Churches are social institutions.
As a result, the more people who join a church, the greater the complexity of social management. Churches often overlook this fact and mistakenly believe that growth will make all things better.
I’ve been a part of pastoral teams in which we believed the magical elixir of growth would solve our problems. I know first hand what it’s like to ride the wave of growth from under 200 members to over 500 and then back down to 250. I know the sting of realizing the atrophy had nothing to do with a crisis. We simply grew beyond our ability to manage the growth.
Growth always brings with it a greater level of complexity. This is why growth is a goal, not a solution.
