Mega Themes

Many have described how churches grow and what growing churches usually do very effectively. As you create action plans for your church, it’s useful to review the mega themes in Scripture that tell us what a growing church should be and do.

Numerous pastors, authors and church growth pioneers have also written extensively on the recurring patterns they see in growing churches. Consider these 8 Big Ideas:

Pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see God’s vision for your church.

• Personal Prayer Life – Personal prayer is the starting place for any church’s prayer life.
• Intercessory Prayer Ministry – Organize a group-based prayer ministry in your church to facilitate regular intercessory prayer.
• Prayer Team – Consider recruiting people committed to pray for the church, its Pastor, staff and ministry teams.
  
  

• Memorable Statements – Lead members to memorize the church’s vision and values.
• Focused Ministry – Clarify and visualize plans, processes and strategies (E.g. Saddleback Church’s Bases of Spiritual Maturity and Congregational Levels of Commitment).
• Communication – Repeat and publish your vision often.
• Church Unity – Clear vision and purpose contribute to church unity.
  
  

• Servant Leadership – Follow Christ’s example.
• Transparency – Conduct God’s business with unimpeachable leadership integrity.
• Competence – Provide able, effective leadership.
• Forward-Looking – Communicate a clear vision for the future.
• Inspiration – Enthuse and excite your people.
  
  

• Worship Style – Consider your community context and outreach focus.
• Worship Focus – By definition, worship is vertical, God-centered praise.
• Evangelism Focus – As a secondary purpose, what worship service elements give horizontal testimony and witness to unbelievers?
  
  

• Expanding Network – The only way a church can minister to increasing numbers of people is to increase its small group network (E.g. The Growth Spiral).
• Reach, Teach and Care – Groups must understand their purpose in the context of the church as a whole. Do groups understand their evangelism. pastoral care and Bible study roles?
  
  

• Assimilation Plan – Connect people to the places where they can use their spiritual gifts in ministry.
• Training Opportunities – Offer leadership training and events.
• Value Volunteers – Motivate and encourage volunteer leaders (E.g. The Volunteer Revolution by Bill Hybels).
  
  

• Community Needs – Discover community needs and create ministries to meet them.
• Communication – Emphasize the importance of outreach and evangelism often. Practically, this means that calendar, budget and personnel decisions reflect the importance of evangelism and missions.
• Personal Evangelism – Implement a personal evangelism strategy and equip core members and the congregation to share their faith.
• Missions – Provide local, state, national and international opportunities to pray, give and go.