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	<title>McIntosh Church Growth Network</title>
	<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com</link>
	<description>Dr. Gary L. McIntosh</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:19:54 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Growth Rates</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After years of study, it is my contention that the primary indicator of a church&#8217;s health is its worship attendance growth rate. A negative rate normally means the church has one or more problems. A positive growth rate indicates that, for the moment, ministry and mission are likely going well. Of course, there will be exceptions in either case. But rules are generalizations of what is the case far more often than not. In general, I suggest the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2012/04/17/growth-rates/</link>
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		<title>There&#8217;s Hope for Your Church</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A startling 85% of churches in the US are plateaued or declining, a trend that has been building for the past fifty years. In the face of shrinking attendance and lagging spiritual growth, pastors and church leaders are understandably discouraged and demoralized. But the first step to turning things around is hope. Church health expert Gary McIntosh offers this hope by showing church leaders the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/resources/books/2012/04/17/theres-hope-for-your-church/</link>
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		<title>Is your church fit?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I spoke to 20 pastors this last week on the topic of Healthy Churches.  I suggested to the pastors that there are four, perhaps five, types of churches in a health paradigm.  First, there are Hospice Churches.  These churches are extremely ill, having declined in worship attendance for a decade or longer, and most likely will close.  God can, of course, perform a miracle and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2011/03/19/is-your-church-fit/</link>
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		<title>Numerical Church Growth</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently spoke at a leadership enrichment conference. Leaders from twelve congregations gathered to think about how to lead churches of various sizes, as well as how to staff a church so that it grows. As we discussed some of the principles together, one of the participants asked, “Why should we care about numerical growth anyway?” It was an interesting question, and one that I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2011/03/12/post-8/</link>
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		<title>Mid-size church conference</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ll be speaking at the Mid-Size Church Conference in Blaine, MN on May 10, 2011 at Bridgewood Community Church.  A conference designed specifically to address the challenges and needs of the medium sized church. (250-700)  This is a great opportunity for you and your team to explore solutions with other like-minded leaders.  Why not join me there?
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		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2011/03/08/mid-size-church-conference/</link>
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		<title>Balanced Church Growth</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Church Growth Movement promotes a balance between spiritual and numerical growth factors.  For example, a definition of Church Growth used by the American Society for Church Growth reads,
“Church growth is that discipline which investigates the nature, function, and health of Christian churches, as they relate to the effective implementation of the Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all peoples (Mt. 28:19-20). It is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2011/03/05/post-7/</link>
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		<title>Multi-cultural Church</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A multi-cultural church is a wonderful experience and blessing.  However, while we may feel that a multi cultural church is what Christ’s wants, in reality not everyone is attracted to such a church.
Some first generation people have a strong attraction to their native culture and have no real desire to be part of a different cultural experience.  They have an assimilation factor of A1, which [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2011/02/27/post-6/</link>
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		<title>Rule of Four</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Church leaders occasionally talk about the Rule of Four.  Here is how it works.  If you know 50 people, and each of them knows 50 more people, you have 2,500 friends of friends.  If each of them knows 50 more people, you have 125,000 friends of friends of friends.  And, if each of them knows 50 others, you have more than six billion friends of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2011/02/20/post-5/</link>
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		<title>Defining Church Growth</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When you think of the term Church Growth, what comes to mind?  If you are like most people you think of one of the following concepts.
In the 1970s people primarily thought of church growth as a research paradigm.  The idea was to study a church to get the facts and “remove the fog” in an effort to be more faithful in winning people to Christ [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2011/02/13/post-4/</link>
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		<title>Working with God</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There is an old story about two farmers who were talking together alongside a beautiful harvest field.  The farmer who owned the land that produced such a bountiful harvest was predictably proud of the crop.  As farmers are prone to do, he talked incessantly to his friend about the trials and tribulations that went into the plowing, fertilizing, planting, irrigating, and harvesting.  When the farmer [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://churchgrowthnetwork.com/blog/2011/02/06/post-3/</link>
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