What Are The Obstacles to Church Growth?

The polar opposite of an "obstacle" to church growth is a "leader" committed to it.

My nephew Isaac Hunter is such a leader.  He's a young pastor and his church is experiencing phenomenal growth.  I picture Isaac (with his oldest child) on this blog post because it clarifies the truth; his priorities, his purposes and his values are well ordered.  God first.  Family second. Church leadership after that.  If you get lost in the verbiage below just look back up at this picture of a great pastor.  His priorities give him the potential to lead a growing church.

I believe leaders enable, or hinder, the growth of the church. 

When Steve Beard interviewed me, he asked, "What are the largest obstacles to church growth?"

Here's my response to Steve's question:

Lack of vision. When the leader has no vision it is impossible to call people to radical sacrifice for a worthy goal. No one offers talent, time, energy, and support without good reason. The vision is the reason, and where there is no vision people won’t align their resources and collaborate. Confusion is a barrier to growth; clarity brings focus and ministry intensity, and that yields a great reward.

Weak leadership. When leaders think they can’t do the right thing because someone might become angry, they betray the mission. Our churches are surrounded by people living without Christ, and without hope. The pastor who won’t lead a congregation through a process to introduce a new song or a new teaching method (to reach new people) because some lady in the third row complains, “That’s not how we do things here,” has mistaken kindness for weakness. The kind thing to do is to offer Christ to the masses. The weak thing to do is to defer to a few critics and, in so doing, condemn their neighbors to an eternity without Christ.

Confused leadership. For too long pastors have believed they are appointed to a local church with the assignment to pray, pay, and get out of the way. The insidious belief that local churches lack the power and responsibility for transforming their surrounding communities makes congregations impotent. United Methodist pastors are appointed “in charge” and when they degrade their responsibility to mere “fundraiser for the denomination,” the butterfly effect sends ripples across the entire church.

Once people sense the local church exists merely to raise funds for the corporate denomination, they feel like spectators rather than players. Such confusion about the role of the local church (and the people in it) topples the first domino in a cascading failure that degrades a denomination from “mainline” to “sideline.” This is a hands-on society comprised of individuals who’ve lost trust in institutions; people today want to do it themselves. There is a deep pool of volunteers with the desire to personally experience meaningful service. They know they only go around once in life and they want to drink deeply of the adventure…not send money to someone else so they have all the joy.

Instead, they will divvy up their offerings among the various organizations bombarding them for money. As that happens, the tithe is pulled from the local church, God removes his blessing, and the local church becomes a pale shadow of the biblically functioning community scripture describes. Congregations become sick and stop growing. Healthy grows.

The local church is the front line of the United Methodist Church’s ministry delivery system. When local church pastors take seriously their vows to reach their communities for Jesus Christ, growth becomes more likely. When denominational officials ask local pastors to report the number of baptisms, conversions, and social-action initiatives, before they ask whether they paid their apportionments in full, local pastors will begin to shift their priorities from funding ministry elsewhere to ministry success right there—right where they are!

Comments

[Becky Hunter]

I love this!

[amy]

wow...i just left a ministry position because the church (leader) had all those obstacles.. i should have known at my interview when i asked what their vision was and they said ... we have none...ugh...lesson learned. i love gcc and get to visit every now and then... you all are doing amazing things for god... wish i lived closer so i could be a part of a place that makes me feel and know, and live a vision that is so amazing....bringing up there down here...keep it up... god is happy with you all! Peace! amy

[amy]

ps... i totally agree with your apportionments comments... something i have never got...then when i left the church without a vision, the one that didn't want to grow because that could "cause unsaved people to taint the saved" (not my comment...argh)... they were proud that even though they aren't trying to reach others.. the DO pay their apportionments on time and in full... things that make you go Hmmmmm!!!!