How do churches grow?

How do churches grow? And, what is the Rectors role? While there are many ways in which churches can grow, there are some simple elements that I have employed to increase church growth. And there are several categories of growth: youth, young families, seniors or prime-timers, financially, or in raw numbers of people. For this conversation I will focus on raw numbers and finances.

It is important to define: who you are, what drives your church, organizing around your purposes, who and where is your target. Often churches focus just on getting new people into the church. Churches do advertisements, mailings, etc. In marketing we learn that the best mailing list a business has is the one that presently exist within the business. The same goes for churches. Most often we are not doing a very good job of taking care of the people that are presently attending church. We need to start here. If we can guide these people to love their God and their church they will be salespersons for Christ. They are our best resource for growing the church numbers. We must take care of those who are presently attending. This is done by effective and good preaching and personal interaction with the community of faith, excellent music, etc. Our intent is to convert attendees to members. My present church attendance is running 35% ahead of the previous year because of this simple method.

Secondly, listening to the gossip, and listening to what is not being said is very important for me as rector. Most often I find out about people who are sick, in the hospital, jail, etc, through other people. When I ask someone “how are you,” their response and tone of voice tells me whether or not I need to follow up with them. I call it paying attention to the people. I call everyone in my church once a month to make sure they are healthy and well. I ask how I may pray for them and their family.

Parishioners

How have you enabled parishioners to discuss controversial issues, and to share their differences openly, without jeopardizing relationships? This is very difficult. As a pastor, I have experienced conflict many times. Two that I will bring to your attention are: once was at St. Johns when the homosexual Bishop of New Hampshire was elected and the other was at Grace where I am now. At St. Johns we engaged in good healthy controlled spirit lead conversation, no yelling, etc. We stayed centered on the cross and Gospel.

We stayed in love because we were allowed to express ourselves and we agreed to disagree. Grace in 2000 over the issues of human sexuality and leadership of women in the church. 12 people chose not to leave. A few Methodist came to Grace Episcopal Church and asked if they could start a church. The 12 said, why don’t you come and worship with us?”

When I arrived they were about 25-30 strong combined. It was difficult to work through as both sides fought for one-ups-man-ship, turf, etc. There were tears, and temper tantrums. We worked through a Memorandum of Understanding, which was approved by the national churches on both sides. We stayed centered on the cross and the Gospel. We worship together every Sunday. Two Sundays a month the Methodists have their preacher, and two Sundays a month the Episcopalians have me. We celebrate side by side as the body of Christ.

We are not trying to reverse 200 years of history. We are a new church in love with each other. The hard road is behind us, and few remember the stress of it all.

Spiritual Growth

What are the most important signs of spiritual growth within the community of faith? There are several indicators of spiritual growth, and again, I will mention only two. One is the participation of the faith community in the church. What is their commitment to Christ's people and Christ's The Church? Are they hungry for more learning, i.e., Bible study, volunteering in the church itself?

The second indicator is the faith community’s participation in the stewardship of the church time, talent and treasure. There should be an equal balance. For us as Episcopalians, it’s most often easier to send a check then our hands.  All three of my churches have had in excess of 80 % congregational support/participation in the life of the church.

Volunteers

What are the most important ways in which you manage and motive volunteer participation? How have you broadened volunteer participation? How have you handled a volunteer who became a burden/obstacle? There are several ways to motivate people to volunteer. Just two of these here…I believe people will follow those whom they respect. Respect is a gift that takes time to build. I do it slowly and deliberatively. If people see me doing it, or see how passionate I am about a project, they usually will offer to help. The second way is to convince the people of the value of the activity and its worth to the church. I must paint the picture and they must want to sign on.

Every church has its "Ray", or difficult person. I must find out why they are difficult; why they are acting in a certain way, contrary to healthy participation; meet them where they are and not try to bring them to where I am. I must love them a bit more.

Where is the Episcopal Church USA going?

Only God knows. We are a church born out of chaos. It started with King Henry and continued when we broke away from the Church of England. It continued with the changing of prayer books, to the ordination of women, to where we are today. One thing I admire about the Episcopal Church, right or wrong, is that we are not afraid to take a stand when others are waffling. Every denomination is wrestling with the same issues. Where are we going? I think some clarification will come out of the Bishops meetings this fall. Will we split? Yes, and we already have. We split before the ordination of a gay bishop. In any town of any size you will find an Episcopal Church that resonates with you. Gay, 1928 prayer book, happy church, ecumenical, high church, low church, etc. Take your pick, its all there.

I believe the meeting in the fall of 2007 will give us a greater definition of who we are and where we are going. The most important thing for us, the “church”, is to keep our eyes on the cross. When we take our eyes off the cross and put them on each other we get into trouble. We need to fervently pray for guidance, wisdom, and direction from God.

For me, I will keep my eyes on the cross. My ordination vows say that I will preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that I am to be the Shepard of the flock. That’s what I do and that is my responsibility. I do not do politics’ from the pulpit. It’s not fair to the people. They come to hear about Jesus.  They come to find a balance.