I recently spoke with a pastor of a medium size church of 300. He has often heard from people after 6-10 weeks this statement that broke his heart: “I have been here x number of weeks and no one has said hello.” (After a recent workshop on hospitality, one couple said “We’ve been in this …
Today’s guest article comes via George Bullard’s website at Bullard Journal. Below are excerpts from the article called “Why do People Leave Churches.” George Bullard of The Columbia Partnership, a Columbia, S.C.-based organization that helps churches pursue and sustain vital ministry, said churches face an “assimilation challenge” in the first year after new people begin …
Here is a brief word from one of the buyers of How to Welcome ChurchVisitors. She used the free coaching bonus and eventually gathered her team for some training, using the material in the book as well as a new MP3 file on Casting A Vision for Hospitality that’s now in the store. Reprinted with …
Press releases can be free publicity for your church as part of your marketing. Church press releases are remarkably simple to do once you understand some basic points and setup a distribution system for your church press release. How First PC Englewood Uses Press Releases I recently spoke with Richard Hong, pastor of First Presbyterian …
Want to grow your church attendance by 20% this year? I once coached a church that set 20% as their goal. Is 20% growth a realistic? Visitors are the key to growing your church. Without keeping your first time church visitors, your church will not grow. Likewise, you will not replace the members who drop out, move to …
A reader contacted me via Ask EvangelismCoach: “Pastor, our small church needs help organizing a Friends and Family day for the end of August to launch our new season. Can you help us?” As we talked on the phone, we kicked around a few ideas unique to their church, but developed some ideas that are …
Can potential first time church visitors find out the information they need on your church website landing page? What do you think are some of the most common questions of your website visitor? Here is what I think (though I don’t have data to prove it): Where is the church? What does the building look …
How effective are personal invitations to church? Here is what the research shows
A frequent question I receive is how do pastors regularly cast a vision for hospitality ministries for the church. Particularly when they are in charge of casting vision for everything. So I want to share with you another practice for growing your church’s hospitality. (Read Practice #1: Review your Church Hospitality Ministries) Practice #2: Regularly …
This Easter, some people might want to visit your church for the first time in a long time. This Holy Week, some out of town guests may want to visit your special services for holy week. You don’t know who they are. They don’t know where they want to go. God has given these first …
Pastors carry the torch of vision, and are usually the key public person of influence in a congregation. It’s been observed that pastors are asked to cast vision for everything from Finding volunteers for work parties or service projects, Recruiting volunteers for Children’s Church, Encouraging small group participation Community initiatives or outreaches, Stewardship and fundraising, …
I’ve been listening to some podcasts from various different churches in the United States as I exercise. (Read: 6 Steps to Get your sermons recorded again to see a cheap and easy way to make them available on line.) One key feature that I’ve observed in the podcast of these growing churches is the regular …
Pastor, you have a remarkable privilege to address a group of people each and every week and influence their life for growth in Jesus. Every time I step into a pulpit, I recognize that responsibility and realize that my words will be empowered by the Spirit of God to change people. From the front platform, …
I’ve taken up a pattern of walking most mornings to help clear my head and gather my thoughts during this season of the year. I’ve subscribed to the podcast from Church Talk Radio, and most segments are about 45 minutes to one hour. I’ve got it on my MP3 Player and while walking, I consume …
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Do you like the look or feel of your church websites? They are embarrassing. They are clumsy. They are hard to keep up to date. It was designed 10 years ago in HTML and uses expensive software. What if you could fix that for free (do it yourself) or for a small fee and outsource a …
I recently visited a church website and immediately thought they were playing hard to get. Does your website prevent visitors from even making it to you church? Does your website home page commit any of these errors? 1. Where does your church meet? I wanted to know where the church was. There was no address …
I had a follower on twitter who ordered a “Bring a Friend campaign in a box.” It was a laughable experience. It ultimately failed. He felt like he wasted his money. Originally designed in the 1980s, it has never updated (except moving the recordings to CD from the cassettes). The campaign failed to rally the …
Last week, I spoke with a small suburban church pastor who apologetically murmured how his church website embarrassed him. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” He went on to explain how it was setup 10 years ago by a church member who has since moved on and how impossible it is to maintain with …
Today’s Guest article comes via Stanley Ott, director of Vital Churches Institute. Stan has a program called the Acts 16:5 Initiative, and I am familiar with several presbyteries that are going through this process with their churches. I consider Stan a friend, and heard him give this talk last November. Visit Vital Churches Institute and …
I’ve been reading Evangelism Where You Live: Engaging Your Community and I think it is a must read book for pastors of struggling churches. It’s a book that is based out of years of practical experience, and has much to say to how a church should engage it’s community. How does your church connect with the community? …
This spring there will be many occasions where out of town visitors might be visiting their relatives. If they want to attend a special service at your church, such as your Easter or Resurrection Day services, can they easily get the information from your website? Example from Christmas Over Christmas, my family visited relatives. We …
The short answer: Personal Invitation from a Trusted friend. Charles Arn has surveyed thousands of people: (Source: 3 Questions for Charles Arn) In your research, have you found that there’s one specific reason that visitors come to church? The friendship factor. We’ve asked more than 50,000 people over the last 10 years why they came …
Ed Stetzer was interviewed this week by Cathy Lynn Grossman for USA Today about Americans’ receptivity to evangelistic contacts and outreach from a church. Lifeway Research and the North American Mission Board surveyed over 15,000 people (read more on this report via Lifeway Research) and they found that most people said they would be willing …
