3 Sneaky Ways to Grow Your Church With Meetups
May 3rd, 2008 Categories: Church Marketing
We’re always trying to think of new ways to get people in the doors of our church. First, we know that the Word of God never returns to us void and having had no effect, so the idea of getting as many people as possible exposed to the Word seems like a valid endeavor. Second, we believe that a percentage of people who come into our church will plug in, become radical, and go to the nations. Under those circumstances, the Kingdom advances and multiplies exponentially. So again, it’s a valid persuit.
I was recently pondering our evangelism strategy, and I came up with three cool ways that you can use a really cool website called meetup.com to get people through the doors:
1) Advertise your current church services. Only, don’t call them church services. People tend to think of church as….well, church. Call them “People Curious About Christianity,” and invite them to come and be a part of your “meeting.” When they get there, invite them to sit with you. Walk them through your service. Explain your faith. Advance the Kingdom. It’ll be great. You’ll be like a regular Billy Graham.
2) Plant a church. For instance, if you were eyeballing a community that had no spirit-filled churches, you might schedule a meetup in that area for believers interested in being part of such a church. In this way you could actually gauge interest in planting a church, and begin the process of developing a plant team. Church planting is one of the coolest endeavors ever. Let’s see if we can’t take it digital.
3) Reach out and touch somebody. We’re always griping about the lack of interconnectivity between Christian denominations. Here’s your chance to do something about it. If we rely upon our Pastors to forge the relationships that will eventually reconcile all denominations into a verified army, we’ll never move forward. Let’s have a lay-led, Holy Spirit get together and actually move forward together, rather than just talking about it.
There….three cool ideas for using meetup.com to advance the Kingdom and build your church, as promised. Anybody got any other obvious ideas for how to leverage this cool website?
We Build Blogs
Just a quick note to say how much I enjoy your posts. In my professional life I hang with folks that talk about meetups and tweetups. When I go to church… they don’t have a clue what this means. And yet, as our congregation ages, we continue to decline in membership.
Any suggestions on mobilizing a <1.0 staff?
Thanks for the comment, Kathy. I do have a few suggestions, and I even do some personal tutoring. Email me if you’re really interested.