Four Elements of Strong Churches

I like Lifeway’s new emphasis on research. Hopefully this will help them to provide resources that really connect with churches that are making a difference. Lifeway’s biggest sellers have always been their dated material, the Sunday School curriculums that so many Baptist churches use. However, with so many churches foregoing Sunday School in favor of small groups, they are struggling to catch up. Here are results on a new study they have just completed.

Thanks to Church Communications Pro, BaptistPress News, and Churchrelevance.com for the info.

LifeWay Research and Dr. Thom Rainer were fortunate enough to be able to study 19 of the 22 churches and discovered four common elements.

  1. Pastors Set the Bar: Interviews indicate the churches have taken on the vision, priorities, and values of the senior pastor. Staff and lay leaders find it easy to follow the pastor. There are high levels of trust in these pastors.
  2. Church Atmosphere: These churches are consistently described as “exciting,” “dynamic,” “energetic,” “upbeat,” “friendly,” “welcoming,” “warm,” and “positive.”
  3. Evangelistic Appeal: Pastors indicate they seek to include the gospel in most, if not all, of their sermons. They stress the importance of preaching the gospel and providing opportunities for lost people to respond. More than two-thirds indicate they offer a public invitation at the end of every service. The others invite inquirers to fill out a decision card.
  4. Intentional Outreach: The pastors are focused on reaching people for Christ. Whether it’s through focusing the content of sermons, planning the worship services, or simply the nature of church programming, it is clear that everything is designed with outreach in mind.

Although similar in the above qualities, these churches did use different methods regarding preaching, styles of worship, evangelism training, and small group strategies.

Mike

I am a former design engineer who now pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Galax, Virginia. I'm passionate about following Jesus and I love technology. I've been married to Jennifer for 28 years, and we have three adult children.

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1 Response

  1. Simon says:

    I like this 4 point indication of a strong Church. I have always believed that the leadership of the Church will dictate where it goes and what it achieves.

    Pastors have a huge responsibility in terms of looking after their flock but also in inspiring them to serve effectively.

    3 out of the 4 here are totally dependent on the pastor, or leaders. The remaining 1 is down to us as the Church. How do we shape our Church atmosphere. I think if we bear this in mind every time we think about setting foot in the Church building we could really make a difference.

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