Do You Know That Person?

Hello Emmanuel,

WARNING:  THERE IS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS IN THIS EDITION OF THE MMP.  NUMBERS MIGHT NOT LIE, BUT THEY DO NOT ALWAYS TELL THE WHOLE STORY.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Have you ever sat with someone in worship whom you do not know?  Eat at a carry-in with a stranger?  Ever wonder who that person is at the coffee bar? 

How do you help people connect to the church?

Technically, Emmanuel is still a small church.  True, it is not as small as it used to be.  However, a church is not generally considered medium-sized until it gets to at least 250/week in worship attendance.  Emmanuel is at 180.

However, there are differences in the make-up of small churches when comparing 50/week to 180/week, especially when there are 2 worship services compared to 1.  In my opinion, Emmanuel is experiencing the pains of growth and the challenge of stagnation.  Here is one of the reasons why I think so (yes, the paragraph that follows is statistical analysis which doesn’t tell the whole story.  Bear with me on this.  I do have a point eventually).

I see that new people are finding it more and more difficult to connect to Emmanuel.  I know this by one-on-one conversations with new people and by the evidence of the numbers.  The numbers show we are inviting more people than ever to our events and to worship.  Event attendance continues to go up and first-time visitors to worship are as high as ever.  However, worship attendance is at a standstill over the past year.

So if outreach events, invitations and first time visitors are going up and average worship attendance is not, what can we conclude?  One possibility is that people are leaving the church while new people come to the church (otherwise known as the ‘revolving door’ syndrome.  I don’t see that happening at Emmanuel).  In my humble opinion, I conclude that newer people are having a harder time connecting to the church.  In general, a church has about a 6-month window to get a new person who shows strong interest connected to the church.  If that doesn’t happen, it is likely that the person will leave and not come back.

So how do you help people connect to the church?

The Pathway (fancy word for ‘circle chart’) has some built-in processes in place.   People are invited to move through membership class and then join a Small Group of some sort.  This continues to be somewhat effective as Small Groups continue to grow, but not at the pace of potential growth.  The truth is that some simply don’t want to find a connection in this manner….. at least not at first.

Some people just want to establish relationships in a more informal manner.  Some want to just be spoken to on Sunday morning; look forward to saying ‘hi’ at the coffee bar; have someone to sit with at worship; or at least don’t feel like they are invisible to everyone around them. 

How do you help people connect to church?

As you go about being the disciple that gets to know your fellow Christians, imagine making the attempt to connect with someone outside of Sunday morning.  Take someone to lunch or talk to them on the phone.  Send friendly emails or offer a ride on Sunday mornings.  These things can elevate a person’s connection to the church and help them in their walk with Christ, especially if they don’t feel alone in that walk.

I invite you to consider how you can help people feel connected to Emmanuel.  Sermons can only go so far.  Good music can only go so far.  Informative classes can only go so far.  At the heart of the Good News is authentic relationships.  The human being wants to have friends.  And true friendship is one of the best glimpses of God’s Kingdom.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe