IN THIS ISSUE:
1. REASON FOR THIS NEWSLETTER
2. CHURCH GROWTH
3. LEADERSHIP
4. CHURCH INTERNET WEB SITE
5. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
6. SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

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1. REASON FOR THIS NEWSLETTER
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I apologize for double vision with the last issue of the Newsletter. I had tested the procedure a number of times and everything worked. I was greatly encouraged by return e-mail and the relationships that developed.

Flavil Yeakley, Harding Center for Church Growth Studies, wrote: "I just received your newsletter for September 1999. It was very interesting. This newsletter has the potential to do a lot of good for the Lord's church." The last paragraph reads "Your brother in the Great Commission." Church growth has always been evangelistic just as this Newsletter emphasizes e-vangelism – the use of the Internet for church growth.

Southwest Church of Christ in Tigard, Oregon adapted the principles in Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Church in 1995. Southwest moved from a church of 200 to a church now averaging 500 attenders at Sunday worship. The church has four ministers and 35 small groups. Read about how they did it at http://webminister.com/growth01/plan0201.htm.

****************************************************** 2. CHURCH GROWTH ****************************************************** Church growth, like principles on Leadership, falls into the area of "Practical Ministry" along with Homiletics. Church growth should not be considered as a Biblical Study, yet the principles are based on Scripture.

The Church has been called the "body of Christ" and many Scriptures exist to support this concept. Church growth specialists study the vital signs of a church's health by a process called a "diagnostic evaluation."

For example, when one visits a doctor or medical specialist, they gather data like weight, height, blood pressure, respiration rate, EKG, X-rays, and other tests. None of this data will cure a sick person, but will help the medical team to better evaluate the medical problem. Church growth principles can't heal a sick church, but can explain where problems exist.

C. Peter Wagner states "The pathology of church growth, curiously enough, has not been included in most seminary and Bible school curricula in the past. . . . As a result, pastors in general tend to know little about the field, and their churches may be sick without their realizing it." So, how can ministers prescribe a cure?

For a basic concept on "What is ‘Church Growth'" and growth ratios read http://webminister.com/growth01/plan0191.htm.

Remember, church growth principles can no more save the human soul than a thermometer can cure the common cold. The principles can only supply information on the health of the church, so church leadership can take action.

What you learn about church growth may well drive you to your knees!

****************************************************** 3. LEADERSHIP ****************************************************** C. Peter Wagner's "Your Church Can Grow: Seven Vital Signs of a Healthy Church" (chap 4) presents the seven signs as church growth principles and summarizes them in "The Healthy Church" (pp. 15 - 24). The first vital sign of a healthy growing church is a pulpit minister with vision and faith, and dynamic leadership to catalyze the congregation into action for growth. Four axioms exist as preconditions for growth. If a church scores low on the following preconditions, A CHURCH CANNOT EXPECT TO GROW!

AXIOM 1: The minister must want the church to grow and be willing to pay the price.
AXIOM 2: The people must want the church to grow and be willing to pay the price.
AXIOM 3: The church must agree that the goal of evangelism is to make disciples.
AXIOM 4: The church must not have a terminal illness.

In other words, "the leadership must want the church to grow and be willing to pay the price." John Ellas in "Church Growth Through Groups" (pp. 45-46) states that the term "leadership" means both the pulpit minister, the most effective conduit for growth communication, and the elders working together. These two leadership roles – minister(s) and elders – cannot be locked in an adversarial relationship and expect the church to grow. Neither can work in a vacuum. Leadership must appear like-minded. Both minister(s) and elders have to help the congregation focus on the future of what can be with faith and vision. Flavil Yeakley sees three separate roles for elders: decision-making, administration, and spiritual counseling and teaching. The elders ultimately allocate the funds and make the final decisions about programs and administration. Therefore, the elders have a major impact for church growth or no-growth.

Leadership must take the initiative in the goal-setting process.

****************************************************** 4. CHURCH INTERNET WEB SITE ****************************************************** A recent survey of about 500 church web sites revealed about thirty churches are e-mailing the Sunday Bulletin, a weekly, a biweekly, or a monthly Newsletter to the congregation on a regular basis. Most allow anyone to subscribe by e-mailing a request. Other churches with their own domain name have set up their own church Newsletter mailbox.

A church domain name IS A MUST. The registering of a domain name is initially $70 and the monthly cost varies with who administers the Internet account. For a list of Internet Service Providers in you area and what they offer, "The List" [http://thelist.internet.com/] can be searched by telephone area code. Prices and services vary widely, including the use of script coding, counters for each page, multiple e-mail accounts where you provide the names [anyname@yourchurch.org ], mail forwarding, reports, and many other services.

One church placed its web pages on a free web hosting service only to find later that they had a small icon on the bottom of each page to their porno web hosting service.

The $70 is a small expense considering the cost of later getting a church domain name and having to change all their advertising and letting everybody know the new Internet address.

****************************************************** 5. BOOK RECOMMENDATION ****************************************************** By church growth standards, "Your Church Can Grow: Seven Vital Signs of a Healthy Church" is an old book published in 1976 and revised in 1984. However, C. Peter Wagner's book is a "classic" and has been tested for validity by surveys and refined. The book still presents the basic requirements for church growth and church leadership. The seven vital signs (summarized on p.34) are reprinted and expanded in many books on church growth. "Your Church Can Grow" can be bought from Barnes and Noble with a 20% discount for $10.99 (paperback) plus shipping and handling at http://webminister.com/barnes/book5003.htm.

****************************************************** 6. SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE ****************************************************** I hope you enjoyed this first issue of this newsletter and will remain with me for at least three issues. The Newsletter's back issue is available at http://webminister.com/mailing/home.htm.

If you have questions with material covered in this Newsletter, please e-mail me at webminister@webminister.com. I need your comments and input. I will be covering your questions in later issues.

If you want to "unsubscribe" just e-mail me.

In His Service,