Feedback Loop
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Church Growth and the Perils of Second-Order Feedback
Feedback is the process where an action has an effect, which in turn changes the original action. Either it magnifies it – reinforcing feedback; or it corrects it – balancing feedback
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Feedback and Church Growth
Feedback in a system that changes over time is the mechanism where an action results in an effect, which then, in turn, influences the original action. The action literally “feeds back” on itself. Reinforcing Feedback For example, if a population […]
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The Rise and Decline of British Methodism
Application of the Institutional Model of Church Growth Some while ago, I introduced a model of church membership that explain the rapid growth of a church, only to be followed by decline as institutionalism set in [1]. The primary effect […]
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Church Growth Limited by Inadequate Resource Production
Limits to Church Growth 3 In two previous blogs, I looked at congregational growth being limited by: Demand from society [1]; Supply by the church [1]; Lack of enthusiasts [2]. However, even if there is an unlimited potential […]
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Closing Rural Churches
Is This the Way to Church Growth? Recently in an article for the Guardian newspaper, Giles Fraser suggested the Church of England should do to its churches what Beeching did to the railways, close its underused rural parishes. He further […]
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Limits to Church Growth – Part 2
The Reproduction of Enthusiasts In a previous post, I investigated two barriers to church growth. Firstly, the lack of the supply of religion by the church. Secondly, the a lack of demand for religion in society [1]. For those barriers […]
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Institutionalism and Church Decline
In a recent post, Gillan Scott, deputy editor of the Archbishop Cranmer blog, suggested that the Church of England might be more interested in managing decline than engaging in mission [1]. He quotes Peter Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden: “Unfortunately, there […]
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Limits to Church Growth – Part 1
All churches want to grow. It is part of the mission of the church to spread the faith, to make converts, to see new people come to Christ. For that mission to be fulfilled, congregations become larger or new congregations […]
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The Eyam Plague of 1666
At present, the news is full of the rather frightening Ebola outbreaks in West Africa. Other infectious diseases also get into the news often, for example, AIDS/HIV and flu. What is less well known is that such infectious diseases spread […]
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Membership Decline in the Southern Baptist Convention
Every year, the new edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches publishes the membership figures for all the Christian denominations in the USA [1]. Heading up the list of protestant churches is the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), very […]
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When the Presence of God Persists …
Models and Reality People sometimes ask me how I can model church growth using mathematics, given that it is God who grows the church. I can answer that in two ways. Firstly, we construct mathematical models of many things in […]
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A Second Visit to the Cwmbran Outpouring
It is now over a month since Victory Church in Cwmbran opened their doors five nights a week to share with other people the work that God has been doing in their church. After my first visit I asked two […]
In 1904-5, Moriah chapel was the centre of massive church growth in Wales through a God-sent revival.