PROVIDE THE SPACE

We come to the third of Arthur Flake's five principles of growth: PROVIDE THE SPACE.

There is an "unwritten" rule (even though it has been written by many people) of attendance: When a space is about 80% filled, people will consider it crowded and will tend to go somewhere else.

This rule can be seen working in almost every church, large or small. When all the seats are filled one Sunday, the next week many will not return.

After we have done our survey properly, found our "prospects," invited them to come, and trained our workers, we must have a place for them to go.

The man who developed The Action Plan, Andy Anderson, was pastor of Riverside Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Florida.

After implementing the first steps of the plan, his Sunday School more than doubled in size in one week.

To accommodate the increase, Andy had rented a large, circus style tent, divided it up into classrooms and filled it with people, many of whom were first-time guests and heard the gospel for the first time in their lives.

They used the tent until they were able to build additional education space.

As an aside, keep this in mind: Although it is not the reason we strive to grow, growth results in an increase in income to the church, as visitors and new members learn to give tithes and offerings. Thus, the larger crowds yielded greater income to the church which enabled them to build education space.

As another aside, keep in mind that God's word NEVER speaks of maintaining the status quo, but ALWAYS notes the growth of the church.

God wants us to grow.

If we are to grow, we must provide the space for growth, either by use of tents, doubling up worship and Sunday Schools or whatever means God make available to you.