How to simply grow the church

Jul 20, 2021 by

by Ian Paul, Psephizo:

Yesterday I had a delightful, brief conversation with a friend about what is happening in different dioceses.

Friend: Our bishop has turned our diocese around.

Me: How has he done that?

Friend: By not cutting clergy posts, and not appointing an archdeacon. Instead we have focussed on the question of stewardship.

Me: Surely it isn’t as simple as that?

Friend: No, not entirely, but other dioceses are doing the same. The problem is that too many have developed a groupthink from 20 years ago, that when you are struggling financially the answer is to cut clergy posts.

I was struck by this, because another friend had shared a post I wrote seven years ago on church growth, so I am sharing it again here. It offers a vital background to the recent spats about church planting, the role of clergy, ‘limiting factors’, and whether or not the decline in attendance for the Church of England will ever turn around.

Read here

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