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Retention and Involvement: 14 pastors of large and fast-growing congregations share creative, church-tested ideas

How have pastors met the assimilation challenge all churches face? Leaders at 14 large and fast-growing churches share with us the creative means they use to approach the process of assimilation and retention. No single answer fits all, but these leaders have developed methods to help people connect and grow in their faith that your church can learn from. Here, from the Outreach magazine archives, are 14 church-tested strategies.

Grab Them During the Service

We believe the first step in recognizing how to get people involved and assimilated is to grab them during the service, so I will often challenge people to join our church. We offer membership opportunities right after our services, so people can join that day rather than returning another time.

Then, in the class, we ask people to sign up for a ministry and a small group to keep them progressing toward involvement. If they do not get involved, we call them to remind them of the “opportunity.” We also show videos of people serving, have bulletin inserts people can fill out to begin serving, and share testimonies and stories of life-change through serving.

I also will challenge the notion of “spiritual maturity” by saying to our people: “Please do not consider yourself spiritually mature yet not serving. Not serving is a sign of spiritual immaturity.” Hearing this often challenges people’s assumptions enough to make them get up and get involved.
Bil Cornelius, senior pastor
Bay Area Fellowship, Corpus Christi, Texas

Two to Three Handshakes ... Then the Process Begins

We are very welcoming as people enter our services. Our goal is two to three handshakes per attendee. We ask people to fill out a communication card, but we aren't pushy about it. Every first-time guest gets four things: a phone call, letter, email and "cookie visit," where we simply take them cookies and thank them for being our guest.

Through our various modes of communication, we preach the next step, which could be a small group or the Inquirer's Lunch—a place to learn about Rock Bridge, membership, involvement and salvation. The pulpit has to be one of the primary communication methods to stress next steps.
Matt Evans, lead pastor
Rock Bridge Community Church, Dalton, Ga.


A Visit Within 24 Hours

Within 24 hours, we try to personally have a pastor drop by a visitor’s home with a bucket of microwave popcorn, a free movie pass, a 2-liter bottle of soda, some Skittles for the kids and paraphernalia from all the ministries of our church. We do a letter and phone call to follow up with them as well.

We also have [an area at the church] called Next Point. There we tell them about the history, philosophy and strategy of North Point. We also tell them about connection opportunities.

We find that a lot of people are willing to show up and help people find a place to park before they’re willing to show up and go to someone’s home and be in a small group. We see service opportunities as kind of a mid-level connection.
Noble Bowman, director of Connections Ministry
North Point Church, Springfield, Mo.


Small Groups

After someone becomes a born-again believer, we introduce them to a Power of 12 small group leader. That leader facilitates a group meeting twice a month.

After they make a membership commitment at a service, every member gets connected to the small group ministry through a personal, face-to-face meeting with the group leader. We call those who become members through other means and let them know that a small group facilitator will be contacting them. Through the Power of 12 ministry, membership care and support is accomplished. Further, new members are brought to spiritual maturity through the Bible study component and encouraged to take the leadership courses to become a facilitator of their own small groups. And new members are equipped and empowered to become involved with the small group evangelism emphasis.
Bishop I.V. Hilliard
New Light Christian Center Church, Houston


Face-to-Face Contact on the First Sunday

Our goal is to have face-to-face, first-name-basis contact with as many guests as possible on the first Sunday they come. Guests are collectively recognized in the worship gatherings. We greet them with a warm handshake and encourage them to meet the pastors after the service. We know our guests are "consumers" at first, typically with a strong "me" focus.

Our Welcome Center has 65 hosts who serve with the pastor on a rotating basis. They record pertinent information and take willing guests directly to the ministry table or church department of interest. In the next two weeks, guests receive an email, letter and phone call. We accomplish the high-tech part of guest connections through a user-friendly Web site that lists open ministries and small groups, and initiates an electronic invitation process.
Bob Grabau, Congregational Life Pastor
The Chapel at CrossPoint, Getzville, N.Y.


An "After Party" for Guests

We constantly work on three areas: First, we strive for an accurate assessment of numbers. It is vital to assess what reality is and go from there.

Second, offering connection points for guests is key. We created an “after party” for our first-time guests called NEXT. This event helps people connect into relational intimacy by meeting and learning about the staff. This is where we get on a first-name basis. We use Starbucks gift cards and other items as hooks to ensure attendance at the event.

NEXT is used as leverage for our membership class. During this one-hour lunch event, we share the vision and values of LifePoint Church and emphasize joining both a Life Group and a Serve Team.

Third, every strategy, event and ministry must fall in line with our mission: Begin, Connect, Serve. As a church plant reaching primarily the unchurched community around us, it is imperative that our first goal be to give opportunities for an unchurched person to begin a relationship with God. Our main goal is to provide meaningful experiences for people to Begin, Connect and Serve in any order that gets them further down their spiritual journey.

Many of our Life Groups have found great success in attracting and retaining attendees by going where people are. We have numerous groups that meet in places like Panera Bread, Starbucks, high-end workout facilities and sports fields.
Brad White, lead senior pastor
and Bruce Moore, executive senior pastor
LifePoint Church, Tampa, Fla.


The Weekend Service Is Just the Beginning

Assimilation begins with the weekend service, primarily. From there, we give people several options, depending on where they are in their spiritual journey. Those options are serving, life groups or even mission trips. We’re constantly offering opportunities to serve. We have a Connecting Point ministry in all of our locations, where people go to sign up for serving, mission trips and for a life group. We also offer a spiritual gifts class, which takes serving to a whole other level. We take people through the class and consult with them individually to help them see where they would best serve in the body of Christ.
Lee Powell, senior pastor
CedarCreek Church, Perrysburg, Ohio


Making the Church "Sticky"

By the time a guest arrives at a weekend gathering, several key things have already happened that make newlife sticky. Guests have been invited by a friend, neighbor or family member and are likely to have already participated in some kind of neutral event like a backyard barbecue heavily attended by newlifers.

By the conclusion of a Sunday gathering, guests will have met many other newlifers. In the week following their visit, guests receive a follow-up phone call from a member of the leadership team. We invest energy to ensure each guest is truly listened to after his or her first-, second- and third-time visit.

What’s next? A newlife guest will in many instances be invited to a group experience. Newlife increasingly serves the community by involving those “on the mission” in supporting existing communitywide service opportunities.
Daniel Serdahl, community pastor
newlife, Silverdale, Wash.


It Begins With Servanthood

Our strategies have been: (1) Be a servant leader. My wife and I have led by example as chief servants in the house, and the people have adopted a spirit of sonship versus servant mentality; (2) Emphasize Spirit-directed worship and preaching. Real change in an individual causes people to return and stay for discipleship and relationship; (3) Emphasize the preaching of the cross. The sermons end with an altar call for salvation and church membership. Christian education classes are conformational and discipleship-oriented and help close the back door; (4) Train leaders. I have six associate pastors on staff, but I have more than 60 cell pastors or Lighthouse Cell Group leaders who have been trained and discipled in the vision of the church, cell group leadership and Bible and Pentecostal doctrine; (5) Cast and keep the vision. We regularly teach and preach the mission and vision and have sought to remain uncongested from busyness, programs and events that do not move people to become disciples of Christ.
Walter Harvey, senior pastor
Parklawn Assembly of God, Milwaukee, Wis.


Phone Calls and Letters Within 24 to 48 Hours

The primary avenues we use to bring people IN are weekend services and community outreach events. The Assimilation Team distributes letters to all first- and second-time visitors and places personal phone calls to every first-timer within a 24-to-48-hour period.

Once a person comes IN, we encourage them to grow UP in their faith through small groups, caring ministries and our membership class.

Once people come IN and begin growing UP, we send them OUT to impact others and contribute to the cycle of bringing new people back IN. Our OUT Team focuses on missions, service and community sports programs.

Ultimately we rely on God to move in the hearts of our people as they are introduced to Christ and grow closer to Him.
Beau Adams, pastor
Community Bible Church, Stockbridge, Ga.


The Children's Welcome Center

We established a clearly marked Children’s Welcome Center, where first-time families and guests are greeted and checked in to their classes. Volunteer hosts walk the families to their children’s classroom and make sure they know where and when to pick up their kids. Then, the hosts assist the parents in getting some refreshments before they hand them off to an usher in our auditorium.

We have found that, in most cases, it is less intimidating for a guest to look for an opportunity to serve before they consider connecting into a class or group. In our lobby, a guest can sign up for a tour that lets them go behind the scenes and see firsthand a ministry in action. At the end of the tour, we answer questions and give them an opportunity to sign up to serve. We also recommend our gifts class. Our Volunteer Central room is another way guests can serve easily at Cornerstone. As they enter, they are welcomed and have someone who will spend time with them talking about serving opportunities.

We also provide a Prepare Class volunteers can attend within the first 30 days of serving at the church. The class is designed to prepare volunteers and let them know they’re appreciated and allows them to ask additional questions about serving at Cornerstone
Lisa Winters, Connecting Point director
Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, Chandler, Ariz.


Four Connecting Classes

We have four connecting classes we work hard to get every newcomer to attend and complete. No one can serve in a position of leadership unless they complete all four connecting classes. These classes meet every month and are led, primarily, by lay people in our church.

We also have a Member Services Department that sends letters and emails and makes phone contact with guests, beginning with their first visit. Generally, we will continue to follow up with someone for at least six months.

We encourage everyone to make three simple commitments: one hour of worship; one hour of Bible study in a group; and one hour of service. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is our church's most powerful and most effective follow-up strategy.
Barry Cameron, senior pastor
Crossroads Christian Church, Grand Prairie, Texas


It All Flows Out of the Mission Statement

Everything we do flows out of our mission statement: “Transforming unconvinced people into wholehearted followers of Jesus.”

From the moment they walk through our doors, people experience a deep kind of love that fosters a culture of belonging. You want to belong here. You want to grow. You want to find your spot. Everywhere you look, there are transformed lives.

The ownership of this culture across our church body has been massively affected by my unabashed investment in our leaders. For three years, I led a yearlong leadership experience called Accelerate that called God’s best out of people. Accelerators emerged ready to lay their lives down for the sake of Christ and His Church. They own the vision themselves and have committed to a lifetime of transformation to become the leaders God has called them to be.
Pete Hise, lead pastor
Quest Community Church, Lexington, Ky.


Tried and True: Sunday School

The primary way we assimilate new members is through our Sunday school. Saint Stephen Church grew exponentially because of the emphasis on Sunday school, which was unique for an African-American church. Our Sunday school classes’ primary purposes are fellowship, ministry and evangelism. Each week, members bring in the names of people in the church who need prayer. If someone has a prayer need, our prayer ministry sends them a passage to read, a prayer to recite, a principle from the Scripture and the name of a person to call.

The evangelism director in each class teaches a principle of witnessing, and people bring in names of people who are unchurched or dechurched. We take those names and put them in our database, and we constantly send them things, for example, a DVD about the church and what Saint Stephen has to offer them.
Kevin Cosby, senior pastor
Saint Stephen Church, Louisville, Ky.


From the Outreach magazine archives: This feature originally appeared in the 2008 Outreach 100. Order this issue from Amazon.com »

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