The strategy in your church

We don't know of any church that has incorporated this strategy into the life of its church. It would, however, be an awesome thing in a church if most of its members were to spend time with God each day.

A word of caution. This strategy for a church is primarily for pastors and other church leaders. It is always wrong for lay members to try and manipulate their leaders to take on their vision. Where a church has two visions, you tend to get "di vision."

Any church where most of its members are having Quiet Times, memorizing Scripture and actively sharing their faith with others, would very likely be a church full of people with a passion for God who love leading others to Christ.

There are ways that the QT's could integrate with other aspects of church life. E.g. They could appear in the weekly bulletin, or figure in Scripture readings. There may even be times when they harmonise with what is being preached.

Putting this strategy in place, will not radically affect church services, although what could be happening in many of its members' lives may be very encouraging and radical.

A suggestion on how to introduce this strategy in your church

1) Have a few weeks lead up. Talk and preach about the need to spend time with God each day. Speak about how you want to introduce a daily QT program into your church. Try to get people to catch your vision.

2) On one special Sunday, don't have a sermon but rather teach people how to have a QT. Give each person a QT folder and a QT sheet. Make sure they all bring their Bibles & a pen on the Sunday you do this.

3) Go through step by step, teaching people how to have a QT. Psalm 1 is a good passage to begin with. Have the instructions on having a QT on PowerPoint as you go through step by step. If you don't have PowerPoint, put each step on the overhead projector. (Follow 'The Quiet Time' button for instructions on how to have Q.T.)

4) Have some volunteers share what they got from their blessing.

5) After the Q.Ts have been done, have some volunteers share what they believe the Lord has said to them.

6) Ask people to do a Q.T on their own each day. Explain that this is only a voluntary thing and no one is required to take part.

7) At each Sunday service, you may even like to have one or two volunteers share a Quiet Time where they believed God spoke to them in a wonderful way.

8) If there are groups within your church having Quiet Times/sharing times, the leaders of such groups could recommend someone who shared a significant Q.T., to share his/her Q.T with the whole church.

9) Introduce Scripture Memory. Do this once the Q.Ts have been established.

10) Give each person a copy of a Scripture passage (Psalm 1 is good, and we laminate our cards). Put the instructions on how to memorize Scripture on PowerPoint or on the OHP and go through step by step. (Follow 'The Scripture Memory' button for instructions on how to memorize Scripture.)

11) Explain to people that they are free to memorize Scripture in whatever version of the Bible they want. They will, however, have to write out the Scripture passage in their version on a piece of cardboard or laminate it.

12) Ask the congregation to memorize a verse a week. Once again, explain that this is a voluntary thing and no one is required to do it.

13) Eventually, you may even like to take a couple of minutes during each service to have everyone recite together the latest verse.

14) Don't be discouraged if only a few people have memorized the latest verse. We have found that it takes time for people to acquire the habit of memorizing Scripture. If you "kick start" this habit, many in your congregation may well make Scripture memory a part of their life.