Category Archives: Church Growth

3 Groups, 3 Facts, 1 Church Census
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August 11, 2020

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Church Growth, Congregrational Ministries, Pastoring

3 Groups, 3 Facts, 1 Church Census

by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

Three Groups

Simple record-keeping provides an effective strategy to track progress as the church re-gathers from the shutdown imposed by this year’s pandemic.

This record-keeping can be complex and utilize advanced computer programs or a simple notebook can contain the essential records for the smaller church. The church leader with a working knowledge of spreadsheets can easily create a working tool to assist this very important ministry activity.

Some of this activity will happen accidentally or even naturally. With a modest effort, however, a good set of basic records can advance the process and enhance the ministry and growth of the church.
This record-keeping should identify three groups of attenders:

List #1: Members/regular attenders.

In Baptist churches, it is very important to have a list of members to maintain the congregational polity of the church. It is also very important to maintain a list of all the folks who are regular attenders. Regular attendees will generally be those folks who attend at least once every 6-8 weeks. Tracking weekly attendance can be a vital part of pastoral care and can be an aid in closing the back door if absentees are noticed and cared for.

List #2: Guests.

Guests are those who are attending for the first few times. Follow-up is impossible unless there is a mechanism to gain contact information from those who are guests. A good source of this information is a communication card that allows folks to share their information. Gifts at the welcome center also provide an incentive for completing the communication card.

List #3: Prospects

Prospects are those who have not yet attended. They may be family members and friends of regular attenders. They may be other folks from the community who have some connection with the church’s ministries. Prospects are only prospects if contact information is available for them and if some intentional effort is being made to cultivate them for attendance.

Once identified as prospects they can be included on prayer lists, invitation lists, mailing lists, etc.

Three Facts

As soon as possible three essential facts need to be recorded for every regular attender. The date of birth and/or date of first attendance needs to be on file. Date of birth allows age-appropriate targeting. For example, those who are under 5 will not be targeted for evangelism and membership while those over 15 will always be the target for evangelism and membership.

A conversion date is essential for all regular attenders/members. Many believers will not remember the specific date but can relate “I was 10 years old”. Records can be developed so that a realistic or working conversion date can be developed for everyone. Those who do not have a conversion date are then the specific targets for age-appropriate evangelism and special invitations to new member/discipleship classes.

A baptism/membership date for all regular attenders is essential. Baptism should never be separated from membership. Those who do not have a baptism/membership date on record are then the specific targets for contact and follow-up to help them make these very important decisions.

Church Census

One good way to gain this information is to do a church census every couple of years. Advertise that the church is reviewing all its records and looking to have a more accurate discipleship record for its attenders.

This is especially easy this year since the federal census is scheduled for 2020 and the follow-up work to complete it has now started. It would have been even easier in the Spring when there was a lot of promotion of the census but our congregations were scattered then so we didn’t do much of this kind of work. You may request a sample church census form that is easily copied by responding to this e-mail.

Another good way to keep this information up to date is to have a member profile form as part of the new member’s/discipleship class. This form is completed at the conclusion of the class as part of the membership application.

Way back in the Old Testament the Lord offered sound advice that still rings true today:

“Take a census of the whole Israelite community” Numbers 1:2

Numbers in the 21st Century Church
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August 4, 2020

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Church Growth

Numerology in the 21st Century

by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

While numbers in the current pandemic center around numbers of new cases and the percentage of hospital beds utilized for COVID patients, numbers in the ancient world often became code language for names and phrases. The ancients had a secret code that assigned number values to specific letters. This secret code allowed secret communication. One such example was discovered in graffiti on the walls of Pompeii preserved by the volcanic ash that destroyed that city in A.D. 79. “I love her whose number is 545” lives on as a final love letter by an anonymous romantic.

For Christians, the most famous remnant of this kind of numerology comes from Revelation 13:18 where the number of the beast, a man’s number, is defined as 666.

Because of the sinister nature of that number a genuine dread of it pervades some Christian communities. Psychologists even have an elaborate name for the fear of the number 666. It is called Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

One example of this fear of 666 was found in that stretch of highway in the western United States originally named U.S. Route 666. The naming was originally done in keeping with the pattern used across the country. It was the 6th spur of US Highway 66. But when accidents and incidents become more common it became known as “Devil’s Highway” and was later renamed U.S. Route 491.

Numbers have an ongoing significance for churches in the United States and it behooves church leaders to be familiar with the nature and use of these numbers as they re-engage ministry in the “new normal”.

  1. Federal Government Numbers of Interest

Tax Exempt Organizations 501(c)3

501(c) exemptions tend to be a bit misunderstood, and too often you’ll hear people wondering how political groups, or organizations like the NFL, are given tax-exempt status. The problem is that, when most people think about tax-exempt organizations, they are picturing corporations that have filed for 501(c)3 status.

501(c)3 entities typically have charitable, educational, or religious missions, thus any donations are tax-deductible. A 501(c)3 exemption is also the most popular type tax exemption – 74% of all 501(c)s are 501(c)3. However, there are twenty-eight other types of 501(c) eligible groups, and only two can solicit donations as tax-deductible.

For General Baptist churches 501(c)3 status is granted to participating churches under an umbrella ruling from the Internal Revenue Service. This status can be important when making grant applications or clarifying non-profit status for certain tax exemptions. A letter certifying 501(3)c status is available upon request.

Employer Identification Number

This unique number, which is issued by the federal government, is used by the IRS in order to quickly and easily identify each business for tax purposes. The EIN serves as a Social Security Number for a business, organization, trust, or foundation. The EIN is issued by the IRS through an on-line application that only requires a few minutes to complete.
This EIN will be used by churches on 941 tax withholding forms, 1099 and W-2 forms and to secure banking or investment accounts.

  1. State Government Numbers of Interest

Sales Tax Exemption

States are free to choose whether to tax non-profit and charitable organizations. Certain requirements must be met for an organization to qualify for a sales tax exemption. Many states tie their exemption to federal provisions under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code. Other states tie their exemption determination to the purpose of the organization (i.e. charitable, religious, educational, not-for-profit).

For most states that grant an exemption to non-profit organizations, the exemption is for purchases of items used in conducting exempt activities. If the organization makes sales that compete with for-profit companies, their sales are often either subject to sales tax when sold or taxable when purchased. Examples of potentially exempt organizations are schools, churches, non-profit hospitals, charitable organizations, and PTAs.

Contact your state’s Department of Revenue and request an application for a sales tax certificate of exemption. The tax-exemption certificate you need may vary depending on what product or service you seek tax exemption from.

Sales tax exemption certificates enable a purchaser to make tax-free purchases that would normally be subject to sales tax. The purchaser fills out the certificate and gives it to the seller. The seller keeps the certificate and may then sell property or services to the purchaser without charging sales tax.
Note that the renewal period of exemption certificates varies by state and by type of exemption. Some states’ exemption certificates do not expire. Other states’ certificates expire within a set period of time.

In most cases, the sales tax exemption from one state is not valid in another state so a church doing business out of state may need to make a special application for sales tax exemption or be prepared to pay sales taxes in that state.

In all cases, sales tax exemption is granted to purchases made by the church and should not be claimed by individuals who are purchasing on behalf of the church using their personal funds even if those purchases are to be reimbursed. To properly claim sales tax exemption the purchase should be made by church check or church credit card.

State Employer Identification Number

This unique number, which is issued by the state government, is used to quickly and easily identify each business for tax purposes. Each state will issue its own State Employer Identification Number that is valid for purposes in that state. This number will be used on state tax withholding reports as well as 1099 and W-2 income reports.

Two Really Important Numbers

Here are two other really important numbers.

There is only one (1) way to connect with God and that is through Jesus Christ.

While there are approximately 7.8 billion people alive today on planet earth, each one (1) of them can connect with God when they hear the Good News of forgiveness of sin and eternal life offered by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, “ for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” Romans 10:13-14

Powerball theory of church growth
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July 28, 2020

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Church Growth, Congregrational Ministries, Leadership

The Powerball Theory of Church Growth

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?