I want you to come to my church

This entry is part 6 of 10 in the series Church Invitations

Recently, I’ve been asked via Ask EvangelismCoach about ways to increase the number of invitations to church that members give to their network of friends.

Review these posts to get on board with some of the answers

Today, I add number 3

3. Church members are proud of their church.

Are your members proud of their church?

This was a question that came out of a coaching session I gave to a pastor looking to increase the number of invitations that church members give.

What might that look like?

Here are a few we brainstormed:

A sense of ownership of the ministry of the church.
A confidence that sermons would be understood by their friends.
Joy that their church is actively involved in blessing their community.
Confidence that the Sunday morning experience will not be embarrassing.
A deep sense of personal satisfaction in service, as well as giving and receiving.

When there is joy and an emotional connection, people may be more willing to invite their friends and family to church.

Are your church members embarrassed by their own church?

I’ve attended some churches as a visitor that were disturbingly embarrassing.

Singer and musicians were off tempo.
The choir and organ were out of tune.
The bulletin and announcement quality was poor.
The contemporary worship musicians failed to smile.
Preaching topics that had no relevance to my friend’s spiritual needs.
Public prayers were so theologically loaded that I needed a dictionary.

You might get the idea.

I actually did a temporary assignment for 6 months as a pastor of dying church with such problems. They had some big ticket items to fix as well like out of date decorating and colors, but there were plenty of fixable things that could be done on a low budget as well as free.

Even as the temporary pastor, I didn’t want to invite people to this church – it was embarrassing.

The one person I did invite was a guest vocalist, and I felt the need to apologize to her for the experience she was about to have.

Areas to review

Maybe it’s time to review your Sunday service and look for potential sources of embarrassment and make steps to start addressing those.

Maybe it’s time to review your on-ramps for newcomers to your church to start building meaningful relationships.

Maybe it’s time to review your ministry out in the community that adds a sense of pride and value to volunteers and gives your church members a sense of contribution and connection.

Let me ask you this?

What might you be able to do to increase the sense of pride in your congreagtion that might ramp up the number of personal invitations to church?

Coaching Call

Do you want to discuss your where your personal invitation momentum is stuck? I offer a coaching call where I spend time on the phone with you or your committee, up to 90 minutes, where I help you trouble shoot and develop some action plans. Read more about that hospitality coaching here.