When your church isn’t growing it can be hard to be enthusiastic. When more people show up, we feel better about ourselves, we think we are doing well, that we are onto the next big thing. If this is you (and its often me), pray now, read your Bible, talk to a trusted friend or mentor.
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Vinoth Chandar
As a leader you are in for a rocky road if your personal contentment is tied to how many people are in your church. You need to deal with this, and it cannot be dealt with by simple resignation to the “reality” of your ministry. You must deal with it with hope, vision and much prayer. You also must deal with it in living out the fact that you are a beloved child of God.
Panic or Opportunity
When your church has stopped growing or is shrinking in numbers, panic among leaders and members tends to set in. But when the numbers are getting smaller you have an opportunity. Your opportunity is to be honest and pray. Your opportunity is to turn to God, and turn the ministry over to God. Your opportunity is to engage the whole church in praying for renewal, or in praying for where God might have you go for the most impact for the Kingdom (please don’t read this as simply getting more people in church).
The Courage to Be Honest and Pray for Renewal
What if the leadership had the courage to say something like this:
There are less people worshipping here now and we don’t fully know why. Rather than guess, and rather than make excuses, we are going to see this time as an opportunity for us to turn to God and ask for renewal. God has led us in the past and God will continue to lead us into the future. Its not that we need more people here for the sake of having more people. No – we will pray that God will begin a new work in us as his people, because that is who we are. We will pray for God to show us where we can together make an impact for the Kingdom, regardless of if it results in more people “for us.” Because we aren’t in it for us – we are in it for God, and for the people God wants us to serve. When new people come lets welcome them with open arms and invite them to pray along with us for God to lead, for God to show us the way. We may not have everything figured out, but lets give this Church over to God no matter how many in number we are.
3 Tough Questions
The tough part comes after this, because as you start praying you will have to face these questions:
1) Do you REALLY trust God with the church and believe that God will do something with you?
2) If so, how long are you willing to wait on God to open up new possibilities?
3) Will you, as a church be willing to do what God asks you to do?
