Turnaround Churches

I study marketing, because if no one hears of our congregation, how will they know where to come? and if they don’t come, how will they grow?  Marketing gives them salt, to thirst for what you offer.

There are a number of choices, but most of what you find on the ‘net favors whatever the source is selling.  The postcard people tell you postcards are best.  The cable people extol the virtues of TV ads, even as they talk up the cost savings of targeted cable advertising.  Direct marketing folks show how you can “reach your target” with inserts, blow-ins, and mail-outs.

Truth is, the right solution is whatever God tells you will work at your time, in your circumstance.  Often, it’s a blend of multiple approaches.  And so I keep learning, exploring this one and that one.

I’ve been fascinated with the “guerrilla” approach.  Getting newsprint easily, becoming a news item, or creating internet buzz.  And this week, I heard about guerrilla radio.  It’s such a good 2 hours, it’s worth listening to several times   Here’s the link.

I was at a conference outside of Boston this week, and stopped in at the church I used to attend when I lived up there. New Colony is today a healthy, vibrant church that impacts their community with an authentic Gospel. It is my favorite example of how a local congregation can choose to change and turn its fortunes around.

When I first moved to Massachusetts, New Colony was home to a few dozen “misplaced southerners” and a couple of local families. I remember the service when “Dr Gloom” told us we needed to do something different or we were going to wither away. And so we struggled and we planned, but the renewed church began when Pastor Jack came. (The Summer children’s daycamp he started is still going strong, still “the” place to send elementary aged kids.) And he led us to update our facilities and build new.

It’s the facility I put long hours into helping build. I opened the door of the kitchen utility closet I insisted the builder add under the stairs. I reminisced with the Music Director about how we had to close off one of the windows to put in the sprinkler system water pipe.

But more than that, I sang with them in choir practice. It’s not a big church, and the choir is less than 20. But they love one another. They greet everybody with genuine concern. They joke with one another with the ease of good friends.

What makes that a successful church is not its size (150) or it’s music (the song was “I’ll Fly Away”).  What makes New Colony successful is that they understand John 10:10 – they love one another.

Giving credit where due, I stumbled across Brewster’s post from yesterday on a church that gets it. He’s reporting on Cornerstone church’s revisioning themselves as being involved in one anothers’ lives, and not just adding more stuff to it.

The video from Cornerstone Church accurately says we try to get people to come be part of this ministry or that ministry, when the ministry should be about helping them do life better.

Aaron Ivey has a great post asking what value your church has in your community.  Or more specifically, if your church did not recover, but closed its doors, would anyone outside your congregation notice?

What value does your church add to the community?  Why would the city continue to grant you tax exempt status, in that you “earn” that right by providing some amount of community good?

We’re not asking if you add value to the Kingdom.  That’s a different question.  That asks how long it’s been since your baptismal pool was filled.  It asks how many neighborhood kids come to VBS.  That question wants to know the total hours spent in prayer for the community’s citizens & leaders, for missionaries, for Gospel purposes.

he question here is whether your congregation adds any community value?  Do you run a food closet? teach reading or parenting? give the kids something to do after school or in the summer?  open your property to community recreation?

I was part of a church in New England that opened its doors to provide day camp to the community every July.  We passed out water at the town’s fall festival.  We sponsored the graduation Baccalaureate.  And we prayed for our community.  When we built a new building, we went out of our way to hire local contractors and construction workers, which put an extra half million into the economy.  When we were faithful, new members came to grow the church.

Maybe you start small.  Community fun festival.  Spaghetti supper and free movies in the air conditioned fellowship hall.  Preschool soccer on the front lawn.

Just do something!

Some years ago, a co-worker and I were on a business trip to the same location. I suggested she join us for dinner that Wednesday night, but she declined, saying she always goes to church whenever she can, even while travelling. Caught me up short. It’s now my habit, too.

Trouble is, a lot of churches have abandoned midweek services. In some cities, I have to hunt to find a place to worship on Wednesday evening. In Utica, NY, I’ve found a great midweek service.

Lighthouse Baptist Church is Independent, fundamentalist, and only uses King James. Not my style, but the pastor is a great preacher. Tells it straight, holds his people accountable, and preaches with conviction.

They meet in an old store in an older neighborhood, supporting posts obscuring the view of the pulpit, suspended tile ceilings and long flourescent tube lighting. But it’s functional.

Tonite I learned they have been offered a 100-year-old Catholic church (seats 700), with rectory, convent dorms and a school, at an unheard-of $400k. It’s more than they can afford, but they’re stepping out in faith, excited about what God could do.

I want to challenge you to pray with me, and give with me. Their doctrine isn’t 100% what my doctrine is, but they are reaching people for the kingdom, and that’s what counts.

Please pray, and please give.   With your help, they can move in right away.

The church’s address is 115 South Street, Utica, NY 13501.

p.s. – If you are in Utica, go visit. I think you’ll be blessed, as I was.

I was out of town this week on business, and I missed the Whiteboard Sessions on church planting, and I was bummed. But then I found them posted on youtube. I highly commend these to you.

Tonite I listened again to “Perry Noble interviewed by Ed Stetzer (Pt 2)”. One thing he said is that no matter what you do, preach the Gospel and invite people to Jesus.

2 minutes into the session Noble said “I don’t believe God has called us to do church. I think God has called us to start a revolution. … Every Sunday I want to introduce people to Jesus and then give a hard challenge and let people wrestle with it all week.”

As for the best way to grow the church, Noble said, “There’s a lot of things that tick God off that we do at Newsping, that other churches do. He’s never gonna get TOd saying “there the go preaching the gospel inviting people to receive my son. He’s never gonna get ticked off at that.”

There’s a lot more at the site. Go visit!

Over at Church Planting Village (dot net), there’s a discussion and set of tools for ministering to the multihousing community. That’s the generic term for apartments, condos, residence hotels, and campgrounds, places where lots of people live close together “with shared amenities.” They define the opportunity this way:

Sixty percent of the unchurched population in North America, some 120 million people, lives in multihousing communities. Left unevangelized, that figure could rise because the numbers of people in multihousing communities, which include apartments, condominiums, manufactured housing, and public housing, is increasing.

Our tradition methods of evangelizing are geared to families living in the suburbs or rural communities. But that’s not where the prospects are. If your church is near one of these multihousing communities, and your attendance is dwindling, you might consider establishing a ministry there.

As the site says, it will take some time building relationship with the manager, because if you try overt evangelism in today’s security-conscious environment, you will be asked to leave and not allowed back. Short, focused meetings about setting up a Bible study or social / service project should be the topic. Don’t worry about evangelizing the owner right away. Rather, focus your attention on showing how what you do benefits the tennants. Things like:

• backyard Bible club to keep the kids occupied for a few hours a day. This is either a full-week VBS-style camp or a once-weekly break for the parents.
• laundry support ministry
• Mobile food kitchen
• Educational classes on site

Ask the manager what services the tennants would benefit from, and let the Spirit lead on how you can fill those needs.

Once you have a beachhead established with one or more tenants, they become the site hosts and the funnel for future ministry, and the opportunity opens to bring them into the full fellowship of your congregation.

You can find the resources here.

Westchester Church in Grand Prarie, Texas is taking a soft sell to making friends in the community.  Free breakfast, hot and fast, no strings attached.

The problem with the way most of us do giveaways is there is a catch.  You gotta show up on Sunday and listen through a sermon.  They did that at the rescue mission that I did an early sermon at.  They had to listen to the sermon first to get fed after (so don’t preach too long!)

What Westminster does is give free breakfast on Friday to folks on the way to work.  They arrive around sunup and set out signs, cones, coolers, and muffins.  They position several people out at the street to invite the traffic in and a couple at the tables handing out the food and drink.   Everything is prepackaged to stay clear of health department rules.

On average, it takes about 20 seconds to take an order and fill it, and send the people on their way with an encouraging word. They have make strategic contacts with the community (including the police stopping by for free grub).  It costs a couple hundred dollars – an average day is around 80 cars.

The point is that they are connecting with their community, the people that live or work near that church.  It’s already on their drive path. 

You may wince at spending a couple hundred on stuff with no commitment, but how much is a single newspaper ad? (hint:  multiple hundreds of dollars for a small impression)

Source:  http://illogicalstrategy.com/?p=25