What does an Internal Church Growth Analysis reveal?
Internal growth analysis reveals trends and changes. When you look at the previous ten years of your church’s history, charted by age group and program, discoveries are made. Positive trends are an invitation to study what is being done well, with the hope that principles or practices can be identified which will transfer to other areas of the church. Similarly, negative trends alert leaders to determine if that trend is correctible. Sometimes an internal trend is simply reflecting a change in the local population. In that case you would gear your response toward the long-term, rather than expend energy on a situation that ultimately will not be reversed until the local population undergoes change. Sudden changes require investigation. An abrupt decline is often traceable to the loss or removal of an especially effective person. It’s important to understand why that person was so effective, as well as why that person is no longer there. Even without knowing the “why,” one can reasonabl
