Excerpt
"The number one characteristic of most non-growing churches is that they do have a structure in place but it is programmatic and not evangelical. Of the 31% of SBC churches who said they were structured wrong, a whopping 17% came from growing churches. 20% and 22% of United Methodist and Presbyterian USA churches, respectively, characterized themselves this way.




George Barna in User Friendly Churches says,"Jesus did not minister through programs. The early church did not appoint program managers. The Bible never exhorts us to create new programs. Jesus, the apostles, the Bible -- all indicate by word or deed that our focus is to be on people,through meaningful relationships." The greater the embracing of the Great Commission through relationships, the greater the growth.




"Without the driving force of the Great Commission, says Gene Mims, church growth will be little more than a misguided attempt to gain numbers, discover methods, and do something different". Declining or plateaued churches have lost sight of the Great Commission. They are busy with many activities and programs but they are an end in themselves. Instead of offering an aerobics class for the purpose of locating people who are without Christ and following up on the prospects found, they offer aerobics for the sake of aerobics. It may be a service but it's not a ministry. Instead of offering a Mother's Day Out as a way of locating young families with children as prospects for evangelism and church membership, these churches are thinking of themselves; providing a service for its constituents with little thought for outreach.




You have been there. The call goes out one Sunday morning for men to play in the church basketball league. That's great......until you hear the next statement; "But you must be a member of our church to play." If you are serious about fulfilling the Great Commission, that statement cuts to the heart."