According to recent statistics, church membership has been on a steady decline for the past few years. Gallup.com reports that 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue, or mosque in 2020, which is down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999. There are many reasons for the decline, such as the increasing number of Americans who express no religious preference and are therefore unlikely to attend religious services. Another reason for the decline in attendance is due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fewer people attended church on a regular basis during this time due to either health restrictions, facilities being closed, or various other reasons. As a result, religious facilities are still struggling to recover and gain new membership despite most restrictions and mandates having been lifted.
But have faith! Hope is not lost, and the new year is a perfect time to focus on increasing membership and offering visitors a place for religious growth and fellowship. Here are three areas we suggest you build and develop upon in order to increase attendance and membership:
1. Offer More Programs
Offering numerous children and youth programs is at the heart of every religious facility and is often one of the biggest deciding factors for families when choosing a new religious home. While families consider this to be an important feature to a church, young adults also look for this, as well. While they may not have a family yet, many young adults looking to start a family in the future will take children and youth programs into serious consideration when visiting religious facilities within their community.
Offering various programs for all age levels is key to growing and building a congregation. These programs should vary in age ranging from toddler up through high school. In addition to children and youth programs, offering small groups for college-aged students and young adults is also vital.
By offering these valuable programs, you’ll not only increase chances of gaining new members that are looking for a religious facility with strong programs, but you’re helping create a stronger membership base and increase fellowship.
Finally, even if your facility has the best sermons or the friendliest people, strong programs matter. Many want a church where they or their families can get involved, make friends, and learn about their faith, so offering programs in addition to your other attributes can be the key to visitors choosing your facility as their long-term religious home.
If your facility already has a wide range of programs available, it’s important to look at various ways of strengthening them. Having a strong children’s and youth director with lots of volunteers is pivotal in making sure your programs are successful and thriving.
2. Activities and Events
Offering various activities and events throughout the year is a great way to keep your members excited and give them a reason to invite their friends and family. Events such as fall festivals, music events, volunteer events, picnics, block parties, vacation bible school, community yard sales, date nights for parents, youth retreats, movie nights, community meals, hiking trips, and more are all great ways to get both existing members and new guests involved in more activities at your church, synagogue, or mosque.
Holiday-themed activities can also keep your church event calendar booked up practically every month of the year. These events could include an Easter egg hunt, an Easter meal, a Memorial Day picnic, a Fourth of July fireworks event, a Labor Day pool or lake event, a harvest festival, a Trunk or Treat, a Thanksgiving meal, a Christmas-themed music cantata, or a Christmas festival with food and crafts, to name a few. While these events all take hard work and effort, they offer your church members an opportunity to become more involved and help you reach a wide range of people within the community.
3. Spread the Word
Though this may seem obvious, spread the word to make sure you are informing your guests, visitors, and community at large about all of the amazing fellowship opportunities you are offering. You’d be surprised at how few religious facilities promote their programs and events. While some may do a fantastic job of promoting their events and programs to their own church members, they may do a poor job of promoting to the wider community. For this reason, it is crucial to promote your events multiple times and in numerous places throughout your church, mosque, or synagogue and also to your community.
Announce all programs in your weekly sermons, list them in your weekly e-newsletters, post them on your bulletin boards and message display signs throughout your building, and add them to your events calendar on your website. If your organization hasn’t started social media channels on each major platform, you should start those immediately to establish and secure your account and handle name. Once completed, events and programs should be promoted on all the social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc.
One fun way to keep members and potential guests following your account is to create interesting and fun content announcements. Even if you don’t have the budget for a social media manager, there are plenty of ways to create good content. Asking your youth, children, or young adults to help create viral content for these events and then share with their friends is a great way of reaching out to the community. And be sure to include the elders of your church, as well! Creating fun content videos that bring both the youth and elders together is part of creating fellowship. Plus, those posts could be the content that gains you tons of exposure.
Another option for reaching a wider audience is to announce events on the local news. If your facility is hosting a fun event, be sure to reach out to the local news stations and ask for your event to be mentioned or featured. In addition to tv, you can also reach out to local newspapers, radio stations, and local social media outlets that report on your city’s activities every week.
Lastly, direct-mail can be another effective way to reach your surrounding community. Purchase a community mailing list and promote upcoming events, inviting residents to come for fun and fellowship. Focusing on seasonal events can appear less intimidating than just trying to recruit worship service attendance. But if you can build relationships based on community and commonalities, new attendees may be more likely to take the next step and join your worship services.
There are so many great ideas and ways to help grow your house of worship. After you’ve determined your strategies and started implementing them, make sure that your guests can easily find up-to-date info. All information needed about your existing and upcoming programs and events should be easily accessible on large bulletin boards, message holders, and interchangeable display boards. If you are also in need of updated signage, intersign.com can help.
Upload your floorplan today for a full SignSpec© Services quote to evaluate and update your facility’s signage.