Understanding the Life Cycle of a Church

In many of the conferences I've led for pastors I address the life cycle experienced by churches. Using a standard bell curve, I explain how churches go from birth to maturity to plateau to decline to death. I show how each of us personally are on a similar life cycle, and there isn't anything we can do about it. It's a natural process of life. However, churches can do something if they find themselves on the declining side of the life cycle. They can begin a new life cycle. 

The best place to begin a new life cycle is when it's still on the left side of the bell curve during the maturing or growth stage. However, many churches are not eager to change anything at that stage because things are going so well. The church is growing, new people are attending, baptisms are strong, the giving is up and people are excited about the church. Why change anything at that stage is a question often asked.

Well, for one thing, churches don't stay at that stage forever. It's great while it lasts, but at some point the church will begin to plateau or feel stuck. From that point the church enters a decline period which can soon lead to a survival mindset. When that happens the church becomes very risk-averse. They are protective of their finances. They circle the wagons fearful that they may be forced to close. Too often, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

One of the problems is that many churches enter the decline side of the life cycle and never realize it until they are far down that right side of the bell curve. Drastic action may have to be taken if the church is to survive, and that doesn't include circling the wagons. It involves becoming more aggressive about outreach and discipleship. It requires the church to become much more intentional about its ministries and forces them to eliminate those ministries that no longer produce results (which they should have done much sooner). It also forces people out of the mindset that if they just doing the same things that used to be effective, and do them harder, everything will be OK.

How do you start a new life cycle? You do it by starting new ministries. You seek God's vision for your church and begin to live into that vision. Your church may be 100 or even 200 years old, but essentially you are starting over again. You identify the persons God wants your church to reach, eliminate anything that will keep you from that and begin new ministries that will reach those individuals.

I live in a county of only about 32,000 people, but I keep seeing new churches pop up in rented spaces and business centers. While many of the churches in my community are dying, these new churches are thriving. God is still interested in seeking and saving those that are lost, and if the existing churches are not going to do that, He will raise up new churches that will.

Your church leadership should look at a bell curve. Start at the left side and write birth on the bottom. As you move up the left side write growth. When you get to the top write plateau. As the curve begins to move downward, write the word decline, and at the bottom write the word death. Where is your church on that bell curve? Where is it in it's life cycle? Be honest. What are your next steps?