Introduction
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This book is about the life cycle of a church, how it is born, grows up, lives through adulthood, and eventually faces death. Follow the story of Oak Valley Community Church, as each chapter time-warps them to the next stage of the life-cycle. It is based on lots of real churches, but to some extent it's a hypothesis. Churches don't always follow the cycle, and there are variations on the theme. I believe that the church life-cycle explains why churches have many of their most exhilarating times and why they can fill us with frustration or boredom. But please don't think that it's the total answer; some churches are so creative and fresh that there's still a lot to learn. And some think of many more mistakes to make than are outlined in this book. People probably don't learn as much as they can from the healthy stages of a church's life. And very few people suspect that the first signs of age will creep up on their church. Is the life-cycle an inevitable part of being a church? (That's a euphemism for ``Are you doomed?'') Yes and no. Yes, it is probably inevitable; statistics indicate that your church almost certainly will develop midlife problems. Christianity Today (1991, p. 69) reported that the life cycle of an American church is now down to only forty years, and only the first fifteen years are spent in good health. That's down from the sixty years estimated by Forest C. Bush. Managers have studied organizations and generalized that they go through four stages; the embryonic, visionary, risktaking stage, the growth stage, characterized by clear purpose and stability, the mature but moribund stage, and the dying stage (e.g. Rothschild, 1994). It seems there's something in human nature that makes the life cycle happen. But your fate is not sealed; don't throw in the towel yet. True, most churches do. But if your church realizes what is happening, it can take corrective action. Forewarned is forearmed; you can prevent the effects of aging on your church. NOTES Bush, Forest C. N.d. ``Why Plant Churches'' Unpublished typescript. |