Stop Trying To Attract People To Church

It was just a joke, but it revealed something deeply challenging for the 21st century church. 

I was sitting in a neighborhood park with one of the leaders of my new church development. (We’ll call him Paul.) We were discussing our plans and ideas for building up the church.

A mother and two young children walked up to the nearby playground. Paul reached his hands out, and with a slightly crazed voice whispered so only I could hear, “Come into our church!” We laughed, and then continued with our strategy session.

Only later did it dawn on me that what Paul said wasn’t really that funny. It reflected an attitude we usually bring to starting new churches or growing existing ones. We tend to ask the question, “How can we get more people into our church?” Most often, we are referring to worship attendance. 

The Great Commission instructs us to “go and make disciples.” But we have turned the “go” into “attract” or “bring in.” We have established our places of gathering and expect others to come and join us, when the calling is to do the opposite. 

After that conversation with Paul, it struck me that the desire to attract people to our church is a selfish desire. It is about us needing their presence. We need their attendance to boost our statistics; we need their kids to give us a youthful appearance; and most importantly, we need them to pledge and become regular givers, so we can pay our pastor and have a building. (How many toes did I step on with that last sentence?)

But what does that family that we saw on the playground need? What does a young mother in a new neighborhood need? What do those children need? And why do we assume that coming to our church is what they need? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. 

What I’ve learned in my time as a pastor is that approaching a family or an individual with a mindset of “how can I attract them my church?” leads to a much different kind of ministry than a simple, “how can I be the loving presence of Christ with this person?” Maybe it’s time we realize that the second question, and not the first, is what the Gospel is about.