What is the first things you would change in a small church, in a small town to help it grow?

Have an "open house" for the community. Send a flyer to every home. (ask for RSVPs so you'll know how much food to have). Prepare a gift packet for each one who comes with a pen, gospel tract, church information and maybe some other items like candy or a gospel of John. Then, pray.

P.S. Or have a pancake breakfast on a Sunday. That way, some would stay for the service.

I go to a very vibrant, active church. Of course, it helps that it's in the city and there are plenty of people around to keep it that way. You know, the most lively churches I've been involved with always had a lot of young families around. Kids. Teenagers. Young married couples having potlucks and discussion groups. My advice would be to start looking for ways to attract people with kids. The energy and enthusiasm they bring to any gathering is infectious. Maybe a weekly thing that people could start looking forward to and putting into their schedules. Get a TV and DVD player and have Friday night kids' movies with a short religious ed. thing at intermission. Market it as a good thing for the kids to do while the adults have a quiet evening together. Or co-sponsor something with another group that attracts the same people you'd like to attract. Plan a hot cider and donuts party for Thanksgiving, or a Christmas carol-sing. Do a project to benefit the town - people working together come to respect and enjoy each other's company (and seek each other out in church on Sundays). Offer the space to the 4-H club or the Boy Scouts. If people get comfortable bringing their kids there, then they'll be more likely to come in on Sunday. And while they're dropping off Tommy and Susie, they'll see the big sign on the bulletin board advertising the monthly potluck.

Hope this helps, Pastor. God bless!

You can do a door-to-door campaign, where you hand out brochures that tell what your church offers. Set up a web site for the church, there are a lot of free places, your denomination's regional or national headquarters may have some resources. Partner with other churches in the area to do events and become "sister" churches; if you pool your resources, you could both get a chance to grow. You can also partner with churches in other countries and do an "exchange" where you visit each other for a week or so. Find out what civic needs there are and address them (food for the homeless, before and after school care for children, etc). Ask your denominations main and regional headquarters for assistance, it's in their best interest to help you with ideas so that you can grow. Put brochures about your church in places where people wait, like doctor's offices, etc. Put brochures in the section of the library where they have other community info. Hope this was helpful!

What exactly is suppose to grow, the church or the town? Your question is unclear over here.I can say this, when the truths are told to the masses of people, they will surely grow, in the proper way,intellectually as well as spiritually.So long as the people are believeing in untruths which are told and conveyed as "The Gospel Truth" the people will always remain in a sort of bondage, being controlled by the very ones they are taught to trust.People need to know that God is not a person on a throne in the sky.God is a process.A never ending one. Invest your mind, heart and soul in discovering the truths of nature, instead of paying a church to deceive you.

Perhaps advertise with signage on the property and perhaps in the news paper that announces an open house......"Under same management, but new stewardship" I assume you have a small board of leadership, meet with them for their input or solicit thoughts from a couple weeks of congregations. Start a website and post it on your signage outside.

Avoid being a fortress church that sees to only the needs of the "club" members and not the unchurched.

See is there is interest in a choir......start a bible study.

For the small church to grow the traditional values have to change, or perhaps at least be malable.

I have copied a few ideas below off some websites....good luck and Gods blessings on your efforts and those of your area.

The values of many small churches are:

Patriarchs or Matriarchs Leaders of the Church The traditional Minister are given much responsibility but little authority. Within the life of the church they are treated as the Chaplain - the one who is to do all the jobs, but not to make decisions about how the church is to be run. Patriarchs or Matriarchs are the ones who have authority to make decisions and the Minister is the one who is told how the church will be run. The Minister is the servant of the people and the Patriarchs or Matriarchs are the ones who are running the church.

PS. The reason why the church is led by the Patriarchs or Matriarchs is that the Minister moves every 4 or 5 years. So that the church doesn't rotate from one Minister's goals to the next, lurching all over the place, the Patriarchs or Matriarchs provide stability to the church. (Maybe Ministers should stay long term in a church, say, 14 to 15 years, so that they can provide leadership.)

Driven by Tradition When a church looks at what it is going to do in the future, its reference point is its tradition. The goal of many small churches is to perpetuate the past. Change is seen as negative and divisive and to be fought against at all cost. Tradition becomes such a driving force that any change, even though it may seem a good change under normal circumstances, is not acceptable. Even though a ministry may have been set up (to reach the unchurched) for the last 20 years but has brought very few to faith, yet tradition says it must continue. The Pastor introduced choruses into the service at Bullamakanka but a number of people objected to them. As a matter of fact they would not sing them, only the hymns. One couple said to the Pastor, "Don't change anything while we are alive but when we die then make all the changes." At Bullamakanka the Pastor spoke about having a vision and setting goals (use their gifts). One group read this to mean that we should start up the choir, and so we had a choir once a month singing hymns. For them the way to get the church fired up was to go back to the past tradition they enjoyed.

The church has not only a vision for the future but sets goals in order to achieve that vision. Once they set the goal, then it is necessary to work to a strategy to achieve that goal. Unless the Leader has faith to believe that God is going to work and do mighty things, then people will not follow and the church will remain where it is. It is the visionary Leader who sets the pace. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." (Hebrew 11:6 N.I.V.)

The Church needs to depend upon His Spirit and to be open to the Holy Spirit and his gifts in everything that they do. They need to be ready to use those gifts in every aspect of the life of the church. People today are looking for an experience of God, but it is not good enough just to transfer data from our mind into someone else's mind. They also want to know and experience God's presence and power in their lives.

The Pastor seeks to make the church relevant to today's society. He seeks to be open to what is happening in the music ministry and to use music that people can understand and enjoy and to move away from 18th century music. It is important to be relevant in our sermons - to meet people at their point of NEED and not just our theological understanding of the message. We need to then apply the Scripture to that felt need.

All Christians are priests and ministers. "But you are a chosen people a royal priesthood..." (1Peter 2:9 N.I.V.). The Pastor needs to teach this often and model it to the members in all that they do.

Small churches are not growing and the membership is getting older. Many Ministers are burning out and leaving the ministry because many traditional small churches will not accept the biblical values mentioned. The change we need is not incremental but a major change from being a club of members who largely look after themselves to being a mission outpost. The traditional small church will grow when it adopts biblical values that will create church health.

Well pastor, getting out in the community always help. Though it may sound a little unorthadoxed putting up fliers helps. Giving out free bibles is a plus and four things that really help are. 1: Speak to the teenagers, they always know people and they can help. 2: Try and have a lock in, or a dance, something that will bring in people of the community and bring in money. 3: Get in touch with a pastor of another church. They are always willing to help. 4: See if there are any retreats that are part of your denomonation that you or either the teens of your church can attend. Good luck and Good bless.

First I would with my own money, cause you have made it clear there isn't much of a budget, take some cash and go to the closest biggest religious/bible store and buy the new music that is out. Pick out a couple of CD's and put all of the lyrics in to your computer and print out about 40 copies of each song, then staple them together and set them in the pews. Alot of young people "including myself" find the old hymns boring, the new stuff is fantastic, get's you jazzed up.

Find a way to target the younger crowd. Like see if you have your own kids, get them to get their friends together for a bible study in your home, something you can help guide, then after a couple of weeks at home, take it in to the church. Offer a teens worship on like a tuesday evening.

the best bet to attract the younger crowd into your church is to make it FUN! Young people don't find church fun cause they can be out wreaking havock and running a muck instead. So you have to make it fun and lively.

AND SET UP A MYSPACE. I live in Abilene texas, and the area churches that are geared or trying to gear toward the younger kids have a myspace account. Where they can reach out to you without being face to face. If you ask around there maybe some young christian mucisians in your town. There are many many in mine. Offer your sanctuary up for a saturday night, let these Christian bands come in to your sanctuary and practice or perform. They will bring other kids with them that want to hear the music, who will be able to bring their non believing friends to hear some great music, and get a good dose of the WORD!

I hope that helps. Congrats at your new church. You will be in my prayers!!!

Outreach. Visit the surrounding neighborhood and introduce yourself. Put a picture of your family in the local paper, so folks will know there is a new minister. Some people will come from curiosity, and might continue coming.

Have a bible school for the children of the community. We have a fire department that drives a fire truck around the neighborhood with signs, and church children riding on it, to bring attention to the upcoming bible school. (one of our members is a fireman).

There are lots of other ways to get children to come. When you get the children there, some parents will show up for the last night to see what the children made. Some will come back for regular service.

Most importantly of all, pray. Have a special prayer service with the members to pray for the lost in the community.

Hope this is helpful. God bless.

get out and meet the towns people, find out what they want from a small town church. I woulds also find out what the town lacks in community, what are the issues most people there seem to be struggling with. Once I had that information, I would elicit them to come to church (a community of people) and consider becoming one as a community rather then going about life on there own. Most people will love the idea of bring the community together.. Just make sure there is plenty of home cooked food and be receptive of the needs of the parishioners.

Market the church.

First off, you should put a small sign on every door, telling people what's behind it, and you should post maps all over the place, so people can see what's where.

Next, you send a mailing to every home in town, perhaps at the rate of 200 homes per week. It should have a map of the church, so people aren't afraid that when they go there, they will do something embarassing.

It should explain what the church believes, on the various themes that have divided up christianity. For instance, for a Methodist church, it could say that some churches are pretty restrictive about who they are comfortable with, but we welcome practicing gays, cohabitating singles, the homeless, the disabled, undocumented aliens, and even married couples who have two children and a white picket fence around their house. We believe in free will, but you're welcome if you believe in predestination. We believe in salvation through faith alone but we encourage you to do good works. We believe it takes the family of a church to properly raise a child, and when we baptise a child, we are committing ourselves to the child. The Methodist church has always had a strong musical ministry, and we invite you to come sing with us.

It should invite the recipient to come visit. It should mention that this is a small, friendly church, and it is not necessary to dress up - you should wear whatever you're comfortable wearing when visiting with friends. It should also mention that while the collection plate will be passed, that the church is financially stable, and visitors will please NOT contribute.

It's hard for a church with seating for 80 to survive; you generally need 100 families to support a pastor. That means you will need to offer more than one service a week. You might want to offer a service mid-week, so that people who take off for the weekend to go camping, visit family, etc., can go Wednesday night instead of Sunday morning.

You also need to look at ways the church can serve the community. Traditionally, churches have founded universities and hospitals as part of their ministries, but they also did a lot of the things that service organizations have now taken the lead on.

The women of the church could get together once a week to cook a church supper, but instead of serving it in the church basement, they take the meals to shut-ins, to people who have recently experienced a loss, to the husbands of women who are hospitalized, etc. - that is, people who are burdened and/or lonely. When they deliver the meal, they offer as little or as much conversation as the recipient wants - and they do NOT talk about religious things, but about the weather, the new store in town, the local high school basketball team, or whatever the recipient finds interesting. The idea is NOT to get the recipient to join the church; the presumption should be that the recipient already *has* a church and is happy there. Instead, the purpose of the exercise is to strengthen the church by giving the members a chance to work together.

Similarly, the men of the church could decide to attack the alleys of the town, picking up trash, pulling weeds, mowing tall grass, perhaps even patching potholes. Or you could organize a baseball team or a basketball team, and join - or form - a league of other such teams. If nothing else, you could form a team and join a bowling league. Again, the point is not recruiting others, but fellowship and building the community of the church.

And, of course, the men of the church could decide to hold a fund-raising supper once every month or once every two months, the profits going to charitable local causes. It's amazing how many men NOT in the church will want to volunteer to pour pancake batter or a griddle, clean up banquet tables, and set up chairs for a good cause.

The key is to believe. You need to believe that your members want to serve God, not that they are there out of habit. You need to believe that people are unchurched out of apprehensions, not because they have no faith. You need to believe that people want to belong to an organization that is making a difference.

A church that *acts* like a church will grow. A church that exists only because people are in the habit of attending will die.