How To Effectively Build Your Church to Attract the Generations By Jim Graff

Did you know that the biggest shift in church history, outside of the one we’re experiencing today, was after the Civil War? It was a positive shift. People were coming back to church in droves. Today, the shift is away from church—and it’s bigger than the positive shift that happened after the Civil War. In fact, we’ve had an estimated 40 million people walk away from church in the last 24 years. That’s shocking. But also, I think there’s a lot we can do about this. I think God is going to help us as leaders effectively build our churches to attract the generations back to Himself in the days ahead.

Here are some thoughts I believe God has given me to be effective in building the church:

1. If people are going to come and stay in the church, they need to be well fed every single week. This is really interesting to me: the majority of unchurched people who recently converted to Christianity, according to Church Answers, said they prefer expository preaching to other types of preaching. I can understand that because expository preaching nurtures an appreciation for the inspiration of Scripture and feeds the desire to study the Bible for yourself.

My generation heard stories like Samson and Delilah in church, but the understanding we gained from them was miniscule. Knowing this caused me to want to expository teach so that I could stir hunger in the lives of our church members and move them to really reading the Bible and determining to understand God and His nature. That’s the kind of teaching that changes everything.

2. I grew up in a day when 70% of mothers didn’t work. It was probably closer to 90% in the community I grew up in, to be honest. When the pastor preached, it was kind of the mom’s job to take it home. That’s not today’s reality. Families have changed a lot. A lot of “families” are not even blood relatives; they’re close friends who have adopted each other as family.

Part of our church culture is our commitment to modeling a healthy family, healthy relationships, to our community. Church is not just a spectator sport; we all have to participate. That’s where community comes into play.

To get our people building relationships, we’ve provided a lot of creative opportunities throughout the months. We’ve purchased inflatables, held special events, and planned department meals and gatherings. Even though people still come in late and leave service early, we know they crave community and will come out and participate in things like this.

3. To develop a culture that attracts and connects with the generations, we have to develop leaders who will strengthen and support the values that matter to us. At FFC, we made a conscious decision a while back to be more intentional about baptisms. We’d been seeing a lot of decisions for Christ, but when we became more intentional about baptisms, we saw them jump from 200 to 500 in one year! Along with those baptisms, we saw a rise in growth tracks, next steps, and the Leadership Academy. To date, we’ve taken over 100 leaders through our Leadership Academy, which teaches our values, our culture, and what we’re trying to accomplish in our region.

Our goal is to continue to produce leaders who will keep our culture going strong. To do this, we have to communicate, and communication takes time. Like Nike executives, who are probably in their 60s but spend a great deal of time with people in their 20s, we need to communicate intentionally with those we’re trying to reach. If we want the next generation to sit in our sanctuary, we need to know what’s going to draw them in.

I remember when my sons, Michael and Geoffrey, asked me if we could have a meeting to discuss the church calendar. I agreed, and we talked for about four hours. We ended up with a better calendar! They made it better because of the insight they offered into how to better connect with their generation.

Regularly, I ask God to show me how to communicate with the generations better, and listening is proving to be a big part of it. One thing that’s helped me a lot was when every Thursday after work, Tamara and I would sit with our Next Generation staff. I really loved doing that. They would share, “This is what our friends think of the church, and we need to deal with that.” It was a really healthy experience. A lot of our best young staff were in the room, and their thoughts and ideas were like being given a big payback.

We also need to engage with the generation who walked away. Even if we “build it,” we still have to get them to come. I know pastors who’ve held giveaways and done different things. For me, my primary engagement method has always been Luke 14. Jesus said, “If you have church for the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you help them, they’ll come back.” So my team and I have worked to create a culture where, when these people show up, we’re reaching for them.

We’re building a culture of invitation. We do that by showing our members the need to reach out to their community. Michael suggested a while back that everyone make a Top 10 list of the people they want to get in the church. Then, they needed to be willing to show them the love of Jesus and talk with them until they were ready to come. Engaging with people we are in relationship with leads to a much better chance of breakthrough.

Pastor, you can effectively build a church that attracts the generations. Just keep these few things in mind: Take your content seriously. Make sure it is really helping them because people don’t make time for church if they’re not getting fed well. But content is not enough. Community, your church culture, has to be rethought and redeveloped, and you’re going to need a new wineskin. You can do this by making time to communicate with the generations. Rethink engagement as well. Some things that worked before won’t work now. You have to be willing to pivot. And then measure your progress. Whatever you measure, you’ll manage better.

I know this can seem like a lot, but there’s no one right way to engage the generations. You’ll see that, and you’ll gain a lot of valuable ideas and insight if you join us on the first Thursday of every month at 1pm CST for our Significant Leader Podcast. We would love to be your monthly lunch appointment, and you are free bring whoever you want to lunch with us! Eat whatever you want to eat while we converse about topics, like this one, that will enrich your ministry. If you’ve not joined us before, I hope you’ll consider joining us next time. Being a part of our thriving community of like-minded leaders will be well worth it.

God bless, Pastor. The church’s best days are ahead. I really believe that.