Church Isn't Growing

Back in the USA ....

Ed Stetzer in his article, "Church Growth: When the Formulas Don't Work" writes: (hat tip to the great George Robinson)

"Seven years ago my church growth world began to come apart. Many of the
sure-fire, guaranteed, great-new-whiz-bang-programs weren't working in my church or
the churches we were starting. They were supposed to work, they worked in other
places, they worked for some of my friends, but they didn't work for us! We kept trying
some of them, but my community just didn't respond as the church growth experts
promised. When I became a seminary professor, my students told me the same thing—
the sure fire methods just were not that sure fire.

"Every time I read a book from a church health pastor (particularly those
mentioned earlier), he warned “Don’t copy me. You are not in [my community].” I didn't
listen very well. As I look around me, I see that lots of other pastors didn't listen either,
as clones of successful mega-churches popped up across the continent. The temptation
was too great—we really wanted to reach as many people as they did, so we copied
their models and hoped for the same results. Unfortunately, it didn't work in most
places."

Read the whole article here.

And click the picture for another great article.