Why You May Not Be Growing As a Church

It’s one of the most pressing questions pastors and church leaders ask themselves:

“Why aren’t we growing?”

To be sure, not every mission’s soil will yield the same fruit. We’re not talking about overall size, but rather the idea that biblically, we can assume that God wants every church that honors His name and proclaims His message in Christ to grow and that He is willing to empower it to that end.

Churches are living things. Living things grow. If you’re not growing – even if just in compensation to what you’ve lost through transition – something is wrong.

Again, it doesn’t have to be by much. Those churches in smaller communities who are growing by five people a year may actually be growing at a higher percentage of the available population than the “mega” churches.

So take heart.

But if you are not growing at all, or declining…well, God isn’t the problem. We are.

Here are ten areas to consider as to “why”:

1. Leadership

It’s been said that everything rises and falls on leadership. Perhaps a more accurate way of putting it would be that no organization will rise above the level of its leadership. If, on a scale of 1-10, the current leadership is around a “4,” then it will be difficult for the church to grow beyond that level in terms of vision, effectiveness, strategy and impact.

Solution: Ensure that people with the spiritual gift of leadership are actually leading, and that they are committed to developing that gift by reading about leadership, getting around other leaders for insight, and exercising their leadership gift in challenging settings.

2. Communication

There are few things more critical to a church’s growth than an effective communicator for weekend teaching. The dilemma is that many who serve as the primary communicators in their church aren’t Spirit-gifted teachers. They like to speak, and the group that gathers around their teaching seems to benefit from it, but the majority of listeners tend to vote with their feet. At the very least, the teaching doesn’t seem to be catalyzing the congregation to invite their friends.

Solution: Make sure that the point communicator has the spiritual gift of teaching and is actively working at developing that gift by listening to other gifted communicators. Don’t be afraid of developing a team-teaching approach to shore up weakness, or to adjust responsibilities so that various roles more accurately reflect gifting. In other words, perhaps someone has been serving as lead communicator when their gifts are better used in another area. This is a difficult maneuver for, as stated above, people who are speaking tend to like to speak and have a (perhaps) distorted view of their effect.

3. Quality of Worship

The quality of the worship experience is more important even than its style. If the service itself seems slapped together, incoherent or unable to be embraced, then it will not provide the traction needed for ongoing growth. To be sure, worship is not about what we get out of it, but what God gets out of it. But the better that service is at helping people connect with God, the more people it will attract. And lest we forget, the weekend service is the “front door” of the church. So it’s where we “win” or “lose” people. Which means part of the “helping people connect” dynamic will include helping those far from God connect to God through what we offer.

Solution: Review the music, presentation, style and quality of the worship experience of your church in light of its ability to optimally serve and engage people. View the services of larger, faster-growing churches that you feel are biblically and theologically sound for benchmarks. If you are continually plagued by forgotten lyrics, missed notes and awkward transitions, consider planning meetings for your services and run-through rehearsals of critical parts. And by all means, look at your service through the eyes of someone far from God and deeply unchurched.

4. Atmosphere

Every church has an atmosphere, but not all have an atmosphere of friendliness and acceptance. Let’s put it bluntly: every church thinks it’s friendly. But what that often means is they are friendly to each other, friendly to people they know, friendly to people they like or friendly to people who are like them.

Solution: If you haven’t already, consider developing an entire ministry around first impressions and the creation of a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. At Meck, we call it “Guest Services,” and it oversees parking lot attendants, greeters, ushers, hospitality and so much more – all geared toward the experience of first impressions and friendliness. It’s one of our largest and most strategic efforts. In fact, one of the leading reasons people return to Meck is our friendliness.

5. Location

The physical location of a church, if you want to grow by inviting people to attend, is decisive. If it is hard to find, hard to get to, too small in size, has insufficient parking, is difficult to enter or exit due to road traffic,

…then you are artificially limiting the size of your church.

In essence, the shoe tells the foot how big it gets.

Solution: Much of solving location problems is logistical in nature. Hire off-duty police to help people enter and exit your services. Increase the number of your services. Develop a capital campaign to help pay for increasing the size of your auditorium or parking. If needed, simply move to a new location. That may seem dramatic, but it’s often critical. Going “multi-site” is also proving to be a helpful strategy for many churches facing location issues.

6. Structure

Most church structures are not “structured” for growth, much less unity. As an organization, you have to be able to seize opportunities, streamline decision-making and unleash the leadership gift. There is so much that could be said on this, so…

Solution: Read my chapter on “Rethinking Structure” in Rethinking the Church. Do away with committees, across-the-board majority rule and endless policies. Read the chapter and you’ll see why.

7. Methods

Values and doctrine are timeless; methods and strategies are not. Think of a method as a very time-bound approach to solving a problem or answering a challenge. A vast number of churches are employing methods that simply aren’t viable. They hold on to them out of an unfounded sense of loyalty, or even worse, a sense of orthodoxy. Methods don’t fall into that camp.

Solution: Go to school on other churches and their methods. Further, make a list of all of your methods that haven’t been evaluated in five years. That’s your “to do” list.

8. Blind Spots

Blind spots are interesting…they are what you do NOT see. Others can, but you can’t. It’s been said that we all have them – actually, many of them. Do you know yours? Do you know where you are weak, outdated, sloppy, understaffed, wrongly staffed, poorly funded...

Solution: Bring in “mystery” worshipers, or outside consultants, to observe you, talk to you, counsel you. Get 20/20 vision on as much as you possibly can.

9. Not Fueling Growth Engines

Every church has one or more “growth engines.” These are the ministries that fuel whatever growth you have. Most will think of their weekend services; and to be sure, that is a powerful growth engine. But many of your sub-ministries offer the same, if not more, of your overall growth power. For example, at Meck our weekend services may be a powerful engine, but we tend to think that MecKidz is even MORE powerful. So we give it what it needs to grow. Right now, it has the largest staff and the most square-footage of building space of any ministry.

Why?

It grows our church.

Solution: Fund your growth engines. Repeat: FUND YOUR GROWTH ENGINES. And look beyond the weekend. The biggest growth engine of all, in most churches, is the children’s ministry.

10. Unity

Jesus made it clear that unity would be THE verifying mark on His message. A unified church is a growing church. Period.

Solution: Do the hard leadership work of confronting division, dissension and disunity. See the chapter titled “No Tolerance” in What They Didn’t Teach You in Seminary (Baker).

One Last Thought

The most important principle I could pass on is this: think like a lost person.

Really.

Think like someone far from God, divorced from church, coming to your church, would think.

Then…

...change things.

Not the message. Heaven forbid. But do change anything and everything that would be a barrier to this person engaging Christ that does not involve altering the message of Christ.

James Emery White




About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated, is available on Amazon. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, visit ChurchAndCulture.org, where you can view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world. You can also find out information about the 2016 Church and Culture Conference. Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.

An Except from THE RIGHT TO LEAD by John C. Maxwell

By John C. Maxwell

What gives a man or woman the right to lead? It certainly isn't gained by election or appointment. Having position, title, rank or degrees doesn't qualify anyone to lead other people. And the ability doesn't come automatically from age or experience, either.

No, it would be accurate to say that no one can be given the right to lead. The right to lead can only be earned. And that takes time.

The Kind of Leader Others Want to Follow
The key to becoming an effective leader is not to focus on making other people follow, but on making yourself the kind of person they want to follow. You must become someone others can trust to take them where they want to go.

As you prepare yourself to become a better leader, use the following guidelines to help you grow:

1. Let go of your ego
The truly great leaders are not in leadership for personal gain. They lead in order to serve other people. Perhaps that is why Lawrence D. Bell remarked, "Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things, and I'll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things."

2. Become a good follower first
Rare is the effective leader who didn't learn to become a good follower first. That is why a leadership institution such as the United States Military Academy teaches its officers to become effective followers first - and why West Point has produced more leaders than the Harvard Business School.

3. Build positive relationships
Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. That means it is by nature relational. Today's generation of leaders seem particularly aware of this because title and position mean so little to them. They know intuitively that people go along with people they get along with.

4. Work with excellence   
No one respects and follows mediocrity. Leaders who earn the right to lead give their all to what they do. They bring into play not only their skills and talents, but also great passion and hard work They perform on the highest level of which they are capable.

5. Rely on discipline, not emotion   
Leadership is often easy during the good times. It's when everything seems to be against you - when you're out of energy, and you don't want to lead - that you earn your place as a leader. During every season of life, leaders face crucial moments when they must choose between gearing up or giving up. To make it through those times, rely on the rock of discipline, not the shifting sand of emotion.

6. Make adding value your goal   
When you look at the leaders whose names are revered long after they have finished leading, you find that they were men and women who helped people to live better lives and reach their potential. That is the highest calling of leadership - and its highest value.

7. Give your power away
One of the ironies of leadership is that you become a better leader by sharing whatever power you have, not by saving it all for yourself. You're meant to be a river, not a reservoir. If you use your power to empower others, your leadership will extend far beyond your grasp. In The Right to Lead, you will hear from and read about people who have done these same things and earned the right to lead others. Because of the courage they found and the character they displayed, other people recognized their admirable qualities and felt compelled to follow them.

The followers who looked to these leaders learned from them, and so can we. As you explore their worlds and words, remember that it takes time to become worthy of followers. Leadership isn't learned or earned in a moment.

Leader of the Pack

Cesar Millan - The Dog Whisperer

By Albert Kang, Pastoral Advisor

Cesar Millan, the famous 'Dog Whisperer' has such great talent in spotting the behaviors of dogs - so much so that he is able to direct them and provide the leadership that dogs need. In his TV programs, Cesar keeps informing the dog owners to become 'leaders of the pack'. The reason is obvious, dogs like wolves live in packs. They respond to pack leadership. When a dog owner surrenders her pack leadership to her dog, then the animal will instinctively take control and become the leader of the pack. In the shows, Cesar is able to take control of the dogs and change their behaviors by positioning himself as the leader. 

One dog, heightened by its insecurity, has on many occasions, even bites its owner. The owner is a very nice person and even though she scolds her pet, she is very gentle. In just a few hours, Cesar takes control by becoming the dominant pack leader. The misbehaving canine backs down and submits completely. Cesar then teaches the owner to take charge and the dog submits willingly. It looks like a miracle but according to Cesar, the poor dog has been looking for leadership. When given that, it readily submit and be a part of the pack.

Human beings are not like dogs but we also look for leadership in organizations. Our decision to follow someone is more complicating than that of animals but the basic truth is that good leadership gives direction, hope, future and security to the group. 

For example, Moses was able to lead a whole group of very frightened people from the slavery of Egypt because he took hold of the responsibility that God gave him. His leadership provided direction and the people moved towards the Promised Land. It also provided hope because they moved away from slavery to freedom. The people continued in spite of so many challenges because they and their children clung onto a future. As a large united group, the Children of Israel had security and even became a threat to the other established surrounding nations.

Yes, Moses fumbled and became discouraged many times throughout his forty years of leadership. It was tough for Moses to be a leader because the Children of Israel were not really good and obedient followers. Later, we read about how this group of former slaves even dared to challenge the leadership of God Himself. Like most leaders, when trouble boiled, Moses wanted to give up. However, being a responsible leader, he bit the bullet and took charge. 

Today, modern leaders can echo after the motto popularized by Harry Truman and declare, "The buck stops here". This means that the leader takes full responsibility and does not 'pass the buck'. Pastors who take full responsibility over their flocks, not only have appreciative church members but dedicated ones too. 

People are more willing to win souls and do the works of the Lord when they are challenged by the clear vision and strong commitment of good leadership. Do not surrender your leadership if you are placed in the position of "leading the pack". If you do, then be ready for a take-over from a secondary leadership. 

One of the reasons why many churches suffer from church quarrels and splits is because the pastors are too 'nice and kind' to take charge. The truth has nothing to do with being nice or kind. It is just sheer weak irresponsible leadership. When a secondary leadership provides the vision and strategy for growth, it naturally undermines the primary pastoral leadership. Therefore, before this happens, pastors should learn how to take charge and be responsible leaders. Here are some ways you can be a responsible 'leader of the pack' and provide clear leadership direction to your church.

1. Be Responsible. When you take charge and be responsible, your leadership will change the attitude of the church. Your example will challenge the other leaders in your church to serve responsibly. Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime Minister of Singapore, is a very good example of responsible leadership. Even though he is not yet a Christian, his responsible leadership style is worthy of our study and examination. 

In the 1960s, Singapore was going through much political upheavals but this man took charge. It was not a good time to be a leader. Singapore got kicked out of Malaysia and the British military that protected Singapore for many years was leaving for good. The Communists were confrontational and threatened to take over the young fledgling nation. There were racial, religious and labor strives. There were 153 major strikes between July 1961 and September 1962. The 1964 racial riot was among the worse. Indonesian saboteurs were planting bombs in Singapore. No, it was not a good time.

Without the peninsular of Malaysia as a good hinterland for natural resources, little industries, no military defense and a hostile political environment, Lee had to act. Added to all these, he had to lead a new country of different and often disharmonious races that were not used to being a nation. Most were loyal to their home countries and Singapore was only a platform for financial gains. With little education and not much of future prospects, Singaporeans were deemed to fail and become the debris of modern civilization. However, because, Lee was a strong and responsible leader, he and his dedicated team of young leaders turned the situations around and made Singapore to become one of the most prosperous and admired nations in the world. 

2. Be Innovative. People look for innovative leadership in a changing environment. Once again, Lee stepped forth as a brilliant innovative strategist of change. He was able to size up the situations in Singapore accurately and came up with practical solutions. He refused to allow Singapore to be a victim of her circumstances. Lee took the bribery culture at its horns and radically transformed it into a culture of honesty. In spite of its unpopularity, National Service was introduced. Young men were trained as soldiers for two or more years after they reached 18 years of age. Thanks to that, today, Singapore has one of the strongest defence forces in Asia. She can raise half a million soldiers if the need arises. Large swamps were filled and transformed to become industrial hubs. Explosive growth in population is curbed by harsh laws. Families are moved to high rise government-subsidized apartments. Drastic measures were needed during those drastic time.

To bring your church into the next level of growth, you have to be courageous enough to challenge the status quo and be innovative.  You may need to change the way you use to do things. Watch and learn from other forward-looking church leaders. They have gone through much hard knocks to get their church moving and going. You do not need to experience all those adverse experiences if you were to study carefully how innovations are being introduced into churches that used to be mired in traditions and ineffectiveness. Anyway, it is proven that forward-looking leaders do attract other quality people. 

3. Be Positive - King David was able to attract his mighty men because he was a leader who was exceptionally positive about his vision from the Lord. Since the time of his anointing by Prophet Samuel, David had challenged the status quo. Not any fault of his own, David had to become a fugitive. However, the wilderness did not rob David of his vision. He reinvented himself and his team of followers. For about 15 years, David was hunted down like a wild animal. King Saul made sure that David would have no chance of taking his throne. 

Rejected by the king, David knew that he was not rejected by God. In spite of great difficulties in taking care of 600 families in the wilderness, David did not give up. He was positive because he knew that he had a God who would help him overcome all hardships. He took responsibility to provide strong leadership. When his followers had doubt about God and their future, they just needed to look at their leader To survive, David had to be creative and used multiple means to get supports and rations for the thousands under his care. Prosperous people like Nabal, not only did not support these refugees but were hostile. Thankfully Abagail provided the support that David and his men needed.

This is the typical experience of responsible leaders - many may not give you instant support but this will come in time. Being positive and innovative means looking beyond the methods and approaches of the past. Learn to try new things and be brave enough to challenge the church to move forward. Take charge and say, "This is what we are going to do to achieve this or that!" In spite of the tough situations, your strong leadership will provide the positive motivation that your church needs in order to grow.

4. Be Consistent. Nothing makes the members more irritated than the inconsistent approaches of the pastor. For example, the pastor preaches much about evangelism and winning souls but provides no leadership, strategy and infrastructure to do so. Thus, the pastor is known for being a 'NATO' which stands for 'No Action, Talk Only'. When a vision is supported by related trainings, programs, and finances, the people will soon be challenged to respond. Such a definite action is endemic and will motivate every department and member. Evangelism and soul-winning will soon become the core values adopted to be part of the church's culture.

Leader of the Pack. Today, many church members are not so sure about the leadership provided by their church leaders. Indecisiveness and fear of being perceived as proud, many pastors back down as being the 'leader of the pack'. Any organizations that do not have responsible leadership will stagnate and then slide down the drain. As a responsible leader and pastor, you need to provide the framework for confidence to be restored. 

Work on these four aspects of your leadership - responsible in leading, Innovative in creating, positive in motivating and consistent in supporting - and you will see affirmative changes in the attitudes of those who are serving with you. Over the years, quite a number of pastors have discovered and applied these four aspects of leadership approach. They have gone on to motivate thousands to become more dedicated to the Lord, win souls and multiply the disciples in the kingdom of God. 

Finally, even though you may not be looking to pastor a mega-church but the least you can do is to have the willingness and desire to be responsible for a healthy growing church.

The 8 Items on a Leader's To-Do List

John C. Maxwell says leadership is just as much about developing your team's talents as it is about nurturing your own leadership skills. The best-selling author of Talent Is Never Enough reminds us that growth is modeled after and expected from leaders. As a successful leader, you must do eight things.

1. Find your own personal strength zone.

A successful leader is a person who knows what they do well and does it, but they also know what their people know well and help them practice it.

2. Help others find their strength zone.

What is their special ability? You can't make others good at something you are bad at. You can only increase a person's giftedness by helping them answer important questions of themselves. What is their temperament? What is their passion? What choices are they making in their life? Help them with these things and there's no limit to how much someone can improve in these areas.

3. Help them define success.

Success is hugely subjective. Knowing your purpose in life, growing to your maximum potential or sowing seeds that benefit others are all great definitions of success.

4. Help them understand how to be successful.

The secret of our success is determined by our daily agenda. Decision-making is important and the management of the decision-making is even more important. Do the right thing today to be in a good place for tomorrow.

5. Teach and practice the four pillars of success.

• Relationships

• Attitude/Tenacity

• Leadership/Influencing people

• Equipping and developing other people

6. Teach your team the 20/80 principle, or the Pareto principle.

Within this, prioritize life. What is required of me? What gives the greatest return? What give me the greatest reward? When these three line up, then life becomes wonderful.

7. Provide resources for them.

There are only three times when people change. When they've heard enough that they have to change; they learn enough that they want to change; or receive enough that they are able to change. Put those resources of change in their hand.

8. Require them to reproduce themselves.

They have to teach someone else what they learn. Don't spend valuable time with people who want to consume but not share. Share the knowledge. Share the wealth.