Many pastors have told me their churches are stuck at a certain number of members or attenders. Here’s the good news: Christmas is a great time to get unstuck. People who wouldn’t come some other time of the year show up at Christmas. And we have a great opportunity to tell them about Jesus and to encourage them to come back to church. You can use church growth strategies at Christmas to help your members sense that they are a part of something big and exciting. It can be tough to keep people motivated consistently over the long haul, but we can get them fired up for a specific day.
A “Big Day” can help people feel like they’re on a winning team. And a “Big Day” like Christmas can help break through growth barriers (whether it’s 200, 300, 400 or 1,000).
RELATED: Simple Ways to Share Christ at Christmas
At Saddleback, we refer to it as pyramiding growth. You push past a barrier on a “Big Day,” then the numbers might drop a little bit the next week, but you don’t drop as far back as you were. Then you plan for your next “Big Day” (like Easter). Again, just like with Christmas, your numbers may drop after Easter, but you don’t drop all the way back to where you had started.
Church Growth Strategies at Christmas
Here are some ways to intentionally plan for a “Big Day” at Christmas:
1. Give people tools to invite their friends and neighbors.
A lot of the guests at Christmas services will be there because someone invited them, so it’s a great time to encourage our people to make the extra effort to invite friends and family.
The tools we can provide include both digital and printed invitations with information about the Christmas services: name of the sermon/series, date(s), time(s), address of the church and the names of any special guests. Even in our digital age, people still like to have details in a printed form. It helps them keep everything in one place and have something to stick on the refrigerator as a reminder.
2. Get the word out using advertising.
If you’re going to use advertising, Christmas and Easter are the days to do it. Even if people don’t come because of a specific ad, it will still help reinforce the personal invitations from your members. For instance, potential guests may see your ad and then get invited by one of your members, and that will let them know great things are happening at your church. Plus, you’ll always get a few people who want to go to church that day but don’t have any idea where to go. Your ad may be just what they need.
