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How Churches Can Retain the Next Generation
Attracting means little without retention
In my previous post, I wrote about how churches can attract the next generation through intentional relationship-building. But attracting people to a faith community means little if the community fails to retain them.
According to some estimates, “non-growing churches” retain between 5–9% of their visitors. “Growing churches” retain more like 21%. Everyone else leaves after a few visits and never return.
Nelson Searcy, a pastor who writes about church growth, suggests that churches should strive for a retention rate of 33%. One of three visitors should stick around and eventually join the congregation.
The analogy isn’t perfect, but imagine if a restaurant had a 33% retention rate. Only one of every three people come back at some point for another meal. Either the population around the restaurant would have to grow fast enough to ensure an endless supply of soon-to-be-dissatisfied customers, or it would close due to a lack of business.
Churches aren’t restaurants, but they also face closure if they cannot retain enough people who are willing and able to support the institution with their money and time. The problem is especially severe in areas with declining or stagnant populations, the kind of…
