It’s almost the end of the year 2017. Your church is likely in the process of doing annual year-end planning for the next year. One vital piece that seems to be on everyone’s agenda is church growth. Here are 10 fundamental tips for ensuring church growth next year:
- Have a Genuine Desire for your Church to Grow. If it is in your heart to grow as a church, then you must be willing to make church growth as your goal and be committed to making changes.
- Make Sundays Special. While the quality of praise and worship services is important, the sermons are still the star. Use your creativity to appeal to the masses by creating fun sermons that will touch the hearts of the unbelievers while still being relevant to the church members.
- Create a Welcoming Experience. Make sure your visitors don’t feel ignored. To do this, you can usher them to a seat and ask them if they need anything else. Always strive to give them a positive first-timer experience.
- Make Serving a Big Part of your Church Culture. Not only should your church community be more externally focused than internally focused, coordinating consistent opportunities to serve the neighborhood gives your people yet another way to invite their friends to join in and get to know your church members and community. People will be more willing to visit on a Sunday after they serve shoulder-to-shoulder with church members leading the efforts to do some good for your local town.
- Begin Hosting Multiple Services. 11 a.m. on Sunday is no longer the preferred hour of the weekend. You need to consider launching a new worship service time this next year. By doing so, you create new possibilities for people to attend church.
- Invest in Young People. Did you know that if 80% of the population of your church is adults, there is a possibility that it is a dying church. Focus on the youth. Give them disciplers and mentors. See how fast your church will grow.
- Attract a Crowd through Large Events and Holidays. Make sure you put enough planning into the “big days” like Christmas and Easter. But think also about other family-friendly Sundays and events you can plan and publicize throughout the year, such as Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Invite-a-Friend Day.
- Seek to Learn (and Network) with other Church Leaders. Growing churches are led by growing leaders. And one of the most efficient, fruitful and fun ways to grow is to engage with other like-minded leaders of similar groups and churches. You’ll be surprised how many leaders will jump at the invitation to have a periodic meeting where you share ideas and updates.