HighPower eNews~~ Empowering Pastors for Growth & Health ~~ March 2008 |
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Feel free to forward this to a friend! NEW this month!
External vs. Internal Church Growth FactorsDuring my doctoral studies with Dr. C.Peter Wagner, he explained the two major environmental factors affecting church growth: external & internal. When we think of church growth principles, most people are referring to internal environmental church growth factors: things like Biblical preaching, excellent programming, seating & parking capacity, etc. But most people overlook the external environmental factors for church growth. The reason they tend to ignore these is that usually we have little control over the external factors for church growth. These would be things like population growth of the surrounding area, national & political factors that send people to church (think 9/11 attacks). Other external factors would be the other churches in the area; sometimes churches grow because of two other factors related to churches in the area: The first is that you may be the only church in your particular ‘niche’. And by this I mean more than you may be the only evangelical church in your town. It could be you are the only evangelical church with a contemporary church service, with exegetical preaching, and a paid youth pastor. Put all these factors together when compared and you stand unique. Another external factor beyond your control related to other churches is if a neighboring church falls on hard times and experiences a church split, or rapid attrition because of some internal factor within that church causing dissatisfaction. You have very little control over external factors -- unless you are planting a church. Then you need to seriously take these factors into consideration, because you can give your fledgling little church a much better chance of survival if you think carefully about where you are going to locate it. Following are a few church growth factors, both external & internal to give consideration to: External: Population Growth Factors -- ...60 percent of growing churches are located in zip codes where there is a high proportion of new housing, as compared to only 24 percent of plateaued churches... Plateaued and declining churches tend to be located in areas with older housing stock. Internal Membership Classes -- Of the vibrant churches, 70 percent strongly agreed or agreed with this statement [ We have a class or group to move new people into the life of the church. ] compared to 38 percent of the comparison churches. The vibrant churches are much more likely than the comparison churches to offer a new members class. Pastoral Tenure -- Spirituality -- Trust this will help guide your decision-making and leadership. Dr. Bill These and other Factoids can be found at ChurchGrowth Factoids HighPower Learnings BlogWHAT I'M LEARNING RIGHT NOW IN THE AREAS OF MINISTRY COACHING, SIMPLE CHURCH, CHURCH GROWTH & CHURCH HEALTH Recent Posts:
Check out the Blog here. SoftwareSERMONBASE TUTORIAL - The Calendar Tab We had a question recently from someone concerning the “Calendar Tab” within SermonBase, so a little explanation of how this can help you with your message planning is in order. First, a little history of how this came about: Each year it has been my practice to get away for a week and plan out the entire year of messages, during the summertime, so that when we entered August just before the school year, I could inform everybody where we were going for the new year. I could let the music people know what would be the major themes, the creative team could start thinking up dramas, and the Elder would have some idea of the major spiritual emphases I felt led by God to guide for the new year. To do this, I would begin by selecting large chunks of time for the major Series for the year, usually 4-6 large ones, and then a few smaller themes. As I would begin to lay these out, I naturally had to work around things like holidays and school terms, special events etc. This would often leave ‘gaps’ in various places through the year which I would fill with individual messages or special guest speakers. What I wanted was a visual way of getting a grasp on where those gaps in the year were. So I added the calendar tab to SermonBase to make it very easy to visualize the year. This also helped when I would share the plans with various teams at the church. Just a quick print of the calendar page would show everybody where we were going. (Of course, I could also click the “Sermonate” button, and choose a “Series Report” for each series; but that wasn’t as visual as the Calendar tab.) So when you are working through your year, make use of the Calendar tab. (If you only want to view the current year, or ministry year, then be sure to set your “Filter” buttons to the current year, and choose to filter the Calendar view so you see just the current year.) Hope that helps. Dr. Bill Click on www.HighPowerResources.com/Software to download your new Demo today. SeminarsTHE GROWING TOGETHER MARRIAGE SEMINAR I have been teaching this seminar in a weekly format for at least the last nine years. It has been a perennial favorite because marriage issues are always before us. This is an eminently practical seminar which helps couples to communicate with each other about key topics of concern for their long-term marital health. The primary goal of this seminar is to foster good communication between couples. It is highly interactive, in that, after introducing each topic, we pause to have the couples discuss privately with each other, husband to wife, the issue just presented. They have a chance to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with that topic. Then we come together and talk about specific steps which they can take to get stronger in that area. It has been a very successful experience for many couples. Remember that strong families and marriages are foundational to a strong and healthy church body. For marriages, Click on www.HighPowerResources.com/Seminars to learn more. SermonsXJC Series -- 1 John -- “Xtreme Jesus Community” This is an intense series which combines an exposition of most of 1 John with a loosely connected small group drama experience (see the "Real World: Small Group" below). The Scripture exposition is straight doctrinal exposition of 1 John, combined with very practical application. (Download the free fill-in-the-blank sermon pdf's to see for yourself.) Titles are: Download the free fill-in-the-blank notes, or Purchase the complete 8-part sermon set. DRAMAS: “Real World: Small Group”This is a four-week drama series, with an additional Introductory drama. This is a not-so-typical small group, in which each member conveys a major flaw, any of which might be commonly found within any circle of believers. In the four sketches that follow, you will see Greta Gossip, Peter Pride, Tom Temper, Patti Pity, and Sam Sarcasm as they struggle with their shortcomings and learn to grow together as a life group. 1) Gossip: "Secrets, Secrets, Are No Fun..." Download the free drama descriptions, or Purchase the complete 4-part drama series. Useful Web LinksGrowing a Healthy Church” Organization http://www.growingahealthychurch.com/training/index.php
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