Why healthy churches don't always grow

Every pastor I know wants to reach more people and make disciples...

Comes with the territory of faithfully leading a church.

But of course, we don't want growth at the expense of health, right?

Here's the thing...

That's often an excuse.

Because healthy things grow.

Healthy children grow.

Healthy plants grow.

And healthy churches grow.

Which is why most of the training we receive as pastors is about church health.

But there's a problem when we ignore growth strategies.

Because sometimes there are barriers to growth that have nothing to do with church health...

And keep thousands of otherwise healthy churches from growing.

I'm going to share two of the biggest barriers that stop healthy churches from growing with you today.

The first one is IGNORANCE.

This simply means that people don't know you exist!

Maybe you don't realize it but the majority of people in your community don't know your church is there.

It just hasn't blipped their radar.

How do you break that barrier?

The answer is attention.

You've got to get their attention.

At our church we use a simple 30 second video invite ad and run it on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and even TV.

That's why I love using paid ads for inviting people to church like I teach about right here. ​

Once you've got their attention you need to break the second barrier...

Apathy.

This means people don't care!

Now, that might seem harsh but it's not meant to hurt your feelings.

Because every church suffers from this.

And it's just a fact.

People don't really care or think about what they don't see as relevant to their life.

And most people don't see "church" as relevant.

But here's the good news...

They do see hope, love, justice, purpose, and community as relevant!

Now you might be screaming at your phone right now, "But that's what our church offers! Why wouldn't someone be interested?"

Because they haven't connected the dots.

They have preconceived ideas about church and what it's about.

And it's our job to reframe their thinking.

One of the things we do is run a short ad that I call an "evangelism" ad on Facebook/IG/Youtube.

I create a short video where I take on a topic like suffering, loneliness, parenting, marriage, etc and connect it to the gospel.

These short little videos get major attention!

Why?

Because they poke the bear, so to speak.

They connect with the questions people are already asking about.

The deep questions of the human heart.

And then I invite them to church.

The apathy barrier is broken with insight.

Specifically, insight into what the people in your city are dealing with.

Then speaking right to the problem or opportunity.

Hopefully those thoughts help you today!

Remember, no matter how healthy your church is you still need a strategy for breaking the 2 barriers:

1) Ignorance

2)Apathy

Once you do you'll see the healthy growth you want to see!

Have a wonderful day,

Pastor Jake