The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) reported another year of numerical growth, reaching its highest-ever Sunday attendance level. The increase represents a complete recovery from COVID lows, a new growth trend, and a mandate for mission. All-Time High Reported 2023 Sunday Attendance came in at 84,794, an all-time high for the ACNA since its…
A Church Growth Checklist (Suddenly Surging Part 5)
(Part five of five in David Roseberry’s Suddenly Surging series on church growth.) A Pre-Flight Checklist A friend of mine had a passion for flying small planes as a hobby. He had invested countless hours in classroom instruction, flight training, and simulations, accumulating hundreds of hours in the cockpit. As an engineer by profession, he was…
Is there a Recipe for Church Growth? (Suddenly Surging Part 4)
(Part four of five in David Roseberry’s Suddenly Surging series on church growth.) A Pivotal Moment In the early days of Christ Church, the congregation I started in 1985, I was moved by a random encounter in a suburban parking lot. My heart was broken after I met one man and learned what had just happened…
What Do People Look For in a New Church? (Suddenly Surging Part 3)
(Part three of five in David Roseberry’s Suddenly Surging series on church growth.) A friend once shared a valuable lesson she learned from a performance review at her previous job. Although her position was secure, her boss wanted to address a specific personality trait that he found bothersome. When given a task, she tended to…
A Heart for Others (Suddenly Surging Part 2)
(Part two of five in David Roseberry’s Suddenly Surging series on church growth.) In the first of this series, I mentioned signs that churches might be growing and offered reasons why that might be. I have no proof for this beyond anecdotal evidence and what has been on X in a few places (here is…
Is Your Church Suddenly Growing? (Suddenly Surging Part 1)
(Part one of five in David Roseberry’s Suddenly Surging series on church growth.) What is Going On? I first read a series of tweets from church leaders citing tremendous and unexpected growth in attendance in their congregations over the last few months. They were not commenting on Easter crowds but on Easter-like trends. Since their…
The Good Shepherd Economy
Churches desire to grow, as well they should. We are, after all, followers of the Great Commission. We desire for more people to come to know and proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom. However, when church leaders want to focus on growth, they often make a crucial mistake. Our focus is often on getting people…
Why Common Sense Fails Us in Leading a Church or Church Plant
Someone is starting a church plant, but has no special training, experience or study in church planting. They’re planning to just gather a group for prayer and worship, and see what happens. Often that’s exactly what they’ve been told to do. These are priests who have been trained in the Bible, theology, preaching, pastoral ministry –but…
Re-Evangelizing: Back to the Basics
Have you considered how dangerous it is to be a Christian? Perhaps not so much for us, but for millions of Christians around the world, the name of Jesus upon the lips of the believer can be life-threatening. From the earliest depictions of martyrdom, to the tragic reports of the victims of modern day terror, we see heroic…
Want Your Church to Grow?
So you want your church to grow, do you? Listen, I get it, every pastor wants their church to grow. And it’s not just selfish ambition, although there will always be some of that. On our best days, we know the hard work we put into preaching and pastoral care, in equipping our people to…
