Friends invite friends to church

 When a sports team is doing poorly one of the first things owner's often do is to replace the manager. It costs too much to replace all the players who are doing poorly, so they replace the manager hoping to shake things up and improve the team's performance. Some churches take the same approach. If the church isn't growing, the obvious solution to some is to replace the pastor.

I once sat in a meeting with the deacons and pastor of a church. Some people wanted the pastor fired because the church had not grown during the two years he had been there. After listening for some time I asked one of the church members how long they had attended that church. I forget his exact number, but it was over two decades. I then asked how many people he had led to Christ during that time and brought to the church. He dropped his head and admitted he had never led anyone to Christ nor had he ever even led someone to be a member of that church. I then asked why he was upset the pastor had not done in two years what he had not done in two decades. The meeting ended soon after.

Studies find that the pastor is responsible for about six percent of the growth of a church. When the pastor invites someone to the church people believe he is just doing his job. They typically are not impressed. One church that tracks the reasons first-time guests attend their worship services found that 87 percent of them were invited by a friend. This is in line with national studies that tracked the same thing. The people in the pew are the ones who determine whether a church grows or not.

The pastor's responsibility is to equip the members to share their faith and guide them in the process of inviting others to faith in Christ and to the church. This is in line with Eph. 4: 11-12.

If your church is not growing first look at the number of first-time guests you have. If that number is low, the problem is not the pastor. It is that the members are not inviting their friends and family members to visit the church. Growing a church is not a solo game for the pastor. It is the responsibility of every member in the church.