I have never seen a church grow simply because members wished for growth. Truthfully, most growth aspirations stem from constituents wanting more people, just like themselves, to help support the budget and existing programming. I have only seen churches actually grow in response to the pursuit of authentic ministry that served a contextual need. Chasing growth for the sake of growth is a knee-jerk reaction that lets a congregation avoid the hard work of clarifying identity, context, and values. It compels leaders to jump on everyone else’s bandwagon, chasing flavor-of-the-month programs that
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