How to grow your church, free of charge
There are no shortages of material or information across the media spectrum that claim to know how to grow your church. Some of those suggestions are as follows:
Let us show you how to connect with people when they come through the doors, give them a warm welcome with your greeters and a gift.Buy our Sunday school growth ideas and we’ll show you how our easy step program can grow your church by increasing Sunday school attendance.Take them cookies after their visit and make it personal. Your warm response will have them wanting to come back.Reach out to the men if you want to grow your church because if you can get the men to come to church, then you’ll get the whole family. Buy our “Getting the Men” program.Make people feel at home and expand your ministry by changing it into a welcoming atmosphere with coffee, soft chairs, hip music and scents. All you have to do is acquire our simple-to-follow guide on ideas and implement them for the small price of…
Across the board I consistently see someone proposing the “right” programs in order to grow numbers for church attendance or ministry.
“Join our newsletter, podcast, website, magazine,” they say. “Buy our books, programs or curriculum.”
This really preys on the guilt trip and overemphasis of increasing numbers as if that is the only measure of success.
Too many churches try to adopt the worship style, alter call and preaching methods of what is or what appears to be successful somewhere else. From that comes trial after trial to achieve the next level of success. Whatever that is I’m not quite sure.
How much time energy and money has been spent chasing the wind of the next church-growth fad? If these things worked then why isn’t everyone doing them?
I am about to provide, free of charge, the number one way for any church/ministry to grow healthily: Pray to God about what He wants you to do.
Stop doing what others tell you to do, at a cost, and gather together yourselves, with your leadership, and pray to God.
God will direct you and guide you into what He wants your church to do.
More importantly than this, we should not pray as much about what to do as we should pray about what to be. The kind of church you want is the kind of person/people you need to be.
Not all massive churches are healthy. Some mega churches are now recognizing that they sacrificed discipleship for the sake of growth. And how many ministries have fallen into disrepute because increasing in size was more important than increasing in Christ?
Please don’t fall victim to the “Church Growth Resources” temptation. Use wisdom and discernment after prayer.
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” said Matthew 6:33 King James Version (KJV) 33.
Furthermore, if people would put as much time and attention into reading their Bible and praying to God as they do on every book, article, publication on how to grow as a man or women of God, they would find what they are looking for more directly.
For previous works visit traceygardone.com.