10 Priorities of America’s Top 100 Churches

Outreach Magazine recently published its annual list of America’s top 100 fastest growing and largest churches.  We’ve had the privilege of installing and coaching Intentional GrowthPlans with several of these churches and more are slated in the near future.  These churches are using our tools and operating system to stay clear and focused on what it takes to grow their Kingdom impact again and again.

Willow Creek Community Church
South Barrington, IL
#6 Largest Church

Christ’s Church of the Valley
San Dimas, CA
#7 Largest Church

Real Life Christian Church
Clermont, FL
#14 Fastest-Growing Church
#73 Largest Church

Traders Point Christian Church
Indianapolis, IN
#39 Fastest-Growing Church
#91 Largest Church

Community Christian Church
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
#40 Fastest-Growing Church

Mountain Christian Church
Joppa, MD
#41 Fastest-Growing Church

Shepherd Church
Porter Ranch, CA
#50 Largest Church

Parkview Christian Church
Orland Park, IL
#64 Largest Church

Real Life Church
Valencia, CA
#93 Largest Church

Crossroads Christian Church
Corona, CA
#94 Largest Church

theCHURCH.at
Broken Arrow, OK
#96 Fastest-Growing Church

Eastview Christian Church
Normal, IL
#97 Largest Church

First Christian Church
Council Bluffs, IA
#100 Fastest-Growing Church

America’s top 100 churches aren’t perfect. In fact, in our experience, their challenges mirror that of any size or type of church. However, by working in and with these churches as a team, we’ve learned a lot about the right priorities when it comes to Gospel impact. Here are ten priorities to think about:

1. Emphasize personal evangelism and prayer. Each member of the church family is challenged to pray for and spiritually connect with people within their God-given sphere of influence.
2. Teach and promote the power of an invitation. People will say “yes” to being asked to come to a service, outreach event, small group, or other church-related activity.
3. Catalyze action and decisions through weekend worship and teaching. Through the power of the Gospel and inspiring worship, people will be saved and moved to make spiritual decisions of all kinds.
4. View the weekend services as a total experience. Attending a weekend service is a chain of events and when one link in the chain is weak or broken, the whole experience is undermined and the opportunity to catalyze spiritual decisions is potentially lost, especially for a newcomer.
5. Monitor spiritual movement and growth at all levels. No one ever stagnates and everyone is challenged to take next steps toward Christ or to grow in Him.
6. Focus on connecting people as quickly as possible. If people don’t truly, relationally connect with others, the opportunity to deeply impact them is lost.
7. Build steps not programs. Intuitive and simple steps are key, and there are no parking lots or cul-de-sacs in which to camp out or permanently call home.
8. Become known in the community. Outreach and reputation are unashamedly used to partner with the church family to the ends of making spiritual connections that lead to an invitation.
9. Purposefully communicate. Say everything to everyone and no one will hear anything – say the right thing to the right audience at the right time and you will get the response you want.
10. Limit non-strategic ministries. Specialized ministries are a great asset, but they can become a distraction to what’s most important in connecting people to the church, one another, and Christ.

A good exercise would be to grade your churches prioritization of these ten things. Are you getting an “A” in some, and “C’s” and “D’s” in others? Pull your team together and have this conversation – you won’t regret it.

Early in an Intentional GrowthPlan, we review The Priorities of a Growing Church with your team. We built a tool based on these ten priorities that lead to a robust team conversation and helps build a foundation for a true plan to grow.

We partner with churches of all types and sizes that want to increase their Gospel-centered, Kingdom impact.  We would love to have this conversation and more with your church leadership team one day, and we pray your ministry is focused on the right priorities to help it reach people and grow them up in Christ.