Impressive
Written by Alan on 2007-04-16 10:25:06
Some of those churches are baptizing a lot of people. There must be some differences in what these churches are doing to explain the wide variation in baptisms. Still, it would be good to know more about what some of these folks are doing. |
Be careful what you wish for
Written by kingmasada on 2007-04-24 17:05:33
I was a member of the icoc for a number of years and it was impressive the huge baptism # each church was having. What often went unreported was the large # of people who left as well. Those # are equally alarming. I wonder how involved on a deep intimate level people are in these megachurches. A church of 20,000, is people's needs truly been met and are people able to fall under the radar. I think, hope, and pray that the icoc is seeing now that bigger # doesn't necessarily mean better churches. What good is it to baptise, if you can't keep those saved; saved. |
RE: Be careful what you wish for
Written by pspadaro on 2007-04-24 18:08:06
In church growth models, some are beginning to focus on closing the "back door" as a means of growing a congregation. If they have moderate growth via evangelism and low attrition, it proves to be more resource efficient than high outreach (new members) and moderate to high attrition. Attrition and (sometimes) growth can be difficult metrics. Is the attrition (growth) due to a general population move, i.e. rural to suburban? Is the attrition due to an aging congregation? The question is not what are we trying to measure, but what will the measurement indicate we need to change.
Phil |
