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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Following the lead of the Apostle Paul (Acts 18:3-4), I am forever reminded of what I call the "Tentmaker Minister" – works by day for food, clothing, and shelter for the family as well as ministers to a small congregation. Most small churches under 75 in attendance have a "Tentmaker Minister."

George Barna of Barna Research Group discusses the profile of American Churches in (used by permission) [http://webminister.com/growth01/plan0041.htm]. Interestingly, one chart shows how the average adult attendance in American churches, after raising from 98 to 102 from 1987 to 1992, has declined to 91 attenders in 1998.

Mac Lynn in Churches of Christ in the United States – 1997 (pp. 11- 15) states "The average mainstream church has 108" in 1997, down from 113 in 1994. Churches "seem to point to a fellowship that continues to spawn congregations, BUT THE SIZE OF CONGREGATIONS GENERALLY IS GROWING SMALLER [caps. mine]." From 1979 to 1997 churches have grown from 12,762 to 13,080, but peaked in 1990 at 13,174.

Average does not represent most churches, because of the 13,407 churches, according to Lynn, 5,845 (43.6%) have less than 49 in attendance, 3,720 (27.7%) have 50 - 99, and 2,366 (17.6%) have between 100 and 199. In other words, 11,931 (89.0%) churches have less that 199 in attendance!

One can basically conclude 5,000 to 8,000 churches must be relying upon ministers on Social Security, some forms of outside support, or on a "Tentmaker Minister."

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2. CHURCH GROWTH
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C. Kirk Hadaway in Church Growth Principles: Separating Fact from Fiction wrote a chapter on "Setting Goals and Making Plans." Growing churches have a vision, purpose, and a desire to grow. In the results of a survey of churches desiring to grow, 69% of growing churches desired to grow, compared to 32% of plateaued churches and 42% of declining churches. The survey continued, that of the growing churches, 57% had a purpose statement and commitment to grow, instead just drifting. Plateaued churches were at 19% and 27% of declining churches had a purpose statement and commitment to grow. (Pp. 114 - 115)

Plateaued churches apparently were not troubled with their lack of growth, while declining knew something had to be done. For this reason "some declining churches have made the first step in redefining their role – they now have a desire to grow and a sense of what they want to become. They want to turn their decline around and a new purpose is the necessary first step."

Three points with equal importance are:

1. A church must want to grow, meaning purpose with identity.
2. A church must set goals, which means the purpose is put into action.
3. Church members must accept the purpose and goals as their own and be willing to put it into action. Remember, if the purpose only belongs to the minister, he will be the only one that will work toward those goals. The members will only work for the goals they own.

It may take six months to two years to have everybody onboard and a breakout of a plateaued or declining position. It takes time to reestablish a new direction for a church.

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3. LEADERSHIP
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What is leadership doing about church growth? What are the priorities of leadership for the church?

Mac Lynn in Churches of Christ in the United States – 1997 (p.15) states: "Over the past few decades, Churches of Christ expanded only minimally. . . . No ground swells appear for evangelizing . . . or for new church planting anywhere. More significantly, membership and attendance have declined. The greater losses appear to be due to two factors: (1) attrition that results when more people die or depart than are baptized and (2) the departure of a significant number of the younger generation. More of the younger generation appear to be attending other religious bodies than in past decades, when drop-outs tended not to align themselves with other churches."

Lynn is significant in stating that the lacking of evangelism in churches and that the younger generation leaving the church or just dropping out of religious activities are the main reasons for the decline in the churches of Christ today.

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4. CHURCH INTERNET WEB SITE
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I clicked into one church web site and it took four minutes and 37 seconds to load at 28.8, which included background, Java script and background music. The first icon to appear was a link to the Y2K problem solver. After a good laugh on whether the new millennium would come before the web page downloaded, I had to get a cup of coffee.

Some general rules in building a web site: 1) The use of graphics should be limited to 42K for a fast loading web page. 2) Never use graphics, when text will do the job. 3) Keep pages short, less than three clicks on the "Page Down Key." After three clicks, few surfers go any further unless they have a compelling reason or follow links lower down on the page. 4) Use "width" and "height" attributes on all images as the web page will be displayed while the images are downloading. Otherwise, all graphics and text will be downloaded before the browser will allocate space so the graphics and text will be displayed. 5) Java script and music should not be a feature of the "Home Page" if the web site is designed for church members to use. They soon tire of waiting for Java to load and listening to the same music.

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5. BOOK RECOMMENDATION
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Gary L. McIntosh One Size Doesn't Fit All: Bringing Out the Best in Any Size Church divides churches into three basic groups -- small, medium, and large. According to McIntosh, 80% of churches fall into the small category and position, control, influence, and authority are vastly different from medium and larger churches. The minister's role, relationships, and how decisions are made are unique for the small church. How churches grow, obstacles to growth, and how change take place follows a set pattern more on size than theological persuasion. This book is easy reading and portrays conversations between a young minister fresh out of college and a seasoned minister that has witnessed the problems of various size churches.

"One Size Does Not Fit All" can be bought from Barnes and Noble with a 30% discount for $10.99 (paperback) plus shipping and handling at http://webminister.com/barnes/book5005.htm.

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6. SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
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In His Service,