People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Barriers to Growth in Worship Attendance
by James W. Moss, Sr.
A variety of factors may prove to be barriers to numerical growth in worship attendance. What are some of them?
Spiritual barriers
A boy of eight was in church during a worship service. The boy was having some difficulty focusing on the service. A college student was sitting behind him. The student made a funny face for the boy. The boy smiled and let out a quiet chuckle. His mother turned and smacked him. The boy began to cry. His mother said, "Now isn't that better?"
Was it really better for the boy to cry or smile at church? What would Jesus have wanted? Worship is an activity of the heart. Praise is given to God for all that he has done. Worship is gratitude. Worship is celebration. Celebration involves joy. Joy pervaded the early church. They had what we considered serious obstacles. There were no church buildings, paid clergy, and there was outright persecution of Christians. Yet they exhibited an attitude of joy.
We know we are to praise God. But it seems difficult to do so joyfully and with celebration. I have been traveling among churches for sixteen years. I have made an average of 150 on-site visits to local churches a year. One significant characteristic that seems to be missing is joy. I have wrestled with the absence of joy in the American church for a long time. Suddenly, the reason became apparent. The source of joy is hope. If you take away hope, you destroy joy.
What does this mean? Christians are to be a people of hope. The resurrection is our source for hope. Because Jesus was raised on the third day, we have cause to celebrate and hope. We shall live because he is alive and well. Joy pervades the life whose hope is grounded in the resurrected Lord. Worship each Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection. We are a people of the resurrection. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Physical and sociological barriers
There are four distinct physical and sociological barriers that restrict the number of people who can share in the joyful experience of worship in your church.
1. The available space. You can put as many chickens into a coup as you want. They will die off until there is the right number for the available space. The annual average worship attendance will not tend to rise above 80% of the comfortable seating capacity or 70% of the comfortable seating capacity doubled should the church have two services. A comfortable seat is 25 inches of pew space. Simply stated, the size of the worship area will restrict worship attendance. This issue can be addressed by going to multiple services, or by increasing the seating capacity of the worship area.
2. The number of people attending. It takes a minimum of 2 people to average 1 for a year. This is an increasing number. The 20% of most faithful people in attendance 25 years ago averaged 50 Sundays a year. Today the 20% of most faithful people in attendance average 41 Sundays a year. A church that averages 75 must have 150 different people in attendance over a 12 month period. To average 85 the total number of attendees must increase to 170. So very intentional efforts must be made to bring new people through the door.
3. The available parking. The attendance will not tend to rise above 2.3 people for each car in the parking lot. [Editor’s note: more recent estimates are 1.6 or 1.7 persons per car.] It may not be that high, but it will probably not exceed that formula. A Church of God pastor stood on the outside of the church. All the parking was filled. He watched as three cars drove through the parking lot and left when there was no available parking. Your church is losing attendance when all the parking is filled. Some families are now sending three cars to church. The mother drives one, the father another, and the children still another. Can the leaders park away from the facility and walk in? Does a business have a lot nearby? Could there be car pooling? Could a van be used to pick up older people who would tend to come to church one person per vehicle? Look for creative solutions.
4. The number of small groups. Divide your annual average attendance by the number of small groups in your church. If the dividend is 8 or more, you don’t have enough small groups to support your attendance. Small groups include Sunday school classes, care groups, support groups, task groups, and athletic teams. Small groups are places where the participants really feel they belong. They are known by name, they feel needed and wanted, and they are missed if they are absent. Some churches are frustrated when they have much empty space in the worship area and empty parking spaces. Yet they can’t seem to get their churches to grow. An analysis of the small group life reveals that there aren’t sufficient groups to allow the worship to grow larger. This barrier is as firm and restrictive as the others that have been mentioned. A new person who comes to your church this Sunday must have two things happen to them if they are to be in your church one year from now. They must have two friends besides the pastor and be involved in a small face to face fellowship group.
Others need the privilege of sharing in the joy of worship of the God of hope. Check the barriers that might be keeping people out. Remove the barriers and invite new people to come so they might get to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as well.
Good Books to Read
 | Anderson, Leith. A Church for the 21st Century. (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1992) |
| Clapp, Steve. Overcoming Barriers to Church Growth. (from New Life Ministries) |
| Logan, Robert. Beyond Church Growth. (Tarrytown: Revell, 1989) |
| Malphurs, Aubrey. Vision for Ministry in the 21st Century (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992) |
| Moss, James. People Spots |
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Also see:
| People Participation |
| Saturation |
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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June 17, 1998. Volume 1, Issue 7. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.