Traits of an Attractive Church
C. Peter Wagner
A leader is a dealer in hope.
Napoleon Bonaparte
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.… Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:4, 7 Who doesn't look in the mirror and ask, "Am I attractive?" And what pastor doesn't wonder about his or her church, "Are we attractive? What makes a church appealing to new people? What do the truly effective churches have that mine doesn't?"
Few people have worked as hard as C. Peter Wagner to discover the characteristics of churches that do a good job of attracting and meeting the needs of new members. A professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, Wagner explains those traits and shows us how we can make them work in our own situations. Why lead a church? Experienced church leaders give different answers to this question. Most of the answers are sincere, and few can really be called bad. "To glorify God" should be and usually is the preamble. But more specifically, some lead a church to promote an outstanding Christian worship experience. Some lead to develop meaningful ties among Christians. Some lead to contribute to the social welfare of the surrounding community. Some lead to teach the Bible to believers. The list could go on and on. In most cases, specific goals of leadership combine several of the above in differing proportions. But let's focus on yet another purpose of church leadership, namely, church growth. In a broad sense, church growth means improving the quality of the Christian life of the existing members; but it's also concerned with a regular and sustained increase in the number of those members. I hope to clarify some ways church leadership directly relates to the quality ...
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