Is it Possible to Attract & Send?

The conference continued with a tremendous session led by Matt Carter who pastors The Austin Stone Community Church. Some things he said...

• I think the attractional model of church is still very effective--and will reach some people that smaller forms of church will never reach.
• The attractional model alone won't curb the decline of Christianity in America.
• The primary model of church has been "come to us." And that's where it has ended.
• Lay people (especially those who are 18-30 years old) are starting to get restless. They want to get in the fight.
• I realized even if we build a bigger building and grow another 4,000 people--nothing really changes for the city of Austin.
• What if people got the vision not to "come and see" -- but to "go and do."
• Jesus wouldn't make a very good American megachurch pastor. Why? It wasn't his church-growth philosophy. His church growth philosophy was 12 men.
• The difference between a small group and missional community: A small group is primary about community--a missional community is primarily about mission.
• We had to change the definition for our small groups--now they must have moved beyond gathering, have found a group of people, and are engaging that group of people to introduce them to God.
• There is nothing on the planet that can foster deep, biblical community than getting a shared mission for God.
• If we aimed for community alone, we hardly ever got community or mission. But if we aimed for mission--we almost always got mission AND community.
• We teach our leaders how not to be consumers--but to be self-feeders.