This is officially the first lecture we are having
We thank God for the last Lecture which I use to introduce church growth to us..but now I am sure we are set for the course church growth and leadership proper..
Today; We are checking different church sizes and how we can effectively growth it and rudiments of wisdom behind them..
Pls pay attention well
We pray oh Lord that you will open our eye and help us again..help us see you and know you again that your church might grow in our hand Amen.
HOUSE CHURCH: UP TO 40 ATTENDANCE
*Rudiments to know*
+ It operates essentially as an extended small group. It is a highly relational church in which everyone knows everyone else intimately.
+ Lay leaders are extremely powerful and they emerge relationally—they are not appointed or elected. They are usually the people who have been at the church the longest and have devoted the most time and money to the work.
+ Decision making is democratic and informal and requires complete consensus.
+ Communication is by word of mouth, and information moves very swiftly through the whole membership.
+ Church families support there pastor through tithe, it can support a full-time minister. The minister’s main job is shepherding, not leading or preaching.
How it grows
House churches grow in the most organic possible way—through attraction to their warmth, relationships, and people. New people are simply invited and continue to come because they are befriended. There is no “program” of outreach.
Crossing FROM 40 TO 200 YOU MUST KNOW THIS
The house church, like any small group, gets to saturation rather quickly. Once it gets to 40+ to 200 people, the intense face-to-face relationships become impossible to maintain. It then faces a choice: either multiplying off another house-church or growing out of the “house-church dynamics” into the next size category, the small church.
If it does not do either, evangelism becomes essentially impossible. The fellowship itself then can easily become ingrown and stagnant—somewhat stifling, sometimes legalistic.
An ongoing problem for the stand-alone church of this size is the low quality of ministry to specific groups like children, youth, and singles. If it opts to multiply into another house church, the two (and eventually several) house churches can form an association and do things like youth ministry together. They can also meet for joint worship services periodically.
If it opts to grow out of the house-church size into a small church, it needs to prepare its people to do this by acknowledging the losses of intimacy, spontaneity, and informality and agreeing to bear these as a cost of mission, of opening its ranks to new people. This has to be a consensus group decision, to honor the dynamics of the house church even as it opts to change those dynamic
*THE NEXT CATEGORY IS THE SMALL CHURCH*
SMALL CHURCH: 40–200 ATTENDANCE
Things to know
+ The range of this category goes from churches that are ready for multiple staff. But they all share the same basic characteristics.
+ While the relational dynamics are now less intense, there is still a strong expectation that every member must have a face-to-face relationship with every other member.
+ And while there are now appointed and elected leaders, the informal leadership system remains extremely strong.
+ Communication is still informal, mostly word of mouth, and relatively swift.
+ The pastor is still primarily a shepherd. While LARGER church people will let you pastor them if you are a good
preacher, in a smaller church the reverse is true: people will listen to your sermons if you are a good pastor.
+ Effective, loving shepherding of every member is the driving force of ministry—not leadership or even
speaking ability. A pastor who says, “I shouldn’t have to shepherd every member, I’ve delegated that to my elders or small group leaders,” is trying to practice large-church dynamics in a small-church environment.
+ However, as the congregation grows the pastor of a small church will feel more and more need for administrative leadership skills. Small churches do not require much in the way of vision casting or strategizing, but they do eventually present a need for program planning, mobilization of volunteers, and other administrative tasks.
+ Changes are still processed relationally and informally by the whole congregation, not just the leaders. But since the congregation is larger, decisions take a longer time than in either the house church or the medium-sized church. Ultimately, however, change in a small church happens from the bottom up through key lay leaders. No major changes can be made unless you get at least one of these people to be an ally and an advocate for them.
*How it grows*
Like house churches, small churches grow through newcomers’ attraction to the relationships in the congregation.
However, in the small church it can also be a personal relationship to the pastor that is the primary attraction for a new person. The pastor can begin two or three new ministries, classes, or groups, as long as he has secured the backing or participation of one key informal leader. Together they can begin a new activity that will bring many new people into the church.
Now how do we CROSS from 200 to 200 above MEMEBERS practically..
1. BY MULTIPLYING YOUR OPTIONS
Now listen, this is what it means, being trying to reschedule your church service method, creating Two-Service on Sunday, probably English Service, and Yoruba Service, probably English between 7am - 9am, and Yoruba 10am - 12pm and vice-ver-sal, then you are multiplying your options.
That means building a new relationship between the present member and to the new members that's to be invited to attend the both service. You are multiplying your options
Multiplying your workforce, that means creating different workers more than two or three people in a section. Example, 3-10 organist, 10 - 30 choirs, 5 -. 10 ushers, so that at least no matter how if one don't have time or available, then others will available. Then you are multiplying your options.
If some members available for first service, then others will be available for Second service. That another way of Multiplying your options. I hope you get it clearly.
2. willingness to pay the cost of an additional primary ministry staff person.
3.willingness to become more formal and deliberate in assimilation and communication.
Explanation of 2 and 3 mention above: This means when you are growing in ministry, then you need an assistant. And having an assistant, you must willing to pay for the risk of such person risk his/her own life following you all around. That will help the person to dedicate his time material, resources, energy, everything to focus on achieving the growth of the church. And the person will be a leader that you can make decision with.
Another is your ability your willingness to become formal deliberate in assiminating and communication. These are another thing you must pay an attention to.
4.the ability and willingness of both the pastor and the people for the pastor to do shepherding a
bit less and leading a bit more
There is difference between pastoring and leading..go and learn it
5.considering the option of moving to a new space and facilities
Brethren, you must understand that if you want to move from 200 and above, you must also learn the principle of an leading, a lot of people do pastor but they don't lead. If you are leading, you must ensure that you scape through in giving your vision properly to people, you must do what we called movement or pushing of vision, so in that way you are to reproduce yourself being into leaders and that is not just a pastoring. Pastoring is ability to shepherd, leading the flock into word of God, this is beyong pastoring now you must be able to be leadership. So by the time you start reproducing yourself, so you'll have a lot of pastors leading properly in the same confined that you must also give your attention to moving to a new space, so that when begin to prepare for that, then the church need to prepare for progress too.
Pls I want us to know that we can ask questions..if anything is not clear in what am explaining
MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCH, 200–450 ATTENDANCE
Character of the church
+ In smaller churches, each member is acquainted with the entire membership of the church. The primary circle of belonging is the church as a whole. But in the medium-sized church, the primary circle of belonging is usually a specific affinity class or program. Men’s and women’s ministries, the choir, the couples’ class, the evening worship team, the local prison ministry, the meals-on-wheels ministry—all of these are possible circles of belonging that make the church fly. Each of these subgroups is approximately the size of the house church, 10–40 people.
+ Leadership functions differently in the medium-sized church.
• First, since the medium-sized church has far more complexity, the leaders must represent the various constituencies in the church (e.g., the older people, the young families).
• Second, there is too much work to be handled by a small board. There are now influential leadership teams or committees, such as the missions committee or the music/worship committee, that have significant power.
• Third, because of the two factors above, leaders begin to be chosen less on the basis of length of tenure and strength of personality and more on the basis of skills and giftedness.
In the medium-sized church, the officers begin to do more of the ministry themselves, in partnership with the staff. Volunteer ministry leaders often rise up and become the decisionmaking leaders. Chairs of influential committees sit on the official board.
+ As noted above, the senior minister shifts somewhat from being a shepherd toward becoming a “rancher.” Rather than doing all of the ministry himself, he becomes a trainer and organizer of laypeople doing ministry.
He also must be adept at training, supporting, and supervising ministry and administrative staff. At the medium-sized church level, this requires significant administrative skills.
+ While in the smaller church change and decisions come from the bottom up through key laypeople, in the medium-sized church change happens through key committees and teams. Ordinarily the official board or session in the medium-sized church is inherently conservative. They feel very responsible and do not want to offend any constituents they believe they represent. Therefore change is usually driven by forwardthinking committees such as the missions committee or the evangelism committee. These can be very effective in persuading the congregation to try new thing
How it grows
As noted earlier, smaller churches grow mainly through pastor-initiated groups, classes, and ministries. The medium-sized church will also grow as it multiplies classes, groups, services, and ministries, but the key to medium-sized growth is improving the quality of the ministries and their effectiveness to meet real needs. The small church can accommodate amateurish quality because the key attraction is its intimacy and family-like warmth. But the medium-sized church’s ministries must be different. Classes really must be great learning experiences. Music must meet aesthetic needs. Preaching must inform and inspire.
Crossing the threshold to the next size category
I have said that the small church crosses the 200 barrier through (1) multiplying options, (2) going to multiple staff, (3) shifting decision-making power away from the whole membership, (4) becoming more formal and deliberate in assimilation, and (5) moving the pastor away from shepherding everyone to being more of an organizer/administrator. You can grow beyond 200 without making all of these five changes; in fact, most churches do. Often churches grow past 200 while holding on to one or more of the smaller-church attitudes.
For example, if the senior minister is multigifted and energetic, he can take care of the organizational/administrative work and still have time to visit every member of his church. Or perhaps new staff persons are added but the decision-making is still done on a whole-congregation consensus model. But to break 400, you must firmly break the old habits in all five areas. As for the sixth change—moving to new space and facilities—this is usually needed for a medium-sized church to break the growth barrier, but not always.
LARGE CHURCH, 400–800 ATTENDANCE
Character
+ We have seen that in the small church, the primary circle of belonging is the entire church body. In the medium-sized church, the primary circle is the affinity class or ministry group, which is usually 10–40 in size. However, in the large church the primary circle of belonging becomes the small group fellowship. This is different from the affinity class or ministry in the following ways:
+ Leadership also functions differently in the large church. In the small church, leaders were selected for their tenure; in the medium-sized church, for their skills and maturity. Both of these are still very desirable! But in the large church, these qualities must be combined with a commitment to the church’s distinct vision and mission. The larger the church becomes, the more it develops certain key ministries and strengths that it emphasizes, and the common vision is an important reason that members join. So leaders need to be screened for vision as well as other qualifications.
+ In the small church, the board gave or withheld permission to the pastor(s), who did the ministry. In the medium-sized church, the board is made up of lay leaders and committee chairs who share the ministry work with the pastors and staff. But in the large church, the board must work with the senior minister to set overall vision and goals and then to evaluate the overall ministry. Unlike the small church board, they don’t oversee all the staff—they let the senior minister do that. Unlike the medium church board, they may not necessarily be the lay leaders of ministry. Instead they oversee how the church and ministries are doing as a whole.
+ In the large church, the roles of individual staff members become increasingly specialized, and that also goes for the role of the senior minister. He must concentrate more and more on (a) preaching and (b) vision casting and strategizing. He must let go of many or most administrative tasks; otherwise he becomes a bottleneck.
How it grows
The small church grows mainly through new groups, classes, and ministries initiated by the pastor, sometimes with the help of an ally. I call this the “backyard approach,” since it grows from informal new fellowship circles.
The medium-sized church grows mainly through ministries that effectively target “felt needs” of various groups such as youth, seniors, young married couples, and “seekers.” I call this the “side-door approach,” since it brings in various people groups from your city or neighborhood by addressing their felt needs. The large church, however, grows through a “front-door” approach. The key to its growth is what happens in the worship services—the quality of the preaching, the transcendence of the worship experience, and so on.
Crossing the threshold to the next size category
The same five changes mentioned before need to be taken to the next level.
+ First change—multiplying options. Up to the “800 barrier,” churches can still get away with having a mediocre or poor small-group system. The people may still be getting shepherded mainly through larger programs, affinity classes, and groups that are run by staff people directly. But if God keeps sending you new people, so that you are bumping up against the 800 barrier, you must have the majority of your members and adherents in small groups that are very well run and that do pastoral care, not just Bible study. Multiple services were more important when addressing the 200 or 400 barrier, but small group life is the key to navigating this change.
+ Second change—multiplying staff. Up to the “800 barrier” churches can still get away with a small staff of generalists, but after the 800 barrier there must be much more specialization. Staff members must be increasingly gifted, and not simply workers, nor even leaders of workers, but leaders of leaders. They must be fairly mature, independent, and able to attract and supervise others.
+ Third change—shifting decision-making power. Up to the “800 barrier,” decision-making power was becoming more centralized—migrating from the periphery (the whole membership or the whole lay board) to the center (the staff and eventually the senior staff). Now the decision-making power must become more decentralized— migrating out away from the senior staff and pastor to the individual staff and their leadership teams. As noted above, the staff must become increasingly competent and must be given more authority to make decisions in their area without having to run everything through the senior staff or lay board.
+ Fourth change—becoming more formal and deliberate in assimilation. Assimilation, discipline, and incorporation of newcomers must become even more well organized, highly detailed, and supervised.
+ Fifth—adapting the senior pastor’s role. The pastor becomes even less accessible to do individual shepherding and concentrates even more on preaching, large group teaching, vision casting, and strategizing.
This is where I will stop..I will share with us about administrative and leadership part on Thursday.
*Send in your questions pls*
Also assignment
*Put the first and second lecture in a document and send it to the class rep*
Colated by: (Engr.) Pastor Prince AO Adeyinka
DOWNLOAD in Full: Ms-Word Document | Pdf Adobe
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