It’s an exciting moment when you realize that your ministry isn’t surviving. It’s thriving. Church growth efforts become more hopeful as you gain a reputation in your local community, and you can begin to plan for exciting new initiatives.

However, as you begin cultivating and expanding your church, you want to consider burnout. Burnout can impact volunteers and paid staff alike and comes in different forms. For instance, one study found that, along with nearly half of faith leaders experiencing moderate burnout, 38% reported moderate-to-high compassion fatigue (that is, a form of exhaustion that includes spiritual and emotional components as well as physical ones).

So, how do you build your church while avoiding burnout? Here are six tips to help you unleash church growth in healthy, sustainable ways.

1. Start With Prayer

Your first stop for genuine church growth shouldn’t be the latest mega-church book on growth or even a resource like this one. It should be God.

It’s cliché, but it’s also necessary. If you don’t start and end your church-building efforts with God, they’re not going to be fruitful. Even if they work, the last thing you want is worldly success outside of God’s will.

With that in mind, take the time to pray, both individually and as a team. Seriously, press in and pray for the vision and path to build your church in a way that honors God’s will and purpose for your ministry.

2. Define Growth

What does church growth mean for your ministry? Church growth expert C. Peter Wagner defined the term as “All that is involved in bringing men and women who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ into fellowship with Him and into responsible church membership.”

What is the aspect or element of this overarching growth concept that is most important to your church right now? Do you feel a need to reach your local community? Do you need to pursue certain ministry opportunities as a church? Do you want to see more visitors commit to consistent attendance and membership?

Defining your ministry's growth goals helps you clarify where you see God leading you. This allows you to allocate resources and empower leaders. It also helps you estimate efforts and avoid overburdening staff.

3. Improve What You’re Already Doing

Growth doesn’t have to come from new or unique ideas. It can result from cultivating existing activities. Don’t overlook this part. If you aren’t being authentic and transparent in your day-to-day ministry activities, growth won’t be sustainable.

Make sure your current church environment is welcoming and encouraging. Consider what your current attendees and members look for and get out of your church’s experience. Are you meeting those needs? How can you improve on those results?

In the same way that retaining a customer is more effective than finding a new one in the business world, cleaning up and improving existing ministry activities is a great way to solidify your current church base. At the least, this sets the stage for future church building — and it might just spark that growth organically in the process.

4. Crowdsource Growth

If you have a healthy, invested core congregation, it can be a key element in sustainable growth. It can also relieve some of the pressure on leaders and administrators.

Encourage your attendees to invite others, especially to tent-pole services, such as Christmas or Easter. Promote community-focused events, such as small groups. Do what you can to maximize the growth elements of existing functions already taking place in and around your church. This gets everyone involved in the church-building efforts.

5. Use Tools to Streamline Growth Initiatives

There are many tools that can streamline and simplify the efforts that go into building a church. Many of these are based on technology, which has revolutionized how leadership teams can provide exposure and awareness for their ministries.

For instance, simply creating and running a social media profile can give your church a digital outreach arm into your community. Owned platforms like a good church website also allow you to set up live streams and faith-based resources that can catch people’s attention, even if they aren’t aware of your brick-and-mortar building yet.

As you consider these tools, remember to assemble teams that can share the burden. From creating endless online content to running a live stream feed for three back-to-back services, these are areas of quiet burnout — which leads us to our final point.

6. Gather Feedback and Assess

Never let the process of church building allow you to lose sight of those who are already faithfully attending and serving in your church. As you look for ways to attract others to your ministry, take the time to gather feedback and consider the impact that church growth initiatives are having on everyone involved, including:

• God: Continually seek guidance from God as you go along. 
• Your attendees: Both new and old, how is everyone feeling about how your church is navigating and adjusting to growth?
• Your team: This is the big burnout area. Is everyone feeling okay? Are they focused? Do they still have your church growth vision in mind?
• Yourself: How are you feeling? Are you seeing the results you need? Are you managing the church-cultivating workload well? What steps can you take to address the needs of yourself and others?

Another key party to consider here is a consultant. From building new churches to mastering digital engagement, working with a qualified church consultant gives you access to an experienced support line. A good consultant can provide insights, direction, and encouragement, helping you maintain a clear strategy as you go along.

Building Without Burnout

Building a church is a powerful way to spread the Gospel and provide community for God’s people. However, it can come at a cost.

Use the tips above to build your church while avoiding burnout with yourself and your team. If you find you need help casting that initial vision or delegating church-building responsibilities equitably across your staff members and volunteers, reach out to our team at Ministry Solutions Group. Together, we can create a plan to effectively grow your church without making your team pay the price in the process.