Ask some megachurch pastors about what creates church growth and one will get a variety of answers. Bill Hybels, founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, stresses evangelism. He urges fellow pastors to put at least twice as much energy into evangelism as into any other church function. Jack Hayford, founding pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif., emphasizes the vibrant and uplifting worship experience often associated with his Pentecostal background.
Steve Sjogren, acknowledged as the modern-day father of servant evangelism, accentuates Christian service. Sjogren started with 37 people in 1985 in Cincinnati and quickly grew the congregation to more than 6,000 members. John MacArthur — founding pastor of Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, Calif., but better known for his radio ministry, Grace to You — always highlights the importance of discipleship.
Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the Purpose Driven series, calls for a balance between the five purposes of the church — evangelism, worship, service, discipleship and fellowship.
While each pastor publicly accentuates a different approach to church growth, all have one thing in common. All emphasize the importance of relationships. All of these churches encourage members to invite family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances to attend worship with them.
One survey found that about two-thirds of the members of churches like these do invite people to their churches. The result is not surprising. Several studies found that about 75 percent of people who visit and then join a church do so because they were invited by someone they knew; not the pastor or staff member but a family member, friend or neighbor.
That statistic reminds me of an experience not too long ago. After preaching in a church one Sunday, I learned my host had been in that congregation only a few years so I asked him what drew him to that particular fellowship. His answer was a clerk in a checkout line.
As he related the story, when he and his wife moved to that community they decided to visit only churches about which members told them good things. That proved harder than anticipated. Members of various churches told them about bad sermons, about problems in the fellowship, about one thing and then another. After six months in the community no one had yet to invite them to a church and backed that invitation up with a personal endorsement about participation in the congregation.
Then came the afternoon in the checkout line of a local store. Reference was made to church and the checkout lady invited the couple to worship with her the next Sunday morning. She spoke of a great pastor, inspiring worship and enjoyable church fellowship.
My host said the next Sunday he and his wife visited that church for the first time and two weeks later they joined.
Again 75 percent of people who join a church do so because they are invited by a family member, a friend or a neighbor just like my host was. It was not the location of the church, not the pastor’s sermon, not a technology-filled media campaign that was most important. It was a basic, old-fashioned invitation from someone they knew.
Unfortunately, researcher George Barna reported recently that “fewer people are inviting people to their churches even on high recruitment Sundays like Easter.” The reason, he explained, is that people are not impressed with the contributions of the average church. Like my friend’s experience, people talk about the church but not about what is good with the church.
That attitude even spills over into the church’s evangelism activities. Again Barna writes, “The report even states that many people are becoming Christians as a result of personal crisis or fear of death and not because people are inviting them.”
Church members may say they want to win the lost but their actions indicate they are more about “losing the found,” as one pundit put it. If one is unhappy at church, that individual will not only fail to invite people to attend, in time his or her own participation will fade.
Do not misunderstand. Evangelism is still important. Inspiring worship is still important. So is service or ministry and discipleship. But unless all of that produces a church where members invite others to join them, growth in numbers is not likely to occur.
One church surveyed its own members to determine what first brought them to that congregation. When they discovered that 90 percent responded to a personal invitation from a friend, neighbor, family member or coworker, church leaders decided to build opportunities to invite others into the structure of the church. Now at the beginning of each sermon series members are provided “e-vites” to send out and flyers about the sermon series they can use to invite guests.
During each special holiday worship experience, similar support is provided and members are encouraged to bring others with them. And the program is working.
Recently various news media seem to have emphasized challenges facing churches. But the negative tone of such articles should not obscure that some churches are growing in every part of the United States. And congregations whose members are heavily involved in inviting new people have a definite growth advantage.
Like the apostle Paul, we are “not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith” (Romans 1:16). And neither should we be ashamed of our church. It is time to do something as basic as to invite a friend, neighbor or family member to join us at church this Sunday morning.
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