Issue 20 – Growing your Church family much larger

 

Dear Ray

Thank you for your email—and I’m glad Letter 19 helped you.

However, you now ask about how to grow your church family much larger—and especially how to get many more members who’re committed to your mission and the wider work of your denomination.

Churches get new members, people committed to their mission, from two main groups (and their sub groups).

First, many churches have quite a number of non-members attending—some of whom may already have become leaders. But they haven’t joined the church as members yet. They’re the easiest people to bring into membership because they already know the church they’re attending and may even have been following Jesus for some time.

The second and largest group of people are those who haven’t started attending your church yet. Some may come to you from other churches. Some may have dropped out of church and Christian things. But most have never been involved in a church till now—except perhaps through community ministries.

These are the two big groups you’ll get new members from—but we’ll consider them by groups and sub groups.

Why membership?

But first some comments on membership – called by different names in different denominations.

Membership—a journey of discovery

Churches and denominations have widely differing views about membership.

Some see it as very important while others see it as an optional extra—and there are many views in between.

For example, some see membership as just our commitment to a local church for the next 12 months; some see it as a lifetime commitment to a particular denomination—regardless of where we live; and some see it as our commitment to a particular local church for as long as we live in the area.

When I was at World Vision, I worked for over 18 years with all the well-known denominations in New Zealand—and I appreciated them all and was glad to help them reach their dreams.

But as I travelled through those 18 years, speaking up to five times a Sunday in churches all over NZ, I came to appreciate the special contribution Christians make when they give themselves to a particular church or denomination for a long time—even for life.

When we make that commitment, we get a feel for a church family that grows through the years—and that feel gives us a focus, maturity, wisdom, enjoyment, sensitivity and fruitfulness we rarely know when we change churches frequently.

So while I gladly worked with the newest churches and their leaders, and did my very best to help them, I came to see the huge value there is in making a long-term membership commitment to a particular family of churches—and I’m glad now to even make that commitment for life.

That is, in its most developed form, the commitment of membership is both to the mission of the local church we join—and the mission of the family of churches it belongs to.

And from what I saw on the road during those 18 years, the stronger the commitment, the greater the blessing.

The benefits of membership

Filling all that out a little, stronger forms of membership bring many benefits to members and churches.

1. When we become members we commit ourselves to a particular group of people and join their mission team.

To use a tennis story, I walk past the local tennis club frequently on my daily walks—admiring the large indoor complex they’ve built alongside their outdoor courts; but I don’t have any relationship with the club. I could of course drop in sometimes for an occasional hit-out with a friend, using the facilities others have provided; but I still wouldn’t have joined the club. But had I joined the club years ago, I could have become a paid-up playing member and had my say in the development of the property—including the indoor court complex.

It’s like that when I join the local church. When I join, I become part of the church and share responsibility for its success and failure. So while some people may go to church for what they can get out of the services, with their preaching and worship, committed members go to church for what they can receive and for what they can give. That is, they go to church to receive and serve.

2. Putting it another way, when we become a church member, we commit ourselves to that group of people in a way that attenders will never experience—because we promise to care for one another, work through difficult issues together (rather than leave), and work together to extend God’s Kingdom through and beyond our local church.

3. Now all this works out differently in churches across the denominations. For example, in Salvation Army membership, with its focus on fighting the Lord’s battles, there is Soldiership for those who decide to go all the way with their discipleship and commit themselves by covenant to live counter-culturally. And there is Adherent Membership for those who haven’t yet decided to take this final lifestyle step in Salvation Army discipleship.

But however it works out across the churches and denominations, membership should be a great blessing to the member, the church, and the family of churches the member joins.

Getting many more members

Turning now to the groups and sub groups we’ve mentioned, we could do a number of things to get many more mission-focused members.

Reaching those already travelling with you

Churches with stronger forms of membership can do several things to win over their non-members who’ve started following Jesus. For example:

1. We should keep a list (some call it a Recruits Roll) of the non-members we’re discipling so we can keep the membership challenge before them—in the discipling we do in our small groups, in wise but direct preaching comment, and in our whole relational journey with them (a journey that starts with praying over the list of people and linking each person with an appropriate member who’ll encourage them on their journey to membership).

We do all these things, knowing membership is a fruit of discipleship and a great way to get the maximum number of people into focused mission. That is, the recruitment (if we call it that) that leads to membership is both a process and a journey—with great potential for getting many more mission-focused members.

2. With our list in place, we should be very focused and warmly engaging in casting the membership vision—teaching our congregation about who we are, where we’ve come from, and what our founders dreamed of when they started the family of churches we belong to. For example, if we’re Methodists, we’ll talk very passionately about John and Charles Wesley—their faith journey, their evangelical convictions, and the huge impact their ‘converts’ (like Wilberforce) had on changing the face of England. That is to say, as Methodists today, we ‘touch the bones’ of John and Charles Wesley and are fired by their spirit to continue their magnificent work.

So to grow our mission and membership base, we should keep a list of potential members and take the challenge to them—by all the means we can, and with all the focus and passion we can muster. When we change churches frequently, we miss out on all the rich heritage side of things, with all the mission traction it brings.

Reaching those who come from other Churches

One of the first things to happen when churches start to grow is that more and more people come to them from plateaued and dying churches (which are the majority).

This trend was particularly common during Charismatic Renewal, and still is common, although people tend to change churches now for different reasons.

1. People today yearn for the ‘Acts 2 wind’ I wrote about in Letter 18—and if after trying everything, their leaders won’t move towards life-changing worship services, they’ll probably move on to another church (perhaps yours). And they move on because they are looking for something beyond the sometimes-superficial experiences of the Charismatic Renewal years; they want to meet God at church, and they’ll shop around till they find Him!

2. Many are now also looking for churches that minister to their whole family on Sundays—both to them in Church and their children in Children’s Church; and if they don’t find these two ingredients in our Sunday mix, they’ll take their family to another church (perhaps yours).

A small number of people never settle in churches; but most settle if we do church right—and one of the fastest ways of getting early mission momentum is to bring these ‘settled’ people into membership (when we’re sure of their Christian integrity). But how do we do this?

We do it in the same way as with the non-members already travelling with us—preaching up mission membership, weaving it into our small group life, and building it into our whole relational journey with them. Of course, we never encourage people to come to us from other churches; but if they come because they want something better for themselves and their children (as often happens), we channel them into the mission core of our church’s life.

Harnessing the mission potential of people transferring to our church can give us key players to channel into mission—and the more people who’re committed to our mission dream, the more we can do for God’s Kingdom.

Reaching people returning to faith in Jesus

Since 1960, many thousands of people have been leaving churches—and in many cases, have also abandoned their faith in Jesus. And they’re still leaving.

However, many who leave, later return—like the prodigal son in Jesus’ story who, like the Beatles, was haunted by the memories of ‘Yesterday’ (Lk 15.17-20). And unlike the prodigal son, it may be a comparatively small thing that starts them on their journey back to Jesus.

1. Some begin their journey back through something we put on at church for their kind of people. So one church I worked with decided to have a special Founders’ Day service. They contacted all those in the area who’d dropped out of their church over the years—and invited them to come to the special Founders’ Day service. Many came, and church attendance doubled on the day.

Sometime later, a younger couple that attended the Founders’ Day service wanted their young child dedicated. So they rounded up many of their friends and invited them to the dedication. Attendance doubled again on that day—and all the time church relationships with the young couple were being restored.

2. Many begin the journey back to Jesus, as individuals, through attending one of our weekday programmes—for example, a preschool programme. Again, the relationships that once were broken are restored and that leads on to their reconnecting with Jesus and rejoining his worshipping family (I meet people in this category all the time).

But whatever first steps they take, many people are now reconnecting with the Saviour they once abandoned – so returnees to faith can become a very significant group in the expanding mission base you need to grow God’s Kingdom in your community. And once returnees are attending regularly again, you grow them towards membership through the same strategy outlined for the first two groups.

Reaching people who’ve never followed Jesus

Growing churches reach people who’ve never followed Jesus in a number of ways. For example:

1. They develop an inviting and welcoming culture so the whole church family is committed to inviting their families and friends to the services—and they make sure all their services (not just the specials!) are meaningful for newer attenders. Indeed, one church I know of surveyed thousands of people in their suburb, and the great majority of responders said they’d gladly come to that church if invited by a friend. So those who aren’t following Jesus are often keener to come to church than we are to invite them!

2. They use their weekday ministries to build meaningful relationships with people, and as the relationships develop, they invite them to Sunday specials like Mothers Day and Fathers Day—sometimes doubling their attendance on those days through the number of pre-Christian people attending. Then, when they’ve come, they grow the relationship from there. Churches find preschool ministries particularly fruitful for building relationships; and one small church I worked with saw a family of six come to faith through the preschool ministry, with the parents later joining the leadership team.

Conclusion

When we look back over the four big groups we’ve considered, we see our whole mission challenge is relational; it’s about building relationships with people and taking them on a journey to full commitment to Jesus and his mission – to care for people, transform lives, and reform society as the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Harvesting your hard work

But to reap the greatest possible harvest for the Kingdom of God from our hard work, there are two further steps we should take to grow our mission/membership base to its greatest possible size.

We should run membership classes regularly—and plan superb services to welcome our new members when they sign up or enrol as members of our church.

The membership class

When we’re passionate about mission, we track the spiritual development of our newer disciples very closely, creatively casting vision into their lives in our preaching and small groups – reaching back to our founders’ dream, reaching forward to the dream that now fires us, and spelling out with great conviction the things we passionately believe … and all with a view to bringing them through to membership and mission commitment.

The membership class (by whatever name) is very important because, as Rick Warren says, the way people join an organisation profoundly affects the way they later function in that organisation—and he says it’s the same with joining the church.

So he says, ‘I believe the most important class in a church is the membership class because it sets the tone and expectation level for everything else that follows’—and he adds that the best time to get a strong commitment from members is when they join. For as he explains, if we ask little of our members when they join, we can expect very little from them later on. A weak membership class builds a weak congregation and a strong membership class builds a strong congregation.

So mission focused churches run regular membership classes to gather in their newer disciples. Indeed, more often than not, they announce the next class before anyone has indicated they want to join. But convinced that taking the membership step is best for their disciples’ spiritual development, leaders make the announcement in faith.

When we’re serious about furthering Jesus’ mission, we put very strong but discreet emphasis on the membership class—as Rick Warren advises us.

The Signing Up or Enrolment Day

But now, with the membership class over, our big mission day at last has come.

For weeks, months, or even years we’ve been working with these newer disciples from various backgrounds—and they’ve completed the membership class and (perhaps along with others) are ready to become members of our church. Now, at the church service where they sign up and are welcomed, we have a marvellous opportunity to bless them, reach the pre-Christian families and friends they bring to church that day, and inspire other newer disciples to take the same step.

With Signing Up or Enrolment Day, harvest time has come to our church!

Churches with stronger forms of membership run these special services in different ways. But the churches most into mission give very high profile to the signing or enrolling ‘ceremony’ during the service. They invite the new people to the platform, introduce them to the congregation, witness them signing their membership covenant, pray warmly for them, listen with joy to their brief testimonies, affirm their new commitment to Christ and introduce them to their first mission task, and discreetly bring the mission challenge to all present throughout the service.

As these churches know, this is harvest time in the church, when the hopes and dreams and prayers of years come to fruition—and in coming to fruition, enlarge the mission base from which they’ll roll back the kingdom of darkness and advance the Kingdom of God’s Son (as Wesley’s followers once did in darkest England).

May God grant many such days in our churches!

Growing your mission base much larger!

Ray, since I last wrote to you, you’ve been working hard at growing your younger disciples—and you’re now ready to bring some of them through to membership.

However, in your latest email you’ve asked for additional guidance on how to reach many others like them so you can bring them through to membership too—giving you a much larger mission base to tackle the really big challenges in your community. But I’ll write about those challenges next time.

Be encouraged; you’re a wonderful pastor—with a great heart for God and a great love for people.

May these brief notes help you reach your new church dream!

I’ll write again soon.

Gordon Miller
Church Growth & Development Consultant

To discuss at leaders meetings

• Do you keep an up-to-date list of disciples who could join your church—and if not, what steps will you now take to keep such a list in the future (write the steps down with an action date by each step)?
• How many disciples do you actually have who aren’t members yet—and what steps have you taken to bring them into membership (write the number down and then assess how effective you’ve been in growing them towards membership)?
• And in addition, assess how effective you’ve been at reaching people transferring to your church, people returning to faith in Jesus, and people who haven’t been involved with a church yet (assess your effectiveness and write down the steps you’ll now take, with action dates, for the future)?
• How effective are your membership classes, and what changes do you need to make to make them more effective (write the suggested changes down with an action date by each step)?
• Are you getting maximum mission mileage out of your signing up/enrolment days—and what steps will you now take to greatly increase their impact on your entire church family (write your assessment down, with the steps you’ll now take, and put an action date by each step)?

Download

Download Issue 20 of the Salvation Army Leadership Letter (PDF, 64KB)