Breaking Growth Barriers - Part 3

7. Get a coach.

• A good coach will help you be the best you can be.
• Find a coach that leads a church at least twice your size. You need to talk to someone who's a few steps ahead of you.
• Every Timothy needs a Paul. Every Paul needs a Timothy.
• While there are many good coaching networks out there - you would be surprised at how many pastors are willing to give you their time and invest in you for nothing in return.
• The ministry can be very discouraging. You need a coach and a friend who will strengthen your hand in God when the going gets touch.
• Some coaching relationships I've had have been very informal. It would consist of a call once a month on the phone and email communication.
• Other coaching relationships have been very structured and formal.
• Some leaders I consider my coaches but I've never met them. I read their books, blogs, watch them preach online, follow them on Twitter, purchase conference DVDs, etc.
• You can learn a lot from afar.

8. Start and/or strengthen your small groups system.

• Small groups are critical to breaking growth barriers.
• You need to become an expert in small groups or hire an expert.
• Pastors need to lead or participate in a small group.
• They are a great place to provide pastoral care in a growing church, more intense Bible study and spiritual growth.
• Small groups are a great vehicle to cast vision and raise up new leaders, as well.

9. Think twice your size.

• You need to get through your next growth barrier in your head and heart until you will have the skills in your hand.
• I recall learning this when our church was 350. I specifically remember saying to my coach when he told me this: "I can never lead a church of 700 or 1500." He said, "You're right, if you keep thinking like that."
• Begin to ask: "What kind of leader would I need to be to lead a church twice my current size?"
• "What kind of staff would we need?" "What kind of budget would we need to resource that?" "How many volunteers would it take?" "How many services would we need?" "How big of a facility would we need?"
• If you can dream it, you can do it!

10. Go after lost people.

• It's all about people who need Jesus.
• Yes, we need programs, processes but it's all about lost people.
• In Matthew 28:19 Jesus says, "Go and make disciples." He didn't say build big buildings. He commanded us to build big people.
• In Luke 14 Jesus tells us to "go out into the hedges and highways and compel people to come in ... so that my house might be full." Jesus loves a room filled with lost people so that they can hear the good news, repent and be saved.
• It's no victory if we are simply reaching other Christians from other churches. There will always be an element of that in our churches, but it should never be the focus.
• We are called to rescue those that do not know God nor the power of his salvation.
• If that is our motivation, God will see to it that we are leading a growing church.

Breaking Growth Barriers - Part 2

4. Focus on making it Better before making it Bigger.

• If you make it better, it will naturally demand that it gets bigger
• Do everything with excellence
• Excellence demonstrates that what is happening in your church/organization is important.
• So make the weekend service as good as you can make it.
• Have the best possible worship service you can have. Pray and fast and plan and prepare.
• Put together the best possible message you can and preach it with all your guts as if eternity hangs in the balance because it does.
• Make your kids program an unforgettable experience for the little ones so they can learn about Jesus in an environment that is fun, kid-friendly and interactive.
• Create a warm and friendly experience for your weekend attendees and first time guests with trained car parking crews, ushers, greeters, guest services hosts, etc.
• What happens in the local church should be the talk of the town because there is nothing more important to talk about than Jesus! There is nothing more important going on than what Jesus is doing by changing lives!

5. Delegate more and/or hire new staff.

• Most pastors do way too much
• We need to delegate as many tasks as possible
• Find out what you can only do in your church and delegate everything else (For me, the 3 main things I do are: Lead communicator/vision castor, Lead the staff, Resource Development)
• Delegate doesn't mean dump.
• Delegate responsibility with accountability and authority
• Follow the medical adage: Watch One, Do One, Teach One
• To break growth barriers you will also need to hire staff

6. Make room to grow.

• Adequate space will often times limit growth
• Make more room for growth in every area: parking spaces, kids space, lobby space, transition between services (if you are in multiple services), auditorium space
• Do you have enough room in your auditorium to grow?
• Remember the Rule of 70% which says, "once your auditorium is 70% full, it is full"
• Make more room by adding additional seats in your auditorium (if possible), adding additional services, finding a larger space to meet in, etc.
• Americans don't like to be crowded / they like their space / they will take up 3 seats in a row if you let them.

Breaking Growth Barriers - Part 1

Here are 10 Ideas for Breaking Growth Barriers in your church:

1. Make a decision to grow personally.

• growing churches are led by growing leaders
• in order for my church to grow, I must first grow
• i've discovered that i'm the biggest growth barrier to my church
• when i stop growing, my church stops growing
• so i must constantly ask: what am i doing to grow?
• what's my personal growth plan for 2011? for my walk with the lord? my family? my finances? my leadership? my ministry?

2. Get a vision for growth from God.

• i go on two personal prayer retreats a year so i can get alone with god, hear his voice and get a vision for what he wants to do in and through me in the days ahead
• many years ago while on a getaway, god spoke to my heart through his word that he wanted my church to grow
• i'm not saying god wants all churches to be mega churches, but god wants all churches to grow. read 2 peter 3:9, luke 14:23, mt. 28, acts 2, col. 3
• pastors need to hear from god and write the vision down
• set some growth goals / develop a strategy of how you will accomplish those goals
• a coach challenged me years ago to sit down and make a list of 100 reasons why my church should grow. this challenged me and help me develop a vision for growth.

3. Be willing to embrace the pain of growth.

• all growth requires change
• all change brings pain
• when you get a vision from god for growth and begin to implement it, the critics will show up
• develop thick skin as a leader. like really thick skin. rhinoceros thick. and don't be offended when people criticize your plan or mischaracterize your ministry.
• leadership requires thick skin and and tender heart.
• as your church grows, it will require your role to change as a pastor. this is very difficult. you won't be able to do it all by yourself anymore. you won't do all the weddings, funerals, hospital visit, counseling sessions, ad nauseum.
• acts 6 teaches church leaders that it's not our responsibility to meet all the needs of the church family. it's our responsibility to ensure that all the needs are met. big difference.
• your pain threshold will determine your growth threshold.
• if your church grows into the hundreds, even thousands, you won't even know all the people that attend your church. this was very painful for me personally and it still is today.
• but then i decided everyone can know me, or everyone can know jesus. i'd rather them know jesus.