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10 Old Wives' Tales About Church Growth

by Brian Orme

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Have you fallen for one of these superstitious church-growth myths?

9. The More Programs You Offer, the More Your Church Will Grow

Programs are great servants but lousy masters. We live in a culture that provides unlimited choices and some churches have matched suit with this same mentality—providing an excessive amount of programs in effort to serve more people.

The goal is good, but more programs don't typically equal church growth. In fact, sometimes church programs just keep us church-busy and hold us back from engaging our neighbors.

Programs aren't bad, but they should always have a clear purpose and, in my humble opinion, they should be offered in moderation with an understanding that you can't program discipleship. The church isn't meant to be a wheelhouse for saints to gather—it's meant to be a sent collective to light up the world.

10. If You Build It, They Will Come

They might, but it's not a guarantee. Sometimes building projects just create a new container for the same people. Other times building projects are a Godsend.

It definitely takes some serious prayer and leading of the Spirit to find out which outcome you might expect before launching an expensive campaign. There are some great stories of building projects that seemed to have God's hand on them from beginning to end; there are also church building campaigns that ended in millions of dollars of debt, church splits, fired leaders and empty—new—seats.

God never promised us a growing church if we just start to build it—faith and wisdom go hand in hand. Don't buy into this Field-of-Dreams superstition. When you start a building project it should always be with prayer, faith and humility because the results, well, they could go any way God wants them to and that might not equal a Hollywood ending.

What old wives' tales have you heard about church growth?

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Brian is the Editor of Outreach Magazine, ChurchLeaders.com and SermonCentral.com. He works with creative and innovative people to discover the best resources, trends and stories to equip the church to lead better every day.

More from Brian Orme or visit Brian at www.brianorme.com