Engagement will drive attendance

Sept. 11, 2025

By Rev. Rick King

This is the seventh in a series of columns reflecting on pastor/blogger Carey Nieuwhof’s 13 predictions for the future church, in the light of our opportunity to create a NEW church through our prospective merger with New Life.

You may have noticed, as I have, that attendance continues to drop in our church and many other churches. In the smaller ones like ours, it’s more noticeable, but large churches are experiencing it, too.

We noticed it in coming back from the pandemic in early 2022: The older members in our congregation largely returned to Sunday worship, but we have struggled to get children and families to return to church on a regular basis. And if you were here on Aug. 24 for the Summer Kids’ Camp Celebration service, you saw the difference in joy and energy that young people bring to Sunday morning.

As Carey Nieuwhof notes, “The current approach to church has largely been driven by getting people to attend. The idea is this: get them in the door, and then hopefully, at some point, they’ll engage in the mission.”

That’s what you might call the Christendom model of how to grow a church: attraction rather than engagement.

But do you know why the steadiest attendees in our congregation are our older members? Because long ago, seeking a spiritual home here and raising their families, they became ENGAGED in meaningful ways, and this church became for them a place to return to, week after week.

We can hold large events to try and attract a crowd to a Sunday service—a music service, Christmas pageant, or some other high-profile event that will bump up attendance for a Sunday or two during Advent or some other time of year—but it never lasts.

If you think about the best moments in the Church’s history, ENGAGEMENT has always driven attendance. That’s why this fall, we’re inviting kids into more roles that matter in worship such as acolyting, greeting, ushering and reading in order to engage them and their parents. If they have an important job here, then in addition to attending Faith Formation classes on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, they have reason to be here.

Engagement also happens through “digital” ministry: our livestream each Sunday, but also posts on social media such as Facebook, and other platforms we have yet to explore and use. HOW we use these digital tools also matters. Are we telling people simply to “watch us on YouTube,” (passive consumption of content)—or are we inviting them to participate in something where they’ll meet new people and experience Christian community where they not only feel they belong, but also can make a difference in others’ lives?

Think back to how YOU first got engaged at Falcon Heights Church. Could you strengthen your engagement? Is there someone you want to invite who’s looking for a church like ours?