Once a month I make an hour long drive to Fredericksburg to meet for two hours, and then lunch, with the group. Then, once a month I drive back to Fredericksburg to meet one-on-one with my coach. There’s also monthly reading assignments. I joined this group for one reason; I think every leader should regularly connect with other leaders who are further down the road than they are.
The network is coached by a guy named Dee, who is a local pastor with a ton of wisdom and experience. He’s also someone who is not afraid to ask tough questions and say difficult things.
At our last meeting, over lunch, we were talking about Christmas traditions at our churches. Dee mentioned that for those of us who have special services, like Christmas Eve services, we have the opportunity to double our attendance. I quickly, without thinking about who I was talking too, said that I believed we could double our guest attendance but that not our total attendance because so many regular folks are away for the holiday.
Dee was quick to challenge us to think bigger than that. That we can in fact double our attendance this Christmas because people are more likely to attend during the holidays. I’ve thought a lot about that conversation. I’ve also done some research and I both liked and didn’t like what I found.
Here’s what Thom Rainer, author of The Unchurched Next Door, and a researcher for Lifeway Research, found in a recent survey:
· 82% of people who don’t attend church are likely to attend if invited.
· 98% of church-goers NEVER extend an invitation in a given year.
That first statistic is amazing; that we don’t really have to do a lot to get people to come to church and experience the wonderful community that is FCBC. All we have to do is personally invite them.
The second statistic though, is troubling. That only 2% of us who have experienced the love and grace of Christ and are connected to a faith community have invited someone outside of that community to join us.
I want to challenge all of us this Christmas to change that statistic, at least for FCBC. Let’s not be a church of 2%, but rather, let’s flip that number around a be a church where 98% of us invite someone this Christmas.
Can you imagine what could happen if we did that? If 98% of us invited one person to church this Christmas and they said yes? It would mean Dee was right; we can double our attendance. But not just that; we’d double the number of people who would hear the true message of Christmas. And that’s a life-changer.
No comments:
Post a Comment