measuring the orchard pdf v2
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Measuring the Orchard: Changing the scorecard of church growth
Copyright 2012 by Geoff Surratt
Distributed by Exponential Resources
Exponential is a growing movement of leaders committed to the multiplication of healthy
new churches. Exponential Resources spotlights and spreads actionable principles, ideasand solutions for the accelerated multiplication of healthy, reproducing faith
communities. For more information, visit exponential.org.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without prior written permission form the publisher, except where noted in the text and inthe case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is manufactured in the United States.
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Yes, you have to read this chapter
The idea of this book started a couple of years ago when I was the Pastor of Church
Planting for Saddleback Church. We brought in a group of church planters from around
the country to help us write a curriculum to train future church planters, but the
discussion quickly evolved to intense fellowship around the definition of a church and
what success really looked like. Is the goal converts, baptisms, attendance, giving,
campuses, or more church plants? Before we could talk about training new church
planters we needed to begin with the end in mind. That discussion set me on a journey to
discover the true measure of a church. This eBook is not the end of that journey, but a
major stop along the way. I have drawn the concepts in this book on napkins,
whiteboards and notebook paper, speaking to groups from one to hundred across the
country. Every time I share my thoughts someone adds a new idea or asks a penetrating
question that sends me back to the drawing board (literally) to reshape and refine the
model. I fully expect you to contribute to the process. My goal is not that you read this
book and agree with my conclusions, but rather that you wrestle with the concepts and
add your voice to the conversation.
So consider this a rough draft. You will likely find mistakes, inconsistencies and
possibly outright lies along the way. I would ask that you do two things as you read:
Engage in the conversation. You can email me at [email protected] if youwant to talk privately, engage with me on Twitter (@geoffsurratt), or join the
Facebook group Measuring the Orchard where we can all chat together. Point
out mistakes, spelling errors, and heresy as we continue to build this model
together.
Remember how much you paid for the eBook. If you get your 2 cents worthyoull still be way ahead.
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There are some people who have contributed a great deal to the concepts in this book.
My beautiful wife Sherry who has refined these ideas over and over as I havepestered her for the past two years.
Ryan Meeks who told me that its ok for churches to die.John Worcester who introduced me to the concept of the Orchard, the Life Cycle
and the role of a Grandparent Church.
Kevin Penry who pointed me to some really good thinking on the life cycle ofcorporations. Some day Ill be as smart as Kevin and understand the material.
Dave Travis who pointed me to the work George Bullard has done on the lifecycle of churches. His book, Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation is must reading if you want to dive deep into how life cycles work
for churches.
Leadership Network who has allowed me to refine these concepts with multiplecohorts of pastors. I highly recommend their Senior Pastor Forums, Leadership
Communities and Innovation Labs for leaders who want to learn from and
collaborate with other leaders.
Before you dive in I want to establish a few ground rules.
First, to quote my brother Greg, I reserve the right to be wrong. Please feel freeto disagree, slam the book shut (or however you close an eBook) or call me
names. My only request is that you think through the ultimate goal of your
ministry and your church.
Second, I love the churches I have served over the past 30 years. I have learnedand grown in every environment. First Assembly of God in Lakewood,
Colorado, Berea Temple in St Louis, Missouri, The Assembly of God
Tabernacle in Houston, Texas, Church on the Lake in Huffman, Texas,
Seacoast Church in Charleston, South Carolina and Saddleback Church in
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Orange County, California have all contributed immensely to the Kingdom.
None of them are doing it wrong and Im grateful for each of them.
Third, I have chosen to refer to pastors and leaders with masculine pronouns.That does not flow out of a theological stance on women or any particular bias.
Im just too lazy to go back and forth so I went with men.
Now that were all on the same ePage, lets dive in.
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Chapter 2
Riding the rollercoaster
I grew up in a relatively small Pentecostal church in Denver, Colorado. On a good
Easter we would have 300 attenders, and I think that included a few people who just
thought about coming. Though they never turned anyone away, growing a really big
church didnt seem to be the core mission of the church leaders. Its probably a good
thing because there tended to be a lot of shouting and running around in circles during
services, which can be quite off putting to the uninitiated. This church would never make
a Top 100 list in any category with one possible exception, the percentage of young
people who went on to be church leaders across the country. If you add up the number of
people impacted weekly by the leaders who grew up in that little church it is staggering.
Based on the standard measures of success in the American church my home church was
a failure; very little attendance growth, relatively few baptisms, no small groups and no
short-term mission trips. My father, who was the pastor, has never been invited to speak
on church growth at a national conference. But I wonder if there are other measures that
would more accurately reflect the Kingdom impact of his ministry?
From the little church I grew up in to the largest mega-churches in America I have had
a front row seat to every angle of American church growth. I pastored a church that grew
from 11 to 100, I worked on staff at a church that grew from 500 to 1000, and I was a
part of the team that saw Seacoast Church grow from 1000 to somewhere north of 10,000
attenders on a typical weekend. We added sites, and then states and then cyberspace.
Rapid growth had its challenges, but it was fun. We were adding services, sites and small
groups as fast as we could. We held baptisms in the Atlantic Ocean with 10 pastors
baptizing simultaneously to handle the crowds. Somewhere along the way, however, I
realized that while rapid growth was thrilling there seemed to be no destination. At the
top of every hill the goal was a bigger hill. I began to wonder what would happen if the
growth rollercoaster ever stopped.
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As I have worked with pastors of churches of every size over the past few years I have
seen the same thing again and again; pastors who strive for ever more growth while
secretly wondering if there is a landing zone, a destination. And right behind them are
scores of pastors trying to get to their level, secretly wondering if satisfaction is just
beyond the next growth barrier. It isnt just a mega-church phenomenon either. Most
church planters think that at 200 or 300 or 500 they will be at a place where they will find
contentment. I have yet to meet a pastor who said, Yeah, I think my church is about the
right size.
The idea of numerical growth being a major measure of success is deeply baked into
our culture. Outreach Magazines list of the 100 largest and fastest growing churches is
by far its biggest selling issue. Twitter lights up every Easter and Christmas as the semi-
lost return to the fold, and we report our new record attendance. We add measurement on
measurement to create the perfect metric. Its nickels and noses, its small group
attendance, its number of volunteers, its number of missional communities. We are
looking for the Nirvana of Numbers that will finally tell us that we are doing a good job,
or at least that were doing a better job than the guy down the street. The sad thing is that
there is no end to the race. A pastor of a church of 20,000 told me once that the real goal
is 30,000, once they arrive on that mountaintop they can turn their attention to planting
other churches.
Pastors, however, are not just in it for the numbers. The bottom-line for almost every
pastor I know is Kingdom impact. He isnt as concerned about making a Top 100 list (as
nice as that might be) as he is in knowing that he had made a difference. All of the
numbers are just a way to figure out if the blood, sweat and tears that he has sacrificed in
ministry have been worth it. The sad truth is that for many pastors entering their sixties
they dont know that it has. Their churches have stopped growing and may even be
beginning to decline. The thrill of the next goal, the next barrier is past and they are
asking, Is this all there is? Ive played the numbers game, now what?
I believe we need a major paradigm shift. If we continue to measure the same things,
to build our churches with the same goals, were going to continue to get the same
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disappointing results. We need to acknowledge that every church has a growth cycle of
increase and decline. There are seasons of growth, seasons of maturing, seasons of
reproduction and seasons of rest. We need to stop emphasizing the tree and begin looking
at the orchard. To borrow a phrase from Steven Covey we need to begin with the end in
mind.
The little church I grew up in barely exists anymore. They long ago changed the name
and moved further into the suburbs. A young pastor is trying to breathe life into the
church with the few souls that remain, but if there isnt a drastic change the writing is on
the wall. If that little church dies will it have been a failure? If we look at the attendance
roll, the giving record, and the missions trips the only conclusion we can reach is failure.
But if we look at lasting impact, at deployed leaders, at eternal value to the Kingdom
wed have to say that little Pentecostal church on the outskirts of Denver was a raging
success.
The goal of this book is to look at church through a new lens, a lens that recognizes
the value of individual church growth within an eye to the larger Kingdom context. Well
look at stages of growth most churches experience, the key activities and measures at
each stage and the type of leader needed to guide a church through its natural growth
cycle. Well explore how churches at each stage can be involved in multiplication and theimplications for your congregation and your ministry. The end result is a paradigm of
ministry that moves from Is this all there is? to I will run out of life before I run out of
fruitful ministry.
Lets begin the journey with the story of two farmers, a tree and an orchard.
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Chapter 3
Two men, a tree and an orchard
Stanley loved apples, he loved trees and he loved the outdoors. Stanley was born to
raise apples. After graduating from school he bought a little piece of land that was ideal
for planting an apple tree. Stanley didnt want to just grow apples; he wanted to become a
great apple farmer. He read every book he could find on apple growing, talked to every
apple grower he could meet and attended every apple growing conference he could get to.
(There werent a lot of conferences as apple growing wasnt really a trendy thing when
Stanley got into the game.)
Finally Stanley felt he was ready to plant his tree. He went to the market and selected
the biggest, shiniest Red Delicious he could find. After preparing the soil and digging the
ideal hole Stanley planted his apple tree. And then he waited.
A couple of miles away Stanleys friend Ted was also planting his first apple tree. He
had the same aspiration as Stanley, and had prepared in almost the same way. He read the
books, talked to other planters and attended the conferences. Ted felt as ready as possible
to enter the exciting world of apple farming. His little plot of ground had also been tilled,
the rocks removed and the weeds eradicated. Ted sowed his first apple seed, and he too
waited.
The waiting for Stanley and Ted was excruciating. Day after day, week after week it
seemed like nothing happened. But then a little sprout appeared, the spout became a twig
and soon the twig began to resemble a tiny apple tree. Each week Stanley and Ted
watered their little trees, fertilized the soil and measured the growth. Growth was slow,
but steady, and each week the little sprig looked more and more like a mature apple tree.
Months passed as their little trees continued to grow. When winter came Stanley and
Ted worried that their tender little trees wouldnt survive, but in the spring the barren
sticks began to bud. The trees were a year old and continuing to grow, though neither had
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continued to plant more and more trees year after year. Eventually Ted had an entire
orchard of apple trees producing hundreds of bushels of apples every year. Ted began
mentoring other young growers, helping them start their own orchards. Recently Ted
turned his orchard over to his son and now looked forward to spending the next few years
helping other apple growers full time.
After hearing Teds story Stanley asked about that original tree, the one Ted had
planted the same year Stanley had planted his.
The first tree? It stopped producing apples a few years ago. I finally cut it down to
make room for a new tree. I used the wood to build a rocking pony for my grandson.
Cut it down? Stanley was stunned. How could you cut it down? Remember allthe hard work you put into that tree? Remember waiting winter after winter for it to
produce its first apple? You poured your life into that tree and then you cut it down.
How could that happen?
Ted was puzzled by Stanleys reaction. We cut it down because we knew it was
going to die soon anyway. All apple trees die eventually. By cutting it down we were
able to turn it into something that will last far longer than that single tree. Besides
Stanley, it was never about the tree, it was always about the fruit.
Stanley realized that he had focused on the wrong thing. He spent his life growing a
great tree, but he never cultivated an orchard.
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Chapter 4
Defining an orchard
The parable of the apple tree is silly; no one would spend his life focusing on one
apple tree. Obviously to be a successful apple grower you have to have an orchard. The
irony that is exactly what we do as church leaders. We focus our whole ministry on
growing one church. Even if we move from church to church we still maintain a single
church focus. At best we give occasional thought to multiplying beyond our local
congregation. We join a church-planting network, or help plant a church in another
country or send out one of our younger staff members to plant a new congregation. These
are almost always sidelines, however, the main thing is the single local church. Our
overriding concern is how we can grow our people and our congregation.
In the end, however, focusing on a single church often leads to disappointment. No
matter how healthy a church is there comes a time of waning attendance and diminished
impact. Pastors change the music style, hire younger staff members, or build a new
building. The goal is to get the church growing again, but attendance remains flat or
declines. The pastor really has three choices at this point
He can ride the downward trend to the end, hanging on as long as the churchcan continue to support him,
He can leave for greener pastures and find another church to focus on He can turn his attention to the orchard he has been cultivating through the
years.
So what qualifies as an orchard? I like this definition from Dictionary.com:
An orchard is a piece of land planted with fruit trees.
From this definition we can define an orchard from three angles.
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A piece of land
An orchard is more than trees; it is the entire piece of land. There may only be fifty
trees, but the plot of land determines the size of the orchard. What are the boundaries of
your orchard? Your orchard may be the region, the city, or the people group God has
placed on your heart to reach with the Gospel. An orchard is bigger than a neighborhood
but smaller than the whole world. The Apostle Paul probably had the largest orchard; he
said his orchard was the Gentiles. Your orchard may be your city or your state. Your
orchard may include several small towns in your county. Your orchard may be a country
in Africa or a people group in India or the urban poor. If your church can reach your
orchard alone, however, then your vision is too small. How big would your orchard be if
God provided all the leaders and resources you need?
I love the Old Testament story of Jonathan and his armor bearer. The Philistines have
the Israelites pinned down. There are only two swords available to the entire army, and
their situation seems hopeless. Finally King Sauls son Jonathan has had enough. He
grabs one sword, gives the other to his armor bearer and they sneak out of camp to attack
the Philistines. On the way to the enemy camp the armor bearer asks how they plan to
take on thousands of Philistines all by themselves. Jonathans answer had to take him
back a little, Lets go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows, perhaps theLord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many
or by few. The armor bearers response is amazing, Go ahead; I am with you heart and
soul. You know the rest of the story. God does act on their behalf and they single
handedly route the Philistines.
What would be the boundaries of your orchard if God were to act on your behalf?
What is your passion? What territory has he given into your hand?
Apieceoflandplanted
The second aspect of an orchard is that it is a piece of land that has been planted. An
orchard has been intentionally cultivated, fertilized and sown with seed. A farmer has
invested his skills and resources into turning a field into an orchard.
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Your orchard is not just a place youve been called to, but also a place where youve
planted. You have invested relational capital into that area. You have sent leaders,
expertise and resources to cultivate the field where you have been called. Cultivating an
orchard is more than sending money or releasing a leader, cultivating an orchard involves
a high level of personal investment.
Apieceoflandplantedwithfruittrees
Finally an orchard is a piece of land that has been planted with a very specific type of
tree; fruit trees. The orchard grower expects the land to produce abundant harvests of
good fruit, and he will accept nothing less. A farmer doesnt talk about the number of
trees he plants, how big the trees grow or how beautiful they are to look at; a farmers
only concern is the yield of the orchard. If the trees dont produce fruit then the farmer
will make a change.
I used to live down the road from an old plantation in Charleston, South Carolina. This
was still very much a working plantation. One year the owner decided to plant a peach
orchard in one of the fields. It took a lot of time, work and money to prepare the field,
install irrigation and plant the seedlings. We drove past that orchard every day for three
years before a single peach was produced. Once the trees matured and began producing
fruit we would often stop at the roadside stand and buy some of the fresh peaches. Then
one day the stand was closed. Soon the owner of the orchard tore out all of the trees and
let the land return to grass and weeds. The trees had begun producing bad fruit, and they
were no longer productive. The field wasnt an orchard because there was no longer any
fruit.
Theworkofafarmer
In an orchard the farmer isnt just scattering seed and hoping for the best. He is
working the soil, checking the moisture and cultivating the fruit. He is actively involved
in the process of producing an abundant harvest. That is an accurate picture of how a
pastor is involved in his orchard. He isnt just sending offerings and reading updates; he
is actively involved in ensuring the health of every tree he plants. An orchard pastor
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trains leaders, coaches other pastors, sends seed money and nurtures young church plants
and young church planters.
Many years ago Fred Richard decided that Charleston, South Carolina was his
orchard. He had moved to Charleston from Texas to pastor a struggling congregation
located on the north side of the city. Fred saw explosive growth as his congregation
doubled and then doubled again. The growth outstripped the little piece of property they
owned, so they began parking cars bumper to bumper in the little dirt parking lot.
Fred wasnt satisfied, however, with growing a big church. He had a vision to reach
every corner of his city, and he knew that even with the rapid growth his church was
experiencing they could never reach the city alone. His goal wasnt to become the biggest
church in the city; his goal was to see the city won for Christ. His orchard was the entire
region known as the Low Country.
Fred put up a map in his office of his orchard and plotted where to strategically plant
new churches to create the most abundant harvest possible. He hired young staff and
trained them as church planters. He sent leaders, church members and resources to plant a
church in West Ashley, and then to Mt Pleasant, Summerville, and eventually to Moncks
Corner. Each church plant became a vibrant congregation with some growing larger than
the original church. Today many thousands of people attend churches planted directly or
indirectly out of this church youve never heard of in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Freds orchard extends across the country and around the world. The original church that
Fred still pastors plateaued in growth several years ago, but the orchard will continue
long past the time Fred retires.
What is your orchard? What ground are you called to cultivate and plant? Here are
some clarifying questions in defining your personal orchard:
What territory, region or people group has God burned into my heart?Who else is at work in my orchard? How could I partner with what they are
already doing?
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What other orchard activities could I be involved in today?To effectively grow an orchard it is vital the farmer understands the growth cycle of a
single tree. The same is true of a church leader who wants to cultivate an orchard. In the
next few chapters well look at the natural growth cycle most churches experience.
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Chapter 5
Growth cycle of a church
We ended the last chapter with a crucial question, What orchard activity should I be
involved in right now? There is not a simple one-size fits all answer to this question.
While every church can be involved in orchard work not every church can or should be
planting churches. There is currently a push among young church planters to plant new
churches and open up new campuses as quickly as possible, to focus on the orchard from
the first day. While the motivation is good the outcome can be disastrous. At the other
end of the spectrum are the majority of American churches not directly involved in
planting new congregations. They will never grow an orchard. So what healthy orchard
activity should your church be involved in? To answer this question we need to narrow
our focus from the entire orchard to the natural growth cycle of a single church.
An assumption in the American church is that healthy churches always grow. If your
church isnt growing then there must be something wrong, some mistake, some hidden
flaw that is thwarting Gods will of eternal growth for your church. If your church isnt
growing then it is time to go to a conference, bring in a consultant or change a staff
member. To admit your church has stopped growing, or even declined in attendance, is
akin to confessing sin. The reality is that American churches tend to sustain steady
growth for about 15 years and then attendance either levels off or declines. This is true
for giga-churches, mega-churches and normal-churches. Often when growth stops a
pastor panics and hires new staff, changes the style of music, builds a new building,
changes the church name, drops the bulletin, starts a bulletin, gets a face lift; anything to
restart the growth engine. Sometimes it works and growth begins again, but most the time
it doesnt. After a 15 year rocket ride it feels like the party is over.
The reality is that no church grows forever; otherwise we would have churches with
millions of members. Every church the Apostle Paul planted eventually stopped growing
and entered a slow (or quick) period of decline. Either Paul wasnt good at planting and
growing churches or there is a natural law at work here. Maybe churches, like every
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living organism, follow a somewhat predictable growth cycle. My experience is that the
growth cycle of a church tends to mirror the normal human growth cycle.
We are born, we experience childhood, we become adults, we have kids, our kids have
kids, we join AARP, we start eating dinner at 4:00 p.m., and then we die. We can act like
a middle-schooler all of our life, we can have plastic surgery, we can marry a 25 year old
when were 75, but we cannot change the growth cycle. Although we may not go through
every stage, we are often in more than one stage at a time, and no two people progress
through the stages at the same rate; every human is born, grows, and eventually dies. That
is the way God designed life.
Churches go through the same predictable growth stages. A church is born, it goes
through a period of childhood and then adulthood. Some churches become parents, a few
become grandparents, and eventually most churches either die or are reborn. Not every
church goes through every stage and no two churches progress at the same rate, but there
are clearly identifiable stages in the growth and lifecycle of a church. One major
difference between churches and humans, however, is that churches sometimes do go
back through one or more of the stages. It is not common, but it does happen.
Lets dive into the natural stages of growth for a church. For each stage well look at a
definition, appropriate activity, the measurements of success and finally the type of
leadership needed along the way.
Stages and activity
Stage1:Birth
Church planting has exploded in America over the past few years. Planting a new
church is a chance to wipe the slate clean, start from scratch and create a unique
expression of the Kingdom of God. Creativity and optimism are rampant during the Birth
stage of a new church.
Whether a church launches large, forms from a small group or hives off from another
church, the beginning is crucial. This is where the DNA and future trajectory of the
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church are established. The main activity at the birth of a church is to establish the DNA
of a unique expression of the body of Christ. A great deal of thought goes into the name,
the location, and the style of the new congregation.
Key question: Who are we?
Goal: Identity
Stage2:Child
The first few months and years of a congregations existence shape the future of a new
church. During this stage almost everything the church does depends on the pastor and a
very small group of leaders. This is the make or break period for most churches and most
of the activity is focused on survival. The question every Monday morning is, Do we
have enough money to do this for another week?
An indicator of sustainability at this stage is to ask what would happen if the Senior
Pastor were suddenly removed from the scene. Would the young congregation be able to
support itself? Would they continue to make an impact in their community? Total
dependence on the direct activity of a senior leader is a clear sign that a church is still in
childhood. A large percentage of new church plants do not make it past the Child stage
and soon close their doors.
Key question: Is this sustainable?
Goal: Survival
Stage3:Adult
As the sustainability question is answered in a young church it transitions into the
Adult Stage. (Some have argued for an Adolescence stage when a church is somewhere
between a child and an adult. To simplify things a little I would consider that a part of the
Child stage. That is why some churches are ten years old and still not Adults.) In the
Adult stage the church has an identity and some stability. There is a core of people that
the leaders know they can count on, and there is a financial base so that every weeks
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offering isnt do or die. Ministry moves beyond a Sunday service into daily Kingdom
expressions and the congregation begins to reach out beyond its own neighborhood to
spread the Gospel message around the world. Unfortunately most churches never move
beyond the Adult Stage to become a Parent.
Key question: Are we making mature disciples?
Goal: Maturity
Step4:Parent
Just like all healthy mature organisms, healthy, mature churches reproduce.
Reproduction comes in many forms; some churches hive off part of the congregation and
form a new church, some churches train church planters and deploy them to other
communities to start churches, and some churches open new campuses in different parts
of their community. Regardless the form it is vital for the health of the church as a whole
that a mature congregation reproduce. When done well reproduction breathes new life
into a maturing congregation.
Key question: Are we preparing for healthy multiplication?
Goal: Reproduction
Step5:Grandparent
I love being a Grandfather. It is all the best parts of being a father with almost none of
the hassles. My number one question when I am with my granddaughter is, What does
the prettiest girl in the world want? When she was just a few months old I told my
daughter-in-law that someday I was going to buy Maggie a pony. She said that Maggie
didnt need a pony. I told her that it was cute that she thought that I cared that she didnt
think Maggie needed a pony. As a grandfather I get to spoil my granddaughter in
whatever way I deem necessary. Soon that necessity will include a pony.
There are a growing number of churches discovering the joys of being Grandparents.
They have expertise, leadership and resources that they can invest into other
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congregations. This grand parenting takes many forms; some pastors mentor other pastors
in their community, some churches lend leaders to new churches and many churches
sow resources into smaller and younger congregations. While they may not be at a place
or stage to actively plant new churches, these grandparent congregations are making
significant contributions to the overall health of the Kingdom of God. They are buying
ponies for their grandchildren.
Key question: How can we bless another church?
Goal: Mentoring
Stage7:SeniorCitizen
I am trying to avoid the Senior Citizen stage in my life as much as possible. I refuse to
accept an AARP card, although they keep sending them to me. I pretend that I the reason
I wear glasses is because they make me look smart. I shop for my clothes (actually my
wife shops for my clothes) in stores for the young and hip. I know, however, I can only
pretend for so long. Before I know it Ill be wearing white knee socks with my sandals
and lining up for the Blue Plate special at the local diner. The Senior Citizen stage of life
will catch me no matter how hard I try to run.
The Senior Citizen stage catches up with most churches as well. There comes a time
when they are no longer growing or reproducing. The congregation has aged, no new
young people are joining and attendance and money are dwindling.Atthispointthe
churchhastomakeadecision,Arewegoingtohangonaslongaswecantowhat
wehave,orarewegoingtofindawaytopassourlegacyontoanothergeneration?
HowtheyanswerthisquestiondeterminestheSeniorCitizenchurchslegacy.
Keyquestion:Howlongcanwesurvive?
Goal:Legacy
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Stage6:Deathorrebirth
Every day across America many churches cease to exist. The money runs out, the last
member dies, or the creditors take over. All that is left is the empty building where life
transformation used to happen. The sad truth is that churches are closing at such a rapidrate that new church plant openings cant even keep up with the current population
growth rate. Every year America has fewer churches per person than the year before.
There is an amazing trend, however, of churches recognizing they are at the end of
their lifecycle. Attendance is dwindling and the end is in sight; but rather than selling the
building or simply shutting their doors, churches are being reborn as entirely new
congregations. They are handing the keys over to an existing church or a new church
plant. They take a front row seat to the new thing God is doing in their community. They
literally experience the resurrection of a new body.
Growth Cycle Overview
We can illustrate the stages and goals in the growth cycle of church like this:
Unlike a human being, churches sometimes repeat one or more stages. A Grandparent
or Senior Citizen church may bring in a new leader with a new vision and restart the
growth cycle for that congregation. The growth cycle isnt a prescription of what a
church should do, but rather a description of what most churches experience.
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The big question now becomes, So what? Weve identified stages of church growth
and goals at each stage, but what does that mean? What should a pastor or a church do
with this information? In the next chapter well look at what leaders should be looking
for at each stage to determine if they are focused on the right things and if the church is
making progress toward health. Well also look at what types of leadership are necessary
to lead a healthy orchard church at every stage.
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Chapter 6
Measures and Leaders
We have identified five basic growth stages that most churches go through: child,
adult, parent, grandparent and senior citizen. Before we look at measures and leaders
there are a few of important qualifiers we need to understand.
First, many churches will be in more than one stage at the same time. Just as I am
currently an adult, a parent and a grandparent (as well as senior citizen according to
AARP), a church may well be a parent and a grandparent or an adult and parent at the
same time.
Second, not all churches go through every stage. The reality is that many churches
never make it past the child stage and very few churches ever parent another
congregation. It is quite possible for a church to go from adult straight to senior citizen
without reproducing or mentoring other leaders.
Third, as we mentioned in the last chapter, churches can go back through the stages.
An aging congregation can find new life and return to the adult stage or even, in someways, become a child again. Many very old churches are thriving who were once on the
edge of closing their doors. Remember, the growth cycle is not a prescription for death
but a description of life in a church.
Finally, this is not a definitive look at every stage a church could go through. Some
churches are stuck in adolescence, somewhere between a child and an adult. Some
churches are empty nesters where all the young leaders are gone but they have resources
to continue for many years before hitting the senior citizen stage. (Feel free to insert your
own stage here.) This list is simply a framework to understand church growth and
reproduction.
Now that weve defined the basic stages in the growth cycle of a church lets look at
what we measure to determine health at each stage.
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Measuring health
When our kids were young it was a regular ritual to line them up against the doorpost
in our laundry room and measure their height. Next to each mark we wrote the date and
celebrated how much theyd grown since the last time. When my son hit the teen years it
seemed like he grew six inches every time we measured. One of the hardest things to
leave when we moved out of that house was the measuring doorpost; it was a record of
the growth of our little family.
Imagine if we were still measuring the same thing now that my children are both in
their twenties. OK kids, its time to line up and see how much youve grown since your
21st
birthday. Who wants to go first? As our kids have matured what we measure has
changed.
Some churches, however, still use the same measuring stick for health as when they
were planted. They focus on the key indicators the attendance and giving of the original
church even though they are well into the adult stage of life. As a congregation matures
leaders need to change their measurements to determine if the church is healthy.
Stage:ChildandAdult
During the early life of a church, just like when my kids were young, our main
measure of health is growth. Regardless the model of a church plant two numbers are
always important, attendance and giving. As much as we want to say that nickels and
noses dont matter, they do. If we dont have any noses then we dont have a church. If
we dont have any nickels we wont have a church very long. Most church planters deal
with this reality every week. The first question they ask after Sunday is Do we have
enough money to do this again next week? A church that is growing in attendance and
growing in giving may be unhealthy in many ways, but it is likely to survive. A church
that is not growing may not last long enough to develop into a healthy congregation.
As a church matures the measures of growth expand. Are more and more people
becoming Christ followers? Do we see evidence of people becoming mature disciples?
Are attenders participating in a small group? Are they stepping into leadership roles? Are
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members giving away more of their time and their resources? Are they becoming
involved missionally across the street and around the world? Churches use a variety of
tools to measure growth in these areas, but growth indicates health.
Stage:Parent
As a parent my sense of well-being and accomplishment is intractably interwoven in
the success of my children. While I want to continue to grow as an adult, I am more
concerned with the health and growth of my children. When my kids are doing well Im
doing well. This is also true of a parent church. The measures of health that an adult
church uses are still important in the parent phase, but now leaders begin to measure fruit.
They celebrate the growth of their daughter churches as much as they celebrate baptisms
in their own congregation. Members give to projects that reach well beyond the walls of
their own building. The goal is no longer to see how large or influential the individual
church might become, but expands to growing fruit on other trees in other communities.
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Stage:GrandparentandSeniorCitizen
When I turned 50 this past year I realized unless I live past 100 I am well into the
second half of my life. How do I measure my life now? My kids are grown, so my job as
a parent is mostly done. I am still working, but Im not really driven by bigger and
better any more. The driving question for me now is what will be the impact of my life?
To paraphrase Steve Jobs, will I have made a dent in the universe? This cant be
measured by my bank account, the size of my house or the impressive names in my
contact list. The measure of my life is my orchard. What have I planted? What have I
sown into others? Have I given away my life in a way that there will be ripples for
generations to come?
This is the measure of churches as they move toward the twilight of the growth cycle.
If all of the emphasis has been on the local congregation then the answers might be
disappointing. Attendance eventually wanes in all churches and giving slides as well.
Fewer and fewer people are committing their lives to Christ and new disciples are harder
to find. By the old measures the church is failing. But the true story is in the orchard.
What other churches have been planted? What leaders have been sent out? What impact
has the church had across the city and across the ocean? A pastor who focuses on a single
congregation eventually runs out of meaningful ministry, but a pastor who cultivates a
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healthy orchard will always have more to do then than he can get to. The measure of a
maturing church is the size and health of the orchard.
Leadership through the stages
Just as the stages have different goals and different measurements, each stage also
requires different kinds of leadership. I have seen this illustrated throughout my ministry
life.
Stageone:Catalyst
In the early 1990s I became the pastor of a small church in the rural town outside
Houston,Texas. The church had been in existence for many years and had been through
some rough times. The pastor before my immediate predecessor managed to split the
church and drain the finances. His last act before resigning was to donate the churchs
John Deere tractor to his son-in-law. My predecessor felt his call was to simply care for
the few saints who remained for the 18 months he was pastored the church. When I
arrived there were eleven adults, a run down building and no tractor to mow the lawn.
Who could say no to an opportunity like that? Though the church was many years old it
was clearly in the child stage and survival was the rallying cry. The church needed a new
start and I had to be the Catalyst. I started things. I started childrens ministry, I started a
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New Believers class, I started a tradition of Big Days. The church looked to me for new
ideas and new initiatives.
Early in the life of a church (or the rebirth of a church) the church planter is the
Catalyst. He is the spark behind most of what happens. Even if he is not the one with the
vision behind the new initiative he is usually the one who provides the fuel. A young
churchs biggest need is this catalytic leader.
Stage: Childhood through early adult
Leadership role: Catalyst
Developer
When I joined the staff of Seacoast Church in 1996 the congregation was eight years
old and averaging about 1000 attenders each weekend. Seacoast was well beyond the
child stage and into adulthood. The main challenge was how to move from an
entrepreneurial, mom-and-pop mentality to a mature organization empowering leaders at
every level. My brother who planted the church is a talented Catalyst, but he needed help
developing the new systems neccesary to sustain and maintain the growth of the church.
The biggest leadership need at this point was a Developer.
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One of the biggest challenges for an entrepreneurial church planter (or re-planter) is to
make this shift from Catalyst to Developer. They often view their biggest strength as a
visionary and they love starting new things. As a church matures, however, there is a
need for a leader who can focus on the bigger picture. Similar to a real estate developer
who focuses on an entire sub-division rather than building a single house, an effective
pastor during this stage of the church is able to move beyond the nuts and bolts of daily
growth to develop a site map for reproduction.
Stage: Late Adult to Grandparent
Leadership role: Developer
Sage
After 30 years of ministry experience in congregations of every size I am discovering
that my biggest contribution now is less about what I can do and more about what I have
learned. Like most pastors who have been on the frontlines for many years I have a
wealth of experience dealing with challenging ministry opportunities. While Im not
quite ready for white socks with my sandals, I find that sharing my experiences, mistakes
and learnings with younger leaders is the most rewarding ministry I can do.
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I learned a great deal about the role of a Sage working with Pastor Rick Warren at
Saddleback Church. Pastor Rick has built an incredible ministry that has impacted
churches around the world. His book Purpose Driven Life has sold more copies than any
book other than the Bible, and men like Tony Blair, George W Bush and President
Obama have him on speed dial. Where Pastor Rick prefers to leverage his time, however,
is with young pastors. Pastor Rick is constantly making time in his schedule to pour into
the lives of younger leaders, teaching, modeling leadership, and praying for them. He has
embraced the role of Sage in what he has declared to be his last decade as the pastor of
Saddleback.
Stage: Grandparent to Senior Citizen
Leadership role: Sage
In the final chapter well look at assessing where your church is in the growth cycle
and the implications for future growth and multiplication, but lets take a quick personal
inventory.
Is the church you serve a Child, an Adult, a Parent, a Grandchild or a SeniorCitizen? (Force yourself to pick the primary stage for your church)
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What does your church measure to determine health? Are your measuresappropriate for the churchs current stage?
Are you most effective as a Catalyst, a Developer or a Sage? What makes youbelieve that is your most effective mode?
Does your most effective leadership mode match the stage your church is in? Ifnot what changes do you think should be made?
Well revisit these questions in the next chapter as we look at practical applications of
the growth cycle model to your orchard ministry.
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Chapter 7
Now what?
I think the best epitaph in the Bible is from the apostle Paul, For when David had
served Gods purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep The deep desire of every
Christian leader is to serve Gods purpose in his own generation. This is the drive behind
everything we do. Chasing any other goal is empty and meaningless. My life verse is
Ephesians 2:10, For we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works
which God prepared in advance for us to do. Gods purpose in my life is to do the good
works he has prepared for me to do. These good works may include leading a mega-
church, pastoring a small congregation or leading a movement. Gods goal for me is not
fame, its faithfulness. I will have served Gods purpose for my generation if I am faithful
to who he created me to be, and finish the work that he gave me to do.
When I pastored a little church in rural Texas faithfulness was not my driving
ambition; my ambition was to grow a big church. I believed the bigger the church grew
the more I was doing what God wanted me to do. We celebrated busting the 50 barrier
with a cake. When we broke 100 for the first time we had a party. I knew that soon wed
be at 200, and then 500 and eventually 1000; and I was equally sure that each milestone
along the way would bring more satisfaction, more accolades and more rewards from
God. But a funny thing happened along the way. The church stopped growing. We did
mailers, we had big days, we did everything I could think of to move the needle, but
attendance had plateaued. I began to doubt my call to ministry. I couldnt imagine being
in the middle of Gods will if I wasnt seeing exponential growth. Not too long after the
growth curve flattened I resigned as pastor and left vocational ministry. It took years to
come to terms with the idea that Gods purpose in my life, and in my ministry, might not
be connected to a growth curve that is always up and to the right. I may serve Gods
purpose in my generation without hitting the goals on the normal scorecard for the
American church.
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Thats why I think it is time for a new scorecard for success. When we focus mostly
on attendance growth we are missing the mark in assessing faithfulness to the call and
purpose of God. When the pastors on conference stages and magazine covers are always
the ones with the biggest and fastest growing churches something is missing. We have
adopted a corporate model of measurement that translates poorly, at best, to Kingdom
reality. We are focusing on who can grow the biggest tree rather than pooling our
resources to cultivate a healthy Kingdom orchard.
When someone writes my epitaph I hope theyll be able to say that I served Gods
purpose in my generation, that I stayed faithful to the work God prepared for me, and that
I gave everything to cultivating Gods orchard.
Let me finish with four practical applications for cultivating a healthy orchard.
Four applications
Beginwiththeorchardinmind
If you are early on in ministry begin now to think about the orchard. Rather than
putting all your time and resources into a single church, plan how you can help grow
other healthy congregations. Warren Bird and Ed Stetzer in their book Viral Churches
talk about planting pregnant. They recommend that you launch your church with the next
church planter already on board. Wherever you are in ministry you can have a bi-focal
focus of tree and orchard.
Beyond just planning for new church plants think creatively how you can help other
churches even while you are in the early stages of establishing your church. Are there
events you can do together? Can you organize volunteers to help another church? Do you
have resources you can share? Imagine the power if churches in your area have an Acts 4mindset:
Acts 4:32 (NIV) All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that
any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
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Actyourage
One of the healthiest things a congregation can to is to soberly assess what stage they
are in and then act appropriately. A church in the CHILD stage should be more focused
on health than reproduction. A 13-year-old girl has the ability to have a baby, but it isnever a good idea. She doesnt have the maturity to raise the child nor the finances to
support her baby. A church that reproduces too early often faces the same challenges.
An adult church should be focused on how to build mature disciples and plan for
multiplication. Rather than stressing attendance and giving, a healthy ADULT church
stresses reproducing disciples and leaders in preparation for sending out missionaries to
establish new congregations.
At each stage a healthy church becomes more and more outwardly focused. The vision
is less about the local tree and more about the orchard. The leader of a healthy PARENT
church is as concerned about the maturity and growth of daughter churches as he is about
the growth of the congregation he pastors. The pastor of a GRANDPARENT church is
looking for ways to bless other congregations with resources, education and volunteers.
In the SENIOR CITIZEN stage leaders are looking for the most effective way to leverage
the resources they have left to help a next generation church.
Thinkmultiplicationateverystage
An orchard-focused leader is thinking about multiplication at every stage of growth.
During the CHILD stage he has apprentice leaders around him who he is grooming to
lead future congregations. ADULT churches are preparing leaders and workers to either
plant new congregations or assist CHILD churches in the early years. PARENT churches
are launching sustainable new congregations and helping them survive to maturity.
Pastors in GRANDPARENT churches are partnering with PARENT churches as mentors
to younger leaders. SENIOR CITIZEN churches are on the hunt to either share their
building or donate their assets to the right congregation.
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Assessyourorchardleadership
Different stages of the growth cycle call for different leadership styles. We see this
reflected in story of Israel leaving Egypt and occupying Canaan. Shepherding millions of
people through a desert for 40 years takes a very different type of leader than conqueringa land filled with giants. Moses was the ideal leader for the exodus, but Joshua was better
equipped for the conquest.
Lets spend a few more minutes with some of the questions we asked in the last
chapter:
What stage is my church in?
Are we a new church plant struggling to survive? Are we a maturing congregation
ready to reproduce? Are we an aging congregation preparing the path for the next
generation? Each of these stages requires a different type of leadership.
What style best describes my leadership?
Am I a catalytic entrepreneur? Am I always looking for the next thing, catching the
next wave? Do I love strategy and developing a plan? Do I prefer teaching and
mentoring? We all have to function as CATALYST, DEVELOPER or SAGE at different
times in ministry, but where are we most effective?
Is my leadership style the best fit for my churchs stage?
Are you a CATALYST leading a GRANDPARENT church, or a SAGE leading a
church in the CHILD stage? If your style doesnt fit it doesnt mean you need to leave the
church. The goal is to accurately identify your style, add the missing style through
another leader, and focus your energy leading in the way you are most effective. ACATALYST in a PARENT church will spend a lot time actually launching new
congregations, a SAGE in the same church will focus more on training leaders who will
launch the new church.
A new scorecard for success
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I spent time recently with Steve Stroope, the pastor of Lake Pointe Church in
Rockwall, Texas. Steve has seen Lake Pointe grow from a few families to an amazing
multi-site church ministering to thousands of people around the Dallas Metroplex every
week. After 30 plus years leading Lake Pointe Steve is beginning to think about what the
next chapter will be for him, and he couldnt be more excited. He spent many years
cultivating the orchard including a fast growing church Lake Pointe helped plant in the
Silicon Valley a few years ago. Now that church is beginning to help church plants across
San Francisco and Lake Pointe continues to plant churches in other underserved
communities up and down the West Coast. Steve may never be as well-known as some of
his contemporaries, but his contribution to the orchard is almost immeasurable.
The Kingdom needs more leaders like Steve Stroope and Fred Richard (who we met in
the third chapter). Leaders laser focused on maturing the local congregation entrusted to
them AND committed to cultivating an orchard of growing churches and congregations.
We need pastors who are as committed to deploying leaders to other communities and
churches as they are to covering the needs of their home church. We need churches who
are willing to act their age and continue to find creative ways to multiply regardless of
what stage they are in. We need a new scorecard in the American church that celebrates
orchards more than trees.
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About the Author
In addition to being the Managing Director of Exponential (www.exponential.org) Geoff
Surratt also helps churches across the country in strategic planning, teaching and staff
development. Geoff previously led the church planting and multisite ministry of
Saddleback Church and served as Executive Pastor of Seacoast Church, overseeing their
15 campuses. He has over 30 years of ministry experience in a variety of roles in local
churches, and is the author of several books including The Multisite Church Revolution,
The Multisite Church Roadtrip and 10 Stupid Things that Keep Churches from Growing.
Geoff lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sherry who is the President and CEO of
Mothers of Preschoolers International (MOPS). They have two children and one
granddaughter with another on the way.