People Spots
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Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
The Direction of the Flow
Growing churches and declining churches reflect very different attitudes that impact whether they continue moving in the same direction or tend to experience a turnaround.
by James W. Moss, Sr.
Attitude has a lot to do with whether a church is growing or declining. I knew a young man with limited ability as an athlete. He believed he could. He wanted the pass thrown to him when the game was on the line. He wanted the basketball in his hands when the game was in doubt. He wanted to be at bat when the winning run was on the base. He achieved a great deal more than his abilities warranted. Another young man was bigger, stronger, and faster. He had a great deal of self-doubt. He didn't achieve nearly as much. Attitude was a major factor. Churches who feel good about themselves often overachieve. Churches who feel poorly underachieve.
Does water run uphill? A person wishing to pump water uphill has to apply a great deal of pressure. I stood on the Great Divide. It was sobering to realize that all of the water to the East ran to the Atlantic and all the water to the West went to the Pacific. The direction of the flow or whether a church is growing or declining may be the great divide in church work. It certainly has a great deal to do with attitude.
Declining Churches
Let me begin by indicating that decline frequently comes for two reasons. The first is cataclysmic conflict. The conflict erupts and a serious split occurs. Many people leave. The remaining people feel devastated as they realize their church is now only a shadow of what is once was. This is a more difficult recovery.
The second is what I will call benign neglect. The people aren't angry. There is no fighting. Leadership is simply inefficient or ineffective. Very gradually normal attrition takes its toll because there are not enough new people introduced to cover the normal losses.
A church frequently ignores the first losses that come from benign neglect. It will go away and the church will get back on track. Little do the people in the pew realize that there is a 60-70% probability that a loss year will be followed by another loss year. It takes intentional effort and a great deal of energy to interrupt the loss cycle.
As one loss year builds on another the leadership begins to feel disappointment and discouragement. The people's discouragement intensifies if convinced the current pastor doesn't have the ability to turn around the situation. The corporate self-image of the church begins to suffer as the discouragement builds. Churches have a self-image just as people do. People in a church with a poor self-image will stop inviting others to attend. They will simply ignore the pleas from the pulpit to do otherwise. This assures that normal attrition will take its toll. (Normal attrition is the fact that the average church will lose 10-15% of the worshipping congregation every year.)
The people will care less for the facilities and grounds as the poor self-image grows. Clutter will begin to abound. Teacher and pupils leave classrooms littered with weeks, months and even years of carelessness. Carpet is stained and worn. Bookcases are littered with decades of neglect. The board ignores basic maintenance. The regular attenders won't even notice it any more. A visitor will look around and the clutter shouts, "Nobody cares here at all."
As the decline progresses people will begin to find fault with the pastor and each other. People will point fingers at each other and blame each other for their problems. The rancor can become loud and accusatory. If not carefully controlled, it will result in further loss of people.
The future decline will result in growing financial pressure. A decrease in revenues will go along with the decrease in attendance. A reduction in spending will accompany this decline. At first the church will stop giving to benevolences. Authorities postpone necessary building repairs frequently causing even more damage. Frequently, the church ignores benefits to the pastor such as hospitalization and pension payments. Then the church reduces program expenses. Alarm bells will begin to ring somewhere in this process. This is especially true when the decline requires the cutting of favorite programs of key people. This is where I often get the call to help a church understand how to bring in new people.
Finally, returnable visitors stop attending. In such a church, the people will have trouble remembering the last time a returnable visitor attended. It may have been months ago. Most of the recent visitors didn't stay. In fact, generally more than 80% of the current attenders have attended for more than 7 years. The few new people who join are related to people who are already members. Frequently it is some of the more gifted people who leave.
I don't know a single church that has experienced three consecutive years of significant decline (5% or more per year in attendance) that has recovered with that pastoral leadership–that is, churches that experience three years in a row of attendance declines of 5% or more per year are rarely (if ever) able to be led in a turn-around by the pastor serving the church during that period of decline.
A church in protracted decline probably needs new pastoral leadership. A turn-around will begin with a ministry of affirmation–over and over again providing affirmation for the congregation until they begin to feel good enough about themselves to begin inviting others to attend.
Growing Churches
A church's first reaction to growth is frequently to take a wait and see attitude and see if it is for real. Positive feelings emerge as the growth continues. One significant negative will occur, if a leader is afraid of losing control of the church as it grows. Growing churches can be very open and friendly.
Small churches that are growing fear a large church will steal their pastor. A member of such a church said to me, "Isn't it amazing how God never calls a minister to a smaller church with less salary." If a pastor of a growing small church is determined to stay, that pastor may have to let the people know he/she has had opportunities to leave but that the pastor is staying by choice.
Most of the time the people of a growing church feel good about their church. They have good vibrations.
They invite others. Evangelism attracts. As a church progresses it also becomes more attractive to Christians from other churches who are in a church where little is happening. You know the people are comfortable when they spontaneously begin to invite others to attend. Another comfort sign especially in small churches is when the key families start taking vacations that include Sundays. They feel good enough about their church that they know it will continue to exist even if they aren't there. Very gradually the church begins to attract community recognition that opens the door for further growth.
A very healthy goal is that at least 50% of those attending have been at the church for less than seven years. It is also helpful if the people of the church and the people of the community where the building is are very much alike.
One significant negative will occur if a leader is afraid of losing control of the church as it grows.
If the growing church can survive the changing power base, then the growth will be long-term. The critical issue will be when some of the newer people are elected to positions of responsibility in place of some of the old guard. This is not an issue if several new families arrive. The issue becomes more significant if many new people are attending.
Finances improve as the church grows. However, if most of the new people are from unchurched backgrounds, then it may take up to three years for the giving to catch up to the increased attendance. A caution has to be issued. A very optimistic church may over extend. This has the potential to take the joy away if the financial pressure becomes too great. Many fine churches simply don't carry a significant balance in the treasury.
The positive attitude fosters the beginning of new ministries. The church becomes more complicated as people and ministries multiply. Further complexities arise as the program begins to push the facilities.
There has to be an openness to significant change within reason. Changes increase dramatically as churches grow. After a while it is not so difficult to accept changes that are within the parameters of the core values of the congregation. Remember, every church has core values whether written or not. Many growing churches just need to be affirmed and told to keep on with what they are doing.
A Good Book: Gary L. McIntosh and Robert L. Edmondson, It Only Hurts on Monday" (Church Smart Resources, 1998).
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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October 29, 1999. Volume 2, Issue 14. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.