Habit 4: Growing Churches are Outwardly Focused
In terms of healthy church growth, what does it mean to be outwardly focused?
It means you and your team are more concerned with outreach, discipleship, and evangelism than with buildings, resources, and overhead. Get those backwards and the wrong focus will sap your church’s energy and ability for real ministry. In persecuted countries, where physical church buildings don’t exist, there is oftentimes a stronger outward focus on ministry.
This moves outreach and evangelism from being a “spectator sport” that only paid staff participate in, to involving the entire church. How do you know if you’re too inwardly focused? According to Nelson Searcy, you should have a ratio of five first-time guests for every 100 regular attenders.
Habit 5: Growing Churches Have Leaders that Please the Right People
Shouldn’t pastors please everyone? The answer to that question is a big, fat NO.
At the end of the day we all want to be liked and respected. But, if we’re going to be effective leaders, we have to accept the fact that we can’t please everyone. It’s impossible to make every person attending your church happy. So, we have to please the Lord first and foremost. Then, we have to please the right people. Who are the right people?
The Right People
- Understand and share the mission and vision of your church
- Are not emotional leeches that suck the life out of other people
- Are wise and emotionally healthy
- Have a track record of moving the mission of the church forward
- Are teachable
