Confession time – my church is shrinking. I would not say that we are dying, but the numbers show a steady 20% downtrend over the past five years. That is an approximate number for both giving and attendance. There are several factors, but without question my church is in a period of decline.
This is not something a long time Southern Baptist like myself is supposed to admit, much less blog about. But many churches are in the same situation. Experts state that 85% of American churches are “plateaued of declining.” (Comeback Churches by Ed Stetzer
There are many reasons why churches shrink. Sometimes it is demographics. Other times it is poor leadership. Whatever the reason, negative growth puts real pressure on the all the church’s ministries. Here are a few lessons I’m still learning from my ministry over the past few years. These can apply to kids ministry or to any aspect of a declining church.
Tips for Ministering in a Shrinking Church
Keep an outward focus.
My natural temptation is to work hard to hold on to the people who are still coming to our church. In retrospect I think that is a mistake. A church in decline must try all the more to reach out.
Keep a Kingdom focus.
God’s work around the world continues to advance and we can still take part through missions giving. Even as we have lost membership, we have become more engaged in the praying, giving and going.
Do not let survival become your only vision.
Even if our church completely disappeared, God would still raise up a Gospel witness to our community. It can be easy to make the building or the congregation’s history into an idol. But the great commission has never been about survival.
Let the experience teach humility.
At one point I might have looked down on pastors of shrinking churches. Now I see that some factors are beyond the control of the leadership. The real measure of success is faithfulness before God. (Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome
Do not be angry with God.
He does not owe us anything, even if we have done all the right things to please Him. The Pharisee seeks to control God through his religious obedience and becomes angry when God does not play along. I must not resent God for the negative church growth.
Do not fall into despair.
Do not think this season is forever. This is my weakness and often I wonder at my own discouragement. But I know that in the big picture these lean years are building my character.
Accept responsibility.
It would be easy to make excuses for church decline. I could blame the pastor, or the culture, or the people themselves. But as a leader I must refuse to pass blame. I can name a dozen things I might do better going forward.
Stay faithful.
In times of decline you must keep doing the little things well. Keep up your prayers and preparation. Even if you only have a very small Sunday School class, those children were put there by God.
Get creative.
Times of decline are perfect for fixing what is broken. People are willing to change and want to see something new. Find new ways to connect with your culture and seek out the lost where they live.
Be frugal.
The practical side to all this is shrinking budgets. Our church has been very wise in managing finances. Our careful spending has relieved much of the pressure that comes with declines in giving. My personal aim is to never spend more than 75% of the children’s ministry budget. This allows for flexibility and builds trust with our people.
What Do You Think?
Have you severed in a shrinking church? What advice would you add? Leave a comment below to share your experience.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article, Tony. This should prove to be quite encouraging to many pastors and church leaders out there. I’m sure God is working humility into many a faithful pastor’s heart as so many churches are experiencing this shrinkage.
Yes, many churches are “shrinking” for various reasons. Our church has grown, declined, grown, declined over the past few years, mainly because of the transient nature of this part of the country. People move out as fast as they move in, relocating for jobs and other reasons.
Rather than “steal” people from other congregations to build up the attendance again, we’ve worked on our creativity and missions. Most of the people in our immediate reaching area are churched and attending somewhere on the weekends and aren’t interested in another mail-out or special program. We’ve been doing more missions: taking care of the homeless in town, working on ways to provide rehab-type homes for people trying to get back to a whole healthy lifestyle.
It’s all very hard to do but do we really need another church that puts on a “good show” and causes people to church-hop?
my husband and I pastor a small church. This is a old small church with alot of church history. People who have had bad experiences 25yrs ago still relate the “problem” with the church building not the people that have been gone or dead for 10,15,or 20 yrs. Regardless of our numbers my husband and I have decided to be content in whatever state we are in. Right now we are in famine as far as numbers. But we continue to support missionaries and witness. It is God’s job to give the increase. It is satan’s plan to close churches smallest first. We must keep, keepin’ on.
I admire your faith and determinanation! I will pray for your ministry and your church.
Dear Belinda
I have just come across this website tonight and would like to encourage you and your husband. I pastor a small church here in England in the UK and understand where you are coming from. My church was a church that had similar problems for many years but my wife and I have not given up as this is common in many churches here in the UK. Our older generation have all passed on and we were left with virtually nothing left. However we have worked hard in our community and although numbers are very small, we are building a new generation with a couple of young families. We have built a good reputation in our community through reaching out and working with children and youth, developing other activities and are about to start a homework club this week. It has taken many years to get to where we are, but now we have the local Secondary School, education department, local Police and local government all interested in what we are doing. One day we hope and pray that we will see some of these young people come to a personal knowledge of knowing Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. We are called to be lights in a darkened world and the darker the world, the brighter our light can shine for Christ.
Dont give up, the Lord is with you. He has called you and He will take care of you. In the words of Hudson Taylor, the pioneering Missionary, he learnt a lesson in life – ‘God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack God’s supply.’ That is in every area of your life and ministry. Just keep on trusting and obeying the Lord and He will bless your ministry.
Every Blessing
As a member of a declining SBC church, I appreciate you honest and your words. You offer some very good advice. We need to measure success based on our faithfulness to the word of God, not on numbers.
I thank God for you, brother, and your honesty and insight. We too are struggleing with only a handful. It is so sad to see and yes, there are so many questions. In spite of it all, I am always amazed at the uplift and encouragement I get from our little faithful few. How we love the word and see Gods faithfulness and so many answered prayers. God is still on His throne regardless of how things look to us. These are surely the last days and I do believe it is time for all of us to band together and forget our petty differences. Endeavoring to keep the fellowship/unity of the Spirit (of love) until we come to the unity of the Faith. The Lords prayer was that we all be one and Love is the key. I have heard messages about the end times and the enemy encompassing “the camp of the saints”. It is surely coming to that. I need you, and you need me! It isn’t about us, it is about HIM! Maybe all of our tiny little groups need to get together and show a united front to this lost, dark world. God Bless you, brother. I truely enjoy hearing from you. Dawn
Dawn I agree with you we are being surrounded by THE enemy even though it seems like enemies. Our tiny groups do need to pray for each other. Maybe we are getting alittle example how it is for missionaries in a strange place. Unfortunately for us our strange place in our hometowns.
my email is pinqlady57@hotmail.com if anyone would to be able to pray together I am here and our church needs prayer also
There are many reasons we all go through this, but we need to keep in mind that the most important thing is to put all our strengths and energy in the ones God puts in our hands. It’s not about numbers, its about how you affect one person’s life. We must also keep praying for our children, so that they can continue our legacy of spreading God’s word. So, let’s concentrate on teaching the word of god. Not worrying about numbers because God is going to fulfill his plan for us. Don’t let the enemy discourage you. God Bless you.
Great article and good advice. Our church went through a similar stage and as a christian I wanted to do my part to stop it. My pastor (as I’m sure all are) is super busy and runs on fumes. With all the running around, it is hard to come up with fresh sermon ideas to keep people engaged. So, I started a website http://www.sermonideasblog.com to help my pastor and others with coming up with fresh sermon ideas. They don’t have a lot of time to keep up with the latest news that can effect the church, so I basically try to do that for them. I read a case study that said the average pastor only spends 3-5 hours reading the Bible weekly… that’s outrageous! I agree with one of the comments above that said it’s not about numbers, but I also think a church should be growing. Pastors need to concentrate more on “feeding” the flock, not being everything to everybody. God Bless.
Anthony, good thoughts and a good idea for your sermon ideas blog. That can be a great resource for pastors in sermon prep.
In response to “it’s not about numbers, but I also think a church should be growing”: churches should not be completely about the numbers in their growth; they need to determine their definition of success. Is it numbers growth? Is it spiritual growth? Is it growing to a healthy, wholly lifestyle? Is it ministering like Jesus did?
There are many ways to measure success, not by numbers only.
Thanks for sharing your sermon prep blog.
Like so many churches my church is also experiencing a decline. I love to see these comments and know there are many small churches that remain faithful! My mother in law made pins and shirts for the faithful of our church, they read:
The Faithful Few Become the Mighty Many. Remember we are to be spreading the gospel and the faithful few in the churches today become the mighty many together! Keep the Faith
kevin never get discouraged by small numbers of faithful. small churches are very important to our country. that is exactly why satan wants the little churches gone. mega churches have their place and serve a purpose. but small congregations are family thru the good bad and ugly. if satan can get the small churches gone then that’s more than half the battle. too many small churches have looked at the world instead of the Kingdom.tell your church dont get side tracked. remember Paul said he ran his race . we must run our race not osteen’s or warren’s. dont compromise the truth for more people in the pews. we know the back of the book.TRUTH WINS!