Full Method Case Study

FHC Case Study

Growth Method | Jun 28, 2021

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF FOREST HILL CHURCH?

Forest Hill Church is committed to connecting everyone in the area of Greater Charlotte to dynamic life in Christ. We hope that each person who engages with any part of this church would find that God is at work connecting us to Himself and us to one another.

Our Mission: Building Bridges that connect Everyone to Dynamic Life in Christ.

WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?

We had several questions we needed to answer:

• How do you maintain a community connected feel as you grow? Our church has several campuses but we still want to be as hyperlocal as possible with vastly different demographics.
• What’s the right system to get people engaged and connected and then walk alongside their story?
• Is there a better system to help us as staff engage with people and walk with them through all of life’s moments?
• What technology is simple enough for non-tech savvy people so they can focus on the main part of their job– discipling?

At Forest Hill, we kept trying a staff approach or mass communications. Nothing stuck because people could not keep up and mass texting is cold and not inviting as a communication mechanism..

WHAT LED YOUR ORGANIZATION TO TRY GROWTH METHOD?

For years, we had been hoping for something like Growth Method.. It is a system geared toward moving someone from just knowing about the church to drawing them into a relationship with the church.

Churches are half IT companies now and we wanted a software that offered a more concierge type connection process for our congregants. We have several campuses and there’s not a one size fits all corporate experience. We need to be able to tailor our software to each campus and each individual in their own unique way.

WHAT STOOD THE MOST WHEN YOU STARTED USING GROWTH METHOD?

It was really important to Forest Hill that, as we grew, we didn’t lose our community feel. We quickly discovered that as you become bigger, you actually need to become smaller. Go Method allowed us to do that.

When we were making software shifts, we did our best to understand the user journey. We discovered the consistent theme that the people who stuck around the church were those who found a “first friend,” someone they engaged and authentically connected with. Growth helps us create more of those “first friend” interactions by capturing congregant engagement from all entry points and ensuring people get connected to the right personal care.

At all of our campuses, the Growth Method tracks allow us to see who is connected and where they are in the process of plugging into our church. Tracks aren’t just ministry tasks, they’re actually relational connection points.

It’s a big deal that tracks allow you to access the profiles of individuals, take notes on their needs, and record visits and touch points. Pastors can view all this information on their phones, making it way easier to stay in touch and gives more intentionality to their visits and meetings.

GROWTH METHOD TRACKS CURRENTLY USED. “BUT WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED!”

We’ve also used tracks to automate several processes. A few to mention are:

• Adoption
  • Interest
  • Support
  • Active
• New guest
• Church reengagement
• First time givers
• Discipleship
  • Learning
  • Mentoring
  • Starting point
  • Financial

We also plan to implement many more like bereavement, generosity, life groups, youth, adult, singles, and many more….

CAN YOU OFFER 3 METRIC BULLET POINTS TO SHOW HOW GROWTH METHOD HAD A POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOUR ORGANIZATION?

For outbound texts, we are now getting almost 100% in reply. This means we are communicating effectively and bi-directional relationships are forming

Growth Method changes our behavior in that we spend 200% more time giving people the opportunity to engage (it is simple and messaged in the voice of the pastor)

In our first month, we had two tracks going and now we have five! And, we’re JUST GETTING STARTED!