Ir al contenido principal

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.

Comentarios

Publicar un comentario

Entradas populares de este blog

Principios de las iglesias que crecen

¿Cuál es el secreto para el crecimiento continuo de la iglesia? ¿De qué depende? El crecimiento de iglesia es complejo, y no hay manera de reducir esa complejidad a una simple fórmula. Pero las iglesias más crecientes y saludables en el mundo manifiestan diez características específicas que vale la pena considerar. Primero, poseen un liderazgo visionario. Los líderes visionarios tienen objetivos claros y por ende se proponen metas alcanzables. Concentran todas las actividades de la iglesia hacia la visión, generan entusiasmo y son agentes de cambio que conocen las necesidades de la comunidad y de la iglesia. Segundo, d esarrollan ministerios de acuerdo con los dones disponibles y evangelizan de acuerdo con las necesidades. El Espíritu Santo reparte entre los miembros de iglesia una variedad de dones. El líder debe dedicarse a ayudar a los miembros de la iglesia a descubrir y reconocer los dones que Dios les ha dado y a encontrar un servicio de acuerdo con esos dones. Tercer...
1 comentario
Leer más

Being Church for Others

There was a devout woman full of love for God, who used to go to church every morning, and, on her way, some children and beggars almost always harassed her, but she was so focused on her devotions that she didn't even see them. One day, she arrived at the church at the precise moment in which the service was to begin. She pushed the door, but it didn't open. She pushed again and found that the door was locked. "Something weird happened today," she thought. Sad for not having been able to attend the service for the first time in many years, and not knowing what to do, she looked up, and right before her eyes, she saw a note pinned to the door. The note came from God and said: "I am out there." "The church is only a church when it exists for others," said Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This contemporary martyr was concerned about the church, and he was especially focused on its inability to abandon itself and give itself to others. According to him, the...
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

God's School

My parents became Christians when I was beginning my adolescence. It was not long before I decided to follow Christ and got baptized, but because I lived in a city which was far from the pastors who guided us, I didn’t experience the value of attending a local church until years later when I moved to Buenos Aires to study journalism. My first community experience was quite particular because, in response to God's call to serve him, I entered a Catholic seminary with the idea of ​​ becoming a priest. There, I received an intensive course on coexistence. When I abandoned that path, I was housed by a pastoral family, who continued to deal with the roughest edges of my character. They had an infinite patience! And then I went through a very wise discipleship of a brother who had the unique ability to discover my intentions and help me correct them if necessary. My way to become a disciple wasn’t easy at all. Then, God managed to put in my first years of formation holy and wise ...
Publicar un comentario
Leer más