Growing the Small County Church....Market to the Right Audiance

A friend of mine recently wrote a column for her local newspaper on VBS (Vacation Bible School). That got me to thinking about my church and its need for growth.

When I was a kid going to church was the normal thing on a Sunday Morning. We got up and went just down the road to the church my Dad grew up in. Though he never went on Sunday he always encouraged up to attend church. Back then we had a large group of kids that came on Sunday. Usually those same kids came back on Sunday Nights for Youth Group. That was in the 80s and 90s.

Fast forward to 2016. I will be 37 next month and I am the youngest active member of the same church I attended as a kid. Yes, I still live in the same community were I grew up. Our church is comprised of members ages 37 to 88. A large portion of them are 60+. I am in my 30s and the next oldest in in their 50s. Big age gap there.

As I look around me as to those sitting around me in church I take note of how most everyone is retired and me still working. How there are no young adults, young families, and children in church. Those kids that were a part of the youth group with me as a kid have moved on, go to other churches in the area, or sadly have went to be with Jesus.

I also take note that our church is not getting any younger. Everyone has a birthday each year and gets another year older. The oldest members of our church are near 90 and soon will no longer be with us. It is a hard fact of life that we all get older and one day go to be with Jesus.

It seems though in my church that when it comes to making the church work you have to be in the 60+ crowd. I get told quiet often when I volunteer for something that I am not old enough. Sometimes I hear that I am not a part cause I am not married, don't have kids, and even cause I have no parents. This comes from the same people that complain that we don't have young people in the church.

Here I am ready to serve and you say things like that to me. No wonder we don't have young people in our church. Who would want to attend a church that treats it's members like that. You wonder why I stay with all that. I grew up in that church. My family makes up a large part of that church. When I go to church on Sunday I can tell you just how many of those in the pews are related to me in some way. That is the way it is with a small country church.

Recently my church has started hosting Youth Night. It is an evening of children of the community were they have a meal, games, and a bible lesson. The concept was to get children into the church for a night and possibly back for Sunday. The idea behind that is great, but then you have reality.

We have very few children in our community. What children we do have go to other churches. If we want to get children who don't live in the immediate church area to come we have to attract their parents. There in lies the problem.

A lot of adults today are not interested in church. Some because they never went to church ever. Others because they are burnt our on religion or they had a bad experience with religion at some point in life. Then there is another reason adults use for not coming to church, work. Some have to work on Sundays when church is held and some only get Sundays off choosing to catch up on things they can't get done any other time of the week.

Social Media is a growing trend these days and some churches I know make use of that outlet to get people into their church. One way is to post their Sermons on the church Facebook page or even their website (if they have either one). These outlets are great ways to tell others about events at your church so that you can attract people.

When I was a kid my Aunt Virginia and Uncle Ed went to a church that would send out cassette tape recordings of the services or sermons to those that were home bound. My Aunt thought it was so nice to get a package in the mail or even an elder of the church to deliver the tapes to her. Some churches still do that. Now it is CDs or even DVDs of the services or sermons. These can be used as tools to attract people to your church.

Marketing your church to the children is a great thing. However, we need to focus on the adults first. If we can't get our own members to come on a regular basis then how are we to get children and even other adults to come to church. Lack of attendance by our own members shows a lack of interest in the church.

Another thing that I find hurts the church membership wise is activities. Too many activities and you will drive people away. I find that there are some in churches that will go around asking everyone if they are attending this or that activity, but when you ask them if they are going they quickly clam up. These are the same people that like to be front and center of the church. They want to make sure that something is happening at the church every night of the week so the church looks good, but doesn't support those activities.

These are the same people that feel that they have brilliant ideas for how to get people into church, but then those ideas are a flop. I mean yes they may get people into church for a time, but then those people stop coming. Those who have to be front and center tend to attract the older set of people to church and never the young adults or young families. That really hurts the church.

I look at churches around mine in our area and wonder what they are doing to attract young people and families to their church. What are they doing that we are not? What are we doing wrong? I know that what works for them does not work for everyone, but I would love to give it a try. I would love to move away from ideas that don't work to find something that does.

So I sat in church this morning pondering this all in my head. I realized that the best thing that I can do right now is pray about it. Let God be in the driver's seat. Let him take control of the situation and he can help us grow as a church.

If we don't have God as a part of it then we are not going to grow. We will be stuck. I place my church in God's capable hands and I know he will do the rest.