Church Growth

How to Increase Engagement and Build Community in Your Church

In today’s episode we hear from Peter Haas, the Founder and Lead Pastor of Substance Church, on how his leadership model changed through personal discipleship and true friendship.

Listen on your favorite podcast app:

Every church leader wants to know the secret to making their church grow. Many churches put their efforts into finding a quotable preacher or investing thousands into the production quality of their services. Other churches start new ministries or expand their social media presence in hopes of reaching a new demographic.

Today’s guest, Peter Haas, is here to challenge the typical model of church leadership.

“Pastors spend all their energy on the wrong things.” - Peter Haas

In this episode, we will hear how Peter’s leadership model changed once he realized that there was more to church leadership than a fancy service production and preaching an awesome message on Sunday mornings.

Through a personal discipleship experience and reading several studies, Pastor Haas learned that the true key to getting people and keeping people in the church is friendship. A sermon can only go so far, and strobe lights and fog machines only last for the one hour a week people are behind church doors. But mid-week discipleship helps churches to actually make and keep disciples.

“10% of the population will jump into deeper circles of commitment on their own. But the other 90% are invited into maturity.” - Peter

Pastor Haas and the leadership team at Substance Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota have seen how this practice works firsthand. Through their own study, they have come up with three avenues that they believe have revolutionized the growth and connectedness of their church.

  1. Help people make 5-7 friends within the church community

Making real friends feels like such a huge accomplishment these days. With people attached to their phones and virtual reality more than ever, personal connections can be hard to come by. But the truth is, we’re all human. And face-to-face connection is vital to our physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Pastor Haas says that the best way to help people make friends is to equip your small group leaders. If every small group leader in the church has the mentality of true connection and friendship, the growth and discipleship possibilities in your church can be endless.

To ensure their small group leaders feel equipped to make connections within the church, Substance Church holds training 30-40 times a year so that their leaders can constantly be fueled by the mission of the church.

  1. Give people access to ministry opportunities

Opportunities for your church members to get involved in your church–like serving on the Welcome team or the production team–creates buy-in to the mission and gospel of Jesus.

Studies have shown that inviting someone to participate in a ministry or church commitment is 90% more effective than having someone volunteer on their own. When people have access to ministry opportunities, there is significant growth in not only the number of people who attend church, but in the number of people who truly follow Christ.

  1. Put people in close proximity to a leader who can disciple them

Pastor Haas shares how his personal testimony was completely transformed by one-on-one discipleship. He explains how being invited to read the bible and having accountability in his walk with the Lord exponentially grew his faith and ultimately shaped the way he viewed church leadership.

Another important factor that Substance Church incorporates in its discipleship tracks is the confession of sins. Pastor Haas talks about how being vulnerable with your sin builds connectedness and strength in your Christian friendships. People want to be real, and it’s important that the church allows room for that while pointing and teaching them to form holy, transformational habits.

“I thought it was all about my message or all about the worship experience or the service production, but when I read these studies, it broke my model. I started thinking, churching them in a church service is not the same as transforming them.” - Peter

As church leaders, it is important to strive for excellence in all that we do, but we must be careful to not get lost in our performance as speakers or the production of our Sunday services. We must get back to the basics of discipleship and Spiritual Habit Formation in order to see true transformation in people.

By the end of this episode, you will learn:

✅ Peter’s 6 Levels of Objective Discipleship Metrics

✅ How to invite church-goers into discipleship

✅ How to train your small group leaders to build relationships

✅ How to make friends in church

Resources Mentioned:

Listen to episodes of Modern Church Leader: Modern Church Leader

Follow Tithe.ly on Instagram: tithe.ly

Follow Tithe.ly on Twitter: tithe.ly

Like Tithe.ly on Facebook: @tithelyapp

Check out more from Peter Haas: www.peterhaas.org

Find Substance Church: www.substancechurch.com

Other Episodes You May be Interested In:

Hiring A Lead Pastor: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding the Perfect Candidate

Why Christian Leadership Matters

Effectively Encourage Giving & Boost Engagement

7 Ways to Boost Engagement in Your Small Group

Here’s a glance at this episode…

2:28 - Intro to Peter Haas

6:26 - Intro to Substance Church

9:00 - Church Entrepreneurship

11:12 - Spiritual Habit Formation

14:00 - How do you invite people into discipleship

16:50 - Teaching your small group leaders about giving

20:00 - How do you get someone 4-7 close friends in church

26:23 - Peter’s 6 Levels of Objective Discipleship Metrics

28:24 - How to train your small group leaders to build relationships

33:28 - Where people can find Peter Haas’s Resources

36:30 - A pastor that Peter looks up to

37:46 - Peter’s favorite book

38:38 - Peter’s favorite podcast

40:00 Where people can find Substance Church

H1 What’s a Rich Text element?

H2 What’s a Rich Text element?

H3 What’s a Rich Text element?

H4 What’s a Rich Text element?

H5 What’s a Rich Text element?
H6 What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

H4 Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

H4 How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

  • List Item 1
  • List Item 2
  • List Item 3

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Listen on your favorite podcast app:

Every church leader wants to know the secret to making their church grow. Many churches put their efforts into finding a quotable preacher or investing thousands into the production quality of their services. Other churches start new ministries or expand their social media presence in hopes of reaching a new demographic.

Today’s guest, Peter Haas, is here to challenge the typical model of church leadership.

“Pastors spend all their energy on the wrong things.” - Peter Haas

In this episode, we will hear how Peter’s leadership model changed once he realized that there was more to church leadership than a fancy service production and preaching an awesome message on Sunday mornings.

Through a personal discipleship experience and reading several studies, Pastor Haas learned that the true key to getting people and keeping people in the church is friendship. A sermon can only go so far, and strobe lights and fog machines only last for the one hour a week people are behind church doors. But mid-week discipleship helps churches to actually make and keep disciples.

“10% of the population will jump into deeper circles of commitment on their own. But the other 90% are invited into maturity.” - Peter

Pastor Haas and the leadership team at Substance Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota have seen how this practice works firsthand. Through their own study, they have come up with three avenues that they believe have revolutionized the growth and connectedness of their church.

  1. Help people make 5-7 friends within the church community

Making real friends feels like such a huge accomplishment these days. With people attached to their phones and virtual reality more than ever, personal connections can be hard to come by. But the truth is, we’re all human. And face-to-face connection is vital to our physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Pastor Haas says that the best way to help people make friends is to equip your small group leaders. If every small group leader in the church has the mentality of true connection and friendship, the growth and discipleship possibilities in your church can be endless.

To ensure their small group leaders feel equipped to make connections within the church, Substance Church holds training 30-40 times a year so that their leaders can constantly be fueled by the mission of the church.

  1. Give people access to ministry opportunities

Opportunities for your church members to get involved in your church–like serving on the Welcome team or the production team–creates buy-in to the mission and gospel of Jesus.

Studies have shown that inviting someone to participate in a ministry or church commitment is 90% more effective than having someone volunteer on their own. When people have access to ministry opportunities, there is significant growth in not only the number of people who attend church, but in the number of people who truly follow Christ.

  1. Put people in close proximity to a leader who can disciple them

Pastor Haas shares how his personal testimony was completely transformed by one-on-one discipleship. He explains how being invited to read the bible and having accountability in his walk with the Lord exponentially grew his faith and ultimately shaped the way he viewed church leadership.

Another important factor that Substance Church incorporates in its discipleship tracks is the confession of sins. Pastor Haas talks about how being vulnerable with your sin builds connectedness and strength in your Christian friendships. People want to be real, and it’s important that the church allows room for that while pointing and teaching them to form holy, transformational habits.

“I thought it was all about my message or all about the worship experience or the service production, but when I read these studies, it broke my model. I started thinking, churching them in a church service is not the same as transforming them.” - Peter

As church leaders, it is important to strive for excellence in all that we do, but we must be careful to not get lost in our performance as speakers or the production of our Sunday services. We must get back to the basics of discipleship and Spiritual Habit Formation in order to see true transformation in people.

By the end of this episode, you will learn:

✅ Peter’s 6 Levels of Objective Discipleship Metrics

✅ How to invite church-goers into discipleship

✅ How to train your small group leaders to build relationships

✅ How to make friends in church

Resources Mentioned:

Listen to episodes of Modern Church Leader: Modern Church Leader

Follow Tithe.ly on Instagram: tithe.ly

Follow Tithe.ly on Twitter: tithe.ly

Like Tithe.ly on Facebook: @tithelyapp

Check out more from Peter Haas: www.peterhaas.org

Find Substance Church: www.substancechurch.com

Other Episodes You May be Interested In:

Hiring A Lead Pastor: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding the Perfect Candidate

Why Christian Leadership Matters

Effectively Encourage Giving & Boost Engagement

7 Ways to Boost Engagement in Your Small Group

Here’s a glance at this episode…

2:28 - Intro to Peter Haas

6:26 - Intro to Substance Church

9:00 - Church Entrepreneurship

11:12 - Spiritual Habit Formation

14:00 - How do you invite people into discipleship

16:50 - Teaching your small group leaders about giving

20:00 - How do you get someone 4-7 close friends in church

26:23 - Peter’s 6 Levels of Objective Discipleship Metrics

28:24 - How to train your small group leaders to build relationships

33:28 - Where people can find Peter Haas’s Resources

36:30 - A pastor that Peter looks up to

37:46 - Peter’s favorite book

38:38 - Peter’s favorite podcast

40:00 Where people can find Substance Church

podcast transcript

(Scroll for more)

H1 What’s a Rich Text element?

H2 What’s a Rich Text element?

H3 What’s a Rich Text element?

H4 What’s a Rich Text element?

H5 What’s a Rich Text element?
H6 What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

H4 Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

H4 How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

  • List Item 1
  • List Item 2
  • List Item 3

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Special Offer

Blog

How to Increase Engagement and Build Community in Your Church

How to Increase Engagement and Build Community in Your Church

In today’s episode we hear from Peter Haas, the Founder and Lead Pastor of Substance Church, on how his leadership model changed through personal discipleship and true friendship.

Show notes

Listen on your favorite podcast app:

Every church leader wants to know the secret to making their church grow. Many churches put their efforts into finding a quotable preacher or investing thousands into the production quality of their services. Other churches start new ministries or expand their social media presence in hopes of reaching a new demographic.

Today’s guest, Peter Haas, is here to challenge the typical model of church leadership.

“Pastors spend all their energy on the wrong things.” - Peter Haas

In this episode, we will hear how Peter’s leadership model changed once he realized that there was more to church leadership than a fancy service production and preaching an awesome message on Sunday mornings.

Through a personal discipleship experience and reading several studies, Pastor Haas learned that the true key to getting people and keeping people in the church is friendship. A sermon can only go so far, and strobe lights and fog machines only last for the one hour a week people are behind church doors. But mid-week discipleship helps churches to actually make and keep disciples.

“10% of the population will jump into deeper circles of commitment on their own. But the other 90% are invited into maturity.” - Peter

Pastor Haas and the leadership team at Substance Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota have seen how this practice works firsthand. Through their own study, they have come up with three avenues that they believe have revolutionized the growth and connectedness of their church.

  1. Help people make 5-7 friends within the church community

Making real friends feels like such a huge accomplishment these days. With people attached to their phones and virtual reality more than ever, personal connections can be hard to come by. But the truth is, we’re all human. And face-to-face connection is vital to our physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Pastor Haas says that the best way to help people make friends is to equip your small group leaders. If every small group leader in the church has the mentality of true connection and friendship, the growth and discipleship possibilities in your church can be endless.

To ensure their small group leaders feel equipped to make connections within the church, Substance Church holds training 30-40 times a year so that their leaders can constantly be fueled by the mission of the church.

  1. Give people access to ministry opportunities

Opportunities for your church members to get involved in your church–like serving on the Welcome team or the production team–creates buy-in to the mission and gospel of Jesus.

Studies have shown that inviting someone to participate in a ministry or church commitment is 90% more effective than having someone volunteer on their own. When people have access to ministry opportunities, there is significant growth in not only the number of people who attend church, but in the number of people who truly follow Christ.

  1. Put people in close proximity to a leader who can disciple them

Pastor Haas shares how his personal testimony was completely transformed by one-on-one discipleship. He explains how being invited to read the bible and having accountability in his walk with the Lord exponentially grew his faith and ultimately shaped the way he viewed church leadership.

Another important factor that Substance Church incorporates in its discipleship tracks is the confession of sins. Pastor Haas talks about how being vulnerable with your sin builds connectedness and strength in your Christian friendships. People want to be real, and it’s important that the church allows room for that while pointing and teaching them to form holy, transformational habits.

“I thought it was all about my message or all about the worship experience or the service production, but when I read these studies, it broke my model. I started thinking, churching them in a church service is not the same as transforming them.” - Peter

As church leaders, it is important to strive for excellence in all that we do, but we must be careful to not get lost in our performance as speakers or the production of our Sunday services. We must get back to the basics of discipleship and Spiritual Habit Formation in order to see true transformation in people.

By the end of this episode, you will learn:

✅ Peter’s 6 Levels of Objective Discipleship Metrics

✅ How to invite church-goers into discipleship

✅ How to train your small group leaders to build relationships

✅ How to make friends in church

Resources Mentioned:

Listen to episodes of Modern Church Leader: Modern Church Leader

Follow Tithe.ly on Instagram: tithe.ly

Follow Tithe.ly on Twitter: tithe.ly

Like Tithe.ly on Facebook: @tithelyapp

Check out more from Peter Haas: www.peterhaas.org

Find Substance Church: www.substancechurch.com

Other Episodes You May be Interested In:

Hiring A Lead Pastor: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding the Perfect Candidate

Why Christian Leadership Matters

Effectively Encourage Giving & Boost Engagement

7 Ways to Boost Engagement in Your Small Group

Here’s a glance at this episode…

2:28 - Intro to Peter Haas

6:26 - Intro to Substance Church

9:00 - Church Entrepreneurship

11:12 - Spiritual Habit Formation

14:00 - How do you invite people into discipleship

16:50 - Teaching your small group leaders about giving

20:00 - How do you get someone 4-7 close friends in church

26:23 - Peter’s 6 Levels of Objective Discipleship Metrics

28:24 - How to train your small group leaders to build relationships

33:28 - Where people can find Peter Haas’s Resources

36:30 - A pastor that Peter looks up to

37:46 - Peter’s favorite book

38:38 - Peter’s favorite podcast

40:00 Where people can find Substance Church

video transcript

(Scroll for more)
Button Text
Tithely Pricing