GROWMNTUM is our strategic growth plan.

TEAM

We have assembled a Strategic Growth Team which is comprised of our District board, NAM board and two MN ministers. There are two main reasons for this:

  • We want our NAM board to have a vital role in formulating and enacting growth in our state. Their involvement as well as CFC offering will help underwrite future church plants and initiatives.

  • We want our Presbyters to play a vital role in formulating and enacting growth in our sections.

TEAM MEETINGS

The growmntum team will meet four times annually: January at BMT meeting, March at District Conference, June at Family Camp and more extensively in our October Vision and planning retreat. These meetings are critical for evaluation and keeping the focus on growth vs “maintenance”.

We have four annual district board meetings and these have shifted towards growth. We allocate a significant amount of time to meet with our growmntum team during our meetings. This systemic shift guarantees focus on our MN vision of harvest.

SECTIONAL GROWTH FOCUS 

Our Presbyters are leading a Sectional Growth Team in tandem with the sectional ministers to focus on church growth and planting. A vision is crafted, and this vision is presented by our Presbyters for review at our GrowMNtum meetings. This keeps the focus on sectional initiatives and the opportunity to monitor health, planning and growth.

Each Presbyter will present this sectional vision at their Sectional Conference for discussion and implementation. Sectional initiatives will come from this discussion. Each Presbyter will present the sectional vision and an annual report of the growth activity in their section at District Conference.

The sectional vision is primarily geared towards starting new preaching points, daughter works and self-governing churches. For example, our sectional churches are working together to support new daughter works and NAM works. This support model is working fabulously and is inspiring others to start new works by offering financial help, ideas, evangelism, musical and people help during “preview” services.

PROMOTIONS

We have a District Promotions Director that will be accumulating local church stories and victories. These will be celebrated through social media and at District events. Every major event in the state will have GrowMNtum representation and promotion.

  • Breakthrough Ministry Training: An annual event geared towards equipping local church leaders and ministers with growth principles and ideas. This happens every January and serves as an excellent kick-off for the year.

  • District Conference: An annual event that celebrates growth and provides encouragement

  • Family Camp: An annual event for every church member and minister in the state. Vision casting will play a role at this event

In the future, we would like to see representation in all of our departments so that GrowMNtum vision would permeate all aspects of our operation (children, youth, women, men and SEM events).

growmntum 100 defined

GrowMNtum is a noun contraction of the words grow and momentum. In the middle of this word, we have included our state initials.

100 speaks to the first phase of this vision, which is to increase from 59 total works to 100 works in 5 years.

We have begun branding and promoting this initiative. We have created merchandise/gear for promotions: shirts, hats and cups. GrowMNtum 100 launched at our 2019 MN District Conference.

DATA GATHERING

A survey was sent to all of our District ministers that asked a wide variety of questions. This has provided needed insights along a wide spectrum. Our team has also done a SWOT analysis, and has had extensive conversations related to our district survey.

We will monitor our data annually, and discuss quarterly in our GrowMNtum meetings. Our rationale is to monitor where we are presently, and make adjustments based on our immediate reality.

BREAKING GROWTH BARRIERS 

This is our primary strategy to work with pastors throughout the District to see them break growth barriers in their local churches. Strong churches win converts, train leaders and launch future works.

We have five numeric “growth barrier” categories: congregations of 30, 60, 100, 150, and 200. We have a coach in each of these categories who has grown a church to this size. They will make themselves available to help pastors break the growth barrier they are currently at.

Most importantly, we will offer meetings throughout the year that will offer practical resources for each pastor. We will start with assimilation in the local church. Our next step will be evangelism. Nelson Searcy/Church Leader Insights have many of these resources already pre-packaged.

We believe this will create a culture of networking. This will help pastors in our District who are hungry to see their church experience a breakthrough by networking them with like-minded ministers to cross-pollinate ideas, systems and spiritual support.

One member of our GrowMNtum team will oversee this specific effort.

RECENT GROWTH

We have already seen tremendous growth in our churches, as well as preaching points/daughter works and NAM works.

In 10 years, Minnesota has seen an increase of 52% in the number of works: 8 churches, 9 daughter works and 4 preaching points (report from UPCI church growth records of Minnesota). In the past 5 years, Minnesota has seen an approximate 34%increase in overall attendance.

FUTURE GROWTH

Morale is hard to quantify, but is clear when it is felt and seen. There is a strong environmental shift towards revival and harvest in Minnesota. The conversation has shifted, and buy-in is growing rapidly. We are hearing from many Bible school students—both men and women—that they have a passion and desire to start churches. If this is any indication of the future, we are more than optimistic.