How to Grow Your Church

If you enjoy outdoor recreational activities, Bend, Oregon is a dream come true.  In the summer there is hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, fishing and over 30 gorgeous golf courses. In the winter there is snow skiing, sledding, hunting and some even brave the weather to get back on one of those beautiful golf courses.

If you are a pastor or a church planter, Bend, Oregon can be a nightmare as the competition for people’s free time is strong. Central Oregon is very different from the Bible Belt (where this writer is from) in regards to church attendance. In the South, attending church can be less about a relationship with Christ and more about tradition or family obligations. In the Pacific Northwest, however, those traditions are not as prevalent. Most that attend church do so because they want to. 

The struggle lies in how to get those who have no background of church interested in giving up their regular weekend activities in order to be a part of a church congregation. Here are some tips for pastors on increasing their Sunday attendance:

1.      Focus on quality, not quantity

It shouldn’t be about numbers. It should be about relationships with Christ. Pastors should be more concerned about whether the members are becoming stronger Christians than how many people packed a pew each week. When the church body is growing spiritually, numerical growth is sure to follow.

2.      Stop trying to look like the world

The things of God are never going to be attractive to lost people. Churches should not be trying so hard to make the church attractive to the world by making it just as appealing as other forms of entertainment. My previous article dealt with this subject in more detail, but the main idea is that the church should strive to look more like Jesus and less like a concert or coffee shop.

3.      Be genuine

This is piggybacking the previous point in that pastors (and the church as a whole) should stop changing their image to seem more appealing. If you’re 45 years old and you used to wear a suit and tie when you preached, don’t suddenly switch to t-shirts and tattered jeans and a faux hawk to seem more “relatable.” People can sense when you’re not being real with them.

4.      Preach the Word

It’s disheartening to watch preachers on TV, or in person, get up and try to convince their audience of some truth, yet fail to ever open their Bible. Some don’t even reference the Bible. Paul made it clear to Timothy what his main responsibility as a pastor should be when he said, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:1-2

5.  Care about people

This is not a plea for a social gospel (stay tuned for an article regarding that subject as well). This is a plea for pastors and churches to genuinely care about the people around them. If you want people to want to come to your church, let them know you care about them. When they visit your church, let them know you appreciate their attendance. Be involved in people’s lives. Get to know what they do for a living. Attend ball games. Visit hospitals when people are sick. 

These are not meant to be taken as “sure-fire” ways to grow your church. They are, however, ways that have been proven effective for many churches. This is also not an exhaustive list. There are many pastors that have found a variety of methods to grow their church. The litmus test for those methods should be: Is it biblical and Does it glorify God. After all, God is the only one who can truly grow a church.

SDG