How Church Leaders Can Turn Easter Attendance Into Discipleship

The Sunday "high" is often followed by a Monday "low," leaving many church leaders feeling a specific kind of physical and spiritual exhaustion. While peak attendance days are exhilarating, the true challenge lies in the days that follow: How do we move beyond a successful event to see genuine, lasting change in the lives of those who walked through our doors? 

In this episode, we explore the strategic shift from monitoring attendance metrics to fostering sincere engagement and encounter. We move past the surface-level "crowd" to the deeper biblical mandate of apprenticing others to Jesus through intentional community. You will discover practical ways to leverage your volunteer network and create "third space" connections that turn one-time visitors into long-term disciples. It is time to move from managing a marathon Sunday to leading a movement of transformation that impacts your community for the Kingdom.

Key Takeaways:
- Recenter Your Metrics: Move from tracking Sunday attendance to measuring individual engagement and discipleship progress.
- Leverage Local Leadership: Equipping volunteers to host small-scale gatherings, such as follow-up game nights or discussion groups, creates manageable entry points for new visitors.
- The Power of a Personal Connection: Simple, sincere outreach—like a personal phone call from a pastor or team member—validates a visitor's experience and builds immediate trust.
- Embrace Your Marathon Effort: Recognize that while the work is exhausting, giving your best to cultural "on-ramps" is a worthy investment in the historical spread of the Gospel.

Transcript

Easter Momentum And Lasting Change

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Easter is always one of the most exciting and busiest days for anyone in the church world. And I know that you are a leader who wants to see people in a growing relationship with Jesus. You might be trying to juggle a strategy or a tactic, or maybe you're even feeling a little behind the game because you've been so focused on that Sunday, you're missing some good, clear steps for what you can do right now to make a difference in people's lives. On today's episode of the History Makers Leadership Podcast, we're going to look at a couple of tactics, a couple of strategies, and a couple of ways that you and I can think about leading out of this incredible Sunday so that it creates lasting uh uh transformation in people's lives as they encounter Jesus and join in his incredible work around the world. I'm excited to be joined today by Shannon Jackson. Shannon is a longtime friend and an incredible leader in her own right. Shannon, I know you have such a heart for local churches. Um, I know you've been on staff at a church before, as have I. Um, and I know that, man, that Sunday, that Easter Sunday, I mean, everybody is just working like crazy because there's so many new people on site. Uh, and a lot of churches, it's like almost um, you know, like the old school like uh homecoming church services, right? Where everybody shows up. If the average church attendance today is like once or twice a month, uh that Easter Sunday is when everybody chooses for that one time a month to be in the house. Um, what are some of the things that you remember feeling uh just the week after Easter services?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Um, I would say I felt about three things exhaustion, exhaustion, and exhaustion. Uh I served with a production team. And so um there's this meme that goes out about how people in production feel and everybody's face down, hitting their head on the ground because you've just exhausted yourself. You know, it's uh it's a marathon getting up to it. And then after the Sunday, there's so many, you know, there's always extra services, more relationships in the room, more people in the building that you get to talk with you haven't seen in a while. And so while it's extremely exciting, um, it is very exhausting for church staff.

Personal Follow Up That Builds Trust

SPEAKER_01 2:06

It is so, so exhausting. I know uh you and I have such a heart for local churches, and we're constantly trying to reach out to uh pastors or or just members of the team to just say, hey, we see you, we know what that's like. Um, and yet we have a reason that we put in all that effort, right? The leaders that are listening, man, they they have a heart to reach their community. They they put in all this work because they know it's kind of this cultural day where people still engage uh with the local church. And so it's a day that you get to connect with people like maybe you haven't been able to before. Um, but I think everyone who's listening to this would wholeheartedly agree if all they do is come on that one Sunday, we've missed something. Uh we have, we have um kind of you know uh just created a great instance, but we've we've missed the larger transformation that that Jesus brings and that we want to see in people's lives. Um, you know, I as I think about that, I I would say, hey, um man, most leaders are gonna want to have a strategy for follow-up after the fact. But if somebody's sitting here right now and they're thinking, gosh, I don't really like we just made it through that. We are done. We're so exhausted. Uh, what kind of encouragement might you offer them or maybe uh a next step that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, I would say that, you know, I think in the church world, so often, sometimes even as staff, people are like, gosh, it's just one Sunday. But for those leaders who are really trying to engage with the community, they know that this many people extra will be coming to the church, preparing for that, making room for them. It was worth it.

unknown 3:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

And so I just want to encourage you all the effort and all the time and all the energy you spent. I know you're probably exhausted. You're probably on a day off scrolling on YouTube to even find this or social media. You know, it was worth all the effort that you put into it. You're not gonna regret giving your best to the one Sunday you're guaranteed to have an influx of people in. So that's an incredible job. Um, and so good for you. Uh, and a little bit of encouragement, you know, for a next step that somebody's gonna be taking. How are we discipling them? How are we engaging with them? How are we getting them involved in the community? Um, and so I would say your next step is reaching out to those people, even as the pastor making a phone call, your your whoever the pastor is that maybe handles those things or your volunteer person. Um, you know, that's a that's some of the work a pastor can do, reaching out and calling some of those people that attended. And not everybody, of course, because some of the larger churches and so on can't do all of that. But, you know, making a phone call and really appreciating the people that stepped in the the door that Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Well, uh, you know, I think I think you're right. I think there are a lot of little ways, you know. I maybe in decades past uh communities look different, but in today's world, there are so many places where uh people in the community can find a sense of fellowship or camaraderie, right? Your kids' sports team, um, you know, uh uh um that online Facebook group or or Instagram account that that people like to follow or comment or be connected to. There's all these places where people are going to run to for some sense of, you know, third space, right? Uh and as a as a pastor who's sitting there going, or as a leader who's sitting there going, hey, I want to really see this this Sunday attendance wave be carried into something more. Um I I think I think reaching out and building connection is probably the best thing they possibly could do.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

I think it's critical.

Simple Small Group Gatherings That Work

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Um, yeah, because uh at the end of the day, you know, that's what people, I think their hearts are longing for is a sense of authenticity, a sense of uh sincere encounter and engagement. Um and so even more than we think about attendance, I think if we begin to frame ourselves and say, how are we engaging with people? Uh, we'll actually begin to find ourselves, I think, chasing a better metric, chasing a better outcome uh in the lives of an individual. Um, you know, we know Jesus had crowds that were huge, praise God. Uh also uh he was he was engaging with big and small audiences uh for the purpose of of actually helping them to understand um the the the better way that he was he was introducing, right? Um you know, we've often on even in this podcast but others uh discuss this idea of apprenticing to Jesus. If we want to show people what that looks like, we've got to be in community with them. Uh and we've got to be intentional in that kind of discipleship pathway. Um, okay, so my first thought is is like, okay, somebody's listening to this, what's what's something practical I can do today? Uh my encouragement would be get on the phone with uh a couple of volunteers in your church uh and begin uh identifying with them who can host uh four or five people in their home for you know uh a small group, uh kind of follow-up game night, um, a series of conversations, uh just some kind of connection with those people after the fact.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Um because I really think it's in the midst of that relationship you'll have the ability to engage in deep discipleship. Um and so I think I think that's a critical kind of uh starting point for the leader that's listening to this today. Uh what what ideas do you have?

Loneliness And Presence Over Performance

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Well, I just want to first of all add, you know, to what you're saying and how critical it is. You know, we're in a an epidemic right now of loneliness. People are more lonely than they've ever been, but you can engage with people more than you've ever been able to. We've got so many different social media platforms, um, online churches now where people can engage with their spiritual walk online and never have to meet a person. But still there's this deep-seated loneliness that people are feeling because they don't have physical community with people. And so I think that that is needs to be the next step uh engaging people and inviting them back to something like what you're saying with the small group event or even getting, you know, people involved with making those phone calls for you. Um uh this is back in the older days when I was growing up, but we had a group of people that would go around and visit people who visited our church. Um and I just so happen as a youth get to be on one of those teams. But uh, as as awkward as that is in today's society, that was some really encouraging time for me as a youth. You get to go, we got to go meet so many different people. And so I would encourage a next step being getting people involved in the community. What does that look like? How can we disciple them? Even you know, discipling the people in your church to be those people that are being hospitable to somebody that attended the church, you know. Um, and then um how can we continue that engagement, not just the next Sunday or the next Sunday, but one of the things that we've seen in the research we've been reading, you know, all data proves that people are not engaging in the church anymore. They've not found value in it. Um, and so how can we add presence over the performance? It's not just a phone call, it's not just a dinner at somebody's house. This is really being in the presence of other believers and showing what does it look like right now in our society to be a God-fearing believing person, you know, and so offering that opportunity for people to engage authentically in your Christian community.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

I I think I think you've got a couple of key phrases there. I mean, that authenticity, that that uh presence over performance. Um I think I think sometimes uh uh we can have a push to do something that is scalable or is automatable or is uh um you know doable with a really, really small team. And in a world that is increasingly AI, yeah, I think what's actually happening is this shift toward a deep, deep desire for actually, you know, you know what actually matters? Like the fact that you took the time, like the fact that this was clearly manual.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Like if you knocked on my door and showed up, I might be a little, a little shocked, but I'd also go, wow, you you actually showed up.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Um and I would even go so far as to say, hey, yeah, I I doubt there's anyone who's showing up to your church who wasn't invited by somebody.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

And so you resource your your church members, the people who are showing up, to know how to reach out to their family member and to give them a um just a loving comment, like a quick follow-up. Hey, you invited your friend, your friend came. Here's the easiest way to follow up with your friend. Yeah, just drop them a line and let them know hey, it so encouraged me. It meant so much to me that you came. Um, man, something as simple as that, just a personal text from one person to another uh can can really be, I think, a meaningful change of pace. Um, but I think I think all of this would be a miss if we miss this point, Shannon. As a leader, we've got to set that tone, we've got to set that pace. Um, and you know, I know leaders, gosh, man, our schedules are full, our agendas are booked, our life is overwhelmed. Um, but I think if we're practicing these eight core values, there's two that are gonna come to play. And the first is we are going to be in an abiding, intimate relationship with God.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Uh, we've got to be leaders of intimacy in our walk with him that result in a joy-filled, you know, uh obedience and followership to what God has called us to do. And he has, he's called us to reach uh to uh love and to um well have a passion for the harvest.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yep.

Raising Shepherds Not Just Attenders

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Uh and in our at least in the American culture today, in the Western culture today, if we want to be relevant in the way that we reach people, uh, I think we've got to do that increasingly uh uh again, driven by community, driven by a sense of authenticity and and again, just not not driven by uh an ongoing, I'm performing this because you expect it and I expect it, and and we're all just kind of going through a set of motions. But the radical realness of sitting down with somebody and saying, hey, let's talk about this. Um I think that as leaders today, we don't see our people doing that because in a lot of moments we aren't doing it either. Uh and that's that's convicting. Yeah. But I I I think that's really the case around us.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Yeah, something interesting as you're saying all this. We're a global ministry.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

We are.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

And it this isn't necessarily meant to be funny, but it's just ironic to me. So I'm having a little giggle over here with what you're saying because in the Middle Eastern context, you invite, let's just say here in America, you invite four or five people to church. They come, let's say you got six people with you at church on that Easter Sunday. Um, guess what? In the Middle East, you've just started a church and you're a pastor now. Correct. With no history, no education, you're a pastor. Um, and I feel at times we can be a little hesitant on making some stronger demands out of people that go to our church because we're afraid of what that would mean for them. Uh, we don't draw that leadership out of them because we're not sure if they're ready yet. When in other places in the world, ready or not, you're a pastor.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Because it's that essential. And people growing with Christ, um, you know, when Jesus was leading, it's not like he had a moment when he was on and a moment when he was off. People were with him 24-7. He had to purposefully retreat away from people to spend time with God. And so, you know, the whole performance, no performance, presence over performance thing, it's really you should never turn off.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

You know, there should be a way in which you're always discipling. That's your lifestyle. And so we would want to raise our church up in that way where, you know, you're ready. Yeah. You're inviting people to church. Whether you've gone through, you know, I know we have some things with small group leader training and all those things, but really, if someone's inviting a lot of people to your church, there's something on the outside of the church that they're doing that's drawing people to Jesus. That's right. And so they're ready. Whether we think they are or not, God's using them already, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Well, and I and I think sometimes as as leaders, we can we can struggle. I think sometimes we struggle with the the hard ask of our people because, well, quite frankly, if they if they show that they're not ready, maybe it shows that we haven't led them very well. Uh, I think sometimes we're so focused on being shepherds that we think of ourselves as only having sheep, not building other shepherds.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Yeah.

Resource Hospitality And Share Leadership

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Uh and so guess what, man? We just keep people in this sheep-ish state constantly, always following, always in the kind of blind, you're all you're right. And and we don't recognize, man, that can start to actually warp our own hearts into not seeing what that means for us. Sure. Um and and we are we are we're supposed to be equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. Right. So we gotta we gotta help start getting people in a position where they see themselves as. Um, but but again, so often the context of churches, they think of church and they think of leader and they think of the person who's preaching on the stage, and all of a sudden they go, Well, I can't do that. So obviously I'm not a uh well, we gotta we gotta kind of help break down some of those paradigms by ourselves demonstrating in our activities the things that they themselves should, could, would do. Uh and I think we do, we do deploy some of those gifts of hospitality. Um, and I think that would be my biggest encouragement for leaders listening to this right now. Hey, it's a couple days after Easter, I know you and your team are tired. Uh, identify those people who've been gifted in hospitality, encourage them, give them some some resourcing in order to make that happen. Uh whether that's hey, we're gonna we're gonna buy the coffee for you to be able to serve everybody coffee and just host everybody with some coffee and some you know cookies and things from the store, uh, or you know, you can bake them at home.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Uh, but but give people that resourcing so that they're able to host uh a gathering that that just seeks to build relationship um and foster those initial first steps of hey, we we loved you were here, we miss you when you're gone, uh, and we know you. We know you by name. Um, you know, I think of how many moments uh that mattered in the scriptures where people were known by name and the name mattered. Uh and so if if in today's world people feel that, see that, and know that, uh, it's gonna be a great way for us to help take that wave from Sunday and really carry it through the rest of the week. Uh because again, nobody uh nobody here really has a heart purely and exclusively to just say, hey, I need a bigger audience so I feel better about myself. Right. Uh if we feel that, there's obviously some some work we need to do on our heart here, but let's let's just assume that that's not where their heart posture is. Um, I think the leaders today and they want to see that carry further. Um and sometimes we get so close to that finish line, we just finish, oh, but we miss, hey, there's there's still work to do after. Uh and so that'd be my encouragement for for leaders. Do you have anything else that you would kind of say to them and just we kind of wrap this one out?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Um, I would just agree with your encouragement, you know, as Daniel's sharing, as you're sharing, you know, with the, you know, kind of sharing that load with other people, I just would really hone in and encourage that because you're disseminating your leadership and you're showing trust and you're valuing people within your church whenever you hand off some of that leadership. And that that trust is something that people see and they they really appreciate that. And then, you know, if you have uh a long, large influx of people and you've got one person trying to make all these calls, well, then you've divided up the workload, you've divided up the relationships. Uh people are going to notice when somebody's not at church. And so I just want to encourage you really to consider disseminating some of that leadership because it also shows trust in people when you've given them the ability to lead in that way.

Closing Encouragement And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 17:26

I love that, Shannon. I love that. In fact, I think there's a whole other conversation we could have about that. Well, hey, listen, uh, I hope this has been of service to you. If it has, please leave a like, subscribe, comment, something like that. Let us know how we're doing. We exist because we believe that the best way to advance the gospel is a local leader, just like you. We want to equip you, we want to serve you, we want to help you live out uh the core values of the most effective Christian leaders. Um, we know that leaders of Christ-like character are what are desperately needed, and you want to be that kind of leader. So we want to encourage you down that path. You can find more at ili team.org. Uh, and in the meantime, you can go and look through the back catalog of History Makers Podcast. Uh, we think that God uses people to change the course of history as they share the gospel and spread and proclaim the hope and love and joy found in Christ alone among the nations. Thanks so much for joining us today.