ATTRACTION OR RETENTION

One of my pastor friends and one of my mentors said a very profound statement to a group of us pastors over a month ago, and it really stuck with me. The statement was, "Every church either has an attraction problem or a retention problem." What leaders have to do is figure out what problem their church is having and fix it. Today, I'm going to give some thoughts about how to solve the attraction problem. Tomorrow, I will give some thoughts about how to solve the retention problem.

1. You have to have great weekend services!

2. A great weekend service must have God's presence and anointing.

3. A great weekend service has excellent music.

4. A great weekend service has biblical, relevant and applicable teaching and preaching.

5. A great weekend service has a super kids’ ministry.

6. A great weekend service has a friendly and caring first impressions ministry (parking lot, greeters, ushers, and all other volunteers who are serving on the weekends).

7. Get some outside feedback about the quality of your weekend services. Too many churches think they have great weekend services, but they really don't. Almost everybody who attends their church thinks it's great, but there's a problem if everybody who visits thinks it's not! At People's Church, we constantly have guests, pastors and leaders coming to check out the church, and we're always quick to ask them how their experience was and what we can do better. I don't want to be guilty of thinking we have great services when we really don't!

8. You have to have life change in the services. God's Spirit has to be changing lives on a regular basis. CHANGED LIVES CHANGE LIVES. When someone is changed by the power of Christ, they are motivated to go and tell their friends and family about their life change. Then their friends and family are invited to experience God's life changing power. A great question to ask yourself is, "Are people giving their hearts to Christ on a regular basis?" If not, why not? THE CHURCH IS ALL ABOUT SEEING LIVES CHANGED BY AN AWESOME GOD!

9. The church people must be excited about the church. The greatest marketing for any church are the people who attend the church. If people aren't excited about your church, that's a huge hurdle to overcome in solving the attraction problem. I would encourage you to pray and find out what God wants you to do to create excitement and passion in the hearts of the people you lead. The people must be excited about Christ and about seeing hurting and lost people connected to a loving God. When people are excited, they invite their family and friends to experience God.

10. You have to choose who you lose. So many churches wonder why they’re not reaching people for Christ, but they spend all their energy on keeping instead of reaching. Their only concern is keeping church people happy, while a lost and dying world goes to hell. If your focus is on keeping disgruntled and high maintenance church people happy, you will have a VERY, VERY, VERY difficult time attracting new people to the local church. At People's Church, we choose who we lose. We let high maintenance, all about ME Christians go to another church so that we can stay focused on reaching and not just keeping church people happy. We don't spend our time trying to cater and please church people. Our goal is to please our heavenly Father! Our goal is to do what God has called us to do! BOTTOM LINE, WHAT YOU CATER TO IS WHAT YOU GET! YOU CHOOSE WHO YOU LOSE!