Well, Pastors are telling me “My members won’t help….”
Let’s take a look at this. Yes, everybody else thinks everybody else should be doing the work. And for some unknown reason some Pastors often do not tell the members WE are going to grow our church and there is opportunity for all of us to be involved. Or another thing some Pastors often do is “confine” the work to a few chosen people instead letting everyone in on the excitement.
So, here’s what to do… So that your members will join in on growing the church.
1. Pastors, once your Strategic Grow Plan is “written” and ready to go, TELL the entire congregation that we need everybody involved in growing the church. Allow most members to be involved in church growth doing whatever they do best and are led to do. I bet you have ministry gifts in your church that are just waiting to be used, but perhaps were never asked, or they did ask, but were told “we already have someone doing that”. Let these gifts rise to the occasion and work with members who may already have the position. Convince members (especially those already in leadership) that there is enough work to go around!
2. Pastors, give members scriptures that are specific to church growth. Greater Harvest Ministries is founded on two main scriptures Matthew 28 “go make disciples” and ACTS 2:42-47 which ends on this note… “And God added to their numbers daily those being saved”. ACTS says it ALL. So, if God added to their numbers daily, He will do the same for you too. He certainly is no respecter of churches.
3. Within your strategic plan you have identified members who will be on the growth team, i.e., Church Growth Ministry. You might even announce to your entire congregation that you need 5 members to be in this important ministry.
4. Don’t forget, church growing is a situation where you can ask people to lead who have led in other capacities on their job, at school, civic organizations, etc. No need to have the current leaders leading everything. Spread leadership around.
5. In your strategic plan you identified “some” of the members within your church who have talents and skills that will be extremely helpful in growing your church. Go ahead and add them as leaders and helpers…
– such as computer savvy members for keeping your database,
– additional greeters (so you say, you have enough greeters… now is the time you can add more, so everybody gets a chance to be involved)
– ushers (add more, members can take turns)
– additional children’s ministry workers
– event planners
– more bible teachers
– barbecue cookers
– etc. and the list goes on.
6. The goal is not only to grow but also to make members feel important and very needed. Let members volunteer to do what they want to do even if they’ve never done that particular task before in your church. (Maybe they’ve never done it, even though they have the skills, because they have never been asked… just think about that for a minute).
Ok, there is so much more to say. “How to Grow a Church Step 1” shows how a Pastor can involve almost all church members. At Greater Harvest we call this opportunity to involve every one in the church growth process Membership Activation. And of course there is so much more to activating your members than I could possibly write about in this article.
To learn more Go Now to https://greaterharvestministries.com/product-category/ebook/ and print out the e-books for only $12 without any shipping charges.
Contact Dr. Tillman at www.DrTillman360.com
Please forward this email to other Senior Leaders that you know.
Rev. Dr. Beverly Tillman
