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Attracting new members to your church is essential to keep your congregation strong and thriving. Yet, it’s also a struggle most churches face at some point.
While faith is at the core of church community, many people choose a place of worship based on the relationships they can build and opportunities within the church.
Finding opportunities that appeal and fit the needs and lifestyle of potential newcomers is critical. Then, welcoming interested individuals with hospitality and nurturing an authentic relationship will showcase your church’s culture while increasing the chance they’ll return.
Let’s dive into 16 strategic ways to reach a wider audience and help new members establish deep roots in your church.
Special public events allow new people an opportunity to get to know your church, members, and values in a comfortable setting.
Ideally, plan events that appeal to individuals who aren’t currently part of other church communities. Additionally, consider partnering with non-religious organizations to reach more individuals who aren’t already active in a local church.
While community events can be effective, it often takes consistent efforts within your community before you’ll see an impact on church attendance and new membership. So you’ll want to pick church activities you can do regularly, like an annual fall festival family event. People in the community will start to associate the event with your church and look forward to it every year—building a real connection.
But there are many benefits beyond adding new members. Hosting a variety of regular events helps show your community your church cares, builds relationships with other organizations, and allows you to better understand the needs of your area beyond your church.
Here are some community event ideas:
Focus on workshops and classes that align with your church’s values and also serve a need for a wide number of people in your area. Ideally, you’ll want opportunities that appeal to a variety of people or address universal problems.
Examples of workshop or class ideas include:
Attract new members and keep current members engaged by staying active on social media. Social media can help you:
For instance, use a variety of images and videos to compliment their messages and advertise upcoming events and activities.
Ideally, choose social media platforms that your members commonly use and make it easy for members to share posts with people they know to help spread word of mouth about your church. Also, make it easy for website visitors to link to your social media directly from your website.
Some ideas for sharing posts can include:
Finding ways to modernize your church services by investing in church technology, like Subsplash, can increase interest from existing members and attract newcomers. It can keep your services and church feeling fresh and help ensure you’re attending to the current needs of your congregation. It can also help you appeal to younger individuals.
Here are some ways to help modernize your church services:
Collaborating with local businesses can help increase awareness of your church, and gain insights into your local community’s needs.
Some ways to build relationships with local businesses include:
Having an active youth program helps children and teens feel valued and provides a fun way for them to participate and engage within your church’s community.
Additionally, these programs can be a great way to attract new members, especially if your existing youth members invite friends. As the friends engage with your church, their families may be more likely to attend services and eventually become active members.
There are many types of activities and programs you can use. Having a youth committee overseeing the development and execution of activities can help. Also, consider getting older teens involved in helping to generate ideas.
Here are some activities and ideas to get your younger members involved:
When done well, outreach programs can build strong relationships within your community.
First, set specific goals for your programs so you can track the programs’ progress. This will enable you to evaluate your outreach efforts and determine whether you need to modify them in the future.
You may want to host some events outside your church so the location feels more neutral to non-members. Additionally, be sure to take advantage of online marketing strategies like creating an online event page, contacting the local newspaper, posting about the event on your social media, and connecting with local businesses to help spread the word.
Some individuals want to attend church but don’t have a reliable way to get there. If this is a barrier in your area, consider creating a transportation ministry like Sunnybrook Church.
Dedicated volunteers use a church vehicle to pick up and drop off people for church services and events. This type of service can allow more people to attend.
When creating a transportation service, you’ll want to:
Guest speakers can be an effective way to attract new members and keep existing members engaged. Speakers also can provide fresh insights, perspectives, and diversity.
When hosting, you’ll want to:
Small groups can be an effective way to attract newcomers and help them form meaningful friendships with others in your congregation. Once they have a few friends, they’ll be more likely to stick around.
However, you’ll also want to make sure you don’t overdo it and create a bunch of tight-kit cliques as that can have the opposite effect.
When setting up small group meetings, you’ll want to consider:
Using technology effectively can help you spread the word of your church and stay connected with members and attract new ones.
Additionally, not everyone is able to attend church in person. So offering online services through social media, live streaming, or a church app is a way for even the most remote new members to stay connected.
For example, Fresh Life Church has a thriving Facebook group that provides information about upcoming events, includes videos, and incorporates posts designed to engage their followers.
A church referral program can help encourage your members to spread the word about your church to their family, friends, and people they know in the community.
When creating a referral program, you’ll want to:
Celebrating milestones can build stronger bonds among your members and create a sense of community. It also encourages members to share and engage with each other. This feeling of community can also shine through when newcomers visit, showcasing the connection of your congregation.
To get started, it is all about having a system that:
Creating effective ways to get feedback can help create a friendly culture, increase engagement, and build a sense of community. Additionally, these opportunities can be an easy way for non-members interested in your church to ask questions and learn more about how your church functions—which may help increase the chance that they try out your church.
Some ways to create effective feedback systems include:
For instance, The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri provides a monthly video call open forum specifically for church communicators to help encourage communication and sharing ideas and questions.
What happens after someone attends your church service for the first time? Ideally, you’ll want to have a personalized follow-up process so newcomers feel noticed and welcomed.
The information should focus on thanking them for attending, inviting them to come again, and providing contact information in case they have questions. You could also ask them to provide feedback on their experience.
Changes in our modern society have created some unique challenges that churches need to address and overcome to ensure they’re nurturing and meeting the needs of their current congregation.
For instance, people are becoming more pressed for time due to hectic schedules and many people are more isolated, living away from family. Also, following the pandemic, more people got out of the habit of going to church or they still avoid large gatherings like church services.
However, there are solutions to help overcome these challenges, such as:
The more connected and in tune you are with your congregation and your larger community, the easier it will be to identify how to break through barriers preventing people from attending and meeting their needs.
When it comes to connecting and engaging your church community, over 17,000 organizations partner with Subsplash with the best digital tools to reach, engage, and grow their people.
To learn more about leveraging technology to reach new members and support your church community, [.blog-contact-cta]get in touch with Subsplash today![.blog-contact-cta]
