Five Factors in Growing Congregations

Before congregations and leaders can set their minds on growth, we have to soberly look around us and come to terms with the landscape of our communities and society at large. This confronts us with five factors that all congregations that wish to grow must wrestle and prayerfully respond to:     

Post-Christian Society

There was a time where the values of society and church were more in alignment. That time is over. There was a time when the definition of being a good person included going to church. That is no longer the case. Society use to support church going. It doesn’t now. In fact, in some circles, going to church carries a negative social stigma. Society will carry on with its activities, including on Sunday mornings, regardless of how we would like things to be. Do we find ways to challenge people to a high commitment in order to forgo these activities on Sunday morning or do we offer worship services at other times or both? These sorts of questions will need to be wrestled with and various experiments tried in response (for more on post-modernism click here).

Franchise System:  

For a long time churches merely needed to run their franchise (e.g. Anglican, Lutheran, etc.) and people of that denomination would show up and take their children through the system (baptism, Sunday school, etc.) and it would sustain itself. This system is now broken. We cannot expect Christians to simply show up to our churches. Increasingly, those who show up to your church and are your denomination and ready to participate in congregational life should be welcomed as unusual and a blessing. Congregations and leaders will need to focus on reaching all sorts of people: unchurched, and dechurched, regardless if they have your denominational tribal background or not.  In other words, we cannot simply wait for people to come to us. We must go to them.

Mission vs. Maintenance

There was a time where to keep a church going you mostly had to maintain the system. Now, if churches simply do what they have always done, the result is that, they decline.  Churches that are growing are committed to mission. They focus outward to their communities and the world. This outward orientation is key. Yet, it can be overwhelming for small congregations because the core volunteers are often already maxed out (sometimes burnt out) in terms of time and energy. Yet, efforts at reaching out to the community are essential not only for growing a congregation numerical and spiritually, but also in terms of being faithful to Jesus’ Great Commandment to Love God and neighbor (Matthew 22:34-40).

Image Problem

Older generations – even those who didn’t or don’t attend church- often have a respectable view of the church. This is not the case with younger generations.  The majority perceptions among younger generations of the church are negative, hostile, or indifferent. With much of the population, we are not starting from a neutral position in terms of their perceptions of us. Instead, with most, we are fighting against a negative position and several unfortunate stereotypes that people have about Christians in general and the Church in particular. Part of our evangelistic witness needs to be visibly living out our faith in ways that counters these stereotypes; also, we will have to name our belief and defend it ideologically in winsome and respectful ways. This has big implications for preaching and teaching in our churches. 

               

         Church-Goer vs. Disciple 

The Franchise system didn’t have to focus on making disciples because society and other factors motivated people into churches. Increasingly, it will be disciples who attend church as one part of a larger lifestyle commitment to Christianity. Disciple making was also Jesus’ focus. A church goer is someone who’s committment to Christianity largely consists in attending church (maybe regularly, maybe once in a while) and being a good person and good citizen. A disciple strives to follow Jesus in every aspect of their lives (more on church goers and disciples here). They are not perfect, but they acknowledge that following Christ should flavor all that they do, not just an hour on Sunday. A disciple will be willing to buck social expectations and live a Christian life; it will become more difficult for church goers in an increasingly secular society to do so. Part of our challenge is that we are often not so good at making disciples and will have to learn to become disciples ourselves as we are reaching out to other prospective disciples.