What Makes A Small Church Grow? 3 Key Areas To Focus On

Ask the average Christian what makes a small church grow and you’ll hear clichés like:

  • “Prayer grows the church”
  • “We need to follow God’s leading”
  • “We need to get back to the Bible”
  • “If we just lift Jesus up the people will come”
  • “Shine your light so bright the world will want what you have”

Most of these answers focus on praying to God for guidance and then being obedient in following that guidance.

While these sayings are true, they are also too spiritually ethereal and lack clarity for the struggling pastor of a small church.

What the pastor needs is direction in knowing which areas to focus his efforts on to grow the small local church in the 21st century.

Work Hard, Pray Hard

Prayer is always the starting point.

Everything we do comes out of our connection with God.

  • Prayer gets us connected to the heart of God for the lost
  • Prayer helps us to hear and recognise God’s voice
  • Prayer sensitises us to the prompting of the Holy Spirit

It’s good to pray for:

  • A heart for those that don’t know God
  • A willingness to serve in the kingdom
  • Boldness to share the Gospel outside the four walls of the church

But faith without works is dead and praying is just the starting point – not the be-all and end-all.

Remember, as Moses stood up on the mountain praying for the people of God, Joshua was on the ground doing the work.

We get to work in partnership with God to bring people to the saving knowledge of Christ.

3 Areas Of Focus To Grow Your Small Church

As you pray and connect with God, let me share with you three focus areas I believe the small church pastor should prioritise to help his small church grow:

1. Train Your Members to Evangelise

Your job as a pastor is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

Evangelism training is more than just reading a book and doing nothing about it.

Get a committed core group together and teach them how to share their faith in friendship and personal evangelism

This could include helping your members:

2. Train Your Welcome Team

Your welcome team gives people their first impression of the church.

You don’t get a second chance at that.

People decide within the first eight minutes whether or not they are going to return to your church.

Treat your guests well, train your hospitality team and don’t just let anyone be a greeter.

If your existing members can be proud of their church, they will confidently invite their friends, family, and coworkers knowing that their guests will receive a good welcome and find a healthy place to grow spiritually.

3. Promote Your Church

Do people even know your church exists?

There are so many fun, free, and interactive ways to get your church on the map.

80% of under 40-year-olds check out your website before deciding whether or not to visit.

Does your church have a website? It’s easy to make one.

Here’s my full step-by-step guide on how to make a church website.

Do you have good signage?

Is it easy to get to where you meet?

Your first step is getting people to know where you are.

Here are 3 simple church advertising ideas.

Take Your Church To The Next Level 📈

Church-Fuel

Introducing Church Fuel: the ultimate hub for church leaders.

Unlock 15+ insanely practical courses, resources and 1-on-1 coaching sessions designed to help your church thrive.

Join a community of 4000+ pastors and access the tools you need to supercharge your ministry!

Your Turn

What have you done that has helped your church grow?

What ideas or suggestions do you have to share?

Please share your comments below.

1 thought on “What Makes A Small Church Grow? 3 Key Areas To Focus On”

Leave a comment

Church-Fuel

THE ULTIMATE CHURCH GROWTH TOOLKIT 2024

Join 4,000+ pastors and get insanely practical church growth help.

Experience the power of 1-on-1 coaching, delve into 15 on-demand courses and explore a wealth of 200+ resources packed with actionable steps and proven strategies to reach new people, get more volunteers and boost giving.