If all we do is grow numerically, we only have a bunch of people in one place.  The end-goal of numerical growth is spiritual growth for a larger number of people.  It is to make disciples, to bring people into a closer walk with Christ.

The Bible must be given top priority, as it is our food for growth.  The Bible will lead us into an exercise of actively serving God and rest of fully trusting God.

Children bring a needed dimension of life to a church family.  They are both a joy for the present and a promise for the future.

A church that loves children and invests in them will grow.  Adults love to see children taking part in church life.  As sure as a church has a special children’s program, the congregation will be filled with parents, grandparents, and a host of other adults who want to support them.  People very often determine where they are going to go to church by which church will best minister to their children.  Children usually love church, and they can do more with a hard hearted daddy than a long line of preachers can.

Invest in the children and watch your church grow.

Every church is different, and every community is different.  The type community will certainly help, or hurt, a church’s growth.  A static farm community simply doesn’t have the same potential as that of a church located in an area where new subdivisions are being constantly built.

Church leaders need to lead the congregation to recognize where their most likely growth will come from.  Upon realizing their most likely target for growth, the church needs to develop ministries that will attract that group.  One church in a static farm community developed a once a month, late Saturday afternoon softball game and picnic in a church member’s pasture, and they used free radio ads, newspaper ads, and placed flyers in store windows and on car windshields to publicize it.  People covered that pasture up, but more than that, many of them soon started showing up in church.  The community saw it as something fun to do, but the church members saw it as one of their main outreach opportunities.

Among all the other changes that growing churches undergo, there is a necessary change in the way the church is led.  A study of larger churches will reveal that as churches grow, they become more pastor and staff led.  That necessary transition alone is often a barrier to church growth.

Baptist churches are congregationally ruled, that is, the congregation has the final voice in what the church is willing to do; but, as the church grows, much of the handling of details moves from the floor of open business meetings to a small group that the church has entrusted with that particular area of responsibility.  For example, an air conditioning unit, or a worn out roof might be replaced without the congregations approval.  Support staff is often hired by those entrusted  with this responsibility, instead of being called by vote of the entire congregation.  On the other side of that coin, if their performance is not satisfactory, they are dismissed in the same way.

The term, “committee,” might give way to the term, “ministry team.” 

There are a lot things that may change in methodology, and the manner in which we package and deliver the message will change, but the message itself must never change.  When in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, t’will be the old, old story that I have loved so long!

There are psychological, comfort zone, space, and worship style barriers that we spoke of in a preceeding article.  I would like to mention a couple more.

Leadership without a growth mindset is an insurmountable barrier to growth.  After four to five years, the congregation is a reflection of the mindset of the pastor and other leaders.  Those in leadership must be convinced that God desires that the church grow, and they must have made a purposeful decison to do the things that God can use to make it grow. 

The overall focus of the church will either be a catapult, or a barrier, to church growth.  Growing churches have an outward focus, that is, they just seem to look at things in the light of how it is going to help, or not help, in the goal of reaching people.  Churches that always focus inwardly, asking the questions of what those that have already been reached want, will almost always be in decline.