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How to Break Growth Barriers: Revise Your Role, Release Your People, and Capture Overlooked Opportunities for Your Church
Some churches grow rapidly, only to hit a ceiling. Other churches have experienced declining or static attendance--many of them for decades. Frustrated pastors and church leaders want growth methods that work, but without adding to pastoral fatigue.How to Break Growth Barriers argues that growth comes when effective leadership and lay-empowerment skills work hand in hand. This requires a shift of focus from the shepherd as the primary caregiver to shepherd as developer and coach of many caregivers. The authors show pastors how to communicate a vision for the future and then how to lead the congregation into the paradigms necessary for potentially limitless growth.The strategies found in this book are not only tried and true, and taken from a biblical perspective of a "harvest" vision. They're also newly updated to reflect our changing culture, including helpful charts and checklists for self-evaluation.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 4, 2017
99 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 23, 2017
The authors report that eighty-five percent of churches in the U.S. have fewer than 200 members. There are some growing churches, some stable churches, and many dying churches. This book helps us understand why.
George and Bird have updated the book that originally came out in 1993. The principles of church growth included are ones they have seen work for decades. Those core ideas remain the same.
I like the book. I like the idea of a team approach, training leaders, empowering them, trusting the Holy Spirit to enable lay people to do the work of ministry. I like the emphasis on the necessity of prayer. I like their reminding us of the need for small groups or cells. I like that the authors say church growth is more a matter of the heart than a certain technique.
It came as no surprise that the attitude of the pastor is the major determining factor for growth. The days of the pastor doing all the care should be long over. There should be a change of paradigm in church leadership. But it may be terrifying for a pastor to relinquish the ministry most pastors traditionally do themselves. Change first has to happen in ministers, the authors argue. They set the stage for permitting growth or hindering it. Ministry coaching, developing a team of care giving individuals is key.
The authors have done a great job presenting a book containing many practical ideas. Church leaders can evaluate their church structure, vision and leadership style. They receive instruction on evaluating motives, developing a vision for growth, and training lay ministry leaders and workers. Questions for further thought have been included at the end of each chapter so this book could be used for study by a church board or other leadership group.
I recommend this book to those who truly believe there is a potential spiritual harvest in store for their church. You'll find out what is hindering growth. You'll also find out how to implement the heart attitudes and behaviors necessary to break growth barriers. Ministers, you'll need to step aside and let lay people be used of God but the spiritual rewards will be worth it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
George and Bird have updated the book that originally came out in 1993. The principles of church growth included are ones they have seen work for decades. Those core ideas remain the same.
I like the book. I like the idea of a team approach, training leaders, empowering them, trusting the Holy Spirit to enable lay people to do the work of ministry. I like the emphasis on the necessity of prayer. I like their reminding us of the need for small groups or cells. I like that the authors say church growth is more a matter of the heart than a certain technique.
It came as no surprise that the attitude of the pastor is the major determining factor for growth. The days of the pastor doing all the care should be long over. There should be a change of paradigm in church leadership. But it may be terrifying for a pastor to relinquish the ministry most pastors traditionally do themselves. Change first has to happen in ministers, the authors argue. They set the stage for permitting growth or hindering it. Ministry coaching, developing a team of care giving individuals is key.
The authors have done a great job presenting a book containing many practical ideas. Church leaders can evaluate their church structure, vision and leadership style. They receive instruction on evaluating motives, developing a vision for growth, and training lay ministry leaders and workers. Questions for further thought have been included at the end of each chapter so this book could be used for study by a church board or other leadership group.
I recommend this book to those who truly believe there is a potential spiritual harvest in store for their church. You'll find out what is hindering growth. You'll also find out how to implement the heart attitudes and behaviors necessary to break growth barriers. Ministers, you'll need to step aside and let lay people be used of God but the spiritual rewards will be worth it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
February 21, 2025
This book caught me by surprise. At times near the beginning, the contents of the book felt a bit contrived, as though the author was trying too hard to describe my church-situation from afar, and I began to lose hope that this book would be helpful. And then all of a sudden, in the next section, it was like Carl George was reading my mail as he nailed me in terms of what my default settings are as a pastor, and regarding how I'm struggling personally. He now had my attention! I can't say I found all the solutions he offered equally helpful, because he was often describing churches that have different structures than the church where I pastor. But his main emphases and recommendations felt both compelling and hope-building. I'm eager to begin discussions with others about what to implement from what I've learned.
March 14, 2020
This book is half good. There are some presuppositions about theology and methodology with which I disagree. A lot of that comes out in the first part of the book. However, there are also some commonsense observations about the necessity of systems thinking, reasonable span of personal pastoral care, pastoral motivations, and the necessity for building teams of lay caregivers. That material is excellent, needed, and practical. Though I do not endorse everything in the book, I found it helpful.
October 29, 2017
Summary: A work on church growth that focuses on the vision of church leaders, how they conceive their role, and key issues in breaking through specific numerical barriers.
This is an updated version of a classic work on church growth. Ultimately, this book boils down to one simple idea–we are the greatest barrier to the growth of the church and our thinking about our vision of what we are doing, and how we conceive our role often is the most significant factor hampering the growth of a church or ministry.
First of all, the authors focus on vision. They consider the ways we limit vision to fixing what breaks, keeping pace with other churches, making budget, wagons, and other limiters to a harvest vision that cannot be outgrown. Vision is birthed out of prayer and motivates by giving clear direction, a “party line” of what we are and are not about, and “hero making. Systems thinking that understands how an outsider sees one’s church and the factors that have contributed to its growth and life is vital. Finally, it is critical to assess how strong our growth bias is, and in particular, our “holy imagination of what God can lead a person to become,” both for ourselves, and those apprentices we coach into leadership.
This leads into the second part of the book. One of the greatest barriers pastors face is conceiving of their role as primary caregiver rather than caregiving coach. We are helped to see the characteristics of one who is a primary caregiver and how differently ministry coaches behave. These include emphasizing the big picture, setting expectations that develop ministry competence in others including expectations that people in the church will minister to each other in a context of groups and teams, giving flexible supervision and fostering nondependency. They also focus on the multiple leadership styles needed to be a caregiving coach with different groups within a church. The concluding chapter in this section is perhaps the most challenging because it faces the vital underlying question, “is our addiction to workaholism or other addictive behaviors preventing us from embracing a ministry that grows by releasing the leadership of others?”
Part Three focuses on breaking through specific numerical barriers. In separate chapters, the authors look at the shifts of thinking and structures that need to take place in breaking the 200, 400, and 800 barriers. Then they look at breaking the barriers beyond 800, which comes down to breaking the “Care Barrier” and focuses around developing cell-based ministry, including ministry around the specific demographics of one’s church.
There was much I found with which I resonated. I’ve been involved in some growth coaching work and found that the insight that our own vision for growth and our own patterns of ministry are the most significant barriers we face to growth. We may say we want growth and yet we engage in patterns of ministry that undermine growth. As the authors observe, in many cases these are wonderful things like a deep and genuine care for people. Yet we limit how many people can experience that kind of care by controlling it rather than coaching others to engage in that work. I also appreciate how the authors diagnose this as a key factor in the workaholism that characterizes the pastorate, that may lead to moral failures, undermined health, and family breakdowns.
I would be curious how much the authors have consulted in non-Western contexts. At points, they describe buildings and finances and paid church staffs in ways that I suspect might not be applicable in some situations. Yet the focus on multiplying leadership, including lay leadership, centering ministering in effective cell groups led by this leadership, and coaching caregivers seemed to have high cross-cultural applicability.
This can be a useful resource for pastors and church leadership teams ready to take a hard look at themselves, and the ways of seeing and doing things that erect barriers to growth. It doesn’t answer all the questions of how one develops caregivers, beyond the importance of taking apprentices along in all the things you do, or how you build networks of effective cell groups. But it helps identify the ways in which we need to change to foster a culture of growth as well as giving some very specific structural help around key numerical barriers.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
This is an updated version of a classic work on church growth. Ultimately, this book boils down to one simple idea–we are the greatest barrier to the growth of the church and our thinking about our vision of what we are doing, and how we conceive our role often is the most significant factor hampering the growth of a church or ministry.
First of all, the authors focus on vision. They consider the ways we limit vision to fixing what breaks, keeping pace with other churches, making budget, wagons, and other limiters to a harvest vision that cannot be outgrown. Vision is birthed out of prayer and motivates by giving clear direction, a “party line” of what we are and are not about, and “hero making. Systems thinking that understands how an outsider sees one’s church and the factors that have contributed to its growth and life is vital. Finally, it is critical to assess how strong our growth bias is, and in particular, our “holy imagination of what God can lead a person to become,” both for ourselves, and those apprentices we coach into leadership.
This leads into the second part of the book. One of the greatest barriers pastors face is conceiving of their role as primary caregiver rather than caregiving coach. We are helped to see the characteristics of one who is a primary caregiver and how differently ministry coaches behave. These include emphasizing the big picture, setting expectations that develop ministry competence in others including expectations that people in the church will minister to each other in a context of groups and teams, giving flexible supervision and fostering nondependency. They also focus on the multiple leadership styles needed to be a caregiving coach with different groups within a church. The concluding chapter in this section is perhaps the most challenging because it faces the vital underlying question, “is our addiction to workaholism or other addictive behaviors preventing us from embracing a ministry that grows by releasing the leadership of others?”
Part Three focuses on breaking through specific numerical barriers. In separate chapters, the authors look at the shifts of thinking and structures that need to take place in breaking the 200, 400, and 800 barriers. Then they look at breaking the barriers beyond 800, which comes down to breaking the “Care Barrier” and focuses around developing cell-based ministry, including ministry around the specific demographics of one’s church.
There was much I found with which I resonated. I’ve been involved in some growth coaching work and found that the insight that our own vision for growth and our own patterns of ministry are the most significant barriers we face to growth. We may say we want growth and yet we engage in patterns of ministry that undermine growth. As the authors observe, in many cases these are wonderful things like a deep and genuine care for people. Yet we limit how many people can experience that kind of care by controlling it rather than coaching others to engage in that work. I also appreciate how the authors diagnose this as a key factor in the workaholism that characterizes the pastorate, that may lead to moral failures, undermined health, and family breakdowns.
I would be curious how much the authors have consulted in non-Western contexts. At points, they describe buildings and finances and paid church staffs in ways that I suspect might not be applicable in some situations. Yet the focus on multiplying leadership, including lay leadership, centering ministering in effective cell groups led by this leadership, and coaching caregivers seemed to have high cross-cultural applicability.
This can be a useful resource for pastors and church leadership teams ready to take a hard look at themselves, and the ways of seeing and doing things that erect barriers to growth. It doesn’t answer all the questions of how one develops caregivers, beyond the importance of taking apprentices along in all the things you do, or how you build networks of effective cell groups. But it helps identify the ways in which we need to change to foster a culture of growth as well as giving some very specific structural help around key numerical barriers.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
July 21, 2017
How To Break Growth Barriers is a paradigm shifting book for many. I love being a pastor. I particularly love the pastoral tasks of teaching, preaching, and one-on-one discipleship. I greatly enjoy seeing many people come to faith in Christ and become fully-functioning followers of Christ. What slowly becomes a frustration in a growing church is that these elements (evangelism and discipleship) can seem to be in competition when reality they are not.
The Scriptures give various descriptions and commands to the office of Pastor such as:
Do the work of an evangelist
Shepherd
Teacher
Bishop/overseer
Entrust these things to faithful men
Carl F. George and Warren Bird hone in on these last two aspects (Overseer and teaching faithful men) of the pastoral office. The roles of evangelist, shepherd, and teacher are emphasized very heavily in the seminaries and bible colleges and rightfully so as these must be lived out as an example to the flock, but many of us did not receive much teaching on the aspects of overseeing the structure church and developing leaders.
The authors make the case that many churches fail to grow not because local pastors don't love their people or are not being faithful but because they reach personal capacity. No man can do it all, so they call for Pastors to think more like equippers than doers.
Regardless of one's opinion of intentional church growth strategies, every pastor must read chapter 9 which addresses the subtle pastoral sins such as pride and finding our identity in doing it all. This chapter entitled, "Multiplying by Releasing" calls us to stop loving ourselves and instead love others by training the few to reach the many. How many of our ministries do not grow because we think that no-one can do the job better than us, or because we are workaholics, or because we are living in the fear of man rather than the fear of God.
I have been challenged to reorient my thinking and am committing to asking myself regularly "how can I train the few to reach the many?" and "is my idol of ministry getting in the way of the whole body doing ministry?"
Note: I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.
The Scriptures give various descriptions and commands to the office of Pastor such as:
Do the work of an evangelist
Shepherd
Teacher
Bishop/overseer
Entrust these things to faithful men
Carl F. George and Warren Bird hone in on these last two aspects (Overseer and teaching faithful men) of the pastoral office. The roles of evangelist, shepherd, and teacher are emphasized very heavily in the seminaries and bible colleges and rightfully so as these must be lived out as an example to the flock, but many of us did not receive much teaching on the aspects of overseeing the structure church and developing leaders.
The authors make the case that many churches fail to grow not because local pastors don't love their people or are not being faithful but because they reach personal capacity. No man can do it all, so they call for Pastors to think more like equippers than doers.
Regardless of one's opinion of intentional church growth strategies, every pastor must read chapter 9 which addresses the subtle pastoral sins such as pride and finding our identity in doing it all. This chapter entitled, "Multiplying by Releasing" calls us to stop loving ourselves and instead love others by training the few to reach the many. How many of our ministries do not grow because we think that no-one can do the job better than us, or because we are workaholics, or because we are living in the fear of man rather than the fear of God.
I have been challenged to reorient my thinking and am committing to asking myself regularly "how can I train the few to reach the many?" and "is my idol of ministry getting in the way of the whole body doing ministry?"
Note: I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.
June 25, 2017
How to Break Growth Barriers by Carl George and Warren Bird is a book about equipping church members to carry out ministry. Equipping and releasing church members is the key to church growth according to the authors.
This book has been a helpful reminder of many things I learned in Intro to Evangelism and Church Growth. Like that class the authors argue for what could be called a shepherd-equipper model of ministry. This is crucial because if the members are not equipped to do the work of ministry the size of the church and the impact it has will be contingent upon the number of people the pastor is able to personally minister to.
I believe many churches would push back against the recommendations made in this book as many have a mentality that they hire staff to do ministry rather than seeing a need for all members to be involved in ministry. I would recommend this book as I think it provides valuable insight in how to think about the important connection between facilitating ministry on the part of church members and church growth itself.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of the book from the publisher for the purpose of reviewing it. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review
This book has been a helpful reminder of many things I learned in Intro to Evangelism and Church Growth. Like that class the authors argue for what could be called a shepherd-equipper model of ministry. This is crucial because if the members are not equipped to do the work of ministry the size of the church and the impact it has will be contingent upon the number of people the pastor is able to personally minister to.
I believe many churches would push back against the recommendations made in this book as many have a mentality that they hire staff to do ministry rather than seeing a need for all members to be involved in ministry. I would recommend this book as I think it provides valuable insight in how to think about the important connection between facilitating ministry on the part of church members and church growth itself.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of the book from the publisher for the purpose of reviewing it. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review
June 23, 2024
3 stars only because I—a leader of a college ministry within the local church—wasn’t the target audience of this book. The lead pastor of a church, was.
What I found helpful: the ministry paradigm shift from thinking of my role as a pastor as being the “primary caregiver” to a being a “caregiving coach to caregivers.” In other words, I loved the reminder to “equip the SAINTS for the work of ministry.” My takeaway: I’m going to be more frequently inviting students to join me when I meet up with someone for evangelism or general discipleship, with the purpose of ministry multiplication.
Unhelpful: the practical sections on breaking the 200, 400, 600, etc. barriers weren’t as practical as I would have hoped. It seemed that most of the 200 section was devoted to discerning how to go about getting a bigger building.
What I found helpful: the ministry paradigm shift from thinking of my role as a pastor as being the “primary caregiver” to a being a “caregiving coach to caregivers.” In other words, I loved the reminder to “equip the SAINTS for the work of ministry.” My takeaway: I’m going to be more frequently inviting students to join me when I meet up with someone for evangelism or general discipleship, with the purpose of ministry multiplication.
Unhelpful: the practical sections on breaking the 200, 400, 600, etc. barriers weren’t as practical as I would have hoped. It seemed that most of the 200 section was devoted to discerning how to go about getting a bigger building.
June 13, 2024
3.5 stars for me. You will find wisdom for decentralizing your care models and direction for utilizing your leadership board to leverage a broader buy into vision. Many of these suggestions are helpful. The key spoken assumption is that doing this is good ecclesiology and that growth most often equals success. Worth a read if you feel you’re stuck and have not reached the potential within and around your church.
August 20, 2025
Some good practical advice and how to carry out the master plan of evangelism set forth by Jesus in the local church setting. The Meta Church model is a way for each person to get pastoral care no matter the size of the church. I wish he included more scripture and theology with his work, but this book can be supplemented by many others, including Robert Coleman‘s the master plan of evangelism.
February 16, 2021
Great book which analyzes what is needed to grow a church
The coach verses the sole caregiver is a concept which many leaders struggle with. In this book the difference is examined and steps to transition from one to the other is made clear.
The coach verses the sole caregiver is a concept which many leaders struggle with. In this book the difference is examined and steps to transition from one to the other is made clear.
January 30, 2025
A book on growing the church focuses on the pastor being a vision caster and a caregiving coach. This makes a great deal of sense and works in a number of churches. But for a church with lots of "senior formerberries," it may be well beyond the scope of this book.
November 22, 2017
A must for any church leader. It was as if he was describing my church and it’s dynamics at its current size, and gave plenty of good suggestions to break through to the next size dynamic.
June 4, 2023
The main premise of this book is that a pastor should empower others to do the work of ministry rather than try to do all the work of ministry himself/herself. The book contains a lot of the pragmatic side of ministry that you're not taught in seminary but that's necessary to care for people well as a church grows. Two especially helpful paradigms was an exercise to help the reader honestly assess why his or her church is growing and a graph/infographic that showed the four types of church members and how to effectively communicate change to each category of people.
I was pleasantly surprised to read some of the more spiritual aspects of the book like the importance of prayer in the life of a minister and attending to the minister's soul. While these are vital components of ministry, I thought that the author might glaze over or skip these aspects altogether, but there was some really deep warnings and teaching that I greatly appreciated.
I'd recommend this book for church planters and pastors hoping to partner with God to see their church grow.
I was pleasantly surprised to read some of the more spiritual aspects of the book like the importance of prayer in the life of a minister and attending to the minister's soul. While these are vital components of ministry, I thought that the author might glaze over or skip these aspects altogether, but there was some really deep warnings and teaching that I greatly appreciated.
I'd recommend this book for church planters and pastors hoping to partner with God to see their church grow.
June 9, 2021
Excellent Read & Applicable Solutions
This book offers and excellent solution to those looking for God to do great things through their church. The solutions are relevant and applicable.
This book offers and excellent solution to those looking for God to do great things through their church. The solutions are relevant and applicable.
April 18, 2017
Had great hopes for this book but in the end, it followed the same path most books along this line take and gave the same kind of info. I would love for some book to take on not just the 3,000-foot view of growth barriers but get down into the nitty-gritty with some practical steps to take, resources to look into, churches to contact, tools to use etc.
A theory mostly is well over rated. Hook us up. Just my thoughts.
A theory mostly is well over rated. Hook us up. Just my thoughts.
Read
June 1, 2017“How to Break Growth Barriers” by Carl F. George and Warren Bird is a wonderful resource for church leaders and those interested in church growth. Many churches reach a certain number and then stop. Sometimes it is hard to push past those numbers and keep growing. In this book, the authors show how pastors need to change their way of thinking from being the shepherd as sole caregiver to shepherd as developer and coach of many caregivers. This book shows you how to share this vision to your staff and congregation. These methods are ones that have been tried and worked. They are also biblically based methods. Included are some charts and checklists for self evaluation. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to see their church grow and thrive.
I received this book from Baker Books for my honest opinion.
I received this book from Baker Books for my honest opinion.
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