Structuring the Church to Grow
How do you structure a church so it just keeps on growing and doesn’t plateau? I
believe there are ten essentials you must focus on as you structure your church.
1. We must develop an unshakable conviction about growth.
First and foremost, you need to settle on the idea that God wants his church to
grow. And he doesn’t want it to stop growing!
You don’t ever need to apologize for wanting your church to grow. God wants his
church to grow; it’s his will and his command. The reason churches must grow is
because people are going to hell without Jesus Christ. As long as there is one person
within driving distance of our church that does not know Jesus Christ, we must
keep growing.
2. We must change the primary role of the pastor from minister to leader.
As a leader, you must learn to communicate our vision in very personal and practical ways.
We must also learn to motivate our church through your messages, and understand that it’s
easier to motivate a group than it is to motivate individuals.
A leader also equips others for ministry. Otherwise, you’ll burn out and the church
won’t grow. An expanding ministry also demands you learn how to raise money.
Those who write the agenda must underwrite the agenda, and you must learn to
manage your time. Effective leaders know where their time goes.
3. We must organize around the gifts of your people.
The team God gives us will show us how to structure. Organizing around the gifts
of our people will allow the church to focus on ministry, not maintenance. A
gifts-based ministry encourages teamwork. It also makes better use of the talent
around you (and why do you think God brought this talent into our church?).
Building our structure on the gifts and talents within the church promotes creativity
and allows for spontaneous growth. Ministries bubble up, rather than waiting on a
board meeting to dissect every possibility. And decision-making becomes more
efficient while the structure grows more stable.
4. We must budget according to your purposes and priorities.
Obviously the budget of the church shows the priorities and the direction of the
church. I’d suggest you take the budget items and ask of each item, “Which purpose
does this fit under?” This will help our people visualize what you’re trying to do, and
what you’re doing with God’s money.
5. You must create affinity groups to enhance community.
The more affinity groups you have, the more ways you have to connect with people.
You want to avoid your church becoming a single-cell anemia, so deliberately
structure our church so it won’t become one big group that doesn’t reach out to
other people.
6. You must intentionally break through attendance barriers with big days.
Crowds attract crowds! People like to be around crowds. When you have big, special
days - maybe Easter, maybe a Friend Day - there’s something about seeing an
100 people or more, that expands our congregation’s vision. They see
what the church can be, and they see what it can look like. These special days help
the church to see itself as bigger and growing and vibrant.
7. We must add surplus seating space and parking.
When it comes to building a facility, most churches build too little and too soon. And
then the shoe begins to tell the foot how big it can get! You want to build as big as
you can, which means having more than enough seating and more than enough
parking. Sometimes that means you’ll have to wait to build until you can build big
enough.
8. We must continually evaluate our progress.
Take a regular and honest look at what is going on in our church (and where our
church is going). If you try to study everything you’ll end up with the paralysis of
analysis, so decide to track three or four significant numbers, such as attendance, missions
etc.
We need to decide on a standard for measuring the health of our church and shoot for it.
The process is constant; you may hit the mark you’ve set today, but tomorrow is a
new day. Continually evaluate our progress and make the necessary adjustments
to grow healthy while growing larger.
believe there are ten essentials you must focus on as you structure your church.
1. We must develop an unshakable conviction about growth.
First and foremost, you need to settle on the idea that God wants his church to
grow. And he doesn’t want it to stop growing!
You don’t ever need to apologize for wanting your church to grow. God wants his
church to grow; it’s his will and his command. The reason churches must grow is
because people are going to hell without Jesus Christ. As long as there is one person
within driving distance of our church that does not know Jesus Christ, we must
keep growing.
2. We must change the primary role of the pastor from minister to leader.
As a leader, you must learn to communicate our vision in very personal and practical ways.
We must also learn to motivate our church through your messages, and understand that it’s
easier to motivate a group than it is to motivate individuals.
A leader also equips others for ministry. Otherwise, you’ll burn out and the church
won’t grow. An expanding ministry also demands you learn how to raise money.
Those who write the agenda must underwrite the agenda, and you must learn to
manage your time. Effective leaders know where their time goes.
3. We must organize around the gifts of your people.
The team God gives us will show us how to structure. Organizing around the gifts
of our people will allow the church to focus on ministry, not maintenance. A
gifts-based ministry encourages teamwork. It also makes better use of the talent
around you (and why do you think God brought this talent into our church?).
Building our structure on the gifts and talents within the church promotes creativity
and allows for spontaneous growth. Ministries bubble up, rather than waiting on a
board meeting to dissect every possibility. And decision-making becomes more
efficient while the structure grows more stable.
4. We must budget according to your purposes and priorities.
Obviously the budget of the church shows the priorities and the direction of the
church. I’d suggest you take the budget items and ask of each item, “Which purpose
does this fit under?” This will help our people visualize what you’re trying to do, and
what you’re doing with God’s money.
5. You must create affinity groups to enhance community.
The more affinity groups you have, the more ways you have to connect with people.
You want to avoid your church becoming a single-cell anemia, so deliberately
structure our church so it won’t become one big group that doesn’t reach out to
other people.
6. You must intentionally break through attendance barriers with big days.
Crowds attract crowds! People like to be around crowds. When you have big, special
days - maybe Easter, maybe a Friend Day - there’s something about seeing an
100 people or more, that expands our congregation’s vision. They see
what the church can be, and they see what it can look like. These special days help
the church to see itself as bigger and growing and vibrant.
7. We must add surplus seating space and parking.
When it comes to building a facility, most churches build too little and too soon. And
then the shoe begins to tell the foot how big it can get! You want to build as big as
you can, which means having more than enough seating and more than enough
parking. Sometimes that means you’ll have to wait to build until you can build big
enough.
8. We must continually evaluate our progress.
Take a regular and honest look at what is going on in our church (and where our
church is going). If you try to study everything you’ll end up with the paralysis of
analysis, so decide to track three or four significant numbers, such as attendance, missions
etc.
We need to decide on a standard for measuring the health of our church and shoot for it.
The process is constant; you may hit the mark you’ve set today, but tomorrow is a
new day. Continually evaluate our progress and make the necessary adjustments
to grow healthy while growing larger.