Transcript Profiles of Successful Growing Congregations: What Do They

Profiles of Successful,
Growing Congregations:
What Do They Look Like?
Why Are They Growing?
Elizabeth Ackerman
Joyce Battey
Carol Boronkas
Clint Hilson
Jennifer Hudson
Rick Johnson
Jackie Parrish
Bill Traynham
May 13, 2006
Leadership UMC Class of 2005-2006
Sponsored by the Board of Laity of the
North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church
Who the authors are . . .
Represent various churches throughout
North Georgia Conference of UMC
Varied occupations and experiences
Called in different ways for different
service
 Guided by Scripture
 Committed to impact the UMC laity and
clergy
What do “successful” and “growing” mean?
 Size?
 Membership
 Worship Attendance
 Programming?
 Programs
 Education
 Ministries
 Resources?
 Facilities
 Finances
 Staff?
 # of Clergy
 Size of staff
What do “successful” and “growing” mean?
• suc·cess·ful - adjective
1 : resulting or terminating in a
favorable or desired outcome
• grow - verb
1 a : to spring up and develop to
maturity
From Miriam-Webster’s On-line Dictionary (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary)
What does a successful church look
like to Jesus?
 The Bible
 Guides individual members of the body of Christ and the
Church as a whole
 New Testament -- guidance for the Church today, and
instructions for specific churches during New Testament
times
 The Book of Discipline
 Correlates directly to scripture in many ways
 Does not conflict with the Bible
The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church — Copyright © 2004 by The
United Methodist Publishing House.
Biblical Direction for the Church
 The Church is the light of the world (Matt 5:13-16)
 Come together (Matt 18:19-20), love one another (Matt
22:36-40), and spread the Good News
 Teach, preach, heal, and love (Matt 9:35)
 Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only (Matthew
4:10, Luke 4:8)
 Worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23)
www.gospelcom.net New International Version
Jesus’ Expectations of the Church
1) Love one another
2) Make Disciples of Christ throughout the world
3) Equipped and instructed us
4) Promised he will add to our numbers if we
remain in Him
Book of Discipline – UMC Purpose
 Mission: “to make disciples of Jesus Christ by
proclaiming the good news of God’s grace and
by exemplifying Jesus’ command to love God
and neighbor, thus seeking the fulfillment of
God’s reign and realm in the world.”
 Action: “make disciples as we proclaim the
gospel, lead persons to God, and send persons
in the world to love, heal, and baptize.”
The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church — Copyright © 2004 by
The United Methodist Publishing House
Research and Survey Development Process
 Survey group’s churches – all are “growing” in
some way
 Developed survey
 Reviewed literature
 Two key texts:
 Natural Church Development by Christian A.
Schwarz
 The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without
Compromising Your Message & Mission by
Rick A. Warren
Natural Church Development
Eight “quality characteristics” that lead to
quantitative church growth:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Empowering Leadership
Gift-Oriented Ministry
Passionate Spirituality
Functional Structures
Inspiring Worship Service
Holistic Small Groups
Need-Oriented Evangelism
Loving Relationships
Schwarz, Christian A. Natural Church Development, ChurchSmart
Resources, Saint Charles, IL, 6th ed., 2003.
The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without
Compromising Your Message & Mission
Warren’s five purposes of the church
Purpose #1: Love the Lord with all your heart
Purpose #2: Love your neighbor as yourself
Purpose #3: Go and make disciples
Purpose #4: Baptizing them
Purpose #5: Teaching them to obey
Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising
Your Message & Mission, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1995.
Survey Process
 Organized around quality characteristics
 Surveyed small (<100 in worship), medium (100500), and large (>500) churches
 Spoke with clergy and/or laity
 Compared results to NCD key findings for each
quality characteristic
For Example
Characteristic #2: Gift-Oriented Ministry
NCD Findings/Facts: Use of gifts greatest influence on
contentedness of Christians in service; pastors help Christians
identify their gifts, then match those gifts to the Christian’s
personal ministry
1) How do you help Christians identify the gifts they may use in
service to the church?
2) How do you help them develop their gifts?
3) How do you encourage them to use their gifts?
4) How do you make them aware of development opportunities?
5) How do you connect members with similar gifts?
Survey Results
Characteristic #1: Empowering Leadership
NCD Findings: Leaders empower other Christians for ministry; pastors
invest time in discipleship and delegation
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Leaders identified through relationships
A few leaders do the bulk of the work
Small churches assign; large match
Guided by prayer and Holy Spirit
No training programs; rely on UMC training
Show appreciation
Survey Results
Characteristic #2: Gift-Oriented Ministry
NCD Findings: No factor influences the contentedness of Christians in
service more than whether or not they are using their gifts.
 Some clergy inform people of their gifts
 Growing understanding of aligning spiritual gifts with ministry
 Some offer study groups/classes on spiritual gifts
 One using assessment tool
 Pastors teach spiritual gifts through sermons
Survey Results
Characteristic #3: Passionate Spirituality
NCD Findings: Are “on fire”; live committed lives; and practice their faith
with joy and enthusiasm
 Provide personal support/encouragement
 Large churches
 have more ways to keep “fire” going
 replicate “connectedness” of small churches through small groups
 Sharing among believers supported
 Growing enthusiasm inside the church
 Recognize need to spread outside to community
Survey Results
Characteristic #4: Functional Structures
NCD Findings: Structures promote increased ministry; produce leaders also
develop other leaders
 Structure based on The Book of Discipline
 Organized into ministry teams: Worship, Nurture, Outreach,
and Witness
 Written job descriptions for laity & staff
 Ministries/programs initiated, continued, or ended on
trial-and-error basis
 Effectiveness measures not in place
Survey Results
Characteristic #5: Inspiring Worship
NCD Findings: Participants in growing churches view worship services
as a joyous and inspiring experience.
 Worship means to glorify, praise, and adore our Heavenly
Father
 Worship styles vary
 More excited about worship than other characteristics
 Larger churches use technology; smaller interested in
expanding but limited funding
Survey Results
Characteristic #6: Holistic Small Groups
NCD Findings: Continuous multiplication of small groups is a universal
church growth principle. Groups go beyond discussion of Bible passages to
focus on applying scripture to everyday life. Members bring up, discuss,
and resolve issues of immediate, personal concern. Planned multiplication
of small groups requires continual development of leaders.
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Bible study main small group
Small group connection intentional at one church
No formal small group multiplication models
No small group leader training programs
Survey Results
Characteristic #7: Need-Oriented Evangelism
NCD Findings: Focus evangelism on the questions and needs of nonChristians; God gifts true “evangelists”; pastors of growing congregations
know those who have gift and direct into corresponding ministry; others
focus efforts on their friends and family
 Outreach based on relationships
 Desire to grow in knowledge and understanding of
evangelism
 Curious about steps to take—how?
 Focused evangelism effort at one church (prison ministry)
Survey Results
Characteristic #8: Loving Relationships
NCD Findings: Manifest a measurably higher “love quotient”; people want
to experience Christian love not just hear about it; spend time with one
another outside of official events; pastors aware of laity personal problems
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Love all who walk through their doors
Want to know how to bring more people to church
Care for needs of church and broader community
Respond to community crisis
“High” level of happiness and laughter
Growing Successful Congregations
Moving from Traditional to Mission-Driven
Traditional
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Parochial
Program-driven
Highly structured
Wait for new
members
Mission-driven
 Reach out to community
 Nurture the churched
and unchurched
 Create Christian
community
 Guided by God’s Word
 Respect church
traditions
Growing Successful Congregations
Mission-Driven
1. Clergy and laity are partners in ministry
and roles clearly defined
2. All believers called and committed to
building God’s kingdom
3. Teaching and decision making based on
the Bible
4. Church ministries continually evaluated for
effectiveness
Growing Successful Congregations
Mission-Driven
5. Strong sense of community among
believers, hold each other accountable
6. Passionate, intentional evangelism involving
• Inreach to grow believers to discipleship
• Outreach to drawing others to Christ
7. Members empowered to use their spiritual
gifts in ministry
8. Willingness to explore new ways to worship