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The Church You're Leading Has a History You Don't Know
Most pastors didn't get a class on this. They inherited a model, assumed it was just "how church works," and got to work. But the assumptions baked into how you do Sunday, structure your staff, measure success, and think about growth didn't come from nowhere. They have a genealogy, and understanding it might be the most clarifying thing you do this year.
In a recent episode of the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast, author and church planting veteran Todd Wilson traces the 70-year arc of the modern church growth movement—from its roots in 1950s mission-field research to the megachurch era we're still living in. His most reframing finding: Donald McGavran, widely considered the father of the church growth movement, planted 10 to 15 churches himself. None larger than 100 people. His metric was never big churches. It was disciples making disciples, churches planting churches, the gospel saturating geographies. Somewhere between his vision and ours, the scorecard changed.
The model most churches run on today was never designed to be inherited. It was pioneered by entrepreneurial risk-takers operating in a specific cultural moment. When you inherit it without knowing its origins, you inherit its dilemmas too: the drift from discipleship toward programs, the pressure to fill rooms rather than form people, the enterprise dynamics that outgrow the accountability structures around them. Understanding the history doesn't mean abandoning the model. It means you can make intentional choices about what to keep, what to question, and where to push for something different.
Three things to try this week:
Ask the question McGavran asked. His core metric was converts and church multiplication across a geography, not weekend attendance at one location. Spend 15 minutes this week asking: if gospel saturation of my zip code is the goal, how does what we're doing actually connect to that?
Trace the DNA of your church model. Wilson notes that roughly half of American megachurches were founded by someone intentionally using the Purpose Driven framework, and most churches that weren't still run on a version of it. Do you know where your model came from? What assumptions does it carry that you've never examined?
Name what success actually means for your context. The shift from McGavran's vision to "fill the room" happened gradually, through well-intentioned people making reasonable decisions. What does winning look like for your church? Is that scorecard actually written down somewhere?
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Ministry Intel
7 Traits of the Best Leaders | Ron Edmondson, ChurchLeaders
The scorecard question from the lead article cuts both ways. We can reassess what growth means for our churches, but if the leader isn't growing, none of it matters. Ron Edmondson, who has revitalized and planted multiple churches, reflects on the common traits he's observed in the leaders who shaped him most: consistency of character on and off the job, a posture of genuine belief in the people around them, availability without micromanagement, a willingness to ask hard questions rather than give easy answers, and a long-game orientation that invests in others rather than accumulating personal recognition. None of these are things you can add to your calendar or build a system around. They're the slow work of becoming, which makes them a useful mirror for any leader asking whether they're becoming the kind of person their church can actually follow.
This week: Pick one of Edmondson's seven traits and honestly assess where you stand. Not your church's health—yours. The formation gap showing up in congregations almost always has a corresponding gap in the leader first.
Three Shifts Are Reshaping the Church—And They're Moving in Your Favor | Ben Elmore, Servant
If the Todd Wilson episode above is about understanding the model we inherited, this one is about what's replacing it. Ben Elmore, CEO and founder of Servant, identifies three forces converging at once: a cultural hunger for authentic meaning over relativism's empty promises, an economic shift where trust and relational depth are becoming the most valuable commodities in any sector, and a move within the church itself back toward discipleship and formation over programming and attendance. The kicker: all three trends point toward exactly what the church was designed to do. Every other institution is scrambling to build what the church already has: covenant relationships, long-term community, and networks held together by shared mission rather than contracts. The question Elmore poses is whether church leaders will recognize what they're already sitting on.
This week: Download the free framework at servant.io and share it with one other leader on your team. Then ask together: where in our church is trust already functioning as our greatest asset, and are we being intentional about it?
Growth Toolkit
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A pastoral and historical case for why Christianity belongs to Black believers—not in spite of their history, but through it. Essential reading for any leader trying to reach or retain Black members who've been handed reasons to walk away.
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