A local church sought my advice a few years ago in reversing their decline in attendance. All their questions were programmatic””What kind of music does your church play? What do you wear on Sundays? How do you present announcements? Do you serve coffee and donuts?
All they seemed to be looking for was the right tweak in methodology that would attract people.
While methods can make a difference, programmatic changes alone are not going to turn a church around. When a church is in decline, the problem has a much deeper root. So I told that church that what needs to be addressed is not a program, a method, or a ministry, but the church’s soil.
The soil is the church’s culture””the complex blend of norms, beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and (yes) practices that define a congregation.
This is a great article on church planting and should be read by everyone with an interest in that area. Thanks for linking it, I learned a lot.
My experience in attending various churches is that the ones who are growing have two things in common. First, there is vision of what it means to be the church of Jesus. Second, the vision is be preached and taught in season and out of season. The people in the pews can explain to visitors how their church lives out its vision. Program is rooted in the vision and not a means to have a better church.