Dynamics & Issues That Contribute to Continual Growth

with

Tom Cheyney

Sited Resources• www.ChurchPlantingVillage.net• www.NAMB.net/CMR• www.Barna.com

• Nine Habits of Effective Churches – George Barna

• Comeback Churches – Ed Stetzer

• Eleven Innovations for Growing Churches – Elmer Towns

Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

How can churches today be as vital as the early Christian communities described in the Book of Acts? How can we reclaim the fruitful piety of the early saints of days gone by?

Let’s look at five foundational practices to help

congregations be fruitful in ministry to their members and in service to the world.

Five Practices of Fruitful CongregationsAnalyzing the basic building blocks of congregational

life, here are the key practices of fruitful congregations:

1. Radical hospitality – the active desire to bring people to Christ and his church

2. Passionate worship – fresh encounters with God that transform lives

3. Intentional faith development – learning together in community

4. Risk-taking mission and service – an outward focus that changes the world through missional activity while invigorating the church

5. Extravagant generosity – sharing that exceeds all expectations

Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

The adjective in each of these phrases is the key to understanding what makes it fruitful. Without the modifier “radical,” hospitality describes the status quo. Worship, unless it is “passionate,” is business as usual for the church, and so on.

God longs for the church to be so much more than it often is today.

Transforming Lives

We don't plant churches just to have people show up on Sunday. We don't even plant them to simply convert the lost. We plant churches to transform lives so that God may be glorified. Most churches struggle with finding the balance between evangelism and discipleship. Focus on one, lose the other. Evangelism and discipleship are not an either/or.

They are a both and!

Source: George Barna

Wrongful Habits that are Detrimental to Effective Best Practices Habit• Printing the Bible verses

for the sermon in a handout or on a large screen!

Detrimental Effect• Encourages people to

stop using their Bibles during the week, as well as no longer carrying them to church!

Wrongful Habits that are Detrimental to Effective Best Practices Habit• Conducting an annual

Easter and/or Christmas event.

Detrimental Effect• Many of these events

begin with great intentions but fizzle after a few years, becoming activities for their own sake, attracting few of the outsiders they were originally intended to attract!

Wrongful Habits that are Detrimental to Effective Best Practices Habit• Maintaining a rigid

order of service in the weekend event.

Detrimental Effect• While there is always value to

stability, the predictability of the service has created disenchantment among many because it is too routine and the message communicated is one of resistance to change in a world defined by change!

Wrongful Habits that are Detrimental to Effective Best Practices Habit• Expecting the pastor’s

spouse to be the catch-all.

Detrimental Effect• Far too many churches

pay one salary for the minister and expect the spouse to act as a full-time employee without pay. This adds stress to the ministers family and unrealistic expectations for the church!

Wrongful Habits that are Detrimental to Effective Best Practices Habit• Requiring the pastor to

be the chief fund-raiser for the church.

Detrimental Effect• This will undermine the

trust the church has for the pastor.

Wrongful Habits that are Detrimental to Effective Best Practices Habit• Developing an

information-laden web site.

Detrimental Effect• This will undermine the

church and provide static information to people. Those who are 30 or younger are not looking for info, they are looking for interactivity. The rest simply are not looking!

Habits that are beneficial to Effective Best Practices!

• To avoid creating bad habits in ministry we must be very conscious of what we do, when we do it, why we do it and the outcome of those actions. Here are four elements that make a habit desirable and not negative:

1. It is a intentional behavior. (Anything unintentional pulls away from the experience!)

Habits that are beneficial to Effective Best Practices!

• To avoid creating bad habits in ministry we must be very conscious of what we do, when we do it, why we do it and the outcome of those actions. Here are four elements that make a habit desirable and not negative:

2. It is a strategic behavior. There is purpose behind the action. It is consistent with the mission, vision, and values.

Habits that are beneficial to Effective Best Practices!

• To avoid creating bad habits in ministry we must be very conscious of what we do, when we do it, why we do it and the outcome of those actions. Here are four elements that make a habit desirable and not negative:

3. It is a productive behavior. The goal is changed lives. Anything less needs to be removed.

Habits that are beneficial to Effective Best Practices!

• To avoid creating bad habits in ministry we must be very conscious of what we do, when we do it, why we do it and the outcome of those actions. Here are four elements that make a habit desirable and not negative:

4. It is a biblical behavior. Everything must be examined in light of God’s principles and parameters.

Best Practices That Can Contribute to Growth

• Strategic Prayer• Engaging in Strategic

Evangelism• Led by Strong

Transformational Leaders• Preaching• Children’s ministry• Youth Ministry• Relationship Building• Attitudes• Finances/Stewardship• Leadership Development• Lay Mobilization

• Missions • Assimilation• Genuine Worship• Small Groups / Sunday

School• Structure of Organization• Marketing• Change Agents (pastor, new

staff etc.)• Community Service• Facilities• Servant Hood

Here are the top nine best practices

• Strategic Leadership• Effective Organizations• Relationship Building• Genuine Worship• Strategic Evangelism• Systematic Theological

Growth• Holistic Stewardship• Serve the needy• Equip Families to

minister

Strategic PrayerStrategic Prayer was listed as one of the top

three factors for church revitalization and I would add for new church growth as well (other two were Evangelism and Preaching).

Forty-four percent of respondents say that the key ingredient in growth is strategic prayer. Prayer changes things! It is a learned behavior. No one masters prayer and there are no experts. An increased emphasis in prayer and our prayer patterns in a church is vital.

Pg 200, 55 Stetzer

Engaging in Strategic Evangelism Four out of five protestant churches describe their

church as evangelistic! The difference for highly effective evangelistic churches is that they are engaged strategically in evangelism.

• It is an act of love not a pressure to accomplish sort of thing.

• A large focus on Child & Youth evangelism. (These ministers are perhaps the primary evangelist of the church!)

• These finish the task by completing the evangelization process through personal discipleship of new converts! Pg 103 Barna Habits

Preaching

• Twenty-five percent of respondents stated that preaching was one of the top three factors towards growth.

• These churches don’t just preach the Word of God, they do it in ways as to motivate the people into action while using their preaching as a regular form for casting of vision.

Led by Strong Transformational Leaders Churches that are serious agencies of life

transformation have leaders who possesses the same qualities: a vision of what they seek to create, a respect based relationship with a team of competent assistants, effective communication skills, a strategic mind, purposeful courage, and an unquenchable passion about the outcome to which they are committed.

• This is a big change from the present day norm where pastors are afraid to lead or are incapable to leaded and appear to be in neutral.

Pg 22 Barna Habits

Significant Relationship Building

Relationship building will either make you or break you as a pastor/leader. If you are effective in drawing people around you in effective lasting relationships you will have a greater chance to be effective.

• What makes a church secure and stable is not mere friendliness but true concern, compassion, and caring for others.

• Most churches give little thought to how relationships develop within the church. There needs to be a purposeful commitment to relationship building with other believers (most of this is outside of small groups)!

Pg 65 Barna Habits

Finances & Stewardship

There is a holistic approach to finances and stewardship among highly effective churches! Stewardship is a big issue in these churches and they communicate this regularly. When communicated it is in terms of managing all of the resources that have been entrusted to us by God. All things are His, but He has appointed us the guardians of His estate. We have free reign with these resources, but will ultimately be held accountable to Him, by Him, according to the guidelines provided in the Bible.

• The underlying motivation is that stewardship is a biblical behavior.

Pg 135 Barna Habits

Facilitating Genuine Worship

America has worship challenges! Research shows that 1/3 of congregants never experience God’s powerful presence in worship! Further, ½ of regular attendee's say they have not experienced God’s presence in worship during the past year!

• Re-engineering of worship vital.

• Re-designing of worship is critical.

Pg 75 Barna Habits

Facilitating Genuine WorshipIndicators of Genuine worship:• People are clearly shaken by their experience

physically, emotionally, pr intellectually.• People are anxious to return church for another God

encounter.• Worshippers have an undeniable sense of God’s

presence in their midst.• Individuals experienced a deep need to repent before

God.• There is a willingness to surrender control to God and

allow Him to direct ones life.• The message provided a biblical impetus for people to

clarify their worldview and to grow holistically.

Pg 75 Barna Habits

Structure of organization Structuring the church for impact is part and parcel of

any growing endeavor. Failure to do so hinders the potential for success. Successful churches cannot be agencies of transformation unless they are structured to facilitate effectiveness. Here are the most common traits of these churches:• Participation is critical• Salaried staff is limited• Structure fits ministry• A reasonable growth plan in place• Accountability is embraced by staff not feared

Structure exists to foster ministry impact, not to impair it! Page 49 Barna Habits

Serving the community

When surveyed, the most frequent answer to the question “Why do churches exist?” was to demonstrate the love of God by helping the needy.

But one in ten churches are actually engaged in community while one if five pastors believe they are engaged. There is a balanced to struck for sure but all of could do more than we are doing.

Pg 143 Barna Habits

Equipping the Family

Building up the Christian home is still a big priority for effective churches. Here are the seven perceived needs of the family:

• Trustworthy counselors• True partnership in marriage• Better childhood development• Better parenting skills• Greater courage to change• Greater emotional support• A family-crisis safety net Pg 156 Barna

Summation

One interesting discovery was that it is much easier to become a highly effective church if you are working in anew church plant. Since it is not yet had the time to develop bad habits or become entrenched in routines.

Leadership development• Leadership matters for churches desiring to

either continue to grow or to travel through a revitalization strategy! It takes strong leadership to move churches through the real issues involved in growth or revitalization.

• These type of leaders:Take the initiative for change.Challenge day to day excuses.Proactive leadership.Goal setting.Pray Matthew 9:37-38 Regularly and Passionately

Assimilation• Imagine what it would be like if community leaders felt

compelled to attend your church's two year birthday celebration because they had found a relational connection with you? What if at your 5th birthday party they came to express their thanks for being part of the community? And what if after 10 years they were trying to remember what it was like before you were there?

• Externally focused churches are convinced that good deeds and good news go together and that they are vital to the health and well-being of the community. Externally focused churches choose the window seat not the aisle seat and, regardless of size, age or location they can find a way to make a difference in the community.

• Becoming an externally focused church means helping people discover grace, grow in grace and live gracefully. These are the ideas we will explore together in Becoming an Externally Focused New Church.

Servanthood

• A heart for service is vital within any growing church new or old alike. Servanthood is taught, modeled, and practiced within churches that are interested in growth.

• Servanthood helps you keep an outward focus into the community.

• Servanthood is a great way to demonstrate that it is not about us but about others.

• Servanthood is a great way to lead people to care more about their community than their preferences!

Attitudes

• Before anyone can become motivated towards action, ones heart must be changed. Attitudes are one of the top challenges for any minister.

Lay mobilization

• When you engage more lay people in meaningful ministry the church benefits. It is also biblical to have the laity step up to their spiritual gifts and use them for ministry. Empowering lay leadership is key.

• When church members are expected to be involved and to use their God given gifts, talents, and skills the ministry wins and the Lord is honored.

Small groups / Sunday school

• Many a growing church already knows that small group assimilation is a huge indicator towards a growing church. It is the place where community and doing life together takes place! They are the basic building blocks on which the church is built.

Facilities

• Most church planters understand the need for space to grow a church! It is interesting how quickly we forget this once we are up and running. Keeps your space fresh and configure it in a new way regularly.

Some ideas:

Add venues, children’s events, youth events, use multi-purpose space, remodel, retro-fit, etc.

Marketing

• Ten percent of American churches use marketing!

• Thirty-eight percent of growing churches use marketing.

Three core convictions: * The church ought to be the most creative

place on the planet* The greatest message deserves the greatest marketing* The church is called to compete in the middle of the marketplace

Missions

• These churches sense God’s moving and believe that being missional is foundational to healthy growth.

New Innovations that most of us missed!

Many congregations wake up to discover that the church has changed and nobody has told us! The principles are the same but the methods are in a state of flux!

Remember the old adage:Methods are manyPrinciples are few

Methods may changeBut principles never do!

New Innovations that most of us missed!

Some innovations on the horizon:

• Recovery & Revitalization Churches

• Multi-site churches

• Ancient/future churches

• City reaching churches

• Community transformation churches

• Cyber-enhanced churches

• Nickelodeon churches

New Innovations that most of us missed!

Some innovations on the horizon:

• Organic Churches

• Intentionally Multicultural churches

• Decision/Journey churches

• Attractional Churches

• Extreme Churches

Dynamics & Issues That Contribute to Revival Growth

By

Dr. Tom Cheyney