How Churches Grow: A Platform for Growth

How Churches Grow: A Platform for Growth

by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

While specific strategies for local church growth must be customized to each church, a few general principles have application in any church location and provide a starting point for discussing growth strategies.

First, outreach must be intentional, not accidental.

On a particular Sunday evening, a first-time guest attended the service. In the course of the evening, this man confessed his desire to become a Christian. That very evening the pastor and his evening crowd were able to share the gospel with him and lead him into a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. That first-time guest had driven past 12 different churches looking for one that had an evening service. Because he found that evening service he became a believer. This accidental outreach happens once in a while in almost every church. It used to be a hallmark of a church’s evangelism. The entire community knew that the church was open and the opportunity to follow Christ was part of every worship experience.

Successful outreach in the 21st century, however, must be intentional. It must be planned, sustained, resourced, and spiritually energized. A young intern made a keen insight as he looked around the church where he was serving. “You can predict when people will be saved around here,” he said in amazement. “Every time we offer our discipleship classes people get saved!”

Second, the power of relationships and the value of invitational witnesses cannot be overstated.

People respond to friends and family they trust. They come to hear the gospel when encouraged to do so by a positive invitation. In many families, however, it has been 2-5 generations since there was a direct family connection to Christ and his church. One very important strategy for growth is Big Day Evangelism when everyone is encouraged to invite friends and family members to share a worship service with them.

Third, when leading an established congregation to new growth, building alongside is much more effective than demolishing what exists.

Changing a church’s culture or preferred way of doing things can take 8-10 years, so invest in the long haul. It is the comers-and-stayers, not the comers-and-goers that make a difference. Because churches by nature are conservative, change can be difficult. It is often much less threatening to offer something new than it is to stop doing something that is already being done.

Fourth, recognize leadership lids and growth ceilings. Limitations exist. One limitation is the leadership skills/gifts/abilities of the leader.

An effective pastor of a multi-staff church with multiple worship services may not be able to lead a single cell congregation where he must be solo and hands-on in leadership style. By the same token, churches reach growth ceilings for a variety of reasons. It may be that the population base is not present or that facilities cannot be secured. As another example, a church that regularly sees large numbers of first-time guests and new members will be more skilled and accomplished at assimilation than the church that counts guests and new members for the year on one hand.

Fifth, will a refocus, restart, or adoption be involved?

This is important since these kinds of growth require transformational growth and radical change. Each can be appropriate at different times in the life cycle of a congregation.

Refocus takes the existing congregation into a new chapter. It occurs most naturally when a congregation is approaching or just past its peak.
Restart generally occurs at the end of a congregation’s life cycle when everything that was is coming to an end. A new beginning occurs with a new direction, new leadership, new programming in a newly remodeled building.

Adoption or merger occurs when one congregation joins another. Two places on the life cycle are the most likely times for this to occur. In the early stages of development, if the newly organized group determines that their dream/vision is not viable, they may keep that dream/vision alive by merging with or being adopted by another group. In the later stages of a church’s existence, a congregation may see adoption by a stronger sister-church as a preferable option to closure. Sometimes this allows them to become a satellite campus of another church.

Sixth, for evangelism to occur, a church must build the basics of evangelism into its very DNA.

The pastor must preach evangelistically. At least 2-3 times in the year the morning message should be nothing more than a simple presentation of the gospel.

The pastor and church leaders must repeatedly explain how to respond to the gospel and must be readily available to explore questions and issues with those who are on a spiritual quest.

The new member’s classes should teach the basics of how to share a personal witness.

The church should regularly share tools with its members so they will be properly resourced to invite and to witness. This could include providing gospel tracts, sample conversation starters, and invite cards. It could also include billboard advertising and saturation mailing campaigns that provide an incentive or secondary reinforcement to encourage congregation members to regularly invite folks to attend with them.
Specific strategies, when customized to the local setting and empowered by the Holy Spirit, will result in church growth.

Recalibrate: 10 Steps Every Church Must take this Year, Or Be Dead In A Decade

Recalibrate – 10 Steps Every Church Must Take This Year…

Recalibrate: 10 Steps Every Church Must take this Year, Or Be Dead In A Decade

Everything but Jesus and the Bible must be on the table.
by Karl Vaters – Keynote Speaker at the 2018 Mission & Ministry Summit

The church is not dying. It’s in fine shape. Jesus said he’d build it, and he is. Relentlessly and beautifully.

But individual congregations, denominations, and ideologies? Now that’s another story.

While the church of Jesus around the world continues to move forward, chasing away the darkness with the light of Jesus, many local expressions of the church are watching their candles flicker in recent years.

RECALIBRATE CHURCH

I believe the next decade or two will be critical for the western church. The culture around us is experiencing a once-in-a-millennium shift right now. A recalibration of the way we think about everything from our morality, to our sexuality, to our identity, and our theology.

It’s only just beginning. And the pace of it is being propelled into hyper-speed by new technology.

So what’s the local church to do? We must hold two seemingly competing ideals in our hands at the same time.

Ideal #1: Stand strong on the unchanging principles of God’s Word.

Ideal #2: Adapt our methods to a fast-changing world. If we hope to do these two things well, local congregations must reinforce the following 10 principles. And the sooner we get to work on them, the better.

1. REESTABLISH THE BIBLICAL ESSENTIALS

According to a recent article in The Washington Post, churches that stand firm on the biblical essentials are more likely to be thriving, while those that compromise on them are more likely to be dying.

We shouldn’t need a newspaper article to tell us to stick to the essentials. While everything else can change, the essentials cannot. Any church that abandons biblical principles won’t just fail to survive, they don’t deserve to.

2. EMPHASIZE DISCIPLESHIP AND LEADERSHIP TRAINING

The days of hiring a team of pastors to do all the ministry of the church is dying. Finally.

Instead, churches that thrive are taking Ephesians 4:11-12 seriously by equipping the saints to do the work of ministry and raising up a team of ministers.

In the coming decades, the pastor’s main task must shift from preaching and caregiving to training lay leaders to do the ministry of the church. That has always been our calling, anyway. Events on the ground are now forcing us to do it the biblical way.

For many, maybe most churches, this will be a long-term turnaround of attitudes and methods. Start now, or you may miss the boat.

3. REDUCE YOUR OVERHEAD

By all accounts, giving trends are down and will continue to fall. Churches with top-heavy staffing, excessive mortgages and high maintenance bills will find themselves buried under their increasing weight in the coming decades.

If local congregations, denominations, and parachurch ministries hope to survive, they need to get to work on

  • Getting out of debt (including mortgage).
  • Reducing the percentage of paid staff.
  • Training and empowering volunteers to lead and serve.
  • Sharing expenses with other churches and ministries.
  • Making bi-vocational ministry the new normal and anything else that can reduce the financial burden of church maintenance.

4. RETHINK YOUR BUILDING

Until very recently, if someone wanted to start a business, the first thing they did was find or build a store, office, warehouse, or other physical structure. Not anymore. Today, the rule is to avoid the encumbrance of a physical building for as long as possible. Churches need to do the same.

If your church doesn’t have a building, don’t be in a hurry to buy one. Stay nimble as long as possible. If you own a building – especially if you’re one of the growing number of churches that own a too-big building for your shrinking congregation – be relentless about finding creative ways to utilize the space as often as possible.

For many of our churches, it’s Use It Or Lose It time. As in, use the building or lose the church; facility, people … everything.

Recalibrate5. WORK WITH STRATEGIC PARTNERS

In many places, smaller churches are banding together – even across denominational lines – to share resources, think strategically, mend old wounds, and minister to their shared community.

In addition, there is a small, but growing network of parachurch organizations that are increasingly willing to come alongside local churches for little or no money to share everything from outreach ideas to administrative assistance, to graphic design and more.

Start by asking around on social media. You may be surprised what you’ll find. Or start a network yourself. It’s easier to do now than it’s ever been.

6. ENGAGE YOUR COMMUNITY

Churches must stop being identified by the location of their building and start being recognized for the passion of their heart.

A church that’s known as “the people who love kids (or addicts, or single moms)” has a much higher likelihood of thriving and surviving than the church that’s known as “the old building on the corner of First and Main.”

7. EMPHASIZE JESUS OVER TRADITION (OR DENOMINATIONS, OR BUILDINGS, OR POLITICS, OR…)

Everything but Jesus and the Bible must be on the table. Ask yourself this question. Would I be willing to give up (insert your preferred method or style here) if it meant doing a better job of reaching our community for Jesus?

If anything you’d put in that blank makes you pause (other than the biblical essentials), it’s an idol that must be abandoned.

8. RESTRUCTURE WHAT NEEDS TO BE RESTRUCTURED

Quit fighting to keep your favorite ministry, method or tradition alive. If it’s not part of the solution, it’s part of the problem.

9. MAKE DISCIPLES, NOT JUST CONVERTS

Converts join a club. Disciples start a movement. Converts follow traditions. Disciples follow Jesus. Converts change their minds. Disciples change their lives. And other people’s lives.

10. FIGURE OUT WHY YOUR CONGREGATION SHOULD SURVIVE

If your church disappeared tomorrow, what would really be lost? Yes, that’s the hard question. It might even feel cruel and uncaring. But it’s not. It’s essential. Any congregation that can’t readily answer why they should survive, won’t.

START TODAY

It’s been said that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago – the second best time is today.

The same goes for these principles. If you’ve been doing them, strengthen them. If not, get started now. Then be relentless at them. Not just this year, but every year. The survival of your local church depends on it.