What does it mean to be a Dynamic Church?
A dynamic church is a church that "lives in the current and is preparing for the future." To live in the current means that you are connecting to how people live today - it means that checking in children is secure and convenient, that the church web site actually allows you to conduct "church" business, that the congregation believes the money that they are giving in tithes and offerings is going to be well spent on things that will enhance their spiritual walk, that the church message will be relevant to their lives. This does not mean that the post-modern church forsakes the Word, but instead is able to get the Word out to those who need to hear - the lost.
Assimilation Funnel
A dynamic church prepares for the future by growing and anticipating the needs of dealing with an ever growing congregation. A dynamic church is always bringing new people in - moving seekers to visitors, visitors to attendees, and attendees down the Assimilation Funnel to become "full-time Followers of Christ" (see below for a depiction of what the stages of assimilation for a church might be).However a church will not know whether it is being successful if it does not measure people's progress. Using this example, to be successful, a church must not perform attendance tracking for various events at the church, but also track the number of people who make a public profession of faith, begin to give, attend Bible studies, join one or more small groups, begin to volunteer, and finally learn to tithe. If a church cannot measure these things and encourage their progression, then any one of their attendees or members is more likely to walk out the back door.
The further down the funnel a person is, the less likely they will stop attending the church. Why? Because the person develops more affinity and personal ownership to that church.
Best in Church Software Technology
To be considered dynamic, a church needs to use the best that technology has to offer. To be more relevant, a church needs to meet people in their lives, the way they live. To accomplish this, a church needs to provide convenience as much as possible. That convenience can be achieved in some aspects by providing "self service" capabilities at the church web site. Also, when your congregation has the ability to return to your church web site to conduct business, such as online giving, small group communication, and/or activity registration, your outreach message and "brand" has more opportunity to be successful.
Too often, the congregation does not have reason to continue to visit the church web site and thus another opportunity to reinforce the church's philosophy and Christ's message is missed. Although some churches are moving to dynamic content that allows their web site's message to change, with Fellowship One, the need to return to the web site is created so that the dynamic message can be presented and thus received.
Enhanced Fellowship
Finally, a dynamic church enhances fellowship, not just amongst its members, but among everyone - member and visitor alike. Volunteers are serving throughout the church's ministries using their talents and gifts God has given them and using them to serve others. They are also using their Christian experiences to support their "brothers and sisters" through discipleship, prayer and mentoring, helping them with their earthly and spiritual needs. By checking in all activities and printing a name tag for everyone, people will get to know each other more quickly. As a result, when people get to know each other, newer people will feel at home more quickly, enhancing the social aspects of church and minimizing the judgment perceptions that people tend to get if they feel unconnected.