What Makes Church Plants Grow Fast?
A couple weeks ago I was reading some of Stephen Gray’s research on what factors cause church plants to grow fast, as opposed to growing slowly or dying a slow death due to the forces of attrition. Now Steve Addison has a list of 21 church planting factors derived from Gray’s book. Following up on the “plant” language, you could think of these as optimal “sun and shade” conditions. Some of these are really pertinent to our situation in Kansas City…
Here are the first five.
Here’s a list of the 21 differences between church plants that grow fast and those that struggle.
- Assessment: Using the Ridley Assessment is a must! The higher the score the better.
- Finances: Adequate financial support is a necessity. There is a delicate balance between too much and too little support.
- Full-time Planters: A majority of fast-growing church plants were led by full-time planters.
- Shorter Support Period: An extended period of support is not good for a new church – recommend less than two years.
- Give Additional Funding: A higher percentage of fast-growing churches received additional funding beyond the initial salary given.
Additional perspective and analysis can be found at The Missional Challenge.
HT: Jason Allen.
