pastor’s Coffee” for visitors and during our membership class.
We have flyers with locations and phone numbers of the leaders/hosts. We announce when the next Care Groups will be (we have them twice a month), we mention them in our chats and personally invite them.
Personal invite, announcements, email info.
Personal invitations. Our small groups will invite people they don’t know to come to their group.
Annual life group sign up. Encourage small group leaders to “work the crowd” looking for and meeting new people, inviting them to their group. Have regular newcomers’ orientation meetings. Preacher mentoring in some way from the pulpit to join a small group.
Church Center app, text, and email.
1) Big church wide push twice a year to join a group. 2) Invitations at Newcomer’s Lunch. 3) Periodically run report in Planning Center of people who consider us their church but are not in a group. 4) Followed by a personal invitation to them by our deacons.
Our connections coordinator/adult discipleship liaison reaches out to people after they have filled out a form in Planning Center to either serve in an area or join a Bible study/group. We use our website and Church Center app to sign up for classes and events as well.
We have Connection Events two times a year and Groups are listed in our Hub.
Word of mouth.
Application forms at our information desk.
Welcome lobby, periodic verbal announcements, website page, QR code in the lobby and on our projected announcement slides that people can scan that takes them to our small group web page.
Our connect center in the lobby has a screen with group info running on a continuous loop. We have two major sign-up events each year and it’s mentioned from the pulpit throughout the year.
Pulpit announcement and website.
Rooted, launch Sundays, and access through our website for open groups.
We have a Small Group menu on the wall in the lobby and on the web site with the details for each group. We utilize QR codes at the Connection Counter to also scan for more information. We are regularly talking about the value of doing life together in small groups in sermons, announcements, and through our serving teams.
Three times a year group launch. And “entry” groups for people new to the church.
We do personal invites. We can grow in this area as small groups are not all the time ready to receive new members.
We mention it as an important value from the platform most weeks, and as a slide on our pre- post- service rotation. Also, a major part of our introductory class called Ascent 101. We have an online self-selection process, plus active communication from our small groups director and small groups leaders. Twice a year – August and January – we have a small groups event where interested people can learn more and meet all the available small groups leaders.

8. Do you track individual or family weekly attendance? If yes, please describe how you do it.

Yes, by Nursery/Sunday School/Small Group Attendance and Church App
Yes
Yes
Yes, Just numbers, not specific families.
Yes, Keep Children’s Ministry attendance.
Yes, to some degree.
No
Yes, only track how many come, not who.
Yes
Yes , Checkin app on Planning Center.
No
No
No
Yes, we know everyone, so our greeters take a count.
Yes, loosely count how many meals served, AM attendance, PM attendance, recovery meeting attendance.
Yes
Yes
Yes, you count every person in the worship center, and then we use Children’s check in for kids attendance.
We only track a total head count per service of all ages. We do not have a system in place to track individual or family attendance.
No
No
No

9. What steps are required for someone to become a church member?

Attend Discovering. Fill out member application. Meet with an elder and share profession of faith. Name is publicized in e-bulletin for 2 weeks. Vote by elders.
Membership class
Application
We have a member’s class on Friday night to Saturday morning. After that class, a meeting with the church elders occurs with families. Then people join by taking membership vows, and baptism if that hasn’t happened yet.
Go through a membership class, have a home visit with an elder/pastor, publicly recognize and commit to each other on a designated Sunday.
Membership class (2 weeks on Sunday)
We do not have membership at this time, but we will.
Attend newcomer’s orientation class.
1) Next Steps class is required. 2) 6 months of attendance. 3) Membership dinner is required. 4) Application to our Board for acceptance.
If they would say, “mission is my church,” we add them to a list of all of our regular attenders called our shepherding list (those who the elders feel we have a biblical responsibility to care for). Then they can become a partner in our church by attending a two-week class and committing to participate, serve, give, and live on mission.
We have a two-part membership class that takes place in between services on a Sunday. After you’ve attended both classes, we have each person/family sign a commitment form stating that they will commit to praying, supporting, and serving the church. We do encourage baptism to make the membership official if they haven’t already been baptized.
We don’t do membership. We encourage people to Partner with us in Mission.
None
We have a Church Member form at our information desk.
Be a part. No official membership here.
Attend the Connect Sunday class and interview with an elder.
Fill out a ministry team form.
We don’t do memberships but in order to serve on a team, you have to take our “Becoming a Trace” class that I teach once every two months.
Attend our one hour “Belong Class” held every 3rd Sunday of the month. In this class they are challenged to find a small group and a place to serve within the church.
Renewing an annual commitment.
Elders are very important for our membership, as well as the congregation, which receives notice of the new members every year. To become a member, a person goes through a membership class – used to be 4 meetings, usually meets on Sundays, but these might be turned into 2. We also need a date of the person’s profession of faith or adult baptism, in case they come from a different denomination. In our own Denomination, we have those records that are transferred to our church. Convers to faith get baptized and go through an examination by the elders.
Attend Ascent 101 introductory class. Complete online membership questionnaire. Agree to our membership covenant. Meet with an elder or myself in a “membership conversation” to determine next steps. Elder team vote of approval.

10. How do you process and handle prayer requests when they come in each week?

Pastoral staff prays on Tuesday.
Yes.
They request it on new member’s card.
We have a time of prayer during communion, and a prayer box to receive written prayers.
Prayer chain: urgent requests are sent out to the body via e-mail and private Facebook group. Women’s WhatsApp group: any of the ladies may share on this private group. Tuesday prayer meeting: members meet each week to pray together for known requests. Several people privately contact with requests as well as write them on response sheets in the bulletins each week. Requests also get sent in an e-mail to the elders/deacons.
Collected on connection cards, then processed and filtered through the office, the office sends to prayer team.
We do not have a good process for this.
Office administrator takes the requests and directs it to the person leading the ministry, which most relates to the request.
E-mail, text, app, or phone call is then sent to our master list which is covered by a team of intercessors that meet on Fridays for prayer.
Weekly prayer e-mail to the whole church, if the person desires, and if not, an e-mail that goes to our elders/deacons.
Receive them on prayer request cards, website and Church Center app. We have all requests e-mailed to our staff to pray for individually. We also pray over prayer requests on Thursday mornings as a staff.
We have a Prayer Chain that gets e-mails as requests come in throughout the week.
We send it out to the congregation. We also will follow up with a pastor.
No answer
We have two volunteers that process both our Ragamuffin café (meal for under-resourced folks) prayer request and those that are left at our “prayers for the wanderer” station. Totals about 25 per week. They are sent out to our intercession team (about 20 people) via e-mail.
Requests submitted online or through our connect card. A deacon organizes them into a spreadsheet and submits them to our prayer team. They are also printed out to be shared and prayed over during our Wednesday night prayer meeting.
Sent to our prayer team.
We have a team who prays over them. We get requests through our app and through cards filled out on Sundays.
Prayer request are submitted via connection cards and e-mail. The office administrator takes the prayer requests and sends them to the pastoral staff which prays over them on Monday staff prayer. These request then also go out to our admin team, Board/Elders, and our Prayer Team. Then Prayer Team members call them on Tuesday evenings to pray with them specifically for the request submitted.
Collect in the giving boxes and distribute to the prayer team through e-mail.
We use e-mail, a connect card or phone calls. Usually, the church secretary gets them or deacons through the collection boxes, or they can come directly to a person, elder, pastor, etc.
Our prayer team, overseen by one of our deacons, distributes prayer requests to prayer team, elders, deacons, and staff. We also have a prayer board in the worship center that people use to both express a prayer request (written on a card, attached to a clipboard) as well as pray for other requests. When a request is prayed for, the person initials the card to indicate having prayed for it. Encouraging to see visually when others have prayed for a specific request. Staff and elders routinely pray through the cards in various settings.

11. What is your process for onboarding someone who is interested in volunteering or serving?

Church Membership (must be on a path toward membership). Background check if applicable. Specific training if
necessary.
Meet with them and give some paperwork and job description.
N/A
Each serving team has a leader. It’s their responsibility to receive new volunteers.
Membership, then personal contact with ministry leader, application and background check.
Connection to the ministry leader, meeting with the ministry leader, approved by the pastor, background check, then training.
They meet with the leader of their ministry team, or with the pastor if it is a teaching role.
Communicate verbally and in writing the needs and opportunities for service and volunteering. Ministry fair. Speaking about various ministries and opportunities from the pulpit. Ministry leaders getting others to come alongside them.
1) Next Steps class is required. 2) Application for area of service is filled out. 3) Leader for ministry interviews and assigned role based on interview.
Get them connected with the team lead of that area, then they get trained on a Sunday morning. Except in our kid’s ministry, where they first run a background check.
We have a form in Planning Center that is available on our website and our Church Center app for people to fill out for interests in serving. We also have a paper with an itemized list of options. They can check as many boxes as they see fit. Our QR code on the paper also brings them to the list to fill out online. Each department handles their own volunteer requests.
Volunteer application, reference checks, interview, and team orientation. If they are unsure about their serving area, we will allow them to ‘test drive.’
They sign up with us and fill out a form. We interview them and speak with them. We also have them agree to our statement of faith. Then walk with them and invite them to groups to strengthen them through Christ. From there we have a ministry leader speak with them.
No answer
They meet with the lead person of that ministry. Do background check if necessary and go through training if necessary.
It varies with each department but there is typically an application with general questions relating to the specific ministry and an interview process follows.
Application and interview.
Serve team application, meet with team leader, go through an onboarding process, and then a test run.
After the office receives a person’s request to serve from their membership enrollment or a Connection Card, their name is sent to the department head to follow up with them and get them actively serving. If a background check is required, that is completed, and training begins.
Varies per department.
They can serve in various capacities, immediately, but working with minors requires 6 months of regular worship in the church prior to serving.
Contact from a ministry team leader. Background check if Children’s or Student Ministry. Proper training, if necessary.

12. How do you collect information from those who make a new decision for Christ in a service?

No answer
Meet personally and set up appointment for 8 weeks for discipleship class.
Small ministry, hands on.
Informally, they tell me.
No current protocol.
Connection card
We don’t, but I look forward to hearing what other churches do.
We use guest cards, but most of all we have personal follow up to meet with the individual.
Church Center App
Follow up over coffee/lunch with one of the elders.
We keep papers at the front of our stage with information for the person to fill out after they’ve made their decision for Christ.
Connect Card
They grab a surrender towel and we ask them to fill out a Connect Card and mark the Surrender to Jesus box.
No answer
Ask them to fill out the card in the Gospel of John that we give them (from the Billy Graham Assoc.) Try to have a small group leader or recovery leader connect with them on the day of their decision.
We have a new believer’s card at the altars and a pastor follows up.
Prayer ministry card is filled out.
They fill out a card.
Physical and digital connection card.
Guest card or conversation.
We are not used to doing this, but we plan on doing it intentionally very soon. As of now we invite them to pray the sinner’s prayer, and then tell them to connect with us at the end, and/or come forward after the service to meet with us and pray.
We have connection cards throughout the auditorium, as well as an online digital card.

13. Describe the steps you take in following up with those who made a new decision for Christ.

No answer.
Meet with them and make sure someone is assigned to work with them for at least a year. Be there for them as they grow in Christ and check up on them often.
New members orientation and discipleship class.
One-on-one follow up.
No current protocol.
Ministry leaders connect with the person, then connect with discipler/class/small group.
N/A
Make sure a minister or ministry leader is meeting with this person a minimum of once a week. Make sure they are in a small group, and make sure they have found one or more ministries of service in the church, encourage them to come to classes.
Decision is made and recorded. Follow up with Pastoral staff for encouragement, follow up from Lead Pastor.
Follow up over coffee/lunch with one of the elders.
We have a team that goes through a step-by-step process in following up with each person. Encouraging baptism is part of that process.
Set up a personal pastoral meeting with them and include/invite the person who has helped them come to this decision to be a part of the conversation.
We pray with them and then ask them if they want to get with fellow believers to walk this new walk with them. We will collect phone numbers and e-mails and have different ministry leaders reach out to them.
We have a way they can contact us online. We also have reading materials at our information desk.
Recovery leader or small group leaders follow up.
Phone call.
Follow up call. Encourage to take our Foundations class.
Personal follow up with the encouragement to take the next step to meet with one of our mentors to go through our D1 Bible study method.
They are prayed with in the service at their moment of decision. We then add their names for our prayer team to call them, congratulate them, and pray with them. Then a mentor from our Mentor Team follows up with them personally by connecting with them through a phone call and hopefully a personal meeting (men with men, women with women) and encourages them to join a small group community. We also notate their decision for Christ in Planning Center. When we have a baptism Sunday coming up, we send e-mails to those that made a new decision/recommitment to Christ in the previous months and invite them to get baptized. We also notate their baptism in Planning Center.
Personal follow-up meeting with one of our staff.
We are not set up to do this. I would do it myself, walk with them through their decision, get to know their story, and invite them to make their decision public, either adult baptism, the profession of faith/testimony, become members, etc.
Personal meeting or phone call with a pastor or an elder. From time to time, we hold a “Starting Point” class for follow-up and initial discipleship.

14. Describe your process for discipling new believers.

No answer
Confirm their repentance. Tell them to tell somebody and the church. Keep wrapping my arms around them to stay encouraged.
Monthly class.
It hasn’t been frequent enough to warrant a process, it’s just one-on-one with me, the pastor.
Care groups, one-on-one connections, we have resources for members to walk them through.
Connect them into a small group asap, or a one-on-one discipler.
We have a 6-lesson intro to Christian living that can be adapted to age-appropriate, as needed.
Connection - Get them in small groups. Meet with them one-on-one for prayer, encouragement, Bible study. Service- Help them find one or more ministries of service. Growth - Encourage them to be a part of bible classes. Sermons always considered to be a part of the discipline process.
1) Baptism. 2) Bible Engagement App (daily and Wednesday Night Small Groups). 3) Christian Education (Sunday mornings). 4) After a period of time, invitation to Friendship School of Ministry (accredited bible course).
For us it’s the same as our discipleship of more mature believers, the means of grace on a Sunday morning, in a small group, and training for personal discipleship.
Our pastors, along with our Connections/Adult Discipleship Liaison, follow up with each person in our workflows in Planning Center. We try to help get them connected to one of our many Bible studies or groups meeting regularly. We also try and plug them in to either Men’s or Women’s ministry involvement.
Still working this one out. We have Rooted Groups and Small Groups that are designed to help equip and empower people to live out the mission, but our preferred method would be connecting a person with a person for proximity discipleship. We are not there yet on this one.
We get them plugged into a Men’s, Women’s or Small Group and follow up with them by reaching out to them.
No answer
We rely on small groups and recovery groups and recovery coaches to help disciple new believers.
N/A
Foundation’s class
Rooted and groups
Someone from our team calls them and they are paired with a mentor who takes them out for coffee and answers any questions they have. We strongly encourage them to get involved in a small group. In September we will start a small group called The Master’s Blueprint. This class is for new commitments/recommitments to Christ or for those wanting a refreshment in the foundation of faith.
We have a multifaceted approach. Doing Kingdom work outside the walls is a big part. But inside the walls, discipleship classes and community groups are primary.
I don’t think we have a settled process for new believers. We do Sunday school every Sunday, we have small groups, and other groups designed for growth, but for a new believer I would also like to use 222disciple.org, a discipleship tool for one-on-one discipling.
Personal follow-up. Starting Point class. Continues follow-up by mature believer. Integration into a small group. Entry into various group discipleship and growth opportunities.

15. Do you have an electronic process to help your church members grow in their spiritual journey, which allows you to track their progress? (e.g., book reports, surveys, etc.)

No
No
Yes
No
No
We try to get people to use RightNow Ministry resources to learn and feed on.
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No answer
Only our Rep Your Recovery prison correspondence program has such a process, but that is through snail mail.
No
No
No
No
No
No
No, but interesting idea