5
Significant Attitude Differences That Separate Growing and Declining Churches
Carey
Nieuwhof
So what’s
the difference between a growing church and a declining church?
Well there
are many, but one of the biggest differences I see is the attitude of the leaders.
The leaders
of growing churches almost always share a common attitude.
So do the
leaders of declining churches.
And the
attitude has a huge influence over the results each
church sees.
Attitude may
or may not be everything, but it’s close.
Here are 5
attitude differences I see again and again in growing churches and declining
churches.
1. We
Can vs. We Can’t
2. Them
vs. Us
3.
Principles vs. Preferences
4. Proactive vs.
Reactive
This is a
close cousin of points 2 and 3 above, but the difference is deadly or
life-giving depending on where you land.
Growing
churches are proactive. They choose their agenda
and immediately get on issues that can impact their future.
Declining
churches are reactive, letting members determine the agenda and reacting to
problems as they arise.
In fact,
most declining churches are so busy reacting to problems other people raise
that they never get around to charting a course for the future.
If you never
get around to charting a course for the future, you will have no future.
Growing
churches have a strong bias for setting their own agendas,
not in the selfish sense, but in a way that determined leaders see what the
mission requires and decide to deal with it.
The leaders
in a growing church simply refuse to yield to the agenda of others that would
take them off mission.
And as a
result, they are far more effective.
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