Home Outreach Leaders Articles for Outreach & Missions Why Most Churches That Start Small…Stay Small

Why Most Churches That Start Small…Stay Small

Pull me off of almost every team in the church.

Stop leading Bible studies.

Stop doing much except communication, vision casting and leading leaders.

Who did all the other ministry? People. Some staff, but mainly volunteers.

Delegating and empowering people around a common mission, vision and strategy releases the ministry to people who are gifted, called and equipped to lead that ministry.

When you release ministry, it’s liberating for everyone. It’s the way the church is designed to run.

And remember this: Pastors who do everything eventually end up leading no one. Why? Because too often they burn out, and they get taken out.

4. No Plans for Anything Bigger

Many leaders are currently leading the biggest church they’ve ever been a part of, right now. So how do you plan for anything bigger when you haven’t experienced anything bigger?

That’s true if you’re part of a church of 100 people or 1,000.

Even when I led a church of six people, I had not actually led a church that was bigger than that (it was my first assignment as a student).

But just because you haven’t led more doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan for more.

Here are some keys to crossing the 200, 400 and 800 barriers.

Plan today for what you want to be a part of tomorrow.

5. A Selfish Drift Inward