Chasing the Key Demographic for a Sustainable Future

Every church struggles with growth - they are all in competition for a portion of the population; they can grow by winning over new members from other churches or by active recruitment of the 'non-churched." I've been a member of my small neighborhood Episcopal church in South Austin for about 18 years, and a leader off and on during that time. Most members are called on to be leaders at some point or another.

Ten years ago, one Sunday morning in 1997, it was my Sunday to usher, so there I was, standing in the back of the church listening to a visiting bishop talk to the congregation about the diocesan goal to grow the diocese by an impressive amount. At the time, we had a small congregation in our neighborhood church with an aging population. Some of the founders from the 1950s were still in attendance, but the dominant demographic were parents and grandparents who had joined in the 1960s and 1970s. There was a smattering of families with young children, including my own, who attended on a regular basis. While the church seats a little over 200 when full, the pews were only half-full that day, with average attendance hovering somewhere over 100, in a single 10:00 am service. Growth was less of an issue to the congregation than the comfort of a community where we all knew and cared for each other. Were we really ready for this message of growth?

As we all do, I interpret the world based on my own experience. As I listened to the bishop, I couldn't help but reflect on my family's experience. With two small children under the age of 3, we were wavering as members of the church. We loved the community, but the accommodations were terrible for a young family with babies. My wife changed diapers either on the floor of the church office or out in the car. She nursed our kids - try telling a crying infant to "wait till we get home" - in the only private place available - again, out in our car, with the engine running so that she had air conditioning.

Fresh out of graduate business school, I reasoned that if our church community were to take on the challenge of the bishop and grow, it would need to decide what it wanted to be - a "business plan" - and it would need a marketing strategy. As it was, it had grown somewhat comfortable with itself and was a really good church for the old-timers, but not such a good environment for newcomers, especially newcomers with young children. Lesson One: The beginning of a solution is an honest assessment of the problem and a willingness to take action to pursue the solution.

If it wanted to recruit more of the older set, to continue the prevailing trend, as it were, it could spend a lot of energy to do so, but the new recruits would not add anything new. It made more sense to recruit younger folks for a sustaining strategy, but to do so, the community would need to make some changes to be more welcoming to that group. For young couples in our situation, who so desperately want to be a part of a welcoming church community during such a trying time in life, also have to face the fact that they need a good fit for their special needs on a Sunday morning, so they select based on their particular needs. Lesson Two: Time spent in crafting the strategy that fits best is not wasted time, but an investment in bettering the odds for success.

We decided to take on the challenge to stimulate change in OUR church rather than leave and find a more accommodating church. I wrote a memo to the new rector suggesting a strategy to recruit young familes with children. We organized a group - the existing 10 families with young children - and gave it a name: "Young Families" (clever, huh), and designed a pretty simple strategy. We added diaper changing platforms in each bathroom and pooled our money to buy a glider (fancy rocking chair) for the church library, where a mother could close the door for privacy in nursing. We set up a monthly "parent's night out" with group babysitting and staged a few seasonal group events. That was all it took for community to begin to form and for young families to find our church. Lesson Three: Start simple and focus on making important, often simple changes to make a more welcoming environment to generate success and build momentum that will energize your community to take on more change.

Ten years later, as we look back, that group has become a sustaining force for growth in our community. To accommodate the growth from this group and others, we had to shift to a 9:00 and 11:00 service schedule, and now average attendance is approaching 300. The "young family" demographic has become the dominant demographic in our church, having grown to more than 60 famillies. And the new families that have joined populate the ranks of our committees and church groups. Lesson Four: Community formation is a conscious activity that requires a deliberate strategy and focus, but once started, community activity is contagious and generates energy.

We recognized that people go where their needs are met, they go where they feel welcomed, and they go where there is a community of like persons, because humans are social creatures. And young people, with their whole lives in front of them, realize that their choices of location and association are strategic decisions that greatly affect their lives and futures. Lesson Five: To attract a targeted demographic, spend time to understand their needs and then create the conditions that will attract or retain them - the underlying infrastructure is a good place to start.

At St. Mark's, we focused on foundational infrastructure, in our own simple way. We addressed the immediate concerns - diaper changing and nursing on a Sunday morning - as well as the longer term: community formation and socialization with "parent nights out" and what were in effect community support groups. The result was a clear signal to visiting young families that this church had a welcoming environment where their investment of time, energy, and money would provide a sustainable return and would prove a good investment. Lesson Six: Keep it Simple and focus on opportunities to create synergy and socially reinforcing behavior patterns, and work together as a community.

Every church community (and every town) has a certain set of characteristics that makes it special and unique. But without a strategy and a shared sense of purpose among the community, the odds of that special-ness translating into solid economic growth are slim to none. Lesson Seven: To stand out and enjoy sustainable growth in the highly competitive 21st Century, a community needs leadership, initiatiive, a business plan and strategy, commitment, and mobilization of all the resources in the community.

Epilogue: Several years ago, I was part of a delegation from our church asked to attend a diocesan retreat to discuss growth; we had been identified as a parish with best practices. Indeed, I think we have one of the healthiest community environments around, thanks to our pulling together when it mattered.

Community formation and sustainable growth don't just happen on their own, you have to make them happen. And these days when it comes to communities and sustainable growth strategies, I'm with Richard Florida: the keys to that future are found in defined strategies that foster an environment of Talent, Technology, and Tolerance.