What makes a growing church

Every great brand has its own distinctive look and feel and a church shouldn't be any different. You want people to feel something when they see your brand, so the first thing you should do is create a logo. If you want your church to feel inclusive and inviting, a logo with outstretched arms would be a good place to start.

Make sure that the name of your church is big and bold in the logo. In , there were about , churches in the United States. Like it or not, people have options. They'll shop around for what fits them and their spiritual needs, so make yours stand out from the crowd.

You don't have to be a graphic designer to come up with a big, bold, catchy logo. Websites like Canva give you the option of creating a logo from scratch or from a template, and you can access it from an app on your phone as well.

This is one of the most important first steps because you'll use this logo on your marketing, whether it's in print, online, TV, etc. Now that you have a logo, send it out into the world to work its magic! Luckily, we live in an era where church marketing doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

Start from within your existing congregation and work your way out. You're going to want your logo on everything. Offering envelopes, letterheads, etc. Put your logo on t-shirts and sweatshirts; your parishioners will proudly wear them in public and become roaming advertisements. Make sure you have a readable sign with your logo on it outside the church; it's the first thing people will see when they pass by and first impressions are important. With any kind of signage, including yard signs, don't feel the need to include the word "church" if you're pressed for room.

If people are interested in what's on the sign, they'll look it up. Now that we've talked about good ole' fashioned print advertising, we have to address the digital aspect.

A lot of pastors, priests and church staff are intimidated by the idea of digitally promoting their church, and rightfully so. In a world of TikTok challenges and hashtags, how on earth does a place of worship make its mark?

First of all, if you don't already have a website with a custom domain that is the name of your church, get one. GoDaddy has great, easy-to-use templates to build from if you're technologically challenged. The most important part of your website is your domain or your web address. If your church is called Elmdale Methodist Church, you want to direct people to elmdalemethodist.

Get your custom domain to make it easy for people to find your website. Make sure your website is simple and user-friendly. You want to appeal to everybody, not just your current parishioners. Give a "who we are, what we do, where we are located" and include a "contact us" page. Make it easy for people to get in touch with you. The days of needing to spend thousands or even hundreds on web design and development are long gone. In fact, many churches can get a professional website for the monthly price of their domain and hosting it on a server.

Both the server and the domain are additional items your website needs anyways. The server stores the website and the domain allows a pathway for people to find it. Many churches will use Wix and Squarespace, two drag and drop website creators that allow anyone to build a professional website in the span of a few hours.

These services don't charge a thing for building and maintaining the website. Your digital presence should also include social media. There are 7. If you don't already have them, make Facebook , Instagram and Twitter accounts for your church. Create a YouTube channel where people can go to see Sunday services and special events.

Many families go to church online instead of in-person, and this trend will likely continue permanently. And don't just use your social media platforms to broadcast Sunday service.

To effectively grow we must be making disciples that continually work to produce other disciples. This is not to say that this is the case at large churches as Saddleback Church. In fact I believe the principles that Rick Warren has shared with us are a great reminder; however, I believe we must remember to keep the main thing the main thing. Keep it coming. We need to make sure we are more God driven than man driven. I really appreciate the reminder that growth begins with our desire and the practical reminders that we must be willing to make structural and systemic changes.

I think there are three deeper questions worth asking as well: 1. Why do you want to change? Growth at what cost. We are also called to worship and fellowship. I agree that these are NOT to become more important that seeing the lost found, but are to be held in harmony. Is growing your church in one place the healthiest way for you to grow? What is your leadership capacity? Can you impact the kingdom more by sending new congregations vs building bigger? Mine Oh mine this is profound, yet simple.

How I wish there is a way to share this with all pastors who are becoming depressed because all their effort at seen their churches grow has not yielded enough results.

Thanks God bless U! If he really wants it to grow, it […]. However, I have said many times it allows me to practice my faith in God, by helping those who are less fortunate and in need. Often the ways we can engage the community in our clubs and our churches are similar. The following ideas have been adapted from the writings of Rick Warren.

And the people in your congregation must also be willing to accept changes. May God bless you and anoint you as you begin to implement these changes. Related Articles. Rick Warren Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church , one of America's largest and most influential churches. His book, The Purpose Driven Church , was named one of the Christian books that changed the 20th century. Pastor Rick started The PEACE Plan to show the local church how God works through ordinary people to address the five global giants of spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy.

He is also the founder of Pastors. Leave A Comment How did this make an impact? Cancel reply. Michael Johnson July 13, at am. Tyler Smith March 4, at am. MJ March 3, at pm. Cindy Hazen June 2, at pm. Isaac Nardoh March 29, at pm.

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Need-oriented evangelism proclaims the gospel message of the kingdom Acts Loving relationships come through sharing in thought and action, caring for one another Matthew What should each member do?

Consider these eight characteristics: Lead by empowering other members to grow. Use your God-given gifts to serve God and your neighbor. Be passionate, on fire, with joy and enthusiasm for the body of Christ. Enable structure in the church to function effectively.

Participate as your gifts allow and pray for inspiration in worship services. Join or form a small group to apply weekend worship to daily living. Evangelize by sharing your Christian life by example and story. Practice sincere love by sharing your joy with other members. Author: Russell Duke Previous Article. Next Article. Help us provide more content like this by giving today Donate. Everyone contributes their spiritual gifts for mutual edification. I am in a church with an ageing population.

It acts more like a club than a church, I am so thankful for finding your website. I have no idea where to start. First, know your not alone in the resistance your facing. God loves them and wants them to grow much more than we do. Hang in there. Carey, thank you for this article!

You hit so many nails on the head! Thank you. Ordering Lasting Impact right now. I realized early in ministry that members were engaged in mission yet it was unknown and not celebrated by the congregation. By having a moment for mission at the time of the offering each week gave members an opportunity to share their passion and allowed the congregation to affirm and celebrate their Christian service.

Growing up in the church the only Christian service celebrated and honored was the volunteerism in the church. It was as if the personal mission work was not of value. By creating opportunities for sharing personal missions, children, youth and adults expanded the vision of the church and enticed others in the congregation to be involved.

For example, one youth shared that much of her allowance went toward sponsoring a child in another country. Her sharing led 15 others to do the same. If no one was available to share on any particular Sunday the mission ministry shared highlighted a mission partner, special offering or a church project. How wonderful it was to claim individual acts of Christian service as a part of the ministry of the congregation and bless these individuals as church ambassadors in the community.

This is an inspirational article Carey. Engagement is key to church growth. How do you feel about encouraging members each service to write down the most powerful message from each service? This involves active listening. Then, ask them to share this message with others.

This not only maintains engagement at church but allows the member to engage with potential new members about the church. Another way of engaging people both in and out of the church and sharing information about the church, is recommending the church to join churchesnear. Yes, I am a little bias as I developed the site, but for that same reason I know the site is designed for the sole purpose of helping churches grow.

Once a church joins, new people who just moved to the area and are looking for a church can find your church. Even better, it allows everyone to share your church on the most popular social media platforms to their community.

Just visit churchesnear. If anyone needs help growing their church, just leave a reply and I will be glad to assist. God bless. My background consists of Regional Sales Management in which I built teams of door to door salesman under contract with national Telecom companies. Praying for insight on how to break this cycle and build cooperative mindsets.

He has dropped a lot of the monthly groups like Men under fire due to low attendance. Even after stamping out a majority of the ethical problems, gossiping and putting into practice actual church doctrine the struggle remains as attendance drops.

I want to help my pastor and mentor just not sure how. My only immediate idea is to make a plan and head out alone and maybe build membwr interest and change the environment through increased visitor results? But fear the potential negative impact on working age families upon visiting since it seems most members do not care about empty chairs as long as they have their parking spot, favorite church seats and small network of coffee drinking friends.

Am experiencing church growth now… Kindly help me with things to do to retain church members. This Is a good post and a great read. Thank you for writing this article. It has helped us a lot. This is really great. I pastor Khokan Biswas from Kolkata India. Then , who will provide initial money to church growth? Here offering collection each Sunday is Rs. Then for discipleship trainings ,Sunday school program and conducting fasting program where from the money will come?

In entire four gospels are not The Lord taught multitudes spiritual things and also sometimes He fed them? In India if you follow the same rules then believers and church will increase rapidly. That is the truth. In Christ. Forgive me Carey, but this article hit me hard. It is more Carnival Barker strategies being barked from the pulpit. If what is happening is not reaching people where they are, you will be forcing them to do things, and what is not necessary is more stuff to do.

Thank you, God will increase your wisdom and foresight. These are practical ways to move the people of God. Usually, it irritates me when you post old content. This time, the hair is rising on the back of my neck.

My first preaching series in the new year is going to be all about engaging in the coming year — with God, with each other, with the community. Thanks for some sermon fodder! I enjoy reading the information provided for church growth. Thank you so very very much. I will try using these methods. Have you written anything about what that mission should be?

Pray on it, discuss with any leaders in your church, etc. But I believe the Great Commission to be the central mission of the Church the collective body of Christ in general. I know my readers would enjoy your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail. I learned some lessons from this post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the church growth God bless. I have been so blessed by the approach and in my church I act in office of the administration, I really need someone willing to extend a hand so that we can move this agenda.

I have for the past been listening to some preachers say about how the church is weakening but I had not experienced it. So I need a team we can invite you to our church so that we practically exercise these strategies.

Thank you and God bless you. Super helpful post! Really loved the bit about expecting people to engage. Great article! This puts into laser focus the practicality needed in our church. Now, I pray the Lord will help me to do this here. Here are 7 ways to grow church attendance by increasing engagement. Great article, indeed; and of course, well delivered! Just an observation on point 6 Active Language from an old English teacher.

A simple way to mobilize your current members? Equip them with tools that make it easier to […]. I am so greatful to be here, it has bored my ministry for awhile now looking around for solutions. Hope you will always keep in touch in with me. I learned a lot of new revelations here. Thank you sharing these.