Your Congregation is More Likely to Exist Ten Years from Now Depending on its Life Cycle Stage
[This is the fourteenth of 25 factors that may impact the survivability and vitality of your congregation. A new factor is being posted each weekday for five weeks. See all posts at www.BullardJournal.org.]
Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, Maturity, Empty Nest, Early Retirement or Not
Your congregation is more likely to exist ten years from now if it is in the range of the Childhood stage through just into the Retirement stage. You are marginal or uncertain to exist ten years from now if you are in the Retirement, Birth, or Infancy stages. The Old Age stage represents the stage where your congregation is less likely to exist ten years from now.
[As a reference point, see the life cycle chart at www.BullardJournal.org. The life cycle and stages of congregational development includes the stages if Birth, Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, Maturity, Empty Nest, Retirement, Old Age, and Death.]
If your congregation is experiencing the top half of the life cycle and stages of development then it is likely to have the vitality and vibrancy necessary to still exist ten years from now. While not necessarily reaching its full kingdom potential, it does have numerous signs of health and strength that should provide it with overall faithful ministry, and some characteristics of effective ministry.
In Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood it is being driven by vision and clearly on an intentional spiritual strategic journey. In Maturity it is experiencing its greatest period of quality in programs, ministries, and activities. It just does not know why any more since it has lost its vision. Empty Nest and the first few years of Retirement are a time when the congregation is trying very hard to do the things it has known how to do well over its life, but they are no longer working.
A congregation is marginal or uncertain to exist ten years from now if it is in the Retirement, Birth, or Infancy stages. If a congregation as spun through the Retirement stage multiple times, it is now weaker and is susceptible to further decline and dysfunction that could negatively impact its future vitality and vibrancy. If a congregation is in the Birth or Infancy stages it generally has a lot of excitement and energy. At the same time, it has not yet established patterns that will sustain its ministry. Depending on whose research you read, up to 50% of all congregations in the Birth or Infancy stage fail.
Old Age is the stage when congregations are highly susceptible to failure. They are weak. They are controlled by management and the cultural patterns they have developed over the years. These congregations often hover at the point of life and death with any major crisis resulting in their death. At the same time without such a major crisis these congregations are survivors. They can hang on for many years. At times these congregations merge with another congregation who may also be weak and in Old Age. Usually their pastors are now either part-time or shared with one or more other congregations.
In what stage of the life cycle is your congregation and how is that impacting your vitality and vibrancy? Please leave a comment and participate in the dialogue.
Copyright 2009, George W. Bullard, Jr. at GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org.
