Today I saw an online poll asking pastors about how their church’s current attendance compared to pre-Covid levels. Seventy six percent of the respondents reported that their attendance was at “about half” or less than it was before the pandemic.

This wasn’t a scientific poll, but the results were concerning. My prediction is that even in the months ahead, many churches will struggle to get back up to the size they were before. And they’ll need to grow.

I know “church growth” has a bad reputation, sometimes deservedly so. It calls to mind a numbers-obsessed mindset often with manipulative practices attached to it. But there are healthy, God-honoring ways to aim for growth—and that’s what this week’s resource is all about. How To Grow a Church includes wisdom from a dozen church leaders on how to reinvigorate your congregation’s vitality to better pursue the mission of God.

While we want growth, we never want to blindly imitate other ministries. The latest article from Michelle Van Loon shows why conformity among ministries can be so dangerous.