WHY GROWTH BECOMES STUNTED AND MINISTRIES FADES

Many are ministers, churches and ministries that begins on an impressive mode, and due to consistency, comes great explosion that ushers them into a new level of growth, but sooner or later they plateau, experiencing stagnation in their growth. This have occurred repeatedly in the life of so many ministries and pastors. Today, they are doing well, and the next thing, they are out of place.

God doesn’t want His ministers and their ministries to stagnate. Not only does he want our ministries to succeed, but He also wants us as ministers to succeed as leaders. To this end, there are common errors noticeable in the life and ministries of these once vibrant but now stagnant ministries that we will do well to avoid. We refer to them as dangerous traps devil will most likely use to bring down a growing ministry. Please kindly note that if we are experiencing any of the following traps, we will do good if immediate corrections is out in place.

1. You Stopped Growing Personally: 

Everything they say, rises and falls on the leader. They development pace and experience of any ministry is attached to the personal growth of the leader. When God wants to take his work higher, he breaks it down for his servant – the pastor, who shares the vision with the house and oversee it’s actualization, but when you fail to develop and grow personally, you become an obstruction to the heaven’s current agenda. Someone once said “Whenever you find yourself resisting a new way of doing something, defending the status quo, or opposing a change that God has told you to make, watch out — you’re about to lose your place of leadership.” It is therefore crucial that you must constantly upgrade yourself, keep developing your skills, your character, your perspective, your vision, your love and passion for God. Hate ignorance, never stop learning. Keep reading the Bible, edifying books, listen to other speakers and sermons. Attend conferences and seminars and trainings and encourage your associates to do the same.

2. You Stopped Developing With Time: 

Our God is not static but dynamic, so is time, change is a constant factor many ministries has failed to understand. The same old pattern of worship, the same set of leadership that has refused to grow in time, no improvement in various service delivery. The only factor that must not change is the Undiluted Word of God in action. The method of gospel outreaches of the 80s and 90s have evolved, the church must also buy into the various healthy advancement and development. We must embrace godly creativity and ideas. The advent of COVID-19 really exposed most churches, and it users us into the use of technology. If you don’t move according to life timing, you’ll soon be left behind. (Hebrews  1:1-2) “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…”

3. You Stop Doing the Things That Brought Success: 

I have over the years noticed that the things we do when seeking for growth or the move of God, we often stop doing them, these are the things that made our lives and churches attractive to God therefore moving Him towards us. Our devotion to prayer, commitment to personal evangelism and outreaches, our commitment to holistic study of the word of God, our fellowship and commitment to kingdom stewardship etc. We simply forget our first love for God and the things that brought the growth. The reward for good works is more work, growth is not rest, but a call to more hard work. What were the things we used to do personally and as a church that brought us growth that we have stopped doing. (Revelation  2:5) “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works…”

4. You Stop Investing in People

Ministry is about God and the People, the vital point of a successful ministry is the care for the people. It is said that “People don’t care how much you know, until the know how much you care”. The leader who stops having a passion for ministry and for souls won’t last long. This is one of the common mistakes pastors or ministers who experience growth often make. The fire and  passion for people’s development and investment suddenly die out. They often becomes less interested in the happenings in the life of people, seeing the challenges of people has disturbance, forgetting that your relevance in the life of the people is what keeps you in ministry. You even use them as examples in your messages, just because you knew about their past. Dangerous! Beloved it has destroyed ministries. Learn to listen and be sensitive to others. Let them tell you about their challenges, problems, their fears, their hurts, pains. Listen to their dreams and vision aspirations, and pursuits. Beloved! The ministry was setup as a solution center, you are the people’s ear, and must be keenly interested in listening to people’s challenges and difficulties, providing counsels, guidance and direction to them. So, do the things that originally made people love to stay around you in ministry. Be interested in their welfare, their plans and pursuit, it is dangerous when we are missing in action of the things God is doing in the lives of His people. Get involved, ask questions, seek their greatness and let them know that you love and care for them.

5. You Stopped Being Sensitive:

This work is about how sensitive you are to both divine direction and the church direction. I observed that many of the growing church at one point or the other forget the vital key of sensitivity. When something is working doesn’t mean it is God that is working, many don’t know when God changes His moves and direction, because we can see what we want to see referring to numerical growth, forgetting the little hole that could accumulate to put a stop to our growth. We easily become contented in our comfort zone, and neglect the vital things that ensures constant growth.

6. You Stopped Listening to Your Team: 

When you stopped listening to your followers when they give suggestions. You become the know-it-all all, you begin to fight godly counsels. Your team members can’t give a suggestion or idea. Ministers in this line begins to see the people who God has placed around them as less important. The people who serves as their foot soldiers, men who will take a bullet for them becomes less important, attributing their ministry success to their anointing, disposing their Aaron and Hur (Exodus 17:11-12). People only invest in ideas and vision they have a voice and contribute in birthing. When other people’s ideas don’t matter, people starts losing interest in our vision and mandate. Active members becomes passive, vibrant stewards become wary, people are no more interested in our projects. I have heard pastors saying “let them go if they want to go, if one person go, God will bring 20 more”, One of the most vital gift God can give us as minister to be successful is the “Gift of People”. Our leadership is seen as autocratic system having a dictator at the elms of affairs when we ignore the voice of our team members. This is the beginning of segregation and break-ways among notable ministries, resulting in a lot of prominent members leaving our church today. Be open to suggestions and constructive criticism. Encourage the people serving in your ministry to talk to you.

7. You Are Proud and Arrogant: 

Stagnation is at hand, when fatherly advice walks out of our lives. Many sees themselves as self sufficient, they have every corner covered. They no longer rely on the sufficiency of the Lord. Many have even abandoned the counsels of their mentors, men whom God has placed as spiritual watchmen over them. As a matter of fact many ministers have outgrown their spiritual fathers and mentors, ignored advices and counseling of impending storm. I’ve seen this again and again. When a leader becomes arrogant, it leads to calamity Pride is said to go before destruction. When you think that everything depends on you, when you don’t think you need the Lord’s help in your ministry because you’ve got it all together,  when you see godly counsel as a waste of time, becoming heart hardened to wisdoms of the fathers of faith, watch it carefully, the fall is around the corner. If you sense that you’ve become prideful and arrogant about your leadership, humble yourself. Ask God for softening and humility and bow before his greatness.

8. You Lost Focus:

The basic reason for struggle and church decline noticed in many of this ministries is the loss of focus and vision. Statistics show that many migrates from where God placed and position them, been tossed here and there. Too many distractions within and without, from unnecessary associates, pursuit, ambitions, challenges and limitations. Ministry is a long journey, and it is easy for you to lose focus. Conflict of interest, situations withholding your hand from doing the ministry. Satan doesn’t need to stress himself about you as long as  you distracted, because he knows you aren’t doing what God wants you to do. Irrespective of any situation we might find ourselves, God wants us to stay focused. Never forget nor abandon your mission, no looking back, onward Christian soldiers (Luke 9:62). Romans  8:35- 39 has said it all “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (KJV).

9. You Became Complacent:

We finished a program we organized, and I began to relay the experience to my mentor, surprisingly he just said, nice work, find time to personally appreciate God, and work for a better one next. There is a tendency of feeling fulfilled and satisfied when we experience a little degree of success. Another thing we can observe in the lives of these ministers and their ministries is that they become contented with what God has done in the past, feeling fulfilled and satisfied, soon they time passes them by and failed to strive for greater level of impact. The reward for good works in this kingdom is more work. One breakthrough program makes you think you got it covered, you are in control, forgetting that every growth at any ministry level, attracts a bigger and stronger opposition. The bigger our impact in ministry, the bigger the adversary. Paul said in I Corinthians  16:9  “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.”

Never depend on your skills and tactics but depend on the sufficiency of the Almighty. It is His enablement that makes us able, for without Him we can do nothing.

10. You Became a Giant among dwarfs:

Ministry is too big to carry alone, many of these churches had a giant as a leader, but failed to prepare for the growth and for the future. There is no future without a discipleship structure. You started the ministry alone, but you failed to put in place the right channel of discipleship system that turns your baby converts into giants like you. The men you failed to disciple will betray you and sell out the ministry that took you years to build. You are a part of a big vision, if a ministry ends at the exit of the General Overseer, you have failed to fulfill ministry. Ministry is about posterity and any ministry that does not outlive the founder, can’t be the Church built on and by Christ. If it is God’s church, it must outlive you. Many of these Churches plateaued and many even die, immediately the G.O was no more there or when the G.O relocates from that environment. Many Churches that was pulling the crowds and causing mighty waves in the 1960s, 1970s, even up to the early 2000 are no longer in business, mostly due to the relocation of the set man either to the glory beyond or to another country, simply because they remained giants among their members who remains dwarf in the Lord and in the ministry. When a ministry stands still, God might be telling you that you’ve reached the limit of what he’s empowered you to do by yourself. You need to move forward by discipling others and delegating them to move the ministry forward. Utilize the grace and gifts of God in the lives of men around you.