Every church would like to see new people engaged in the life of the congregation. Some churches have great traction in reaching new people. Other churches struggle to “attract” and/or retain guests. Why is this the case? There can be a multitude of reasons, but one primary reason is many churches are still conducting ministry using an attractional model.

What is a ministry model of attractional expectations? A church has an attractional expectation model when there is an assumption that there is a common cultural appeal for new people to show up at church. There is an expectation that people should show up or that a particular ministry (music, sermon series, evangelism event) will be the magic bullet. While this approach may be somewhat effective for already churched people looking for a new church, it is generally not true of seekers. 

Why does the attractional expectation ministry model not work for churches? There are many reasons. Let’s explore a few. While it was once the cultural norm for the majority of people to attend weekly church services, the culture has dramatically drifted away from churches. According to Gallup, 71% of the US population in 2000 belonged to a church. In 2020, that percentage dropped to 47%. In those twenty years, the population grew by nearly 18%, but the number engaged in houses of worship declined 24%. There are now third and fourth  generations of unchurched people in America. Even the once churched people in the Boomer and X generations have fallen away from the church post-COVID. The church is simply not top of mind for the majority of people in our American post-modern culture.

Having a negative view of the unchurched is not helping either. Attitudes such as “what’s wrong with them,” church should be a priority for everyone, can’t believe those teams play/practice on Sunday, or their children should be in church” are not helpful. People have found community, a sense of belonging, and purpose outside the church. Meanwhile, the church has developed a reputation of being judgmental, cliquish, irrelevant, and untrustworthy.

So if opening the doors on Sunday and expecting people to show up is sabotaging your ministry, what is a more vital and effective approach?  Jesus’s ministry is a perfect example. In Mark 1:17, Jesus said to them, “Follow me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.”  Jesus did not spend the majority of his time in the temple. He spent his time in homes eating with people, traveling with others, having conversations with people at the well and in trees, and teaching the disciples to go out into the world to bring people to a relationship with Christ.

The founder of Methodist, John Wesley, said, “My fear is not that our great movement, known as Methodism, will eventually cease to exist or one day die from the earth. My fear is that our people will become content to live without the fire, the power, the excitement, the supernatural that makes us great.” Methodism was intended to be a movement of people working together for individual and community transformation. If we huddle in our buildings expecting people to come to us, we have lost the very essence of who we are called to be as Methodists and Jesus’s disciples.

Friends, we must stop the ineffective cycle of attractional expectations in our ministries. We must once again become a movement of people with the fire, power, and excitement which Wesley described so we can once again be the people Jesus trained us to be who bring in people. How will you begin such a movement in your church?