Using the Church Creatively

The other day a friend of mine told me they drove to this really nice, new church in the area to see what they did with their new church building.  She said it was beautiful but she was very sad.  When I asked why she said because no one was there.  This wasn’t on a Sunday thankfully, but on a Thursday night.  No one was there.

The reason why New Life Christian Church (the Church I work at) built the nZone was because when we did a community assessment survey, hardly anyone said they needed a new Church in the area.  In fact, I don’t think anyone said that.  Rather, they said they needed more indoor sports facilities.  So, we listened to them and guess what?  Each and every day and night, the nZone is packed with TONS of children, parents, moms, families, singles and couples experienincg Christ by the way we treat them and serve them.

[Tweet theme=”basic-border”]Why have a Church that sits empty and useless during the week?[/Tweet]

The nZone is a natural draw for people.  If they need to practice or work out, we are a place to go.  If they want something fun for their children, they know we usually have something planned.

The good news is that your Church doesn’t have to be lifeless during the week.  Even if you don’t have an nZone type building, there are thing you can do today that will draw people into your Church building.  For example, some things you can do are:

• Dances.  Yes, Father/Daughter, Mother/Son or teen dances.  At a previous church we did a dance party 2 different times and they worked awesome!
• Family Fun Nights. Get the family together for a fun evening that could include dinner together.
• Youth Hangout Nights.  I’ve blogged about it before but it has been a great way to draw students into the building each and every Friday night.
• MOPS or Playdates. Invite moms and their young children over for a fun play time.  It doesn’t have to be programmed where you have a gospel presentation (although MOPS does that).  It can just a simple, fun gathering for moms and their children.  Even without giving a gospel presentation, you are exposing moms and children to your church which could ultimately lead to them knowing Christ. 🙂
• Game Nights.  If you have a gym or a multi-purpose room, you can do game nights and even mini-tournaments for teens and children.  Whether it’s basketball, floor hockey, soccer or dodgeball, there are many different things you could play.
• “Watch” Parties.   These are parties centered around a great TV event such as the Super Bowl, a big show ending or that “must see” event on TV.  We recently did this for the World Cup Final.

These are just some ideas that we have done in the past.  But they aren’t the only ones out there.  There are some amazing Churches out there doing some great things during the week to draw people in.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on what you have done in the past to draw people into the Church.  Share below.