Would you like to see more people in your church each week? Maybe you want to have a bigger variety of ages.
If growth has plateaued or decreased, don’t give up hope. You can grow your church this year by employing a few simple strategies.
Let your church family help you and together you’ll be able to increase growth and reach far more people in your community.
1. Focus On Your Website Content
First off, if you don’t have a great website, you need one. Many people research churches online before ever walking through the doors. If you’re not online, your church might not even be an option for those looking for a new place to worship. Now that you have a site, focus on adding new content regularly. Creating and maintaining a church blog helps to boost your visibility online. Focus on things going on with the church, issues affecting people right now and inspiring stories. You’ll be amazed at how many more people you’ll reach this way.
2. Boost Engagement Within The Church
Your members are the spokespeople for your church. If they’re not engaged, they probably won’t recommend the church to others. Work on getting your members excited about attending. Talk with them to see if there are things you don’t like about current services or programs. Ask them about things they’d love to see the church involved with. The better you understand what your church family wants and needs, the easier it is to boost engagement and of course, invitations.
3. Get More Social Online
Whether you love it or hate it, social media is a valuable tool to help you grow your church this year. Most of your members likely already have an account on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. By sharing blog posts (your own and others), interacting with members and non-members and sharing motivational scripture, you’re able to reach a wider audience than you could offline. Plus, people who like what you post can share it with all of their friends and family too. Even if your page only has 100 followers, that’s 100 people who could be sharing your posts with hundreds of more people.
4. Host Community Events
While over half of all American churches have less than 100 people in church each week, this doesn’t mean there’s a problem. It just means that it’s time to get more involved in the local community. A problem many churches face is a lack of any real presence outside the church itself. Host community dinners, have open house nights (less pressure for those looking for a new church) and volunteer at non-church events such as local fairs and festivals. The idea is to get non-members to start interacting with the church. Plus, this shows your community that your church does more than just preach the gospel, they also practice it.
5. Start A Second Service
Different groups, such as seniors and millennials, may prefer different types of worship experiences. For instance, seniors might like more traditional hymns while millennials might love modern Christian music. Offer smaller worship groups to make everyone feel more comfortable at church. This is also a great way to grow your church. During an open house night for the community, have the leaders from each group available to talk to potential members about what their groups do. This shows that it’s not a one way or the highway type of deal.
6. Use Motivation Instead Of Guilt
It’s a common myth that small churches either have to drastically increase their numbers or close their doors. If you want to grow your church, don’t use this gloom and doom approach. You don’t need a massive church to effectively reach your church family. Instead of trying to guilt members into attending regularly (which turns them off from church completely), try motivating them instead. Ask what church leaders could do to make church more interesting and engaging. Remember, the happier your church family is, the more they’ll talk about the church to friends and family. This helps to grow your church far better than guilt.
Looking for ways to grow your church this year? See how a church website will help boost your efforts in 2017.
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Comments 1
Praise God from whom all Blessings Flows, I’m a member of a small church with less than 40 members and I’m not on any axillary in the church I just attend weekly, but I am concerned that since I been in this church, now a little over a year. there have been no growth, the Pastor Sermons are great and Bible based, he preach the unadulterated word of God, but as a member I asked God to help in the increase of the church and show us some ways to reach out to other,God word says sheep beget sheep and iron sharpen iron,I need some ideas to share with the congregation on how we can do this and first and foremost present this to our Pastor, in Grave NEED OF HELP. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE I CAME ACROSS THIS SITE SEEKING HELP FOR THE CHURCH I ATTEND.