I've spent more than 15 years studying church growth—and church decline. I am frequently asked, especially by pastors in declining churches, what keeps a church from growing—what causes a church to decline.

In my observation, talking to dozens of pastors who struggle to get their church growing again, there are some common issues among them, of which I think we can all learn. I'm a simple person, so this post will answer simply.

5 Words That Can Keep a Church From Growing

Entitlement

When the body begins to think "this is my church," it will soon start operating outside the complete power and utter dependency of the rightful owner. It will then lose the Spirit's power.

Energy

A lack of energy stagnates a church. This is not referring to worship. You can worship to your taste, but energy is a part of any movement of God. The church is the body of Christ. Don't forget, our God is not dead—He's alive! A church is revived and re-energized when it renews its vision. As a church grows closer to Christ and introduces others to Christ, it creates more energy for the body.

I know this in my personal life, also. If I ever lose energy for ministry, I have to get back to what God called me to do. I have to hang out with lost people—with people who are hurting—with people who need to better understand the grace of God. It energizes me.

Excitement

If you can't get excited about the gospel, you're not looking closely enough at Christ. Anyone who can raise from the dead, forgive sins, and reconcile us to God—wow, talk about exciting! When the people who regularly attend the church aren't excited anymore, visitors aren't likely to be either. When a body becomes comfortable, it often becomes complacent, and it loses the excitement it once had. It is then no longer attractive to outsiders.

Engagement

The body needs all its members. When a few people do all the work, burnout is soon to follow. The church shouldn't depend on paid staff to do all the work, nor should ministry be limited to those with a volunteer title of some sort. If people always have to wait for assignments to be made before people are freed to do the work of the church, over time, the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. In other words, getting more workers in the harvest means casting good visions—helping people know what the mission of the church is—and then releasing people to do the work of the church. Jesus did this, and called it discipleship. (And told us to make disciples.)

Efficiency

When programs are so structured even God couldn't introduce change, decline is imminent. Growing churches are always thinking how they can improve. The cliche is true: The message never changes, but the hearers do. Finding new ways to reach a changing culture with a gospel never changes is part of a growing church's responsibility.

Obviously, there are many other reasons. These are just a few I've observed. Whenever I work with a church in decline, I will first look for one of these areas as a solution.

Feel free to share your own experiences.

Ron Edmondson is the senior pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

This article originally appeared at ronedmondson.com.

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