How can a Church attract attendees?

[Jethro Bodine]

For Churches that have mortgage and salary obligations and can't realistically function with only a handful of people, what are some of the ways you think a church should or shouldn't draw people to attend?



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20 For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He watches all his paths. (Proverbs 5:20-21 NASB)

 

[reba]

Preaching the Word... The gimmicks dont do the job. From the sweet side of the Gospel, The harsh side of the reality of being a true follower of Christ. Please dont serve coffee and donuts to get them in ... The lack of teaching in our churches is sadly amazing.

That said ... depending the location of the church... Dont bother to feed the soul when the belly is hungry....

 

[Adullam]

Put an "all-welcome sign" on the front lawn. Put clever catchy slogans on the billboard. Invest in a good sound system. Preach salvation for a simple acceptance of what the church is up to. Ignore the harder verses but if some narrow verses are somehow brought up...never let the Holy Spirit maintain any conviction of sin in the departing attendees....instead fix that with an altar call!

 

[Hitch]

Put an "all-welcome sign" on the front lawn. Put clever catchy slogans on the billboard. Invest in a good sound system. Preach salvation for a simple acceptance of what the church is up to. Ignore the harder verses but if some narrow verses are somehow brought up...never let the Holy Spirit maintain any conviction of sin in the departing attendees....instead fix that with an altar call!

And have 'Easter Candy' every week.

 

[reba]

(PK so i fully understand the importance of paying the bills)

Thinking about this a bit more....Your question starts out about $$$.. Are we to build a a group of folks to pay the bills or are we to build the Body of Christ?
Is it the goal of the assembly to pay the bills or to enrich the Body? Christ sent 'them ' out telling em not to worry about food etc. We know some used the 'temples' of the day so making use of a building is not a bad thing.

The scriptures tell us owe no man how do we justify a church mortgage? A mortgage is not the same as a utility bill. THe church building could be use for other things to help pay the bills.. providing the use is not out of line with the scriptures.... School, medical clinic, counseling center.

 

[farouk]

The central thing needs to be the ministry of the Word.

If ppl are 'saddled' with an expensive building they can't afford, then maybe it's time to quit using it; maybe they should sell it so they can concentrate on the Word.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

What are ways to get people to come to a church?

For a Church that has salary and mortgage obligations that needs more than just a handful of people to attend and support, what do you think are good and bad/ right and wrong ways to attract people to a church?






-------------------------------
20 For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He watches all his paths." (Proverbs 5:20-21 NASB)

 

[Elijah674]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

For a Church that has salary and mortgage obligations that needs more than just a handful of people to attend and support, what do you think are good and bad/ right and wrong ways to attract people to a church?
-------------------------------
20 For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He watches all his paths." (Proverbs 5:20-21 NASB)

And I am serious!
Go read Josh. 7 & zero in on verse 12. And in the N.T. this means to have a Church kept Pure of OPEN Sinners + Doctrines. Matt. 18:17-18. And if the church is the guilty [Christ/less] church?? Read Rev. 2:5. OK, I will post that one up for the question...

--Elijah

Rev. 2
[4] Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
[5] Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

 

[ivorhughjarse]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

Jethro Bodine this post is not directed at you, Your heart is for the Lord and your posts prove that but you raised the question,

People see "motive" for wanting increase ...if that is wages and mortgage payments then why not try a poster campaign "Give us your money for a ticket to heaven" or maybe let go of the building and instead of caring for the building show the love of Christ without any motive, expecting nothing in return other than they grow closer to Him?

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

And I am serious!
Go read Josh. 7 & zero in on verse 12. And in the N.T. this means to have a Church kept Pure of OPEN Sinners + Doctrines. Matt. 18:17-18. And if the church is the guilty [Christ/less] church?? Read Rev. 2:5. OK, I will post that one up for the question...

--Elijah

Rev. 2
[4] Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
[5] Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

I'm okay with this, but how do you get people into a church in the first place for them to even know that your doctrine and purity are good?

(I'll read the Joshua passage later when I have more time, thank you)

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

Jethro Bodine this post is not directed at you, Your heart is for the Lord and your posts prove that but you raised the question,

That's very gracious of you. Thank you for going out of your way to not be misunderstood for the sake of peace.

People see "motive" for wanting increase ...if that is wages and mortgage payments then why not try a poster campaign "Give us your money for a ticket to heaven" or maybe let go of the building and instead of caring for the building show the love of Christ without any motive, expecting nothing in return other than they grow closer to Him?

I definitely see the potential problem of motive and why a group of people would try to build a church for the wrong reason of the numbers game.

Let's say they get past this, or that's not a problem at all. What can a group of people do who have made a sincere and honest investment into starting a church to get people to try it out and, hopefully, find a church home there and see how sincere the church really is?


(Just a note: I added the Proverbs snippet so that it would appear above the sleazy ads for loose women that usually pop up in the first post of a thread in this forum for those of us who don't use Mozilla/adblocker)

 

[JohnEboy1983]

For Churches that have mortgage and salary obligations and can't realistically function with only a handful of people, what are some of the ways you think a church should or shouldn't draw people to attend?

Do you mean function as its hard to run regular church activites because of the lack of people who would attend or because of the lack of budget to do such? There are also many things to consider first of all to see what type of potential the church may be capable of. Just a few questions are; Are you located in a city or in the country? High popluation or low population? Does your church building have a lot of capacity for attendees and parking for many vehicles or are you very limited? That would be essential for future growth in my opinion. What types of other churches are around you, and how far out? Answering some questions like these might help you determine what you are capable of and then you can start to plan on how to grow and how big you may be able to grow.

I do say that even with a strict budget that if the church can incorporate weekly activities that people can do like bible study or mens/ladies group or an evening where the church goes out and does something it helps keep people interested. If there is only a handful of people it would take a small group or even just a couple of dedicated and committed people to keep this going every week regardless of the turnout it may be beneficial. We have a guy at our church who holds bible studies on saturday mornings at his house and to be honest its a very low turnout and sometimes maybe just 2 or 3 people but he has remained so committed to holding the bible study that it holds the door open for those that do look for those opportunities.

 

[Car Guy]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

I think there are several things:

1) Get out and support the people of the community. A caring church that involved in outreach shows the people in the community that they "walk the walk" of the gospel.

2) Publish sermons online to get people interested in the preaching

3) Have a statement of faith online.

4) Pray!

 

[handy]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

Jethro, you've asked an honest question and I'll give you my honest opinion on the subject you raised... and please keep in mind that you have my greatest respect, but......

Instead of focusing on the gospel message and taking it out to the streets, too many in the Body have taken to coming up with ways to attract people, mainly already church going people, away from other congregations and into our own local church. The focus is to get people to "come to church" as if being in "church" is our great commission.

Christ didn't command us to go out and increase the membership rolls. He sent us out into the fields which seem even whiter for harvest now than ever! I think there is only one biblical way to get people to "come to a church"... and that is get out and preach the gospel to the lost.

Back in 1987, a pastor in Ireland had a vision to start a church. It was to be a Presbyterian Church, holding true to the Scriptures (as opposed to some main-line Presbyterian churches that do not.)

Now, "Presbyterian" is a very loaded word in Ireland, smacked with all kinds of political overtones. So, how to start the church, without "robbing the other vines" and not getting folks confused about "presbyterian" vs. just a godly church.

What he did was ask both the Orthodox Presbyterian and the PCA here in America to send teams over to Ireland. Each team went over for a period of two weeks and there were either 3 or four teams that went throughout the summer.

Our ministry was to go out into the streets of Dublin and share the gospel. The way we did this was via street plays, mimes, sing-a-longs, skits, Q&A type testimonies. We met on Grafton Street, which is a street closed to traffic, so that it was basically a large, open air mall. All it took to get a crowd around was to simply begin the performance. Each performance had something to do with the Gospel and those not performing were to observe the crowd and take note of who seemed to be interested in the message. We would then engage these people in conversation, sharing the gospel clearly and depending on how the conversation went, we'd ask them to dinner with us. Each night, we would have a couple of guests for supper. The pastor would follow up with each and every guest, not just as a possible "contact" but as a person needing the Holy Spirit and...by September, when the new church opened it's doors, it had over 80 charter members, almost all of whom were converts from the streets, with the exception of the pastor and his family.

There are all kinds of helps out there to train people to share the gospel with the lost. D. James Kennedy's "Evangelism Explosion" provides great training material, The Navigators have some good stuff....but the main thing is to get out there, on the street corners, in the malls, farmer's markets, home shows, knocking on doors in neighborhoods,... wherever and whenever, "in season and out of season" and share the gospel.

 

[elijah23]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

For a Church that has salary and mortgage obligations that needs more than just a handful of people to attend and support, what do you think are good and bad/ right and wrong ways to attract people to a church?






-------------------------------
20 For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He watches all his paths." (Proverbs 5:20-21 NASB)

This is a difficult topic, I think. I think churches sometimes resort to "pandering" to attract or keep members. My opinion has always been that if your church is sincerely trying to do the Lord's will, people will be attracted to THAT. Maybe the Lord will even bring people to your church, in that case. Love, love, love.

 

[Christ_empowered]

I don't know what you do if the church already has lots of bills. I saw a small town, southern church grow simply because the minister preached the truth in love and had inspired, active congregants from all walks of life getting out into the community to live out their faith. They weren't (and aren't) perfect, but they do what they're called to do more often than not, and that works.

If a church is saddled with lots of debts and empty seats, I'd wonder if the Holy Spirit had been behind the church's building and other projects from the beginning. I don't mean that to sound harsh, I'm just stating one of the first questions to come to my mind.

 

[reba]

right on CE

 

[rhoda]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

I think happy members sharing their enthusiasm for their wonderful church is the best way to attract new folks. Most people attend because someone has personally invited them, they have someone to sit with and talk to about their experience.

 

[reba]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

Welcome Rhoda

 

[Danus]

Re: What are ways to get people to come to a church?

For a Church that has salary and mortgage obligations that needs more than just a handful of people to attend and support, what do you think are good and bad/ right and wrong ways to attract people to a church?

I'm probably on the fringe opinion here with this one, but I see church marketing as an important component of any church in a community of people.

I've been a member of two churches that many traditional churches don't like because they see us as pulling from their membership, or gimmicky and not serious about the word of God. However nothing could be further from the truth.

The first church I was a member of grew from a hand full of people to currently 9 thousand members. The church I'm with now is up to about 3 thousand. Both churches pulled the majority of their members from the community of people who had no church home, or who have not been in church for some time.

Both churches preach the word of God, spread the gospel, and have missions within the community and beyond, but both churches are also examples of how to lead the way in attracting people.

It starts with understanding demographics. You have to know who lives in the communities you serve. Typical ages, income, church affiliations, race, and so on.

I live in Olive Branch MS. It's a suburban city of about 37,000. The fastest growing city in the United states by the way. with some of the top public schools in the nation. Tons of houses. My point, families. We have mostly families. Most people are married, have kids, middle to upper middle incomes and a variety of races. So, how does a church attract these people? Our church centers around family. We are kid friendly to the max. We have the rock'n band, free coffee, swanky furniture and all around hipness

This is because we are trying to attract that demographic. Young, married, working, families. We tailor our message to this demographic. We preach the gospel, and we provide resources beyond just the service for growth, biblical knowledge, and servitude. We just completed our second "campus" 10 miles away from our original campus.....we call the buildings campuses.

So, I would ask; what are your goals as a church? What's your community like? What type of growth are you wanting?