Kaniki Bible CollegeChurch Growth

Dr Kaluba Kapapula 2nd

term

Course Description

This course is concerned with the principles underlying the growth of churches and stresses the importance of the Great Commission in relation to world evangelization and Church planting. In this course we will also focus on finding answers to the Question of why some churches are not growing, what can be done about it and how can we avoid falling in the same pit.

Course Outcome

At the end of this course students should be able to:

i) Understand Church Growth from a Biblical Perspectiveii) Understand how to diagnose a Church’s state of health.iii) Be ready to put to practical use the kingdom principles of growth and break the

barriers of growth.iv) Learn how to avoid common mistakes made by desperate Churches.v) Understand how to apply different methods of Church growth.

Course Outline God willing, we will cover the following:

I) Understanding God’s mind about Church Growth

II) Kingdom Principles for church growth

III) Diagnosing a Church’s state of health

IV) Different methods of Church growth.

Assignment

Students will be divided in six groups of five with a couple groups having extra and each group will be asked to come up with a list of 10 reasons why Churches don’t grow and how to avoid that

Introduction

Understanding God’s mind about Church Growth

Luke 19:10

i) The Purpose of Christ’s mission……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

ii) The Passion of his mission

P……………………………….

A………………………………

S………………………………

S……………………………….

I……………………………….

O……………………………….

N……………………………….

Matthew 16:18

I will Build

My Church

The Gates of hades will not overcome it

C……………………………………

O…………………………………..

M………………………………….

E……………………………………….

Kingdom Principles: This rescues us from the danger of emphasizing church growth methods and losing sight of the first principle which is God’s kingdom and our role in its growth. Methods are important, but not the most important thing in Church growth. God begins with divine process, not methods.

The Driving Force Behind Church Growth

1. What does the word drive mean?i. ………………….. ii ………………………… iii ……………………………………..

2. Why is it significant to understand the importance of the driving force behind church growth?

This is because every church is driven by something. There is a driving force, a controlling assumption, a directing conviction behind everything that happens. It may be unspoken or unknown to many. But it is there, influencing every aspect of the church including the growth of the church.

Without understanding the right driving force, church growth will be little more than a misguided attempt to gain numbers, increase enrollments, discover methods, utilize new marketing techniques, and do something different.

Seven elements driving most churches today

1. ………………………………….. In a ……………………………………. Driven church the favorite phrase is “We’ve always done it this

way.” The goal of such a church is to perpetuate the past. Change is almost always seen as negative, and stagnation is interpreted as “stability” In such churches everything else, even God’s will, becomes secondary. (We’ve never done it this way before)

2. ……………………………………….. In such a church the most important question is, what does the leader want? One obvious

problem with a …………………………………. Driven church is that its agenda is determined more by the needs, and insecurities of the leader than by God’s will, such churches come to a stand-still when its driving personality leaves or dies.

3. ………………………………………….. In a …………………………………………….. Driven church all the energy is focused on maintaining and

sustaining the programs of the church.

4. ………………………………………………… “We shape our buildings, and then they shape us”

5. ………………………………………………. There is a lot of activity in churches like this, but not necessarily productivity, because it has no

clear purpose and attendance becomes the sole measurement of faithfulness & maturity.

6. ……………………………………………… Most churches are driven by faith in their early years and then driven by ………………………… in later

years

7. ………………………………………………. In an honest attempt to reach unbelievers for Christ & be relevant in today’s culture, some

churches allow the needs of the unbelievers to become their driving force.

Facts about Church Growth What should be the number 1 driving force of church growth?

The number one driving force of church growth is and should always be ……………………………………………………………………………………..(Matt 28:18-20)

Church growth is born and nourished through a process given by God Himself. It begins with kingdom principles not with methods. (……………………………………………………………….)

Church growth is the result of …………………………………………………………. through His people to accomplish His Kingdom’s purpose. (John 15:5)

Church growth is also the result of God’s people …………………….. His will and His word in the world. (Matt 9:35-38)

Church growth occurs as God works through His people to accomplish His purposes.

The decline of Churches and denominations and the decay of society does not mean the kingdom isn’t growing. (luke 13:18-21)

Jesus inaugurated the growth of God’s Kingdom on earth. He will cause it to grow until He consummates it at the end of the age. (Rev 21:6)

Nothing can stop the growth of the kingdom and the Church because nothing can stop God.(Lk 1:37)

The growth of the kingdom and the Church rest’s on God’s power hence it knows no human or earthly limits. (Matt 16:17-19)

1.5.4 Principal of Church Growth

These principles embody and describe the kingdom process of church growth. They offer churches a solid biblical foundation for church growth.

They also shows us how the great commission becomes the number one driving force of church growth and leads Christians and churches to know and to practice the 5 essential functions and experience the results of church growth.

The 1.5.4 Principle involves:

1 Driving force for church growth The great commission

5 Essential church functions for church growth. Evangelism Discipleship Ministry Fellowship Worship

4 Results

Numerical growth Spiritual growth Ministries expansion Mission Advance

How God grew the first Church

Jesus & the first Church

What can we learn from Jesus about Church growth?

Luke 4:14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit and news about him spread Acts 1:8 They waited to be clothed with the power of God Matthew 28:18 We cannot grow the Church in our strength and in our way.

How did God grow this first Church?

1. Peter warned and pleaded with the people2. Those who accepted the message

They devoted themselves to:3. The Apostles teaching4. Fellowship5. Breaking of bread6. Prayer7. Everyone was filled with trepidation8. Many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles9. They were all together10. They had everything in common11. Selling their possessions and goods12. They gave to anyone as he had need13. Every day they continued to meet together14. Meeting in the temple courts15. They broke bread in their homes16. They ate together with glad and sincere hearts17. Praising God

What can we learn from first Church about Church growth?

1. They did what had never been done before (had no method to look at)2. They depended entirely (Be lead by the Spirit)3. They Devoted themselves to the cause (you can’t be divided)4. They were patient

What caused this First Church to grow?

1. The favor of God and the people

The Great Commission

All Power Is Given

We cannot fulfill the great commission in our own strength and in our ways The power and authority to do what our Lord has commanded are His, not ours. Jesus began the Church’s commission with a declaration of His power and authority Because Jesus is God He possesses this power that includes all social, spiritual, political,

economical, and cultural power and He has the right to bestow it on believers and Churches.

Christ’s Power, Presence and authority gives us the courage and the right to go from place to place sharing the good news of hope and salvation

If we did not have the power and His command to share the gospel, our efforts to win people to Him would be futile.

He who rules life, death, the universe, and eternity has instructed us to g into the entire world and preach the gospel.

Wherever we go, He goes, wherever He goes, we ought to go.

Therefore GO

Christ commands us to go into the entire world because we have with us a message that brings Hope and gives life.

Believers and Churches have no reason to possess God’s power if they do not share His message with the unsaved

We go to everybody with the gospel, not because we know them and think we have the right to or because we feel pity for them, but because our master has commanded us to go, we are under orders to go in His power and authority. LK 14:23.

We do not need to fear going any were to share the gospel. The success we seek is not our own, it is not determined by our worth or abilities, we seek Christ’s success, and that success is determined by His will and authority.

The Greek word translated GO in the Great Commission actually means “AS YOU GO” or “SINCE YOU ARE GOING”

It focuses on the truth that we always are going somewhere, we are on the move, we do not remain in one place on any given day, we move about meeting people everywhere who need the Lord.

The second meaning of GO means going from our families and people groups to other nations and cultures to share the gospel. Acts 13:1-3

Make Disciples

Although some Bible translations use the word Teach here, the best Greek translation of this word is make disciples.

To become a disciple, a person has to turn from sin and receive salvation from Christ. The Christian life begins with God’s gift of grace and faith to trust in Christ. Salvation comes from God, we cannot save anybody but God uses our witness to save

others when we go. A disciple is a learner, a follower of Christ who has experienced a radical change of life

and life-style. Disciples give testimony in word and deed that Christ saved them. The goal of every Church is to make disciples. Whatever ministry we find ourselves involved in, if the fruit is not disciples, then

something is wrong. Believers and Churches are to witness, worship, minister and work in ways that result

in disciple making.

All Nations

The word all nations embody two important concepts:

1. The kingdom of God is for all people. It is not limited to any racial, national, social, or cultural groups.

2. The gospel reveals the Lord’s great love for all kinds of persons in all kinds of circumstances in all kinds of places.

The tendency of persons to be nationalist and prejudiced toward others is a reflection of unregenerate humanity.

For the Church to narrow the scope of its vision to less than the world is unscriptural God’s Heart is not set on saving persons in only one location, region, or nation. We cannot limit our witness to one location, believers and Churches must have a global

vision. We tend to stay among people and groups that give us identity and comfort. some

churches limit their methods and strategies to local surroundings. Building large Congregations without a world view is not scriptural and does not honor

Christ who commands us to go, to all nations. The Great Commission creates a longing in each of us t see every person on earth saved. The passion we have for Christ creates a passion for wanting others to know Him. This

can be understood only as the Love of Christ controlling our hearts and minds.

Identifying and Breaking Church Growth Barriers

2.Church Growth methods

The second barrier that has to be broken is not knowing why your church is not or why it is growing.

“Churches grow best if they find a model God is blessing”

It is important to know why your church is growing or not growing.

Donald McGavran, Founder of America’s church growth movement, tells of interviewing one pastor of a growing church who gave the following as the principal reason for its growth: “We preach the Bible as the word of God and are faithful to it” Then McGavran asked the pastor of the church across the street why he thought his church had not grown for the last ten years. His answer, word-for-word, was the same : We preach the Bible as the word of God and are faithful to it.”

It may not be obvious at first, but it is a fact that many pastors of growing churches have only vague insights into the reason why their churches are growing.

There are sixteen different sources that most church leaders have either observed or experienced. Here is a summary of those growth sources, which in themselves may be effective methodologies.

1. P……………………..& R………………………….Your church revolves around enthusiastic, firebrand ……………………… or has experienced genuine revival from an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

2. S……………………………… & H………….............Your church’s growth is fueled by …………………………………………….. Momentum.

3. B…… M………………..Your church reaches new families through …………. Captains who knock on doors and shuttle children to special programming.

4. F………………………. & Receptor PatternsYour church recycles Christians from other churches.

5. Intentional P…………………………….Your church targets a specific population segment.

6. M…………… CenterYour church attracts m………………….. and other art lovers through a continual cycle of performances, choirs, and ensembles.

7. Pulpit teaching and Oratory SkillsYour church is known as a teaching center where people’s notebooks may be bigger than their Bibles.

8. Miracle Ministry Your church focuses on such signs and wonders as healing and deliverance.

9. Capture-by-Committee InvolvementYour church builds loyalty by putting newcomers on a committee as soon as possible.

10. Day SchoolsYour church sponsors a Christian school, which serves as a bridge for people to participate in other activities.

11. Next-Door-to-the-Right-Institution syndromeYour church draws from a nearby denominational college, hospital, or other institution.

12. High-Visibility and High-Profile GuestsYour church features a steady stream of media personalities.

13. Appealing, Mixed-Media Seeker ServicesYour church combines preaching, artistic ensembles, and multimedia entertainment targeted at the un-churched.

14. Multiple StaffYour church staff is comprised of gifted evangelists who pour the bulk of their energies into visitation and outreach.

15. Immigration and urbanizationYour church is a large ethnic or tribal community.

16. Sub-congregations of AdultsYour church is a collection of large Sunday schools, women’s ministries, r other sizable groups.

Reflection

I Samuel 30:8 and II Chronicles 20:3

Prewire the Crisis

The third barrier is lack preparation for crisis

When my wife was admitted in hospital to deliver our last baby the nurse stuck an intravenous needle in her arm. The purpose of that needle was to serve as a precaution. If any emergency happens, they would be ready.

What a powerful analogy of how churches can better administer care in Jesus’ name! We can “prewire” people so that when a crisis occurs, the church can spring into action. We hope our people will not have to face medical tragedy, emotional grief, loneliness, conflict, and other forms of need. But since they do, why not prepare for it.

The church that has put the interpersonal relationships and supportive organizational system in place before the crisis occurs is able to offer enough care that it can break one growth barrier after another.

Here is what is necessary to break early growth barriers from the 75 barrier through the 200 barrier.

1. Exude (display) a contagious desire to grow. The motivation factor makes a critical difference. If you lack a compelling vision or Holy imagination for what God wants to do through you and through you church revisit your vision.

2. Clearly articulate why, humanly speaking. Your church has grown and what active ingredients need to be continued and stoked. Take time to review your church’s historic track record, if you have any.

3. Determine what steps are next for you to shift from being a care giver to becoming a maker of care giving, and vigorously pursue them. Have you analyzed your ministry style and personal behavior patterns and identified one or two specific improvements to make? How will you know, two weeks from now, whether you have grown in these areas?

4. Deal with institutional factors that can keep a church under 200. Why do your senior formerberriers not always receiving newcomers with open arms? Your present membership probably has a strong desire to preserve its social intimacy. Their present size allows everyone to know, or to know about everyone else. As a result, they are probably fearful of anything such as new people that threatens the closeness and familiarity they have with one another. People, including Christians, like to be comfortable. If they are convinced that growth will upset the family feeling they associate with “their” church, they may establish a surprising number of turf protection barricades to keep new members from being absorbed.

5. Guard against a small-church mentality creeping back in. Be prepared for the pressures that may lure you back into that paradigm. One source will be the expectations of your church people, perhaps even your spouse.

6. Establish a network of lay-led small groups as the context for lay leadership development. “The major difference between the church of under 200 barrier and the one over the 200 barrier is fellowship groups. The church must move from a single cell to multiple cell if it is to grow beyond 200.

Identifying and Breaking Church Growth Barriers

3. Place, Properties and Facilities

Too many church leaders have not recognized the important role a place of worship plays in the continuous growth of their churches. Many have done ministry with the notion that the place is not important and has no relevance to the growth potential of their churches.

Many have taught that heaven is our goal and we should not be ‘worldly minded’ as to pay attention to the place of worship. They contend that monies spent on having a befitting place of worship is money down the drain. To them, it is sheer waste of God’s resources.

Leaders with such notions usually have their churches in rundown, hot, stuffy, damp, water logged, smelly building and in demon-invested areas of the city, town or village. The environment will be nauseating and the offensive smell will be killing and breathless. No wonder such churches will only record marginal growth over long periods of time?

There are some other groups of church leaders who don’t really have the faith for growth at the onset of the church. They will therefore buy a small piece of land and build a small building. Hoping that one day they can see some sputter of growth. These kind of small churches litter the landscape of our Continent. In actual fact, they are the norm rather than the exception.

Every pastor and church leader must stop underestimating the impact of their building and place on their growth. The place of your worship and of the kind and type of building you worship in will greatly determine the growth of the church. This is one barrier many have neglected or are totally ignorant of.

Yes, God can work and do work without placing emphasis on the worship place, but more often than not, the building and place of worship will determine the steady and sustainable growth of the church. The size and shape of your worship place will determine the size and measure of your growth in the long run.

Your kind of building will also determine the kind of people that will eventually come to worship there. In many cases a small building with permanent structure and with no room for expansion have killed off any growth potential that the church might have.

If the building and place of worship is not really important, why did God command His leaders to enlarge their tent in

Isaiah 54:23

Good and durable growth in the church, require space and Conducive atmosphere of worship. Today people want to worship with a minimum of comfort. The place and the environment are important.

The chairs, pews and public address system are also important. Churches that are still using benches without a place for people to rest their backs are still waiting upon the Lord! Small churches remain small largely because of the size of their building. Churches with lots of space grow large, by and by.

Caution

So many churches get into gigantic building projects too quickly that drive their young members away because the demand for money is too much and unbearable. Many young pastors have become the slaves of their financial partners because they get involved in capital-intensive building projects that their young church is not yet capable of supporting financially.

Churches can still worship in a rented venue until they are capable enough to start a building project that will accommodate their present and future growth. Churches that start in vacant plots of land usually find growth very difficult because the thinking of the public is that they want to use them to build their church building.

Facility

Every church must aim for good facilities. Either rented or leased, the facility must be in good condition. The toilets must be clean, neat and well maintained. There have been cases of people who went away from churches simply because the toilets were poorly maintained and full of bad smell. Also the children’s church facilities need to be available and together with the main chapel must be kept warm, bright and neat.

The environment must be sparkling and inviting. The church must be freshly painted and with good curtains and well-kept flowers. It must be well lit and the seating arrangements very strategic. A poorly kept facility is a sure sign of decay and death in the church.

Location

The location of a church matters a lot. The location must be easy to find and be accessible by road. The environment must be friendly and not hostile. The signposts must be strategically placed that it will easily lead to the church without much hassle.

Churches that are located near poultry or dairy farms will have a hard time attracting quality people. The atmospheric smell will not give their nose breathing space and their health will be impaired.

The size, shape, colour and brightness of the signpost will form people’s opinion about your church. They are your first public relation officer. When they are poorly done, it gives people the impression that your church is not serious about their souls.

Parking

Many of our churches that desire growth have not given a thought to the issue of parking space. Generally speaking, churches in Africa have not shown sufficient interest to parking of cars.

Many churches block streets and cause heavy traffic jam through the parking space or poorly arranged cars. They even gloat in their ability to cause unnecessary pain and delay to other road users as a result of heavy traffic occasioned by their church service.

However, this unwholesome attitude by churches is giving the church a bad image in the community. It is time that churches must give the rightful position it deserves.

Place, Properties and Facilities

Place, Properties and Facilities demand that we strike a balance between functional structure and an architectural masterpiece, of what use are super structures without people or with nominal, unsaved people?

The place is important but the type of people there are must more important. As we go for good structures and architectural design that is excellence-oriented, let us not forget the great commission and fill our buildings with truly saved, holy and heaven-bound souls.

Identifying and Breaking Church Growth Barriers

4. The Barrier of Addition

Growth in the Church usually starts as addition and then move to increase and multiplication. Review the Great Commission. Church growth results in the expansion and extension of God’s Kingdom. The passion that is driving church growth is the fulfillment of the Great Commission by people getting saved and becoming disciples that can reach to others.

Growth must never cause the local church to concentrate on herself and become content with her little growth. Rather the church must ever be outward looking and focus on winning much more people.

If the church is to move from addition to multiplication, the following must be practiced.

1) Leaders must be raised, trained and equipped. Moving from addition to multiplication level in the growth of the church cannot become a reality if leaders are not consciously raised, trained and equipped. Churches that have no process of selecting and training leaders will lose the growth momentum midway.When there is no real training to harness and develop the leadership potentials of the people, the church has no future. When people can be placed in positions without any form of serious training, the growth of the church will inadvertently be jeopardized

2) Church planting must be robustly pursued. Moving from addition to multiplication calls for effective church planting. There is no justification in binging thousands of people from far and near to one spot for long periods of time.The beginning may be good but it will soon wear the people out physically, financially and psychologically. The simple and wisest thing to do is to take the church closer to the people.Selecting untrained, uncalled but educated and position loving persons to lead the new church, will do much harm than good.

3) Churches must be multiplied until saturation is achieved. Though some people are trying to make us believe that there is proliferation of churches, yet the fact on the ground points to the opposite. What we have is churches concentrating in one area to the detriment of other areas and region.Saturation church planting calls for spread of churches to every nook and cranny of nation. Every local church must plant daughter churches. Every local church must be a reproducing church.

4) Ministry to various segments of society must be encouraged and allowed to thrive. Churches that muzzle and obstruct ministry of members will not move to the next level of growth.Multiplied growth will happen when each member is encouraged to discover and develop their God-given ministry and use it humbly to woo and win others to the Lord. There is ministry in every church that God can use to increase the growth potential of the church.Churches and church leaders that deliberately quench the fire of ministry in the heart of the people, with the secret fear that if allowed can snowballed into unintended level, will have themselves to blame later on.

5) Missions must be embraced and welcomed. Multiplication will come when the church is mission minded. The fire of missions is kindled and kept burning in the church from the altar. The church must become a missionary sending and supporting church. People are challenged regularly to either go or give to missions. Such work will enjoy multiplied blessings from the Lord which will lead to mighty multiplication.

Multiplication enables the church to grow to the extent where the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the water covers the seas.