Good Pastors Don't Make Churches Grow
One of the leading spokesmen of the church growth movement outlines what he believes increases the membership of a church.
C. Peter Wagner
January 1, 1981
Peter Wagner believes that generally "church growth is a sign of church health." Many, of course, would take strong issue with him on that point. As LEADERSHIP looks at the subject of success from many vantage points, Wagner's article represents an important position for you to consider.
Why lead a church?
Experienced church leaders give differrent answers to this question. Most of the answers are sincere, and few can really be called bad. "To glorify God" should be and usually is the preamble. But more specifically, some lead a church to promote an outstanding Christian worship experience. Some lead to develop meaningful ties among Christians. Some lead to contribute to the social welfare of the surrounding community. Some lead to teach the Bible to believers. The list could go on and on. In most cases, specific goals of leadership combine several of the above in differing proportions.
But let's focus on yet another purpose of church leadership, namely, church growth. In a broad sense, church growth means improving the quality of the Christian life of the existing members; but it's also concerned with a regular and sustained in crease in the number of those members. I hope to clarify some ways church leadership directly relates to the quality attributed to the early church in Jerusalem, where "every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47 GNB). q
Vital Signs of a Church
Four years ago I wrote a book called "Your Church Can Grow" (Regal). I had examined as many Anglo-American churches as I could that were sustaining a vigorous growth rate. Since I believe church growth (with some exceptions) is a sign of church health, I identified the growth principles they had in common, calling them "vital ...
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