W
hen a church begins bursting at its seams, its leaders will sometimes use the expression “This is a good problem to have!� Steady, healthy growth is something most church leaders dream of. But as with most dreaming, there comes a moment when leaders wake up and see that the blessing of growth brings with it some new and difficult challenges. How can leaders successfully manage the promises and pitfalls of church growth? This e-book offers guidance on managing the phases of church growth: from living room to leased space; from single campus to multi-site; and from plateau to new growth.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION Whether your church is just beginning to outgrow its first gathering place or is long overdue for a surge of growth, there are some things your leaders should know. True and lasting church growth is literally the Lord’s work. The Lord is the true builder of His church, according to Matthew 16:18 and Ephesians 2:18-22. It is spiritual work first of all. A church has to know its context and its constituency in order to grow in a sustainable way. Those churches that have sustained their growth have done so because they researched, identified, and embraced their ministry context and the constituency they serve. A church should study its DNA. Regardless of the phase a church is moving into, it’s a good time to evaluate what makes them the church they are. Why has the church grown as it has? If it’s because of qualities that are part of its DNA—say, small groups or expository preaching or caring for the community—then the church should work hard to ensure that those qualities stay central to its identity. Growth brings both new opportunities and new challenges. • A growing church can extend its ministry reach. • A church that’s growing usually can improve ministry quality. • It needs more resources—personnel, materials, property. • Rapid growth takes a church into unknown territory. Growth will not automatically continue unabated. Such factors as geography and demographics will place a limit on the growth potential of a given church. Also, growth needs to be properly managed, or the church will get in its own way. Growth can be caused by any number of factors, not all of them good or sustainable. To see this, you need only to imagine your church getting 100 new attenders who have just gone through an acrimonious split from their former church. Unless leaders respond wisely, that kind of growth can damage a church. Growth does not always indicate total ministry effectiveness. A church may grow because it has begun a great children’s ministry, for example, but other ministries in the church may be weak and ineffective. In that case, some of the church’s other ministries may need to be reshaped or dissolved so they don’t impede the overall work.
EACH STAGE OF GROWTH REQUIRES ASSETS Visionary Leadership that can persuasively answer the question, “Why are we doing this?” Effective Organization—a structure that serves, not hinders, the growing church Adequate Resources—people and money A growing family requires its members to adjust to changes. The same is true of a growing church—which is also a growing family, after all.
“SHOULD WE BUILD?” Most churches will ask that question at some point, especially when it becomes apparent that their current meeting space isn’t adequate for the long term. A consulting group has created a diagnostic tool to help churches think through: Their Motivations for Building Does the church expect a building to meet spiritual and relational needs? (It won’t.) Is the church looking to make an impression? (It might, but that doesn’t make for healthy, lasting growth.) Does it expect a new building to prompt greater giving or more enthusiastic worship? These are non-building needs that no building can meet. Their Needs & the Needs of its Community What specific needs does the intended facility address for the church and its neighbors? Their Finances • Is giving strong? • Do regular givers make up the majority of the congregation? • Has the church retired existing debt? • Does the church have realistic financial projections? The lending climate brought about by the 2008 financial crisis has made it harder for churches to secure building loans. It’s more important than ever that a church know its needs and have its finances in order. For a more thorough discussion of whether to build, see “When Not to Build: An Architect’s Unconventional Wisdom for the Growing Church” by Ray Bowman & Eddy Hall.
FROM LIVING ROOM TO LEASE When a church plant grows to a rented space Seeing God mature your small living-room fellowship into a growing church body is a uniquely exciting experience—one that the vast majority of believers, at least in North America, have never had. It can bring a sense of eager anticipation as your group ventures from the confines of a home to a larger, rented space. People wonder, What will it be like? Will we keep growing? What does God have planned for this flourishing fellowship? Moving to a rented space gives your church the opportunity to: • Reach new people • Recruit and train new workers • Stretch the leaders • Improve the overall experience for church members • See God come through in new ways, in a new setting
What challenges will your church face? Problem Solving Every solution brings new problems. You’ll encounter problems in your leased space that you didn’t have to solve before. For example, how will you ensure the safety of the parking lot and stairwells? Safety—especially of children—is essential. You will need to ensure the safety of the parking area, entrances and exits, stairways, restrooms, stage, and seating area. You’ll Need More Staff & More Money Opposition You may lose some members, though founding members tend to be loyal, having been won and nurtured by the person or team who planted the church. Opposition can also come from people who live and work near the rented facility.
What resources are essential? Prayer Unity—not necessarily unanimity. It’s natural for there to be some reluctance to venture.
Workers, which implies a good recruiting process Ongoing training. While God will often send someone with particular skills and gifts to a new fellowship, Scripture indicates that He desires that a church fill its ministry needs by equipping and training its own members.
More leaders. Since we’re talking about managing growth, expect that the work will be more than the current leader/church planter/pastor can manage alone. One of the first things the Apostle Paul did when he planted a church was to appoint and equip leaders. Every wise church planter does that. Caution: only put people in key leadership positions who have shown themselves to be faithful Christ-followers.
Technology can help. A previous article shows how technology tools can improve the church’s experience when they’re meeting in a rented space. How can leaders navigate the choppy waters of change? Even though growth is good change, it’s still change, something many of us naturally resist. Most of us prefer the comfortable and the familiar, and we will only give it up by choice if something better is being offered.
Big changes go more smoothly if the leaders: Cast vision. Even church leaders who don’t see themselves as visionaries can imagine and describe a better future for their church. Casting vision involves describing the destination and guiding the journey. People are more likely to get on board when they know where the boat is going. And they might row harder. Delegate wherever you can. That’s important if you want to create future leaders. The more people invest of themselves, the more invested they become. (Profound, right?) Build an effective system of organization. Not all organizational structures are equal. Some of them focus more on keeping the system going than on helping the church members to thrive spiritually. In these organizations, the workers serve the system. In the most effective churches, the system serves the members, equipping and enabling them to minister effectively. Expect occasional stalls and setbacks—even opposition. Few organizations get the change process exactly right from the beginning. Change is always messy. Learn and grow from setbacks. Celebrate successes. Show your people that what they are doing matters, and that it’s noticed and appreciated.
GROWING FROM SINGLE-CAMPUS TO MULTI-SITE If you have never thought of your church as a complex organization, adding a satellite campus will convince you. And complexity multiplies with each campus a church adds. The same needs that exist in the parent church will exist in the satellite: visionary leadership, effective organization, and adequate resources (including technology).
The Pastor’s Role is Indispensable Max De Pree said, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, a leader is a servant and a debtor.” For pastors, defining reality includes describing both current problems and possible solutions. Effective leaders describe a desirable future and then help the people work to bring it about. What’s the reality of your current situation at your church? Can you envision ways to improve it? Are there alternatives to adding a satellite campus (e.g., reworking the schedule to allow more efficient use of your existing building and resources)?
Why Launch a Satellite? I’m tempted to say, “If you’re outta space, think satellite!” (Ouch. Sorry.) Here is a fundamental question to consider: Is the addition of a campus being driven by necessity (i.e., you’re outgrowing your current facility), or is it an intentional part of your church’s mission? Asked another way, did the growth “just happen,” or did you plan for it all along? All other things being equal, the more integral growing is to your church’s ongoing mission, the more likely growth will continue. If your church is consistently operating at capacity, gaining space is probably the most obvious benefit to launching a satellite. The building need not be completely maxed out before the church adds a campus, but the planting church should be solid, stable, and growing before attempting to add a site.
But planting a daughter church can do more than give you more room. It can: • • • • • •
Extend your presence into another community Add opportunities to grow new leaders (at each campus) Recruit new workers Build unity and enthusiasm in the body Affirm the body’s steps of faith Celebrate successes
How to know if your church is ready to add a campus Adding a campus will likely be more difficult than you might expect—unless you go into it expecting it to be difficult. The words of church planting expert Steve Pike bear repeating: “At least ninety percent of problems that occur in multiplication efforts can be traced back to unclarified expectations and assumptions.” If your church is considering adding a campus, your leaders should invest plenty of time and prayer into clarifying your expectations and assumptions. Your church may be ready to launch a satellite campus if: • You are consistently at 80% capacity or more in your current facilities. • A desire to grow is part of your church’s character. You know that the satellite campus will meet an identifiable need in the new community. • You have qualified, trained leaders in place. • You have a core of dedicated men and women who will “seed” the church plant. • You have the necessary financial foundation; the parent church is willing and able to take on the financing of the satellite until it becomes self-sustaining.
Many challenges, even more opportunities As they shepherd their congregations through the challenge of adding a campus, leaders will find endless opportunities to define reality, to serve, and say thank you to the people, and to the Lord.
CHURCH’S GROWTH STALLED? ASK WHY Has your church reached a size threshold that it’s having trouble breaking through? Church leaders have a deep desire to participate in the building of Jesus’ church. So it’s not surprising that pastors and other leaders can feel discouraged when their church seems stuck on a plateau. Above all, remember that the Lord is the church-grower. God gives the increase. The first place to go for guidance is to the Lord and His Word, because leading and growing the church is the Holy Spirit’s work first of all. Church growth isn’t usually a straight line upward. A “stall” could be a temporary gift of refreshing from the Lord. A plateau provides a season for everyone to rest, rejoice, recover, and regroup. There are usually seasons of growth, then stasis or even contraction. Ask “Why?” When a church finds that it’s been on a plateau for several years or more, it may be due to spiritual, organizational, or cultural factors (or a combination): Spiritual factors. Stalled growth, or even the loss of members, often signals spiritual concerns such as: • • • •
Neglect of evangelism Neglect of disciple making Ongoing conflict among members or leaders Shallow busyness
Organizational factors. Even if a church is poorly managed, it still has a system, and that system produces predictable results. Management expert W. Edwards Deming famously said, “Your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.” If leaders are troubled by the results they’re seeing, they should consider that the system itself may be producing the results it’s bound to produce. For instance, if the organizational structure stifles innovation and only rewards total conformity, the result will be an endless recycling of old ideas and stale ministry “formulas.”
Your church may be as large as it will grow because of: The limitations of your structure. Growth may have stalled because systems have not been scaled up or reworked to match the new reality. Your current systems may not be adequate to sustain a church any bigger than it is now. (This includes systems for helping people become mature disciples.) Too few leaders. Having too small a staff for your membership, or lacking a leadership-development process, will impact how large your church can grow. Carey Nieuwhof wrote, “You know why most churches still don’t push past the 200 mark in attendance? You ready? They organize, behave, lead and manage like a small organization.” For a scalable model of church leadership, see the book Leading from the Sandbox by T.J. Addington, Senior Vice President with the Evangelical Free Church of America and the leader of ReachGlobal, the international mission of the EFCA.
Cultural factors. Both the church’s internal culture and the surrounding culture influence the church’s growth potential. Ineffective leadership can be the primary reason a church’s growth has stalled. No doubt, asking “why?” can be a threatening step for leaders to take, because it may reveal inadequacies in the leadership structure or in the individual leader. It takes a strong leader, one who is committed to the true welfare of the church and to the will of God, to take that long look in the mirror. Resistance to change is a major drag on growth. Now, not all change brings growth, but all growth brings change. A dying church is changing, but it’s not growing. But a church that truly seeks to grow will have to make changes, often significant ones. “Simply put, church size does matter for how a church is run, much like a married couple who some years later find themselves with a dozen children cannot simply organize their life as they did with their first child—everything must change.” - Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church Demographics can account for a church plateau. There may be an inherent limit to growth because of the church’s location. It may be landlocked, or it may be located in a sparsely populated area.
WHAT NEXT? Nothing can take the place of a prayerful, honest, and thorough look at all aspects of the church’s health. Diagnostic tools can include: • A thorough study of the Scriptures’ teaching on the church— how it begins, how it grows, its priorities, and its Godordained purpose. • Bringing in a consultant. An experienced consultant will provide tools designed to walk the church through the evaluation process and help the church make improvements. • A SWOT analysis, which looks at the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We saw that growth can stagnate because of spiritual, organizational, and cultural factors. Once a church understands why its growth has stalled, it can begin to address the causes. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of a clear, compelling, often-spoken vision in moving a church forward. “Simply put, churches need a fresh new vision because some ways of doing evangelism just do not work the same as they once did, and wise churches realize that. That may bother you, but it shouldn’t. You probably already know it to be true. That’s why, if you’re like most churches, you ended the morning radio show in the 1940s, quit doing Sunday school enrollment campaigns in the ’50s and stopped the bus ministry in the ’80s. God uses different approaches at different times. Our task is to find new ways to reach people with the unchanging message. “Ultimately, it is just the gospel—and the gospel transforms, but God has led us to use different strategies over the years to help us share the gospel broadly and widely. Our churches need to press ahead toward God’s plan to reach their communities today, not the plan that was used in 1954. Here are some suggestions: Set some God-sized goals and go for it. Every church needs to be dissatisfied with its current condition, not because it needs more numbers, but because each community is made up of people without Christ who need to be reached. John Knox cried, “Give me Scotland or I die.” We need to pray the same for Selma, Sellersburg, and Seattle.
Remember Jesus has commissioned you for this purpose. According to Ephesians 3:10, the instrument that God uses to make known His “manifold wisdom” is the church—your church. He placed you where you are for such a time as this. Stick with it. Not everything you try is going to work, but don’t quit. One of the keys to success is perseverance, not necessarily following the latest ideas and fads.” Ed Stetzer & Mike Norman on “Comeback Churches” A more complete summary of the Ed Stetzer/Mike Dodson book Comeback Churches can be found here. Pastors can find specific growth suggestions tailored to churches of various sizes in Dr. Daniel Brown’s article, “Help! My Church Won’t Grow.”
WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF YOUR CHURCH? That may be the most important question you ever ask about your church. Jesus, the Grand Architect of the church, answered it. The purpose of your church, simply, is to make mature followers of Jesus. Everything the church does should serve that purpose. No matter how large your congregation becomes, making mature followers of Christ remains its purpose. So study it. Commit to it. Proclaim it often.
Mature followers of Jesus produce more followers of Jesus. So growing people strong in Christ is the growth that matters most.