Checking Your Assumptions About Church Membership and Growth
By Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

Peter Drucker maintains that most organizational problems are not the result of groups doing things poorly but rather because the assumptions on which the organization was built, and on which it still runs, no longer fit reality. Could our congregations be taking for granted some things that were safe assumptions in the past, but no longer fit? In a previous Leading Ideas article, "Do Our Assumptions Still Fit?," I listed common assumptions in church life that may require rethinking. Some additional ones follow:

• If new people are really interested, they will join the church. Many people today participate actively in church without joining. Some may never join.
• New people will attend worship first, some will then join a class, and eventually some will participate in mission. The sequence today may be just the opposite, especially for the young.  Serving may be their entry followed by a small group and then worship.
• Visitors will check out our doctrines and then decide to stay or go. Beliefs and values are important and should be clear, but decisions about choosing a church are based far more on relationship and belonging. People are more interested in what you believe once they feel they belong. 
• Most new members will come from our denomination. There was a time when newcomers would find the nearest church of their denomination to attend. Denomination matters much less today while a church’s vision, ministries, and relationships count for far more.
• Guests will want to be recognized. Some may, but many do not. There are multiple ways to show hospitality without public recognition. 
• People will attend a church near their home. The distance people travel to church is getting greater.  One example is that 25 percent of Roman Catholics who attend church go to a church outside their geographical parish.
• Changing worship and study schedules for the summer helps change the pace. Usually the change is primarily the presence of fewer people.  As people attend church less often, schedule changes are more problematic, especially those that signal low expectations. 
• Lots of people are moving away. Perhaps. But check your local figures to make sure. People moving from one state to another is at a 60-year low. 
• We know our community well. Make sure you do because the longer a church is in existence, the less connected it tends to be to community changes. A new congregation, however, is likely to know the pulse of the community well.

Lovett H. Weems, Jr., is director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership and author (with Tom Berlin) of the new book Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results, published by Abingdon Press.

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