Marc Estes

Over the few decades I have had the wonderful privilege to travel abroad and speak in many churches. Regardless of the country I am visiting, the demonination of the church, the mission statement on the wall or the personality of the pastor, there are two predominant similarities. First they all have a vision to exponentially grow; second, most of them aren’t exponentially growing. 

Now I don’t claim to be a church growth expert, but do have the honor of working with some incredible leaders and part of a dynamic local church that has seen significant growth in the past decade.  We have made our share of mistakes, but have been passionate about developing strategies in which to reach and disciple more people.  Furthermore, I recognize that each church is radically different and that the implementation of certain strategies will apply differently to each church.  I also recognize that there are many ingredients that are necessary in building a healthy church that stretch far beyond what will be discussed in this one post. Yet there are certain principles that can be applied to every church regardless of their uniqeness.

Here is a simple chart I developed that will help each area of your church develop a strategy for growing their particular area of ministry. You can use this chart for each specific ministry area. There are five main pastoral areas that contribute to the growth of the church. These should be considered in developing a growth strategy for each ministry. They are  listed vertically in the left column.

Five Growth Areas

1. Connection Strategies - These are strategies that work to connect every new person to a meaningful relationship or ministry expression.  These are the entry points to the church and each ministry area. 

2. Serving Strategies -  These are strategies that intentionally engage people to places of meaninful service which builds the believer and in turn builds the church.

3. Community Strategies - These strategies foster the intentional development of Biblically based, purpose driven relationships within the context of small groups or ministry areas.

4. Reaching Strategies - These strates help to create a culture in which every person and every ministry has a passion to reach those who need Christ.

5. Leadership Development Strategies -  These strategies develop a process in which every leader reproduces themselves and provide future opportunities for others to lead resulting in the church muitplying.

Three Development Components

The top row represents the development of your action plan. These three areas are:

1. WHAT – Goals or changes to make - You will need to take some time to consider the goals and changes that need to  be made in each of the five areas.  The list may vary in priority depending on the type of ministry that you are analyzing. Make sure you set SMART Goals in this area. (SMART is an acrostic for goals that are; specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely).

2. HOW – Specifics to achieving your goals - You need to take the time to develop and action plan for each goal that is established. This is where most leaders fail. This takes time, energy and concentration and you must discipline yourself to fully develop this process.

3. WHO – People to include in the process - Once you have established the ‘What’ and the ‘How’ you can then define the ‘Who.” These are the people in which you will work with to implement your action plan.  For further information on developing leaders, see my five part post on “Developing a Leadership Pipeline.”

Once you have spent the time to develop this grid, you are well on your way in developing some ideas that will help your church to grow.  Happy building!