Church Growth

Church Growth
What If We Made Disciples And Left Church Growth To God?
If we prioritized health, not as a means to growth, but as an end in itself, would we be in a greater position to represent Jesus to the world?

Imagine all the time, money and resources that have gone into church growth in the last generation.

Is it naïve to wonder what the world and the church would look like today if all that effort had been invested exclusively in church health instead?

Is it possible that if ...

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Church Growth
Do We Need A Broader Definition Of Church Growth?
Any definition of church growth that doesn’t allow for, even celebrate, churches that contribute in non-numerical ways is incomplete.

There's more than one way for churches to grow.

But over the last forty years or so we've been given one model of church growth almost exclusively. Get more people in the building.

That model is so prevalent that when I dare to suggest that many small churches are healthy ...

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Church Growth
5 Mistakes More Likely To Be Made By Big Churches Than Small Churches
Consider this a friendly view from the outside looking in.

Big churches serve many great roles in the body of Christ. And the church growth movement that spawned many of them has been a great blessing to me and so many others in ministry.

But numerical growth, while great, does not come without challenges.

In my last post, 5 Mistakes ...

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Church Growth
If Your Church Is Healthy, Why Is It Still Small?
It's a valid question. I wish I had a tidy answer. But here's what I do know.
If Your Church Is Healthy, Why Is It Still Small?

Oh my. That question.

“How can you say your church is healthy if it’s not growing?”

If I’ve been asked it once…

But I still don’t know how to answer it.

I wish I did. Because it’s a perfectly valid question.

But life doesn’t tie itself ...

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Church Growth
Why I've Stopped Reading All Those '10 Reasons Your Church Isn’t Growing' Lists
Please stop beating us down for what you think we’re not doing. Guilt doesn’t motivate, it discourages.

I love my church. I want it to be strong, healthy and growing.

That’s why I read church ministry blogs and books, go to conferences and seminars, listen to podcasts… whatever I can get my hands on. I’m always looking for the best advice I can find.

But I’m ...

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Church Growth
The Folly of Trying to Measure Success In Christ’s 'First Shall Be Last' Kingdom
We need to measure what we can manage, but let’s not fall into the trap of thinking we have more control than we do.

We don’t measure the things that matter.

We measure the things we manage.

One of the unquestioned premises of the church growth movement is that when something matters to us, we measure it. So we count things like church attendance in an attempt to measure a church’s ...

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Church Growth
Is Church Growth a Solution Looking for a Problem?
The apostles addressed a broad range of church issues, but no New Testament writer ever told a church to get bigger.

We’ve invested a lot into the art and science of church growth in the last 50 years.

It makes me wonder. After such a massive output of time, energy, research and money, have we become like the proverbial man with a hammer who sees everything as a nail?

Is that why church ...

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Church Growth
Why I've Stopped Saying ‘Church Growth’ – And What I Say Instead
The words Church Growth are packed with so much emotional baggage that they’ve become virtually useless in my context.

I’m a huge supporter and promoter of growing churches.

How can I not be? Jesus said he’d build his church, and I always want to be on Jesus’ side.

But I’ve stopped using the term Church Growth when I talk about it.

I never tell our church staff, volunteers ...

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Church Growth
A Big Church? Or a Healthy Church? What If You Had to Choose?
Usually, a choice for church health is also a choice for church growth. But not always. Sometimes it's one or the other.
A Big Church? Or a Healthy Church? What If You Had to Choose?
Image: Wonderlane | Flickr

I hate either/or choices. I like both/and.

But life doesn’t always give us that.

Take church growth and health, for instance.

Usually, a choice for church health is also a choice for church growth. But not always. Sometimes it's one or the other. Especially in a smaller ...

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Church Growth
We Followed the Steps – Where’s the Church Growth?
There are no guaranteed steps to church growth. Because the church is people. And people don’t come with guarantees.
We Followed the Steps – Where’s the Church Growth?
Image: Janayna Velozo | Flickr

I read another one of those church growth blog posts recently. You know the ones. A list of steps your church can take to break through whatever growth barrier you’re facing.

It was a very good list. Every one of the principles was about church health. In fact, as I read ...

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