• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

PastorMentor

Proven Practices for a Better, Bigger Church

  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Easter Playbook
  • Blog
  • Shop
    • Shop All
    • Ebooks
    • Master Classes
    • Books
    • Church Campaigns
  • Login
    • Association Leaders

Hal Seed

8 Reasons Why you Should Have Hope for your Church

8 Reasons Why you Should Have Hope for your ChurchI sat in on Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church Conference at Saddleback recently. I went for the first time last year, and already they have me feeling like family.

Rick Warren has become one of my heroes. The words of this church statesman will:

  • give you hope for your church.
  • shift how you see your ministry.
  • clarify how you think about your approach to growing your church.

Take a look at the conference and think about going next year.

In the meantime, check out these nuggets of wisdom, direct from Rick. One of them might be the key to your next great season of life and ministry.

1. Skill will bring success.

If the ax is dull
    and its edge unsharpened,
more strength is needed,
    but skill will bring success. Ecclesiastes 10:10 NIV

You need the right skills to grow a church. Your church growth ax needs to be sharp.

It’s not just about having the right vision, or being a nice person, or about your dedication. It takes more than dedication to grow a church.

Growing churches require growing pastors. The minute you stop growing, your church stops growing.

The more skilled you become, the more you’ll harvest.

2. Develop an unshakable conviction that God wants your church to grow.

If you don’t believe that growth is God’s will, you’ll give up because it’s too hard.

Church growth is hard, and you’ll quit without that conviction that God wants growth in your church.

“A great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will grow a great church.”         Rick Warren

Don’t wish to be in a significant place of ministry. Make your ministry significant.

3. A plateau does not have to be a dead end. It can be the gateway to the next level.

Don’t worry. Plateaus are natural. Things naturally slow to a static state.

Churches tend to plateau at 75, 150 or 300 attenders. 50% of churches have less than 75 people. 95% of churches have less than 300 people.

You can overcome a plateau by understanding that at every stage you don’t have the same old problems. You get new ones. These are inhibitors that prevent or slow growth.

Like parking congestion. Your older building. Job losses in your town. The age of your church.

Overcome the inhibitors that plateau growth with catalysts.

  • When growth is inhibited by the immaturity of your members, get them on a personal growth pathway through the classes you offer.
  • When growth is inhibited by the fears of your members, get them in small groups so they are loved.
  • When growth is inhibited by the lethargy of your members, give them a role and a responsibility in ministry.
  • When growth is inhibited by their insulation from the world, get them into the community.

Renewal starts with God’s faithfulness, not your problems.  When you have true renewal, you’ll have to lock the doors to keep people out.

4. Vision is the ability to see the opportunity in your current situation and move on it.

Rick WarrenFollow the news with church growth eyes.

People will come to Christ when they are under tension or in transition. When people first move in to a new place. When they are in a personal crisis.

Look for those who are open to the gospel. Look for the 25% who are good soil.

Never be afraid to set a big goal. Even if you don’t reach it, it challenges you to go forward.

Dream great dreams for God. He can top them.

5. Be strategic in introducing change.

Be a proponent of the new. Not an opponent of the old.

  • Build up new stuff.
  • Emphasize it.
  • Let the old stuff fall away.

Find the legitimizers in your church and get them on board with the new idea first.

Try things. Don’t be afraid to fail.

Call every change an experiment. Then it’s easier to go back if it fails and it makes it easier for people to go along with it.

A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks;
    a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.                Proverbs 2:3 MSG

Don’t try to make changes just by telling people about your new ideas. Instead, have them read the book or watch the video about it to hear the why behind the change.

Love everybody, but move with the movers.

6. Structure cannot cause growth, but it can prevent it.

Structure determines the size and rate of growth. There is no single correct structure and no permanent structure.

“It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. If you’re getting the job done, I like the way you’re doing it.”      Rick Warren

For a church to grow, the pastor must give up control of ministry and the people must give up control of leadership.

7. You can’t turn the agenda of your church over to whiners.

Before you can have growth – blessed additions – you may need some blessed subtractions.

Old-timers love it when the church starts to grow, but they will criticize when there are more newcomers than old. Don’t give the church back to whiners.

Smaller churches have member problems. Bigger churches have staff problems.

People will leave no matter what. When you define the vision, you’re defining who leaves and who stays.

It takes unselfish people to grow a church.

Make a public commitment to stay. If the pastor leaves the problem stays. If the pastor stays, the problems leave. The average pastor leaves because of 7 people.

8. If you don’t want to be uncomfortable, don’t grow a church.

If you can’t handle the disapproval of people, get out of ministry. Remember that you work for an audience of one.

If you are overwhelmed, just start working on one thing at a time.

If you are discouraged, remember that it’s not how you start the race that matters. It how you finish it. Forget your past strike-outs. It’s the direction your feet are headed now that’s important.

Now What?

  1. Pick one nugget of Rick’s wisdom that God wants to speak into your life today and talk to Him about it.
  2. Consider going to a Purpose Driven Conference in August or next June.

Further Reading:

  • The Best 21 Truths I Learned from Rick Warren
  • How to Lead 48,000 People to Jesus

Hal_Seed_HeadshotHal Seed is the founding and Lead Pastor of New Song Community Church in Oceanside, CA. He mentors pastors who want to lead healthy, growing churches with resources at www.pastormentor.com.

Start Here to learn more about the resources available for you at PastorMentor.

Filed Under: Be a Better Leader Tagged With: Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren

Previous Post: « How to Help Major Donors Give Generously in your Church
Next Post: [Video] How can you get men to do ministry in your church? »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I'm Hal

My mission is to help you lead a growing, healthy church. Find out more about what we do here.

Get Your Free 2023 Easter Planner

Pastor's Toolbox

What do you want to learn today?

Featured On

ChurchLeaders.com NAMB

Show Me How To…

Footer

Proven Practices for a Growing Church

  Get Started

Pastor Mentor Store

Pastor's Personal Toolbox
Church Engines Academy
Master Classes and Ministry Kits
Church Campaigns
Books
Ebooks

What do you want to learn today?

Show Me How To…

Plan the Perfect Church Calendar
Improve my Mental Health
Find a Mentor
Do Outreach and Evangelism
Evaluate my Church
Set Goals
See Church Growth

Keep People Coming
Develop Better Systems

©2023 PastorMentor

  • Contact
  • Order Info
  • Privacy
  • Terms and Conditions