Stages of a Church's Life
New Church/Church Plant. In its infancy a church can be summarized by the word “simple.” Everything, from its facilities to its form of government, is simple. The congregation is madeup of a committed core of believers with a simple vision of seeing their church grow.
The Growing Church. If a church catches fire in a community, growth begins to happen. The church becomes a magnet for transfer growth from older, more formal churches in the area. People are attracted to the new church because it is fresh, it is simple, it is small, and it is free from all the traditionalism/legalism/lack of enthusiasm of the older churches. During this stage growth is easy. Every pastor should have the pleasure of leading a growing church. The future seems unlimited. A growing church is open to change and allows its pastor the opportunity to lead.
The Plateaud Church. A church can plateau at any stage from new church to mega church. When a church plateaus it sees its growth level off. There still may be a lot of visitors every Sunday, but they don’t stick. What causes a church to plateau is the age old question. It may be the size of the facilities or the size of the parking lot; it may be the location; it may be a sense of comfort within the congregation and a lack of desire to grow any larger; it is almost always a reflextion of leadership. This may or may not be the pastor, but in my experience a church will grow to the level of one man’s abilities and then plateau. A plateaued church is the most difficult church to identify from the outside. It may look like a growing church; it may look like a declining church. There may be a sense of excitement about the future; there may be a longing for the past.
The Declining Church. A church that is in decline sees its ministry influence diminish over a period of time. Depending on the conditions that lead to the decline, this may be a short time (as in the case of moral failure within the leadership) or over a longer period of time. A declining church is losing its younger members to other, growing churches in the area. A declining church often begins to feel the financial pressures that will soon become serious problems for the dying church. A declining church begins to concentrate more on itself than on the needs of its community. A declining church begins to lose its vision and purpose. A declining church
The Dying Church. A church that is dying is a sad image for those who love the local church and wish nothing more than to see it flourishing and alive. A dying church is going no where. It’s motto is “the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” A dying church is losing its leadership and financial base to other churches. A dying church frustrates its pastors, and hence will see a “revolving door” in the pasonage. A dying church will have more and more difficulty attracting the dynamic pastor with the leadership abilities to turn-around a dying church. A dying church is struggeling financially to meet its budget. If a new church is sybolized by the word “simple”, a dying church is symbolized by the word “tradition.”
The Dead Church. A church that is spiritually dead has lost its biblical reason for existance. A dead church is a social club where tradition mandates that this group of people gather together at specific times during the week. To call the services “worship services” is hypocritical. The preaching is cold and irrelevant, the music stodgy and methodical. The occasional visitor has an extreme sense of discomfort and may even receive uncomfortable glares from the congregation when entering the sancturary. The only “ministry” in the church is serving on committees. You can’t find someone to teach the 3rd grade Sunday School class, but there are enough committees within the church to choke the federal government. Most importantly, the spiritual things of this world have been lost in the wordly.