Leading a church of 250 to become a church of 500 is a task of underestimated complexity. Next to actually birthing and launching a new church plant from scratch, this stage of a church’s life cycle might be one of the most daunting. This is evidenced by the fact that a full 60% of Protestant churches in North America never grow past 100 people. We know that it is ultimately the Lord who builds His church. Yet, there are biblical principles of leadership and organization that, if misconstrued, can hinder a church from bearing the sort of fruit that God would have for it.

“This stage of a church’s life cycle might be one of the most daunting . . .
60% of Protestant churches in North America never grow past 100 people.”

During my training breakout at The Soul of Eldership we are going to be spending our time teasing out the differences between launching and birthing church plant versus leading and pastoring a growing church of 250+. The organizational and leadership skills needed to gather a core group of 50 people and mobilize them for mission are substantively different than those required to multiply lay leaders and shepherd a large flock of people.

To help us dive into these issues, we will be consulting both the Bible as well as the other "holy book" for church leaders, Tim Keller’s “Leading Through Organizational Change.” We will also draw from Larry Osborne’s "Sticky Teams" and its discussion of various staffing models.

If you are a church planter who has seen your initial launch gain traction but sort of plateau after a season, this would be a great conference to attend and a helpful session for your team.