I have never met a Pastor, Minister or Priest who didn’t desire to see his congregation increase in size. The concept behind growing is simple. You must do only two things well: Evangelize and Disciple. Churches can grow by doing one or the other. Churches, I believe, explode in a Godly way – not measured entirely by numbers – by doing both well.

But churches have challenges. Church staffs and church congregations are made up of people and that says it all. Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, The Prayer of Jabez, asked me at a recent convention why I thought the sensitivities in a church were so much more heightened than in any other enterprise. Now, understand, his asking me was in the middle of a wide ranging discussion while we were waiting for him to take the platform at a church event and I am the first to admit his asking me ANYTHING is more a measure of his humility than my intelligence or spiritual prowess. “People give their two most prized commodities, money and time, to their church in pursuit of the most sensitive of relationships – their spiritual connection with the Creator of the universe. They do much of this publicly, while being encouraged through a variety of ministries, to display as much of the depth of that relationship as possible. And they attempt to do this in full knowledge of their own weaknesses and insecurities that they spend an equal amount of energy and emotion trying to conceal. That makes for an internal, emotional dichotomy. This divergence of emotions creates hyper-sensitivities where people are unintentionally hurt and offended and many those that have been hurt or offended will conceal their offense as much as possible publicly. But the pain always comes back out. It comes out in their leaving the church or in a more subtle and more damaging way to the church – through attitudes that are not fully in line with the Lord’s purpose for the church,” came the answer. Bruce looked a little taken aback, but he gave a satisfying, “Hmmmmmm….” Again, this was more a gauge of his humility than my profundity.The point is that to grow your church means you have to minimize and overcome the hurts and offenses of your staff and your laity. This is not easily done – but it is the key to the phenomenal growth at Lakewood Church.

Evangelism can bring people through the doors of the church but discipleship is what makes a great church. Discipleship done correctly can actually work as an effective tool of evangelism. Just look at the growth models for Cho in South Korea and Castellanos in Columbia. They’re church growth models were small group oriented (discipleship) but eh small groups grew and multiplied based on personal relationships between individuals (evangelism). Then their churches exploded, sending churches all over America scrambling for small group answers to front door and back door growth challenges with varying degrees of success – and about as many models for small groups as churches using them.

Lakewood Church where I was saved in 1981, and where I was on staff as the Director of Ministry Development the last two years, breaks all the rules – and most of the records – for church growth. Evangelism happens in the church service and across the TV airwaves. Last year, 2002, almost 20,000 people walked the aisles to commit or re-commit their lives to Jesus Christ.

That’s pretty effective evangelism, wouldn’t you agree? Bu t discipleship happens behind closed doors and in very public places through heartaches and trial between people of different backgrounds and abilities and perspectives. Evangelism happens in an instant. Discipleship is sweat and blood and hard work. And perhaps more effective discipleship is the answer to your church growth challenges. But if you’re measuring evangelism in your church in ones and twos and tens, I would humbly suggest that discipleship is not your biggest challenge. You need a more effective strategy for evangelism.

Godly Church Growth aims at refining the mechanisms and purifying the heart of evangelism while bolting the back door of the church through powerful discipleship programs. But Godly Church Growth sacrifices neither evangelism nor discipleship at the expense of the other. It recognizes the God-intended connectivity between the two and it emphasizes evangelism that works not at the expense of the surrounding churches’ membership roles.
At DILLARD_GCG, Godly Church Growth and Church Growth are two very different things as I’m sure you will agree. Godly Church Growth will make every effort to reach over the many walls that divide American churches and prevent the kind of growth I believe God is most pleased with and the kind of growth I’ve had the privilege of partaking in at Lakewood Church. Godly Church Growth reaches from one race to another consistently. Godly Church Growth reaches beyond socio-economic boundaries. Godly Church Growth reaches across geographical divides. Godly Church Growth even crosses the greatest divide of them all – it bridges the gap between liberal and conservative.

There are many ways to measure the size of a church. At Lakewood, we measure it by regular givers of which there are now almost 35,000 in the current database. That’s regular givers, not givers from the last three years. Of that 35,000 there is an equal amount of whites, blacks and Hispanics. There are probably about 17,500 people in need of economic help. There are about 17,500 people in a financial position where they can give freely. And there is an equal amount of Republicans and Democrats.
This is the result of Godly Growth. Nothing else.

So the question becomes, “How do we affect this in your church or ministry?”

At DILLARD_GCG we can handle all the things normally associated with “church marketing,” a term, after 20 plus years in the secular marketing world I happen to abhor. We have nationally respected experts in all fields of print, electronic and interactive communications. And since we are called to help churches grow, we can do that and no more. But since we are called to Godly Growth, we ache to do more for American church bodies.
Godly Church Growth happens consistently from the top down and from the inside out. It happens with passion and patience. It happens with humility and love. It happens with compassion.

And it takes a perspective that originates from outside of the church to keep it on track, except in the most unique and anointed of circumstances. This is the part that some clergy and laity can find intimidating because it many times creates a new paradigm in that a person or persons who are not members of the church can actually become valuable members of the church, seemingly by spiritual proxy.

This is another wall that DILLARD_GCG seeks to scale on behalf of American Church bodies. We do not seek to tweak or comment on doctrine. Since Godly Church Growth happens from the inside out and the top down, we are called to serve the church leaders in objective ways, asking questions that need to be asked and giving perspective that is more universal in scope. You see there’s an old saying in the marketing world, “Great advertising only makes a bad business go broke faster.” We can cause more people to know about your church. We can create strategies that reach across the great walls of American churches but if we do not consistently and constantly assess the viability of both the laity and the leadership to deliver on what is both promised and hoped for there can be a huge disconnect with the people the Lord is compelling to come to your church.

We have an entire menu of external and internal services available for your Godly Church Growth initiative. The most important thing we do is asking lots of questions. We then identify both the areas presenting the biggest challenge to your Godly Church Growth and the areas with the largest opportunity.

We then construct strategy that gives you the plan for Godly Church Growth. This plan is base on your goals and the available talents and resources of the church. It’s not brain surgery and it’s not rocket science. But if you fail to plan your growth, you can plan to fail.

Most importantly, our goal for Godly Church Growth is not measured in immediate increases in numbers. That only happens in the rarest and usually the most anointed of circumstances. Achieving “critical mass” in the purest “Godly Church Growth” scenario is measure first in the vision, prayer life and family life of the leader of the church. Then it shows up in the staff and the various lay leaders. Their peace, esprit de corps and joie de vivre are what the non-church public will see on a daily basis as they unconsciously assess the viability of your church as a potential catalyst for a better life.

That is what will draw people to your church. That is the essence of Godly Church Growth. And that, after more than 20 years of working with many churches and ministries, both large and small, is the biggest need in the house of the Lord. I have seen too many staffs overworked and underpaid in the name of the Lord that have precious little time for their families outside of church events. That’s an unhealthy situation and it will either retard growth or send church problems into the recesses of staff, laity and leaders only to explode at a later date.

Too many times, the marketing people are called in or hired to help “get the message out” through some piece of direct mail, a local television commercial or an ad in the daily paper so the public profile of the church is elevated above the public profile of other churches in the area of geographic influence for the church. It is assumed, admittedly sometimes correctly, that a more recognizable public persona will lead to an increase in the size of the Sunday morning congregations. But, most times, these increases are short-lived and follow the normal church attendance patterns of big crowds on Easter and jumps in attendance after school begins and after everyone has made their New Year’s resolutions to commit more time to their church life – only to see the attendance dip back down to previous levels or maintain only modest growth.

George Barna said churches are no longer preaching to a congregation, they are preaching to a parade. That may be true in some cases but ultimately, that is not what most people are looking for. They are looking for a church home, for a sense of community and belonging. A friend of mine, who is a very large and imposing man about 40 years of age, came to the Lord a couple of years ago. Sitting with him over lunch a wile back, he told me, with tears in his eyes, that yes he recognized it was the commitment to Christ which started a new and improved life for him and his family, but it was the first time ever feeling of community and acceptance he was receiving at his church that made him feel so wonderful – beyond what he had ever thought possible. What he described with much more eloquence and purity than I could ever put into this article is the difference between evangelism and discipleship.

That’s what you want in your church. That’s what is at the heart of Godly Church Growth. That is what closes the proverbial back door from a wide-open double door to tightly shut that is easily open but very few ever care to see if it’s locked or unlocked.

At DILLARD_GCG, we recognize that you and your church know about the need for both evangelism and discipleship. And most churches have discipleship down to a science – which is usually the challenge. They spend all their time on discipleship programs, and researching or developing small group ministries and help ministries that they become places of spiritual development at the expense of effective evangelism.
For your church to grow in a Godly fashion, you must hit your knees more. You must become accountable in new ways. You must constantly revisit the principles of servant leadership. And most importantly, you must be willing to confront some of the harsh realities that invariably will escape your attention from time to time and over the years of well-intentioned service to the Lord Jesus Christ.

You must never forget that Satan does not want your church to grow. He hates increase of anything but sin. He is working much harder in your church that in any bar or club near your church.
Godly Church Growth recognizes the all too obvious intention of Satan’s plan for the Church of Jesus Christ in general and your church in particular. It does so by raising the need, from time to time, that you must face up to some of the realities that may occasionally escape your attention. It does so by discovering where Satan has planted seeds of destruction in the activities, thought lives and vision of the church. Godly Church Growth recognizes that the marketing and branding principles that sell more cars and toothpaste don’t necessarily improve the lives of your congregants. I have joked with a secular business associate for years, “It’s not lying, it’s marketing,” we laughed. And while we use that bon mot as a way of relieving the tension created between the truth of a product or service and its public marketing, I have to shutter when I see churches that think slick marketing is the answer to their church growth goals.

I have learned one principle in marketing all types of products and services over the last 20 years all over the country that is principle number one in Godly Church Growth – “The church of Jesus Christ ain’t no tube of toothpaste!”

At DILLARD GCG we aim to make a difference in the lives of our clients. It’s making a difference in the lives of our clients that makes a difference in the success of the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

CULTURE:

We at DILLARD_GCG seek to create an environment of trust and excitement. We do so by setting a goal with every employee to make work a fulfilling experience where career paths are clearly defined, individual gifts and talents are maximized through empowerment and accountability is always seen as a positive experience.

VISION

Our vision at DILLARD_GCG is a church world that gives over its goals for growth to the Lord Jesus Christ to have Him refine them through prayer, revelation and accountability so that our talents and abilities will be utilized in service to the Lord Jesus Christ first and the individual churches He brings to us second.

MISSION

Our mission at DILLARD_GCG is to serve as a catalyst for Godly Growth in the churches that choose to hire our company. To effect Godly Growth, we must first define the health of the church and gain an intimate, spiritual understanding of the vision of the church and its leaders. We will then use the best minds and the strongest knees to develop and establish a Godly plan for Godly Church Growth that is full of vision, inspiration and accountability.

PURPOSE

Our purpose at DILLARD_GCG is to teach the principles of Godly Church Growth to those who can be entrusted to teach them to their congregations and staff. (2 Timothy 2:2)

CORE VALUES

Prayer
Teamwork
Teaching
Empowerment
Inspiration
Excitement
Fun

Godly Church Growth
By Tim Dillard

I have never met a Pastor, Minister or Priest who didn’t desire to see his congregation increase in size. The concept behind growing is simple. You must do only two things well: Evangelize and Disciple. Churches can grow by doing one or the other. Churches, I believe, explode in a Godly way – not measured entirely by numbers – by doing both well.

But churches have challenges. Church staffs and church congregations are made up of people and that says it all. Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, The Prayer of Jabez, asked me at a recent convention why I thought the sensitivities in a church were so much more heightened than in any other enterprise. Now, understand, his asking me was in the middle of a wide ranging discussion while we were waiting for him to take the platform at a church event and I am the first to admit his asking me ANYTHING is more a measure of his humility than my intelligence or spiritual prowess. “People give their two most prized commodities, money and time, to their church in pursuit of the most sensitive of relationships – their spiritual connection with the Creator of the universe. They do much of this publicly, while being encouraged through a variety of ministries, to display as much of the depth of that relationship as possible. And they attempt to do this in full knowledge of their own weaknesses and insecurities that they spend an equal amount of energy and emotion trying to conceal. That makes for an internal, emotional dichotomy. This divergence of emotions creates hyper-sensitivities where people are unintentionally hurt and offended and many those that have been hurt or offended will conceal their offense as much as possible publicly. But the pain always comes back out. It comes out in their leaving the church or in a more subtle and more damaging way to the church – through attitudes that are not fully in line with the Lord’s purpose for the church,” came the answer. Bruce looked a little taken aback, but he gave a satisfying, “Hmmmmmm….” Again, this was more a gauge of his humility than my profundity.

The point is that to grow your church means you have to minimize and overcome the hurts and offenses of your staff and your laity. This is not easily done – but it is the key to the phenomenal growth at Lakewood Church.

Evangelism can bring people through the doors of the church but discipleship is what makes a great church. Discipleship done correctly can actually work as an effective tool of evangelism. Just look at the growth models for Cho in South Korea and Castellanos in Columbia. They’re church growth models were small group oriented (discipleship) but eh small groups grew and multiplied based on personal relationships between individuals (evangelism). Then their churches exploded, sending churches all over America scrambling for small group answers to front door and back door growth challenges with varying degrees of success – and about as many models for small groups as churches using them.

Lakewood Church, where I was saved in 1981, and where I was on staff as the Director of Ministry Development the last two years, breaks all the rules – and most of the records – for church growth. Evangelism happens in the church service and across the TV airwaves. Last year, 2002, almost 20,000 people walked the aisles to commit or re-commit their lives to Jesus Christ.

That’s pretty effective evangelism, wouldn’t you agree? But discipleship happens behind closed doors and in very public places through heartaches and trial between people of different backgrounds and abilities and perspectives. Evangelism happens in an instant. Discipleship is sweat and blood and hard work. And perhaps more effective discipleship is the answer to your church growth challenges. But if you’re measuring evangelism in your church in ones and twos and tens, I would humbly suggest that discipleship is not your biggest challenge. You need a more effective strategy for evangelism.

Godly Church Growth aims at refining the mechanisms and purifying the heart of evangelism while bolting the back door of the church through powerful discipleship programs. But Godly Church Growth sacrifices neither evangelism nor discipleship at the expense of the other. It recognizes the God-intended connectivity between the two and it emphasizes evangelism that works not at the expense of the surrounding churches’ membership roles.

At DILLARD_GCG, Godly Church Growth and Church Growth are two very different things as I’m sure you will agree. Godly Church Growth will make every effort to reach over the many walls that divide American churches and stimulate the kind of growth I believe God is most pleased with and the kind of growth I’ve had the privilege of partaking in at Lakewood Church. Godly Church Growth reaches from one race to another consistently. Godly Church Growth reaches beyond socio-economic boundaries. Godly Church Growth reaches across geographical divides. Godly Church Growth even crosses the greatest divide of them all – it bridges the gap between liberal and conservative.

There are many ways to measure the size of a church. At Lakewood, we measure it by regular givers of which there are now almost 35,000 in the current database. That’s regular givers, not givers from the last three years. Of that 35,000 there is an equal amount of whites, blacks and Hispanics. There are probably about 17,500 people in need of economic help. There are about 17,500 people in a financial position where they can give freely. And there is an equal amount of Republicans and Democrats.

This is the result of Godly Growth. Nothing else.

So the question becomes, “How do we affect this in your church or ministry?”

At DILLARD_GCG we can handle all the things normally associated with “church marketing,” a term, after 20 plus years in the secular marketing world I happen to abhor. We have nationally respected experts in all fields of print, electronic and interactive communications. And since we are called to help churches grow, we can do that and no more. But since we are called to Godly Growth, we ache to do more for American church bodies.

Godly Church Growth happens consistently from the top down and from the inside out. It happens with passion and patience. It happens with humility and love. It happens with compassion.

And it takes a perspective that originates from outside of the church to keep it on track, except in the most unique and anointed of circumstances. This is the part that some clergy and laity can find intimidating because it many times creates a new paradigm in that a person or persons who are not members of the church can actually become valuable members of the church, seemingly by spiritual proxy.

This is another wall that DILLARD_GCG seeks to scale on behalf of American Church bodies. We do not seek to tweak or comment on doctrine. Since Godly Church Growth happens from the inside out and the top down, we are called to serve the church leaders in objective ways, asking questions that need to be asked and giving perspective that is more universal in scope. You see there’s an old saying in the marketing world, “Great advertising only makes a bad business go broke faster.” We can cause more people to know about your church. We can create strategies that reach across the great walls of American churches but if we do not consistently and constantly assess the viability of both the laity and the leadership to deliver on what is both promised and hoped for there can be a huge disconnect with the people the Lord is compelling to come to your church.

We have an entire menu of external and internal services available for your Godly Church Growth initiative. The most important thing we do is asking lots of questions. We then identify both the areas presenting the biggest challenge to your Godly Church Growth and the areas with the largest opportunity.

We then construct strategy that gives you the plan for Godly Church Growth. This plan is based on your goals and the available talents and resources of the church. It’s not brain surgery and it’s not rocket science. But if you fail to plan your growth, you can plan to fail.

Most importantly, our goal for Godly Church Growth is not measured in immediate increases in numbers. That only happens in the rarest and usually the most anointed of circumstances. Achieving “critical mass” in the purest “Godly Church Growth” scenario is measured first in the vision, prayer life and family life of the leader of the church. Then it shows up in the staff and the various lay leaders. Their peace, esprit de corps and joie de vivre are what the non-church public will see on a daily basis as they unconsciously assess the viability of your church as a potential catalyst for a better life.

That is what will draw people to your church. That is the essence of Godly Church Growth. And that, after more than 20 years of working with many churches and ministries, both large and small, is the biggest need in the house of the Lord. I have seen too many staffs overworked and underpaid in the name of the Lord that have precious little time for their families outside of church events. That’s an unhealthy situation and it will either retard growth or send church problems into the recesses of staff, laity and leaders only to explode at a later date.
Too many times, the marketing people are called in or hired to help “get the message out” through some piece of direct mail, a local television commercial or an ad in the daily paper so the public profile of the church is elevated above the public profile of other churches in the area of geographic influence for the church. It is assumed, admittedly sometimes correctly, that a more recognizable public persona will lead to an increase in the size of the Sunday morning congregations. But, most times, these increases are short-lived and follow the normal church attendance patterns of big crowds on Easter and jumps in attendance after school begins and after everyone has made their New Year’s resolutions to commit more time to their church life – only to see the attendance dip back down to previous levels or maintain only modest growth.

George Barna said churches are no longer preaching to a congregation, they are preaching to a parade. That may be true in some cases but ultimately, that is not what most people are looking for. They are looking for a church home, for a sense of community and belonging. A friend of mine, who is a very large and imposing man about 40 years of age, came to the Lord a couple of years ago. Sitting with him over lunch a wile back, he told me, with tears in his eyes, that yes he recognized it was the commitment to Christ which started a new and improved life for him and his family, but it was the first time ever feeling of community and acceptance he was receiving at his church that made him feel so wonderful – beyond what he had ever thought possible. What he described with much more eloquence and purity than I could ever put into this article is the difference between evangelism and discipleship.

That’s what you want in your church. That’s what is at the heart of Godly Church Growth. That is what closes the proverbial back door from a wide-open double door to tightly shut that is easily open but very few ever care to see if it’s locked or unlocked.

At DILLARD_GCG, we recognize that you and your church know about the need for both evangelism and discipleship. And most churches have discipleship down to a science – which is usually the challenge. They spend all their time on discipleship programs, and researching or developing small group ministries and help ministries that they become places of spiritual development at the expense of effective evangelism.

For your church to grow in a Godly fashion, you must hit your knees more. You must become accountable in new ways. You must constantly revisit the principles of servant leadership. And most importantly, you must be willing to confront some of the harsh realities that invariably will escape your attention from time to time and over the years of well-intentioned service to the Lord Jesus Christ.

You must never forget that Satan does not want your church to grow. He hates increase of anything but sin. He is working much harder in your church that in any bar or club near your church.

Godly Church Growth recognizes the all too obvious intention of Satan’s plan for the Church of Jesus Christ in general and your church in particular. It does so by raising the need, from time to time, that you must face up to some of the realities that may occasionally escape your attention. It does so by discovering where Satan has planted seeds of destruction in the activities, thought lives and vision of the church. Godly Church Growth recognizes that the marketing and branding principles that sell more cars and toothpaste don’t necessarily improve the lives of your congregants. I have joked with a secular business associate for years, “It’s not lying, it’s marketing,” we laughed. And while we use that bon mot as a way of relieving the tension created between the truth of a product or service and its public marketing, I have to shutter when I see churches that think slick marketing is the answer to their church growth goals.

I have learned one principle in marketing all types of products and services over the last 20 years all over the country that is principle number one in Godly Church Growth – “The church of Jesus Christ ain’t no tube of toothpaste!”

At DILLARD Godly Church Growth, we aim to make a difference in the lives of our clients. It’s making a difference in the lives of our clients that makes a difference in the success of the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.