Have You Done a Church Assessment?
One of the pastors who’s blog I enjoy reading is Kevin Martineau. He is the pastor at Port Hardy Baptist Church in British Columbia on Vancouver Island.
Recently his church has been going through a process of consultation and assessment. They brought in an outside group to do the assessment, which consists of three parts:
- Compiling Information about the church
- A visit and interviews with groups within the church
- Presentation of recommendations for the church
As you look at growing your church and being effective at what God is calling you to it is important to look at doing things like a church assessment. Assessing yourself internally is important, but it is also important to allow other Godly people to speak into the life of the church and it’s people. This should help your church to achieve God’s plan for your church and help it to grow.
Here are four good reasons to get an assessment of yourself and / or your church:
- It helps you to see more clearly your strengths and weaknesses
- It can help you to see your blind spots
- It can help to give you direction
- It will help you to grow
Kevin expands on the idea of getting a church assessment over on his blog, and you can read his thoughts and experience with it here.
David Dean’s Ideas for Church Growth
David Dean is a well known Christian Comedian. He has some rather interesting ideas on church growth that I thought I would share with you …
Some of the points about church growth that he makes in the video are:
1. Select your church greeter carefully
2. Use your 4th grade boys as greaters, after they have 2L of Mountain Dew and A Shot of Red Bull.
3. Use score cards to judge the pastors sermon (like in the olympics)
4. Make farm animal music if the preachers sermon goes over 30-minutes
5. and many more …
Although the video was rather humorous the part about who you choose for a church door greater is pretty important. We can look at that more in a future post.
Does Your Church Use Welcome or Visitor Cards?
Does your church use welcome cards or visitor cards for people new to your church? They can be a key tool to help you connect with new people in your church.
I have attended many different churches over the years and have found that not all churches use welcome cards or visitor cards. By welcome and visitor cards I mean the cards that allow a visitor to fill in their details if they want to know more, or if they want to be contacted.
The most basic of these cards, which are also the least imposing, ask for the visitors name, phone number and more recently e-mail address. Some of the more detailed cards can also ask for prayer requests, what information the person is interested in, marital / family status, address and more. My personal preference is a card that sits sort of in the middle, with all the details on the basic card, plus a section for prayer requests and possibly asking what sort of information the person wants to know. The additional information can always be found out later.
I reckon that a lot of the time the person who fills out a card is not a new visitor. They are often a person who has attended the church a few time, and now is ready to learn more and want to engage more with the church. Well, at least that’s how I have always used them.
Follow Up is Key
One of the keys to making the best use of your welcome and visitor cards is to follow up with the people who fill them out. If you don’t follow up on them then the cards are really not even worth the paper they are printed on…
A few months ago I attended a church with some friends. I filled in the visitor sheet because I wanted to learn more and they had the option to join the pastor for a pizza lunch. I had been following the pastor’s blog for a while and thought I would be really interested in learning more about the church and the pastor.
Unfortunately there was never any follow up from that church. I had to wonder if the lack of follow up happened often and how many people were never able to connect at that church and went searching elsewhere.
The visitor card or welcome card can be a key tool that you use to connect with people new to your church. If used incorrectly though it can isolate and actually push people away.
What Are Your Church Goals?
Setting goals is something that is extremely important in every aspect of our lives, personally and professionally. As anyone in church ministry would know, it is extremely important to set goals for our church and ministry.
Below is a guess article by Shane Boyd about the importance of writing down our goals.
Hey Pastor – Write Down your Goals, by Shane Boyd
If you are like most people, than you have goals. If you’re the Preacher of a church than you probably have goals regarding new members and your over all growth. But what do you do with those goals?
You see, goals are written down on paper. A goal that is not written down is not a goal, it’s a wish. Like you, I have goals. I write them down on 3 x 5 index cards and I read them at least 2 times a day. (morning and night). This helps me to stay focused on my goals.
Here is an example of a goal you can write down and use. “your church name will have 45 new members by December 31st 2008? Read that goal (in your head and out loud) at least two times a day. Your sub-conscious mind will begin to work on this for you. Trust me.
Pray continually about this growth (and the exact number). Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you:seek and you will find…” Ask God specifically for that exact number of new members by that exact date ( you choose the number and date). You need to focus on your goals, and here is why. What you focus on expands. What you focus on expands.
If you write down your goals, read them morning and night, pray continually about those goals, you will hit your mark. And don’t forget. Aim high. Have BIG goals. We have a BIG BIG God. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 19:26 “…but with God things are possible”. If you work on your goals and read over them daily, you’re going to have the “Breakout” church you know you can have.
If you need help with goal setting, just send me an email at shane@growingchurchesforHim.com and let me know how I can help.
God bless,
Shane Boyd Growing Churches For Him
About the Author
Shane is an Outreach Consultant for churches. He helps churches grow using Biblical principles. He is the owner of Growing Churches For Him. Shane has written articles, FREE reports and developed products for churches to help churches grow. Vist his site for more details at www.GrowingChurchesForHim.com
Video – How to Organize a Growing Church
Here’s a great video by Rick Warren, a pastor from Saddleback Church.
Increase Attendance
