People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Momentum
by James W. Moss, Sr.It is the New Year. We have just
passed through an orgy of football games. Sports announcers regularly use the
word “momentum.” One of the teams has momentum and is making positive progress
in the game. Suddenly the fortunes of the game change. Then the announcers
pronounce, “Big Mo” has gone to the other side of the field. Impetus, drive,
thrust, energy, and force are descriptive terms used to define momentum.
A church in decline is facing negative energy. Frequently, the first year of
decline in a church is ignored as an aberration. Pay attention. In an
extensive study that I have done with over 100 churches for a 25 year period,
there is nearly a 70% probability that one loss year in average worship
attendance will be followed by another. Remember, negative momentum
provides downward pressure. As the negative momentum builds, dissatisfaction
among the people mounts. Declining attendance produces financial pressure
increasing the levels of dissatisfaction. Sufficient dissatisfaction can
produce a desire for change.
The pressure for change
Discontent has the potential to revise the rules for change. I’ve heard the
old stories about the preacher who chased all the people off until there were
only about 15 left and then began to rebuild the church. I don’t buy them. I
simply don’t know of one real life incident where a church suffered three
significant loss years in a row with the same pastor and then had that pastor
oversee a period of growth.
Did you ever begin to roll a snowball to make a snowman? Did you notice how
diligently you had to work to get the snowball started? Then did you notice how
it took more and more energy to keep it moving as the ball of snow grew larger?
Lyle Schaller uses the illustration of pumping water uphill. Pressure must be
applied to the water to send it uphill. The higher the hill, the more pressure
is required.
Turning the corner
The longer a church has been in decline, the more energy it will take to turn the corner. In fact it often takes five years to stop the losses and move to a plateau where the church is simply holding steady. After years of decline, that is progress. Then more force is required to create growth.
I remember listening to a singer being interviewed. The singer was asked about his instant success. He responded that he had worked hard for 15 years for his instant success. Sometimes, it appears that a church and pastor has instant success. A careful analysis will reveal that pastor and people have worked hard over a number of years to create that instant success. There were a number of small victories that made the big victory possible.
Exerting positive pressure
A growing church requires positive thrusts. In a small church, up to 50 in worship attendance, the pastor and a few people who expend a great deal of positive energy doing the right things can begin to see growth occur. That kind of growth pressure applied over a number of years can create significant growth.
However, there is a temptation to settle back and be satisfied. Over the years, I have challenged pastors and churches to remember where they came from and how they got there. The temptation is to coast for an extended period of time. Momentum lapses. A plateau occurs. Once that plateau appears, losses are just around the corner. Churches don’t tend to stay on a plateau for very long.
Expand the base
The base has to continually be expanded to
provide for a growing congregation and to allow for further expansion. Take a
square table. Place a funnel in the middle. Pour sand through the funnel. A
pyramid of sand will grow as large as the table permits. Then the sand just
runs over the edge. An expansion of the table is required to allow the pyramid
to grow larger.
A church experiencing positive momentum must consciously expand the base to
permit growth. Rotating people is the phenomena of a church that has outgrown
the base. New people arrive and leave ultimately because there is “no room in
the inn.” Then another set arrive and leave until finally new people stop
arriving. Then decline follows.
The basic issues
The leadership of a growing church must understand certain base issues that will hinder or stall growth even though the church may be spiritually healthy. Here are a few of those.
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The desire to see a church grow must be driven by the longing to see the kingdom of God expand. The harvest is white and ready. The longing for growth must not be separated from the spiritual roots of the Christian faith. This requires prayer, Bible study, and much more. The motivation must be pure. |
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Worship attendance will not tend to rise above 80% of the comfortable seating capacity of the sanctuary in one service. Mark Smythe is sitting in my office. He is complaining that Calvary Church is not growing. I say to Mark, “Please stop beating yourself up. Average worship attendance is 82% of the comfortable seating capacity. That is a very positive statement about the health of the church and the quality of your ministry. However, don’t expect any more growth in that building in one service.” |
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There has to be sufficient small groups to accommodate people. These are the five kinds of small groups: Sunday school classes, care groups, support groups, task groups, and athletic teams. Divide your annual average worship attendance by the number of small groups. If the answer is 10 or above, you church doesn’t have enough small groups. This formula applies to churches up to 800. I don’t have enough research data to speak authoritatively above that. |
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There has to be sufficient parking to accommodate your people. When I go to a church that has a self-contained parking lot, I can count the cars and multiply by 2.3 and I will have a number larger than the attendance on the inside. When the parking is full, you will be loosing people because of lack of parking. |
| It takes 2.5 people to support an average attendance of 1 for a year. I’m not saying this is right. It just is. People are vacationing and traveling more than ever. The basic core of regular attendees do not attend as frequently as in a previous generation. So new people need to be added to replace those who are no longer here and then to provide growth. Normal attrition is 10-15% of the worshipping congregation each year. A church averaging 100 will lose 10-15 of its people each year. |
Learn how to keep positive momentum on your side.
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Also see Riding the "Mo" Train by Dr. John C. Maxwell
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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January 14, 2002. Volume 5, Issue 1. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way with proper credit. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.