A friend of mine is taking a church growth course, and asked my opinion on a few related questions. Since I spent so long answering him...I'll turn it into a blog post:
Wow!! Lots of good questions. My tendency is to go crazy and write a novel on each question...but I'll try to keep it short and sweet. If you want to follow up further, then let's get together!
Briefly describe the church's history, how many people were there, what was taking place.. before you arrived to what is going on now, the people, etc.
--We are a campus of a larger church, but our campus launched in Aug 2004 I think. About a year or so before that, there were about 10 people in the Greenville area interested in launching a Seacoast Campus. The Campus Pastor drove to Greenville on weekends to do a small group with these folks and see if the group would grow to a point sufficient to start the church. It grew to about 40 and we went to 'practice services at the Pavilion on East North Street and gre to about 60 in a few months. Then we did personal invites and a mass mailing, launched at the (then) Palmetto Expo Center with about 300 attending. I think we settled in at about half that. 2 weeks at the Expo Center, 6 months at the Greenville Little Theatre, about 3 years at 212 Roper Mt Rd Ext. (present location) We plan to move again in August.
What has been a few key principals you have learned during or before the growth took place that helped you?
--Hold fast to the vision for the church
--If something isn't working--STOP IT!
--Recognize the ebb and flow of ministry seasons and don't wear yourself out fighting it---make adjustments and roll with it.
--Do not try to please people--stick to the vision God has given for the church..."I love the way this church works, ...but at my other church we did this neat thing with "_______"...NO, NO, NO!! If you adopt what they want to do, you become the church they just left! We don't try to please church people--we program to reach the lost.
--Develop leaders from within---don't go hire a star from somewhere else. Hire the person who embraces the vision/mission of the church. Get the right people on the bus...THEN decide where they need to sit!
I know one size doesn't fit all (comparing to how-to for church growth), but a lot of principals work including prayer, working hard, delegating, structure, worship, etc. What principals did you do that you think other churches can benefit?
--Prayer is a given---just do it!
--Don't try to do everything at once. Sunday morning is the main thing---make it excellent. Sunday morning involves the adult service and children's ministry...if either one isn't good, you won't make it. Small groups are the only other thing we did from the begnning to connect people outside the services. Don't start a youth ministry, don't start a womens ministry---just make Sunday morning good. If you think it's good----look at it again, how can it be better? It is what people see, remember and tell their friends about your church.
--If someone wants to start a ministry---start it as a small group. If it's not viable as a small group, it will die out there with much less damage.
--Be REAL - in every aspect of your ministry.
--Be accessible to people
--Don't VOTE on stuff. The ministers are the ones gifted to lead the church--let them do it! We have an elder structure. We don't vote!
Why do you think your church started to grow?
--God's grace
--Word of mouth
--Leadership focus - do a few things well
--Effective, sound teaching
--We think like a big church even if we're small!! Before doing something think--is this how a we would handle this if we had thousands attending? If it would be cheesy they...it's cheesy now!
How, do you think, your church grew? (people talking to people, programs, advertisement, etc. excluding the stuff like prayer, etc.)
--Word of mouth is key (which implies that they have something good to say from your Sunday morning service).
--We do mailers on big days like Christmas Eve, Easter, but their effect is probably minimal--although they do expose more people to the church who may tell a friend about it even if they don't stick around. We've had people show up from a mailer we sent a year ago...
Did God prepare you for this growth before it had taken place? Were you ready for it when it began to happen? If so, what helped you become prepared? If not, how is this helping you grow now?
--Being part of a larger church gave us many advantages: other campuses are ahead of us on the growth curve so we can learn from them.
--Leadership development is key---look at who God is bringing to you and identify and develop those leaders. We have a leadership pipeline concept that is constantly looking for the next leader! People get excited when there is opportunity!
Has the growth affected the way you do ministry? (preach, visit, etc.)
--Simply put it comes back to leadership development. We have to build leaders who can be responsible for ministry areas. We now have Volunteer Small Group Directors and Coaches to oversee the small group leaders. Youth ministry volunteers who can lead the youth services, Tech leaders and Service Coordinators, First Touch Champions over parking, cafe, greeters, etc. The span of care is broadened with key people that you can trust and have relationship with.
--Our teaching is primarily from the original campus so that hasn't changed. Remember the point I made above---if you preach, lead, relate or do anything like a small church would--you'll stay a small church. Better preach as if there were 2000 even if there are 20! (In terms of presentation, delivery and quality)
What, in your personal opinion, is the most important to be prepared and sustain growth? If more than one, describe why and possibly an order of what to focus on.
Worship
Structure
Leadership
Organization
Small Groups
Relationships (similar to small groups)
Advertising
Preaching
--all are important, but Advertising is least important (but you still need to do it well--and your web site needs to be excellent as well!)
I'd say it like this in a massive run-on sentence: Authentic, focused leadership that can develop other leaders within a mission driven organization structure based on ministry gifts not elected offices with sound teaching biblical teaching and passionate (excellent) worship with small groups that allow people to implement what they are learning by serving their community and the world, will grow a church...with God's help and the power of the Holy Spirit (which, again, are a given!)!!!
Everything flows from LEADERSHIP (...that will mess up everything if it's weak). Worship needs to be excellent, your structure should promote unity and down play differences.
As for organization----I prefer organism! There must be a basic structure, but focus on ministry giftings rather than filling up the org chart.
Small groups are VITAL to connecting people in fellowship! Relationships and pastoral care happens MOSTLY in small groups. Baby showers, hospital visits, food for sick/new moms--->it's a small group thing NOT the Pastors thing IF you are really equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry!
Preaching--be real, stay on point, be practical as possible with the text----how do I respond to what I've heard. Allow for personal reflection and response to the message.
Here is one you left off: Serving Small Groups should be mobilized to serve the community in practical ways several times per year. People are busy, but they also want to be able to make a difference in the Name of Jesus.
I wrote WAY more than I thought I would...I hope this gives you something to work with. Let me know if you want to follow up!
