Having a large number of people in your congregation is
not as difficult as retaining them. Many churches experience upward and
downward slope in the statistics of their church members. This minute the
church is full the next minute people are out of the church.
It is not because they are not ready to serve God anymore,
neither is it because they are too busy to come to church. Their absence from
church may not be because somebody in the church fought with them, but because
they have not seen what they are looking for. (a convenient place of worship).
The motive of going to church is to meet with our maker
and fellowship with Him, people need some physical things to keep them in the
church; to have personal encounter with the Lord. (As we all know
that it is not everybody in the church that is genuinely saved). They need to
have the revelation of who God is; they need to develop genuine love and
interest in God. This can be done by fellowshipping with fellow believers. For
them to continue fellowshipping without pulling out; they need to be motivated
in the following ways:
·
A
convenient and conducive environment- Make the church auditorium convenient for
people to worship.
·
Create
a friendly atmosphere for everybody, both old and new members: there should be
a warm welcome to everybody that finds their way into the church so that they
would feel welcomed and want to come back.
·
Inspiring
and Spirit filled praise and worship session- Many people attend church because
of the worship session, praise and worship connects people to God. It is
crucial to make the church worship session to worth its while.
·
Impactful
and soul lifting sermon- It is very important that the church leader should
seek the face of God for inspiration on sermons that will inspire and touch the lives of the members of the
congregation. Sermon is the food for the soul, as food is important to the
body, so also is sermon to our spirit man.
·
Follow
up and visitation of both old and new members- The church may decide to have a
group that will be in charge of follow up (Checking on the new members/
converts) this can be done by texting, calling them on phone and visiting.
·
The
pastor should be approachable and have listening ears, not to gossips but to
people’s area of need.( Prayers, advice, intercession, and material needs)
·
The
pastor should not be angry when his attention is been drawn to something that
needs to be corrected.
·
The
pastor should not expect a “perfect” congregation (church is a spiritual
hospital where all manner of spiritual sicknesses are being healed). Jesus said
it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick... (John 5: 31). Many
people are in the church for God to transform them.
- The church should not be run as the extension of the pastor's home, therefore Issues should be treated with curtsey and respect.
·
Let
you service and church activities involve all ages (that is create something
for all ages, do not leave anybody out, let everybody be involved). For
example, quiz and debate, outreaches, camps and other Godly gathering will help
the congregation to grow.
·
Active
and result oriented evangelism team- The team should be evangelising
constantly, an open day event can be planned for people in the locality to
attend. After the open day event, some new members would join the church.
- the impact of the church should be felt in the community, be part of what the community is doing, look at the need of the community and try all your best to do what you can to help the community.
·
Prayer-
above it all, you need to pray without ceasing, Jesus Christ said “no one can
come unto the father who sent me, unless the father draws him.” Don’t
underestimate the power of prayer, pray, pray and pray without ceasing, for He has promised to build His church and the gate of hell will not prevail.
Image- Google Image
No comments:
Post a Comment