This new how-to for church growth outlines principles of growth for all sizes of congregations, while emphasizing that church growth is not about numbers, but about fulfilling God's vision for your church's impact on the world. Church growth isn't about numbers. It's about impact! Using his own experience as founding pastor of Carson Valley Christian Center in Minden, Nevada, Pastor John Jackson helps pastors and lay leaders increase the impact of their congregations for their communities and the Kingdom of God. Jackson urges readers to dream God-Sized dreams, offering practical advice for building community and transforming leadership. With varying suggestions for different sizes of churches, Jackson shows you don't have to be a megachurch to have God-sized impact on your community. John Jackson is the founding and Senior Pastor of Carson Valley Christian Center in Minden, Nevada, and the President of VisionQuest Ministries.From the Circuit Rider review: "A great deal of literature on the uniqueness of congregational life and development has surfaced over the last decade. The growing missional and emergent church movements, the church growth movement, the seeker church movement, the sociological study of congregational life, the resurgence of practical theology for the life of evangelism, the re-establishing of the relationship between practice and doctrine in the Christian life—all point to a renewed interest in how local churches can faithfully embody the gospel in a time of profound cultural change." (Click here to read the entire review.)

God-Size Your Church

Beyond Growth for Growth's SakeBy John Jackson

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2008 The United Methodist Publishing House
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-687-64909-9

Chapter One

Why Not Order a Regular-Sized Church?

Would you like fries with that? How about Supersizing your drink and fries for just forty cents more?" Supersizing a drink or fries seems reasonable to our fast food–addicted culture. But think about this: What if I asked you whether or not you wanted a regular or a Supersized church? How would you answer that question? What if I asked you about Supersizing your impact? Would you rather your church have a regular-sized or a God-sized impact in your community? Before you answer these questions, let me ask you one more. Do you think a bigger church always has a greater impact than a smaller one?

Church impact is often considered only from a numerical and program standpoint. A focus on numbers alone does not tell the whole story. There are many more dimensions than numbers to tell the story of what God is doing in your church and community. I believe that God-sizing your impact is all about the pursuit of a God-placed passion. I believe there is a God-sized impact for your church just waiting to break out in your heart, in the life of your church, and in your community. If you are passionate about fulfilling the Great Commission (and the fact that you are reading this book is a good indication that you are!), then you want to find the way to maximize the influence of your church and ministry in your community. God has given each of us an opportunity to lead and participate in a kingdom adventure. Our challenge is to fulfill the divine mandate He has given us. The Apostle Paul said it this way: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever" (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).

Not long ago, I was in Utah, finishing a day of teaching lay leaders from a denominational group about taking their churches to new levels of ministry. Then a unique question came to my mind. I'd already spent three hours with them and hoped I'd get a different answer, but the fact that I did not suggests how difficult the core issues really are. Here was my question—"If you were in the hospital today, how many of you would expect a visit from the senior pastor of your church?" That 80 percent of attendees immediately responded with that expectation is one reason that they are in churches with fewer than two hundred people in attendance each week. After some good clean joking about whether they really believed in the Protestant Reformation and the priesthood of all believers, we were able to discuss the difference between reaching more people for Christ and taking care of those already within the church family. (Full disclosure here: I am totally in favor of people being visited in the hospital; I just don't think it has to or should normally be the senior pastor of a larger church.)

Throughout this book, we will be on a journey of discovery. Many times we have come to believe that the community cannot be reached for Christ because of the hardness of people's hearts. Although that may be true in specific cases, another fundamental reality is often also at work. We reach our limit of being able to influence our town because we demand that our churches structure themselves a certain way, take care of each other a certain way, and conduct our ministry in ways that are most comfortable to us. Our journey of discovery here will force us to confront our core passions. Is it more important for us to have our churches meet our needs or have an effect on our community? The choice of our strategic and ultimate values, rather than whether our churches are big or small, is the real issue behind God-sizing our churches.

God-Size Your Church comes with a personal passion. I believe that God wants our churches to reach more people for Jesus Christ, to establish and secure them in their faith, and to equip them for kingdom work in the world. God longs for lost people to know Him and saved people to share Him with others: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness" (Colossians 2:6-7).

This book not only comes with my personal passion for reaching lost people for Christ; it also comes out of my experience in starting a church in what I call a rurban community (rural on its way to urban). Carson Valley Christian Center (www.cvcwired.com) was started in 1998 after ten months were spent gathering a core. Now we are preparing to celebrate our tenth birthday. I fondly tell people that today we are living in and I am leading CVC 3.0. We have discovered a consistent need to develop and grow the ministry of the church as we move toward health. In fact, I'll take this opportunity to make a confession. For many years, I was so focused on reaching visible and numerical impact that I neglected some important but less visible aspects of health and lasting family and community impact (more on that later). Today, I'm pleased to tell you that I see God at work in our church, making it a dynamic, growing, healthy, God-sized church in our community. I'm excited to share with you part of our story as we learn together how to lead and live in clusters of believers who are making a difference every day in their families, their work, and their neighborhoods.

Researcher Dave Olsen, in his book The American Church in Crisis, estimates that up to 94 percent of American churches are either at a plateau or declining in relation to population growth in their communities. If his research is true (and many other researchers agree with his numbers or suggest even higher levels of decline), then the American church is in trouble as it relates to how we reach our culture for Christ. But rather than giving in to despair, I think that God is even now beginning to show us what He has ahead for us. Several bright lights on the horizon will help us see God's plan for our ministries fulfilled in the coming years.

As you read this, God is right now beginning a movement of externally focused churches in smaller areas that are having a God-sized impact on their local communities. Pioneers in the megachurch movement like Willow Creek, Saddleback, Northpoint, and Fellowship Church paved the way. But today, many churches like Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, Perimeter Church in Atlanta, and a host of smaller churches like Hayward Wesleyan Church in Hayward, Wisconsin, Ripon Community Church in Ripon, Wisconsin, and the Rock Church in Sacramento are having God-sized impacts in their communities. My friend Mark O. Wilson has a blog (www.revitalizeyour church.blogspot.com/) devoted to encouraging pastors of small and rural churches, reminding them that small communities are no barrier to a God-sized influence. As he reminds his readers, "Your church can touch the world, regardless of your location. You can make a big difference right where you are!"

Many other churches are bringing us to a new horizon, a place where churches with a passion for impact believe God can bring more than just a regular-sized effect in their local communities. They believe He will create a God-sized church in their town. How about you?

Chapter Two

God-Size Your Church by Dreaming God-Sized Dreams

I first heard God speak the question, Will you dare to dream big dreams for Me? at a snow-covered church campground in March of 1996 at Greenlake, Wisconsin. My first response was no! I had been wrestling with God for quite some time about my future in ministry, but on that snowy day, I was reading the story of well-known church planter Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose-Driven Church, a story that I thought I was quite familiar with, given that we had lived in Southern California when Saddleback was first taking off. God seemed to be speaking into my heart as well. A dream of a local church that would reach unchurched people and change the world started to form. My initial icy response to God melted as the fire of passion began to burn in my heart.

Many of us are initially reluctant to dream big. Intuitively, we know that dreaming big most often leads to big change in our lives and ministries. And big change means risk, means stepping out of comfort zones, means climbing out of ruts. Yet I am convinced that God may be asking many of you the same question He asked me in 1996: Will you dare to dream big dreams for Me? I am praying that God will melt whatever icy responses may lurk in your heart and light His passionate dream for ministry instead.

Please do me two favors before you continue further into this chapter. First, dream a really big dream of what God could do if there were no obstacles in the way. Five years from now, if there were no limitations on finances, leadership, facilities, or programs, what could God do in you and through you to make an impact on the world through your local church? Can you see that picture clearly? What would worship look like? How would evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, and ministry take place? What life changes would people experience in the context of your dream? Make sure that you see every ministry dimension with some measure of clarity.

Now, take every dimension of your five-year dream and multiply it by a factor of ten. Let your spirit, heart, and mind soar as you consider what God could do that would be ten times your largest dream. If you are able to envision that, you just might be beginning to grasp what God is able to do when you raise your leadership lid and cooperate with Him in His agenda for your life. Take your vision and try to make it even larger. Will you dare to dream big dreams for God? If so, take another pass at your dream and God-size it!

Here's a well-known example of a God-sized dream that launched a God-sized church, Rick Warren's expression of "The Saddleback Vision" during his first sermon, March 30, 1980:

It is the dream of a place where the hurting, the depressed, the frustrated, and the confused can find love, acceptance, help, hope, forgiveness, guidance, and encouragement. It is the dream of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with the hundreds of thousands of residents in south Orange County. It is the dream of welcoming 20,000 members into the fellowship of our church family—loving, learning, laughing, and living in harmony together. It is the dream of developing people to spiritual maturity through Bible studies, small groups, seminars, retreats, and a Bible school for our members. It is the dream of equipping every believer for a significant ministry by helping them discover the gifts and talents God gave them. It is the dream of sending out hundreds of career missionaries and church workers all around the world, and empowering every member for a personal life mission in the world. It is the dream of sending our members by the thousands on short-term mission projects to every continent. It is the dream of starting at least one new daughter church every year. It is the dream of at least fifty acres of land, on which will be built a regional church for south Orange County—with beautiful, yet simple, facilities including a worship center seating thousands, a counseling and prayer center, classrooms for Bible studies and training lay ministers, and a recreation area. All of this will be designed to minister to the total person—spiritually, emotionally, physically, and socially—and set in a peaceful, inspiring garden landscape. I stand before you today and state in confident assurance that these dreams will become reality. Why? Because they are inspired by God!

Here is another story of a God-sized dream from Mike Holba, pastor of Ripon Community Church in Ripon, Wisconsin:

The first time I experienced a God-sized dream coming to fruition, I was planting my first church in Ripon, Wisconsin. As we drove into the small town of Ripon, I never would have guessed that we were about to exchange our mini-van for a front row seat on a rollercoaster operated by God. When asked to describe our experiences planting a church here in Ripon, I often have said, "It's like having front row seats for a miracle." At least that's how I describe the good days. And on the other days, the ones when I am still trying to figure out what God is up to, I often have said, "It's like we are in the first seat of a rollercoaster car and God is operating the ride. Thrilling! Exhilarating! And yes, sometimes a little scary. But, because you have faith in the Operator, you know you will be safe." I would have never guessed as we drove into this 7,000 person town that we would have seen so many miracles, that so much would be possible. But God in His ultimate wisdom and holiness did. We began with no people, almost no money and very little experience. But we also had a simple desire to try to determine what God wanted and then do it. Genesis 6:22, "So Noah did everything exactly as God commanded Him," became our special passage. I figured it worked out pretty well for Noah, so why not us? (Continues...)

Excerpted from God-Size Your Churchby John Jackson Copyright © 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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