What Attracts People to a Growing Church?

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Our regional Presbytery want our church to employ a "Mission Enabler" to give advice and assistance about how to grow our church. Our congregation is made up of older people, no children, and no youth. Our services are made up of three hymns, a reading and a sermon. I think that we might be throwing away our money employing a person to try and attract people to a church where there might be nothing for them. I would describe our church as a Christian "club" where most of the members have been there for years. If we have visitors, they don't stay for long. I believe that if we go out into the community and lead people to Christ, they would end up bypassing our church and going to a church that would be more attractive for a new believer wanting to grow in grace. I am against poaching members from other churches.

So, I am open to ideas and opinions about the characteristics of a growing church where new believers would want to attend, and where young families would find attractive to them. I think that we need to change the culture of our church. I know that there are quite a few interesting and passionate members on this forum and I welcome what you have to share with me.

Note: This is a fellowship thread. Please don't advise me to leave the church. I feel called of God to support my church, even though it is in bad shape and dying. I would not be happy leaving the good people in the lurch. By the way, I am the senior elder and regular preacher and worship leader in the church, sharing the preaching and worship leading with a ministry team. We don't have an ordained minister. Our last two ministers were trained and ordained and promised to grow the church and the first one spent three years, and the last one four years and they ran the funds down from over $80,000 to nearly zero and did not produce the results they promised. So now we are an elder-run church.

So, let's be having you!

 

[mcarmichael]

Puppets.

 

[mcarmichael]

Also, if you use real wine. I've learned that some people do like to drink wine.

 

[Ken Behrens]

You do not have the energy of youth. You do have experience and proven commitment. Why not get out and start helping other churches and ministries? Two or three of you as a team could help with church plants of all kinds. Or start the soup kitchen and area food pantry, the homeless shelter. Then the meetings could be praying for all of this activity, and helping each other grow more into God as you go.

This is what Ruth and I do. We help churches, provide music where needed, coordinate needs and ministries in the area, just whatever is needed. It does not grow YOUR church, but it grows the Body of Christ, brings excitement of the Kingdom to your lives, and makes you take risks that brings you closer to the heart of Christ.

If you have an area ministerial association, join it. Best networking in town.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

You do not have the energy of youth. You do have experience and proven commitment. Why not get out and start helping other churches and ministries? Two or three of you as a team could help with church plants of all kinds. Or start the soup kitchen and area food pantry, the homeless shelter. Then the meetings could be praying for all of this activity, and helping each other grow more into God as you go.

This is what Ruth and I do. We help churches, provide music where needed, coordinate needs and ministries in the area, just whatever is needed. It does not grow YOUR church, but it grows the Body of Christ, brings excitement of the Kingdom to your lives, and makes you take risks that brings you closer to the heart of Christ.

If you have an area ministerial association, join it. Best networking in town.

Thanks for that. It goes along with "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Puppets.

Fill up the empty pews with lifesize puppets to give the impression of a full church????

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Also, if you use real wine. I've learned that some people do like to drink wine.

Ah! Get them drunk so they don't care how many people are at the Sunday service!!

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

By the way, and it has nothing to do with the topic (but then it is my thread so I can say this), I have a new way of getting a person who is seeking the gift of tongues to be able to start speaking. It has come as a result of a visit to my doctor. I had a sore shoulder and it got xrayed. When he saw the xray he told me what was wrong. He gave me this complicated medical name for it, so I told him that it sounded like tongues and I would try it at church next Sunday. So, go to your doctor, get him to tell you the Latin names for some complicated medical conditions, remember them, and say them quickly during your next church service, but don't stop speaking and see how the language develops from there! Hahahahaha! Good for desperate seekers to use every resource to get them started. Unless your doctor is a Christian, like mine actually is (and he appreciated the joke), he might think that you are a bit strange when you explain why you need those Latin definitions.

 

[Zayin7]

Our regional Presbytery want our church to employ a "Mission Enabler" to give advice and assistance about how to grow our church. Our congregation is made up of older people, no children, and no youth. Our services are made up of three hymns, a reading and a sermon. I think that we might be throwing away our money employing a person to try and attract people to a church where there might be nothing for them. I would describe our church as a Christian "club" where most of the members have been there for years. If we have visitors, they don't stay for long. I believe that if we go out into the community and lead people to Christ, they would end up bypassing our church and going to a church that would be more attractive for a new believer wanting to grow in grace. I am against poaching members from other churches.

So, I am open to ideas and opinions about the characteristics of a growing church where new believers would want to attend, and where young families would find attractive to them. I think that we need to change the culture of our church. I know that there are quite a few interesting and passionate members on this forum and I welcome what you have to share with me.

Note: This is a fellowship thread. Please don't advise me to leave the church. I feel called of God to support my church, even though it is in bad shape and dying. I would not be happy leaving the good people in the lurch. By the way, I am the senior elder and regular preacher and worship leader in the church, sharing the preaching and worship leading with a ministry team. We don't have an ordained minister. Our last two ministers were trained and ordained and promised to grow the church and the first one spent three years, and the last one four years and they ran the funds down from over $80,000 to nearly zero and did not produce the results they promised. So now we are an elder-run church.

So, let's be having you!

Church is good to support.
But has nothing to do with the Sunday club you attend -it is not the church.
So your not really supporting "the church" by remaining.
Your supporting those in the club that are yet to see their dire need.
The need repent of their faith in the sunday club
And put it back in Jesus and then prove they have by going and obeying him.so displaying their love for him.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Church is good to support.
But has nothing to do with the Sunday club you attend -it is not the church.
So your not really supporting "the church" by remaining.
Your supporting those in the club that are yet to see their dire need.
The need repent of their faith in the sunday club
And put it back in Jesus and then prove they have by going and obeying him.so displaying their love for him.

I agree that my church is more like a Sunday club than what the Church should be, and I have been quite clear in my preaching about that to them. But even Sunday "clubs" need voices for the Lord in them to keep them aware that there is more to Christian faith and worship than what they have at present. I think I'd rather be where I am trying to encourage the people whom I love and respect, to get more of God, than to leave and go to a church where I might end up just sitting in a pew doing no good at all. Jesus went up against the Jewish religious establishment and in spite of all His teaching and miracles He did not succeed in changing their religious ideas or their traditions; and He ended up losing His life. Yet there were some leaders and priests who did become His disciples. Was it Ezekiel who was told by the Lord to go and give His Word to the people even if they did not listen. The fact that he faithfully gave the Word of God to those people meant that He did God's will even if his listeners were rebelling against it.

It is interesting to note that my church is supporting a Kenyan pastor who has been winning souls in a mighty way and has planted a church in a Muslim area of his country. So my "Sunday club" people are generously contributing to that work and souls are being saved as a result. People can look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart of people.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

If you analyse most churches in western countries, you will not find the perfect church. Many leave churches because the churches and the leaderships don't measure up to their expectations. Most of those who walk out of churches go, not because God has told them to, but they have decided on their own bat to go and find a church that better suits their "spiritual" (in reality, fleshly) aspirations.

But there are courageous and faithful souls who know and love the Lord and have the right knowledge and appreciation of God's Word. They choose to stay in these churches and speak out against the things they see are false. Not that they concentrate on the negative, but they boldly show the truth through His Word.

Faithful believers like that are more likely to be sidelined and thrown out of those churches. I think that it is better for a faithful believer to be thrown out of a church, because he is fulfilling the Scripture, "They will throw you out of their synagogues." Then they can brush the dust off their shoes against them and go on their way rejoicing, and leave it for God to deal with that church in His own way.

I think that it is important not to be a "stirrer", always concentrating on the weaknesses of a church or its leadership. That way, if you are thrown out of the church it will be your own fault. It is better to be a prayerful and wise person, seeking God for opportunities to apply His Word in a positive way. If there are false prophecies, ask the Lord for genuine prophecies and give them in the Sunday service. If there are false claims of miracles, seek God for the true gift of healing and working of miracles and allow the Holy Spirit to work through you in that way. Jesus said we are the salt of the earth. You can flavour a church with your faithful attitude to His Word and minister light where there is darkness. Consider the prayer of St Francis of Assisi. He was a faithful believer in the Medieval Church where there were so many things that were false and inconsistent with God's Word. He remains as a light in that darkness because he remained faithful and positive. Brother Lawrence was another one. He practiced the presence of God wherever he was, and he is fondly remembered by Catholics and Protestants alike.

If you walk out of a church because it doesn't suit you, you could be losing a wonderful opportunity to prove the faithfulness of God in a place where there is much unfaithfulness. This is why I think most leave churches for selfish reasons, not because God is leading them elsewhere. And those who leave churches in this way actually become nothing and largely forgotten. But those who remain and are valiant for truth and end up bruised and bloody because they stand up for Jesus, they are the ones who will shine when Jesus comes again.

There is a number of Mormons who became converted to Christ and saw through the errors of their church. Instead of leaving the church, they decided to form a group called "Mormons for Christ". with the aim of sharing the gospel and getting other Mormons converted to Christ. These are the courageous ones. They will be persecuted by strict Mormons who will not accept the gospel, and some will be thrown out of the church, but they are doing a much more meaningful and powerful work for Christ than if they decided to leave the church. These men and women are to be respected and they will be honoured by God as those who remained shining lights even where the seat of Satan is.

 

[Zayin7]

I agree that my church is more like a Sunday club than what the Church should be, and I have been quite clear in my preaching about that to them. But even Sunday "clubs" need voices for the Lord in them to keep them aware that there is more to Christian faith and worship than what they have at present. I think I'd rather be where I am trying to encourage the people whom I love and respect, to get more of God, than to leave and go to a church where I might end up just sitting in a pew doing no good at all. Jesus went up against the Jewish religious establishment and in spite of all His teaching and miracles He did not succeed in changing their religious ideas or their traditions; and He ended up losing His life. Yet there were some leaders and priests who did become His disciples. Was it Ezekiel who was told by the Lord to go and give His Word to the people even if they did not listen. The fact that he faithfully gave the Word of God to those people meant that He did God's will even if his listeners were rebelling against it.

It is interesting to note that my church is supporting a Kenyan pastor who has been winning souls in a mighty way and has planted a church in a Muslim area of his country. So my "Sunday club" people are generously contributing to that work and souls are being saved as a result. People can look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart of people.

or even better .. GO out into the word to seek and save the lost also .
i'm convinced Jesus meant what he said in everything .
And he did not bother spending time with those who "think" they are already good enough . so-feel free to reevaluate just how much you will accomplish among those that ,for years have heard the word, but still not begun to be doers of it . consider what hard hardheartedness ,what consistent rebellion must be applied to maintain such self deception .Sure God is able and willing to change any one of us who are also willing .
read the book "Sound doctrine " by Torben sondergaard . ebook is version is FREE from the link on his website . For "some" to fund a work for god elsewhere is no small thing .but if that work elsewhere is simply creating more pew sitters (which it is a known fact that is what happens for the most part) .then what are we really supporting ? I would rather see one person come to faith repent ,be baptized in water ,be baptized in the holy Spirit with evidence of tongues who them goes out to find another then 10,000 who go and sit in pews .

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

or even better .. GO out into the word to seek and save the lost also .
i'm convinced Jesus meant what he said in everything .
And he did not bother spending time with those who "think" they are already good enough . so-feel free to reevaluate just how much you will accomplish among those that ,for years have heard the word, but still not begun to be doers of it . consider what hard hardheartedness ,what consistent rebellion must be applied to maintain such self deception .Sure God is able and willing to change any one of us who are also willing .
read the book "Sound doctrine " by Torben sondergaard . ebook is version is FREE from the link on his website . For "some" to fund a work for god elsewhere is no small thing .but if that work elsewhere is simply creating more pew sitters (which it is a known fact that is what happens for the most part) .then what are we really supporting ? I would rather see one person come to faith repent ,be baptized in water ,be baptized in the holy Spirit with evidence of tongues who them goes out to find another then 10,000 who go and sit in pews .

Great reply. Thank you.