The Ripple Effect
Creating Cultures of Engagement
Every interaction creates a ripple. Engagement comes before invitation, and lasting outreach begins with culture—not programs alone.
The people in your church already have what it takes to meaningfully engage the people around them. The Ripple Effect helps your congregation recognize everyday opportunities to welcome, connect, and invite—allowing a culture of engagement to grow from one relationship to the next.
Free 30-minute exploration · No obligation ·
FREE LEADERSHIP RESOURCE
The Ripple Effect – Readiness Self- Assessment
Use this Readiness Self-Assessment with your leadership team to begin an honest conversation about your church’s culture of engagement. One page. Three sections — Receive, Contribute, Belong. Takes 10 minutes.
The Ripple Effect isn’t designed to be a short-term campaign. Three years after Oakmont Baptist Church began, its leaders are still seeing the culture shift take hold.
The Ripple Effect isn’t designed to be a short-term campaign. Three years after Oakmont Baptist Church began the process, its leaders are still seeing the culture shift take hold.
— Alicia Porterfield, Oakmont Baptist Church
THE RIPPLE EFFECT – CENTER FOR HEALTHY CHURCHES
ABOUT THE RIPPLE EFFECT
Shifting Outreach Culture
A Five-Phase Consultation
The Ripple Effect is a guided process that helps welcoming, connecting, and inviting become part of everyday congregational life. It isn’t another short-term program or checklist—it is a culture your church grows into.
Through five phases—a project kickoff, a data-informed readiness report, a church-led culture-building period, a two-day onsite experience, and 90 days of continued support—our consultants come to understand your congregation and its community.
By the time we arrive onsite, we already know your church—and we are ready to help you take the next faithful step toward lasting culture change.The Ripple Effect is a five-phase outreach culture consultation offered by the Center for Healthy Churches, built to help a congregation become the kind of community its neighbors notice and want to be part of.
OUR CONSULTANTS WALK WITH YOU
Everyone Creates a Ripple
Engagement grows through genuine relationships.
Everyday Encounters
Help your congregation recognize opportunities to engage others with intentionality and care. Outreach is more than a program directed toward people outside the church—it is a posture your congregation develops from the inside out..
Guest Experience
Help every guest feel seen, valued, and at home from the moment they arrive. Even the warmest Sunday morning can feel unfamiliar to someone new. Thoughtful attention to the guest experience creates clearer paths toward connection and belonging.
Connecting People
Help every person find connection, purpose, and a place to grow. From committed members to first-time guests and neighbors in your community, every person within your church’s reach has a meaningful next step toward belonging.
Culture change doesn’t always show up right away. But eighteen months into the Ripple Effect, Scott Hageman began seeing something he hadn’t seen in over a decade.
“I’ve done more baptisms in the last year than I’ve done in ten-plus years.”
— Scott Hageman, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church Lincolnton
THE RIPPLE EFFECT | CENTER FOR HEALTHY CHURCHES
HEAR HOW TWO CHURCHES EXPERIENCED CULTURE SHIFT
Listen In: Two Churches Reflect on Culture Shift
These conversations weren’t scripted. Listen in as pastors and lay leaders from First Baptist Church of Lincolnton and Oakmont Baptist Church reflect candidly on what changed, where they encountered resistance, and what they learned as a new culture began to take root.
Clip 1
We Needed A Better Approach
Clip 2
Why Outreach Isn’t A Destination
Clip 3
Navigating Pushback And Real Change
Clip 4
A Congregation In Motion
Clip 5
What Happens When The Doors Open
Clip 6
He Hasn’t Left His Bed
Clip 7
Seeing Culture Change
Clip 8
Fixing The Gap From Within
Clip 9
More Growth Than In Ten Years
Clip 10
A Message To Skeptical Pastors
Clip 11
Church is More Than A Two Hour Experience
Clip 12
More Than A Basketball Story
Is The Ripple Effect Right for Your Church?
The Ripple Effect may be right for your church if:
- Your outreach efforts are no longer creating meaningful momentum.
- Your congregation is welcoming, but people are not moving toward deeper connection and belonging.
- You have tried new programs, but the change never seems to last.
- Your leaders struggle to describe your church’s current culture of engagement.
- Your Sunday morning language and practices may not fully reflect what your church believes.
FROM THE BLOG
Ideas Worth Rethinking
Four thoughtful reframes on outreach, connection, and the strengths your church may already have to build upon.
The Program Wasn’t the Problem
Your last three outreach initiatives probably didn’t fail because of bad planning — they failed because the culture underneath them was never built to sustain them.
Your Congregation Isn’t the Finish Line
Most churches run their outreach strategy toward one word — “come” — without ever writing down the one-word shift that would actually change it: “go.”
The Silence Between Your Members and Your Neighbors
Your church isn’t unfriendly — it’s afraid of one very specific moment, and naming that fear is the first step toward closing the gap.
Stop Borrowing Someone Else’s Words
The outreach vocabulary your congregation already has is more powerful than any language you could import from somewhere else.
“There was no prescribed agenda… not once were we told this is right and this is wrong. It was just simply encouraging us to think in a different way.”
— Eric Porterfield, Oakmont Baptist Church
Every church’s Ripple Effect looks different. Let’s talk about what it could look like in yours.
Free 30-minute listening call · No obligation · chchurches.org · (877) 242-0769