A Lie Pastors Currently Believe
Don’t believe the lie that churches did not grow in onsite attendance during 2020 and early 2021. Believe it or not, 17,000 of local congregations (or 5%) actually did.
This past weekend I attended the Defy The Odds Conference hosted and led by Rock Springs Church senior pastor Benny Tate. Pastor Benny is a great leader! I can’t recommend enough you purchase his wonderful book Defy the Odds: How God Can Use Your Past to Shape Your Future by clicking HERE.
The following is the complete content from the conference:
- 36 Leadership Quotes From Benny Tate’s Defy The Odds Conference Opening Session
- 39 Leadership Quotes On Creating A Culture Of Excellence
- 20 Things I Learned From Pastor Benny Tate by the church’s executive pastor Cameron Shiflett
- 25 Leadership Quotes On Recruiting High Capacity People
- 27 Leadership Quotes On The Secret Of Leadership From Benny Tate’s Closing Session
During the event’s closing session, Pastor Benny discussed the following 5 things the 17,000 growing churches did during the pandemic to actually increase their onsite weekend attendance.
External Prayer
While they obviously prayed for people inside the church, these churches were outwardly focused in their prayers. These churches placed an emphasis on praying for people who did not go to church prior to the pandemic. They did what is called Pray-And-Go. These churches would drive to a house in a targeted community and just pray over whoever lived there. They would pray for their mental and physical health as well as their spiritual condition. Prior to leaving, they would leave a doorhanger letting them know they were not alone and prayed for.
They Celebrated More
God never left His throne. He was still in the transformation business during 2020 and 2021. Growing church staffs and congregations constantly celebrated what God was doing in the lives of people, not everything that was wrong. This kept people focused on the mission and vision, morale high, and generated much-needed momentum.
An Expanded Online Presence
Churches who were evangelistic and outwardly focused made an interesting discovery. They learned a growing online audience did not take away from their live attendance. By leveraging digital as a front door, it actually drove more and more people into the building. Digital is an embarrassingly poor substitute for live attendance. But done right, it will increase it.
A Monthly Evangelistic Emphasis
Many churches conduct an annual Friend Day or some other big event which people can invite their unchurched friends to. The churches who grew in onsite attendance during the pandemic turned up the evangelistic efforts by doing a monthly major event.
They Foster Churches
The churches who grew in live attendance focused on the big-C Church, not just their local church. Churches who were generous to other churches in the community in terms of money and volunteers saw their own churches grow. You cannot put anything into a closed fist, only an open hand. This basic principle applies to churches as well.
No More Excuses
It’s time to quit using COVID (or Delta or Omicron or whatever is next) as an excuse for a lack of growth. Churches who focused on external prayer, celebration, leveraging their online presence, conducted monthly evangelistic efforts, and invested in partner churches saw attendance spikes during the pandemic. If your church does these same things, you may see an attendance increase in 2022 as well.
But for all of this to work, you need the favor of God and one more thing.
Nothing Grows A Church Faster Than A Growing Leader
In conclusion, I want to say nothing grows a church better than a growing leader. That’s why I created The 2-Minute Leader Coaching Course. These 11 modules will give you the exact tools needed to grow and develop into the type of leaders your organization desperately needs.
Take your leaders through this powerful 10-part video series and see the following results:
- Provide key leaders with growth opportunity
- Give you confidence in decisions being made by your team
- Establish a healthy leadership development process
- Develop a leadership pipeline
- Create a leadership culture
The 2-Minute Leader Coaching Course is a great resource for equipping your team members to fulfill their unique roles and find purpose and meaning in their lives. This is priced at $37 because I want to get it into as many hands as possible. Click HERE or the image below or learn more and purchase.
The Top 75 Leadership Quotes From 2021 Part 2 is my latest ebook. For many entering a post-pandemic environment, leadership looks completely different than the pre-pandemic world. People are more broken now. They are more uncertain. Fear and anxiousness are unwelcome constant companions. Cultures are more unhealthy. Relationships are more dysfunctional. Hope seems to be in short supply. Every day seems to bring a new hacking, natural disaster, or unexpected calamity.
Therefore, the fundamentals of leadership are more important than ever. The quotes in this book deal with the basics of leadership. If you want to be the best leader you can possibly be, click HERE or on the image provided to download this FREE resource. The lessons learned from last year, if applied, will sustain you for years to come.