by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

I keep not-winning the multi-million dollar Powerball drawings. Every few months I hear about someone who had the chosen set of numbers, with the result that early retirement appears to be on their horizon.

My wife and I have often speculated about what we would do with several hundred million dollars.

When we first starting playing that game we always included mortgages paid off, new cars all around, and student loans for the boys retired early. We quickly ran out of things to purchase so I suppose that if we would have won in those days we would have just had to purchase a large vault to pile full of the leftover cash.

Since only one of several million people win and since I don’t buy tickets I just kept my day job, continued my mortgage payments, and offered a little help to my recent college graduates.

Now, if I were to buy a ticket and if it were to be a winner we couldn’t pay off the mortgage so I guess we’d have to purchase an even larger vault to store the cash. Perhaps we’d need our own armored car for transport.

Church leaders often have a power ball mentality of church growth. They assume there is one thing they can do to bring the crowds back to worship. The four areas I run across most often in this church growth sweepstakes are

1. Worship Style. I often hear people advocate a return to traditional worship as THE key to church growth. I hear even more often people bemoan their lack of contemporary worship as THE missing ingredient to bring about church growth. Neither a reactionary return to keyboard-driven worship nor a proactive investment in a praise team will result in a crowd at church. The lesson here is that what-we-do is not as important as who-we-are as we develop relationships with people and invite them to join us on the journey of Christian faith.
2. Technology. It is rare these days to find a church without a sound system and it is almost as rare to find a church without a projection system. These technological tools will not, by themselves, reach people. If the culture of a congregation does not value reaching and caring for people, no amount of technology will do the job.
3. Décor. New paint and carpet may be sorely needed but new décor cannot by itself attract people. Since the vast majority of unchurched folks have never entered a church building the color scheme, while important, will not be decisive in reaching them.
4. New Preacher. Pastoral leadership is a key factor in a church’s growth yet in a congregational system of church government it will almost never be THE major factor in a church’s lack of growth. Long before lay leaders plan for the pastor’s replacement the honest question of “Who is really in charge here?” needs to be answered.

While there is no one thing that will result in the sweepstakes win of a record worship attendance, there are four core processes that will always be effective in winning people and growing the church. I like the way Bill Easum and Bill Tenny-Brittian identify them: invite, assimilate, disciple, and commission.

• Invite — we encourage and give opportunities for folks to invite others to worship with them. For a church that has never encouraged this behavior it is helpful to plan for at least two but not more than four of those seasons when the focus becomes inviting someone to worship with you.
• Assimilate — once new folks have begun attending it is vitally important that they find a place to belong and feel a genuine sense of connection with the ministries and programs of the church. Church growth experts used to advocate making friends in the early connections to the church as absolutely necessary to retain a high percentage of newly attending folks.
• Disciple — people need to be taught the essentials of the faith and the components of a faith walk.
  • Discipleship happens one on many when the pastor uses occasional teaching series of messages to provide instruction.
  • Discipleship happens one-on-some when small groups function and class groups allow personal interaction.
  • Disciple happens one on one when mentoring and equipping programs partner a senior member with a junior member so that service that begins as I-D0 and You-Watch becomes I-Watch and You-Do.
• Commission — folks that have come into the fellowship are then sent out to do the ministry and make the connections that continue the process. You tell one and I’ll tell another!

These processes when repeated and sustained will attract a crowd and grow a church.

What core processes need attention in your church as we cope with the new normal?