On Tuesday, October 17th, 2006, the United States passed the 300 million mark in population. We are only the third country to ever pass this mark; the other two being China and India. This is amazing growth when you think of the modern age and where recent historical birth rates seem to be heading in most of the industrialized world. What does this have to do with a dynamic church?
Too often, when a church tracks its success, it only looks at the internal growth rate; how the church is growing compared to itself in previous weeks, months, or years. But in business, a thriving company looks at how well it is growing compared to itself but also how well it is growing compared to the overall market growth. In other words, how the company is growing compared to the all companies in that segment and to the market potential.
When compared to the population growth, shouldn't successful churches be growing at a more rapid pace than the overall population growth? Perhaps the overall US population is too broad, but shouldn't the standard then be the local population growth rate? Conversely, if a geographical area is in the decline and the local church is shrinking at a lesser pace than the population, is that not success? In that case, the percentage of the population going to church would be increasing.
If a company is not growing as fast as the marketplace, it is looked at as failing; even if it is the fastest growing company in that vertical space or industry. Is attendance growth rate against population growth rate a metric your church is tracking? To have an honest assessment of a church's health, I believe it is one that should be.
Question to ponder: Can a dynamic church exist in a dying town?
Grace to you,
Jhook