As a General Rule These tips can help
- Cast a Vision
- Focus Outward not Inward
- Leaders lead in Outreach
- Churchwide Fasting
- Churchwide Prayer Focus
- Spiritual Gift Assessments
- Encourage a Spirit of Unity
- Focus Your Resources on Growth
- Learn from Churches-God is Blessing with Growth
Table of Contents
Is Your Church losing Church Members?
Is Your Church losing Church Members? Life is a process and we all live and then we die and go to our Father. Churches seem also to have a life of their own. Down Through the ages God’s Family has prospered and then it has wained in numbers.
There always are ups and downs. Even Jesus in his ministry had times that the crowds were so great they had to separate themselves just to rest. Other times Jesus’ ministry it was Jesus and his twelve, at times only John and faithful women.
What is Vision Casting – Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish
Check this vision – I would follow this – Greg Gaines
Is Your Church losing Church Members / Is Your Church Dying?
In looking at this from the Lord’s Perspective his family is Global/ It is also consisting of those here now and also those that have gone on before. So from his sight, things might be different than what we can physically see.
But these might be the of the things your local church family is experiencing right now.
Dropping
- Attendance
- Contribution
- Loss of Youth
- No Young Couples
Vision
It is a Desire that any Church leader prays about is how can we do our part to help the Lord’s Kingdom to grow.
Solomon said that “Without Vision, the people will Perish….”
1) Where we Are Now..
Local Churches Leadership is Crucial. They need to be able to see clearly and recognize where their Church Family is at.
2) What Direction we need to be Going
Leadership is crucial to any church, business, company, or organization. If the Ones leading your family do not know where to go, and what is the path that will lead them into the future. They will be lost wandering and also those who are following them.
Jesus Mission Was Very Large
Jesus took 12 uneducated men, some more than others, and trusted into their hands the fate of the world. A Wise Leaders Vision is on the Same Scale that God’s Is –
People will follow someone that is going somewhere
People will follow – a leader that is unmistakably Following God
How to Offer Hope about Jesus
Full Lesson
Prayer
To Think that we ourselves can cause God’s Family to grow is short-sighted. God is the one who gives the growth. He is the one that puts his word upon people’s hearts. He causes the Growth, our part is that of the farmer. We faithfully plant. We plant His words upon the hearts of men. In Places, we cannot see it germinates or is lost –
As Our Hearts align with him we begin to see the world through his eyes. We begin to see others, no matter who they are, what color they are, Men, women, children, what place on earth they come from as Wayward lost children.
Once that Burden moves to take root in your heart than his desire to seek and save the lost – Now becomes yours.
Watching people wander and blindly go to their eternal homes without direction, without hope, that change of heart moves you to seek him. Ask him to guide you to help him work in his kingdom – we are bound to fail if it is in our strength, our wisdom, or our understanding we seek to grow his family.
Prayer is where we need to head.
- Seek – Ye Shall Find
- Knock – it shall be opened
- Ask – It will be given
Following His Lead her will give us direction from him, to fall in behind what he is doing. What he desires.
Shepherds
From shepherds ( Leadership point of view) if you can cover the basics these are crucial to the health of the Lord’s Body. Every Sheep Needs
- Food / Water
- Shelter
- Rest / Peace
- Nursing
- Carrying
- Multiplication of the flock through Growing Families.
- Protection – from Wolves.
You Might want to take this basic list and check off whether your church family are providing the basics.,
Basic Shepherding
Food / Water
For any Baby to grow, it needs fresh milk from its mother. Suckled at its mother’s breast, where it gets the Milk that has nourishment, immunity, vitamins everything it needs to grow in those early days. Growing and maturing fast.
The baby then moves to more solid foods, Pureed, oatmeal, Yum, Yum..
Food changes to that for Young Child, then Teenager, Young Adults, and then Older diets.
Is Your congregation supplying food for your sheep? If there is no food, they will definitively die from starvation.
Food is supplied Through the giving of God’s Word Through the Preacher, Lessons. Classes being offered to all ages. Each age needs the same food just prepared in different ways depending on their age.
Shelter
Sheep and Families need a place where they can take shelter. A Place where they can come in out of the Rain. A Place where the can seek a place to escape the Rain, The Heat, The Snow. Life can be very challenging and Storms come. The Shepherd needs to when needed provide shelter to the sheep.
Rest / Peace
It is very hard to grow in times of turbulence. A Gigantic Oak Tree has its Roots deep, Trunk Strong, Branches Wid, providing all types of refuge. But that Tree did not grow in a constant state of turbulence. It is the times of resting beside the still waters, that growth takes place.
A wise Leader can understand that children will squabble, They will play, chase each other. Younger Rams will compete, Older Rams will Butt Heads.
A wise Leader will understand a family cannot survive without times of peace and rest. He or She will understand how to manage this natural phenomenon.
There are so many parables here
- Young Lambs can Play so hard they Hurt Themselves
- Young Rams/ Ewes can Fight for Peking Order so hard, all other young rams are runoff
- Older Rams can Butt everyone out so they are miserably left there alone. – asking where did everyone Go....
Nursing
Living the Christian life is very challenging. At times we can get wounded, maybe even fatally in our Christian lives. I had a preacher express it to me this way and I Have never forgotten it.
He Said “Greg on Sunday mornings I feel that the lords family come here and they are Bruised, some are Bleeding, some have a broken leg. I feel my Responsibility is to help bandage them up, nurse them, Lift them back to their feet and help them back out into the world to go at it again for another week”
Carrying
Jesus says Come to Me and I will give you rest, My yoke is easy and My Burden is Light.
Sometimes we all need to have time when we can be carried. There will be some of your brothers and Sisters need a time where they need help. That is a special Time when the Flock can rally around and help each other. “Peter Betrayed Jesus that night at Gethsemane, but Jesus words were to Peter, But I have prayed for you that Your faith will not Fail”
Protection / Shepherds / Leaders Need to Protect the Flock
In our, Christian Lives through Learning how the spiritual Realm works. We learn the Satan – Roams around like a Roaring Lion – Seeking whom he can devour.
- The purpose of the Lion is dinner – It is death for the object of his meal
- Lions will pick off the young Lambs
- Lions will Prey upon the sick
- Lions will prey upon Mothers and their children
- Lions do not Have a conscience – They Just Eat
Advanced Growth Tips
Outreach
One of the main Missions, we see Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit Unified. Jesus Trained 12 Disciples to seek and save the lost. That spirit of taking the message of God’s call to those who are lost wandering. Jesus described His Followers, as a light upon a Hill, As Christians let Jesus, The Father, and his Spirit dwell in us. We also become that Light for the world. We become that Hope for the world, we become the life preserver that is thrown to the drowning one.
If a Church is not growing by Reaching Out. It can come to the point that people are dying faster than the church is growing. The Flock is either
- Growing
- Maintaining
- Growing Smaller – it can until it is gone
Forms of Outreach
- Home Visits
- Crusades / Campaigns (Like Pentecost – Acts 2)
- Missions
- Staff Added For That Purpose
- Vacation Bible Schools
- Food Outreaches
- Drug Rehab
- You can be as creative as Possible – We Are Walking Thru a Broken World
Small Groups
Small Groups, Cottage Meetings, Home Bike Studies all describe where a small group of Christians meet in one member’s home. It is a Time of Dining Together, Prayer, and study. This is some churches have become a very powerful way of reaching out to others. people can be more receptive to visiting a person’s home and allow them to experience the family and community as they grow closer to god. It is also been a good way to train leaders in the Local churches
Local / World Missions
Many Churches have adopted a Foreign Mission to help grow. This is a great way to involve and train your church family in seeking and saving the lost. I know many Ministers that began a life of service in God’s Kingdom that began on a foreign mission field. Some of the benefits are
- Some places are more receptive to receiving God’s Word – Paul also saw this
- The ones that go are blessed by going
- the ones that do not go can become part of the work – it takes $$ to go, supplies are needed – everyone can be apart of this mission.
Seek Wisdom
What I find Extremely Helpful – I Find Churches That God is Blessing and I like to Visit and then Ask Myself Why is God Blessing Them…God Bless Greg
