Church Growth

“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

“Being small does not mean that something is broken. But if something is broken, you can’t fix it by making it bigger. Bigger fixes nothing.” - Church Leaders

“After months of delays in the process, the church’s interim pastor announces plans to resign.” - Christianity Today

“The Church Growth Movement of a few decades ago promoted the use of marketing techniques to attract as many people as possible to form a ‘mega-church.’ But today’s marketing philosophy, enabled by online technology, focuses not on reaching vast numbers but on identifying individuals with highly specific interests and targeting them with tailor-made appeals…creating not ‘mega-’ but ‘micro-churches.’” -