Church Growth in the Northwest Ministry Network

Abstract

With the consistent decline of the Church in the United States, leaders need to put forth greater efforts to put the body of believers back on course to fulfill its purpose. Most churches within the Northwest Ministry Network (NWMN) of the Assemblies of God fall within this category. However, leaders seem largely unaware of how to turn a corner and begin growing their churches. On the positive side, many churches are experiencing numeric growth and appear to be avoiding the national church decline. This research project studies a portion of these growing churches to discover how this growth is happening and to determine if there are lessons people can learn to benefit the other churches under the NWMN umbrella. The research aspect of this project incorporates the qualitative method of research and provides the means to gather data through interviews. I derived the sample group of churches from the Northwest Ministry Network’s Annual Church Ministry 2012 Report, which documents each church’s attendance for the last five years. I subdivided churches showing ten percent or more growth in three of the five years into five attendance groups. I interviewed the lead pastor of two churches from each group to form a picture of the practices and philosophies that contributed to their growth. The project goal examines this information to determine patterns and commonalities within individual groupings and across all size groups. The project summarizes the overall conclusions and implications applied for the benefit of church leaders within the Northwest Ministry Network so they can glean information for their unique contexts.