Most of the time when a church is declining people ask the question, “What are we doing wrong?”. However, what you should be asking is what caused the growth in the first place. Bob Whitesel outlines several factors that contribute to growth and decline and how to avoid these things in your church.
Have you ever stopped to think that God wants your church to grow even more than you do? All healthy things grow, but sometimes in our attempts to grow our church, we end up creating barriers to growth. In this Application Guide, we will go over some of the big ideas from the video and help you and your leaders process through what things are helping your church grow, get more healthy, and thrive, and what things could actually be hindering the growth in your church.
To begin this Application Guide, watch the video and print off this guide. Below is a section of Team Discussion Questions that can facilitate collaboration or get you started about thinking about your church’s vision. Afterwards, you can begin working through the What’s Next section, answering all the questions and providing yourself with action steps and due dates.
Bob Whitesel is a speaker, professor and award-winning writer on the organic church, missional leadership and church growth; who has been called by a national magazine: “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today.” He holds two doctorates (D.Min. and Ph.D.) from Fuller Theological Seminary where he was awarded the Donald McGavran Award for “Outstanding Scholarship in Church Growth.”
