Increasing Average Sunday Attendance

Bishop Howe

Dear Diocesan Family,

At the request of the Diocesan Board, I convened a meeting in January of eleven of our clergy whose congregations have experienced increases in the average Sunday attendance over the past two years. Our purpose was to attempt to identify factors that may have contributed to these increases, and further to see whether the congregations involved shared identifiable dynamics.

As I have reflected on what we shared with each other three things stand out in the midst of numerous variations on the theme. And it seems to me they are deeply intertwined with each other. If you want your church to grow I believe these three things are essential:

 “Sell” the concept of growth to the vestry and congregation. Most of us will pay lip service to growth, but the truth of the matter is we really are more comfortable with things as they are. Notice what happens at most church coffee hours. Week after week the same people visit with the same people. We say we want to attract newcomers, but we want them to be just like ourselves. People tend to sit in the same places on Sunday mornings. I had a woman in my congregation in Virginia actually smack a stranger across the knees with her umbrella when he had the audacity to sit in “her” place!

Many of us have greatly profited from one or another of the many books by Lyle Shaller, one of the great gurus regarding church growth. He has written about the dynamics of every type of congregation, and a book that I found particularly helpful was his The Multiple Staff and the Larger Congregation. He makes the point that bigger is not necessarily better, but it is different. In nearly every book he talks about the “two hundred barrier.” The nearer a congregation gets to an average Sunday attendance of (approximately) two hundred the more it feels like an impassible barrier. Why? Because relationships change at that point, especially the relationships between the rector or pastor and the congregation. A member of the clergy with a real pastor’s heart will find it very difficult to maintain the kinds of relationships he or she has enjoyed with a congregation of less than 200 when the congregation grows to be more than 200.

Somewhere around the 200 (active) member mark most churches will have to add an assistant to the pastoral staff, and every time a new member is added everyone’s job description and relationships change. So the simple truth is that growth is painful.

Unless the leadership is truly “sold” on the concept of growth it is unlikely to occur. It needs to be taught, talked about, prayed about, preached from the pulpit, and worked out in innumerable ways.

Does your church have good visibility from the road? Good signage? Is there a choice section of the parking lot reserved for newcomers? Have you considered advertising in the newspaper? In the yellow pages? One of our congregations has rented a billboard on the main road into town. One congregation’s vestry sponsors Newcomers’ Dinners twice a year, where members of the vestry talk about the history of the parish and its various ministries. Many congregations have special services to honor different people such as teachers, police and fire fighters, grand parents, etc. Nonmembers who fit these different categories can be invited to these services, and encouraged to come again.

One congregation has rented out the local movie theatre to show movies such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and invited anyone to attend as an introduction to the congregation.

The power of a compelling vision. All Christian congregations have lots of characteristics in common. But at the same time each one is unique in numerous ways. One translation of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians says, “We know that God has chosen you for a special purpose.” What is the Mission Statement of your congregation? What is its Vision?

And how many of the members of the congregation can articulate that mission, that vision?

When Terry Fullam was rector of St. Paul’s in Darien, Connecticut, Terry and the leadership spent the better part of a year praying and pondering over the question of mission. Finally they came up with a phrase that has been adopted by many other congregations as well: “to know Christ and to make him known.” It is a great phrase, but it can never mean as much to a congregation that adopted it secondhand as it did to Terry and St. Paul’s.

Another phrase that has wide distribution is; “To Make Disciples Who Make Disciples.”

When I had been rector in Virginia for about five years we had fulfilled a particular set of goals that we had agreed to at the beginning of my time there. I called together a Blue Ribbon Commission of all the previous senior and junior wardens who were still members of the parish. (There is a tremendously high turn-over in the Washington, D.C. area.) I asked them to attempt to articulate a Mission/Vision Statement for the parish. They spent about nine months laboring on that project, and in the end they produced what seemed to me a laundry list of aspirations.

The vestry and I “received” it – frankly, with disappointment. I put it away for about a year. When I revisited it I suddenly noticed that everything on the list could be grouped under three headings. These three headings, of three words apiece, became the Vision Statement – almost the motto – of the parish: “Equipping the Saints,” “Serving the Community,” “Renewing the Church.” We found appropriate verses of scripture to go with each phrase. We put them on our brochures, our stationery, our signboard.

And we began measuring everything we did in terms of whether or not it “fit” these categories. I would say that within a very brief time virtually every member of the congregation knew that this was what we were about.

Clarity regarding a congregation’s identity and purpose is very compelling.

If you invite them they will come. It is hard to say it any more simply than that. One rector made the comment that his parish is “very friendly, very welcoming, but we are not inviting.” Another reported that someone has demonstrated that “75% of new believers are led to faith by (other) new believers.” He reminded us of the excitement and fervency that accompanies the fresh discovery of new life in Christ. It makes people eager to share that faith with others, and invite them to share in that adventure.

These three principles do go hand in hand. If there is a shared desire to grow, a compelling vision of what the congregation is about, and the encouragement to each other to invite newcomers to join us I can almost guarantee that your congregation will grow.

Good preaching, good pastoral care, friendly greeters, good music, attention to detail, good child care, lively Sunday School classes, a great youth program – all these are very important as well. But at the heart and core of church growth is attitude. Do we really want to be fishers of men and women, boys and girls? Do we want the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest? Are we willing to be among the ones he sends? My love to you in him,

+John