Grow Your Church 2024 Workbook
You don’t need more stuff to try—you need a simple system not based on hunches,
feelings, or latest trends, but based on proven results.
Here’s our 12-month guide for implementing that system at your church. We break the year into
two types of alternating seasons: Momentum Seasons and Ministry Seasons.
Momentum Seasons: Seasons throughout the year that are great for attendance growth.
Ministry Seasons: Seasons throughout the year that are great for ministry growth.
The planting of seeds in the ministry seasons will result in the harvest during the momentum
seasons—that’s the ebb and flow of ministry. You set the stage in the ministry seasons for what
you hope to do in the momentum seasons.
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What’s Included in this Workbook
Prayer Focus
It all starts with prayer. Use the prayer focus for the season to spend time seeking God
with your team.
Reminders
We have a few reminders for each month and season of what you should be working on
to plan ahead and be ready.
Resources
Make sure to stay subscribed and “favorite” our emails! We will send you emails
throughout the year as each of these resources drop!
● Free Resources
○ To access our free resources, set up free profile at
Churchmarketinguniversity.com/free
● Member Resources
○ To access our member resources, become a member at
Churchmarketinguniversity.com/scholarship
● Grow Resources
○ To access our Grow resources, you can enroll in Grow at
Churchmarketinguniversity.com/grow
Labs & Events
For each season, we have training labs and events available for each level of
Church Fuel memberships. Your team will want to attend these events!
Your Team Activity
● Discussion questions
● Work together to list your ministry plans
● Work together to list your momentum events and marketing plan
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February - Ministry Season
Pray for incredible, life-changing stories to start coming out of your church.
Reminders
● Personal Evangelism Initiative
● Start Easter Planning
● Apply for the Google Grant
FREE Resources
● Church Connect Cards play a vital role in helping you turn first-time visitors into
members. Download our “Best Church Connect Cards” and take yours to the next level.
● Churchmarketinguniversity.com/free
MEMBER Resources
● Witness - Personal Evangelism Kit
GROW Resources
● Automatic Invite System™
○ Why set up your Automatic Invite System? Google Grant Case Study
Labs & Events:
● February - Google Ad Grant Grow Lab
● February - Easter Planning Members Lab
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Your Team:
Discussion Questions
● What is our “personal evangelism” plan during this season? Does our church have a
good invite culture?
● What are key Easter takeaways from last year that we can add to our Easter planning
this year?
● If we start with the end in mind, what is our ONE GOAL for Easter 2024?
● Do we feel equipped to start creating a written ministry plan for Easter?
● Do we have repeatable ministry initiatives planned before Easter marketing begins?
Take a moment to fill out how you will do ministry before your marketing this season.
TIP: This could be prayer, community outreach, or support.
Ministry Name
Ministry Channel
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March to May 14 - Momentum Season
Pray for your church to reach more people than ever before, that the seeds you planted
in your ministry season will reap a harvest in this momentum season.
Reminders
● Easter / Mother’s Day Planning
● Easter Invites Ads
● Follow-up Plan
● Welcome Party
● New Believers Focus
● After Easter Sermon Series
FREE Resources
● The Ultimate Easter Kit - Vivid
● The Ultimate Easter Guide
● Article - Solving the Next Week
Crash
● Article - Crafting a Special
Experience on Mother’s Day
MEMBER Resources
● Reveal Easter Kit
● Alive Easter Kit
● Crown Easter Kit
● Neon Easter Kit
● Mother’s Day Kit
● New Believers Kit
GROW Resources
● Automatic Invite System™
○ Why set up your Automatic Invite System?
■ Google Grant Case Study: Easter
■ Google Grant Case Study: Mother’s Day
Labs & Events:
● March - Easter Ads Grow Lab
● March - Connections Members Lab
● April - Volunteer Recruitment Members Lab
● April - Recurring Giving Members Lab
● April - Discipleship Pathway Members Lab
● May - Leadership System Members Lab
● May - Website Tune-up Grow Lab
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Your Team:
Discussion Questions
● What are specific harvest goals we can write down and attempt to measure this season?
● What was our Easter Invite Strategy last year?
● Who on our team can build social ads? Who on our team can build Google ads?
● Do we have a plan to build relationships at our momentum events? Are we prepared for
these relationships to take time and to disciple people after Mother’s Day?
● Jon Acuff says, “90% perfect and shared with the world is better than 100% perfect and
stuck in your head.” Are we ok with an imperfect plan that still makes traction?
Take a moment to fill out your church’s “Big 3 Momentum Events” this season. Next to
the event, assign who will build your Facebook Ads and who will build your Google Ads.
Tip: Examples - Vision Sunday, Easter, Mother’s Day
Event Name
Facebook Ads Lead
Google Ads Lead
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May 15 to July- Ministry Season
Pray for your community.
Reminders
● Father’s Day!
● Beat the Summer Slump
● Kids/Students Camps
● Summer Sermon Series
● Prayer Ads Continued
● Work on Systems
FREE Resources
● Article - 12 Church Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Church
MEMBER Resources
● Father’s Day Kit
● Summer Slump Playbook
● Plan Your Visit Course
● The Fight Sermon Series Kit
GROW Resources
● Prayer Ads System
● Automatic Invite System™
○ Why set up your Automatic Invite System?
■ Google Grant Case Study: Vacation Bible School
Labs & Events
● May - Church Fuel 2.0 Members Site Grand Opening
● June - Breaking 200 Members Lab
● June - Plan Your Visit System
● July - Team Tune-up Members Lab
● Jully - Back to School / Fall Planning Grow Lab
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Your Team:
Discussion Questions
● Does our team have a “Summer Slump"? What does that look like for our church?
● What is a major community need during this season?
● Does our website accommodate an influx of visitors and adequately show who we are?
Take a moment to fill out how you will do ministry before your marketing this season.
TIP: This could be prayer, community outreach, or support.
Ministry Name
Ministry Channel
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August to September - Momentum
Pray for a fresh vision, wisdom, and direction.
Reminders
● Back to School Kickoff Plan
● Fill the Fridge Outreach
● Big Fall Sermon Series
● Sunday Community Event
● Welcome Party
● Visitor Growth Engine
FREE Resources
● Article - Rethinking Outreach Events
MEMBER Resources
● Article - 101 Church Outreach Ideas
GROW Resources
● Visitor Course - Visitor Growth Engine™
● CrowdBoost™ Campaign
● Automatic Invite System™ Sermon Series Ad
○ Why set up your Automatic Invite System?
■ Google Grant Case Study: Unique Ministry (Griefshare)
Labs & Events:
● August - Fall Kickoff Kit
● August - Google Ad Grant Grow Lab
● September - Visitor Growth Engine Grow Lab
● September - Planning Christmas Members Lab
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Your Team:
Discussion Questions
● Are we capitalizing on contact information from our visitors? Do our Connect Cards
reflect the proper information we want from visitors?
● Do we have a visitor system? If so, what is it? Does our whole team know it?
● If there was someone our team could select to be a ministry mentor, who would it be and
why?
● What is our community’s cultural draw as we head into the fall season?
Take a moment to fill out your church’s “Big 3 Momentum Events” this season. Next to
the event, assign who will build your Facebook Ads and who will build your Google Ads.
Tip: Examples - Trunk or Treat, Back to School Event, Football Season Kick-off Party
Event Name
Facebook Ads Lead
Google Ads Lead
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October to November- Ministry Season
Pray for God to send you highly capable leaders and volunteers and for people in your
church to be passionate about personal evangelism.
Reminders
● Fall Community Events
○ Trunk or Treat
○ Fall Festival
○ Harvest Fest
○ Football Tailgate Party
● Start Christmas Planning
● Prayer Ads Continued
● Thanksgiving Outreach
● Generosity Initiative
● New Year Planning
FREE Resources
● Article - Free Daily Social Media Guide December
MEMBER Resources
● The Pastor’s Planner
● Create Your 2025 Ministry Plan
GROW Resources
● Prayer Ads System
● Monthly Social Ministry Guide
● Automatic Invite System™ Sermon Series Ads
○ Why set up your Automatic Invite System?
■ Google Grant Case Study: Trunk or Treat Event
Labs & Events:
● October - Fall Event Invite Ads Grow Lab
● October - Year-End Giving Members Lab
● November - Christmas Ads Grow Lab
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Your Team:
Discussion Questions
● What is a date that works for everyone to get our FIRST Christmas planning meeting on
the calendar?
● What are the church’s biggest needs to help us reach people in this season? We can
write them down and pray for them consistently.
● Do we have a social media framework already in place? Does our current social media
content reflect our community needs?
● Can we adopt a model where prayer is our main focus and our team could pray for our
community every day?
Take a moment to fill out how you will do ministry before your marketing this season.
TIP: This could be prayer, community outreach, or support.
Ministry Name
Ministry Channel
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December to January - Momentum Season
Pray for God’s divine favor to open doors for you to preach the gospel.
Reminders
● Christmas Invite Ads
● Christmas Bridge Event/Services
● Review Automatic Invite System™
● New Year's Series Kickoff
● Annual Report Celebration
FREE Resources
● Ultimate Christmas Kit
● A New Beginning Kit
MEMBER Resources
● Ornament Christmas Kit
● Neon Christmas Kit
● Shine Christmas Kit
● Run to Win Kit
● The New Year Bundle
GROW Resources
● Christmas Facebook Ads Playbook
● Automatic Invite System™ Christmas Ads
○ Why set up your Automatic Invite System?
■ Google Grant Case Study: Christmas
Labs & Events:
● December - 2025 Grow Your Church Lab
● January - Grow Your Church Workshop
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Your Team:
Discussion Questions
● Do we point people to Jesus as the reason for the season? Are we making Christmas
meaningful?
● Ryan Wakefield stated, “When you’re planning an event, you need to plan with the
people who are far from God in mind and why they should care.” Do we have Christmas
services that meet the needs of someone who doesn’t know Jesus?
● What is our Christmas follow-up plan? How are we engaging the visitors we just had?
● What are resources we can use that are “done for us” so we can focus our time on the
ministry at hand and the things that are unique to our church and community?
Take a moment to fill out your church’s “Momentum Events” for this season. Next to the
event, assign who will build your Facebook Ads and who will build your Google Ads.
Tip: Examples - Christmas!!!
Event Name
Facebook Ads Lead
Google Ads Lead
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Main Components of 2024 Strategic Growth Plan
Seasons lay on top of the systems—systems run all year long to help you achieve your ministry
goals. What systems do you have in place that will get you to achieve your goals? We
recommend the following components:
Visitor Growth Engine™ - Visitor System
● A system that works automatically every day to get visitors to show up at your church
each week—you set up once and it’s always running in the background.
Parts of VGE:
1. Dream big, pray bigger, start small – doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking.
2. Systems approach – a system that will work for years to come.
3. Stream of online reviews/testimonies – huge in culture to get visitors to show up; activate
a system of online sharing with people talking about what God is doing in their lives and
in your church – build into your system and it “automagically” happens.
4. SEO – getting on the first page of Google – if you’re not on the first page, you’re
invisible; basics of website, Google business profile listing.
5. 10 crucial photos with an iPhone – photography is huge and incredibly easy in today’s
world; we have tools to make the “techie” stuff easy to implement.
6. Set your website up as your Chief Visitor Officer – obsessed with inviting people all the
time; highest performing evangelism staff member.
7. Grow your contact list (email/phone) weekly – if you want a growing church, need a
growing list; need contact information to build relationships and develop ministry
opportunities.
8. CrowdBoost™ invite strategy – activate the congregation to get the word out through
personal invitation – need system in place before you activate in order to succeed.
Automatic Invite System
TM
● The Automatic Invite System™ invites people who are searching in your community:
(works all the time, even when you don’t have a budget, your people don’t invite, you
don’t have a big team, and you don’t have a lot of volunteers – it works especially when
you feel overwhelmed and when you just don’t know what to do or how to do it – our
team can do the heavy lifting for you, using Google’s money!)
○ For a church
○ Things to do with kids
○ For hope and help
The Automatic Invite System™ and the Visitor Growth Engine™ are like the twin turbos of your
plan. When these are working for you, your 2024 church growth plan will be way more effective
and at lower costs.
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While we have resources for all churches that can help throughout the year, for each season
specifically, we provide Church Fuel churches with a kit, course, campaign, lab, and support to
make the most of that season. For more information, or to sign up, click here.
Plan Multipliers
Growing Churches …
Be sure whatever you put in your plan, include the following aspects that will multiply your
growth:
1. Lead pastor prioritizes reaching the next generation.
2. Prioritizes getting contact information.
3. Consistently captures and shares photography.
4. Budgets 3% or more on marketing.
5. Stream of positive reviews online.
Index:
● 2024 Monthly Calendar
● 2024 Blank Monthly Calendar
● Workbook PDF - S3 Link to the PDF
● Grow Your Church Workshop Complete Notes
● Grow Your Church Workshop Replay
● Register for another Workshop
● Enroll in Grow
● Test Drive Membership
● Subscribe to Church Fuel Calendar
