How To Engage People Who Are Disengaging
Mediocre churches are made up of disengaged disciples. Energy, excellence and enthusiasm are scarce in a church made up of people who can’t remember the last time they engaged wholeheartedly.
It doesn’t take a lot of disengagement to tilt a whole congregation away from engagement. Re-engagement begins with the pastor. In many churches, pastors don’t know the level of disengagement in their congregation. Most pastors stand with their congregation at their back, missing the level of worship engagement. Pastors shy away from asking about givers or non-givers. They may also defer to generally accepted non-attendance patterns to excuse disengaged attendees.
The place to start is to decide that engagement matters. Re-engaging just three practises will pay huge dividends.
1. Re-engage giving – do ask.
Giving is usually the last practise to come and the first to go. When congregants disengage, their giving declines and most times disappears before they do. Facts are your friends. Source the facts weekly on who gave, who changed their pattern of giving and who stopped giving.
Communicate giving frequently – every Sunday, every month and every quarter. Preface your offering time with a 40 second talk on the value of giving. Announce giving totals and point out the number of new givers each month. Send a letter to all members every quarter re-casting vision (3/4’s of the content) and showing how they much they’ve given to date.
Say thank you to the givers. Handwritten, appreciation letters go a long way.
2. Re-engage discipleship – do model.
A lack of private spiritual practises turns up publicly in attitudes, and behaviours unbecoming a believer. People who disengage in Sunday worship are usually disengaged in Monday to Saturday discipleship.
There is a high return from people who choose to read a Bible passage weekly. YouVersion is a free resource that offers succinct reading plans. The plans can be accessed through a smart phone or printed off. Use a reading plan and promote your plan every Sunday.
3. Re-engage attendance – don’t suck.
Are your Sunday gatherings ignorable? Could people be absent for a month and not really miss anything? Choose to constantly introduce change, variety and excellence in unchanging, irresistible environments. Stuck? Start with one new thing this Sunday. Tell your people you love them and are proud of them. Mean it so they feel it.
It doesn’t take a lot of re-engagement to spark a congregation and turn up the heat on disengagement.
Bob Jones is the founder of REVwords.com, an author, blogger, and coach with 39 years of pastoral experience. Bob is also an Advance Coach with the ABNWT Resource Centre. You can connect with Bob here.