Church Growth

Church Growth explores how congregations can grow in healthy, gospel-centered ways—both spiritually and numerically. Find practical, Bible-based articles on outreach, evangelism, discipleship pathways, assimilation, small groups, leadership development, and building a strong church culture. You’ll also discover guidance on strengthening ministries, improving communication, engaging your community, and measuring progress with wisdom and humility. Whether you’re leading a church, serving on a ministry team, or helping a congregation move forward, these resources aim to support sustainable growth that honors Christ and forms disciples.

May 13, 2012

Christian Standard

Seven Ways We Keep Church Hoppers from Staying at Our Church

By Brian Jones I think two of the most dangerous influences any church faces are (1) spiritual leaders who have lost their first love and (2) the onslaught of church hoppers. Having wavered before in my faith and flirted with losing my first love with God, I know firsthand how dangerous the first one can be. But that”s something we spiritual leaders have control over. The second one . . . not so much. I call church hoppers “connoisseurs of fine churches” because they”re continually on a quest to find the church that is spiritual enough for them, will endlessly

April 26, 2012

Christian Standard

Interview with Mike Bowling

By Paul Boatman Mike Bowling has spent 19 years in ministry with Englewood Christian Church of Indianapolis, Indiana, an inner-city church with an impressive history and a unique present-day witness.   How did inner-city Indianapolis become the place for you to do ministry? I grew up and went to college and seminary in mostly rural East Tennessee. Two influences put me on the track to this place. When I became a Christian at age 15, West Side Christian Church in Elizabethton challenged me to radical discipleship. In seminary, under Dr. Charles Taber, I became enraptured with urban missions. When I

April 25, 2012

Christian Standard

Either, or Both, or Neither?

By Mark A. Taylor This week we have offered readers a picture of four dynamic Christian churches. Maybe you, like me, will decide you”d be pleased to be a member of any of them. Each is committed to Scripture and preaching the gospel. Each is seeking to develop new believers into mature disciples. Each is looking beyond the walls of its building and to the needs and hurts and opportunities to serve all around them. And each of the four has a different take on the current debate about whether a church should be attractional or missional. Paul Williams commented

April 25, 2012

Christian Standard

Missional and Attractional

By Rick Grover Versus is such a compelling word. It immediately communicates conflict, and it ushers concerned parties to set up camp on which side of vs. they believe to be correct. With a basic understanding of missional as to go and be the church and attractional as to come and see the church1, I”ve been on both sides of the vs. I prefer to see it as faith development. When my family and I moved to New Orleans to plant a church, we did so with great clarity on what kind of church we believed God was calling us

April 24, 2012

Christian Standard

The Attractional Model: “˜Come and See”

By Brian Jobe The growing population of church critics out there disheartens me. I”m not talking about the reform-minded leaders who actually love the church of Jesus and work to make it stronger. I”m referring to the so-called leaders who cloister themselves in a corner and proclaim how horrible the church is. Everybody but them is doing it wrong! As a young leader””and by that, I mean under 40″”I have been around a lot of younger guys who preach the praises of the missional church model. The premise is excellent: We need to be in the trenches, in the communities,

January 13, 2012

Christian Standard

Counting Sheep

By Steve Carr “Of course God cares about numbers. There”s a book in the Bible called Numbers!” “Each number represents a soul, and God desires every one of them.” These statements are simplistic but serve as an apologetic for both tracking congregational size and aiming for larger attendance numbers. They affirm what we seem to know innately””that bigger is obviously better when it comes to the church. It makes perfect sense, doesn”t it? The more people in the pews, the more ministry being accomplished, and the better off the kingdom of God. As a student of the church growth movement,

January 8, 2012

Christian Standard

In Just One Year: Momentous Change and Possibility

Nothing challenges us to think about changing times more than the transition from one year to the next. On this first day of 2012, we asked six Christian leaders to think about the church a year from now and to draw a picture of our progress””and our problems””then.  * * * By Douglas A. Foster First, I think the church as a whole will continue moving toward an outward focus that seeks out and cares for the marginalized, powerless, homeless, dirty, and helpless. We, the church, will increasingly see the “least of these” as the impelling reason for our very

January 7, 2012

Christian Standard

In Just One Year: Tell Me It’s Not Just a Dream!

Nothing challenges us to think about changing times more than the transition from one year to the next. On this first day of 2012, we asked six Christian leaders to think about the church a year from now and to draw a picture of our progress””and our problems””then.  * * * By Eleanor Daniel It is so vivid””identifiable people and places, actions, colors, and sounds. The year is somewhere beyond 2012. I see a church that intrigues me. The people include those of all colors, ethnic backgrounds, and languages. Names like Gomez and Vegas, Wong and Hasmani, as well as

January 6, 2012

Christian Standard

In Just One Year: Pundit Predictions

Nothing challenges us to think about changing times more than the transition from one year to the next. On this first day of 2012, we asked six Christian leaders to think about the church a year from now and to draw a picture of our progress””and our problems””then.  * * * By Paul Boatman To predict what we”ll be saying about the church one year from now is difficult, and it”s easy to see why: The January 2013 evaluators of our predictions will have the benefit of hindsight. With information that was simply not available to us at the dawn

August 23, 2011

Christian Standard

Growth for ANY Church

By Steve Hinton It happened again. This past week I read yet another story of a dwindling congregation confronted with the harsh realities of years of negative growth. After some hard discussions, the congregation took the path of a growing number of churches in America and simply decided to close its doors, sell its property, and join with another struggling congregation. But I firmly believe things could have been very different for that congregation. I really believe any church can grow. This was impressed on me when my family moved to the northwest Houston area more than a year ago

June 12, 2011

Christian Standard

Large, Healthy Churches Merge in Phoenix Area

By Jennifer Taylor What if thousands of people drove past one another on the highway to worship at churches that weren”t located too far apart? What if both churches coordinated hundreds of small groups in their communities””groups studying different material and never working together to reach the city? When Christ”s Church of the Valley (Peoria, AZ) and Parkway Christian Church (Surprise, AZ) saw this scenario playing out in their shared mission field, they made a surprising decision””to merge both churches and do more together than they could apart. The two churches, both located in suburbs of Phoenix, officially merged in

May 4, 2011

Christian Standard

Churches Relaunched

By Jennifer Taylor After 26 years of service, Peachtree City (Georgia) Christian Church (PTC3) was ready to expand. But instead of planting a church in a school or movie theater, the church relaunched two local congregations as thriving new campuses. Last summer, PTC3 partnered with County Line Christian Church in Brooks, Georgia, the second-oldest Christian church in the state. New signs and landscaping improved the “curb appeal” of this historic church, and campus minister Jason Pierce is excited about the renewal of energy among worshippers. In January PTC3 added East Point (Georgia) Christian Church as a third campus. Although the

May 2, 2011

Christian Standard

Is the Church in a Recession?

By Kent E. Fillinger Financial experts disagree on the economic status of our country. Have we rebounded from the recession or are we preparing for a second dip? The economic impact has been unevenly felt across the country and in churches. Two years ago, I wrote an article titled “Sustaining Ministry in a Shrinking Economy” for the megachurch issue, so it seemed valuable to assess the current financial state of the churches in our survey by examining several economic indicators. Strap on your financial seat belt, break out your calculator, and get ready to review a detailed financial portfolio of

April 30, 2011

Christian Standard

Church Plant Finds Bowling Alley to Its Liking

By Jennifer Taylor Dave and Marcy Rudin didn”t even have to move to launch their new church plant. After growing up in the Chicago area and serving as a pastor with Summit View Christian Church (Hoffman Estates, Illinois) for 17 years, Rudin realized his own neighborhood””20 minutes from the Summit View Campus””also needed a Christian church. The Rudins partnered with Ignite Church Planting to plant Lifeline Christian Church this February . . . in a bowling alley. “We needed a place to meet and began looking at our community through fresh eyes,” Rudin says. “The Brunswick Zone bowling alley had

April 28, 2011

Christian Standard

Growing Church, Part-time Staff

By Kent E. Fillinger When Don Hill started a new church in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, he wanted it to appeal to ordinary people. Hill wanted people to remember that before Jesus was the Messiah, he was an ordinary carpenter. This concept was reflected in the new church”s name””The Carpenter”s Christian Church. Carpenter”s began with a core group of 30 people and held its first worship service in the show barn at Anderson Circle Farms in March 1999. In its early days, the church met in rented facilities throughout Mercer County. In August 2003, when Greg Warren became the church”s second senior

April 28, 2011

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The 2010 List

This listing of 47 churches that averaged 250-499 for worship in 2010 includes church name, city, senior minister, Web site, average attendance, and number of baptisms. (This is not a complete listing of such churches; it is a listing of Medium-Sized Churches that participated in our survey.) Click here to look at the chart of 2010 MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES.

April 21, 2011

Christian Standard

LARGE-SIZED CHURCHES: The 2010 List

This listing of 74 churches that averaged 500-999 for worship in 2010 includes church name, city, senior minister, Web site, average attendance, and number of baptisms. (This is not a complete listing of such churches; it is a listing of Large-Sized Churches that participated in our survey.) Click here to look at the chart of 2010 LARGE-SIZED CHURCHES.

April 20, 2011

Christian Standard

The Church Size Matrix (Part 2)

By Kent E. Fillinger The Church Size Matrix looks at six types of organizational change that take place as a church grows. In Part 1 of this article (April 10/17), we looked at two of these changes, Orientation and Structure. This week we consider the remaining four. Minister”s Role In his book One Size Doesn”t Fit All, Gary McIntosh wrote, “As the size of a church increases, the perception of a pastor changes from an emphasis on relational skills, to functional skills, to leadership skills.” It is essential, therefore, to understand the progression of roles required by the senior minister

April 19, 2011

Christian Standard

The Church Size Matrix (Part 1)

By Kent E. Fillinger Less than 20 years ago, a megachurch was an anomaly. Today there are roughly 1,500 Protestant megachurches””56 from among the Christian churches and churches of Christ, representing a 250 percent increase from the 16 megachurches recorded in 1997, the first year Christian Standard reported megachurch attendances. But while the number of megachurches has dramatically increased during the past decade, the size of the average church has not changed since 1998. The median conservative Protestant church in the United States has 117 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings. The median refers to the point at which

April 11, 2011

Christian Standard

2|42 Community Church

By Kent E. Fillinger Bob Smith was eager to see a new church planted in his hometown of Brighton, Michigan. Brighton is located in Livingston County, which at the time was one of the fastest-growing counties in America. Smith believed a new church was needed to reach the new people who were moving in. But Smith was neither a preacher nor a church planter. Smith classified himself as “just a cop.” Smith raised $50,000 in seed money. He created homemade brochures touting the need for a church plant in Brighton, and he started to attend Exponential, the national church planting

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