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.

Casting Vision: Matt 28:16-20 / Luke 15 / healthy, living things grow

Chapin UMC was very content when we arrived in June of 2001. Apportionments were being paid in full. Worship attendance had grown 46 people over a 20 year period (1980-2000), a period when many UMCs were declining. So the church felt that “all was well…”

From the pulpit, in weekly (2 a week) lunch meetings with key leaders (Lay and Staff) we began to cast vision. (i.e., God desires that His Church grow; that it reach people who are lost and far from Him; Luke 15 was a key text – the Father’s heart must be our heart. I had assumed that vision casting was primarily for the congregation; I quickly learned that if the Staff didn’t enthusiastically embrace the vision, my efforts to reach the congregation would be ineffective in the long run.

• Sowing seeds of “creative discontent”
  • Charts, graphs, etc (along with one-on-one conversations with key leaders) where we looked at the “cold, hard facts” – i.e., the community doubled in size over a 20 year period (7,000 to 14,000) and the church gained 46 folks…What’s wrong with that picture?

• Prayer Ministry
  • This is HUGE…a lay person began this ministry from scratch and 9+ yrs later still coordinates…too much here to list…one of the greatest aspects of the ministry is the “pre-worship” prayer that takes place all throughout the sanctuary by a team of folks every week…

• Disciple 12 X 12
  • In Sept of 2003, we had 12 groups of 12 folks begin the Disciple 1 Bible Study program…140+ folks transformed by the Word…became leaders and champions of God’s vision for CUMC…

• Experiencing God
  • About 100 folks went through this 13 week study during our first 3 years here in Chapin…UNBELIEVABLE how God changed lives and equipped folks to “see where God is at work and go join Him…”

• Passionate Leadership / Worship
  • If I’m not, if we’re not (leadership) passionate about Jesus we need to find something we’re passionate about and go do that…Jesus has saved me!!! There is NOTHING more exciting than that!!!

• Evangelistic/Invitational Preaching
  • Wesley said, “You have nothing to do but save souls…” and “Offer them Christ”…Those priorities must be evident in our preaching and teaching…When Jesus is clearly (and passionately) presented, people will respond.

• Hospitality Ministry (parking / NHP / etc)
  • We want folks to feel that we are genuinely “so excited” that they’ve made the decision to come to CUMC…a parking team is a guest’s first impression when they arrive…our NHPers (Nice Helping People) who wear bright yellow vests and bright smiles greet folks at doorways and in hallways…

• We’re Having Twins!
  • We began a second traditional service about 6 months after arriving…we asked 50 folks (“seed worshippers”) from our 11 am service to begin attending at 8:30 to open space for growth to continue at 11 am….

• Contemporary Worship
  • We soon needed another service…so we began a contemporary service at 9:47 am in 2003…326 folks showed up the very first Sunday…this service continues to be the significant growth engine at CUMC…

• Invite Cards
  • With each sermon series we produce a “series invite card” that goes in the bulletin the week before the new series is to begin…we have every attender take out their card, we pray over the cards during the service, and then ask that they take the cards and share them with friends who do not attend church regularly anywhere…

• Becoming a Contagious Christian / Just Walk Across the Room
  • These two studies from Willow Creek have been great in equipping folks to share their faith…

Rev. Jody Flowers – JodyFlowers@chapinumc.com

Chapin UMC – http://www.chapinumc.com