Healthy Things Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Week 1
Week 1: Healthy Things Grow—A Biblical and Global Approach to Natural Church Development Church growth may be one of the most misunderstood subjects in pastoral ministry. For some pastors, growth means increasing Sunday attendance. For others, it means constructing a larger building, expanding the budget, adding staff, launching new programs, or becoming more visible in the community. These things may accompany growth, but none of them automatically proves that a church is healthy. A church can attract a crowd while becoming spiritually shallow. A church can increase its income while weakening its discipleship. A church can build an impressive ministry structure while exhausting its leaders and neglecting its community. Conversely, a small congregation may possess deep relationships, passionate prayer, generous service, effective discipleship, and a faithful witness far beyond what its attendance numbers suggest. This does not mean numerical growth is unimportant. Every number re...