Growing a Church Online: 5 Praise-Worthy Digital Marketing Tips

If your church has less than 200 attendees every Sunday you’re probably frustrated, but you should consider yourself in good company. More than half of the 300,000 churches in the US reflect the same numbers.

The 200 barrier is a challenge so many churches must overcome. The key to growing your church is to believe in yourself as well as your congregation.

Growing a church is essential to ensure longevity for your congregation as well as your church. This article contains suggestions for how to grow your church attendance.

Reasons for Growing a Church

Other than spreading your mission, there are practical reasons for growing a church. Congregations support the church. An active congregation ensures you have the funds for rent, staff, and expansion projects.

If you want to see more people in the pews on Sunday, make sure to follow these tips.

1. Create a Website

If you haven’t published a website yet, now is the time. People in your neighborhood may be searching for a church, and their first stop is online. A website is one of the best ways to build an online reputation.

Reach out to your congregation to see if there are any webmasters among them. If not, consider hiring one to create an appealing, engaging website to attract new members.

2. Growing a Church Through Social Media

Once your website is live, it’s time to think about how you can drive people to it. Social media is where billions of people engage one another. It’s essentially the new word-of-mouth.

Thus, you should join that conversation and invite people to your church. People leave reviews for churches on websites like Yelp. So, having a website means that those review sites can link back to your site.

Then, good reviews mean more traffic to your website from potential congregants. Social media is one of the more powerful ways for how to grow a church.

3. Invite the Public to Your Events

Hold events that are open to the public. Advertise on your website as well as community sites that publish event calendars. Old-fashioned paper event flyers still work as well.

This way, you can meet local people who have visited your website or perhaps talked with you on social media. Also, remind your current members to invite friends and family members. All of this serves to increase attendance.

4. How to Make Your Church Grow by Welcoming Visitors

Whenever someone visits your church, you have the opportunity to gain a new member. Be sure to make visitors feel welcome and comfortable. Make it a point to introduce yourself.

If you can, offer a small token to show your appreciation. Also, encourage your congregation to reach out to visitors as well, even if it’s a simple hello. If visitors feel comfortable and welcome, they are likely to come again.

5. Always Follow Up

Set a strategy for following up whenever someone visits your church. For instance, you can email, Tweet, call, or use social media. If your church is growing quickly, you can delegate some of these duties to your staff.

People seek out a church for many reasons beyond worship and fellowship. Some of looking for guidance, others for help. Still, others are struggling with addiction or other emotional hardship.

While you may not be a stop drinking expert or a marriage counselor, your church can offer them a home. They can find the strength and faith they need in your church.

That all starts with a simple message that says, “We’re glad you came.”

A Welcome Goes a Long Way

The Living Church describes being welcome and a little tech savvy as one of the six characteristics of a growing church. Any way you can extend a welcome, whether in person or through social media, is a way to attract new members.

This article presented five simple tips for growing a church and spreading your ministry. If you found this article helpful, please visit us again for more ideas for online marketing.