A New Strategy For Church Growth: Case Study
A new strategy for church growth might be easier and more effective than you can imagine. Church growth looks different for every church. Most churches, following Jesus’ command to make disciples have a great desire to reach their communities with the gospel but in a world of gated-communities, high crime rates and the transient nature of most communities, this task seems more daunting than ever.
Many churches are looking for a new strategy for church growth and Redemption City Church serves as a GREAT case study for others to learn from.
Church Growth: Meet Redemption City Church
A few months ago we began working with a church from Broomfield, Co. Redemption City Church was planted in 2010 when a group of believers literally from all over the world came together to plant this small church north of Denver, Co.
These families came from as far away as South Africa and Australia, and from all over the U.S.A. “to be a part of what God was doing in the city of Broomfield.” As they gathered and prayed, listening to God’s leading, others in the city heard about the new church and came together to join with what is now the Redemption City Church family.
What do you do when you have a great vision, limited resources, you feel stuck and your community continues to grow?
Redemption City Church has wonderful leadership, tremendous, heartfelt worship, ministries for all ages, groups for discipleship and much, much more. What do you do when you’ve tried everything under the sun, everything you can possibly think of to get the word out about your wonderful church and all of its exciting ministries? What does a comprehensive church growth strategy look like?
After seven years of prayer, focused emphasis, money spent, and everything they could think of the church had grown to an average attendance of around 70 people each week. While this number of disciples being made is incredible, the leadership felt they could do more to reach their community but they would have to be open to new ideas because times have changed.
For Redemption City Church, church growth didn’t include owning its own building, a large staff, and unlimited resources. What they do have is a great vision and a willingness to change, to try new things and a great desire to share the gospel with every resident of Broomfield, Colorado.
Church Growth: A Model To Follow
Broomfield is a Northwest suburb of Denver with a population of 114,000 people. In 1990 the population was 74,625 but today it is the 7th most populated city in Colorado. The strong job market in Broomfield will seemingly keep a robust population growth for years to come.
What would a new strategy for church growth look like for Redemption City Church? What would a new strategy for church growth look like in a community growing as fast as Broomfield, Colorado?
In five short months, the attendance of Redemption City Church has gone from the mid 70’s in weekly attendance to between 140-150 in weekly attendance. Redemption City Church has attempted a new strategy for church growth and the results have been incredible.
Redemption City Church has remained faithful to teaching the Bible as it was originally revealed by God, divinely inspired, infallible, and the supreme authority in all matters of life and conduct. Redemption City Church has continued to be devoted to prayer, community, discipleship, and caring for the marginalized in their community. Redemption City has also continued to have an outward mission focus as a sending church. Although Redemption City Church is less than 10 years old they have already planted three other churches.
How has Redemption City Church doubled their attendance in less than six months? What new strategy for church growth have they executed that has been so effective?
Need A New Strategy For Church Growth?
In 1 Chronicles 12:32 the men of Issachar were commended for “understanding their times and knowing what Israel should do.” “Understand their times,” interesting statement, isn’t it? Do pastors and church leaders understand our times or are we somehow still stuck in the 1990’s? Old thinking, old strategies, and old approaches are not going to win the day.
Our world is changing at 10x speed but most churches are doubling down on yesteryears, bygone strategies for church growth. It’s sad to watch really, churches spend countless hours and endless budget resources making small tweaks to the internal mechanics of their machine only to realize that NO ONE is showing up for the performance.
Understanding OUR Times
If you are a church leader and these stats haven’t shaped your missional strategy then please read carefully and then share this article with your staff and leadership teams for some serious conversation. These stats and others helped shape a new strategy for church growth for Redemption City Church.
The results of not considering a new strategy for church growth will be cataclysmic for some churches that are already plateaued or in serious decline.
- Transient America- 40,000,000 Americans move every year.
- More than 17 million non-churchgoers visited church websites of a local church or place of worship in the past 12 months
- Online Church Searches- 85% of people find the church online before they ever make a personal visit. This stat alone has motivated many churches to develop great church digital marketing strategies.
- America is Online- 80% of Americans shopped online last month. Believe it or not, they are shopping for churches to attend.
- Digital Front Door- Your church website doesn’t take sick days, vacations or the weekends off. Your church website works around the clock, 365 days a year.
- The Fastest Growing Churches in The US- Last year, Crossroads Church grew their attendance by 6,000 people. Let that sink in for a moment.
When you consider that 85% of guests will visit your church website before attending your service, the value you place on your digital front door should skyrocket. Many pastors and churches today have a low value of their church website and their low number of weekly guests validates their lack of priority in this arena. Long gone are the days of pastors and churches simply thinking, “At least we have something online, that is good enough.”
Every pastor wants to see his church grow. While the easy answer is right under their nose, most pastors can’t see it. The front door of your church has changed locations. Your church welcome is where people are intersecting with your church. Wise pastors realize that their church website is the new digital front door.
Your church HAS TO BE FOUND ONLINE. Today there are more than 952,000,000 websites on the Internet. Finding your church’s website can be like finding a needle in 10,000 haystacks. Being found and grabbing a guests attention is becoming increasingly difficult for many reasons.
Many of the fastest growing churches in the US are savvy when they think about a new strategy for church growth. Their online, digital footprint is undeniable.
Test Time
Don’t you just hate tests? Boy, I sure did because tests results don’t lie but they show us room for improvement.
- How many families in your area are searching for churches on a monthly bases? We helped Redemption City discover that there were over 3,500 unique searches in the Broomfield area each month on average. When you multiply this out over the twelve months in a year you can begin to see why Redemption City Church’s strategy has been so effective.
- What are the keywords or phrases that people in your demographic using when they search for a church? We were able to find the precise keywords most used for people around Redemption City Church. Knowing the precise keywords is paramount because these keywords are what we get churches ranked for. In other words, if people in your area use the search term “churches near me” then we get your church ranked for that precise search term.
- What is your church’s Google ranking for each search term? DO NOT and I repeat do NOT search for your church on Google by using your church’s name. Pretend that you are new to the community and that you do NOT know your church’s name. How would you search, what search terms might you use? Try this… Search for “churches in (your cities name)” and see where you rank. If you are not in the top three then virtually NO ONE is visiting your church website.
A New Strategy For Church Growth: Redemption City Church
We formed a strategic partnership with Redemption City Church on Dec 4, 2017, we began working on two primary search terms. The first search term was “churches near me” and the second search term was “churches in Broomfield Co.”
On Dec 4 the search term “churches near me” was NOT ranked in the top 100. The search term “churches in Broomfield Co” was ranked 33rd. You can see over the months of SEO work that we were able to the needle in regards to Redemption City Church’s Google rankings making their church easier to find online. This has resulted in numerous guests attending their church on a weekly bases. When these guests are asked. “How did you find our church?,” the guests always replies, “We found you guys online.”
“These guys have exceeded our wildest expectations! We have had a marked difference in the number of first-time guests each Sunday.” Terry Kreuger, Pastor Redemption City Church.
Email me at william@digitalrocket.church and I will send you your church’s current rankings for targeted search terms.
The Science Behind This Church Growth Model
For years the church has followed various proven business models to advance the gospel. The key questions for pastors and churches are twofold: “Does the business model for gospel advancement work (Is it effective)? and “Does this model cause the church to compromise in any area its biblical convictions?”
Use of TV, radio medians and mailouts to selected areas for a church plant are a few examples of how churches have used secular marketing strategies for awareness, marketing, and gospel advancement. Today, times have changed as the internet has become standard daily practice as people seek information and social information.
Marketers know that the best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google rankings because no one goes to the second page after a search. Honestly, if your church or business is not in the top three ranking spots then virtually no one is visiting your church or business website. The first page of Google rankings matters because first page websites get 91.5% of Google traffic.
Big Business, Big Money
- New Company BestProduct.com went from zero to 1 million monthly website visitors in 5 months. 60% of these monthly paying customers came from Google searches.
- GourmetGiftBaskets.com lost over $4,000,000 when they lost their number 1 Google ranking spot.
On Dec 1, 2017, we sent the following information to Terry Kreuger the pastor of Redemption City Church. “There are 720 monthly searches for “Churches near me” in Broomfield, Colorado. In addition, there are 390 monthly searches for the term “Churches in Broomfield, Co.” Multiply each of these by 12 months and you can see the potential reach.” On Dec 4, 2017, we began working with Redemption City Church and the results in only 5 months have been amazing.
CLICK HERE AND WE WILL SEND YOU SEARCH VOLUME FOR YOUR CITY or you can email me at william@digitalrocket.church.
There really is a new strategy for church growth that did not exist a few decades ago. Unfortunately, some churches are only now arriving at the dance. Those like Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, Ohio have been taking advantage of this growth opportunity for years. Crossroads church grew by nearly 6,000 people in weekly attendance last year making it the fastest growing church in the US.
A New Strategy For Church Growth: New VS. The Old
There has never been nor will there ever be a one size fits all approach to reaching a community. Historically there have been many approaches as there is today. Knocking on doors, large crusades, tracts, gospel conversation tools, and churches being found online all have their places.
Low hanging fruit- For those that are looking and seeking a great church online, let’s do our very best to be found. Let’s not be a light hidden under a bushel.
Contact us today and we will put a free demographic online audit together for your church. Let Digital Rocket help launch your church and expand your reach!
