What It’s Like To Be A Growing Church in 2023

by Mark Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader

What’s it like to be part of a growing church?

When we get right down to it, although everyone says they want their church to grow, I’m not convinced.

After coaching, consulting and generally engaging with several growing churches lately, I’m reminded again they are distinct cultures, like every church. Every church has its norms, unwritten rules, rhythms, and familiar practices. It turns out that growing churches are swiftly moving and high change church cultures.

First, a definition. By growth, I mean transformation. Growing churches are partnering with God to transform ordinary human beings into greater reflections of Jesus. Growing churches are partnering with God to transform this world more toward the kingdom of God. Growing churches are high change communities gathered around the Way of Jesus.

Looks like mildly controlled chaos.

When churches are caught up in the Way of Jesus, pursuing transformation, things happen. People are stirred-up, with their spiritual imaginations firing. This means Holy Spirit inspired activity is breaking out. Even the best-designed organizational systems are stretched and pushed. Those who have a high need for order often grow uncomfortable due to the changes that accompany transformation.

Leaders feel like they are constantly losing control.

This is what leaders experience in growing churches. When transformation happens, things shift, including the way we are and do church. Policies and procedures are not able to fully keep pace with growth. Nimble and agile church systems and structures are needed to support the growth as it occurs. To leaders who aren’t used to swiftly moving church cultures, this feels like losing control. Think early church in the book of Acts for a good reference point.

Hard to find the new normal due to growth spurts.

Transformation, when it gets in the water of a community, takes on a life of its own. Growth in individuals and churches seems to come in spurts. Those who experience this kind of church life typically lay down their expectations of reaching a new normal after a while. There are periods of great expansion followed by periods of consolidating the gains. Though this is predictable in growing churches, when these periods will begin and end is unpredictable. What’s predictable is change. Disciples of Jesus in growing churches accept change as the new normal.

Frequent personnel and leadership changes.

We are working with several large church staffs at the moment, with all of them experiencing high turnover. Certainly the Great Resignation resulting from the pandemic is a driver, but not the only one. In growing churches, committee and ministry team leaders change often, as do paid staff persons. New leaders are always needing oriented. Changes in leadership, lay and ordained, are expected in growing churches.

Letting go of the expectation you will know everything happening or know everyone who is this church.

You know that animosity between different worship services? You know that consistent call to blend your worship services more often? These go away in churches who are consistently growing. Why? Because they lay down the expectation that they must know everyone who’s a part of their church in order to accomplish their mission. They accept their church is a multi-cell organism. They accept they will connect with a smaller church within the larger church as their primary community, giving their blessing to this way of being church. They no longer expect to know everything that’s happening, giving selective attention to a smaller set of activities.

Accepting the discomfort of change for the sake of the mission.

This is the bottom line in growing churches who participate with God’s transformation of ourselves and this world. Growing churches are high change environments when the mission is central to the life of the community. For the sake of the mission, growing churches are more friendly toward change, seeing it as part and parcel of the whole. Growth involves transformation involves change. The discomfort that comes with change is acceptable, since transformational churches are living into God’s mission.

So, how about your church? What’s the culture gathered around? How ready are you to join God’s transformation of planet earth? The gospel of Jesus Christ is about change. Unless we are born again, we can’t participate with God’s transformation mission. May we be caught up in the Way of Jesus, accepting change as normative for gospel-oriented living.