E1411 Principles of Church Growth
Dr. Bill Wagner, Professor
Fall, 2001
By Chris A. Foreman, Box 780
November 21, 2001
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I would like to approach the principles of growth with two understandings. First I do not want to reiterate the eight principles stated by Schwartz. They are sound principles and I endorse them all, but they are not original to me.
Next, I want to separate my twelve principles into two groups of six each. The first group of six principles aims to encourage people and pull them into the church. The second group - stated in the negative - discourage people and push them out of the church.
2. We must encourage level 2 and level 3 leadership and not just level 1. This is a point that I learned recently in this class (based on McGavran's book). Of course we must nurture our own Sunday school teachers and mission workers, but we must be willing to "share" our leaders with other churches and with other bridging organizations. When done deliberately and with wisdom, encouraging our leaders to be active outside of our church will grow our own church in the long run. 3. We must maintain healthy relationships with church sodalities. This principle is related to the previous one. Many members of our church may have religious interests outside the SBC. We must allow them to bring their interests into the church. We may see spiritual benefit in inviting in a sodality into our midst. This can be mutually beneficial, but it must be done right. Sometimes helping a sodality may hurt us. If there is ever a conflict between growing my local church and growing the universal church, I hope that I have the grace to choose the later. 4. We must recognize the hard work of key volunteers. Many times the hardest working members of our congregation are the least recognized. Childcare workers, maintenance people, bookkeepers, meal servers, unseen ladies who spend hours on the telephone counseling waywards; these all need a pat on the back by the pastor. These are the humble backbone of the church that are most greatly missed when the move out of the church. We should not disrespect their ministry or their contribution. 5. We must keep our own personal behavior above reproach. As church leaders we are role models. Many people are attracted to a church because of the healthy relationship modeled by the pastor toward his wife and his children. The surest road to church dissolution is for the pastor to fall into adultery or to become involved in illegal activity. 6. We must encourage members to fellowship outside of the church setting. The leadership cannot possibly bear the burdens of all church members. That why scripture says to "bear ye one another burdens" (Galatians 6:2). This bearing and sharing of burdens is best done in small groups outside of church. 7. We must not change meeting times and schedules at whim. Many people are tied to tradition. Sometimes changes in schedule may be necessary. But don't change times for novelty or just to "shake things up". Sometimes you might "shake things out". Some tradition-bound people might find a neighboring church that still meets at 11 AM. 8. We must not preach about personalities and politics in sermons. This is a sure way to chase away people who disagree with you. If a pastor habitually brings up the names of political parties and political figures, then he will certainly alienate some in the congregation. Stick to scripture. Keep your eyes on Jesus. [Warning / Joke follows: Did you hear the one about what the pastor said in church? He said "Now God is not a Republican or a Democrat. Our God does not take sides in politics. I repeat, God is not a Republican or a Democrat. But he is especially NOT a Democrat". ] 9. We must not force participation. Do not order members to do things. Do not "volunteer" people. They may carry out your command one time and then they may not come back. Appreciate that members are volunteers. If you do not have enough people who want to form a choir, then don't have a choir. When the congregation wants a choir then they will form one. This principle is especially true for new, enthusiastic attenders. Do not make them lead a children's group, or a Bible study. You are setting them up for failure. You must equip them first. They must be ready, willing and able. 10. We must not expect every faithful member to attend every event every time. This principle ties in with the previous one. Some members may feel guilty if they don't drive that 100 miles to attend that special event. Sometimes the guilt is foisted upon them by their pastor. Members must spend time with their families and they also need some down time. We must allow members to participate only if they choose and we must also give them the freedom to participate to the extent they choose, without making them feel disloyal to the pastor. 11. We must not direct the church by fiat, not even by majority, but by consensus. I can point to four way for a church to decide direction: by fiat, by majority rule, by consensus and by unanimity. To me consensus is the best option. This isn't 100% agreement, but it's pretty close. Making a big decision with only 51% agreement is risky and may alienate the 49%. If we are creative at compromise we can reach consensus. 12. We must not neglect our "first love". In the Book of Revelation, Jesus first praises the church of Ephesus for patience, hard work and perseverance. Then He warns them about leaving their first love. We as church leaders must not lose that spark of enthusiasm that lit the fire of our faith. We must remember the passion of our "first love" and share this passion with all in the church. Patience, hard work and perseverance are all fine, but Jesus Christ is our first love. |