When I was pursuing my undergraduate degree at Samford University I worked with The Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence. Part of our course work with them was to serve as consultants to local congregations assisted by our professors.
One of the churches I had the opportunity to work with was a Presbyterian congregation in a suburb of Birmingham, Al. It was a lovely church, excellent and beautiful facilities, capable and caring staff, good music, good preaching, and full of people who loved the church, loved their neighbors, and loved Jesus. But they had a problem, as the older generation was moving on they were unable to grow the congregation to replace them.
The church had all sorts of ideas about what was wrong, what they needed to change, what programs they needed to add, what sort of staff they should hire, but none of these were their main issue.
When the founders of the church decided it was time to build a new church, they selected the location based on how they expected the city would develop; but when the main roads were built out to their suburb they didn’t follow the original plan and the church found itself embedded in a neighborhood off the beaten path. At some point in their history, they stopped worrying about their lack of visibility and embraced it as part of their culture, they made being hard to find their brand.
They put it on their website, their volunteer t-shirts, their sign, their mugs, and pens; the church logo: “The Best Kept Secret in Brookwood.”
Their logo turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The congregation treated their church like a secret to keep, and it affected everything about the culture of the church.
Now, NHCBC does not have a location problem, we are sitting on enviable real estate. But sometimes we do treat our beloved community like it is the best kept secret in the North Hills.
Church growth is a tricky thing, and the tricks and best practices from 10, 20, 30 years ago don’t work anymore, best practices from 2018 don’t even work anymore. But what does work is what has always been the heart of congregational health and growth: Relationship and Authenticity.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. “Churches need to get better at telling stories.”
NHCBC has amazing stories to tell…
Stories of how we support each other.
Stories of authentic friendships and found families.
Stories of spiritual growth and breakthroughs.
Stories of shared suffering and care.
Stories of mission trips, service projects, and cultural experiences.
Stories of sincere worship and meaningful special services.
Stories of multi-generational engagement.
Stories of courage and tenacity.
Stories of Justice and Advocacy.
Stories about welcoming immigrants and refugees into our diverse family of faith.
Stories of inclusivity and hospitality.
Stories of struggles overcome and victories won.
Stories of empowerment and egalitarian vision.
Stories of finally feeling at home.
Stories of faith.
Stories of hope.
Stories of Love.
GOSPEL STORIES!
We have so much to be thankful for, to be proud of, and to celebrate.
One of the best ways to make NHCBC the worst kept secret in the North Hills of Pittsburgh is to tell these stories.
Here are some easy and practical ways to get started:
- Google the name of the church and leave a 5 star review with a note about what NHCBC means to you.
- Make sure you are following NHCBC on Facebook and Instagram. We share news about upcoming events and celebrate recent successes – when one of these resonates with you, hit the SHARE button to pass the story along to your friends.
- Look for points of contact in conversations with friends and family where you can share a story about NHCBC.
If someone shares a recent diagnosis, you can tell them about how we have highlighted chronic illness in our worship.
If Someone mentions concern or confusion about immigration, you can share stories about our Refugee Sunday, THRIVE PITTSBURGH, or that ¾ of our ministry staff are international.
If someone laments over the plight of the homeless in our city, you can tell them about our youth group, our community garden, or how we partner with North Hills Outreach.
If someone feels excluded by their community because they’re child has come out, tell them about our inclusion stance.
If someone shares that they’ve been lonely a lot recently, tell them about our pot-lucks, Bible studies, and other gatherings.
If someone tells you that they don’t understand the Bible, invite them to a class, or share how the pastors at your church welcome questions.
If someone is looking for ways to serve their community, tell them about our work with Platinum Ridge rehab center, THRIVE, Pleasant Valley Shelter, and AMOS.
In the end, what it comes down to are relationships and human connection. The leaders and staff at North Hills do everything we can to make sure that the rhythm of church-life is vibrant, meaningful, useful, challenging, welcoming, enjoyable, accessible, and safe. But the best music, the best preaching, the most exciting youth program, an expensive VBS, or flashy technology can only get you so far. All of the best studies, and real world experiences, tell us that there are really only 3 reasons that someone visits a church:
- They have moved to the area.
- They had to leave their previous church.
And the top reason: - SOMEONE THEY KNOW INVITED THEM.
Let’s work together this year to make NHCBC the worst kept secret in Pittsburgh.
-Pastor Jeremy