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The Submergent Church: Top 10 WORST Ideas in growing a church

May 17, 2010 at 9:37 pm, by Rich Kirkpatrick

There are many ways to sink a church. Here are ten ways to be sure you stay submerged.

Top 10 WORST ideas in growing a church…

  1. Never think about what comes next in making any decision.
  2. Believe that technology is evil!
  3. Believe that technology will save you!
  4. Prayer? What prayer?
  5. The status quo is preferred to the unknown. Duh!
  6. People feeling good about each other and themselves is a sign of success. Can we sing “Kumbaya” now?
  7. Appeasement really seemed like a decent idea at the time. Oops.
  8. No one ever mentioned that the leaders had to practice what they preached.
  9. Remember the glory days? Well, they are gone now.
  10. We don’t need to grow. Numbers are evil and its the “quality” that counts, not reaching new people!

Can any of you can think of one I missed here? Any on the list you agree or disagree with?

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1148676498 Jeremy Blasongame

    11. The technology is more important than the message. Or…
    12. We need to have the latest gadgets in order to connect with modern culture.
    13. Numbers are all that matter, as long as the money is coming in we don’t need to change. Or…
    14. We need more people so that giving will go up.
    15. Formation of ministries must come from the top down, never from the bottom up. Or…
    16. Ministries that start from the top are more ‘blessed’ than grass-roots ministries.
    17. We must be fair and give equal budget to every ministry otherwise some staff might feel slighted.
    18. Discipleship is about going through a study book, rather than one-on-one mentorship and passing on spiritual confidence and a mature world-view.
    19. An effort is taken to make everything in the church make sense and the movement of God in the church to be predictable. When God told Joshua to march around Jericho and blow their horns, on paper, that was a pretty dumb idea. So was Gideon’s army, and Joshua Ch. 5… and Noah building a boat… and… you get the idea.
    20. You make a decision in convenience or expedience, rather than conviction.

    • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

      Jeremy! I think your list is at least a bit better than mine… :)

  • Al Dancy

    Ha ha! Jeremy got a dose of the Baltist list spirit that preachers I grew up w/ had! Great points that you both make. Too often it’s about our agenda instead of Jesus. It’s about our preferences instaef of pleasing God!

  • http://sarcasticxtian.blogspot.com/ Scott Smith

    Great post!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1399004140 Craig Wilson

    Planning? We don’t need to plan our worship service, we are Spirit led.

  • http://www.zachtanksley.com Zach Tanksley

    21. Servant Leadership… huh?
    22. When you give your pastor his own separate bathroom. So he doesn’t have to share with others.

    • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

      Zach… servant leadership…ouch. That one is important.

  • Adam Hicks

    23. My monthly newsletter on legislative alerts in Washington DC are all I need to keep my small group going.

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