Breaking Growth Barriers

I love stories where people go beyond what is expected and do what is seemingly impossible. Especially those stories where courage is required. Can you imagine what it was like to even try to break the sound barrier? Even the experts didn't know exactly what would happen or if it could be done.  But it did...and look where air travel has gone.

Truth be told...barriers are a part of life.  Some barriers are overcome naturally without any or little effort.  While other barriers take everything to overcome - including time, people, and resources.

Churches face barriers too. One of the most recognizable barriers in church ministry is the attendance barrier.  Churches can get stuck for a number of reasons.  Below are 8 "lids" that keep churches and organizations from moving forward.

1. Desire

This really is the primary barrier to church growth.  Some churches and organizations never grow simply because there is no desire to grow.  Growth requires things to change.  If the desire is there then commit to the goal and be willing to accept the necessary changes.

2. Systems

Systems have to keep changing and morphing to keep up with attendance trends and even cultural trends.    There are 6 key systems that church plants and even existing churches have to pay attention to, or forward progress can easily come to a stop.  These 6 areas are as follows: leadership development, children's ministry, the guest experience/follow-up, parking, the facility, and group life. If any of these systems are broken or getting outdated they will become a barrier and hinder forward progress.

3. Cultural Trends

This can be an area that you can do nothing about.  Take for instance, area where demographics are changing and as a result the area is shrinking in population.  Sometimes there are trends that are out of your control that can impede growth.

4. Culture of the corporation

Culture is always the most important thing of an organization.  This is true for a church too.  What is your culture and what do you want it to be.  It can become a problem when new people to your church feel the culture is different than it does for those on the inside.  You can read more about culture and why it is important on two of my previous posts here.

5. Competency

Think of competency in terms of capacity.  There is a different set of skills needed to lead a small group than a group of 100 people.  Furthermore, there is another set of skills needed to lead a group of 1000 people.  The dynamics of leading people and teams changes as things get bigger. This can be a hard transition to master.  It takes time to develop the necessary skills to lead a larger corporation.  And let's be honest...sometimes there is no desire to go there because we have become comfortable with where we are.

6. Courage

Many times we know what needs to happen or where we need to go and the only thing lacking is the courage to make it happen.  When fear becomes a greater motivator than courage- churches get stuck.

7. Communication

People want to know where they are going.  If people feel uncertain as to what, where, and why they will leave.  Here are a couple of things to think about when it comes to communication:

• Clear is better than clever
• Take time to define systems of communication
• Make sure to have a process as to the timing and tone of communicating big changes.

8. Character

People want to get behind people that they can follow and trust.  When church leadership is lacking integrity the church gets stuck.

When these things are unhealthy and neglected- they become barriers to church growth.  What else have you seen get in the way?