7 Ways to Adapt to Changes in Church Attendance

In this podcast Thom Rainer, President and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, interviews Jim Sheppard, CEO of Generis, to discuss how your church can best adapt to the changing patterns in church member attendance.

Some highlights from this episode include:

• When church members attend less frequently, you have to maximize every minute they do attend.
• Inadvertently, most churches send the message that they’re only open from 9-12 on Sunday mornings.
• Live streaming of church services is available to almost any church.
• Attendance and giving are not the only scorecards to measure church member engagement.

The seven steps we discussed are:

1. Take full advantage of every minute.
2. Consider flexibility in worship times that you’ve never thought of before.
3. Make the sermons easily accessible.
4. Put more emphasis on those who serve.
5. Develop consistency in small groups.
6. Employ all giving options.
7. Teach a proper view of church and Sabbath.

About Jim Sheppard

Jim Sheppard is CEO & Principal of Generis, a consulting firm passionate about helping Churches inspire and cultivate generosity through giving development, coaching and strategy. For the last 23 years, he has devoted his life to coaching pastors and understands the financial challenges that churches face today-annual giving, debt, capital projects and planned giving-and is a positive force in bridging these needs with the power of spiritually motivated stewardship. Cumulatively, Jim has partnered with his clients to raise over $1.3 billion for local church ministry. Jim and his wife Nancy live in the Atlanta, GA area and they have two daughters.