Growth and Assimilation - Part 1

February 11, 2011

Last month I asked pastors across the U.S. to take a quick online survey about Growth & Assimilation. Over 160 of you took the survey and it yielded some interesting results. First I want to thank those of you who participated. I will share the results over the next few days. Much of the results are no surprise, but there are a few things that I think need some reflection.

Fist, it is important to understand that pastors were invited to take this survey primarily through the use social networks: Twitter and Facebook. Those who took this survey have internet capability and are connected, in some way, to these two social networks. Keep that in mind as we look at the findings.

Churches were asked: Does your church have a process for inviting and tracking first-time guests?

Of those churches that grew by 15 percent or more last year, 100 percent of them declared they had an intentional method for inviting and tracking first-time guests. On the other hand, only 65 percent of churches indicating less than 15 percent growth last year had an intentional process for inviting and tracking.

Over 35 percent of the church that grew by >15% had NO intentional method at all.

Secondly, churches were asked: What method do you use for inviting visitors?

Those churches that grew by 15 percent or more used multiple methods for inviting visitors. The top three were Yard signs, mass mail, and word-of-mouth. These churches obviously took an intentional approach to having multiple lines in the water. Those churches that grew less than 15 percent, by overwhelming majority (90%) focused solely on Word-of–mouth.

While I would hope every member of a church is excited enough to invite their friends, is word-of-mouth is word-of-mouth sufficient all by itself? Not according to the numbers. If your church is to experience significant growth, you have to find a way to build more intentionality into the way people are invited to be a part of your ministry.

Posted 2/11/2011 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment