Growing a Church is Seriously This Simple

I know I’ve said this before, but pastors like me make church growth too complicated sometimes. “It’s about the right programs! It’s about the right music! It’s about solid biblical preaching!” All of those things are well and good, but here’s what I’ve experienced: seeing your church grow can sometimes be as simple as knowing a name. When guests come to your church (and they do every week), they’re searching. They’re searching for a home. They’re searching for a place to belong. They want it to be your church. But you’ve got to make their experience warm and welcoming. And yes, you’ve got to go over the top to learn names and faces.

Case in point: there’s a family that has visited our church off and on for a few months. After they’d gotten on our radar, I found them on Facebook, friend requested them, got my ‘creep’ on, and tried to memorize their names and faces, so that if they ever came back I could call them by name. Seems a bit over the top, I know. Why all the hard work? Isn’t my job just to “preach the Word?” My job is to preach, but so much more than that. Preachers love to preach. That’s what they train for. What they don’t love all the time is all the people work. But you can’t be a very successful preacher if you don’t have anyone to preach to! So, I tried to learn their names and faces.

Lo and behold, this family came to church again Sunday, and I was able to call them by name. We made small talk for about a minute. Nothing deep, nothing super substantial. Here’s the message I got from the wife the day after:

I wanted to tell you something…I wanted you to know how much it meant to me yesterday morning when you came over to speak to us at church that you called me by name. I was very surprised…and very pleased. My family and I have been looking for a while for a home church…and we have visited Mt Vernon the most. I, myself, have felt for some time that it was a place that I’d like to be a part of and small things like you coming over and knowing my name, confirms that for me.

Sing great songs. Preach great sermons. But remember that sometimes it’s the smallest things, like names and faces, that makes all the difference. Don’t ever use the excuse “I’m not good with names” anymore. That’s a crutch. Kick it to the curb and start learning names. You’ll be glad you did.