Articles for tag: Kent E. Fillinger

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

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

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

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 withÂ 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 17, 2012

A Call for Passionate Commitment

By Kent E. Fillinger Crossroads Christian Church (Corona, California), has grown from 5,400 to more than 8,400 in average worship attendance during Chuck Booher”s first four years, with annual growth rates of 17 to 21 percent. Beyond that, Crossroads has had the best baptism ratio among megachurches for three consecutive years. Last year, Crossroads baptized people at twice the rate of the average megachurch, based on the number of baptisms per 100 people in attendance. Booher quickly identified the biggest contributor to this recent growth surge as the conscious shift from a “seeker sensitive” approach to a call for passionate

May 16, 2012

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

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 2, 2011

Stewardship & Generosity Money & Debt

Is the Church in a Recession?

Kent E. Fillinger examines church giving, staffing, spending, debt, and outreach trends among surveyed Christian churches and churches of Christ following the Great Recession.

April 28, 2011

Growing Church, Part-time Staff

Carpenter’s Christian Church in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, grew from a small core group into a thriving congregation through bivocational staff, elder-led ministry, shared systems, and community outreach.

April 25, 2011

Church & Ministry Church Planting

Restore Community Church

Restore Community Church began with a 2007 NACC vision and grew through outreach, small groups, leadership apprenticeships, multisite ministry, and generosity.

April 22, 2011

Mission & Evangelism

Christmas or Easter?

Kent E. Fillinger compares Easter and Christmas attendance increases, encouraging churches to rethink evangelism strategy and invest more intentionally in Easter planning and guest follow-up.

April 22, 2011

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

Â¿Hablas Espanol?

Kent E. Fillinger examines Hispanic population growth, non-English worship services, and the need for churches and Christian colleges to prepare more intentionally for cross-cultural ministry.

April 20, 2011

Church Leadership Leadership Development

The Church Size Matrix (Part 2)

Kent E. Fillinger continues the Church Size Matrix by examining how a church’s growth changes the minister’s role, leadership structure, staffing needs, and organizational culture.

April 19, 2011

The Church Size Matrix (Part 1)

Kent E. Fillinger introduces the Church Size Matrix, explaining how churches change in orientation, structure, leadership, staffing, and culture as they grow from small congregations to megachurches.

April 18, 2011

Church & Ministry Small Groups

Making Disciples?

Kent E. Fillinger reports survey findings showing how small group Bible studies, Sunday school classes, and combined discipleship models relate to church growth and baptism ratios.

April 11, 2011

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

April 10, 2011

Church & Ministry Church Planting

The Crossing, A Christian Church

The Crossing, A Christian Church in Las Vegas, grew from a third-generation church plant into a rapidly growing megachurch with a renewed commitment to local and global outreach.

April 6, 2011

God Is Giving the Increase

Kent E. Fillinger reports survey findings from 234 Christian churches and churches of Christ, highlighting attendance growth, baptisms, senior ministers, elders, and worship practices across four church-size categories.

September 18, 2010

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: From Starter Church to Lifetime Opportunity

Kent E. Fillinger profiles Rod Nielsen’s long-term ministry at Agape Christian Church, where commitment, biblical teaching, worship renewal, and generational outreach helped produce steady congregational growth.

September 17, 2010