3. “Big Days” Attendance.
Three or four times a year most churches have unusually high attendance. Sometimes, we use the attendance numbers on these “big days” as the benchmark for our attendance. Boosting attendance on Christmas Eve or Easter is an effective part of church growth strategy but it’s not a valid number for when you talk about how large your church is. The dynamics at play to get a lot of people to show up for a single special event are different than what it takes to build a long-term impact in a community.
4. Tallest of the Seven Dwarfs.
We often look at other churches in town and are happy that we’re bigger than “them.” Rather than understanding why people don’t attend any church in our town, we look down our noses at those churches that have the same struggles as ours. All this does is breed division among the churches in your community.
5. Plateaued Growth by Increasing Revenue.
This is the most dangerous of all these trends. Believe it or not, there are churches that are plateaued in attendance or even in decline but their revenue is growing. This is a super alarming trend because it will empower the church to shift from being a dynamic volunteer-driven organization to a staff-heavy enterprise. The money generated will negatively reinforce behaviors that will cause the church to have a diminished impact. This church can be referred to as a “zombie church” because it has lost its life but can go on for a long time appearing to be alive.
Start Reaching…not just keeping.
Start Listening to the Culture to find points of connection with the Gospel.
Start Making Friends with “outsiders.”
Start Learning From Growing Churches and applying what you think you can.
Start Praying for Revival in Our Country.
I’m on your side. I want to help your local church grow. It’s at the core of what we do around here at unSeminary. Here are some resources to help you kick-start the growth of your church:
- 5 Church Growth Hacks That Most Churches Ignore (but Shouldn’t!)
- A collection of resources to point you in the direction of what you can work on in your church this season to help with growth.
- Kent Jacobs on Demystifying Church Growth in a Culture Where Churches Don’t Grow
- People don’t plant growing churches where an EPIC Church is. Their story is inspiring…you should follow Kent and his church.
- Church Governance That Helps Fuel Growth
- We often do not think about the structure of growing churches but check out some practical help for aligning your organization so it can have an impact in the community.
- Shaun Nepstad on Plateaued to 10x Church Growth
- His local church was stuck at 300 and then changed a bunch of stuff and saw explosive growth to over 3,000. Listen carefully.
This article on growth in the local church originally appearedhere.
