There are thousands of churches across America that have beautiful facilities — and that’s awesome! We love talking with church leaders who are looking at expanding campuses and building new buildings and making room for more new faces. Growth is fun and exciting, and we’re grateful we get to be a part of it for so many churches.
But sometimes we talk with leaders who are wrapped up in the work of building those buildings and welcoming new faces, but left wondering why many of those new faces slipped out the back door of those new buildings without the leaders ever knowing why. They come to Church Community Builder because they’ve heard we’re good at connecting people to the church and helping them stay connected. And we are (if I do say so myself)! Our software can be really effective at fixing the problem of people slipping out the back door of your church — but only if your church leaders are really committed to the process of making disciples.
Discipleship is messy. It’s really hard work. You have to keep up with people and figure out where they are on their spiritual growth journey. You have to encourage and equip them to keep going. You have to be totally committed to following up with them and seeing how their behavior is changing. Are they giving more financially? Are they giving more of their time and energy in service? Are they just plain showing up more? You have to be, as an entire church leadership team, totally committed to the work it’s going to take to answer these questions. Then we can partner with you to give you a software system that will support it.
And sadly, I’ve spoken with too many leaders who aren’t ready to do the really hard work of committing to the process. Changing their approach to ministry to keep people engaged is just too much work for them to contemplate. It’s easier to raise money and build buildings than invest in people. But that’s where we — the whole body of Christ — have to focus first, even when it’s hard.
I know I could be stepping on a lot of toes here, and the last thing I want to do is make church leaders who are already working really hard in their ministry efforts feel beaten down. But I am deeply passionate about helping church leaders get better at helping people connect with their church, because being part of a church that did this really well changed my life. It changed my life forever.
I didn’t come to faith in Christ until I was in my 30s, and I was fortunate to do that in a church that was awesome at connecting me with others in the community. They encouraged me and followed up with me and truly shepherded me on my faith journey. That experience is the reason I’m working with Church Community Builder today — when I heard there was a company that was focused on helping churches better connect with their members and building community, I knew I wanted to be a part of it!
The work of building people is hard. There’s no question about it. But the results of your efforts will show for generations to come, long after your buildings have been knocked down. And that makes it all worth it.
Tell me honestly, would you rather build up buildings or build up people? Even when it’s hard?