One church may be in a small rural community where it is easy to develop close personal relationships. Another may be in a big city where shallow impersonal relationships are the standard. (In the country they all wave to each other – even to strangers. In the metro areas, they don’t speak to one another even when they walk abreast on the streets.
One town may have a growing populating while another may have a shrinking population. Industry is brining people into one area and as a result the pews seem to fill up all by themselves. Factory shutdowns may be causing another town to be losing its population, hence it looks like the church is not doing a good job since it too is shrinking.
One town may have a wealthy populace while another may be in a poverty stricken area. There is not going to be much need for a food bank in a wealthy area, but it may bring many new contacts and converts to a church in an impoverished area. If a pastor of the wealthy community says, “Hey, we need a food bank.” since he sees the success of the struggling community church, he may be wasting church resources and time.
One church might be a new church and another very established. (Established doesn’t always mean it has arrived, it just means it’s been there for a while.) I have worked in 2 church start ups and in 4 established churches. It is much easier to get things started and rolling in a newer church than one that has been around for 50 years. I could get programs started in one day in that small baby church where it took me months to get the same program started in larger established churches. Because it works overnight in one town does not mean it will work over night in another.
One church might have more older people while another has many younger people. It takes both of these to build a church, but it is important to realize that energy, zeal and enthusiasm generally are in a church that has a young congregation. Yet, experience and faithfulness follows the more aged congregation. You may not do well with a softball league in an older congregation, but it might be a great way to get around some potential converts in a younger congregation.
It really is amazing what works for some churches but not for others in the area of evangelism.
If you simply follow on the coattails of other churches evangelism efforts, you might arrive too late if at all.
Do whatever God lays on your heart for your own community and church. Don’t wait for other churches to have success and get your ideas from them…pray for God to speak to you about the needs of your own community.
