The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 293 – Signs of Unhealthy Church Growth
Not all growth is good growth. While packed parking lots and full sanctuaries might seem like signs of success, they don’t always indicate a healthy church. Understanding the signs of unhealthy church growth can help pastors and church leaders distinguish between genuine spiritual vitality and superficial expansion that may actually harm long-term ministry effectiveness.
Why Church Growth Doesn’t Always Equal Church Health
Many pastors struggle with feelings of inadequacy when they see rapidly growing churches in their community. Questions like “Why is God blessing them and not us?” are common among leaders of smaller or plateaued congregations. However, the reality is that signs of unhealthy church growth are often mistaken for genuine blessing and spiritual vitality.
Church growth and church health aren’t synonymous. A church can experience rapid numerical growth while lacking the foundational elements that make for sustainable, biblical ministry. Conversely, a healthy church may grow more slowly but with deeper roots and lasting transformation.
The key distinction: Healthy growth produces disciples who are transformed by God’s word and actively participating in ministry. Unhealthy growth often produces consumers who attend services but remain unchanged and uncommitted.
4 Major Signs of Unhealthy Church Growth
1. Growth Driven Solely by Charismatic Personality
The Warning Sign: When church growth revolves entirely around one dynamic, charismatic leader rather than solid biblical teaching and comprehensive discipleship.
While gifted teaching and compelling leadership aren’t inherently problematic (Jesus himself drew crowds through his presence and teaching), the danger emerges when the leader avoids preaching challenging biblical truths to maintain popularity. The substance takes a backseat to style and personality, and the church offers no supporting structures for spiritual growth. Members come primarily for the “performance” rather than transformation.
Even Jesus, the ultimate charismatic leader, regularly said hard things that caused people to leave. He never compromised truth for crowd appeal. When growth is healthy, even gifted teachers will challenge their audiences with the full counsel of God’s word. The test becomes whether the teaching consistently challenges listeners with biblical truth, whether the church would continue to thrive if the main leader left, and whether people are being transformed or just entertained.
2. Consumer-Oriented Programming with Low Expectations
The Warning Sign: Churches that grow by making attendance as easy and undemanding as possible, essentially becoming “worship-only” churches.
These churches often market themselves on convenience and minimal commitment. They promote a “come as you are, when you can” mentality with no expectation for small group, class, or fellowship participation, no calls to volunteer or serve, and no challenges to grow in discipleship. Sunday morning becomes the entire church experience.
The biblical problem is that Scripture calls believers to active participation in the body of Christ, not passive consumption. The Great Commission involves building people up as disciples, not just gathering crowds. These churches typically lack clear discipleship pathways, volunteer ministry opportunities, small group connections, accountability, spiritual growth expectations, and calls to sacrificial living and service.
Churches with healthy growth challenge members to live biblically through various ministries, small groups, and service opportunities. They don’t just fill seats; they develop disciples who are actively growing in their faith and serving others.
3. Geographic Advantages Creating Artificial Growth
The Warning Sign: Rapid growth that’s primarily due to location rather than ministry health.
This might include new church plants in rapidly developing suburban areas, churches in high-population density areas where “everyone runs big,” proximity to major attractions or developments, or areas experiencing significant population migration. While there’s nothing wrong with strategic location choices, problems arise when leaders mistake demographic trends for spiritual blessing, geographic growth masks underlying health issues, success is measured only in numbers rather than transformation, or the church becomes dependent on location rather than mission.
Understanding your geographic context prevents both pride and discouragement while helping you focus on actual health indicators. A church of 350 in Dallas-Fort Worth might consider itself small, while a church of 100 in rural Nebraska might be considered large for its context. The key is recognizing whether growth stems from genuine ministry effectiveness or simply favorable demographics.
4. Transfer Growth Without Genuine Conversion
The Warning Sign: Rapid growth primarily from Christians switching churches rather than new believers coming to faith.
Common scenarios include new facility syndrome where people are attracted to upgraded buildings, technology, and amenities. Church shopping involves believers seeking better programs, convenience, or preferences. Denominational shifts occur when members transfer due to theological or political changes. Conflict-driven transfers happen when people leave difficult situations at other churches.
Transfer growth becomes problematic when the church celebrates numbers without examining the source, ministry strategies focus on attracting existing Christians rather than reaching the lost, resources go toward competing with other churches instead of advancing the gospel, and leadership becomes content with reshuffling rather than making disciples.
While some transfer growth is natural and even beneficial (like when unhealthy churches close), healthy churches focus primarily on evangelistic outreach to their community, discipleship that produces spiritual maturity, mission that extends beyond their walls, and stewardship of growth opportunities.
How to Evaluate Your Church’s Growth
If your church is experiencing growth, several diagnostic questions can help you assess whether that growth is healthy or concerning.
Spiritual Health Indicators include whether people are being genuinely converted and baptized, if there is evidence of life transformation in members, whether people participate beyond Sunday morning attendance, if volunteers are actively serving in ministry, and whether there is a clear discipleship pathway that people are participating in.
Sustainability Markers involve asking whether the church would continue to thrive without the senior pastor, if leadership development is happening at multiple levels, whether people are growing in biblical knowledge and spiritual maturity, and if the church is producing disciples who make other disciples.
Mission Focus examines whether the church is reaching new people with the gospel, if members are sharing their faith in the community, whether the church has a clear mission beyond attracting attendees, and if resources are being used to advance God’s kingdom rather than just build the organization.
Red Flags That Demand Attention
Several warning signs indicate unhealthy church growth that requires immediate attention. High attendance with low participation occurs when many people come on Sunday, but few get involved in ministry, small groups, classes, or service. Resistance to commitment becomes evident when growth stops as soon as expectations are introduced. Leadership dependency means the entire church revolves around one person’s gifts and personality, or when hiring paid staff is the only way to expand ministries.
Consumer mentality develops when members evaluate the church primarily on what it provides for them. Lack of spiritual maturity shows little evidence of life transformation despite numerical growth. Shallow biblical teaching focuses on felt needs rather than scriptural truth. Missing discipleship means there’s no clear pathway for spiritual growth beyond Sunday attendance.
Building Healthy Growth Instead
The goal isn’t to avoid all growth, but to pursue healthy church growth that honors God and produces lasting transformation.
Developing Strong Foundations requires biblical teaching that addresses the full counsel of God, clear discipleship pathways for spiritual growth, multiple opportunities for ministry participation, leadership development and succession planning, and community outreach with an evangelistic focus.
Creating Sustainable Systems involves establishing small group ministries or classes for connection and growth, volunteer opportunities across various ministries, leadership training and development programs, accountability structures for spiritual growth, and mission partnerships that extend beyond the local church.
Measuring What Matters means focusing on conversion growth rather than just transfer growth, spiritual maturity indicators rather than just attendance numbers, community impact rather than just internal programs, leadership multiplication rather than just personality dependence, and discipleship participation rather than just Sunday attendance.
The Bottom Line for Church Leaders
Signs of unhealthy church growth are often disguised as success, making them particularly dangerous for church leaders. The attraction of quick growth can tempt pastors to compromise biblical standards, lower expectations, or focus on personalities rather than discipleship.
Several key principles should guide every church leader. Not all growth is good growth, as some expansion actually harms long-term ministry health. Healthy churches prioritize transformation over numbers because discipleship matters more than attendance. Sustainable growth requires strong foundations since shortcuts often lead to collapse. Your church’s context matters, so avoid comparisons that aren’t relevant to your situation.
Moving Forward with Wisdom
If you recognize signs of unhealthy church growth in your context, don’t panic. Instead, acknowledge the reality without becoming defensive. Assess your current discipleship systems and strengthen weak areas. Adjust expectations to include participation beyond Sunday attendance. Develop leadership that doesn’t depend on one person’s charisma. Focus on mission rather than just attraction. Seek wise counsel from experienced church consultants or healthy church leaders.
The goal is sustainable, biblical church growth that produces mature disciples who impact their communities for Christ. This kind of growth may be slower, but it creates lasting transformation that honors God and advances His kingdom.
Also check out:
5 Warnings Signs Your Church Needs Revitalization
5 Characteristics of a Healthy Church
Watch this episode on YouTube!
A.J. Mathieu is the President of the Malphurs Group. He is passionate about helping churches thrive and travels internationally to teach and train pastors to lead healthy disciple-making churches. A.J. lives in the Ft. Worth, Texas area, enjoys the outdoors, and loves spending time with his wife and two sons. Click here to email A.J.
