Do you realize that if your weekend attendance totals about 90 people, you’re an above average church (at least in the United States and when measuring by such numbers)?
If you’re wondering what you need to do to grow, here are eight steps that can help you break an attendance barrier:
1) Decide you really, really want to grow
Believe it or not, the primary barrier to church growth is desire. Do you really want to grow? If the answer is yes, then you must commit to this goal and be willing to accept changes.
And the people in your congregation must also be willing to accept changes.
The Bible says, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:24 NKJV). In order for a church to grow, some things have to die. Those who had intimacy with the pastor have to learn to share him with new people. They have to be willing to let go of the control they have in certain decisions and in certain areas.
It takes an incredible unselfishness. They must be willing to die to some traditions, to some feelings, to some relationships in order for the Kingdom of God to be advanced. That takes a lot of maturity.
2) Your role as pastor must change
Once you decide you want to grow, you’ll need to analyze your role as pastor. You must be willing to change from minister to leader. If everything depends on you—if you have to personally minister to every person in your church – then the church cannot grow beyond your own energy level. And that is a barrier! You become a bottleneck, an obstacle to growth.
This is called the Shepherd-Rancher Conflict. As the pastor of a little church, you know everybody; you do all the praying, all the baptizing, all the teaching; you know every family, every kid, every dog and cat; and you shepherd everybody personally. But there’s a limit to how many people you can personally shepherd.
As the church grows, you must change roles from Shepherd to Rancher. The Rancher helps oversee the under-Shepherds. Practically everybody on my staff does more weddings and counseling than I do (in fact, I do very few now because I don’t want to show favoritism among our 20,000 members).
You must be willing to let other people share the ministry. Ask yourself, “Would I be happy being a Rancher?” If you answer no, then I suggest you take on a goal that your church will sponsor new churches—so you’re still growing, but in a different way.
3) Mobilize members for ministry
Be willing to give up some leadership and entrust ministry to the people in the pews. After the congregation has decided it wants to grow, then start teaching about “the ministry of the laity” and talking about the importance of every believer using their unique gift to minister to the body.
Let your people know, “If you don’t do your part in ministry by sharing your unique gifts, then the rest of us get cheated. If I don’t do my part in ministry, then you get cheated.” Help your people understand this concept and mobilize them to begin ministering.
4) Begin having multiple services
If you’re not already doing so, I encourage you to seriously start planning for it. By offering people a choice of services, you’re effectively putting another hook in the water.
5) Multiply your staff
In order to grow past that 200 barrier, you must begin moving to multiple staff. You must begin to specialize the staff under your leadership.
6) Plan big days
The best way I know to break through barriers is to break a few all at one time. Plan a big day—an event—and your numbers go up. Yes, they go back down afterwards, but not as far as they were before the event. Keep doing this and you grow. Big holidays are an obvious time to concentrate on events—Easter, Christmas. Plan outreaches to the community.
7) Have multiple cells
People will often complain about not being cared for when the real issue is that they’re losing control. “There are so many people here, I don’t feel like anybody cares for me anymore” is a common complaint. Another is: “The pastor is too busy for me now.” Caring is a legitimate issue, but you can respond through the multiplication of cells – groups of 8 to 12 people. Cells become tools for caring for the body.
8) Expand your facility
At Saddleback, we had over 10,000 members before we ever built our first building, so I’m not advocating rushing out to build a facility. In fact, many churches build too small, too fast. What I’m saying is you need to plan for growth and project out what your needs will be.
May God bless you and anoint you as you begin to implement these changes.
Hi Rick I have followed you from your book The Purpose Driven Life and seen GOD’S blessing on Saddleback. What can I do to visit with your staff and observe without any intrusion for a few days? I would love to come to the States and learn for a couple of days as there are many things you cannot get from a book
The role of the Holy Spirit in the growth of the Church is supreme. Only God, not human forces, builds the Church. Jesus said “I will build my Church” (see Matt.16:18). The apostle Paul acknowledged that while he plants and Apollos waters, only God gives the increase (see 1 Cor. 3:6). It should be noted that the Holy Spirit is the chief mover of Church growth not man or man’s efforts (Acts 2, Joel 2:28-32). Joel 2:28-32
These 8 steps will grow our church to millions. From today we have an idea on how to take our church where we want it to be. Thank you pastor for sharing this message special to me.
Hi Rick Warren,
Thank you for these amazing tips to grow.
Thanks for the advice!
Wow… Pastor Rick Warren… I didn’t know that this article was “yours”. I get your e-mails daily for devotionals… thank you. I’m struggling… I love the church we attend and the pastor and his family are awesome and such God loving people. My problem is the amount of people that attend our church… maybe 12 to 14 on a good “Sunday” (they are all good days :) ) I’m concerned about “why”… why don’t we have more that want to attend? We live in a small town and there are other churches and they are filled… why not our??? Our pastor is awesome and speaks the truth and the “word” of God… we have a great congregation but we “suffer”… in attendance and financially…. we need more and I’m not sure what to do about making it grow… I pray ALOT and hope that good will come… any advise… any suggestions??? I need .. no “we” need help. Our main church has had a lot of damage due to water main breaks and prior pastor negligence …. We need more money to fix what is broken and I don’t know what to do except pray… Thank you for your help. May God Bless you and your family <3
This is very challenging I must thank God for inspiration
Was so challenged with the simple truth on church growth
It’s my big faith that one day me and my husband will have a big church where also God will use us to address God’s people’s needs and especially to realize the way to their destiny. We are pastors in Kenya, muranga county, Kandara district “Deliverance Church Kandara”
We RE PRAYING FOR YALL
Thanks for the foundation accorded to us
I seem like I’m the only one to feel this way. As a church member, it seems all the “growth” talk is to bring in new people to the church. We have big events as a device to “invite a friend” and I realize that if only one person is invited and saved it is worth it…however, most of the attendees are church members with church members doing the work, organization, financial backing etc for the event and then getting burned out. We have studied “making disciples” and leading people through the path. But my mind gets stuck on the fact that Jesus told us to be fishers of men and he would change their heart…he would perfect them to become disciples. In that vein, I feel our focus should be “out” of the church. Use the time, money, energy to reach people by going where they are…showing them the love of Jesus on their own ground. Planting the seeds even among the hard dirt and thistles. I feel a little like a “beaten sheep” from all the talk of how we aren’t committed enough to the church and it’s body and like maybe we are missing the bigger picture.
Our church is a wonderful place full of wonderful people who are dedicated. Around 250 total attending two services with multiple small groups.
What excellent advice! I enjoyed and plan to implement some of your suggestions to our small but growing church.
God bless you for those wonderful outline you listed for us, I believe we this and prayer the Church of Christ we move forward. ..PST Elliot
1 Corinthians 3:7 – “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” Only God provides the increase.
We absolutely agree. God alone opens hearts, converts souls, and bonds his body together. Absolutely no one deserves credit for the fruit produced besides God Almighty alone. We are commanded to keep on sowing, so we love helping people sow as effectively as possible.
powerful word
Prayer and the above will work. Prayer alone won’t grow a church, neither will just doing the above.
Growing us great, but always remember you don’t have to be a big church to be a great church. You just do your part as pastor deacon and Christian etcetera and God’s will do his part and send souls for our labor!!
How would you break this down for a new church plant? We are only 2 years old and have 35 people. Growth burns in my soul. But I would love to know what I should do or not do in the next 5 years. Thank you.
Cherry, having planted myself, I can say that you will go through multiple phases as a pastor. You start out doing nearly everything, but your role from day one is to raise up leaders, equip and empower them, and give the ministry away.
You do that in relationships. Have coffee or a meal with your key leaders. Spend time with them, loving them, and teaching them about ministry – not in a classroom but through friendship and conversation.
When you get to 75 people, your role will begin to change a little bit to having one or two key leaders who help lead things. Then, when you have 125 people, you’ll be at the toughest barrier of all where you have to go from being “one” group to being a church of multiple groups.
In the early days, it’s all about momentum. When you get stuck, make a change. We are five years in and have moved six times and added services. Each time we do, we grow. With every transition comes new people we weren’t reaching before.
I hope this is a good start. Also, we have over 100 articles on this site related to church planting, found here: https://pastors.com/keyword/church-planting/
And a Facebook group where you can ask questions anytime here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pdpastors/
Thank you. Yes this is very helpful. I’m excited for what God has for us this year. God Bless You!
This is great information. Thank you
Spot on with tip #1. Many established churches seem to go into maintenance mode and can find themselves in a rut after a few years. Working with many churches over the years at Flocknote, we’ve also found that your level and quality of communications (or lack there of) with your new/existing members can also have a big impact on growth.
Thanks pastor Rick Warren , I’m assistant pastor in a church south Korea the number of people is ever up and down what can i do to solve this in order to have a stead growth of our church .
understand your role rather assignment and Responsibilities then begin to work towards them ,which is never to easy because most of the work will depend on you and that will give you stress but with God by your side all things are possible ….
I love this, God bless you
Have learnt a lot on this steps to church growth.
Thank God I came across this piece by you.
Thank you Pastor Rick for continuing given us information about “growth” in many ways in the church. Our church has had a new pastor for almost 5 months now after having a pastor who was here for 26 years. When the new man came, things were exciting and we were seeing growth in many ways. Well, now the “honeymoon” is over and we are losing families and individuals almost every month. We are a medium sized Baptist Church in a small town where there are churches for anyone looking. It hurts me to see the church drowning. I guess I am asking for your prayers and maybe a few words of encouragement to the congregation. Thank you
pastor Rick , I have a small Church with about 12 to 15 people in a drug invested town in Ohio what do i need to do to grow my church, i have mostly older people, so my wife and i have a big job holding it together I need help any ideas on this scale of people ?
Pastor, Paul says in Gal 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
just show them love and accomodate them and the holy spirit will take control. Pray for them so you could win them since you have the light in you that needs to shine continually to attact those who are in darkness. Let you light shine to all. God bless you while you ask members of the congregation to at least bring one member from the community. else you can visit households and when you get there ask to share the good news with them(Rom 6:23, Rom 3:23) God wants you to work in season and when it does not favour us.
pastor Rick , I have a small Church with about 12 to 15 people in a drug invested town in Ohio what do i need to do to grow my church, i have mostly older people, so my wife and i have a big job holding it together I need help any ideas on this scale of people?
You have not cause you ask not
This 8 steps will grow our to millions . From today we have and Idea to take our church where we want it to be. Thanks pastor for sharing this message special to me.
Thank you pastor Rick for your steps for growing church. I have learned many things inside. May God bless you. Again one thing I would like to connect with you and your ministry to help one of the local church dying for many years. The name of the church is Bethel Church. The is totally manipulated by their local pastor later who went to Westminster ministry and the church members are totally innocent and less education. Only few members are remaining so they need more suggestions for how to grow the church from dying church to living church. At the same time the members are too slow in understanding and having lack of unity. Plz kindly pastor do help me to strengthen that church.
Thanks
Pastor Rick Warren God richly bless you for the message which gave me much enlightenment.l ask God’s annointing upon your life.
I’m highly favoured for these points they are really true
Great work
THANKS, PASTOR RICK. I THINK YOUR POINTS ARE WORTH FOLLOWING FOR EXCELLENT RESULT. BUT DON’T YOU THINK THE TERRAIN ALSO HAS MUCH TO DO WITH CHURCH GROWTH?
Thanks a lot, that was so enlightening remain blessed
Thanks Pastor. Am so enlightened
That’s powerful pastor ,I’m so blessed by your teaching ,God bless you in Jesus name
You lost me at #4, the first 3 are pretty good, but I defy you to find the biblical precept for “putting another hook in the water”.
How bout we live the gospel in word and deed and make disciples. You don’t even mention discipleship and it was Jesus’ greatest charge in our lives. Just more rhetoric to convince christians to cannibalize one another and steal sheep from the church down the street.
Don’t be fooled folks church growth does not hinge on where you meet or planning to have BIG days. Every day is BIG day in the Kingdom of God
I am a Bishop of Zionist church,our congregation strength fluctuate every Sunday,when I am not around many don’t come to church service,
Rick I would like for you to expound upon #8 please.
Pastor Rick, May God Bless U. I’m A poor Nigerian Yet God Showed Me To Go To Saint Petersbug And Start A Church There. Suprisingly, I Live In One Village In Nigeria Without Help. No One Even Take Notice Of Me. How Can Such Vission Come True? Do You Have Any Advice Or Help For Me?
blessed day pastor
am humbled for the powerful word.may the God lord bless you.
with thanks
Thank you Pastor Rick. God richly bless you. I am a police officer in Ghana ,West Africa who has a congregation of 60 . My prayer is that you help me with materials to assist me build the Church of God. My ambition is to go into full time ministry in two years time. Am so grateful . Minister Samuel Gbormenu. Accra, Ghana,
Well tank you the book it really was amazing I just came back to God after many years of hard stuber worldy thinking I just came back God and thinking of trying to get ordained I do got really amazing testimonies I no God is only reason I am here alive he book help me so much long with mom praying for me I would like wright u my story God bless keep you
I’m glad to réadaptation thé 8 steps crowth church .I Will take à moment to shar them Witherspoon anothers friends in Christ. Personelly I Will explan IT.
I tank Pastor Rick for your teaching.May m’y God bless you.
Thank you sir for this wonderful revelation about church growth. May the Lord increase you on every sides.
Thank you Father Warren for all you teach. I sure will be able to use them for growing my Church. Please pray for my church as we struggle and labor to grow.
Dear Pastor Rick, thanks for this message. By God’s grace I have follow many of your teachings for years and it has bless me and change my perspective about ministry. God bless you richly in Jesus name.
Sir can I have your email for ?
Pastor,
These ideas will certainly grow any church.
Thank you and God bless you.
Fanatic , Rick these 8points for Church Growth are very Impactful.
Grateful for sharing. Amen.
Man of GOD may theLord bless you.
Thank you , I fill becoming growing already
I wish I could get more Ideas from you by getting
Some relevant tools for Church growth because I have
a Church I have been running it over ten years now but
much happen there so I more ideas from you.
Excellent insights about church growth. Kindly post any further materials to me. I am hungry to see God use me to bring many to Christ.
Thank you. This was helpful.
Thank you for this motivation man of the most High God .May the almighty continue to use more and more
Thank you so much for this information.
more grace sir,i enjoyed your material.God gave me a ministry newly that has not be commission but i believe God very soon it will start by his grace.sir i need your prayers and impactation with counseling.
pastor warren this is pastor pastor barnes in evansville in the information was
very helpful would you come to evansville?
Thank you pastor. This is break through for me
Sir, more anointing in Jesus’ name
Thank you Pastor Rick.. I am encouraged as a Pastor and the article is so uplifting.
When rick started his church, did he do alot of oureaches like passing out flyers?
Thank you Rick, this is very helpful, we have been praying for some helpful ideas
This was a great article. Try Churchpalm.com they’ve helped our church grow its finances, thus it has helped grow our church!
Where does the idea come from that the church is to focus on the number of chairs filled? If the pure, uncompromised Word of God is preached, they will come. The church service like the Bible is for BELIEVERS. We must quit dumbing down the message to make seekers more comfortable. It’s when we are uncomfortable with our sin that we come to Christ. He comes through a broken heart not a contented one. Charles spurgeon never cared for the comfort of his
Congregation. Frankly this whole seeker thing is an affront to The Lord.
These are the days and this is the false teachings The Lord warned about.
Where is prayer, where is prayer, where is prayer?
Thank you Rick, this is very helpful, we have been praying for some helpful ideas. We have already discussed multiple services and special events but to have the pastor delegatesome of his duties , with his leadership of course, thats just what I think is needed here. Thanks again and God bless!
I am sad to see that prayer was not mentioned as part of this list; however, I think also we often forget that a hindrance to church growth is the distinction between gaining in attendance and making disciples. To effectively grow we must be making disciples that continually work to produce other disciples. More often or not we find that we are great at making “converts”, using that term very loosely, but horrid at making biblical disciples. This is not to say that this is the case at large churches as Saddleback Church. In fact I believe the principles that Rick Warren has shared with us are a great reminder; however, I believe we must remember to keep the main thing the main thing.
prayer is the answer to helping a Church grow.
Keep it coming. What you share WORKS…I’m a living witness. It’s sad however how some just criticize EVERYTHING…They are Christian Professional Critics – they do their job well.
Wow I just can’t believe that there is nothing here about prayer effort? That’s where the real power is. We need to make sure we are more God driven than man driven.
Profound principles here! #1 and #6 really stand out to me, but they’re all very helpful.
I really appreciate the reminder that growth begins with our desire and the practical reminders that we must be willing to make structural and systemic changes. I think there are three deeper questions worth asking as well:
1. Why do you want to change? Too much of our growth is motivated by a desire for ‘success.’ If you’re not making radically devoted followers out of the people you have, is your desire for growth likely motivated by a desire for making new followers?
2. Growth at what cost. We are also called to worship and fellowship. I agree that these are NOT to become more important that seeing the lost found, but are to be held in harmony.
3. Is growing your church in one place the healthiest way for you to grow? What is your leadership capacity? Can you impact the kingdom more by sending new congregations vs building bigger?
Thank you Rick and pastors.com for your incredible support. May God Bless you and your family.
Mine Oh mine this is profound, yet simple. How I wish there is a way to share this with all pastors who are becoming depressed because all their effort at seen their churches grow has not yielded enough results. Thanks God bless U!
Thanks a lot Pastor Warren for sharing this simple but profound truth.
I love to hear from you again.
And #9 (which should be #1) … Prayer
Spot on! It is soooo important and soooo overlooked.