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February 10, 2011
Six Surefire Steps to Grow Your Church
By Tom Ehrich
I wish I could develop a "magic growth pill" that would enable congregations to grow and prosper. I could sell carloads of them.
Failing a magic pill, here are six surefire steps for growing your church. They involve hard work, fresh thinking about authority, and some change. But this is what it will take to grow.
Category A: Clergy as entrepreneurs
Step 1: Work on "lead generation" by developing a dynamic following on Facebook and Twitter and e-mail.
Hard work, often perplexing, requires investigation, trial-and-error and consistent effort. Pastor must take the lead. Free the pastor from having to attend all meetings and hold all hands. Church development requires an entrepreneur at the helm. 
To do this work, pastor must learn the tools – learn them at a deep enough level to use them effectively in generating fresh leads, establishing himself or herself as a "thought leader," turning responses into action.
Step 2: Pastor must work at direct communication
Whether or not the pastor has strong writing skills, it's essential to have direct communication with people: members, prospects, marginal touches. Every growing church I know has a strong, highly visible pastor.
I recommend blogging as a way to communicate a direct word. This should be what's called a "CEO blog," not a "personal blog." It's the pastor speaking as top leader, shaping public perceptions of the institution.
Category B: Congregation is responsive
Step 3: Respond to all visitors, and do it right away
Sunday visitors, but more than them. Also respond to people who attend a church event, inquire about a ministry, shop at a church fair, send their children to the church school. Every "touch" should get an immediate response. It can be an e-mail or a phone call, maybe even a personal visit. It needs to happen within 24 hours of first visit or contact.
Step 4: Offer gatherings beyond Sunday worship
I can't say it strongly enough: focusing all or most energy on Sunday morning worship isn't working. It hasn't worked in fifty years, and it's not going to start working now. Yes, we know how to do Sunday worship, we enjoy it, and it's valuable. But it simply isn't enough. The audience for it has been shrinking every year since 1965.
You will need to add midweek gatherings, off-site gatherings, ways for people to connect online. In designing these gatherings, don't assume you know what people want, and certainly don't do just what you want to do. Listen to the marketplace. Listen to the questions people are asking, listen to the needs they are expressing.
Category C: Focus on relationships
Step 5: Start a small group ministry
Every growing church is grounded in small groups. People come to church for relationships above all else. Music, liturgy and education are a distant second. Sunday morning can't do this work. Your job is to help people engage with each other in a safe, intimate, meaningful manner. Groups can take many forms, from purely social to centered in prayer.
Step 6: Do at least one high-visibility mission project that engages people
Your building isn't your mission. Your people do mission. Tackle one unmet need, and then make sure the larger community is aware of your caring. Every study of young adults says they are drawn to churches that have a strong commitment to mission.
These six steps involve change and risk, but for Christians that shouldn't be a problem.
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