Ed Stetzer:
Leaders in the Church must be ready for growth before it comes. If you have a 500 member church, you need to be praying for volunteers for 1500 members. You need to discipling men now, so you will have disciples who can make disciples later. If you wait till the growth comes, you will never catch up.Most pastors of churches want their churches to grow, and they recruit leaders (or we’ll call them volunteers) to enable it. They’re surprised, however, how quickly the demand for more rears its ugly head on the heels of victory. We get new volunteers and then we need new volunteers. So we get new volunteers, and then we need more new volunteers. It never goes away. If you want success, you better be prepared for the cycle that comes with it.
In declining churches, leaders serve but get worn out. The leader / volunteers will serve a while, but can get discouraged. They need new volunteers both to staff current needs, but to case a vision for a new direction.
