I’ve been listening to Nelson Searcy’s breaking growth barriers this past week, as I pray through issues of assessing where we are and where we are headed as a church.

Nelson challenged me to think about 2 decisions, and then addressed 10 systematic growth barrier issues that churches that moved beyond 125 in attendance had to address. Here are the 2 questions:

1. Does God want your church to grow, and
2. Do you want your church to grow?

If I answer yes to the 2 questions, here are 10 systematic growth barrier issues to address:

1. I must be growing spiritually myself
2. I must move from being a Shepherd to a Rancher
3. I must focus on my strengths
As a church:
4. We must have space for new people
5. We must hire additional staff
6. We must work on special emphasis Sundays
7. We must start new small groups
8. We invest in leadership development
9. We need to behave as through we are 250
10. We must remember the harvest

Looking forward to the breaking the 250 barrier, Nelson identified the same two decisions that need to be made at 125, identified 3 key issues to address, and then identified 10 systematic growth barrier issues that churches that moved beyond 250 had to address

3 Key issues to address:
1. What is our strategy?
2. Small group involvement critical
3. Examine self and personal growth

2 Decisions
1. Determine that it is God’s will for our church to grow.
2. Determine that you want your church to grow.

Steps
1. I must continue to grow spiritually
2. I must delegate w/ accountability everything, hiring staff
3. I must become a better communicator (Sunday)
As a church:
4. We must have the space for new people
5. We must strengthen our evangelistic systems
6. We must have a clear steps system (ie, 101, 201, 301, 401)
7. We must develop and have a clear church strategy
8. We must start MORE new small groups
9. We must behave as though we were 500
10. We must remember the harvest

There is a lot to process here, and I am looking forward to working through these ideas with our leadership team. Hopefully you will find this information useful, and I would be interested in any of your thoughts or comments.

Have a great day!