The Community Is Not Coming to Your Church

By Thom Rainer

For decades, many church strategies have been built around getting people in the community to come to your church. Big events. Great signage. Social media marketing. The attractional church. You get the picture.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with any of the “y’all come” approaches. Frankly, those are better than what most churches do to reach people: nothing.

The Old Paradigm

Most of the church growth tactics of the past half-century were built on the premise of expecting people from the community to attend our churches. But these strategies were built upon an assumption that most people in our communities were looking for a church home. Well, they are not looking anymore. And it is mainly futile to build a strategy upon a flawed premise.

The old paradigm meant that a few churches were at least seeking ways to get people to attend our churches. But the less healthy churches just expected people to show up because the church had a building and a sign. As one less-than-friendly church member told me during an interview I conducted for a church consultation: “I don’t even know why you are here. People in the community know where our church is located. They can come if they want to.”

I am glad I didn’t respond with the immediate thoughts on my mind. Read More

I was once involved in a church with a similar attitude. For a season I was licensed as a lay reader in pastoral charge of the congregation. One Sunday after church I conducted an informal survey at the local IGA supermarket. The store clerk at the checkout had never heard of the church. One of the customers told me that she passed the church building on the way to work every day but she had never visited the church. 

During the time I was at the church, only a handful of people visited the church. With one exception none came back for a second visit. The church had negligible connections with the community in which it was located. For the better part of the time I was there none of the church members lived in the community. The congregation has now disbanded and sold its church building.