01 – 9 Actions to Grow Worship and Professions of Faith

Welcome!  Over the summer I am going to share 9 short blog and video posts on how churches can grow worship attendance and professions of faith.

This series is inspired by Bishop Grant’s challenge at Annual Conference to increase worship and professions of faith in the Cal-Pac Conference.

It’s a great challenge, but how?  How do we grow our congregations in today’s world? That is a great question!

I hope these posts help you think more about this in your context. The ideas shared will be best practices in church vitality but like any practices, you will need to switch things around so they work for you. I look forward to your feedback and your ideas!

Also, my model for increasing Sunday morning attendance and professions of faith comes less from a ‘what will help my church grow?” approach and more from a “what is stopping my church from growing?” approach.

What is the difference? The first question (what will help my church grow?) seems to overwhelm people. It also may play into our belief that our church cannot grow. I see the doubtfulness among our pastors and laity that their churches cannot grow.  And, I wonder if approaching this from a slightly different angle might help give us fresh perspective.

Asking what is stopping my church from growing can encourage curiosity. It invites us to look at what is going on in our ministries that might be getting in the way of reaching new people. As I watch churches grow, I notice many of them are removing barriers and building bridges, not reinventing the wheel. Asking, what is stopping us from growing opens us up to the Holy Spirit who gives us fresh vision.

So, what might be stopping your church from growing?

#1. Your church’s website.

In today’s world most people will stop by your website before they show up on a Sunday morning. So, how does your website look? Is it fresh, updated and a reflection of your community?

Start here when thinking about reaching new people this year.  And, yes, it will take time and money but it will be well spent.  Do not neglect this essential ministry tool.

Here are several examples of website that are up to date (and awesome):

Redondo Beach First UMC

Costa Mesa New Start –

The Loft @ Westwood

Want to learn more?

• Ten Tips 
• Best Practices
• Church website – how not to update
• Ten Common Pitfalls 

Actions to Take:

• Need Help? – Contact James Kang, Director of Communications at JKang@calpacumc.org
• Discuss your church’s website with your Leadership Team/Ad Council.  Update it this summer.
• Reach out to a church with an awesome website and get their website designer’s information and call him or her.