R.E.A.C.H. Evangelism
There are only two ways to experience net growth as a church: we have to reach new people and keep the new people we reach. We have to focus on this duality which is in fact our reality.
Reaching New People
The biggest single difference between churches that are growing and churches that are struggling is that growing churches invite new people well. Promoting our church through advertising is a great idea, but most of the people who actually walk through the doors and experience what Elevate Nation is all about are people who were personally invited by a friend or family member.
The overwhelming percentage of people who visit our church on any given Sunday do so because of the personal invitation of a friend or family member. Consider this; most people don’t actually join a church as a result of being invited by a friend. People commit to membership for other reasons. People join after they’ve listened to the preaching and the music, gotten involved in a small group, a community event, or discovered something about the church that uniquely connected them more deeply.
Getting the word out about our church and equipping our current attenders to invite their friends is only half of the equation. We must also focus on helping people stick long-term, and the one single key to this is relationships. We call it
‘R.E.A.C.H. Evangelism.’ (Relevant Evangelism Affirming Community Hope)
Keeping the People We R.E.A.C.H.
People will attend our church because of an invitation, or perhaps because of
something they’ve seen or heard concerning the teaching content or our approach to community outreach. But people stay when they develop a deeper and more personal connection to the body at large. They will come because they’ve been invited, but they will stay when they feel personally invested in at least two ways:
- They’ve developed closer friendships in a small group.
- They’ve devoted their time, talent, and treasure to a particular area of ministry.
- The commit to kingdom expansion through community service and ministry engagement.
Purpose driven churches are very intentional about moving people inward and outward at the same time.
We move people inward from the community to the crowd by creating an
inviting culture.
- We move people from the crowd to the congregation by challenging them to: love it, support it, defend it, and commit to it.
- We help people in the congregation stay committed by developing the habits and disciplines of a disciple.
- We move committed people into our core by involving them in ministry to others.
- And we send the core back into the community on a mission to reach others for Jesus.
We will never move beyond the task of reaching new people, and we will never give up the ministry of connecting people more deeply in relationships within the body of Christ. This is how churches grow – they work hard at reaching new people, and they work harder at keeping the people they’re reaching.