The One Tenth Factor

The One Tenth Factor

The Congregations

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One Tenth FactorThe Percentage Imperative

THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH is known for its use of percentages to get things done. It is a Biblical principle that underscores equal sacrifice without regard to size or income.

In order to succeed in 2014 we should seriously consider returning to the simplicity of the historical SDA “Percentage Imperative” employed by the Church and so successfully modeled by the tithing principle.

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One Tenth FactorHeritage of The Black Church

Historically, congregations in Regional Conferences have faithfully adhered to the “Percentage Imperative.”

Many times despite what has seemed unfair in that Imperative, we have reached beyond accepted norms to achieve excellence and to do the exceptional.

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Our history is alive with incidents of total reliance on the power of God to do what other people groups thought impossible, unreachable or even a waste of time.

In some instances we have pioneered the way forward without getting due recognition for leading or innovating or modeling.

Returning to and universally applying the Percentage Imperative may be an idea whose time has come. One that just may be “meat in due season.”

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It is our blood bought heritage to go beyond expectation. Many of the things we have tried, broke new ground because they were launched from the tried and true platform inhabited by our faith in the grace and power of Almighty God.

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One Tenth FactorWhat Gets Measured Gets Done

The One Tenth Factor calls attention to the tried and the true. From there it addresses known deficiencies and breaks new ground by proposing simple reasonable solutions.

You have heard it said many times “What gets measured gets done.” In the One Tenth Factor we will measure some things in the hope of improving the overall effectiveness of our total ministry

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One Tenth FactorThe Important Ingredient

A most important ingredient in success is what’s in your head. If you believe in what you are doing it has its best chance for success.

In the Christian context, it is faith in Jesus Christ, and in the wisdom and strength derived from Him, that brings true and lasting success.

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One Tenth FactorThe Lord’s Army

We are in The Lord’s Army. Therefore, the success of our mission is assured. In The Lord’s Army we cannot lose. Defeat only comes to us if we give our victory in Jesus to the enemy of souls.

The One Tenth Factor addresses well known areas of ministry that desperately need improving. It takes the tithing principle and applies it to the other vital areas of our ministry, both as a formula for equity and a yardstick for success.

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One Tenth FactorThe Goals

The goals are:a. To increase the number of first time

baptisms every year.

b. To close the backdoor of the church through which too many newly baptized members pass. Doing this successfully, we can then truly grow our congregations and the ministries that nurture them

c. To experience consistent tithe gains in every church

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One Tenth FactorThe Goals

d. To consistently increase church member attendance and involvement, from Sabbath School to A.Y. to Prayer Meeting and all soul winning meetings

e. To develop membership nurturing ministries in every church

f. Insert into every local church program an annual structured review of Adventist Church History

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One Tenth FactorProgram Specifics

The Program Specifics:1. Ten percent (10%) or greater tithe gain

in every church every year2. Baptisms - gains equal to at least ten

percent (10%) of roll membership every year Each new member household to be

gifted a one year subscription to the Adventist Review

Each new member to be gifted the worship book for the current year

Each new member encouraged to begin morning and evening worship in their homes

mornings using the worship book and evenings the Sabbath School lesson

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The Program SpecificsBaptismal Anniversaries

3 month - One book in the Conflict of the Ages SeriesAdd to that a Sabbath School attendance

award6 months - Second book in the Conflict

Series.Add to that an AY attendance award

9 months - Third book in the Conflict SeriesAdd friends and family attendance award

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12 months – The remaining books in the Conflict Series

Create a special 1- Year Membership Award Pin to

celebrate and thank God for 365 days of growth and

faithfulness by the new member. The pin should be presented to the “new”

members on the 365th day of their baptism into the SDA Church or on the Sabbath closest to it

Call the whole program “Countdown 365 “

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Invite the Conference to join in the celebration by presenting them a special conference 1-Year Membership pin at Camp Meeting

However remember that all church memberships are local and the most meaningful celebration will and should be with their fellow members who have loved and nurtured them for the first full year of membership in the Adventist Family.

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One Tenth FactorThe Stewardship of Time

Before we talk about financial giving we need to talk about the gift of time. The most glaring but least talked about gift in our Christian lives is the gift of time.

If we were to train our members to give more of their time in SERVICE to the Lord, in the natural order of things they would give more of their finances to the soul winning cause

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One Tenth FactorThe Stewardship of Time

If heaven is to be our home then we must begin vigorously investing more of our God-given time to build ourselves up in His word.

Then, by the power of the Holy Ghost, we will build our homes and churches into centers of visible accessible grace in every neighbor where our members live and where our churches are located.

This view demands more of our time than it does of our “talents” (money).

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One Tenth FactorKnowing The Time

Consider the following passages of scripture:

Rom 13:11-14 — 11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. (KJV)

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One Tenth FactorHarvest Plentiful Laborers Few

Matt. 9:36-38 — 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then said He unto his disciples, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.”

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One Tenth FactorThrust Sickle Reap

Rev 14:15 — And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. (KJV)

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One Tenth FactorTithing Your Time

Here is something to think about. What would happen in your home and in your church if you made a commitment of time using the following formula? There are 168 hours in the week (112 of these are waking hours).

a. Hours for sleep 56b. Hours for work 40c. Hours for commuting 14d. Hours for chores 10e. Meals 14f. Daily Devotions 07g. Christian Outreach 03h. Prayer Meeting 01

Total 145 hrs. Remaining 23 hrs.

168 hrs.

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Sabbath Hours 24 hrs. Worship services 5 hrs.

Sabbath School 1 ½ hr Divine Worship 2 ½ hrs AY. 1 hr

Miscellaneous: 7 hrs. Church Prep 1 ½ hrs Meal time 2 hrs. Travel time 1 ½ hr. Outreach 2 hr.

Rest 8 hrs. Other 4 hrs.

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Christian Service Each Week - 16 hours 48 minutes(“The One Tenth Factor” (1/10 the time)

Sabbath Services - 5 hrs Prayer Meeting - 1 hr Devotion & Bible Study - 7 hrs (30 minutes morning and evening) Missionary Service - 3 hrs

Your own Neighborhood Outreach – Brief Prayers or giving Bible Studies

Volunteering - Charitable time to hospitals, feeding hungry/homeless, etc.

Group Outreach activities with your church The challenge of time commitment on the parts of

our members (especially the well-educated and the affluent) is a very serious one. It may require more prayer than the commitment of their “talent.”

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One Tenth FactorA Sample Plan for Nurture and

Growth

Now that we have discussed the hours in the week and the individual time each member can devote to the work of witnessing, here is A Sample Plan for Pastors, all church officers and interested soul winners in every congregation. It can be structured for groups and individuals.

Determination and Work - GroupsA. In December of year before implementation choose the

area of the city you will target for your pre work efforts. Also in December choose the Bible studies that will be used in pre work

B. Begin looking for and training “The Defenders” (more on that later).

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Growth

1. In January of implementation year, pray seriously intently, and specifically for that selected area of town. Also in January, place the chosen lessons each week into the hands of each person attending Sabbath services, including visitors.

Members should be encouraged to give the lesson for the week to a friend, relative, employer, coworker, etc.

Church services must become more than celebration. They must also become times for membership witnessing preparation

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Growth

Pastor or elder should take 3-5 minutes to cover the high points of the lesson for the week. Two to four minutes each Sabbath during Divine Worship may be given to the witnessing members for short pre-planned, pre selected reports on reactions of students and themselves to the lessons and the experience of giving it.

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Growth

On prayer meeting nights take 3-5 minutes to highlight specific sections of the book “The Art of Gaining Decisions.” It should be available at selected Conference Bookstores or PM Departments.

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Growth

Also in January begin a once per month Evangelism service in your church to prepare the members for any public meeting you will have later in the year and, as a place for them to bring their Bible Study interests to hear their Bible Studies taught in the preaching setting.

This could be done on a Sabbath afternoon once per month at the AY Hour and can be named “Sunset Evangelism.”

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Growth

2. In February – Group or Individual

Go into the selected area (or next door and across the Street or Block Where You Live) to knock on doors offering to pray with the residents

Ask them if there are specific things they wish for you to pray.

Pray in the doorway for those specific things while there on that initial visit.

Make a list of them and upon returning to the church have the whole church pray for those requests.

Go back during the month to assure the people that you are continuing to pray and to see how the prayers were answered

Continue with the weekly emphasis on the lessons during the Divine Worship Service

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Growth

3.In March go into the target area offering Bible studies. Do the follow-up visits, grading lessons and encouraging the people to continue until the lesson series is completed.

Continue with the weekly emphasis on the lessons during the Divine Worship service

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Growth

In April plan for the crusade to begin in the second or third week. • If the neighborhood lesson series is

not completed by the beginning of the crusade, then let it overlap. You may consider having a graduation ceremony during the crusade. Here is something to pray and think about.

• Most times we have graduation at the beginning of the crusade. That may insure a large crowd for your opening night but most often the majority of the students who graduate never come back to the meetings.

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Growth

• Consider this. Graduation signals completion. What reason do they have to return if they have finished the course? Did you go back to high school or college after graduation?

* Isn’t it reasonable for them to assume you have taught them all you want them to know? Why then should they come back to the meetings?

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One Tenth FactorActivities Before and After the

Crusade

Post Crusade Work - One of the great weaknesses in Adventist Evangelism is the severe loss of newly baptized members.

Within weeks 30-60% of those newly baptized fall by the wayside. We must reverse that trend.

It must begin in your church now! Here is a suggestion:

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One Tenth FactorThe Defenders – December/January

1. In December of year before implementation let the members know that you are going to begin training a post evangelism team. Let them know that their responsibility will be to ensure that newly baptized members remain faithful to the Truth and in the church.

2. In January of Implementation year choose the oldest Adventist members who know the Truth (“The Defenders” of the faith) top to bottom, and that you are reasonably sure will not go out to knock on doors. In fact ask them to tell you privately that they don’t think door-to-door work is their long suit.

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One Tenth FactorThe Defenders – Kindness Training

On Sabbath afternoons before AY and Wednesday nights before prayer meeting, give them the kindness training from Elder William Scales’ Crusade program.

Spend huge amounts of time emphasizing kindness and patience.

In fact you may want to find a sociologist/psychologist from nearby colleges/health departments who can develop a workshop on kindness and patience just for your members in this class.

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One Tenth FactorThe Defenders – Sabbaths and

Wednesdays

On Sabbath afternoons before AY and Wednesday nights before prayer meetings or any other time that may be convenient, rehearse with them the doctrines and the history of the SDA church.

They should also study the book “The Art of Gaining Decisions” which may be available in your conference PM Dept.

Let them know they have three months to master the material.

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One Tenth FactorThe Defenders – The Assignment

In March let them know that their assignment is to work with newly baptized members.

The Pastor must divide the newly baptized member’s list among The Defenders

The Defenders must make an appointment with the assigned newly baptized members on their list to arrange a meeting in the newly baptized member’s home during the week immediately following their baptism

(Preferably the Tuesday following the Sabbath of their baptism)

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Have them invite to that meeting in their own homes, members of their own families and friends who are interested in knowing why they have joined the SDA church.

The Defender’s assignment is to help the newly baptized members defend themselves in their new found faith to family and friends before they can get in and discourage and confuse the new members.

We all know that immediately after baptism relatives and friends and even former pastors pounce on the newly baptized members with all four feet.

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The new member is sure they have made the right decision but they may be unable to adequately and confidently explain their new found faith.

Our well-trained prayed-up seasoned SDA Defenders will be there to help them explain the Message & defend themselves in it .

Out of those meetings in the new members homes will come the opportunity for additional Bible Studies because you cannot explain the whole SDA Message in one meeting.

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Those kinds of meetings in the new member’s home should continue until we are sure the new member’s roots are down deep.

The frequency should decrease as

the new members grow in confidence or they indicate that the meetings have been sufficient.

At all costs, do not allow the meetings and your presence to become a nuisance. In other words, do not wear out your welcome.

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Remember, the Truth does not need

defense from human agencies.

But human agencies need the ability to defend themselves

and their beliefs about the Truth.

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One Tenth FactorPercentage of Members Involved

Set as a goal an annual increase in the percentage of members to membership roll who are involved in soul winning ministries.• Each year the congregation is asked to increase that

percentage by 10 (The One Tenth Factor) and add to it each year until it gets as close to 100 % as IT CAN.

Human laws-of- average say that you will never get to 100%. But we are the people of God. By His power and because of his grace WE CAN disprove the laws of average.

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One Tenth FactorPercentage of Members Faithful

Stewards

It is known throughout the ranks of our church that only 25-30% of our members who attend church are faithful in tithes and offerings.

The major hurdle to cross in this discussion is to help the membership understand that the subject of Christian Stewardship is a spiritual one first, then secondly it is a financial one.

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Stewards

The next challenge then is not to get more out of those who are already faithful, but to get more of the membership into the ranks of the faithful.

The final step then is to persuade the faithful that, if there is a ceiling, they must allow the Lord only to put that ceiling on their giving.

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Stewards

Here is the recommendation for beginning the process of building a strong Christian Stewardship program in your church (es).

Give to every member the Annual Report on Tithe Sharing that shows where every Tithe dollar went that was sent to the Conference by the Churches.

You may request this report from the office of the Conference Treasurer

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One Tenth FactorFaithful Stewards 10+10 or 10+5

1. Present and have the 10+10 or 10+5 Plan for Christian Stewardship voted by your Church Board for recommendation to the church in Business Session.

2. Encourage 10 +5 as the recommended ideal minimum FIRST STEP for all members. Continue emphasis of 10+10 as the worthy objective and a place of rejoicing for those who have gone beyond the minimum requested.

3. The Spiritual emphasis is very important here. It is the only way your members will consider giving 20% of there income to the church.

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One Tenth FactorFaithful Stewards: The Church Board

A. Survey the Church Board membership to ensure that all of them are faithful stewards. This is a must!

B. Divide the church roll alphabetically among the Board members with each assigned a specific number of names to call on the telephone within a one week period, preferably on a Thursday evening. Once begun the practice should be repeated once per quarter.

C. Give them a little speech to make when they call the members (See the Small Steps Booklet or the Stewardship Letters).

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One Tenth FactorFaithful Stewards: The Elders

Involving the Elders

D.Involve the elders in tandem with the activity of the church board.

Their assignment is for home visitations:– Insure that all are faithful stewards– Divide church roll alphabetically among the elders.– Assign a specific number of names to each elder.

They may be sent out in teams of two.– Choose the days for visitations very carefully. Will

vary by location and habits of your specific region of the Conference.

– Once begun practice should be repeated once each quarter.

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One Tenth FactorFaithful Stewards: The Laws of

Average

Human laws-of-average say that you will never get to 100%. But we are the people of God!!

By His power and because of his grace WE CAN disprove the laws of average.

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One Tenth FactorIn Review

In this presentation we put a major emphasis on seriously nurturing and involving the membership in the soul winning ministries of the church.

By the grace of God we have in our hands the power to begin the work over again, tailor-made for the 21st Century.

By faith and with great patience, if we work, we will witness the handiwork of God as He refreshes, restores and rebuilds our hearts and His waiting congregation.

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One Tenth FactorDon’t Miss the Point

Most of what has been laid out in this document is mechanical. Because of that the most important point to be made can be missed. That point has been saved for last.

Our success in the work of the Lord, whether clergy of laity, rests in our faith in the loving and powerful name of Jesus. You should not leave this document thinking that we have constructed an array of programs that will work magic in the churches

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One Tenth FactorStand Firm and Hold to the

Teachings

The words of 2 Thess 2:13-15 say it well. “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then brothers stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”

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One Tenth FactorWe Must Begin Now

Here is another fact we must face.

It has taken many years for our members to reach this level of inactivity in the soul winning process. It is going to take time for us to turn this around but we must begin the turning now!!

In that regard we must hold up a high standard of faithfulness and achievement for ourselves while exhibiting kindness and patience with each other.

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One Tenth FactorThe Closing: Biblical Instruction

We have Biblical instruction on how to deal with ourselves and the saints who are inactive. From here, as we close, we will let The Word speak.

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.”

2 Thess 3:6 (NIV).

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One Tenth FactorThe Closing: Faith and Works

We all know that faith without works is dead being alone. But there are some powerful words in scripture regarding both faith and patience that we must consider here.

Faith, because we believe in Jesus, and patience because we are willing to wait, but not watch idly, while the Holy Spirit does its work on each individual in the Spirits own good time

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“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

Heb. 6:12 (NIV).

“ And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Galatians 3:39 (KJV)

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“Finally, brothers, Pray for us that the message of the Lord will spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance (patience).” 2 Thess 3:1-5 (NIV).

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One Tenth FactorBenediction

May the Lord add a rich blessing to the reading, hearing, loving and doing of His Holy Word!

Date post:	20-Jun-2015
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The One Tenth Factor

Education