Growing A Healthy Church

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Growing A Healthy Church
by Ed Gilman
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A Healthy Church Is

• A center of spiritual reproduction.
  (new
  believers, new groups new churches are being
  born)
• A community of life transformation.
  (peoples lives
  are being measurably changed).

Bob Bumgarner
3
Studies Show

• Church health cannot be achieved or maintained
  without

• The work of the Holy Spirit and.
• High caliber pastoral leadership.
• Gary Mcintosh- One Size Doesnt Fit All

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A Servant Leader
A servant leader is one who has been called,
transformed, gifted, and empowered by God, to
serve Him and the needs of others, before their
own concerns. Ed Gilman- 2004
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A Servant Leader
Leadership in the church is not like leadership
in any other place- not
like corporate America,
not like the military, not like athletics.
Leadership in the church
is not demanded or commanded.
You get it the old-fashioned way- you earn
it. You earn it by the hard work of being a good
pastor. You earn it by holy sweat.
Paul Powell Shepherding the Sheep in Smaller
Churches
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Nine Habits of Churches that
Reach and Keep the Unchurched
Dr. Thom Rainer
1- Habit of Intentionality. Simply put, for a
church to be successful it intentionally must be
trying to reach the unchurched. Examples
Outreach program like Sunday Schools
F.A.I.T.H., friendly greeters, clean restrooms,
modern nurseries, etc. 2- Habit of Cultural
Awareness. Rainer said. "It does not mean they
compromised with culture, but they understood
culture. There are some things we can do to be
culturally aware." 3- Habit of High
Expectations. Rainer said there is a direct
correlation between how much is demanded of a
new member and how long the new member stays
active in the church.
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Nine Habits of Churches that
Reach and Keep the Unchurched
Dr. Thom Rainer
4- Habit of Clear Doctrine. Rainer said the
formerly unchurched told the researchers, "We
want to hear about the doctrine on the front
end. We're not going to make a commitment to a
church where you will tell us about what you
believe later." 5- Habit of Risk Taking.
"The risk-taking attitude of these churches is
obvious by their willingness to lose members,"
Rainer said. "They do not make decision based
upon who might leave as a result of this. They
make decisions more on Who will we reach?" 6-
Habit of Dynamic Small Groups. 68 percent were
involved in Sunday school. Rainer said unhealthy
Sunday schools are inward focused -- healthy
Sunday Schools are constantly looking beyond
themselves."
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Nine Habits of Churches that
Reach and Keep the Unchurched
Dr. Thom Rainer
7- Habit of Effective Leadership. "Once
unchurched persons visited churches, they said
the pastor and the preaching were the most
important factors in their returning." Among
effective churches, the pastor spent five hours
a week involved in personal evangelism. 8-
Habit of Effective Preaching. Among effective
churches, pastors spent an average of 20 hours a
week on sermons -- including the task itself.
They gained time by delegating and give away
ministry assignments." 9- Habit of Prayer.
Rainer said that churches that prayed together
and prayed often kept their new members. Often,
he said, church members would call up the new
members and say, "We are praying specifically for
you."
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Sizing the Church
Experience continues to say that the size of a
congregation is the most critical variable in
determining how it behaves, and that
congregations of very different sizes behave in
very different ways. Gil Rendle
Congregations May-June 1997
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Sizing the Church

• Groups, like individuals, develop through
  predictable stages of growth over time.
• A predictable pattern of group dynamics emerges
  in which each stage has certain definable
  characteristics.

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Sizing the Church
All churches, no matter the size, must deal
with certain organizational issues if they are
to experience the ongoing quality growth that
stems from Christs commission
to go make
disciples.
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Church Size in the United States
SMALLER- size 15 to 200 in Worship- 80
MEDIUM- size 201 to 500 in Worship- 10
LARGE- size 500 in Worship- 10
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Sizing the Church in Florida
Tier 1 35 or Less in Worship 328 Churches 15
1,666
78
Tier 2 36 to 75 in Worship 577 Churches 27
Tier 3 76 to 200 in Worship 761 Churches 36
Tier 4 201 to 350 in Worship 255 Churches 11
353
16.5
Tier 5 351 to 500 in Worship 98 Churches 5
Tier 6 501 to 800 in Worship 69 Churches 3
Tier 7 801 to 1000 in Worship 14 Churches .06
120
5.5
Tier 8 1001 to 3000 in Worship 33
Churches 1.5
Tier 9 3001 to 6000 in Worship 3
Churches .14
Tier 10 6001 to 12000 in Worship 1
Church .04
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Observations

• 78 of Southern Baptist churches in Florida have
  less than 200 in worship.
• 22 of Southern Baptist churches in Florida have
  more than 200 in worship.

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Every church is a bundle of strengths and
weaknesses. Most weaknesses are strengths pushed
to an extreme.
Every pastor is a bundle of strengths and
weaknesses. Most weaknesses are strengths pushed
to an extreme.
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Leadership Styles
A good pastoral leader will use many leadership
styles over the course of his day. An effective
leader will grow in his ability to use varying
leadership styles.
AUTHORITATIVE Instructs, Precise, Initiating
COERCING Dominates, Compels
Weaknesses
Strengths
CONSULTATIVE Persuading, Inspiration
MANIPULATING Control, Exploit
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Leadership Styles
FACILITATIVE Trusts, Shares, Team Member
PATRONIZING Condescending, Overbearing
Strengths
Weaknesses
DELEGATIVE Affirms, Supports, Coaches
AVOIDING Withdraws, Evasion
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Five Guiding Principles
of Church Growth
1- The Principle of Visionary Leadership.
A church
grows when decisions are made based on the
intention of bringing new people into the church.
Churches that make decisions based only on how it
will affect their current members are generally
not growing churches. 2- The Principle of Human
Resource Utilization.
A church grows when
decisions provide the staff, leadership, and
resources needed to focus on outreach.
(One full-time staff for every 150 worshippers
60 of the people have a ministry in the
church.)
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Five Guiding Principles
of Church Growth
3- The Principle of Open Doors.
A
church grows when decisions create opportunities
for new people to enter into the life of the
congregation. Doors can be anything from worship
to need-oriented ministries and programs. 4- The
Principle of Incorporation.

A church grows when decisions spawn ways to
incorporate new people into the social circles of
the membership. The feeling of being wanted,
having a sense of identity, belonging to a
group are strong pulls for a newcomers
involvement. 5- The Principle of Finance.

A church grows when
decisions adequately finance local outreach
activities. Growing churches spend from 5 to 10
percent of their budget for outreach.
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200
Growth Barriers
200 is the most predictable of all growth
barriers.
The most difficult churches to grow
are between 100 and 250 in attendance.
This represents moving from a single-cell to a
multi -cell church. Rick Warren
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The Pastors Role

• In every church, people place their
  trust in what
  is constant
• Smaller-size the key family or
  long-term
  leaders.
• Medium-size the programs provide
  the continuity.
• Large-size the senior pastor (sometimes
  staff)
• The longer a pastors tenure, (continuity) the
  more likely the church will follow his
  leadership.

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The Pastors Role

• The central idea of leadership is standing
  before people leading them in some direction.
• Second only to the empowering work
  of the Holy
  Spirit, pastoral leadership
  is the most determinative
  factor in
  growing churches.
• Strong pastoral competence is a
  decisive factor for
  the vitality and
  outreach of a congregation.

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Empowerment The Growth Secret
Growth, evangelism, the expansion of the
church depend as much on a leaders ability to
develop an expansive infrastructure as on any
other factor except prayer The church that grows
beyond the 200 barrier is the church that decides
to minister to its people in a comprehensive
organization rather than a family-type
fellowship. Bill Sullivan- Ten Steps to
Breaking the 200 Barrier
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Empowerment The Growth Secret
In a smaller church of up to 200 members the
pastor can do all the work, and many do. But such
a church will not be able to grow past that point
without lay ministry. Pastors of growing
churches, whether they be large or small , know
how to motivate their laypeople, how to create
structures which permit them to be active
productive, how to guide them into meaningful
avenues of Christian service. Peter Wagner-
Your Church Can Grow
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Empowerment The Growth Secret
No church can grow beyond the ability of the
pastoral leader to delegate responsibilities to
staff lay ministers Lay ministers must become
a mobilized force in the church if significant
growth is to occur The pastor in a growing
church is always a central figure, but he is
careful to surround himself with gifted,
responsible, work-oriented laypersons who
function as lay ministers.
Chaney Lewis Design For Church Growth
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Empowerment The Growth Secret
An effective leader accomplishes the work
through others. The task is too great for one
person. It is more important for the leader of a
growing church to produce other leaders than to
perform personal ministry. Carl George How to
Break Growth Barriers
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• Born from vision or church split.
• Everything is new to the church.
• High expectation and excitement.
• Pastor is the key to success.
• Pastor is entrepreneur/risk-taker.
• Pastor/Family burnout high-risk.
• Minimal trained leadership present.
• Financial base is limited.
• Usually dependant on sponsor.

New Church Start
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• A Family Chapel Church.
• High ownership by membership.
• New members adopted into church.
• Most growth is biological.
• Bi-vocational pastor is the norm.
• Pastor tends to be the chaplain.
• Matriarch/Patriarch usually present.
• Leadership style is relational.

Tier 1 Church (Under 35
at Worship)

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• Pastor is center of everything.
• Pastor recruits most new members.
• Pastors family easily neglected.
• Pastor tries to be all-things to all.
• High expectations on Pastor/family.
• Pastor ministers/Church leaders administer.
• Church plateaus at the level of the
  pastors competency, time, energy.
• Pastor must learn to do shared ministry raise
  the quality of all church ministries.

Tier 2 Church (36-75 at Worship)
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• The 75 Barrier is broken.
• Church becomes more organized.
• Lay ministries increase with growth.
• Intentional outreach program starts.
• Pastor still central but roles shifting.
• Near 150, burden great for pastor.
• Pastor must learn to delegate.
• Church staff is added as needed.
• Constitution/bi-laws becomes issue.

Tier 3 Church (76 to 200 at
Worship)
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12 Qualities of Good Leadership in Smaller
Churches
1- INTEGRITY it is the quality of being able
to be trusted. We dont lie, we do what we say,
our affection is genuine, our praise is
honest. 2- VISION a leader is in tune with
the future, knows where God wants him to go, and
is focused on a clear purpose. (When the pastor
doesnt dream, the church is a nightmare.) 3- WI
SDOM wisdom is different than intelligence,
wisdom has to do with judgment. It is knowing
what to do, who to listen to, what to attempt,
and what to leave alone. 4- COMPASSION if you
put their best interest first, they will follow
you. If they sense you are serving your own
interests they will turn from you.
From Shepherding the Sheep in Smaller
Churches- Paul Powell
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12 Qualities of Good Leadership in Smaller
Churches
5- COURAGE you have to the courage to speak
stand for your convictions, with sensitivity. If
you are wishy-washy on hard issues dont expect
followship. Always remember, leadership, not
lordship is the goal. 6- ENTHUSIASM if you
cant get excited about your dreams and goals,
dont expect anyone else to either.
7- INITIATIVE good leaders are proactive, not
reactive. They get their vision from God, develop
a strategy for fulfilling it, challenge the
people to go forward. 8- HUMILITY every pastor
needs a servant spirit like that of Jesus. A
pastor who exercises control over people through
fear intimidation makes a mockery of Christs
leadership style.
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12 Qualities of Good Leadership in Smaller
Churches
9- SENSE OF URGENCY these are urgent
demanding times. We must be persons of urgency.
We must have a sense of urgency about what we are
doing. 10- PERSISTENCY a leader must have a
tolerance for criticism rejection. Leadership
is the ability to keep going even when we have
little or no support. 11- SENSE OF HUMOR
dont take yourself so seriously , relax, enjoy
yourself enjoy the people enjoy the Lord.
Lighten up, youll be a better leader. (Dont be
like the preacher who thought he was so holy that
he only took St. Josephs aspirins) 12- EXAMPLE
leaders lead by example. Practice what you
preach. Show others how to do it. People follow
examples.
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From One Size Doesnt Fit All, by Gary McIntosh
General Characteristics Of The SMALLER-SIZE
Church.
15 to 200 at Worship
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The Church Orientation Is
RELATIONAL.

• Each member knows all the other members.
• Meals are a family affair, a time of fellowship.
• Meals are included with almost all occasions.
• It has the feel of a large or extended family.
• There is a high premium on relationships.
• Preferences, decisions, choices, judgments,
  elections, conclusions, resolutions, and votes
  are influenced by this orientation.
  
  

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The Church Orientation Is
RELATIONAL.

• In the relational community a group consciousness
  provides a framework of values, beliefs,
  commitments, against which the members measure
  their lives.
• The past is always present.
• Hence, words like change and creative are
  enemies
  since they could not imagine doing anything
  differently.
• Its goal is not so much to change the world as it
  is to know each other
  better.
• On workday at the church everyone attends.

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The Church Structure

• The smaller-size church is a single cell church.
• They have a close, face-to-face fellowship that
  extends beyond Sundays.
• They have the feeling of being a
  large,
  loving family.
• Values, style, history, memories
  concerns are
  commonly held together.
• They have one or two families that hold
  the
  key positions make most decisions.
• Newcomers find it hard to be accepted.

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ALL PROGRAMS, MINISTRIES, DECISIONS, ARE
CONNECTED TO THE KEY FAMILY(s).
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Who Sets The Direction?
Four Ingredients of Effective Leadership 1-
POSITION those who are elected perceived by
the church as
responsible for getting the job done. 2-
AUTHORITY those who have the power to make
decisions rarely just
one person. 3- INFLUENCE those who are able
to sway people to follow
a proposed direction. 4- CONTROL those who
have the ability to get something accomplished
they just do it.
Discover Your Leaders Work With Them.
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Who Sets The Direction?

• For any size church to grow the Leaders must
  lead.
• The Leaders Attitude is the Key
• If they think the church can grow or think
  it cant, theyre probably right.

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The Pastors Role

• In a smaller-size congregation people customarily
  see their pastor from a relational point of
  view.
• They may describe him as loving, warm, caring,
  etc
• You may hear some of these phrases used
• Our minister loves everyone.
• The kids all like our pastor.
• He cares for us knows us all by name.
• He treats everyone the same.

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The Pastors Role

• A church is most likely to attract a pastor who
  
  fits its perspective. (ie a relational person. )
• This viewpoint should provide an objective
  evaluation when
  considering a call for a pastor
  or when a pastor
  considers a call by a church.
  (does he have strong
  relational skills?)
• This helps prevent mismatches of pastor and
  people.
• To lead effectively pastors need to adjust
  their ministry skills to fit the
  church where they serve.

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The Pastors Role
In the smaller church arena, more than any
other, leadership grows out of relationships. If
people know you, love you, trust you, are
convinced you have their best interest at heart,
they will listen to you follow you. So, the
quickest surest way to establish yourself as a
leader is to go to work at your pastoral
duties. Be among the people. Get to know them. Be
interested in them. Be a loving shepherd. Thats
the most important things any preacher can do. We
cant all be eloquent preachers. We cant all be
dynamic leaders. But we can have caring hearts.
We can all be good ministers. And that, after
all, is what weve been called to be. Paul
Powell Shepherding the Sheep in Smaller
Churcbes
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Decision Making

• Decisions are made by the congregation with heavy
  influence from a single person, family, or
  families.
• Sometimes real decisions are made informally in
  the parking lot or around the kitchen table.

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Decision Making

• Driven by tradition custom, the main concerns
  are keeping people happy, keeping building use
  down, keep expenditures as low as possible,
  maintain status-quo of relationships, and
  minimizing dissent.
• For the pastor to lead successfully,
  he must
  take initiative influence
  
  the process by developing trust
  
  through building relationships
  
  one-by-one.

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Decision Making

• The smaller the church the more likely the
  decision will be emotional subjective.
• Choices are determined on the basis
  
  of the speakers popularity ties
  to
  the main families of the church.
• The larger the church becomes, the more the
  
  probability increases that judgments will be made
  rationally and
  objectively.
• Whether or not the issue has merit becomes the
  deciding factor rather than popularity
  of the speaker.

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Team Ministry

• The staffing dynamic is fairly simple when there
  are only two parties pastor and congregation.
• The leadership team is like a duet.
• Planning takes place informally.
• A direct line is available to all church members,
  which
  smoothes the communication process.
• This continues to be the best understood form of
  staffing a church one in which many people feel
  more comfortable.

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Church Growth

• Church growth is about making disciples, not
  just adding numbers to the church.
• We must focus on seeking saving the lost,
  and church growth with be a natural by-product.
• When a church reaches its maximum potential, it
  can continue to grow by multiplying new churches.
• Church growth is as much about planting new
  churches as it is simply enlarging a single
  church.
• Older churches can grow, but it is hard to break
  out of old patterns to establish a new vision for
  growth.

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Church Growth

• Most churches could grow at least
  
  5 a year if they retooled
  
  refocused their resources on
  
  making disciples.
• Small-size churches grow through
  
  the attraction model.
• Growth through attraction occurs when a church
  exudes so much warmth love that newcomers are
  attracted.
• If relationships in the church are healthy, the
  church stands an excellent chance of growing
  through attraction.
• Usually there is plenty of love care in the
  small-size church, the challenge is to get them
  to direct it towards new people.

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Obstacles To Growth

• 1- The small church image.
• Sometimes there is a low self-esteem
  
  as a church. (We Cant do that.)
• 2- An ineffective evangelism.
• Sometimes they feel they are too small to be
  effective, when in reality they can be extremely
  effective.
  (have care
  loving atmosphere that is difficult in larger
  churches)
• The unchurched have many relationship concerns
  about fitting in, acceptance, etc,
  relationship is the small-size church strength.
• To overcome the obstacles the church must
  develop a sense of mission, a sense of
  urgency, and an open fellowship.

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Obstacles To Growth

• 3- Inadequate programming.
• People go to another church who has
  
  a better program in their need
  area.
• 4- A downward momentum.
• Once a church starts declining, cutting
  back, turning inward, it is difficult for the
  church to focus on anything but survival.
• 5- Ingrown fellowship.
• People tend to develop their relationship
  skills during their younger years. The longer a
  church is in existence the more likely the people
  are to be older ingrown.
• Indicators of an ingrown church more than 50
  have been members 12 years. Fewer than 10 have
  joined in the last year.

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Strategies For Growth

• The best way to prevent fighting fires in a
  church is to have an effective strategy for
  growth.
• We cannot cause growth we can only create a
  climate in which growth can take place.
• Ultimately only God causes
  
  the growth. (1 Cor. 36)
• As workers we are called to
  plant
  water, God ripens
  
  the crop, then He uses us to
  
  work the harvest.

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Strategies For Growth

• 1- Renew a sense of purpose.
• The first step is to help the
  
  congregation see that Jesus Christ
  
  passed on His purpose of
  
  seeking saving
  the lost to His church.
• Focusing on a renewed sense of purpose restores
  a healthy, outward-focused viewpoint.
• 2- Begin new ministries.
• Most people prefer to be in on the ground
  floor of a new venture, beginning new ministries
  attracts holds newcomers. (1 per year)
• Perhaps the number one way that a smaller-size
  church breaks out of a single cell orientation is
  to add a second worship service.

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Strategies For Growth

• 3- Cultivate evangelism.
• Find 1 or 2 two key lay people who are
  
  interested in reaching new people
  
  train them in a small peer
  group to lead
  this ministry.
• Develop an evangelistic consciousness through
  sermons, retooling ministries to be more
  evangelistic, praying for lost by names,
  training, outreach events.
• 4- Celebrate victories.
• One solution to improve self-esteem in the
  smaller church is to call attention to positives
  in the church.
• Talk about your strengths rather than your
  weaknesses. Give God praise for each victory.

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Strategies For Growth

• 5- Start new groups classes.
• New people often leave if after several
  
  years they have not been accepted into
  
  the
  inner circle of the church.
• Rather than trying to fight their way into
  
  being accepted by people
  who have been
  together for
  years, new people prefer to join a new group,
  class, etc.
• 6- Involve new people.
• It takes significant involvement in the life
  of the church before new members and attenders
  feel like they belong.
• Churches need to focus on involving newcomers as
  quickly as possible, but always within six months.

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From One Size Doesnt Fit All, by Gary McIntosh
General Characteristics Of The MEDIUM-SIZE Church.
201 to 500 at Worship
57
Medium-Size Churches

• The 200 Barrier is finally broken.
• Most difficult barrier to break/sustain.
• High priority on Worship and Youth.
• Pastor learns delegation skills.
• More time on sermon preparation.
• Multiple staff members added.
• Lay leadership increases.
• Leaders cast vision, generate energy.
• Church council/deacons assume greater leadership
  responsibility.

Tier 4 Church (201 to 350 at
Worship)
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The Churchs Orientation Is
PROGRAMMATIC.

• The medium-size church functions as
  
  a collection of
  families, classes,
  
  organizations, etc.
• Members know some of the people.
• It is a complex mixture of numerous influential
  groups.
• The organizing principle is the programmatical
  orientation attached to the various groups.
• Influence on decisions is driven by what will
  perpetuate the program.

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The Churchs Orientation Is
PROGRAMMATIC.

• To some extent the medium-size church is in a
  transitional phase, moving from a smaller to a
  large size church.
  (It feels like a
  growing family)
• As they grow, if they dont make appropriate
  adjustments to their ministries, they will either
  plateau or decline back to a smaller-size.
• Mens group organizes
  
  and supports workday.
• Meals usually are built
  
  around programs.
• The church focus is on the present.

60
The Church Structure

• The medium-size church will become a stretched
  cell if it does not add new leadership as the
  church grows.
• If it does add new leaders, decision-making is
  spread among a broad base of groups, committees,
  etc, it will become a strong medium-sized church,
  with a good chance of growing to a large-size
  church.
• Growth typically comes from new ministries,
  classes, etc, that have opened doors for
  newcomers.
• A stretched cell church is like a rubber band,
  
  it can stretch so far it breaks.
  
• (For a church this would mean going down in
  
  size, probably back to
  smaller-size.)

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Deacons
Missions
Pastor/Staff
12- Step Program
Key Family or Families
Youth
Sunday School
Choir
Preschool
If a medium-size church becomes a stretched
cell when it grows, it means the key leaders
are the same as when the church was small.
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The Pastors Role

• The medium-size congregation perceives their
  pastor from a functional viewpoint.
• You may hear him described as a good organizer,
  administrator, teacher, etc.
• Common phrases are used like
• He is a great planner.
• Our pastor is a good teacher.
• He is always well prepared.
• He has put together a great leadership team.

63
Decision Making

• In the medium-size church decisions are made by
  the congregation after they have been hammered
  out and agreed
  upon by a committee, team, or board.
• Most of the decisions are driven by need
  since the church
  is usually adding volunteers,
  hiring
  staff, motivating stewardship, coordinating
  facility use,
  establishing policies.
• For the pastor to lead successfully, he must
  develop trust by building a relationship with the
  chairman of his key committees, teams, or boards,
  and working through them rather than initiating
  ideas himself.

64
Team Ministry

• The leadership team in a medium-size church is
  like a complex quartet composed of pastor,
  small staff, lay leaders, congregation.
• Communication dynamics increase sixfold, making
  it a high risk stage in staff development.
• Since more parties are involved, there is a
  greater risk that one member of the team will not
  carry through his or her responsibilities,
  causing the rest of the team to suffer.

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Team Ministry

• Each size has its challenges, but the crucial
  question is, is the church staffed for growth,
  plateau, or decline?
• Churches that place their priorities in the order
  of staff, programs, facilities are usually the
  growing ones.
• Bivocational ministry is an effective way for
  very small, financially strapped,
  geographically isolated churches to carry on
  their mission, but its extremely rare to see a
  bivocational church growing.
• The best way for a church to stay in a growth
  pattern is to add staff just before the church
  reaches each 150 attenders mark.
  (ie 150, 300, 450, 600, etc)

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How Does Change Take
Place?

• Change in the medium-size church
  comes from the
  middle-out.
• It must come from key committees,
  boards, or teams.
• If the pastor wants to initiate change
  he must
  work through this key group in the church.

67
Church Growth

• The medium-size church grows through the
  program model.
• It grows best as it develops new ministries to
  meet relevant needs of the new people they are
  trying to reach.
• Typically the medium-size church has one or two
  star programs that effectively reach new people
  for Christ.
• They should concentrate on their stars.
• Remember the Pareto Principle 20 of your
  programs or ministries bring 80 of the results.

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Obstacles To Growth

• 1- Inadequate facilities.
• Growth will place pressure on all ministries
  to fit everything in a small facility. Funds are
  often not there yet to build or remodel the
  facility.
• 2- Inadequate staff.
• Todays expectations for high quality
  diverse ministry will often not be met with
  adequate staff to lead them.
• A related issue is motivating recruiting
  volunteers for ministry. (women in the work force
  today)
• 3- Inadequate finances.
• The need for facilities, staff, programs,
  resources, make Christian stewardship crucial for
  this size church.

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Obstacles To Growth

• 4- Poor administration.
• As a church grows into the medium-size
  
  church, the pastor/staff, and leaders must
  
  care effectively for the increasingly
  complex
  functions of the church.
• 5- Increasing complexity.
• This is one of the factors that may cause a
  
  church to revert back to smaller-size,
  as
  leaders recall the simple
  atmosphere of
  the past.
• After a few years of growth, the medium-size
  church must make the necessary adjustments to
  move to the next size church or it will plateau.

70
Strategies For Growth

• 1- Develop A Distinct Identity.
• Studies have found that healthy churches
  
  of
  this size usually have at least one ministry
  
  
  for which they are
  legendary in their
  community.
• It should highlight this ministry in an
  
  intentional effort to reach even more
  
  people.
• 2- Add Additional Staff.
  
• Failure to do so will eventually result in
  plateau or decline.
• Call additional staff before the church
  reaches each 150 category. (ie add 1 at 150, 2
  at 300, etc)
  

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Strategies For Growth

• 3- Use Facilities Multiple Times.
  
• This allows the church reach new people without
  increasing expenses for new buildings.
• This also allows the church to enjoy the
  advantages of a smaller-size church of knowing
  members more intimately doing church-wide
  activities.
• 4- Offer Multiple Worship Services.
  
• Delay building until the church has 3-4 worship
  services in the present building.
• This assists the church in developing a multiple
  cell orientation of the large-size congregation.

72
Strategies For Growth

• 5- Write A Long-Range Plan.
  
• Plans give a church direction motivate members
  
  with a sense of purpose.
• Develop the plan based on the churchs
  strengths.
  Ask What do we do best?
• 6- Improve the Quality of Ministry.
  
• Most people want to attend a church that is
  slightly above
  their socio-economic level.
• They expect good child-care, sound system,
  facilities,
  worship experience, etc.
• Sometimes pastor and/or staff who helped the
  church grow from smaller to medium-size may not
  be able to take it any farther.

73
Why Break Through These Tiers?
The Lord Demands It - Matthew 2818-20
The Bible Teaches It - Acts 241-47
The Lost Depend On It - Romans 1014
74
RECOMMENDED READING

• Sizing Churches in Florida- Research done by
  Jim Chavis Bob Bumgarner
• One Size Doesnt Fit All- Gary McIntosh
• How to Break Growth Barriers- Carl George
• Shepherding the Sheep in Smaller Churches-
  Paul Powell
• Pastoring the Single-Staff Church- D.G.
  McCoury