Helping Small Churches Win Guests, with Desmond Barrett (Ep 103)

“If the neighborhood does not realize that the church is alive, the church must begin to reengage and develop connections by going outside its walls.”

May 22, 2025

by Karl Vaters

How good is your church doing at greeting and keeping guests? If you’re like a lot of churches, you know you could do better.

I talked with Desmond Barrett about how small churches can do a better job at reaching, welcoming, and keeping guests. Desmond is the author of Helping Small Churches Win Guests: Preparing to Increase Attendance, which is a short, but very practical book that pastors will find great benefit in.

Desmond and I talked about:

How to reimagine the church facility from the parking lot to the pew
Why sharing updates about facility improvements is attractive to guests
Why so many pastors and church leaders resist doing what needs to be done
Why “we just need to attract young families” is never the answer
The good news that new Christians are not looking for programs, they’re wanting to live on mission

Links from this Episode

Bonus Content

5 Options When a Church Property is Too Big for the Congregation, with Desmond Barrett

What can you do when a church facility that was built to hold hundreds of people has just a handful or worshipers left? Desmond and I talked about this subject, which is a growing challenge for many congregations.

The options, from Desmond’s book, Helping Small Churches Win Guests: Preparing to Increase Attendance, are:

Do Nothing
Share the Property
Rent the Property
Sell the Property
Recreate the Property

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Credits

Producer: Veronica Beaver

Editor: Phil Vaters

Music: Composed and performed by Jack Wilkins

Logo: by Solomon Joy

Correspondence

Author

Karl Vaters

Karl Vaters produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast, The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context. He has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience.
You can follow Karl on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, and LinkedIn, or Contact Karl to inquire about speaking, writing, and consultation.

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