Breaking Growth Barriers, the free book by Jon-Michael Sherman

● Free book · 150 pages

Breaking Growth Barriers.

By Jon-Michael Sherman

The shifts that move your church past 100, 200, 500 and 1,000. Find your barrier, find your lid, and move what’s unideal to ideal.

  • One part for each barrier: 100, 200, 500 and 1,000
  • The trust ladder at every size, and the chapter that fixes each rung
  • A scorecard and a month-by-month plan at the end of every part

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The trust ladder

Every visit, a guest decides whether to climb or leave.

People don’t decide to make your church their home in one Sunday. They climb. Every visit, a guest is quietly asking whether they can trust you with their Sunday, their kids, their friendships and finally their reputation. Each yes moves them up a rung. Each no drains trust, and enough of them and they’re gone.

The rungs come in order. Excellent preaching gets them in the door. A great kids experience brings them back. Friends make them stay. A place to serve makes it theirs. And when they’d invite their friends, you’re growing.

Read it from the bottom. Every rung has an opposite. Find the one where your people stop climbing.

  1. 5I would invite my friends to come here.I wouldn’t invite anyone to this church.
  2. 4I can use my gifts to serve here.I had a weird interaction with a volunteer.
  3. 3I can find friends here.I don’t see anyone I would be friends with.
  4. 2My kids had a great time.The kids rooms were gross.
  5. 1The preaching is excellent.The sermon didn’t relate to me.

Inside the book

Find your barrier. Then find your lid.

Every barrier asks for a different shift. Read the part for the size you’re stuck at. Every chapter ends with one thing to do this week, and every part ends with a scorecard and a plan.

Part 1Breaking 100

  1. 1Find Your Lid
  2. 2Climb the Trust Ladder
  3. 3Break the Stories That Keep You Small
  4. 4Build a Team, Not a Small Church
  5. 5Spend 80% of Your Week Recruiting
  6. 6Get Your Board on Board
  7. 7Read the Asset Coldly
  8. 8Get to Sunday Morning
  9. 9Look Like a Church People Can See Themselves In
  10. 10Build the Eight Teams
  11. 11Put Next Steps In Now
  12. 12Go All In
  13. 13Preach Better Every YearBonus
  14. 14Protect the ServiceBonus
  15. 15Name the Big, Hairy, Ugly ThingBonus
  16. 16Know When to Hold ’Em, Know When to Fold ’EmBonus
  17. 17Score Yourself
  18. 18Circle New Church Day

Part 2Breaking 200

  1. 19Climb the Trust Ladder
  2. 20Stop Being Everyone’s Pastor
  3. 21Preach a Church Worth Inviting To
  4. 22Plan the Preaching Year
  5. 23Find Your First Five Leaders
  6. 24Make Kids Ministry Guest-Ready
  7. 25Follow Up Within 48 Hours
  8. 26Make Room for New People
  9. 27Release What Others Can Do
  10. 28Build a Care Team Now
  11. 29Decide to Grow
  12. 30Close Every SermonBonus
  13. 31Raise the Bar on ServingBonus
  14. 32Heal the Betrayal ScarBonus
  15. 33Score Yourself
  16. 34Launch in the Fall Window

Part 3Breaking 500

  1. 35Climb the Trust Ladder
  2. 36Build the Organization That Cares for Them
  3. 37Hire for the Bottleneck
  4. 38Give Every Ministry a Leader Who Isn’t You
  5. 39Write Down the Path From Guest to Engaged
  6. 40Schedule Every Team Four Weeks Out
  7. 41See Who’s Drifting Before They’re Gone
  8. 42Add Room Before You Hit the Ceiling
  9. 43Develop Leaders, Not Just Volunteers
  10. 44Plan the Preaching a Year Ahead
  11. 45Review Five Numbers Every Week
  12. 46Raise the BarBonus
  13. 47Outgrow Your Own Job DescriptionBonus
  14. 48Kill Sideways EnergyBonus
  15. 49Score Yourself
  16. 50Build It in Twelve Months

Part 4Breaking 1,000

  1. 51Climb the Trust Ladder
  2. 52Lead the Few Who Lead Everyone
  3. 53Redraw the Org Chart
  4. 54Let Your Executive Pastor Run the Church
  5. 55Let Department Heads Staff Their Own Teams
  6. 56Make Every Service the Same Church
  7. 57Care for 1,000 Through a System
  8. 58Give Every Stage an Owner
  9. 59Build Leaders of Leaders
  10. 60Put Everyone on the Same Picture
  11. 61Keep a Big Church Personal
  12. 62Align Every Department Behind the Same PrioritiesBonus
  13. 63Max Out Sunday Before You BuildBonus
  14. 64Build a Structure That Lets You LeadBonus
  15. 65Score Yourself
  16. 66Restructure in Twelve Months

Want the short version first?

Every barrier has a ten-question cheat sheet.

Fill one in this week and see what’s holding your church at 100, 200, 500 or 1,000, and what to change first.

Also free: The High Capacity Pastor →
Get the cheat sheets →
Breaking Growth Barriers, a free book

Free book · 150 pages

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Breaking Growth Barriers, by Jon-Michael Sherman. Fill this out once and it’s yours to keep.

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