A cold church, like butter, will not spread. Growing churches have learned how to regulate the congregational thermostat, and they have set it on friendly.
Herb Miller

No greater love hath anyone than someone who will give up a parking space to visitors.
Lyle Schaller

The best-laid fields of farmers can be turned into mud by a week of constant, heavy rain. Every season's crop depends on the climate, which is completely out of their control.

Donald Gerig found that churches, too, are dependent on climate, that "atmospheric conditions" have to be right if a church is going to attract new people and grow. Unlike the weather, however, a church's climate can be shaped favorably by informed leaders.

Now the president of Fort Wayne Bible College, Gerig wrote this chapter out of his experience as pastor of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois. This church weatherman takes a look at six atmospheric conditions that attract people and thus contribute to growth.

After more than twenty years of ...