Churches that want to fulfill the Great Commission by reaching lost people will hit barriers. There are at least two kinds: growth barriers and leadership barriers.

A "growth barrier" is a set of qualitative factors that create a ceiling to quantitative progress. A "leadership barrier" is a barrier that exists in the mind, the heart, or the gift mix of the church leader.

I wrote about two key growth barriers, clarity of vision and unity of leadership, in a previous article on Church Central. Three other fundamental factors that are barriers to your church growing are: connection with the community, excellence in presentation and faithfulness in follow through.

Connection with the community

Some members and even some leaders of churches do not have clue No. 1 about the communities in which they live, work and serve. Sometimes this is due to a "Christian bubble" they live in, seldom interacting with the unchurched around them. But other times this cluelessness is simply a lack of homework: to know your community, you must study it. Who lives near your church?

For example, imagine that your ministry is located in a community where the annual household income (an easily obtained figure) is $80,000 and one in six households has an income that exceeds $140,000. How would your outreach focus be different than that of a church located in the heart of a college community with thousands of people who are single? The heart of the gospel would never change, but the way that you advertise, the way you perform music, and the style of speaking would all be vastly different.

Growing churches break through growth barriers because they are effective students of their community culture. If the local McDonald's owner knows more about your community than you do as a pastor, then your church is in trouble. Breaking through growth barriers means you understand how to reach your community. Robert Schuller said it best when he proclaimed that churches must "find a need and fill it, find a hurt and heal it." Barrier busting ministry always finds a way to connect with the community and meet needs in the name of Christ.

Excellence in presentation

Whenever they do attend church, unchurched people have come to expect (but not accept) mediocrity. And churchgoers have come to accept and expect mediocrity from others as well as ourselves when it comes to presentation-oriented ministry. Few people have the guts to stand up and say, "This is bad. God is not pleased with us offering the leftovers of what we could offer him." God is pleased with sacrifice, with excellence, with our best. Consider this warning from Malachi:

Excellence in your weekend service presentation is critical to your success in taking new ground for the Kingdom. I believe most churches need to narrow their "targets" of excellence. For most churches today, I think of these three excellence "targets" as essential:

When our church, Carson Valley Christian Center (Minden, Nev., www.carsonvalleychristian.com) was planted and launched in February 1998, the leaders decided on excellence in the above three areas from day one. People are attracted to and stay at a church because of excellence in one or more of these "top three" areas, and so they simply must have the utmost priority for your entire fellowship.

Sometimes, the dark question that few churches have the guts to ask their people is this: "Would you invite your unchurched friends and neighbors to our church if the presentation in one or more of the ‘top three' areas were improved? Does our mediocrity prevent you from inviting anyone to our church?"

We live in a time where "ought" doesn't cut it any more. Saying to someone that they "ought" to come to church won't budge them from their notions of irrelevance. But, presenting a warm and excellent worship service that touches their heart, stimulates their mind, and engages their soul may break through the barriers of their heart resistance. Paying attention to specific ministry needs (children's ministry, first touch ministry, and age graded programming) with excellence demonstrates commitment to your vision of reaching people.

Sometimes churches are failing to offer an excellent, well-rounded presentation on the weekends because the church is trying to do more than it can do well. Obviously, the goal would be to do all of it well. But we challenge you first to do fewer things "well" rather than more things "poorly." Then work up to more and more as you conquer those challenging areas with assertiveness and excellence.

Faithfulness in follow through

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up," (Galatians 6:9, NIV).

Once you know what the right thing is for your vision, your leadership, your communities … just do it! Do it over and over again. Do it well. Do it right. Do it consistently and faithfully. Persistent execution of your vision will produce a harvest. Practice continuous improvement and be a laser beam rather than a shotgun. A shotgun approach is usually tempting to us, since it makes a lot of noise and produces an immediate response from our people! But the laser beam approach will be quieter and more exacting, and will yield results worth waiting for -- a harvest!

It has been my experience that staying the course relates to four specific dimensions; each of them require constant attention and pose strategic questions:

Call: Are you clear about God's call on your life, your call to ministry, and the vision he has for you and for those you shepherd?

Character: What are the essentials of heart and mind that make up the "you" that you want to be? What are the epitaphs you want written on your tombstone by your family, friends, AND adversaries? Are you clear about how your character has been shaped and is shared with others?

Community: Do you have anchor relationships in your life? Are there people into whom you have invested and who both keep you accountable and can undergird your life during a storm? All ministry flows out of relationships; are you building a community of relationships that model and contribute health in your life?

Competency: Have you identified your gifts and are you continuously improving your Kingdom effectiveness with your gift? Are you clear about how the 80/20 rule works in your life as it relates to effectiveness?

Your church can grow! You can reach more people for Christ and fulfill the Great Commission. Perseverance in ministry always relates to clarity of vision AND persistence in follow through. In short, knowing what to do and doing it consistently well is key! This process takes time, energy, and more effort than you will have on some days. But never give up. In time you will reap a harvest, and God will give you wisdom and direction as you seek to bring people to Christ and grow them to maturity in him.

Dr. John Jackson is the president of VisionQuest Ministries and the founding and senior pastor of Carson Valley Christian Center. Dr. Jackson has written the books, "PastorPreneur," and "High Impact Church Planting." You may learn more about breaking growth barriers and creative approaches to church ministry by visiting the VisionQuest Ministries Website at www.vqresources.com.

This article is copyrighted to Dr. John Jackson, © 2004, and was reprinted on www.ChurchCentral.com, with his permission.