As American churches slowly declined, we watched our European neighbors over the pond decline even faster. The “Death of Christianity” was forecasted to spread from England, Germany, and Norway to around the world. Surprisingly, a new study has revealed church growth trends in Europe. The death of Christianity story is greatly exaggerated.
What can we attribute to this growth? Hipper churches? Better social media? Flasher worship bands?
No… none of the above were found to produce long term church growth and revitalization.
The church growth movement in England has discovered deeper trends that can help American churches. A 10 year study was completed by the Church Growth Research Programme to study British churches. The study found that 18% of churches in Britain grew over a 10-year period. The study aimed to uncover what was different about those churches. The findings were reported by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership:
Leadership: Those studying the Church of England found a strong correlation between growth and qualities of leaders when these qualities are combined with an intention to grow. Leadership qualities that stood out included the abilities to motivate, envision, and innovate.
Mission and purpose: Churches with a clear mission and purpose were far more likely to grow. Two-thirds of such churches grew compared to one-quarter of churches without such clarity regarding purpose.
Willingness to reflect and adapt: Self-reflection was a prime characteristic of growing churches, whereas “doing things by default” was more common among declining churches. No particular style of worship led to growth… Growing churches were willing to experiment and fail until they found the right match between tradition and culture.
Lay leadership: Active involvement of lay members throughout the congregation’s ministry was a hallmark of growing churches. They also found that rotating leadership roles was important, especially if younger members and new members are included in leadership and service
Focus on growth: The orientation of the congregation was outward toward engagement with the community and with those not involved in church. A welcoming and carefully planned engagement with new people in the church focused on establishing ongoing relationships.
This study provides evidence that tactical changes in established churches (contemporary worship, flashy websites, hip pastors types, etc…) tend not to produce long term growth. Strategic changes (training of leaders, discipleship focus education, vision thinking, etc…) tended to produce more long term growth for British churches. Church growth is not only about making the church look more relevant. Church growth and revitalization cannot come simply from making some cosmetic changes.
The model of church structure worked well for the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s. However, our cultural behaviors have changed. We need not change the Gospel message or the person of Jesus Christ. We must change the way we structure and behave in our churches so that church growth can become a reality again.
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