by: Jason Watford
Matthew 5:1, ”Then seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:”
Throughout the Bible, you will find Jesus repetitively having multitude after multitude around Him. Would to God that in today’s time, people would flock to the Scripture and preaching like they did in days past! With that said, I wonder if preachers and staff members could do a better job of promoting and getting more people to come to church services. The average revival that I see starts with a great crowd on Sunday morning, a good crowd on Sunday night, a descent crowd on Monday, and the preacher starts sweating from there on praying that members come. Let’s face it, preachers do not always like to do what other preachers do because of ego, pride, or they may get called “liberal” and a thousand other reasons; however, Jesus is our ultimate example. Let us look at what He did and follow Him.
1. Jesus promoted His arrival in advance. (Luke 10:1)
Jesus is VERY organized. If we want to be like Jesus, then we need to get organized. He is so organized that He has already told us the ending of the world. Many churches do not have successful revivals, services or events because of a lack of planning. In today’s time, we have the technology to use social media, flyers, newspapers, billboards, and a host of other ideas to get the word out about anything we are having. Jesus did not want to waste His time, so He organized people to go and promote that He was coming. Preachers, get the word out about what is coming in your church. Every good and growing TV show or sitcom always has the watchers looking forward to next week with what is coming up or what may happen. Let’s learn from them and keep something coming up at the church house. Some people came to see Jesus because of promotion.
2. Jesus fed people to whom He preached. (John 6:11)
I know there are some churches that feel like you should not use food, toys, etc to get people to come to church. I agree that you should not have to “con” someone into coming to church; however, in Acts when the church was booming, Acts 2:48 teaches that the early church often had fellowships. What is wrong with church members getting together in a fellowship hall and having a nacho party, or an ice cream social? You’ll be amazed how that will boost attendance. If Jesus used food, and trust me some people followed Jesus just to get a meal, why can’t we use food?
3. Jesus used children in the Bible as examples. (Luke 18:15-17)
Everyone loves children and loves to watch them. Preachers, you will greatly increase the size of your attendance on a revival if you would get a children’s group together to sing. What’s wrong with parents videoing and taking pictures of their kids singing in church and putting it on Facebook or Twitter? Your church is getting advertisement. Let the kids serve in your church, and I promise the attendance will jump because adults love to see children serve the Lord.
4. Jesus healed people. (Luke 13:11-17)
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not for these churches that heal people and make big scenes. If all these so-called preachers can heal people then they should be in every hospital in America healing people. With that said, Jesus had people undoubtedly who followed Him because of the miracles that He performed. Something every once in a while should happen at your church. Recently, an evangelist came to our church and preached a wonderful sermon. In the invitational altar call, the prayer was given for people to repeat to help them get saved. One woman was repeating the prayer out loud while crying and the Holy Spirit moved in and revival broke out. Every once in a while, something should happen at the church house.
5. Some followed Jesus for His preaching.
This is the ultimate goal of every preacher for his members: members who come to church regardless of what is going on. Whether it is a big day or normal day; whether it is cold, hot, cloudy, rainy, or sunny, our goal is for our members to be in church.
Lastly, before you start saying, “Well, I wonder how many people will stick from all those methods these churches use? I wonder how many people are tithing and faithful because of the food, toys, etc.?” Let me ask you this, after all the ministry that Jesus had, how many people stood by Him at the cross when He was dying? The answer is one–his mother. If through all of the things we advertise and do, only one person is reached, is it worth it to you? Let’s start getting the crowds the way Jesus did when He walked the Earth.
Jason Watford
Pastor
Spring Creek Baptist Church
Seven Springs, NC