It's All About Releasing People

Dave Ferguson is the lead pastor of Community Christian Church in Naperville, Illinois -- and led the conversation in our final session day one of the AND Conference.

• Although the church is in decline, there is a missional impulse alive and well throughout the world. There is much to be hopeful about.
• I often hear people in my church say, "I want to do more." I recently got an email where someone said, "Can we do something for people who won't go to church?" That is a missional impulse. It is alive in our people.
• Missional people PLUS multiplying churches EQUALS a missional movement.
• How do you get to missional people? You ordain every follower of Christ.
• As leaders, if we want missional people, we have to say "yes" as often as we can.
• There's a business strategy that we've used too long in the church -- it is to identify your target market, do only what will reach your target market, and say "no" to everything else. That is a brilliant business strategy. But it is not what the church is about. We need to release people.