Principles for growing Churches

What is the secret to the continued growth of the church? What does it depend on? Church growth is complex, and there is no way to reduce that complexity to a simple formula. But the most growing and healthy churches in the world show 10 specific characteristics that are worth considering.

First, they have visionary leadership. Visionary leaders have clear objectives and, therefore, attainable goals. They concentrate all the activities of the church towards the vision, generate enthusiasm and are agents of change who know the needs of the community and the church.

Second, they develop ministries according to the existing gifts in their church and evangelize according to specific needs. The Holy Spirit distributes a variety of gifts among church members. The leader must devote himself to helping church members discover and recognize the gifts God has given them and find a place for them to serve accordingly.

Third, they express a contagious spirituality. The method of evangelization of Christ is the contagious testimony and the “enthusiasm” in the preaching of the gospel. This was one of the hallmarks of the early church. Many groups that follow wrong doctrines get high growth basically because of their enthusiasm in spreading their ideas.

Fourth, they set priorities in line with the biblical order: good relationship with God, good relationships at home, good relationships at and commitment to the church. Within the tasks of the church, evangelization comes first, and then social work.

Fifth, they adopt functional structures. The structure affects the growth of the church. After studying the largest churches in the world, John Vaughan concluded that, "almost every big church has become so because it took courageous steps to reorganize itself while it was growing."

Sixth, they plan inspiring worship services. 80% of the members of growing churches said that services in their churches had been inspiring experiences; but in shrinking churches, only 49% said that.

Seventh, they develop an integral cell group program. If there is a point that stands out above others as the most important of all in terms of church growth, it is the principle of cell group multiplication. If the desire is to grow, the implementation of the principle of cell groups is necessary.

Eighth, they are friendly. Growing churches have, on average, a higher “love ratio” than the stuck or shrinking churches. This "love ratio" generates joy and good humor. Laughter among believers shows a significant relationship with the quality of the church and its growth.

Ninth, they follow an effective methodology for making disciples. The transformation from member to disciple is an important factor in the growing congregations. The more effective the process of making disciples, the stronger the church growth.

Tenth, they recognize the value of the different human groups. People like to embrace Christianity without having to cross racial, linguistic or class barriers. Growing churches are mostly made up of homogeneous groups or they just value all the different groups included in them. The early church had great success in this regard; Its mission encompassed all ethnic groups on Earth.

Churches that really want to grow should not allow themselves to lack any of the abovementioned characteristics.