6 On-Ramps for Your Church
Church Growth Refresher
At the medium size church, we had partnered with Saline Schools to fill a truck trailer with school furniture, musical instruments, children’s and youth books, bicycles, and so much more for the Care Village orphanage in South Africa. It took 6-8 hours to pack the trailer at the middle school’s loading dock. I met a lot of teachers, parents, grade schoolers, and friends of our church people.
That Sunday a retired teacher and a family with youth came to worship and the potluck afterward. They had worked hard the day before filling that trailer. The mom told us that her 5th grader got her involved at the middle school library helping to sort books the school librarians thought we could send to the 104 children at Care Village.1
So Why Not?
The mom said she met so many nice people from the church many of whom she already knew from the community. One lady in her yoga class had invited her to the church previously, but she wasn’t really looking for a church. You know how it is. But yesterday was fun, she said. So why not?
The retired teacher and her husband shook my hand after worship and thanked me for being the interim pastor at such a kind church. They didn’t stay for lunch. They did come out and play golf at a Care Village fundraiser that summer.
What On-Ramps Does Your Church Offer?
How come no one visits our church anymore? How do we get back to the good old days when the pews were full? We keep praying but no one comes. These common questions reflect the difficulty of declining churches.
Today, rarely will someone drive past your church and stop. Like any good road, we need on-ramps - or ways to bring people into the community - to facilitate people into the life of the church. The following are numbered for clarity and not in order of importance.
Here are 6 on-ramps that might help grow your church community:
Build a New Church Reputation
Mission Projects that are fun & helpful
A new worship service
Adding musical options
Great Children / Youth / Adult Education
A Traveling Church
1. Build a New Church Reputation
Chances are most people in your community don’t know you exist. They may drive past you, but they still don’t know what you are all about. Or worse they have an unfair, negative view of who you are. Change your church's reputation.
Some church reputations you could choose (if they are true):
The Place Where They Volunteer in the Community
The Church Doing Work in Detroit (Insert your big city)
The Place With Great Music
The Traveling Church (see #6)
The Church with the Great Meals
The Place where our children have fun.
The Church that Teaches
Often our church vision/mission statements are insider jargon intended for Christians who know our church already. Building a new church reputation focuses on what you are already good at doing. And sharing this by word of mouth, on media, on socials, etc.
2. Mission Projects that are Fun and Helpful
Lots of people in our communities would like to do more to make the world a better place. Churches are good at this. Make your mission projects community opportunities.
Partner with your local schools on a project
Partner with a medical practice for a medical mission trip
Partner with a medical mission and gather supplies for them
Do a month of Tuesdays in good weather to head to the Big City to work at a homeless shelter, food pantry, or youth center doing maintenance work. Raise money to pay for the equipment needed.
Partner with a company’s volunteer group
3. A New Worship Service
Our worship services are often hard to enjoy for new people. People have their favorite seats. People like to talk to their friends at these services.2 People do things a certain way. Breaking in as a new person can be difficult.
If we start a second (3rd/4th) worship service then everyone coming is new and it is an easier on-ramp for new people. The music choice should be somewhat different (it doesn’t have to be radically different - but maybe that would be fun and bring in a completely new set of people that God calls into the life of the church.
In 2000, a church I served (as an associate) launched a new modern worship service. The traditional worship service grew by 20% as the new service went from a start number of 70 to 180 a week in 3 years.
4. Adding Musical Options
The Big Church had a great choir of 30 people and a few children’s choirs of several children. Then a new choir director came and set about expanding the musical options.
Add More Choir Seating
The new choir director added more seats in the chancel around the choir pews. They added more chairs in the choir room. They moved choir rehearsal to the sanctuary when they outgrew the choir room.
Why did more people come to the choir? A combination of reasons:
Singing of more upbeat contemporary choral music in 4-8 parts
Bi-monthly social events for the choir including theater outings, wine tastings, and dinners
The opportunity for singing solos, duets, quartets, and more for certain pieces in addition to the main 2-3 pieces
Strengthen the Children’s Choirs
The church got better training for the children’s choir directors. The children’s choirs sang some pieces with the larger adult choir. These choirs became “must dos” rather than “Mom, I don’t Wannas.”
One Robe Design
Choir robe replacements do not happen often because of the cost. Churches should prioritize new robes every 20 years. It brings a fresh look and better (breathable) fabrics often. This church got one choir design for all ages and sizes so that when the children sang with the adults it looked seamless. And the kids loved looking like their parents and grandparents.
5. Great Children/Youth/Adult Education
Your church could gain a reputation as a place where children discover and grow faith. What if children came to Jesus at your church? What if they were energized by classes and groups?
Most churches should pick one option between children, youth, and adults of which they already have that age bracket and make a great educational ministry. Then add the next segment when growth begins to happen.
What if We Have No Youth?
Then build a stronger adult education ministry that includes quarterly in-the-community learning options for parents of youth. Bring in a fantastic speaker for your local junior high or high school (let the school admin pick the speaker), but find someone who will also give a second talk at your church the next night. Sponsor details go on school PowerPoint and programs etc.
Find an Elementary School to Serve
Maybe we are not all called to have children and youth in our church walls. Maybe we are called to adopt a school and be a service arm to that school administrator and teacher faculty?
6. A Traveling Church
Many people love to travel. Your church could offer trips that anyone can sign up to enjoy. Have 55 seats on a bus, sell 25 to church people, and encourage them to sell 25 more seats to friends. Send 2 staff people on the outing to enjoy the trip as a perk (in addition to whoever is leading the trip). A children’s choir director and a friendly custodian will enjoy the trip and be talking up your church the whole time.
Some Trip Possibilities within a 2-hour Drive
Weekend Visit Chicago, Mackinac Island, New York City
Broadway Touring Musicals
Visit the Art Institute, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Motown Museum
A small town with a great lunch spot and shopping
Whitewater rafting
Hiking
Amusement park3
Attend a worship service at a large church with a great…
Some Trip Possibilities with 9-24 months’ Notice
Israel and Palestine
Egypt
Reformation sites in Europe
Montreat Conference Center Black Mountain, NC4
Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center 65 mi NW of Santa Fe, NM
The Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf 4 locations in Jamaica
Iona Abbey Scotland
A Criticism
An easy criticism of this blog is the lack of talk of God’s work in church growth. I assume that God wants our churches to be friendly, kind, spirit-filled, and Christ-centered. Unfortunately, our churches sometimes are all of these things but only for the people we already know.
Next Steps
Pick 2 of these 6 church growth on-ramps and talk with each other about how your church might engage with one of them in a six-month test. In five years, if you tried at least 3 of these on-ramps you would know more about who your church really is, and hopefully discover who it might become: a vibrant, life-giving Christian church.
The cover photo you may see on the website includes Bob Cindric, retired Saline school music teacher and the church’s music director for 40 years (since retired).
A friend visited a church I was a new interim. No one spoke to her. Someone even pressed past her to hug a friend behind her during the Passing of the Peace. A visitor would never return. And the church's reputation might become “The Rude Church.”
For a decade we did a 6-12th grade trip in a big bus to Cedar Point on Memorial Day and enjoyed the mostly empty park. For one low group ticket price, we got full-day admission and a free drink wristband. We had adult leaders assigned groups of 6-8th graders based on ride preference. High schoolers were released into the park in pairs with the cell numbers of two of our leaders and the requirement to check in at 1 p.m.
Montreat does excellent worship & music conferences each summer, many weeks of youth conferences, a great college conference between Christmas and New Year, writing or art workshops and so much more.
Full of great ideas. The issue with most churches is the willingness to try some of these ideas.