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.

April 10, 2011

Christian Standard

The Crossing, A Christian Church

By Kent E. Fillinger An apple doesn”t fall far from the tree. The Crossing, A Christian Church, located in the southwest quadrant of Las Vegas, Nevada, embodies this idiom. The Crossing was planted by Canyon Ridge Christian Church on September 24, 2000, and is the youngest megachurch with an average worship attendance of 2,224 last year. Canyon Ridge, located in the northwest valley of Las Vegas, was birthed by Central Christian Church in 1993 and averaged almost 6,000 in attendance last year. Central Christian, also in Las Vegas, averaged close to 18,000 in worship last year. Those are some great

April 8, 2011

Christian Standard

Numbers Matter

By Edward Sanders While I was in school, I paid the bills by selling men”s suits. At the end of my shift, it was rather easy to see whether we had a good day selling. Every night at closing, someone would count the suits. A dozen fewer suits meant we were successful and our efforts had paid off. I no longer sell men”s suits. I work at a church. One Monday I was sitting at my computer when the attendance and offering numbers for the weekend services came through. I opened the document and tried to grasp the trend for

April 7, 2011

Christian Standard

Megachurches: The 2010 List

Our annual megachurch chart is one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s most popular features. This year there are more than 100 churches listed as megachurches (those with 2,000 or more in weekly attendance) or emerging megachurches (those with average attendance of 1,000 to 1,999). Click here to look at the chart of the 2010 Megachurches and Emerging Megachuches.

April 6, 2011

Christian Standard

God Is Giving the Increase

By Kent E. Fillinger A Dilbert cartoon recently featured Dogbert, the consultant, standing in front of a projection screen asking, “Where does your company fit on this comprehensive list?” The list on the screen included, in order: “Facebook, China, Irrelevant.” The next frame showed three bug-eyed employees, followed by a third frame in which Dogbert says, “Now let”s form breakout groups to fantasize about being relevant.” Just as Dilbert”s mythical company is identified as being irrelevant in the business world, the church has been declared irrelevant by our culture, and even by other Christ followers for decades. A quick scan

March 30, 2011

Christian Standard

New Building for Churchill Meadows

This past Sunday, Churchill Meadows Christian Church (Mississauga, Ontario) celebrated the grand opening of their new building. Senior minister Jim Tune and his wife, Claudia, planted CMCC in 2001 and the church broke ground on the building in June 2008. The project””Church Development Fund“s first international loan””will provide the first permanent facility for Churchill Meadows, which has grown to be the largest independent Christian church in Canada.

March 25, 2011

Christian Standard

Community Christian Launches Two Campuses

By Jennifer Taylor Not one but TWO new campuses of Community Christian Church (Naperville, IL) launched this past weekend! Campus pastor Dave Richa and his team rehabbed the former Shale Harbor Church in Lemont, IL. “Currently, Shale Harbor has multiple small church communities around the country,” says an article about the new site. “When Shale Harbor members felt the Lemont church wasn”t realizing its redemptive potential, they sought out the partnership with Community Christian, said Dave Ferguson, lead pastor of Community Christian Church.” The launch team included people from both Shale Harbor and CCC. Community also launched a new campus

December 30, 2010

Christian Standard

Regrafting: A Matter of Motivation

Ken Swatman “Dying on the vine,” it seems to be the new catchphrase among leaders of struggling churches. Often I hear from these ministers and leaders that they do not want to “die on the vine.” Here are some key issues/questions that need to be addressed in order for a church to grow. I do not believe churches just die on the vine. Branches of a vine die because they are either diseased, malformed, infested with parasites, or somehow choked off from their source of nutrition and health. This is also true for churches. Churches wither and die because of

December 13, 2010

Christian Standard

A Constructive Way to Help Churches

By Jennifer Taylor Kent Hawkins, senior minister with Cornerstone Christian Church, is driving to the site of the congregation”s new building in Vero Beach, Florida. It”s almost dinnertime, and church members are preparing and serving a meal to the volunteers working on the framing of CCC”s new building. In just a little over two weeks, these electricians, contractors, and carpenters””all of them members of Jack Ballard Church Builders“”will donate thousands of hours to build this new facility””and save the church around $100,000. Jack Ballard Church Builders was founded in 1971 after members at Mount Carmel Christian Church (Stone Mountain, Georgia)

November 15, 2010

Christian Standard

Visioneering Studios Opening Two New Studios

Visioneering Studios Architecture, a niche firm focused on “designing destinations that lift the spirit” and the 2008-09 Solomon Award winner for “Best Church Architect,” is opening two new design studios this month. The two new Visioneering Studios are located in Chicago, IL, and Charlotte, NC, and complement Visioneering Studios located in Los Angeles, Denver, and Atlanta. Randall Coy, previously director of planning and design for General Growth Properties, will lead Visioneering Studios-Central in Chicago as regional director. David Dial, previously president and chief steward for Living Stones Architecture, will lead Visioneering Studios-East in Charlotte. Dial has designed more than 120

November 6, 2010

Christian Standard

Interview with Mel McGowan

By Brad Dupray Mel McGowan grew up with a passion for great storytelling. Whether at a Disney-inspired theme park or in the art of film, he saw the life-changing value a story could bring. Mel has converted that passion into what has been called “architectural evangelism,” using the design of church meeting spaces to preach the gospel to people in ways that meet the eye. As president of Visioneering Studios, which he founded in 2002, Mel has provided architectural insight to ministries across the United States and around the world, including Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, Kentucky), Christ”s Church of the

October 3, 2010

Christian Standard

235 Baptisms in One Weekend!

Congratulations to Traders Point Christian Church (Indianapolis, IN) for 235 baptisms this past weekend! Estranged spouses were baptized together. People confessed past sins. A man stepped into the tank of water and said it was his first Sunday in church in 13 years. One of the band members stopped playing mid-song so he could be baptized. “We may have different opinions on styles of worship and buildings and programs . . . but we can be unified on what Jesus has called us to do,” said Aaron Brockett, lead minister, in a follow-up video. “And that”s a beautiful, beautiful thing.”

September 28, 2010

Christian Standard

Christian Churches, Large Churches, Growing Churches

Mark A. Taylor Congratulations to Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky, the fifth largest church and the 27th fastest growing church in America. Southeast was one of 17 congregations in the fellowship of Christian churches included in the two lists, published by Outreach magazine in September. The lists were based on self-reported February and March attendance weekend attendance averages in a research project involving more than 8,000 churches, according to Outreach. LifeWay Research conducted the study. Ten of the 100 largest churches in America are among the Christian churches, including two in the top 10. (The numbers here and in the

September 20, 2010

Christian Standard

Interview with Jay Akin

By Brad Dupray In August 2007, Jay Akin was called to serve as senior pastor at Elberton Christian Church, a midsize church in a small town in rural Georgia, after having served in youth and associate ministries and as a campus minister. ECC, which averages 260 in attendance in a town of 4,700, makes a big impact in its local community. Jay and his wife, Cristal, love the people of the church. As Jay says, “My family has never been treated better by a church. These people have done so much to minister to my family. They treat us like

September 18, 2010

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: From Starter Church to Lifetime Opportunity

From Starter Church to Lifetime Opportunity By Kent E. Fillinger Perhaps you”ve heard about starter marriages. Some people these days enter their first marriage expecting it to be one of several short-term experiments rather than a lifetime commitment. Some ministers fresh out of Bible college view their first ministry with similar feelings. Perhaps no one calls them starter churches, but the minister”s mind-set often is to get some experience at his first congregation and then to move on to bigger and better ministry ventures. When Rod Nielsen graduated from Lincoln (Illinois) Christian College in 1981, God called him to serve as the

September 17, 2010

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Walking Through the Wilderness

Walking Through the Wilderness By Kent E. Fillinger Faithfulness leads to fruitfulness, but this process requires patience. Ron Mobley and Northwest Christian Church, Acworth, Georgia, have experienced this truth over the last two decades. When Mobley arrived as senior minister in 1989, he found a very established, inwardly focused church that had alienated several ministers and many members of the community through the years. In spite of the church”s poor track record, Mobley saw potential for growth. Mobley spent his first five years establishing relationships and serving the church. There was an effort to build a family life center on the church”s

September 16, 2010

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Preacher Paints Grace in a Fresh Way

By Kent E. Fillinger Preacher Paints Grace in a Fresh Way “We”re not great at anything, and everything here is a work in progress,” says senior minister Mike Gunderson. In spite of various internal challenges, Oak Park Christian Church in Grover Beach, California, was the fastest-growing medium-sized church last year, growing 42 percent and breaking the 200 barrier. Since 2008, Oak Park has grown 53 percent to an average worship attendance of 266. Oak Park is located near Pismo Beach in an isolated, affluent, and growing retirement community of 45,000 people. There are only two other small Christian churches in

September 15, 2010

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Measuring Growth at Medium-sized Churches

Kent E. Fillinger Some readers may wonder why there is an entire issue devoted to medium-sized churches with an average worship attendance of 250-499. This special issue featuring medium-sized churches reports on far fewer congregations than we had anticipated. There are obviously more than 32 Christian churches/churches of Christ that fit into the medium-sized church category. We hope to include many more of them in next year”s report! Despite its small sample size, this report still provides a one-of-a-kind, detailed snapshot of medium-sized churches that will serve as a sound starting point to develop in the future. If you are

September 15, 2010

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The 2009 List

This listing of 32 churches that averaged 250-499 for worship in 2009 includes church name, city, senior minister, Web site, and average attendance. (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 2009_MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES.

September 12, 2010

Christian Standard

The Tourist Church

By Rick Grover People ask me the same questions they probably ask you: “Is your church seeker-driven, purpose-driven, missional, attractional, emergent, or traditional?” I always find it difficult to answer these questions without getting into lengthy discussions about the meaning of words and terms. And I also dislike the notion of being pigeonholed. Who doesn”t? When I think of labels for churches, I”ve coined one that I especially hope will never be used to describe ours: “Tourist Church.” Are you familiar with this name? You should be, because it is quickly becoming an unfortunate description of the American church. While

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