One size doesn’t fit all, especially when it comes to Church Growth Consulting. I was speaking with a Pastor a couple of weeks ago who is currently involved in one of the popular church growth consulting groups. These consultants often include a lot of different Pastors in a group conference call. The problem is, what works in one place, is not always going to work in another.
The Pastor I was speaking with was given a good model to follow, but it wasn’t tailored to fit the area he was pastoring. After several months of hard work, thousands of dollars spent, not one new person had come to his church. We think it is important that you get to spend one on one time with a church growth consultant. You need to talk with a consultant who knows not only the good models of church growth, but knows how to adapt the principles to meet not only your area but also your personality. Anything else is like trying to put clothes on that just don’t fit.
Here at Church Growth Consulting we will work with you one on one. We will take time to listen to you, your vision, and your hopes. We will ask questions to find out what your area is like. We will ask questions to find out what you are like. Only then, will we begin to work up church growth plan that is created just for you. We keep our consulting services very reasonable because our motivation is to partner with you to advance the Kingdom of God. If you would like to find out about our Church Growth Consulting services use the Contact page to let us know. We will make arrangements to discuss how we can work together. This initial consultation will be done at no charge to you. If, after our first discussion, you feel comfortable about working with us, our regular consulting fee of $200 for two hours of consulting (done in two sixty minute or four thirty minute sessions) will be in effect. For a full description of our consulting services go to the Church Growth Consulting page.
I had heard about and believed in the importance of prayer at the earliest stages of my Christian walk. But the idea of starting everything with prayer took on a whole new meaning in an experience I had in 1995. After years of feeling a stirring to go to a certain country that was very hard to get into for some short term missionary work, the doors had finally opened and I found myself in the lobby of a hotel there. I had traveled with a friend who oversaw all of the mission work our denomination was doing worldwide. I assumed that he would have a plan and schedule for us to follow for our days in country. When I asked him what the plan was for the day he said, “I thought we would just sit here and pray until the Lord gave us some direction.” Those were the last words I was expecting. I was used to planning and scheduling and organizing but I had forgotten the most important thing. Prayer must be at the start of everything. As we prayed that day the Lord answered and began an incredible string of divine appointments that I still rejoice in to this day.
Prayer is the Starting Place of Church Growth
As we begin to discuss various ideas for church growth, it has to begin in prayer. You need to earnestly seek the Lord about His heart for the people in your area and for the world. You need to ask for His direction and His guidance and His wisdom. I would suggest that one possible first step in church growth would be to either start, restart, or revive your existing prayer ministry. There is perhaps no more important a ministry in the Church than that of prayer. Everything, and I mean everything, must start with prayer. We have included a series of articles on the Church Growth Consulting site called “Establishing a Prayer Ministry” that will be helpful for you in getting an effective prayer ministry established at your church.
This site is dedicated to help Pastors and Ministry Leaders utilize the Internet to advance the Kingdom of God. I have understood the importance of the Internet for years, but I have now gained an even deeper appreciation of the potential to impact not only my own church but also “The Church” with some of the continual new advances taking place.
The Blogosphere
Perhaps one of the biggest advances is the explosion of the blogosphere. WikiPedia defines the blogosphere this way:
“Blogosphere is a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network.”
Blogs are a connected community and a social network. As such, they are a great harvest field. What people are writing in their blogs can have a huge impact on the world. Pastors and churches can utilize blogs to spread their message in amazing ways. I started a blog called God’s Daytimer which contains short online bible studies and some weekly video clips of news events with a Christian perspective. This site started gathering readers before I even launched it. The blogosphere opens up significant opportunities not only to minister to believers but to reach out to seekers as well.
New Software Makes it Easy
Our church website has always required a webmaster and God bless the webmasters for all they have done and continue to do. Software like “WordPress” which is free and quite simple to use now makes it possible for virtually anyone to start and operate a blog. You really can’t tell the difference between a blog site and a conventional website. This site is a blog. The advantage for me as a Pastor is that I can get my ideas up on the Internet without having to try and convey them to someone else first and then wait for the process to happen. I can do it myself. I have found that blogs are a great addition to my ministry. I have started an Online Christian Book Club. I have started a question and answer site called Internet Pastor Online. I started a site to help individual believers to start their own Christian blogs as a form of evangelism. This site will help you to not only start your own blog but also how to use WordPress to start a church website as well.
All of This is Very Affordable
Since starting and running your own blog is now possible you won’t need to pay for a webmaster. The best software available for bloggging is WordPress and it is free. You can actually use WordPress at WordPress.com and get your sites hosted or free. I would suggest however getting your own domain name (which costs about $10.00 a year) and utilizing a web host (which costs about $80.00 a year). I use GoodNewsDomains to get my domain names and serve as my web host. One of the advantages of using GoodNewsDomains is that when I use them as my web host, they actually allow me to start up to 25 sites without having to spend any more money. So for about $90.00 a year I can potentially have 25 blog sites.
What about Consulting
I am also available to help you with other church growth issues you may be having. I have been blessed to be able to see the church I pastor grow from 75 to 500. We have started video venues and I have a lot of information on how to do that. I have tried a lot of things over the years and will be happy to talk with you about your ideas or maybe give you some new ones. I have ways of getting your audio and video files on the Internet for free. I have tried all kinds of Servant Evangelism, been blessed to help plant churches overseas, and started an Internet Radio Station. I hope you enjoy Church Growth | Software and Consulting and encourage you to sign up for the free RSS feed or email subscription.
