Limit Growth -- George Barna, The Habits of Highly Effective Churches

Many of the keenest insights highly effective churches have learned were discovered through harsh reality; trial and error, abject failure, unexpected victories. One of their most important structural insights is one that most of them stumbled onto: You must limit your annual numerical growth.

Our research on congregational dynamics suggests that growing by more than 15 percent per year puts untenable stress on a church.

How can you limit growth without rejecting spiritually needy people? Here are some of the methods used by highly effective churches.

·          Periodically preach a series of "hard truth" messages.

·          Set higher and higher standards of quality in ministry.

·          Limit program involvement to the maximum level at which a church can provide excellence.

·          Modify marketing efforts based upon growth projections.

·          Work cooperatively with other churches to introduce newcomers to other congregations that might be more effective at meeting their needs.