We all want to see new visitors come to our church, get planted, and flourish, but we easily forget what it’s like being a first-time visitor to a new church.  They’ve never been here before so they don’t know what to expect, what to do, where anything is, what the service will be like, and so on. Continue reading →

We at Excellerate believe very strongly in the power of serving the community to grow the church. Serving isn’t some trick to create growth, or some way to tie God’s hands and force Him to grow your church, serving is a way to treat people the way God wants to see them treated, and it’s the very essence of God’s personality. That’s why it’s so powerful. Continue reading →

New visitors to your church have one question in mind – “Is this for me?”

That question will be partly answered in the first few minutes of their visit – the kind of people they see, the style of music, friendliness, etc..  But they also want to know things like: how the church started, what it believes, what it expects out of its members.

If you want to retain these visitors, you have to make the information they crave readily available. The more open you are about these kinds of topics, the more comfortable people feel in supporting you and beginning a relationship with your church. Continue reading →

It’s simple to say, but vital: teams can only exist if they’re unified. A team without unity is like a body where no two cells stick together. All the cells might be alive, but a trillion single celled organisms will never be able to do half of what one organism made of a trillion cells could do.

So, to help you take your church and the volunteer teams to the next level, we’ve put together a few tips. Continue reading →

I recently got an email with a great question, and I think it’s one many churches have. The question was:

“I have to get more parents serving in the children’s ministry! I’ve been asking ‘how’ for two years and still don’t have any workable answers.”

I have three suggestions. Continue reading →

We all know that small groups are a great way for people to get more connected into church and to each other, but sometimes the hurdle can be getting them to take the first step of signing up to try a group.  Here are some tips that we’ve seen work well for many of the churches we’ve worked with over the years. Continue reading →

One of the hardest parts of any major event your church sponsors, such as mission trips and community service days, is raising the funds, especially because each event seems so isolated. Expenses for utilities and rent are predictable and you can often plan ahead, but the cost of mission trips changes year to year.

So, to make things easier for you, and to help you support as many projects as possible, we have put together a few fundraising ideas based on what we’ve seen work. Continue reading →

When people think of church vision statements, there are usually two related but different things they picture. One is a vision statement, and one is a mission statement. These documents are related and most churches end up combining them, but for the purpose of discussion, we’ll treat them separately (You can read the mission statement tips here). The difference is that a vision statement describes how you and God see your church. It focuses on the personality of the church. A mission statement describes what actions will result from your vision.  As you work on your vision statement, here are a few things to keep in mind: Continue reading →