Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing: How Leaders Can Overcome Costly Mistakes by Geoff Surratt also sits proudly on my bookshelf. The sad thing about this book is that I've seen each of these things done in churches, and I'm guilty of a couple of them myself. Here's a list of the ten things he discusses.
- Trying to do it all
- Establishing the wrong role for the pastor's family
- Providing a second-rate worship service
- Settling for low quality in children's ministry
- Promoting talent over integrity
- Clinging to a bad location
- Copying another successful church
- Favoring discipline over reconciliation
- Mixing ministry and business
- Letting committees steer the ship
I once heard Dr. Elmer Towns say in class that we don't have to worry about growing our churches. All we have to do is to identify the reasons why our churches aren't growing and remove them. If we do that, growth will occur.
Surratt not only identifies these 10 issues that will prevent a church from growing, he provides solutions for each of them. He doesn't offer theories but real world ways to address each one of these roadblocks to church growth. I ask again, if your church is guilty of any of these what are you going to do about it? If you're not sure I suggest you begin by reading this book!
No comments:
Post a Comment