Last week our Directional Leadership Team went away for our third off-site of the year and I was surprised to learn how well we’re doing.
- Salvations are up 50%
- Small group participation is up 23%
- Volunteers are up 27%
- Giving is up 14%
- Attendance is up 14%
- First-time guests are up 27%
I guess I was surprised because I haven’t been feeling (that’s the key word here, feeling) like things were going well. So I basically asked the guys “Why does doing so good feel so bad?” And as we discussed the answer to that question, here’s what we realized.
- Prior to launching Agawam, Enfield was abuzz with energy – the energy that comes when the building is packed. Since we’ve sent some 250 people to Agawam there’s less energy, which doesn’t feel as good as it did before. Now we desperately needed to free up space – and we have – which is a really good thing. We can now back fill those seats, which will only add to our growth. So again, this was a good thing, but it feels bad.
- Agawam launched on Easter Sunday with some 600 people, but was followed by the expected Summer slump (that every church experiences each year). Had we launched in Fall, attendance would likely be climbing, but since Easter, attendance has steadily fallen until we’ve now leveled out around 340. This is actually amazing. We aimed to send out 200, ended up sending out 250, and how we’re running almost 100 more than that. This is amazing! But since we started with 600 on Easter, it feels like something bad has happened (even though that’s not the case).
- We decided to keep all three services in Enfield and start Agawam with two, which isn’t exactly standard operating procedure. A lot of churches would’ve started Agawam with one service, while cutting three services in Enfield down to two. This approach would’ve made both Enfield and Agawam feel more full – feel more abuzz with energy and life. With that said, it would’ve left less hooks in the water. When it comes to fishing, more hooks in the water means you catch more fish. And with church, the more services you have, the more souls you can “catch” for Jesus. So again, we left all three services in Enfield while starting Agawam with two. We believe this is a gamble that will pay off exponentially in time, but it doesn’t feel great now.
- In launching Agawam we took our strong volunteer base and divided it across two locations, which in reality left each location under-staffed (which is why I recently did a stand-alone message on serving, which netted well over 100 people signing up to serve). So again, this is all good. The need resulted in many new people stepping up. But it doesn’t feel good yet. It will feel good later when they’re all onboarded and serving, but right now it kind of still feels bad.
- Those in Enfield are no longer seeing those who left for Agawam. And those in Agawam are no longer seeing those they left behind in Enfield.
So this is why doing so well feels so bad. And I bring this up so that we can all make a distinction between how we feel things are going and our actual reality. Despite how we might feel in this season, we are doing fantastic. Again…
- Salvations are up 50%
- Small group participation is up 23%
- Volunteers are up 27%
- Giving is up 14%
- Attendance is up 14%
- First-time guests are up 27%
We are literally doing better than we’ve ever done before! All this to say: Hang in there. As we get through the June-August season (where attendance is historically low) and move into Fall (which puts us into a six month long season of growth) things will begin to feel better. But between now and then, we just need to remember, that despite how things might feel right now, we’re doing great.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: How have you been feeling since we launched Agawam?