Articles for tag: Church growth

June 5, 2012

Christian Standard

An Exception to the Rule?

By Darrel Rowland There are exceptions to the rule . . . there are rare exceptions . . . and then there is Ben Merold. Point to statistics showing that a long-term ministry generally doesn”t equal numerical success for a church, and those who disagree will more than likely point to Merold, in ministry for 63 years and counting. After a 12-year stint at an Indiana church, he spent more than 22 years with Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton, California, where weekly attendance grew from 185 to 3,000. Then, at age 65, he launched a 17-year stay as senior minister

June 4, 2012

Christian Standard

Better with Time?

By Kent E. Fillinger Neuroscience and social science both suggest we are more optimistic than realistic. On average, we expect things to turn out better than they do. The belief that the future will be much better than the past is known as the optimism bias. To make progress, we need to be able to imagine alternative realities””better ones””and we need to believe we can achieve them.1 Senior ministers, especially those of large churches and megachurches, typically believe their congregation”s best days are ahead of them. But research consistently shows church growth rates diminish as the senior minister”s age and

June 4, 2012

Christian Standard

Beware the Second Decade

By Darrel Rowland For several years in a row, Kent Fillinger”s statistics have shown that church growth peaks when the senior minister is in his eighth to tenth year. Last year, those churches” weekend attendance increased an average of 8.3 percent””about double the figure for years 11-20 of a minister”s tenure. The 2010 contrast was even greater: 17 percent growth for years 8-10, a mere 1.4 percent for the second decade. Is now the time to mention that many senior ministers really hate these statistics””even though few quibble with the bottom-line numbers? One reason: The figures shoot down a prevalent

May 29, 2012

Christian Standard

You Can Go Home Again

By Kent E. Fillinger Eric Keller grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, and attended Oakwood Christian Church. He returned to his home church for two summer internships during Bible college, and in 2003 he became the church”s student minister. Then, in 2008, Keller became senior minister at Oakwood. Some would say you can”t go back home to serve a church you attended as a child. They would point to the experience of Jesus. When he returned to his hometown to teach, some of the locals took offense, and Jesus responded, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town

May 28, 2012

Christian Standard

Consistency in Corinth

By Kent E. Fillinger Consistency and longevity are apt descriptors for 150-year-old Corinth Christian Church in Loganville, Georgia. Adam Turner, who is in his seventh year at Corinth, is still the new kid on the block (literally and figuratively). Turner, 32, has been senior minister at Corinth since 2009, after serving as the church”s youth minister for four years. In most churches, a minister with seven years of tenure would be a veteran, but not at Corinth. By comparison, Don Hardison served as Corinth”s senior minister for 42 years, until he transitioned to the part-time role of shepherding minister in

May 24, 2012

Christian Standard

Elders: A Key to Growth in the New Church

By Jim Tune In my previous article on elders and submission, I suggested that church planters may be hesitant to install elders due to a misunderstanding of biblical authority. We”ve become accustomed to thinking about abuse and power in the same sentence. We have so many poor models of leadership around us today, it is easy to cringe when words like submission, authority, and rule come up. But a new church plant can provide a unique opportunity to create a workable and biblical model unhindered by any existing and entrenched system. At Churchill Meadows we followed an intentional pathway””one embarked

May 23, 2012

Christian Standard

Impacting Canada

By Kent E. Fillinger Toronto, Canada, is the most ethnically diverse city in the world. On the west side of Toronto, where Churchill Meadows Christian Church meets, 55 percent of the population speaks a language other than English in their homes. All totaled, more than 140 languages and dialects are spoken in the city. People of Muslim and Hindu backgrounds outnumber the people with any form of Christian background. Additionally, only 4 percent of the population is churched, which means the majority of people have no frame of reference for Christianity. Culturally, Canada resembles Western Europe more than the United

May 22, 2012

Christian Standard

Center Creek: Serving Christ in the Heartland

By Kent E. Fillinger Mike Johnson”s passion and focus was student ministry when he arrived at Center Creek Christian Church. He previously had enjoyed a decade of student ministry at a medium-size church, where he started fresh out of Bible college. Mike had seen his student ministry grow during this time, but the church remained stagnant overall. Mike searched for a new opportunity with a church that had the desire and potential to grow. He soon found Center Creek; it was similar in size to his first ministry, but he felt a positive connection with the senior minister, who expressed

May 19, 2012

Christian Standard

What Every Leader Needs

By Kent E. Fillinger A national study1 of pastoral leaders by Austin Presbyterian Seminary asked the questions: “Does participation in a pastoral leader peer group make a difference? And does participation in a pastoral leader peer group make a difference in congregations?” The APS study found that in the last five years, 72 percent of the pastoral leaders polled participated regularly in a small group of peers for continuing education and support. Christian Standard”s survey showed that 76 percent of the 232 senior ministers surveyed participated regularly in a peer group last year. The APS study found that leaders in

May 19, 2012

Christian Standard

iChurch

By Kent E. Fillinger A recent Family Circus cartoon showed Dolly telling her mother, “Billy says he doesn”t hafta” go to church anymore “˜cause his phone has an app for that!” The reality is, Billy may be right! The top-ranked online search topic in 2011 was “iPhone,” beating out Casey Anthony, Kim Kardashian, and Katy Perry. Technologies like Facebook, Twitter, mobile websites, and smartphones are changing the way individuals live and organizations operate. Church growth consultant Barry Whitlow wrote, 70% of the people living in most American communities now choose not to get up and go to a church service

May 18, 2012

Christian Standard

Multisites & Mergers

By Kent E. Fillinger Multisites are being created and church mergers are happening everywhere. Are they a certain path to church growth? Can they help a church evangelize better than it could from a single campus? What must a church do to successfully launch a second site? Multisites now outnumber megachurches, and the number of multisite churches is growing faster than the number of megachurches, according to a Leadership Network survey.1 One factor driving the increase is church mergers. The same Leadership Network survey found that one in three multisite campuses is the result of a church merger. One notable

May 17, 2012

Christian Standard

How Do We Reach People Who Don”t Trust Church?

By Kent E. Fillinger It”s a question Bert Crabbe and his staff ask themselves regularly. Suppose a person who knows nothing about church attends one of our worship services. Will we say or do anything that makes him want to run away? True North Community Church officially started in 2005, but its true genesis started earlier than that. Bert Crabbe is a native New Yorker who had spent 15 years on Long Island before launching True North. As a youth minister at an area church for 10 years, he started a Sunday evening service for high school students and young

May 17, 2012

Christian Standard

How to Follow a Great Act

By Kent E. Fillinger Succeeding a well-known, well-loved, successful, retiring senior minister is a daunting task for virtually anyone. But Aaron Brockett also faced stepping into the ministry of a church with minimal growth for five years prior to a major relocation and building project. Granted, several factors contributed to the lengthy attendance stall at Traders Point Christian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana. “¢ A prolonged relocation process kept the church idling in an undersized facility. “¢ A daughter church grew out of Traders Point”s young adult ministry””a good development that nevertheless cleared the bench of younger, upcoming leaders for a time. “¢

May 16, 2012

Christian Standard

Canyon Creek: Reaching Thousands

By Kent E. Fillinger Not all megachurches are exactly alike. But after studying those on this year”s list, a church growth analyst will see several similarities. This description combines them into one hypothetical story. Managing a growing staff and an expanding ministry is an exciting and sometimes exhausting challenge for megachurch senior minister Brian Roberts. Some days, he”s not sure this is what he originally signed on to do when he came to Canyon Creek Christian Church in 1998. In the beginning, Canyon Creek was a small church with a limited vision. Several faithful families who had moved to a

May 15, 2012

Christian Standard

CreekView: Moving to an Exciting Future

By Kent Fillinger Suppose you could describe most emerging megachurches by combining their characteristics into a description of just one congregation. The story you”d tell would likely look something like the composite picture presented here. Things were going well at CreekView Christian Church. Like many large-size churches (those with an average worship attendance of 500 to 999) it had grown large enough to feel successful but remained small enough for the minister to feel comfortable. He could know most in the congregation, at least by face, if not by name. The church”s building was attractive. The church staff had grown

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

February 9, 2012

Christian Standard

Our Elders May Function Differently Than Yours

By Stephen Bond The Bible is surprisingly vague with regard to organization in the local church. It”s clear that God intends each local congregation to have a plurality of elders in leadership. We see this, for example, in Acts 14:23 as “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church” (note that elders is plural). It”s also clear that mature Christian character is what matters most for elders. The qualifications for elders mentioned in 1 Timothy and Titus deal almost exclusively with character. Beyond those two broad characteristics””more than one elder, all of mature/good character”” the Scriptures are essentially

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,

December 29, 2011

Christian Standard

I Have a Family

By Jim Tune My father died just a few months ago. It hasn”t been easy, and I feel the loss keenly. His death has prompted a desire to know more about my dad, his extended family, and his heritage. As a godly father and a devoted worker for Christ, he has also marked me with a legacy””one I intend to celebrate, embrace, and pass on. No one would expect any less.   The Family I Chose From a faith perspective, I also have a family. I didn”t join it as the result of a father”s will or by accident. I

Help Keep Christian Standard Free & Accessible with a Tax Deductible Donation

We can do more together!

Every gift makes a difference!

No, thank you.
100% secure transactions - receipts provided.
Does Your Church Want to Support Christian Standard?

Would your church consider including support for Christian Standard in its annual missions budget? Your support would help us not only continue the 160-year legacy of this unifying ministry, but also expand the free resources, cooperative opportunities, and practical guidance we provide to strengthen churches in the U.S. and around the world.

We can do more together!

Every gift makes a difference!

No, thank you.
100% secure transactions - receipts provided.
Secret Link