With figures showing church attendance on a steady decline, a new report is suggesting more social action could be the answer.
New research by the charity Jubilee+, found a direct correlation between 'community involvement' and 'attendance at events', with help for the homeless and toddler groups proving most fruitful.
The charity says that social action projects enable a connection to people who are not in a place where they'd be interested in an Alpha or equivalent course.
However the results also found there was no perfect model for which projects will increase church numbers. The survey, of over two hundred churches, found that it comes down to a number of factors including church size, length of activity and whether it was in a city or rural setting.
Larger churches in inner city areas proved to be most effective.
Speaking about the figures on Premier's News Hour, Geoff Knott from Jubilee+ said: "All social action projects have an effect on church growth but the interesting thing is that the same social action at one church produces poor results, in another it will produce great result.
"It does seem to be a difference between how a church presents that social action or how they involve the participants in longer term stuff, invite them to events for example.
"It's not straight forward but all social action can lead to church growth."
The research estimates between 1.1 and 1.4 million volunteers took part in church based social action projects during 2014, totalling 114.8 million hours.
A similar report by the Cinnamon Network recently found the time given by the Church and other faith groups to help less fortunate people is worth an estimated £3 billion a year.
Hear Geoff Knott speaking to Premier's Hannah Tooley on the News Hour: