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The Small Church

The Small Church. “What Can We Do?” By David McKnight. Common small church growth obstacles. Unwilling to give up the “family feel” Not enough staff. Lack of physical facilities to start new ministries. Common small church growth obstacles.

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The Small Church

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  1. The Small Church “What Can We Do?” By David McKnight

  2. Common small church growth obstacles . . . • Unwilling to give up the “family feel” • Not enough staff. • Lack of physical facilities to start new ministries.

  3. Common small church growth obstacles . . . • Closed paradigms about how the church “should be”. • Feel they have to please everyone because they want no one to leave the church. • Feel trapped and helpless to improve the situation.

  4. Common small church growth obstacles . . . Being a small church with a vision to grow can be frustrating. There are a lot of ideas but no easy answers. So how can you achieve your vision for your church?

  5. Begin With the End in Mind • Start with a Vision for your ministry. You must be able to clearly communicate your vision to people within thirty seconds. Why? • Put your vision into words. • Focus on your vision. • Communicate your vision to your church and others.

  6. Begin With the End in Mind “It’s too late to prepare when opportunity comes.” (Wooden, 2004) • Show people the need for change.

  7. Begin With the End in Mind • How do you get people to move? “Creative Tension occurs when a compelling vision of the future and a clear picture of current reality is held in continuous juxtaposition.” (Herrington, Bonem, Furr, 2000)

  8. Begin With the End in Mind • Show them the gap between vision and reality. • Have you shown your people the steps it will take to achieve the vision? • Is your vision large enough?

  9. Review Your Current Situation • Are there things in your church that have kept your church artificially small? • Government • Time - can you have more / better classes on a different day or time ?

  10. Review Your Current Situation • Seats – Are your people worried about the type of seat they sit in or do they have “their” seat? • Parts of the building • Programs

  11. Review Your Current Situation • People “Every growing church will always face the need for more leadership.” (Hemphill, 1998) • Finances – Are you strapped with debt or strapped with nodebt?

  12. Review Your Current Situation • Leadership – Do you need more or different leaders?

  13. Review Your Current Situation • Do you have leaders that their greatest energies are devoted to fighting change? David Murrow refers to these people as “Passivity Activists”.

  14. Review Your Current Situation • Maybe it is time for leadership to make people uncomfortable. How are the people in your church willing to inconvenience themselves to reach people for Christ?

  15. Where Do I Start? • Start with yourself. The average church in America is 80 – 120 people. A lot of this is because 80 - 120 people is all one person can manage.

  16. Where Do I Start? “Long term transformation cannot be accomplished unless the tension is sustained. If the tension is too little, there is no motivation to change.” (Herrington, Bonem, Furr, 2000)

  17. Where Do I Start? • Start by meeting needs. The best way for a small church to grow is through relationships. How do you grow relationships?

  18. Find Out . . . • What is the population of your community? • What are the age breakdowns within that population?

  19. Find Out . . . • How many students attend the local elementary and high schools? • Where is the need in your community?

  20. When Do I Start? Things you need to begin… • Vision - Clear vision of the ministry you want to perform. • Unity - Key leaders that believe in the vision.

  21. When Do I Start? • Money - There will be an initial investment to get professional help. • Time - Prepare to make adjustments as facts are discovered. • Time - Give opportunity to consider options.

  22. When Do I Start? When is the right time to begin? • Find a balance between passion and planning. • People with passion - go, go, go, and need it now. • Limits options because you need it quickly. • You miss things because you are going to quickly.

  23. When Do I Start? • People with planning - never make a move because things are not at all in place. • You never do anything because you are always waiting for the “perfect time.” • You attract people with vision but lose them because of lack of progress.

  24. When Do I Start? “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” (DaVinci, 1452-1519)

  25. When Do I Start? “Daydreaming about something in order to do it properly is right, but daydreaming about it when we should be doing it is wrong.” (Chambers, 1935)

  26. Ready To Move On When you think you are ready to build • Land size – Rule of thumb is 1acre per 100 people. Fiveacres is minimum, 10acres is preferable. • Want a sports facility? A Jr. High size basketball court will seat 450 people.

  27. Ready To Move On • What about the cost? A 500 seat multi-ministry building with narthex, platform, and restrooms is roughly 10,000 square feet. If you include site costs, equipment costs and fees, your cost per square foot is approximately $125. to $150.

  28. Ready To Move On • Is your next step too big? You can do more harm if you try to buy or build too early and handicap yourself with debt, with a building or land that is too small.

  29. Start With Small Wins “You have to create a climate that suggests success is imminent.” (Knight, 2004) • Small wins build confidence and deters opposition.

  30. Start With Small Wins • Small wins produce visiblesigns that create momentum. • Look for small wins you can achieve in your situation. • Fix deteriorating building issues.

  31. Start With Small Wins • Paint and landscaping have minimal cost but big impacts. • Vary services before building a new sanctuary. • Use the worship area for other ministry functions.

  32. Start With Small Wins • Take out pew and put in chairs. People take up more room on a pew. If you have chairs every seat is defined and people will sit next to each other.

  33. Start With Small Wins • Remodel / enlarge the platform. • Maybe it would be best to sell your existing building and rent or buy another facility that is more flexible.

  34. Further Reading • James Kouzes / Barry Posner, “The Leadership Challenge,” Chapter 10, “Achieve Small Wins” • Ken Hemphill, “The Bonsai Theory of Church Growth”

  35. Further Reading • Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, James H. Furr, “Leading Congregational Change” • Gary McIntosh, “One Size Doesn’t Fit All”

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