If there’s really not that much going on at your church, it’s going to be extremely difficult to motivate anyone to get involved, even long-timers. I don’t believe any church will see a steady stream of newcomers if it’s invisible in the community. Believe me, this is not a “chicken or egg” scenario—there really does need to be a positive word-of-mouth buzz out there before you will ever see a consistent flow of new folks coming through your doors.
I’ve been at our church since I was a seminary intern (’78) and became the senior pastor of it in 1996. During my first few years as the senior pastor, we’d get a few visitors now and then, but nothing like the steady stream we’ve experienced in the last five years. Prior to that, we were so preoccupied with re-invigorating our church that we let countless newcomers slip in and then out of our midst. Looking back, I don’t know that we could have or should have done it any differently. We had to crystallize our mission and vision first. Once we did, though, we still failed to develop a solid approach to getting the new people to step up and become an active and essential part of what we all were becoming together as a “faith village.”
A little more than two years ago, however, we assigned the Newcomers Ministry to one of our seminary interns who clearly had a passion for new people. What a difference that passion makes! He recruited a boatload of our friendliest, most approachable members to serve in this sector of ministry and used them to staff a weekly welcome cart outside of the sanctuary and to host a newcomers’ brunch every six weeks between services. He standardized the presentation for these brunches and invited current leaders and regulars to come and meet the newcomers. They encourage them to sign up for the six-week overview course that presents the essentials of our ethos and allows those looking for the right fit to make an informed decision about putting down some roots with us or to keep on looking elsewhere. That class is a prerequisite for the new members’ class. By the time a newcomer finishes this process, he or she is quite well-versed in what we’re about and typically already knows what and where they can contribute. Our latest thing is to purchase a church-tested incorporation software program so it will be even easier for the administrative staff and this passionate young pastor to assist our many newcomers.
