May I add that order is also a serious issue in many of our churches; churches simply do not grow because of the lack of knowledge AND the absence of order. Church folks readily welcome the move of God, but when you fail to MANAGE the move of God, “monsters” are born. The Church is a group of called-out ones, and one of its functions (according to Ephesians 1) is to maintain and uphold the order of God, both in Heaven and on Earth. I gathered from the guru of leadership training, Dr. Matthew Stevenson, that the call to order came into existence before there was the call to salvation, or before there was even the mention of kingdom, souls, or devils. God did not put a human being on this earth before there was order. In the Book of Genesis, chapters 1-4 confirm God’s investment in order. To the firmaments, the Heavens, the Earth and the waters, He gave the sun, the moon and the stars policies and procedures by which to interact. Order (systems, processes and protocols) provide the context for the stabilization of people. Since order and standards protect presentation, I am proposing that before a leader studies church growth, he or she needs to study church order.

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    When you do not make order and accountability necessary for church growth, you have disorderly people at the head of an instrument that was created to maintain order. In other words, when you get 40-50 people steering an organization in the direction of their self-centered passions, self-seeking opinions, and self-interested desires, they start steering vicariously through excessive and pointless events. Frankly, your events are not as important as your conversations and asking questions and holding people accountable for where they are and what they’re doing.    

 

   Systemically, what ends up happening when religious spirits are allowed to run the Church in the absence of order is that you wind up developing a very confused organization with systemic traditions. Since definition aligns expectations, whatever is not defined has the power to bring chaos. So as new people join with no understanding of salvation and/or how the church operates, you will likely encounter unstable powers operating in them. As a result, they are probably NOT going to stay when you bring them into an equally unstable environment. Since the Church is an “equipping center,” you should never be more concerned with numbers and members, than you are taking the time to invest in the people to whom God has called you to disciple. #Realtalk

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    According to Ephesians 4:16: when the whole Body of Christ is fitly joined together, increase happens, but every joint must supply and do what it has been equipped to do. The five-fold ministry is nothing more than the equipping of gifts to provoke the Church to do the work of ministry. Yet, there is only one steering wheel; the pastor has his hand on the bottom, while the Holy Ghost has His hand on the top. The pastor’s responsibility is to steer and respond to how He’s turning it. However, when there are disorderly pastors at the steering wheel of that stewardship, and they are leading with unmanaged emotions and disorderly relationships, this lack of management in their lives is going to translate into how they build, who they take interest in, whatever they do and wherever they go.

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    When a church grows beyond its level of order, you will eventually lose the growth because of the chaos that is created in the absence of order. At every level of growth, there must be another level of order. “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another” (1 Cor. 12:25). Now that I have your attention, I would like to humbly invite you to sow a small seed of $79 into my ministry gift, toward your INVESTMENT into your leaders’ potential. Whenever I am out in the field, and pastors respond as though $79 is an astronomical amount to sow into information that is priceless, I remind them of the hundreds of dollars that they invest in suits, neckties, shoes, cars, and other material things that literally have no spiritual value. As a consequence, how can they expect their members to continue investing in membership, if they are not willing to invest in resources that promote discipleship? By all means, Membership + Discipleship = Relationship, but a Pastorate-ship minus Membership will lead to a “Situation-ship.” ☺

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    As a PhD candidate with 10 years of expertise in church administration, a Masters degree in Management and Leadership, and a Bachelors degree in Education, I have compiled the following manual in an effort to enhance the quality of your ministry through effective communication strategies. While Part Two is forthcoming, many members that we attract in today’s society are well-educated and concerned with curriculum and structure. Thus, they expect to leave our churches with more than an instant fix, a charismatic thrill or Pentecostal chills. In order to meet the challenge of retaining membership, raising disciples, and attracting visitors, we must promote a well-balanced ministry so that our energy and resources are disbursed evenly.

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    By this means, if you are dissatisfied with the status quo and are interested in ascertaining information to organize a properly-staffed administration so that you can effectively focus and flow in your ministry gifts, this 300-page manual is definitely designed with you in mind. I have many testimonies that validate the enormous benefits that this manual has to offer. The one that stands out the most comes from a pastor who purchased during the Hampton Ministers’ Conference. He claimed that his church had been in a slump for over 30 years. But after implementing many of the strategies from the manual, over 60 new members joined within three or four months. W.O.W.W.W.W.! For immediate delivery, please go to the purchase page and reserve your personal copy today.