Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations That Will Help Your Church Grow

by Carey Nieuwhof

Unhealthy churches won’t grow.

Churches that ignore the culture will always struggle.

So why is growth a necessary subject around a leadership table? Because it’s related to mission. My focus is not on growth for growth’s sake, but for the sake of being effective in our mission and vision of reaching people who need to know the love of Christ in their

lives. I’m passionate about church growth because the world is at its best when the church is at its best.

You might find the conversation gets heated and people start to defend the status quo (“we focus on quality, not quantity!”). That’s natural … but don’t lose the mission in the midst of it. It’s just too important. People need to be reached. The love of Jesus was designed to spill far beyond the walls of the church, not be contained within them.

Finally, don’t be cynical about growing churches. That’s just too easy. Sure, there are some driven leaders who are passionate about church growth because it makes them look good. God knows the hearts of people, and just because some people might want a church to grow because of ego does not mean all growth is bad.

As a rule, I believe that healthy...

Throughout the centuries, the mission of the church at its best has always been an outward mission focused on sharing the love Je...

we say we have a genetic predisposition toward gaining weight, but our coworkers see the fifth donut.

There are traceable patterns in stagnant and declining churches as well as in healthy, growing churches. Spotting those patterns can help you spot your strengths and weaknesses.

You’re in conflict.

It’s not that Christians shouldn’t have conflict, but we should be the best in the world at handling it. The New Testament is a virtual manual of conflict resolution, but so many of us prefer gossip, nonconfrontation, and dealing with anyone but the party involved. How conflicted is your church—honestly? As long as you’re conflicted, you’ll have difficulty growing.

Growing churches handle conflict directly, biblically, humbly, and healthily.

You’re more in love with the past than you are ...

If your church is a museum of 1950 or even 2012, the likelihood of reaching the next generation diminishes with every passing day.

3. You’re not that awesome to be around.

You’re focused on yourself.

Too many churches are focused on their wants, preferences, and perceived needs. They are self-focused organizations filled with self-focused people. It should be no surprise that outsiders never feel welcomed, valued, or included. Sadly, if a person is self-focused, we call him or her selfish. If a church is self-focused, we call it normal.

You think culture is the enemy.

You’re afraid to risk what is for the sake of what might be.

You can’t make a decision.

Governance is a silent killer in today’s churches. When your decision making is rooted in complex bureaucracy or congregational approval for every major change, it makes decision making difficult and courageous change almost impossible. Effective churches develop governance that is nimble; is aligned around a common mission, vision, and strategy; trusts staff to accomplish the mission; and has minimal congregational involvement in

decision ...

You talk more than you act.

Most church leaders I know (staff and boards) overthink and underact. If you acted on even a few more of your good ideas, you could possibly be twice as effective in a very short time frame. A B-plus plan brilliantly executed beats an A-plus plan that never gets implemented, every single time.

You don’t think there’s anything wrong with your church.

You’re more focused on growth than you are on God.

We’re leading people to Jesus, not to ourselves or to our awesome church.

STRUCTURE BIGGER TO GROW BIGGER

Rethink the pastor’s role.

In most small congregations, the pastor is the primary caregiver. Congregations expect it, and seminaries train leaders for it. But it’s also what stifles the growth potential of almost every church. Think about it: when the pastor has to visit every sick person, do every wedding and funeral and make regular house calls, attend every meeting, and lead every Bible study or group, he or she becomes incapable of doing almost anything else. Message preparation falls to the side, and providing organizational leadership for the future is almost out of the question.

you’re a good pastoral care person, people will often love you so much that the church will grow to two hundred people, at which point the pastoral care expectations become crushing. Inevitably, pastoral leaders with larger churches can’t keep up and end up disappointing people when they can’t get to every event anymore. Additionally, many burn out under the load. The pastoral care model creates many false and unsustainable expectations. Consequently, almost everyone (congregation and leaders) gets hurt in the process.2

Don’t do what your kids want you to do; do what you believe is best for them in the end.

Develop a strategy.

Let leaders lead.

Empower your volunteers.

Volunteers that merely do as they are told out of a sense of duty will never contribute like those who own the vision, mission, and strategy and have been given the authority to lead.

Stop micromanaging.

We’ve already seen that poor governance is a stumbling block to growth. The biggest obstacle in this regard is a board that feels they need to micromanage. If you need permission every time you need to buy paper towels or repaint an office, you have a governance issue.

Simplify your programming.

Muster the courage to cut some good programs; good is the enemy of great.

Most churches aren’t held back because of their venue or even because of their technology. They’re

stagnant or dying because they’re not connecting with people and effectively fulfilling their mission.

So, in the interest of clarity, if you want to make things worse, here’s how to do it: Address form, but don’t address substance. Never resolve your underlying problems.

Instead, add technology, add locations, add campuses, or engineer a merger, and hope that all this will solve all your problems. It will not.

church mergers in mainline churches almost never work. Church takeovers can and do work, by the way.)

One of the best things any leader can do when he or she in a tough spot is to stop making assumptions and start asking questions.

Is our sense of mission white hot?

Has our strategy or approach become dated?

While the mission of the church is eternal, strategy should shift from generation to generation.