Replies

I think the 1st has a 3rd, more basic component to it.

When a pastor has been at a church a long time, the people left in the church are those who like him, and those who have been drawn to the church who like him. Over time, those who belonged to the church because of the church, rather than the pastor, die of old age or move away.

Anyway, a new pastor comes in, and immediately some of people won’t like him. And those who join churches because of the pastor, and don’t like the new pastor, will obviously leave the church, to find another church with a pastor they like.

Over time, the new pastor, if he is called by God, will draw in new members who like HIM, some of whom may not have joined the church before because they didn’t like the previous pastor.

Churches that change pastors on a regular basis suffer a lot less from this, first because the people who belong to such churches tend to be those who are drawn by church doctrine or congregational relationships more than the teaching/preaching style, and second because no pastor is there long enough to draw a lot of people into the church simply because they like the pastor.

The situation is worse with megachurches, simply because oftentimes the EXISTANCE of a magachurch is due to the pastor, it’s why they grew so large.

I say that because, in the absense of people who just want to be with THAT PASTOR, churches are much more inviting, and do a much better job serving God and Man, if they split and plant when they get to the 500-1000 member range (some say much smaller than that is even better).

By “church planting” using offshoots, God’s work can more readily spread through a community. CHurches spring up locally all around, and each one can offer slightly different emphasis, giving more of the faithful choices that interest them for service.

The most common reason for a church to STOP spawning off sister churches is when you get a pastor that is the focus of the church, so that nobody WANTS to leave to form the sister church.