Pastors and Leaders of the City,
I believe that God desires that each of our churches grow! How many of you, like myself ,are tired of the transfer growth? You know what I am talking about. The people who get offended with you and move to the next church? Or the people that migrate like birds to the next church plant like the birds do in the seasons! I want to see every church in Clarksville grow. And grow with BIBLICAL CHURCH GROWTH…LOST PEOPLE GETTING SAVED AND ADDED TO OUR CHURCHES!
In the book of Acts we are told about Church growth. In Acts 2:41 there were 3,000 men added to the Kingdom of God. In Acts 2:47 it says that they were adding to their numbers day by day. Then in Acts 4:4 it says 5,000 men were added to the church. In Acts 5:14 it tells us that multitudes of men and women were constantly being added to their numbers. We see the church in Samaria, Ephesus, and other regions around the world experiencing GROWTH! An interesting note is that during the reign of Herod Jerusalem had about 40,000 people in it. By the end of the Roman rule of Jerusalem it had about 80,000 and then dropped in population after 70 AD. So within weeks over 15% of the City of Jerusalem was saved! This isn’t counting the other reports of people being added daily! Can we agree that God wants us to exponentially grow?
I believe that one the main messages of the Kingdom of God is exponential growth. Throughout the parables we see Jesus teaching us about the Kingdom of God and in those teachings we see growth. In Matthew 13:31 Jesus tells us the parable of the Mustard seed and how it is the smallest seed but becomes the largest garden plant and the birds of the air can nest there. Then in Matthew 25:14 Jesus tells us the parable of the Talent. It is interesting to me that Jesus tells us the man who did nothing with his talent is a wicked and lazy slave, but the two who had doubled their talents where called FAITHFUL! Are we, as pastors, being faithful to increase what God has given us? Are we, as pastors, pursuing the lost and adding them to our church?
When I first started pastoring I heard often that we aren’t after numbers. Well, I AM AFTER NUMBERS because numbers represent PEOPLE who are DYING and GOING TO HELL! Jesus tells us in Luke 15 that he had 99 sheep and left to go out for the 1 that was lost. Then He tells us that a woman had 10 silver pieces and lost 1 but yet she went after the 1 that she had lost. This tells me that GOD IS CONCERNED WITH NUMBERS! Because numbers represent people! The Bible tells us that God desires all men be saved (1 Tim 2:4). Let us learn how to use our talents to Advance the Kingdom of God in Clarksville, TN and see how to grow our churches with lost people getting saved!
I am not sure if many of you realize this but our city is growing. The U.S. Census says that Clarksville is the fastest-growing large city in Tennessee and the 17th in the nation. It was the only city in Tennessee to make the top 25. The estimated population as of 2005 is 123,395 in the city overall and was on course to overtake Chattanooga as the fourth largest city in the state. The non-profit organization FAIR projects a population of 227,300 by the year 2025, which would be a 117 percent increase from the 2000 Census, assuming that the current population increase stands.
Wednesday I got a chance to speak with the Mayor and current estimates based on the CDE electric boxes put our current population at 140,000 people. We are in a growing city, yet the SBC ran a survey that found that only 30% of our community are in any church on any given Sunday (this says nothing of actually being saved). They will tell you that this isn’t quite accurate since people are prone to lying on surveys. So in spite of our success as a city, the church is lagging. Think about this if 30% is churched right now, then that is an estimate of 42,000 people attending church. This simply isn’t realistic. We don’t even have 42,000 seats in town if every church ran 10 services a day. A more realistic estimate is about 15,000-20,000. So where will we be by 2025? We must act now! If our city is exponentially growing then the church should be too.
I think that exponential growth is God’s plan and purpose for us, the Church of Jesus Christ in Clarksville! But growth isn’t enough. We must know how to faithfully handle what God has given us! We must understand how to be good stewards of the growth given us, whether that be 50, 100, 200, 600, 1000, or 140,000 people!
So in April Xtreme Ministries is bringing in Pastor Michael Fletcher. He has brought his church from 200 to 4500 members. He knows how to pastor growth and has many insights for the pastors of our city. No matter what size your church is, this conference will be of great benefit for you and your leaders!
He is going to specifically talking about
Understanding Church Growth
Role and Power of Vision
Breaking Barriers of Growth
Developing an Outreach Culture
And Q&A time
I have included a review of the book he wrote by Ministry Today Magazine.
Please join together with us as we seek to see the harvest field of Clarksville, TN reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Executive Summary: Overcoming Barriers to Growth
Overcoming Barriers to Growth: Proven Strategies for Taking Your Church to the Next LevelAuthor: Michael FletcherPublisher: Bethany HouseFile Under: Church Growth
Executive Summary: Author Michael Fletcher is the senior pastor of Manna Church in Fayetteville, N.C., and has led the congregation's growth from 400 to 4,000 active members during his 20 years of pastoring the church. So, it is from personal experience that Fletcher speaks to the issue of church growth as he identifies the major barriers to growth and then outlines methods for breaking through them.
According to Fletcher: "On the road to 'mega' there are three key stages of leadership structures or configurations and two major transition points. If pastors and leaders properly anticipate these transitions and adjust appropriately, stress can be reduced and leadership teams can work together to experience growth instead of working against each other."
Fletcher suggests, and cites supporting research, that the two main barriers pastors face in trying to grow their churches numerically are the 100/200 barrier and the 700/800 barrier, with the former representing the transition from a small church to a medium church and the latter representing the transition from a medium church to a large church.
With his stated goal being to help church leaders change internal structures in order to grow, Fletcher offers readers what he considers to be reproducible methods for achieving church growth success. First and foremost on the list is the need for the senior pastor to find God's vision for the church he leads.
Fletcher describes the importance of what he calls "the threefold law of vision:" the Law of Articulation, the Law of Unification and the Law of Mobilization. Unless the pastor can articulate the vision, unify the people around it and then mobilize them to help carry it out, the vision of growth is doomed for failure.
One point on which Fletcher risks alienating readers is his suggestion that pastors must switch from a Shepherd Model to a Rancher Model in order for their churches to grow, which some may feel contradicts the model of Jesus as Chief Shepherd. With that point aside, wherever pastors are located on the church-growth continuum, Overcoming Barriers to Growth can help them take their church to the next level.
Quote: "To move from small to medium or from medium to large, some very important things will have to change! It is important, then, to understand the dynamics involved in a church at the next level in order to take a congregation to that place."
Ideal reader: Pastors, elders and other church leaders desiring to identify and break through the barriers to numerical growth.
Rate the book from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) on these criteria: Practicality (5); Insight (4); Theological Depth (3); Readability (5).
Reviewer: Sean Fowlds
