Start This, Stop That: Do the Things That Grow Your Church

The pastor of a church must be able to lead the church in its growth. This usually means that the pastor will have to grow along with the church. It also means that he will need to shift himself into a leadership mindset. The pastor needs to be both a minister and a leader. Ministry requires you to respond to others' needs.

Leadership requires you to take initiative without consulting others. Study up on topics related to the logistics of growth. Learn how to equip your church for ministry and how to raise money. Research time management and learn to balance your resources. Spend time reading on ministry-related topics like theology, church history, and Scriptures.

Commit to a certain reading goal, like a book every one or two months. Pastors can also benefit from attending conferences and meeting with mentors in the field of church leadership. Build a pastoral care team. In a small church, the pastor can run the business affairs of the church while still being there for every member of the congregation. As the church grows, however, it will need to have a pastoral care team to help minister when the pastor cannot. Sometimes, you'll need to hire assistant pastors to formally meet the pastoral needs of your church.

A pastoral care team may also consist of thriving lay ministries. Lay people of the congregation won't be able to help preach and teach, but they can assist with worship, visiting the sick, and leading small groups. The governing board of your church needs to be geared toward managing a larger organization. A board packed with members who fixate on the detailed organization of a small church will struggle to adapt to the needs of a large church. Growing churches are very active churches, and very active churches typically offer plenty of activities and groups for members and visitors to get involved with.

The groups don't need to be large, and they don't even need to meet on church grounds. The important thing is to vary the nature of the groups so that you can provide a little bit of everything.

Have groups for different ages, circumstances, and interests. Organize based on the gifts of the people. Get to know your staff, volunteers, and congregation. Find out which skills and gifts the people of your church have to offer, then develop programs around those attributes.

Expand the worship service. Build the sort of worship service you want to need, not the sort of service you need right now. It's easier to draw in a larger crowd when you already have a service meant for one. Try to energize worship time or have more passionate preaching. Build the ambiance of excitement that you would expect to find in a larger church. Ask for feedback on the service. Look for ways to view the service through the eyes of both guests and regular attendees, then tweak the service as needed. Turn your attention outward. Church should be the ultimate clique-free zone.

Years ago my husband became the teaching pastor of a large church. We made a mid-year move -- November to be exact. But then again, she already had friends. She was already solidly settled into her comfortable church life. Of course, not all ministries can -- or should -- have an open door policy. But some can, and some should. Every church needs a few options for folks to join at any point; otherwise, the church is unknowingly creating a culture of cliques.

As a speaker, I travel across the country speaking to churches of all stripes. Of course, people in the church clique know Sally, but what about everyone else?

What about the guest the church is trying to reach? Or the person who attends church occasionally? Churches also unintentionally perpetuate cliques by what they name their ministries. This one might seem obvious. Because inviting others in takes us out. Out of our comfort zone. Out of our familiar routine. Out of our nice, safe, predictable life. But inviting others in also takes us out of a life of stale, powerless Christianity. Not only does this prevent cliques, but it also opens the door to new growth possibilities for us as Christ-followers; for instance, if a group includes folks in different seasons of life, the older members can share their wisdom, and the younger members can share their zeal.

And this is the mysteriously odd and at times maddening paradox of being a church planter. Or perhaps I am complaining a bit. But not about ministry in general! What I mean is this: What I am saying is this: In some ways I feel like being a church planter has been far more difficult than anyone ever told me it was going to be.

You see… I foolishly thought I was well prepared for this thing. After spending a few years as an itinerant preacher, and then a combined ten years as a Student Pastor on both the West Coast and the East Coast, I was absolutely convinced that I was ready to plant a church. I had read all the Stetzer books, submitted myself to a quality assessment from a top-notch global church-planting network, and now I was ready to charge hell with a squirt gun and a manly roar!

All that to say, when I first stepped out to plant Emmaus Church here in the suburbs of Atlanta, I was like most every other church planter I had ever met; arrogant, cocky, and obnoxiously loud. But now here I sit in my office chair on a damp Monday morning, almost seven years after our very first Core Group gathering in my living room. I sit here emotionally exhausted and mentally numb from all that occurred on this church campus just yesterday.

And in this moment I can see this thing going one of two ways. I can prayerfully surrender this moment over to King Jesus.

2. Stop reinventing the wheel.

And, following His lead, I can choose to make the most of this moment and allow Him to use it for His purposes. So…in an effort to allow Christ to have complete lordship over this moment in time, I want to offer a gift to any of you men out there who may be currently praying about whether or not King Jesus is calling you to be a church planter.

I want to offer a gift to any of you ESV Bible-equipped-Kanye West-church planters in the world who are preparing to surrender the rest of your years to the roller coaster mission field of being a planting pastor. I want to offer you a gift that I so wish someone would have offered to me seven years ago, in the days just before my wife and I stepped out to plant Emmaus Church.

Here are 10 things I for every planter before your first core group gathering. We had just been forced to make an abrupt facility move taking us from a musty gym that smelled like sweaty socks to a movie theater at a local mall. The crazy thing is this move was actually a huge downgrade for our church! I still remember closing out the sermon with a prayer one Sunday only to have my prayer interrupted by the sound of the Coming Attractions preview blaring over the loud speaker!

I can still remember the Sunday I looked at my wife, Heather, while we were driving home after church and I said these words: Thankfully, my wife, who tends to be the voice of reason in our family, just looked at me with a tender smile and said: Today I firmly believe the same description applies to planting a church. Gentlemen, plant the kind of church you know King Jesus has called you to plant. People you love will eventually leave.

• 10 Ways to Stop Cliques in Your Church!
• 1. Stop using positive reinforcement as a guide.?
• !
• 2. Model Inclusiveness from the Top.
• 6 Things Pastors Do to Kill Church Growth;
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• Control Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms (Beat Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms Book 2).

People you thought you would grow old with in this church will eventually leave. The very people you never dreamed would leave will eventually leave. Sometimes they will communicate with you why they are leaving. And their silence will at times be deafening. As Lead Pastor, the question you must always ask when a person or a family leaves the church is this: Are they leaving because of some unresolved sin that I am guilty of?

If the answer to that question is yes, then you should set the example and humbly repent. If the answer to that question is no, then you should let God be God and entrust those people to His loving care. Sleep like a Calvinist. Our insecurities are laid bare at this moment! So… allow me to take the pressure off of you for a moment, Mr.

You are deficient in every way! You are totally depraved. You are a sinner. And Jesus is your Champion. Thankfully He is The Senior Pastor of your church. Rejoice that those people are saved if they are. Focus on the lost and dying in your community who deeply need the Gospel! That is why God has planted you there. The Great Commission is your mission! As much as it stings whenever people you love leave the church you plant, it feels quite delightful when new people and new families actually show up!

Of course we love that! No man plants a church because he dreams of preaching the gospel to empty rooms and passionately inviting the vacant chairs to live on mission. Your personality, no matter how charismatic and winsome, did not draw those people to the church; the Holy Spirit did that.

But when the people show up and most likely they will , there is something crucial you must remember. Your personality, no matter how charismatic and winsome, did not draw those people there; the Holy Spirit did that.

1. Ascensores electrónicos y variadores de velocidad. (Spanish Edition).
2. Pretty Little Horses (an Abby Maxon mystery novel)!
3. kimidakewo (Japanese Edition).
4. Selections from the Motion Picture The Dark Knight: Piano Solos.
5. Compatibility Test: 255 Questions Couples Should Ask Before Things Get Too Serious.
6. Do the Things That Grow Your Church.
7. .

And the greatest hope those people have for true and lasting life-transformation is found in the gospel. My wife is a runner. I only run when being chased by a rabid animal that has sharp teeth. But in the church planting game, my tendency to sprint is constant.