One of the things that has always puzzled me about church growth is that people in church leadership seem to think there is some magic formula out there. If they could just tap into that magic formula then their church would be able to grow just like that church across town that is growing. While there are some basic things every church can do to help it self grow just copying another church isn't going to make growth happen.
For us, we are going to do what we are. We are a church made up of normal everyday people. That's who we are and that is who we'll be. We do music that is stuff we'd listen to on the radio, we dress like we'd dress if we where hanging out with our friends, and we'll teach on stuff that we all need to hear. We don't need smoke and mirrors, we don't need fancy $2000 suits and slicked back hair. In fact, I loathe wearing a suit! I don't spend more than $12.00 for a haircut, and if someone were to turn on a smoke machine I'd probably have an allergic reaction to it.
At Real Life we think that church growth happens best when you are actually reaching people. When lives are being changed people get excited and when people get excited they invite their friends. When people invite their friends church growth happens. It's as simple as that.
For years I served at a church I would not invite friends to because I was too afraid they'd be offended or turned off by the churches lack of understanding of people not like them. We played music no one outside of the church would have ever listened to, we talked in church-speak, and we had a culture all our own. We wondered why we weren't growing and reaching the lost. The answer was simple, we were clueless.
We had no idea how to relate to people that were not churched because we were so far removed from them that we had no idea how to reach them. That is why at Real Life we actively seek out people that are not yet Christ followers and try to include them in what we are doing with no strings attached. It might be playing in the band, helping us set up, helping deliver food to the needy, or anything else we are doing.
At times it can be messy. They don't always say the right things or do the right things. But the payoff is huge. A month or so ago, I looked out during Sunday worship and saw someone that was as far from God as a person could be a few short months ago. That person was in tears as we sang and worshiped God. That is how a church grows.
