The 3 Foundational Elements Necessary For a Church to Grow

There lies within virtually all organizations, or certainly those worth their grain of salt, a desire to grow. We live in a world of growth.

Think about yourself today and yourself at birth. Day by day from the beginning there has been growth. Cells reproduce all the time. Your kids…they grow! Everything grows or it dies.

Pastors, more than anyone, desire to see the people they lead grow spiritually. Pastors know that if people are growing spiritually and enough of them do so, the church will grow numerically.

There are three elements foundational to any church’s growth. Please know that having any or all of these elements in place does not guarantee growth. However, not having all three in place will guarantee the church will not grow.

If you are in an established church, one that has been around 25 years or more, you need to plan on an extended period of time of bringing these elements to the center of your foundation. Do not expect that you can read this article, go to the board next week, the staff the following week, and have these in place by the first of the month. This is painstaking work, but it is the work the senior leader of any great church must do to build a successful ministry.

Please note that in all these elements the operative word is “good.” All churches have these elements. However, in far too many churches the elements are not done well. That is tough to accept, but you must give a critical eye to each of these and determine the level of “good” for each.

1. Good preaching. Let’s talk first about your own preaching. This makes a lot of pastors nervous and brings out insecurities in others. I am not suggesting you have to be Billy Graham. I am saying, however, that the preaching coming from your pulpit has to be good. You need to be a continued student of preaching. Listen to good preachers. Learn the art and craft of preaching. Pray hard, prepare hard, and preach hard. The preaching must be good.

It is clear from virtually all the surveys I read that the non-believer of today is wide-open to hearing the truth from God’s Word. The same openness that exists for all sorts of bad theology and spiritual searches is open to good biblical preaching. Do not cop out to statements like, “The preaching really doesn’t matter, it’s the other programs of the church.” Wrong! Study and pray to preach well.

2. Good music. The music at the church you serve does not have to be Hillsong but it must be good. It must be very good. It is critical that those who come into your church see that you understand the culture, and like it or not, good music is central to our culture today. The most likely group to consider a change and come to the church is the under 40 crowd. Their world is filled with outstanding music. It is your job to make the music at church the best it can be.

I understand the limitations of churches in the quality of musicians available for Sunday morning services. I also observe that in more cases than not, the senior pastor is afraid to place expectations on musicians because working with musicians can sometimes be a challenge. However, when challenging those with gifts in music to be the best they can possibly be, the senior pastor actually plays to their desire for excellence. Don’t settle! Go for the best in your challenge of them.

3. Good ministry to children. This is where a lot of us slip up. Get the picture, no flannelgraphs! There is ministry to children and then there is GOOD ministry to children. Children are tech savvy and you need to be that good and better to capture and hold their attention. Be smart and be good in your ministry to children.

Believe me, when a young family visits the church, it means little that you are Baptist, Methodist, Independent, AG, or Open Bible. You and I have heard it from young parents for years, “What do you have for my kids?” When you have children crying because their parents have come to pick them up FROM the children’s’ ministry and not crying to GO to the children’s ministry you are well on your way to having in place one of the greatest and most overlooked elements of church growth, good ministry to children.

Noticeably absent from this list of three are two things. Let me address them for you.

First, ministry to youth is not included. Why is that? The answer is first things first. Children come before youth. Churches all over the country do it backward. When a church begins to grow, the first staff person they often hire is the youth pastor. If they were to really do it right, it should be the children’s pastor.

I am amazed at the number of churches I come across that have decent youth ministries but crummy children’s ministries. It is obvious that over time the youth ministry is never being feed strong incoming 6th and 7th graders because they come from such poor children’s ministries. Poor ministry begets poor ministry. Never underestimate what God can do in building your church through the hearts of children who then become youth.

The other apparently missing piece is that of discipleship. I would argue that, in fact, discipleship is not missing. Discipleship starts in the pulpit. You should feel free to communicate to those who feel the church does not do enough in disciplining believers that the discipleship starts on Sunday morning in the pulpit and then emanates from there.

Remember, putting these elements in place will take time. If you are in an established church, it is going to talk a long time; certainly months and probably years. However, when you have good preaching, good music, and good ministry to children in place you will have the foundation in place to grow a great church. Also remember, there will be a lot of work ahead of you once the foundation is laid. Without the strong foundation, however, little that is built will withstand the test of time.

I look forward to what God will do in the ministry of the church you lead as these three elements are solidified over time.