10 Things to Do When Your Church Stops Growing
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Let's face it. None of us enjoys it when our church stops growing. It's painful. So what do you do? In this SlideShare, I will show you 10 helpful things you can do when your church stops growing.
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10 Things to Do When Your Church Stops Growing
- 1. By: John Finkelde What Do You Do When Your Church Stops Growing? 10 Steps You Can Take to Position Your Church for Growth
- 2. About Me ● 30 years pastoring ● MA in Leadership ● Diploma Professional Coaching ● 7 years consultant/coach ● 10 denominations ● 100+ consults
- 3. Who will benefit? People who feel that their church is stuck
- 4. Who will benefit? People whose leadership lives feel stuck
- 5. Who will benefit? People coping with no church growth
- 6. What you will get today? Next steps
- 7. What you will get today? Increased clarity
- 8. What you will get today? Useful resources
- 9. What you will get today? Actionable solutions
- 10. What stops a church from growing?
- 11. Location
- 13. Inward focus
- 15. Exhausted pastor
- 16. God
- 17. 10 Helpful Things You Can Do
- 18. # 1 Pray
- 19. # 2 Enjoy Christ’s Exploits
- 20. # 3 Refresh Visitor Pathway
- 21. # 4 Slay Comparison Giant
- 22. # 5 Engage a Consultant
- 23. # 6 Reflect on Questions
- 24. # 7 Develop Leaders
- 25. # 8 Take a Holiday
- 26. # 9 Renew Your Evangelism
- 27. # 10 Take Small Steps
- 28. "I now have a sense of confidence to raise leaders in our church" Ps Greg Jones Burnie City Church | Australia
- 29. “We were stuck in some areas but John helped us get unstuck” Ps Ian Borkent C3 Church Arnhem | Netherlands
- 30. “The Hub is a more than useful tool for quick team training and also for long-term strategies” Ps Carl Mutzelburg Catalyst Church | Australia
- 31. “The Hub is an invaluable help in my journey of pastoring a church. The content is totally practical” Ps Jacek Obolewicz Church For Everyone | Poland
- 32. “The wealth of experience found within the Hub has already proved invaluable, not just for quick wins but helping us to sustain into the future” Ps David Busby Almond Grove Family Church | Australia
- 33. What have we discovered today?
- 34. Options abound
- 35. Nothing changes if nothing changes
- 36. Your CTA [Option 1] SPECIAL OFFER The Hub Free for 7 days
- 37. SPECIAL OFFER The Hub Free for 7 days
- 38. SPECIAL OFFER The Hub Free for 7 days
Editor's Notes
- TIP #1 - Try to make the title snappy, without being misleading. The title has to say something about what is to be learnt by attending. Think of it from a leads’ perspective: why would i be interested in this? What’s the value? Using numbers in the titles are a nice way to capture attention “9 ways to…” “4 reasons why…” etc. It could look something like this: “-Hi everyone and welcome to [your webinar title], my name is [your name] and I am a [expertise]. Before we dive into my presentation here I would be really curious to hear where everyone is tuning in from? Let me know by typing it in the chat-box on the right hand side of the webinar page. I myself am streaming from [your location]” Then welcome everyone and comment on what they are putting in the chat box. “Wow, I can see we have quite an international crowd here today, awesome!” It is essential that we engage with our audience at the early stage of (and throughout) the webinar. By moving our attendees into engagement-mode, they will participate more actively and it makes the webinar much more fun, and vastly increases your chance of selling. TIP: If your attendees are not engaging with you, try using webinar polls. After you have welcomed your attendees to the webinar and moved them into engagement-mode, you need to inform them of some information about the workings of the webinar broadcast. Things to remember to mention are: The attendees can ask their questions in the questions-box throughout the webinar, the chat-box is more for general discussion. The attendees can choose to enter full-screen mode if they want to see things more clearly when you are sharing your screen for example. When you send out webinar polls, advise your attendees to leave full-screen mode so that they can answer them. Advise your attendees that they can use the buttons on the right-hand side of the webinar-page in order to send you a private message or to book in for a call with you. If you do not want these buttons visible, simply remove them from the webinar options. After you’ve covered these, move on with your presentation.
- Talk about how you have come to the point that you now are at. How did you gain your expertise? How/when did you realize that you wanted to share it with others?
- The people who are at your point A are the people who will benefit from watching your webinar. Make that clear.
- The people who are at your point A are the people who will benefit from watching your webinar. Make that clear.
- The people who are at your point A are the people who will benefit from watching your webinar. Make that clear.
- We now know who the webinar is for, the people at A. What can be the outcome of attending the webinar? To reach B. Or rather, partially reaching B.
- We now know who the webinar is for, the people at A. What can be the outcome of attending the webinar? To reach B. Or rather, partially reaching B.
- We now know who the webinar is for, the people at A. What can be the outcome of attending the webinar? To reach B. Or rather, partially reaching B.
- We now know who the webinar is for, the people at A. What can be the outcome of attending the webinar? To reach B. Or rather, partially reaching B.
- If you are in regional town that is experiencing an economic downturn or declining in numbers then it is going to be hard to grow your church. In contrast, if you are in an area that is experiencing a boom in population growth then you’re more likely to grow your church. In my mind location is a key factor.
- If you are in regional town that is experiencing an economic downturn or declining in numbers then it is going to be hard to grow your church. In contrast, if you are in an area that is experiencing a boom in population growth then you’re more likely to grow your church. In my mind location is a key factor.
- If you are in regional town that is experiencing an economic downturn or declining in numbers then it is going to be hard to grow your church. In contrast, if you are in an area that is experiencing a boom in population growth then you’re more likely to grow your church. In my mind location is a key factor.
- If you are in regional town that is experiencing an economic downturn or declining in numbers then it is going to be hard to grow your church. In contrast, if you are in an area that is experiencing a boom in population growth then you’re more likely to grow your church. In my mind location is a key factor.
- If the pastor is weary and exhausted then achieving growth can be difficult. Now every pastor feels tired almost every week so I’m not talking about regulation tiredness but accumulated fatigue. Pastors can experience this because of ongoing relational conflicts, lack of personal boundaries, poor management of days off and holidays, ill health and a lack of positive addictions that reenergize a leader. When a pastor lacks energy the focus must be on restoring their energy before you focus on church growth.
- There’s an X factor in church growth that no one can figure out. I rest easy in the truth that it is our sovereign God who ultimately determines the growth of a church. I think there are occasions when He blows the lid off a church and exponentially grows it regardless of their strategies or programs. I also think there are times that in His mercy God limits the growth of an unhealthy church. Generally I think that God places the right leaders in the right situation for the right amount of growth and our responsibility is to maximize our calling in response to Christ.
- TIP #1 - Try to make the title snappy, without being misleading. The title has to say something about what is to be learnt by attending. Think of it from a leads’ perspective: why would i be interested in this? What’s the value? Using numbers in the titles are a nice way to capture attention “9 ways to…” “4 reasons why…” etc.
- A pastor’s walk with Christ is the foundation of both healthy leadership and a healthy church. Therefore, pastors should occupy the place of prayer regardless of whether the church is growing, plateaued or declining. If your church is not growing, then your place of prayer is the place to cast your cares and burdens upon Christ and discover that he can sustain you through this season. A fresh season of prayer, fasting and immersion in the Word of God can energise a pastor and lead them into fresh ways of thinking about their ministry, call and church. This focus on personal spiritual renewal will increase the leader’s trust in Christ and can also bring a different perspective to their current season.
- A lack of growth brings discouragement to every leader. An effective way to counter those disheartening feelings is to focus in on the various ways Christ is working in your church. Simply ask your leaders and members this succinct question: what is the Lord currently doing in your life? Give people space to answer that question and you’ll discover that Christ is at work in a multitude of small and large ways in your church. We can miss the simple, yet powerful ways Christ is working by focusing on what is not happening rather than discovering what is happening.
- Look at your visitor pathway – what’s their experience before during and after the service Digital doorway My Roadmap Sit down with your team and conduct a thorough audit of every quantitative and qualitative element in your church. Unhealthy churches neglect to measure vital elements. Look at all your metrics such as attendance, baptisms, the percentage of people in small groups and serving. Assess your year-to-year giving trends. Compare the average age of your congregation to your community’s average age. Look closely at your approach to visitors because visitors are the key to church growth. Then audit the qualitative elements of your church. Ask your leaders to give you two words to describe key elements of your church such as key relationships and communication. Ask them to rate, 1 – 10, your weekend services, leaders’ meetings, website, social media, skills development and so on. This self-audit will awaken you and your team to areas that need improving. You can take this to another level by asking a friend or overseer to look at this audit and give you some specific next steps to create momentum
- In John 21 Jesus tells Peter how he will die. In response Peter points to the beloved disciple and asks Jesus, what about him? Jesus astutely answers Peter’s question with a question, if I want him to stay alive until I return, what is that to you? In other words, if I bless him in ways I don’t bless you, how will you respond? Will you be jealous? Will envy eat you up? Will you get happy in his blessings? It’s human to compare, to ask about the other guy who’s getting blessed in ways that we are not getting blessed. Its normal to feel jealous of churches that are exploding with growth while we seemingly languish on the sidelines. While it’s normal to feel this way, it’s unhealthy to remain fixated on how others are being blessed. Get happy with what’s going well for others and make the decision to not play the comparison game.
- Consult OR Hub AJA each and every month Fresh eyes can make all the difference. They see things that you no longer see. Fresh ears hear words and phrases that you no longer notice. Fresh minds think thoughts that have not emerged in your mind. When you engage a coach, you engage with a fresh approach and a new way of doing ministry. A good coach will ask stimulating questions while gaining insights into your context. They will help you explore new avenues of opportunity while boosting your confidence to try new things. A good coach will help you get unstuck. Our consulting skills can bring fresh eyes to your church and help you move in the right direction. Check it out now.
- Who am I? What’s my assignment in Christ? Where do I live? What’s my context? What are the opportunities or limitations connected with my location? Do I have the energy to increase my capacity? Answering these questions requires you to think sanely and honestly about yourself and the call Christ has given specifically to you.
- Fresh eyes can make all the difference. They see things that you no longer see. Fresh ears hear words and phrases that you no longer notice. Fresh minds think thoughts that have not emerged in your mind. When you engage a coach, you engage with a fresh approach and a new way of doing ministry. A good coach will ask stimulating questions while gaining insights into your context. They will help you explore new avenues of opportunity while boosting your confidence to try new things. A good coach will help you get unstuck. Our consulting skills can bring fresh eyes to your church and help you move in the right direction. Check it out now.
- A lack of growth brings discouragement to every leader. An effective way to counter those disheartening feelings is to focus in on the various ways Christ is working in your church. Simply ask your leaders and members this succinct question: what is the Lord currently doing in your life? Give people space to answer that question and you’ll discover that Christ is at work in a multitude of small and large ways in your church. We can miss the simple, yet powerful ways Christ is working by focusing on what is not happening rather than discovering what is happening.
- What one action could you take today to remove any potential hindrances to you obtaining your optimum size? Do that!
- Talk about people you have helped in the past. How did things turn out for them? If you have not helped people in the past, talk about how you yourself used these techniques to achieve X.
- Talk about people you have helped in the past. How did things turn out for them? If you have not helped people in the past, talk about how you yourself used these techniques to achieve X.
- Talk about people you have helped in the past. How did things turn out for them? If you have not helped people in the past, talk about how you yourself used these techniques to achieve X.
- Talk about people you have helped in the past. How did things turn out for them? If you have not helped people in the past, talk about how you yourself used these techniques to achieve X.
- Talk about people you have helped in the past. How did things turn out for them? If you have not helped people in the past, talk about how you yourself used these techniques to achieve X.
- You have options
- It’s vital to take action
- You can either choose to present your package right away in the webinar For attending my webinar, I would like to offer you to enrol for my X with a Y% discount. X includes: My Special Y step guide X 1on1 Sessions My Complete (content) Z Video Modules And I will also include: My X, Y & Z Use the coupon code: XXXXXXX One of the things that people tend to dread when it comes to hosting their first sales webinar is to pitch their service. “What if no one buys my product, or even responds to my pitch” Fear not. If you have followed this slide template and executed each step properly, you will have done everything you can to ensure it goes well. One thing that we strongly advise putting a lot of practise in is the transitioning into your pitch. Going from the end of your content to the Call To Action. Your CTA should be the logical next step for your attendees, and for the people looking to dive deeper into the subject. “Now that we’ve covered how to do X we have solved a big part of the puzzle, if you would like to continue onwards to solve the entire puzzle I am happy to inform you that I have just launched my…” Your webinar has solved one part of the journey from A to B, if they want to go all the way, you can take them there.
- You can either choose to present your package right away in the webinar For attending my webinar, I would like to offer you to enrol for my X with a Y% discount. X includes: My Special Y step guide X 1on1 Sessions My Complete (content) Z Video Modules And I will also include: My X, Y & Z Use the coupon code: XXXXXXX
- You can either choose to present your package right away in the webinar For attending my webinar, I would like to offer you to enrol for my X with a Y% discount. X includes: My Special Y step guide X 1on1 Sessions My Complete (content) Z Video Modules And I will also include: My X, Y & Z