6-Pack System Overview

Studies reveal that 8,000 to 10,000 churches are closing annually and 1,500 pastors are leaving the pulpit monthly – never to return. Only 1,200-1,800 churches are opening annually. The church attrition rate is increasing; and while population growth is increasing in North America, church attendance rates are in a constant decline. Pastors are feeling the pressure of membership decline, and many churches are suffering. The church is no longer benefiting from societal centrifugal force that drove people into the church after the world wars. Growing churches understand that we are beyond the era and cliché that “if you build it, God will fill it” age. We live in a high tech-low touch society that needs a church that possesses the right spiritual DNA to appeal to and retain this new generation. Thus, church growth must be intentional and very focused in order to grow an effective Great Commission-based church.

The church in general is suffering great growth challenges, and as a significant subset, African-American churches face even greater challenges due to the place of the church in the culture. There is a thin line between the pop culture of African-Americans and church culture, which creates a thin line of demarcation between a healthy spiritual church culture and a community of spiritual people who are unchurched.

Church growth is both a science and a move of God. In order to plant and grow churches in the 21st century, there are certain practices that must be employed in order to grow. While we know that God ultimately grows the church, it is the responsibility of the pastor and church leadership team to provide a fruitful environment in which God can move. The biggest reason why people don’t attend church is because they are not asked. Churches must understand how to remove environmental resistance that hinders the growth of the church thus repositioning her for incredible growth. Researchers have found that healthy churches across the world share common practices. If you want to have a growing church, these practices must be employed.

The relational and cultural needs of the people in our 21st century society have created a tremendous opportunity for growth! Dr. Dana Carson, the Kingdom Voice and African-American Church Growth Expert, has created and engineered a church growth system that is designed to assist churches in their efforts to create 21st century growing churches. He applies his unique training and over 30 years of experience planting and growing churches. His doctoral level training in church growth from the esteemed Boston University, and over 30 years of experience in planting and coaching churches to grow, have allowed him to engineer a church growth system that is revolutionizing churches worldwide, especially the African-American church. This church growth system is named, “The 6-Pack & a Smoke.” The 6-Pack & A Smoke is a church growth system that is designed to address all of your fundamental church growth needs and opportunities.

The 6-Pack & a Smoke contains seven modules that address the fundamental and crucial areas that are needed for your church to grow:

The Attendance Module
This module is designed to guide you, step-by-step, in attracting visitors into your church. You cannot grow your church, neither numerically nor spiritually, if you are not focused on your visitorship – those who are open to becoming members. In this module, you will learn:

How to define your target market or those you desire to reach
How to create a culture of invitation in your church through the employment of three levels of cultural empowerment
How to engage in practical marketing techniques that will help increase your church’s brand awareness
The emotional triggers that move those you are attempting to inspire to visit
The four ways that churches can attract growth
The top ten surprises about the un-churched and how to use them as platforms of invitation.

This module will increase your visitorship and your membership, through powerful tools of invitation and prayer! Each system is Bible-based and supported by scriptural references which facilitate easy congregational dissemination. Each system contains instructions of implementation to ensure simple execution in your church. Get your system today and begin growing tomorrow!

The Church Reception Module
Conceptually, turning your visitors into members assists the church in the area of church friendliness or, as the business world refers to it, customer service. First impressions are lasting impressions, and it is important that your ministry makes a good first impression, because you only get one opportunity to make a first impression. Invitation and Reception are the two sides of one coin, so if you are going to invite visitors, you must also prepare to receive them. Many churches fail in gaining the attention of those who visit, and thus, fail to convert visitors into members. In order to impact your visitors in such a way that they become members, there are certain things visitors must experience. This module will assist you in:

Creating a culture of reception that sets your church thermostat on friendly
Understanding how to make a good first impression
Employing the 10 touches that every visitor should experience
Identifying the four cancers of reception and how to avoid them before they poison your environment indefinitely

This module will help improve your church’s customer service and friendliness toward visitors through powerful tools of reception and prayer! Each system is Bible-based and supported by scriptural references which facilitate easy congregational dissemination. Each system contains instructions of implementation to ensure simple execution in your church. Get your system today and begin growing tomorrow!

The Follow-up Module
Church follow-up is probably one of the most critical areas to church growth, but it is perhaps the most neglected. Think about it, retail stores give away free products, just to get your information or data. Why? Because they have expert marketers who will follow up on you. Their research reveals that the potential of earning sales dollars supersedes the product give away dollars. Every visitor who visits your church has the potential of connecting with your church ministry on multiple levels if you have a solid follow-up program. This follow-up module is designed to assist you in:

Creating a culture of follow-up in your church ministry
Developing a strategic approach to follow-up and data collection
Learning how to collect data to create a visitors relationship management program (VRM)
Learning the four tiers of follow-up
Employing the 3 rules of engagement and how to utilize data to influence both your congregation and visitors.
Developing follow-up procedures and guidelines to ensure the consistency of follow-up
Creating a membership follow-up strategy that will help your church retention

This module will assist you in creating a process that will turn satisfied guests or visitors into members through the establishment of an effective follow-up ministry through powerful tools of follow-up and prayer! Each system is Bible-based and supported by scriptural references, which facilitate easy congregational dissemination. Each system contains instructions of implementation to ensure simple execution in your church. Get your system today and begin growing tomorrow!

The Integration Module
Church growth is truly a holistic system, and every component of the system is critical. The church growth system begins with, invitation, followed by reception and follow-up. However, once a person decides that they want to be a part of your church ministry, you have to have a system of integration or helping them to become a part of the church family and finding their place in ministry service. Every business and organization that is successful has a system of integration – a system that is responsible for integrating new employees into the business context. Likewise, in church, new members and visitors must be integrated into the church if the church is going to grow. The Integration System is key to church growth to ensure that every member feels a part of the ministry. In this module, you will gain the tools and resources to assists you in:

Creating a culture of Integration
Developing a integration strategy from the altar to ministry involvement
Developing classes that connect visitors and members to the vision of the church
Defining and solidifying the available roles and opportunities for ministry involvement
Effectively recruiting volunteers for ministry and how to ensure that they are trained and equipped for service
Integrating the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper and water baptism into the life of the church as a point of integration
Learning the key ratios that make integration work and retaining your existing members, while reaching your new members

This module will assist you in the process of integrating the visitors who have now become members through the establishment an effective integration ministry through powerful tools of discipleship and prayer! Each system is Bible-based and supported by scriptural references, which facilitate easy congregational dissemination. Each system contains instructions of implementation to ensure simple execution in your church. Get your system today and begin growing tomorrow!

The Fellowship Ministry Module
The homogeneous principle teaches that species tend to be drawn to their own kind. Despite that a literal implementation of this principle could lead to the separation of the races, we must not ignore the fundamental truths behind the principle. People tend to naturally like hanging with people who are similar to them. Having said that, it is imperative that churches provide some form of homogeneous groups for people to gravitate to that allows them to discuss and share similar thoughts and concerns. Fellowship ministries provide churches with this opportunity, and increase the probabilities of personal fulfillment among its members for their church. The Bible instructs us to not forsake the assembly of ourselves together. Fellowship is vital to membership longevity; it lessens the possibilities of members feeling congregational loneliness. The Fellowship Ministry Module provides churches with the following:

How to create a culture of fellowship
How to develop a strategic fellowship ministry plan
How to create the five most crucial fellowships to ensure that everyone has a homogeneous place inside the church where they can feel a free sense of belonging and share intimacy
How to understand the difference between ministry fellowship groups and ministry groups and how to maximize growth from both
Some effective ideas of some of the best practices in church fellowships

This module will assist you in the process of creating a safe place for all the members of your church and increasing the probabilities of their long-term church membership through the powerful tools of fellowship ministry and prayer! Each system is Bible-based and supported by scriptural references, which facilitate easy congregational dissemination. Each system contains instructions of implementation to ensure simple execution in your church. Get your system today and begin growing tomorrow!

The Outreach Ministry Module
The Bible records that after Pentecost, the church grew daily and had favor with all the people. Your church’s community involvement is crucial to your church growth, as well as the call of ministry. The Outreach Ministry Module provides you with tools and resources to assist you in better connecting with the community in which your church exists. It will help you become an active partner in community change through the church’s relevant community outreaches. This module is designed to assist you in executing Christ’s community outreach charge of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisons, and carrying for the widows and orphans. In the Outreach Module, you will learn:

How to develop a culture of outreach
How to identify the relevant needs in your immediate church community
How to develop a SWOT strategy for meeting the needs in your community
How to organize and plan effective outreach events that will increase your visitorship
How to be in the heart of the community and have the community in your heart…loving people to Christ.
How to develop effective children and youth outreaches
How to develop effective adult outreaches that facilitate converts
How to establish an evangelism outreach that targets the unsaved and unchurched
How to maintain significant growth ratios between external ministries and internal ministries
The top five needs of the community that every church must meet

This module will assist you in making a local spiritual impact in your community through establishing an outreach ministry that meets natural and spiritual need through powerful tools of outreach events and prayer! Each system is Bible-based and supported by scriptural references, which facilitate easy congregational dissemination. Each system contains instructions of implementation to ensure simple execution in your church. Get your system today and begin growing tomorrow!

The “Smoke” Module – Creating 21st Century Worship Services
Research suggests that 63% of all churches have not changed their worship liturgy since 1947. Many church worship services are irrelevant to today’s church seekers and the unchurched. Many of the church worship services are considered antiquated and irrelevant. We are living in a technological era that is filled with a world of people who eat and drink technology, a mindset and orientation that is completely different than previous generations. If the church is going to reach the next generation, it must innovate or evaporate! Most Boomers and X’ers already have their desired churches, yet the largest church market is the Millennials. Our church services must appeal to them without compromising the Word of God. In the Smoke Module, you will gain insight and ideas on how to make adjustments in your worship service that you can live with, while attracting new worshipers and new church growth. In the Smoke Module, you will learn:

How to create a culture of 21st century worship
How to create a strategy plan for 21st century worship implementation
How to assess the effectiveness of your current worship service and identify what needs to change and what needs to remain
How to integrate technology into the worship experience
How to develop a worship team that presents worship with the spirit of excellence
How to design and develop a liturgy and worship presentation that is culturally relevant, moving, and creates an experience with God
The top five expectations of those who attend worship
The most effective ways to connect to each generation of worshipers
The history of worship and how to apply what is relevant and necessary in your worship service
How to integrate new worship styles and functions into the worship service
The place of music, singing, and dancing in 21stcentury worship

This module will assist you in creating a 21st century format for corporate worship that will have a multi-generational appeal through powerful tools of 21st century worship and prayer! Each system is Bible-based and supported by scriptural references, which facilitate easy congregational dissemination. Each system contains instructions of implementation to ensure simple execution in your church. Get your system today and begin growing tomorrow!