Three Limits That Confront A Growing Church

There are three limits that eventually confront a growing church.

Growth is exciting. Most churches say they want it. We pray for more people to come, more people to meet Jesus, more people to be baptized, more people to grow as disciples.

Then growth happens.

And growth starts exposing things.

Systems which worked beautifully for 100 people can start breaking at 300. What worked at 500 may be completely inadequate at 1,000. Growth has a way of finding every weak spot in an organization.

In my experience, there are three areas which eventually become limitations for almost every growing church – Systems. People. Facilities.

The key is figuring out which one is currently limiting you. They aren’t equally difficult to solve.

Systems are usually the easiest problem.

Not easy. Just easier.

A church grows and suddenly the old way of doing things no longer works.

Communication breaks down.
Guest follow-up becomes inconsistent.
Decisions take too long.
Nobody is completely sure who owns what.
The volunteer process that worked when everybody knew everybody no longer works.

Those are usually systems problems.

And systems can be changed. You could change them in a day if needed.

You can map a process. Clarify responsibility. Build a better database. Improve communication. Add a meeting. Eliminate a meeting. Create a policy. Simplify a procedure.

If you want something repeated and done well, you need to systematize it. And if you want something done better, you improve the system.

Growing churches need people who think this way.

Visionary leaders sometimes underestimate them, but good managers and systems thinkers become increasingly valuable as complexity increases. Vision may help create growth, but good systems help steward it.

People are harder.

Eventually almost every growing organization discovers that the people structure which got it here may not be enough to take it where it is going.

Sometimes you simply need more people.

More staff.
Additional volunteers.
More leaders.

Sometimes you need different assignments. Someone who was perfect for one season may not be positioned correctly for the next season. And sometimes people need development.

That’s where leadership gets much more complicated.

You can rewrite a system without hurting its feelings. You can’t do that with people.

People have history. Relationships. Families. Emotions. Expectations. Contributions they’ve made over the years. That means good leaders should move carefully.

I never want growth to become an excuse for treating people like pieces on an organizational chessboard. Systems matter. Structure matters. Results matter. But leadership is still about people.

At the same time, refusing to address people issues doesn’t serve anyone well either.

Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is coach someone.

Develop them.
Move responsibilities.
Add leadership around them.
Or help someone find a place where they can flourish again.

People limitations can be solved.

But they normally take more wisdom, patience and courage than systems limitations.

Facilities may be the hardest.

Buildings are stubborn. Especially like ours made of brick and mortar.

You can change a process this afternoon. You might develop a leader over the next year. But you cannot usually create another 500 parking spaces or 1,000 worship seats quickly.

Land takes time.
Construction takes time.
Permits take time.
Money takes time.

And sometimes there simply isn’t any more room on the property. Facilities can become a very real lid on growth.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to build.

Perhaps you add another service.
Maybe you redesign space.
You could launch another campus.
Maybe you relocate a ministry.
You could even use the building differently throughout the week.

But eventually physical space becomes part of the strategic conversation.

Growth stretches scheduling, communication, staffing, decision-making – and facilities.

The important question is – Which one is limiting us right now?

I think this is where churches can make expensive mistakes.

We build a building when our systems are actually the problem. Perhaps we hire more people when the problem is poor structure. Or we keep rewriting systems when the real issue is that we have simply run out of room.

Leaders need the discipline to diagnose before they prescribe.

A few questions to evaluate –

Is this a systems problem?
Do we have the capacity, but our processes are failing us?
Is this a people problem?
Do we have the right systems, but not enough people – or not the right people in the right places – to execute them?
Is this a facilities problem?
Are people actually being turned away, inconvenienced or restricted because there is simply no more physical capacity?

Those are very different problems. And they require very different solutions.

Obviously, the church is more than an organization. We depend upon the Holy Spirit, and our mission isn’t organizational growth for growth’s sake. Our mission is to make disciples.

But churches are also organizations. We have people, systems, structures, budgets and buildings which we are called to steward well. I’ve written before that this dual reality becomes especially obvious during seasons of rapid growth.