What do you need to do differently?

I was meeting with a pastor search committee  from a small church. I asked the usual question I normally asked these committees, "What do you need from your next pastor?" I received the usual answer I had come to expect, "We want a pastor who can help grow our church."  I had never responded this way before to another church, but I responded, "So, in other words, you want a pastor who will come here and change everything you are doing. You do understand that if you could grow by doing what you've been doing you would already be growing, so if you want to grow you'll have to change many of the things you've been doing." The chairperson smiled and said they might want to think about that again.

This is a common issue in many smaller churches. They sincerely do want to grow, but they want to grow without changing anything they've been doing for the past 50 years. It isn't possible. Our world is not the same as it was 50 years ago. It's not even the same as it was 5 years ago. Unchurched people are not going to leave their homes to attend a revival meeting, and they sure don't want a couple of people from the church showing up at their front door while they are trying to eat dinner or watch their favorite program on TV.

Trying to get unchurched people to come into the church through the front door isn't likely to happen. However, it is possible to reach some people through the side-doors of the church. Inviting people to events held at the church that are not religious in nature is one way to demonstrate that your church is not only a safe place to be, it is also a place that can offer people ways to improve their lives.

If I was pastoring a church again one of the first things I would want to do was to offer Financial Peace University to the community. This is a nine-week program developed by Dave Ramsey's organization designed to help get people out of debt and improve their financial situation. It is based on biblical principles of finance, which it does not hide, but it does not push religion or Christianity on anyone. In every community there are large numbers of people struggling financially. They are deep in debt, they have little to nothing saved for retirement and are barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. These are people who might be very receptive to getting information about how to improve their financial well-being.

Affinity groups could meet at the church in the various rooms that sit unused all week long. Maybe a bass fishing group could meet in one room while a quilting group meets in another. As these groups develop relationships with one another, including with some members of the church, the people can begin to feel that this is a safe place to be. If they do decide to come to a worship service, chances are now that they will know someone.

Of course, there are many other things your church might need to do to be more inviting to people. It may need to look at the music used during the worship service. (Yes, I said it!) It might need to improve its hospitality to outsiders. For 14 years I attended a different church almost every week as a part of my ministry, and I can tell you most churches need hospitality training. You may think you are the friendliest church in town, but you probably aren't, at least to nonmembers who might attend your church. You may want to bring in an outside consultant to help you discover the walls your church has built up over the years that are keeping people out, and most churches have at least a few such walls.

If your church isn't willing to change anything, that's fine. Just stop kidding yourself saying that you want your church to grow, because you don't. You want it to remain comfortable for you