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Could Church DECLINE be a Sign of Health?

3. Pastors and missionaries are tested, trained, affirmed and sent out into the ministry

That same year, we experienced a decline in numbers not only because of the amount of deaths, but because we sent two families out into the ministry that we had invested in and trained to do so. 

I can remember someone coming to me concerned about the sliding numbers and I replied with, “Really, in God’s eyes this may have been our most fruitful year.” That was received well and we were both encouraged in the reason for our declining numbers and struggling finances that year, both of which were recovered the following year.

4. An intentional process to take in new members.  

Raising the standard for membership and protecting the front door a bit might cause you to have fewer members join the church in the beginning, but God is honored in pastors making sure believers in Jesus Christ are the only ones that become members of the church, even if the church numbers do not boom like hoped.  

Membership meaning something has actually been the eventual cause of numeric growth for us, not the other way around.