Think about the energy that a congregation puts into a capital growth campaign.

Committees
Involvement of as many people as possible
Small groups
Cottage meetings
Temple talks
Sermons
Every member commitments
Personal asks
Congregational dinners and celebration

There’s tremendous synergy in getting an entire congregation rowing in the same direction.

What if we put this much time, energy and coordination around raising faith as raising money? What would a spiritual growth campaign look like? How about this?

1. Every member doing daily devotions for a month or two
2. Sermons on Sunday addressing what people are reading
3. Weekly small groups in homes to be able to talk about it

In the fall I would want it to include an invitation to commit to giving for the coming year. Giving is a spiritual matter. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I would also want it to include a celebration dinner at the end.

In our tradition, Lent is a built-in 40-day annual spiritual growth campaign, with a celebration at the end: Easter. The traditional disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Consider this Lent inviting people to deepen their prayer life. Get everyone reading the same thing together. Invite them to try a different prayer practice each day: bishopmike.com/pray.

Then preach on prayer. Use the scriptures in the book. Talk about the practices you read about the last seven days. Invite the congregation to submit questions via email as they read and pray. Tackle the questions in the sermon.

Recruit 8-10 small group leaders, not to teach, but to host a small group gathering in their home. Have them pick a day and time that works for them. Let members sign up for a group. Coach leaders to invite friends to their group. People will internalize their faith practices as they are able to reflect on them with others. Relationships will develop. Unexpected good things will happen.

Consider this an opportunity to teach your people to pray.