Church Growth 101

I had the privilege of talking with someone in ministry the other day. His name is Steven Lawrence, a worship leader and evangelist at NBNH Church. He suggested hiring a social media manager for their church because having a social presence is important, but the folks at his church are just too overwhelmed with their current obligations to take up that responsibility.

Reading between the lines of that statement from Steven means that church growth is a problem and perhaps there is no system in place for welcoming growth. With that being said, it is still a good place to begin, because at least he sees the potential power having a social presence can harness. Based on this conversation with Steven, the reality is that most churches are not exactly thinking about systems. It’s a largely under appreciated topic for most churches out there and from listening to many Pastors and their strategies, the Pastors that already own a business usually have the advantage because they already know that systems are important.

There’s a podcast called Church Candy that had a pastor on for one of their episodes and he said something really powerful. He said “It is true when they say that an organization is only as successful as the systems that are put in place.” While most people would agree with this statement, it is actually harder to even find out what systems need to be in place to grow an organization.

A church is an organization and also a business, most people shy away from the latter terminology, but it’s a fact that you cannot run away from. In order for growth to start in the church, it takes putting in place systems that work together for the same common purpose in the end. Since we are on the topic of church growth through having a social presence, let’s talk about some systems that are necessary to initiate growth.

The first step is to have a meeting and talk about the “Why”. Why does the church need to grow? There are many reasons why, but the most important one is to spread the Gospel to everyone. The next most important reason is to impact lives in a positive way and the third most important reason is to grow the financial resources of the church, so the church can help more people and be a blessing to the world. Identifying that church growth cannot happen without having a social presence is a mental shift that needs to happen with the group of people you are meeting with.

The second step is to come up with a plan for creating a social media team if you have willing volunteers and rules and guidelines for what kind of content is to be created and the process for green-lighting posts.

Third, think of all the things you would want to happen if someone or yourself was visiting your church and write them down. In other words, if someone plans a visit to your church, what does that look like and when they arrive, what would that experience be? Write out all those things and then structure them and rearrange them so there is a complete process from start to finish for when a person finds out about your church, then decides to visit, and actually visit for the first time, and then leaves at the end of service. This step is crucial because it now moves your mental state to not just thinking about needing to have a social presence, but now your mind is thinking about maximizing on the benefits of having a social presence.

Other systems like sermon delivery, sermon structure, sermon prep, praise and worship and the list goes on are also viable areas that should be considered when a church is interested in growth. Say goodbye to just person inviting person being the best way to grow a church. Move into the new way, which is having a social presence and systems in place in order to see growth in this day and age.

In the coming articles, church systems will be discussed and how they can be implemented so that the experience of growing a church becomes easier and more manageable from a systematic and technological standpoint.