The only thing was that we were planning on busing home and the concert finished after the 11:35pm bus. So we hung around waiting for the 1am bus... and at 1:15am we re-checked the fine print... you know where this is going don't you! Thankfully my brother and I are blessed with very gracious wives!
I thought that today I'd share some thoughts that Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church shared with us in April when we had a Q&A day with him.
Bill was talking about growth... numerical growth specifically and he said that churches should be experiencing a gradual increase (continually) [over time].
But we all know that most churches aren't experiencing this... so what are we to do?
First off:
Don't blame Heaven or spiritual powers, etc. Heaven is NOT causing the plateau... we are!
Secondly:
Gather 5 theories of why this plateau / decline is happening (see the checklist below). Then systematically remove these obstacles.
Thirdly:
Beware the temptation to jump to wrong conclusions and therefore apply the wrong solutions. We too often apply spiritual solutions to management problems and vise versa.
So Here is that check list- Is there a problem with your:
- Vision
- Leadership
- Preaching
- Relevancy / style
- Facilities
- Structure
- Season (anything over a year is NOT a season)
Besides that, the stakes are too high! We need to reach our communities with the Good News. May we never be satisfied knowing that there are 10 000's of 1 000's in our communities who still need to know of God's Grace!
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this subject!
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