What Makes a Church Grow?

[dreadnought]

We need to distinguish spiritual growth from numerical growth and I will devote this post to numerical growth. From my lifelong observation of various churches and my reading of many books on church growth, 5 factors loom large for growth potential:

(1) I was raised on traditional hymns accompanied by organ and piano. Unfortunately, all 3 are passe and are culturally associated with an aging congregations. Generally speaking, traditional styles of worship are now sadly anathema to church growth.

(2) Conversely, a talented lively rhythmic praise team with guitars, drums, key board, and saxaphones can attract a lot of young people and, in the process, a lot of young couples with children and can thereby help to create a church that grows in leaps and bounds. For this reason, my parents' Baptist megachurch had a rule: no musicians and singers under 35 are allowed to serve on the praise team!

(3) As an extension of (2), churches grow when they have an active and thriving youth program with well-attended Sunday school classes.

(4) Charismatic and Pentecostal churches that prompt highly emotional worship and profound spiritual experiences, including manifestations of gifts of the Spirit, are far more likely to grow than traditional conservative churches. Modern people have a much shorter attention span than people from former generations; so it is increasingly important for churches to grip parishioners' emotions.

(5) A high view of Scripture and excellent relevant preaching do not dramatically improve church growth. But a liberal view of Scripture and mediocre preaching can make people jump out of the windows to escape church.

I wish there was a higher correlation between numerical church growth integrity, spiritual quality, and engagement with the needs of the poor, but in my experience there is not.

But we don't want to lose our congregation, either.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I didn't see it as humour, but as a serious point. If you think of the church as a plant (this morning at communion we had the parable of the sower, so it's at least relatable to Biblical themes), then that plant needs fertilizer (nourishment) and water (Spirit?) to grow. It's a metaphor that encourages us to ask what nourishes us in God and to seek those things.

Jesus said that the kingdom of God (ie: the Church) is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows up into a large tree where birds come and find shelter in it.
Paul said to the Corinthians, to explain how a church grows. He said, "I planted, Apollos watered, and it was God who gave the increase."
So, the anology of watering and using fertilizer to explain how to grow a church is very much in harmony with Scripture. Oh, yes, here is another one about spiritual growth, and possibly church growth. The seed is planted, and then there is a small stalk, then one leaf, which grows into two and then the full plant.

 

[Humble me Lord]

Very interesting.

Another thought, even if a church isn't growing in number of people, the members or attendees could be growing in knowledge, faith, and conforming their lives to be more Christ like.
On the other hand, a church could be bringing in numbers of new people, but be spiritually dead.

I love attending a church that you can actually feel the Holy Spirit in. One of those is a church we attend when we go camping, a very small congregation of about 20 people, and the Holy Spirit is very palpable there.

 

[dreadnought]

Very interesting.

Another thought, even if a church isn't growing in number of people, the members or attendees could be growing in knowledge, faith, and conforming their lives to be more Christ like.
On the other hand, a church could be bringing in numbers of new people, but be spiritually dead.

I love attending a church that you can actually feel the Holy Spirit in. One of those is a church we attend when we go camping, a very small congregation of about 20 people, and the Holy Spirit is very palpable there.

I wonder if a church like that will remain at 20 for a long period of time. It seems to me maybe it would eventually grow or dwindle.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Very interesting.

Another thought, even if a church isn't growing in number of people, the members or attendees could be growing in knowledge, faith, and conforming their lives to be more Christ like.
On the other hand, a church could be bringing in numbers of new people, but be spiritually dead.

I love attending a church that you can actually feel the Holy Spirit in. One of those is a church we attend when we go camping, a very small congregation of about 20 people, and the Holy Spirit is very palpable there.

I think my church of around 30 people are like that too.

 

[Humble me Lord]

That church is in a very rural area. In Minnesota north country, there are a lot of cabins and summertime only homes. So when summer hits, the population swells, during winter, it dwindles.
And so with that, attendance swells and falls off.
I believe that church has been there at least 60 years and if we lived closer, that would definitely be our home church.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

That church is in a very rural area. In Minnesota north country, there are a lot of cabins and summertime only homes. So when summer hits, the population swells, during winter, it dwindles.
And so with that, attendance swells and falls off.
I believe that church has been there at least 60 years and if we lived closer, that would definitely be our home church.

Having had experience in small and large churches, I have found that my gifts and skills have been more valued in the smaller groups, because there has not been the competition between the "young turks" in the larger churches. I found that an ordinary person is more to be found sitting passively in the pews in a larger church than in a smaller church where because of the shortage of man-power, the same person could be better used in the ministry of that church.

 

[Rawtheran]

I go through the New Threads list frequently and am sometimes discouraged that threads are posted for specific denominations, rather than on forums where everyone is welcome to participate, so I thought I'd start one of those myself.

So what makes a church grow? Dancing girls? I don't think so. I think what people are looking for are church leaders who have integrity. I think integrity (obedience to the Lord) is what makes a church grow.

I know it's old and everyone says it but its true, prayer. Behind every great ministry is a people that pray and the Holy Spirit does the rest. I would also mention that in ministry it's never about numbers and they should never be used to measure the fruit of a church.

 

[jsimms615]

I suppose a church growing in numbers doesn't in itself prove anything, but when your church starts to shrink down to nothing, you start scratching your head.

I definitely wonder about some churches that are in the middle of very populated areas and are still very small. Like the rest of the community has rejected them or something.

 

[dreadnought]

I definitely wonder about some churches that are in the middle of very populated areas and are still very small. Like the rest of the community has rejected them or something.

My own belief is that the best formula for a church's health is its willingness to abide by the Lord's commandments. In the end, though, the Lord will decide which churches flourish.

However, a church might stray from the Lord and gain a lot of members in the short run, only to dwindle down to nothing soon after.

 

[food4thought]

Sadly, the main reason churches grow in America is when they have a dynamic speaker for a pastor. Whether they teach truth or not matters not, as long as they can reasonably entertain a crowd with their speaking.

 

[dreadnought]

Sadly, the main reason churches grow in America is when they have a dynamic speaker for a pastor. Whether they teach truth or not matters not, as long as they can reasonably entertain a crowd with their speaking.

Yes, I notice some people find a church and serve faithfully for many years. Others come and within a year are out the door.

 

[TheGoodLight]

I was a member of a conservative, Calvinistic church in which the pastor is known to regularly pressure attendees into membership--not just through the usual means, but pressing the issue to the point that he'd often lose attendees, who felt uncomfortable, if not violated, by his methods. Even so, we had new membership ceremonies relatively often (it's been long enough that I don't remember how often, though). Some members didn't last long, and would 'disappear' within a year or two. Others--active members--would openly rip the church on social media. The frequent pressures to respond to RSVPs to events up-to-several times a week (or get a talking to), and frequent private conversations about specific plans for adapting their lives to fit church leadership's visions got to be a bit much for especially young adult members, who often suffered from depression and anxiety (I'm not saying that the experience necessarily caused them either, but it certainly didn't help).

I've noticed that a lot of people who go through such experiences tend to give up on 'the church' as a whole, and can be so embittered that every church becomes an authoritarian nightmare in their eyes. In my case, I found an answer in 'the mainline'. I know that a lot of mainline churches have been struggling with decline in attendance and membership, yet, for some reason, it has worked wonderfully as a solution for me.

Whether my case represents a path for mainline churches to grow, or as to whether it was just an exception based on my own personal circumstances, I suppose I cannot answer.

 

[Rawtheran]

Born and raised in Ohio! Love the Buckeyes and the Hawkeyes are my second favorite Big Ten Team because I love the colors of your uniforms.

 

[dreadnought]

Born and raised in Ohio! Love the Buckeyes and the Hawkeyes are my second favorite Big Ten Team because I love the colors of your uniforms.

Thank you. The Hawkeyes are having some trouble on the court this year, I'm afraid.

 

[Maid Marie]

Integrity, prayer, emotionally and spiritually healthy pastor and congregation, congregants who live lives that cause non-believers to crave what they have and community outreach of some sort.

 

[dreadnought]

Integrity, prayer, emotionally and spiritually healthy pastor and congregation, congregants who live lives that cause non-believers to crave what they have and community outreach of some sort.

I would very much agree with this. You want to have church leaders of integrity who set an example that others want to follow.

 

[Maid Marie]

I know it's old and everyone says it but its true, prayer. Behind every great ministry is a people that pray and the Holy Spirit does the rest. I would also mention that in ministry it's never about numbers and they should never be used to measure the fruit of a church.

It is true. It is biblical. It is only our Western mindset of self-reliance that believes it has to be done through some human means like programs, etc

 

[Maid Marie]

Integrity, prayer, emotionally and spiritually healthy pastor and congregation, congregants who live lives that cause non-believers to crave what they have and community outreach of some sort.

I would very much agree with this. You want to have church leaders of integrity who set an example that others want to follow.

It is true. It is biblical. It is only our Western mindset of self-reliance that believes it has to be done through some human means like programs, etc

I would also add a church that promotes discipleship opportunities and a pastor & leadership that is gifted in the area of organization. I say this because my current church is lacking both and I can see so many missed opportunities around me.

 

[Dave-W]

I definitely wonder about some churches that are in the middle of very populated areas and are still very small. Like the rest of the community has rejected them or something.

I remember one residential neighborhood I lived near had 4 small congregations of the exact same denomination in a 3 block area.

Ya gotta wonder about that.