One In Jesus

Okay. For Churches of Christ, this is a touchy subject. But we get nowhere being in denial. It’s time to consider the impact of how we worship on church growth.

According to the research of Thumma and Travis, the number one statistical indicator of which churches grew most rapidly in the last 5 years is whether the members consider the worship “exciting” and “informal.”

An important correlation is that these same churches also had the most members involved in converting new members. The question is why? You can’t help but figure that the likelihood of members inviting friends to your church depends heavily on the excitement and informality of the worship! Continue reading →

In Beyond Megachurch Myths, Thumma and Travis summarize some of their findings regarding how the members perceive their church.

[M]egachurches were far more likely than smaller churches to agree that their congregations welcomed innovation and change, dealt openly with disagreements and conflicts, were excited about the church’s future, easily incorporated new people into the church, and had a clear sense of mission and purpose. … When the survey respondents … were asked to describe the leadership style of their senior minister, 62 percent chose the description “inspires people to take action,” while 17 percent chose “take charge,” and 12 percent said the pastor “acts on goals.”

The authors do not, by any means, consider this a definitive list of what makes churches grow, but it’s a valuable observation. Continue reading →

After my post on Details and the Devil, I think I need to clarify my thoughts on advertising. In fact, we recently had a budget meeting where a proposal was made for us to spend $60,000 year on advertising. It didn’t pass.

We were told by a professional in marketing that this is what an effective ad campaign would cost. And so, I’ve been thinking about advertising. (And who couldn’t be thinking about advertising when they broadcast more ads than football during the Sugar Bowl?!)

1. I think most advertising is wasted money and, more importantly, contrary to the mission the church. When we give up trying to steal members from other churches, the whole concept has to be rethought and a lot of advertising becomes pointless. Continue reading →