Church Growth

I would like to take this opportunity to brag about my session. We've been working together since September and I think we've done a lot of trust and relationship building in the last five meetings that I've been their moderator and pastor. At our meeting last night, we got into talking about a vision for the future here at our church in Illinois and the energy level was so incredible and the excitement over the church's potential was so visible, that I felt extra encouraged and strengthened by what we're doing here.

I have to admit, I've been questioning some points of my call lately. There were (and still are) moments when I was convinced I'd been hired to change a church that doesn't want to change. And there's certainly a place for small church ministry. Small churches are an opportunity for people to really get to know each other on a more personal level than you might in a church of 5- or 600 with three services on two different days of the week. Some people look especially for the small-church atmosphere. But in that case, a church has to own up to their identity as a small church and find ways to grow without really growing. Since that's as silly as it sounds, small churches are not doing so well in today's economy.

And maybe that sounds unfair, but most of us can say we knew a small church that recently closed its doors due to lack of membership and, related, lack of funding.

So at our meeting in December, I challenged my session to think about our church here in Illinois and come to our January meeting with a vision for the future. We asked:

1) Where do I see our church in 1 year?
2) Where do I see our church in 5 years?
3) Where do I see our church in 10 years?
4) Where do I see our church in 50 years?
5) How do we get there?

As we started talking about our visions for the church here, the energy level was noticably higher and the excitement was visible. People talked about fellowship activities they "used to do" and asked, "Why can't we do that now?" There's absolutely no reason why we can't do that now! We brainstormed for about an hour and we came up with a pretty solid plan on how we're going to get there. I was really impressed with my session and their excitement about growth. As a pastor, that tells me that while there are definitely some who don't want the church to grow (whether they would say that out loud or not), my session proved to me last night that they trust me to lead them through a period of change and growth. My session proved to me that there are folks in this congregation that recognize that a church's life means growth (spiritually and physically) and growth means change, and change will lead to more growth.

The most interesting vision for the future was on the five-year-plan when someone said they'd like to see so many people here that we need a new building.

So how do we get there? How does growth happen? It starts with a tangible plan. This congregation, like many other congregations, needs a concrete plan. Abstract is too much to try and get our head around. Personally, I also am keen on having a plan, so we were on the same page about that. Change doesn't happen overnight, but we have a plan now to get us on the right track. In the next year, we are looking to move towards a second service to start in the fall, fellowship events that continue through the summer, the revival of a church-wide prayer chain, and an occassional blended contemporary and traditional worship style at our current 9:30 service. We're also looking to reach out to members that we haven't seen in a while and find out 1) why we haven't seen them in a while and 2) how we can encourage them to come worship with us again. It's great to reach out to visitors and hope for new members, but we also want to step up our outreach plan for those we haven't seen in a while who are still current members. In addition, we want to partner with some neighboring Presbyterian churches and do more things together to encourage relationship and fellowship.

Growth is not easy, but it is possible, even for small churches. Growth is also necessary if a church wants to retain its life. We cannot carry out the mission of God in this world if we don't know what we stand for. We cannot carry out the mission of God in this world if we don't have a vision for the future. It's important to set goals as a congregation and realize that not everyone is going to be on-board. There's no way to please all of the people all of the time. The human-factor makes that impossible. But it is possible to agree that we as a congregation have to love and support each other and part of that process means having a vision for the future with a tangible way of realizing that vision.

Our theme for 2010 was "We are blessed to be a blessing." Our theme for 2011 is "Do it in the name of Jesus Christ," based on Paul's letter to the Colossians where he says, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Col. 3:17). As a church, we can grow. As we seek new ways to discover how God is calling us as a congregation, we do so trusting in the Holy Spirit to bring us where we need to be.

Praise God for the work we are doing here in this church!

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki