We can rightly be proud of the many good things that churches of all sizes are doing. Growth is, however, a necessary outcome of Jesus’ mandate to make disciples. To grow a church community beyond 100-200 people moves it from leadership by a small team under one key minister to leadership by a larger team where responsibilities are more likely to be spread. Implementing some of the important growth factors for churches in this size range may need assistance from consultants (which CCVT can help with). These factors are as follows:
- church as a sheep farm to church as a sheep station – running the ‘business’ of a church prioritises the sheep, but differently.
- senior minister as decision maker to senior minister as delegator – delegating roles and authority means others share the power.
- focus on members to focus on mission – churches are caring but for the primary purpose of achieving effective mission.
- governance by elders to governance by deacons – not all board members continuing to be ministry leaders or ministry decision makers.
- informal communication to purposeful communication – thinking about those who are not yet members in all that you do and plan.
- collective decision-making to collaborative decision-making – people needing to feel part of the journey, but not every decision.
- developing doers to developing leaders of doers – ministry leaders being less hands-on in some areas and coaching others to lead.
- empowerment of long-term people to empowerment of all people – powerful people no longer necessarily being dominant people.
- ‘must-do’ preaching to ‘can-do’ preaching – less ‘should’ and more ‘could,’ with plenty of inspiration and invitation.
- priority on addition to priority on multiplication – thinking about priority activities in terms of what helps develop disciples best.
