Church Marketing Sucks

Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan are on staff at Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind. Neither of them are nationally known, top 10 writers or speakers (yet)—they’re just two guys who work at a church and have learned what works and what doesn’t. It’s simple, it’s strategic and it will help your church grow.

Simply Strategic Growth: Attracting a Crowd to Your Church is comprised of 99 short chapters (2-3 pages) each focused on one simple idea. That means it’s a breeze to read through, is packed with ideas, and is very approachable for the ADD crowd (and with the proliferation of blogs and short content I think we’re all joining that club).

The book covers everything from backend administrative tasks (how to conduct a post-service what worked/what didn’t meeting and who to include) to wrangling volunteers (don’t schedule anything other than worship services and corresponding childcare on Sundays so you maximize your volunteer pool) to rationale for adding multiple services (people are more likely to invite friends when a church is not totally full and once your service has several hundred people there’s no way everybody can know everybody).

What I like best about Simply Strategic Growth is that they’re willing to consider anything and they don’t get hung up on the distractions. When people complain that they’re too focused on growth and numbers and bringing in people, Stevens and Morgan nod, smile and agree. The more growth, the higher numbers, each additional person means the potential for more people to come to Jesus. They’re quick to point out that you can’t be obsessed with numbers in a ‘my church is bigger than your church’ type of way, but without numbers you can’t know if what you’re doing is working, and if what you’re doing isn’t working, why keep doing it?

I’ll let them say it themselves:

Underlying all of the principles in this book is our belief that attracting a crowd to your church is not the goal. It’s just a means to an end. Your goal is to attract a crowd so that you can turn that crowd into believers who are growing and making a difference in the world. Without that as the objective, your church is just a weekend inspiration station.

The other major complaint they get is that this a recipe to be just like Granger. But they’re also quick to discourage your church from becoming a Granger-clone:

Don’t try to mimic Granger’s applications. Do try to wrestle with the core principles that challenge your current thinking in an effort to improve how your church offers Jesus to your community.

Simply Strategic Growth is about practicality. What works? Here are some principles that worked in Granger, Ind. The exact same thing may not work in Los Angeles or Charlotte, N.C., but the same principle with a different application might work for you.

More:

• Learn more about how to welcome church visitors with this massive collection of resources and blog posts.
• Walking into a church for the first time can be scary. Check out Unwelcome: 50 Ways Churches Drive Away First-Time Visitors by Jonathan Malm for practical ideas and perspective on first-time guests.
• Check out our interview with Tony Morgan.