Resources for Center for Church Growth

Center For Church Growth
P.O. Box 691006
Houston, Texas 77269-1006
1-281-894-4391
4growth@4churchgrowth.com

Excerpts from the Book

Clear Choices for Churches: Trends Among Growing and Declining Churches of Christ

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Table of Contents There is a significant difference in staffing habits of growing and decling churches. In fact, staff-to-membership ratio (r = .54) surfaced as one of the four major predictors of growth (see Table B.1 in Appendix B). Growing congregations had an average of one full-time ministry staff person per 125 members; declining churches had one staff person per 200 members. Because Churches of Christ practice believer's baptism, unbaptized children were not included in the membership figures.) Support such as secretaries and custodians were not included in this ratio. These are important positions that enable ministry staff to work effectively, but they were beyond the scope of this study.
Numerous advocates of church growth have worked diligently to educate leaders about ratios. Win Arn is one such advocate. His findings are based on more than twenty years of church consultations. The results of the Center's study closely compare with his and offer support for his staffing ratios. Arn recommends one full-time staff person for every 150 people (eighteen years of age and above) in morning worship. Churches typically have an assembly attendance with 30% or more of pre-teens and teens; this gives a ratio of one ministry staff person for every 212 people in the Sunday morning worship assembly.

Our findings suggest a slightly smaller ratio for growth. Churches of Christ frequently will have similar figures for membership and Sunday morning worship attendance. Membership figures will moderately fluctuate a little higher or lower than worship figures. The findings suggest that one full-time ministry staff is needed for every 125 to 150 people in total assembly attendance. With this adjustment, Arn's suggested staffing ratios are right on target (see Table 3.1).
Rather than ratios, budgets influence staffing decisions more than any other factor. This is ironic because staffing is a precondition for growth and increased giving; growth and giving usually follow adequate staffing rather than the reverse. Seldom do churches have ample funds in advance to hire new staff. In most cases a step of faith is required. When leaders exercise faith and staff produces meaningful ministry. finances tend to follow along with growth.
From pages 38 - 40
Whether it is evangelism, benevolence, or missions, each church action is a faith response to God's revelation. By God's design, however, evangelism produces measurable growth for the local church. Just as America's future depends on healthy families giving birth to a new generations, Christianity's future depends on churches having new births in Christ. Theology and basic logic should motivate churches to evangelistic action. And now, a growing body of research verifies the impact of evangelism on church growth. . . .
Our findings discovered over forty different factors relating to numerical increases. Staff and members are taxed by an endless list of possible good works. So, how important is evangelism compared to so many other options? To answer this question, local institutional factors were subjected to multiple regression analysis. This helped identify which variables in a multivariate context were the strongest predictors of growth. As stated earlier, four institutional variables (what a church does) surfaced as significant predictors and baptisms-to-membership ratio was third in predictive efficacy. This means that few activities in church ministry are more vital to church growth than evangelism.
Some clarification is necessary at this point. Growing churches have a higher percentage of young married couples with children than declinging churches. It is possible that the higher baptisms-to-membership ratio in growing churches is not related to evangelism but could result from the larger number of young couples who transfer in and the normal biological growth from baptizing their pre-teen and early-teen children? If so, conventional wisdom would stand--growth primarily comes from transfers and children's baptisms.
From pages 94 - 96

For more information contact:
Center for Church Growth
P. O. Box 691006
Houston TX 77269-1006
(281) 894-4391