How Can I Help My Church to Grow part 3

Part 1 (here) Part 2 (here)

Do you really want to help your church to grow? Then make sure you’ve answered these two preliminary questions first: Why do I want my church to grow? and What do I mean by church growth? If you’ve answered these questions, hurrah! (I’m happy!) If not (I’m sad). 

Here are 8 things you can do to help your church to grow. 

1.     If you want your church to grow, Pray for it. 

Yes, pray. The kind of holistic growth we’ve been taking about in this blog series requires God’s help. No Christian individual and no Christian congregation can become all they should be without the power of God’s grace operating in their life. Pray individually for your church’s growth and pray regularly. 

2.     If you want your church to grow, Be there. 

In terms of numbers alone (which is not the end goal of Christian growth), you can increase attendance in a congregation in one of two ways: 1) attracting new attenders and 2) by encouraging current attenders to worship more regularly. Be there each Sunday, unless there is some good reason for you not to be there (e.g. staying at home to watch my latest yodeling video). When there is a major event, be there. A church can’t grow without a core base of faithful worshippers and attenders.  

3.     If you want your church to grow, Worship well. 

It’s not enough to just show up and do time in a pew week after week. Worship well. Participate fully in the service, sing (even if you don’t have a good voice), pay attention to the sermon (even if it isn’t that great), respond with energy to shared responses, and in general be dialed into what is happening. Not only will this benefit your own spiritual life, but potential newcomers pick up on the dynamics of worshippers when they visit. A church full of half-engaged worshippers isn’t very attractive, a church that is worshipping well is.  

We’ll have to stop here, my yodeling class starts in a few minutes. So while you’re waiting for next week’s post, you can ponder this very difficult riddle: You find me in December, but not in any other month.  

What do you think about these three ways to grow your church? Share in the comments below.