Church Growth

“For a growing number of evangelical pastors, embracing right-wing rhetoric is seen as a way to put more people in the pews — and it may be working.” - RNS

“The prosperity gospel is heresy…. there is something of a similar nature lurking in my own circles….the scarcity gospel. It is the belief that we should expect God to do very little through our churches or in our lifetime.” - By Faith

“Problems occur when sociologists begin to go beyond empirical and scientific studies of Christianity and draw theological conclusions using a sociological approach.” - C.Today

“If we are in a small congregation, we ought to rejoice in our close fellowship, in the ordinary work of God lived out with the people whom God has placed us among. At the same time, we ought to see growth as a good gift and as a blessing when the Lord brings it.” - Ref21

“I have in mind Rick Warren’s brief address Tuesday from the floor of the convention and Juan Sanchez’ convention sermon Wednesday. These two messages represented two different, competing visions of ministry and the local church.” - 9 Marks

“Our objective ought to be church health, not church growth. A vital or healthy church is marked by spiritual vitality, functional effectiveness, and statistical growth in its life and ministry.” - Ken Brown

“Gerardo Martí is professor of sociology at Davidson College and co-author of The Glass Church: Robert H. Schuller, the Crystal Cathedral, and the Strain of Megachurch Ministry.” - C.Leaders

“Our models and our expectations for ‘successful’ churches tend to focus on growing in numbers. But is that realistic? …. Christian minorities gathered into small congregations can still function effectively as the Body of Christ. In fact, that may be the Biblical norm.” - Veith

“I’m talking about churches that were growing before the pandemic, then embraced the digital world during the pandemic, and now are back growing again after the pandemic. In every case, they cited one powerful tool for growing the church … Word of mouth.” - Phil Cooke

“To truly understand how healthy we are as a church we have to know how we are caring for the three circles of people we are called to shepherd; our neighbors, our followers and our disciples.” - C.Leaders