This is part of a series of interviews with pastors of churches whose attendance has grown 20% or more in 5 years. We hope this series will be a resource of ideas to help increase worship attendance at your church.

Surprised By Growth

Many years ago C.S. Lewis penned a book entitled, Surprised by Joy. And in many respects, that has been my experience and sentiment in the seven years I have served Calvary United Methodist Church in Brownsburg, Indiana (a town of 24,000 outside of Indianapolis). Every week has been filled with surprising twists—not all of them easily navigated—but the most surprising experience has been the growth of the church in membership and worship attendance over the past five years.

Looking back on recent history, however, I can see the evidences of God’s grace in our growth and the congregation has adapted and adopted a myriad of changes that has led to this growth. Change is inevitable in life, but when a church adopts change, that’s when we experience the potential for growth.

There are many impactful elements to this upswing in professions of faith, baptisms, new members, and worship attendees.

The biggest change, for most people, took place when the church relocated five years ago. Being without a church facility for over a year (while the new facility was being built) forced the congregation to “be the church” rather than be “in a church.” This was hugely impactful. We were growing during the months we worshipped in a makeshift gymnasium – with people formed into teams and many new families joining us during the building phase. Our new facility is located in a high-traffic, high-profile area of town—and this visibility and prominence cannot be understated. Still, location in itself does not necessarily transfer to growth, as many of the congregations in our county are shrinking or stagnant. More than a new building was needed.

Growth has occurred at Calvary because the spirit of the people is one of hospitality and openness.

We made a determined and committed effort to step up our outreach, welcome, and follow-up with first-time visitors. We concentrated on the ministries that have served us well through the years (our preschool, youth ministry, music) and did not try to introduce new ministries that we could not accomplish, or give undue attention or effort to propping up our weaknesses (yes, every church has them)!  We tried to live in our gifts rather than worry over our deficiencies. For us, this was a focus on care-giving in various forms, mission, and traditional worship featuring organ, choirs, bells, and children and youth choirs. We have “contemporary and informal” worship too—but our new disciples are all ages and stations of life—and we have discovered that “style” of worship is not as important as quality of care and hospitality. Too many congregations, I think, make the mistake of focusing on defects or needs rather than gifts. We learned that if we did a ministry well—we should keep making it even better. That’s what people notice—passion, purpose and promise.

During these years, we have also kept the core of our church staff together. Congregations that have good staff need to work toward affirming and keeping the team intact. This takes finances and attention, but great staff (and key lay leadership) give a congregation wings. The consistency, motivation, giftedness, and talents of a staff make a huge impact on the growth of a church—and the reins of senior leadership must be loose, with permission given to each staff member to use his or her gifts and talents to the good of the whole, while keeping morale high and also expecting that each member of the team will communicate with, cooperate with, and support others.

Finally, I would not under-emphasize the place of prayer in a church. Here I am not just talking about a prayer ministry, but a consistent understanding that there is care in a congregation and that each person is valued. If people know that others are praying for them, there is a connected and passionate spirit, an energy that drives a congregation. Staff must care, but the congregation as a whole must embody that care.

When all of these factors come together—most congregations will be surprised by growth.  It’s not perfect—and every recipe for growth is different. But Calvary has certainly been a surprising church and God has blessed us, and is continuing to bless us, in many ways.

Todd Outcalt is the senior pastor at Calvary United Methodist Church in Brownsburg, Indiana and the author of twenty books in six languages, including The Ultimate Christian Living, The Best Things in Life Are Free, and $5 Youth Ministry.  He has written for many magazines including The Christian Century, Leadership, Rev!, and Group.

Pastor email address:  teoutcalt@aol.com

Church website:  http://www.calvaryunited.org