Lay The Foundation For Growth

LAYING A SOLID FOUNDATION

So the funny thing about this is – there's no one perfect way to guarantee church growth that I or anyone else can give you. There is a lot of writing on this topic, and honestly, most of it is right on the nose.  

If you've read books or listened to podcasts on church growth or even maybe taken a course, everything you heard was likely great. Most of the best thought leaders in this area have incredible experience and results to back up their work.  

 But something I've noticed is that many of these courses and books are on growth strategy, or action steps, or double as a how-to guide. We've observed that most of these resources assume that you've already got a clear view of HOW and WHY you want to grow, and they're just there to help you do it. 

 And if you already know how your church defines growth and everyone is on the same page, you're all set. But if you're like most churches, even though you might think you're already there, you might not be. And that's why we wanted to talk about it today. 

 Because if you and your team don't know how you're defining growth. If you aren't on the same page, if everyone isn't talking about the same thing, then no amount of how-to lists or strategies will help you because you're all going to be looking at them differently. 

 So in today's very short episode, I want to give you four conversation starters you need to have with your team BEFORE you start implementing a growth plan. Don't skip this step, even if you think you've got it nailed down - let it act as a confidence booster. Every church should have these conversations if they're looking to reach more people with the message of Jesus. 

 Hopefully, these conversations go quickly and easily. If they do, it means that everyone is already on the same page and you're ahead of the game. 

 But if they don't, that means you got a little extra work to do – and that's ok! Because this work will lay a solid foundation for everything else that comes next. I guarantee you, if you skip this step, you are in for a long and frustrating road. So take a few minutes and consider asking your team these questions. 

QUESTION NUMBER ONE – WHY DO WE WANT OUR CHURCH TO GROW? 

This question might seem obvious, but in our experience at Church Helper, even for churches that are well established, it isn't. So many times, people talk about wanting to grow because either they want to see the church continue or need more money. And those reasons might be the case in your church too. You might not talk about them too much, but in most cases, someone around the table has those goals as a top priority. And I'm here to remind you – that's not what you're called to do. 

 Christ didn't call us to make money or sustain an institution; he called us to make disciples and tell people about the good news.

If you ask your team, "why do we want our church to grow" and that's not the first answer, then it might be time to slow down and spend time examining your motives. 

 We've seen this a lot – so if it happens to your church, it won't be the only one. But you will need to make a course correction before you can continue. Asking God to bless growth that he isn't calling for isn't going to be a great path forward.  

QUESTION NUMBER TWO – WHAT DOES GROWTH MEAN TO US? 

We've talked about how churches usually grow in three ways: Spiritually, Numerically and Financially.  

 After you ask the first question, this one should come a little easier, but you should still set some parameters about what growth means in all three of these areas. Once you have a target, you know what to work towards and what resources you will need to get there.  

 This question might take a minute to answer, but it's worth it. Get everyone on the same page now, and it will pay significant dividends later. 

QUESTION NUMBER THREE – WHAT ARE OUR EXPECTATIONS ON HOW FAST THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN?

 This answer will be different for everyone, but the important thing is that you discuss it. If you don't talk about the WHEN, then either two things will happen. 

 You'll never feel the need to start because you don't have a goal, or you'll feel like you're lagging because you don't know where you should be in the process.   

 And try to make this timeline realistic. Give yourself the grace to work within it. In his book "Church Growth Flywheel," one of the first things Rich Birch writes about is lowering your expectations on early results in your timeline. He talks a lot about growth, especially in the beginning, being incremental and slower than you'd like. This advice comes from a guy who's helped multiple churches grow large - so lean on Rich's words here. Make sure you set something realistic.   

 No matter what you decide as far as timeline, the most important thing is this – you need to decide. So spend a few minutes and set a timeline – a way to track its progress and measure success. If you're not sure how to just hang in there, we will spend a little extra time on this one next week. 

QUESTION NUMBER FOUR – START BUILDING YOUR STRATEGIC PLAN

 So maybe people get intimidated by the idea of "long-range outlooks" or "strategic plans," but all they are is a roadmap or instruction manual that you've created, so you know what needs to happen next. This is the moment in the process you start to look at other materials and resources on growth that will help you out. Materials like the "10 things to do" blog or a book like Church Growth Flywheel by Rich Birch make their way in here.  

I repeat this, just so make sure you're calm about it. A strategic plan is a fancy way to say you're making an intentional, sequential do-to list. Some groups like to create these chronologically, and some want to start with the end goal and reverse-engineer the process. However you do it, just make sure you do. Make a plan for what comes next, and then after that, and after that. Keep yourselves accountable to the plan – and you'll start to see some progress. Or maybe we should use a synonym for progress. You'll begin to see some growth. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

For some, this beginning part, this foundational part of the growth process, can be the most frustrating. We've seen that a lot at Church Helper. When we help a church, we always start every project, no matter how big or small, with a process that includes learning or brainstorming. And people inevitably say, "when are we going to get to work?"   

Here's the most important thing to remember: Taking time to have these conversations IS doing the work. Skipping this step is like walking up to someone pouring a concrete form for home and saying, "when are you going to start building the house?" 

 They already are. And so are you.

Lay the foundation first, and the rest of what you build will start on something solid.