Reasons Your Church May Not Be Growing And What to Change

Every pastor of a plateaued or declining church has asked the question: Why isn’t our church growing?

The usual explanation is cultural.

We hear things like:

• “People just aren’t interested in church anymore.”
• “The culture has moved past Christianity.”
• “Young people aren’t spiritual.”

But the evidence doesn’t really support that narrative.
Interest in Christianity hasn’t disappeared. In some places it’s actually increasing.

• Bible sales have surged in recent years. Publishing data from Circana BookScan shows Bible sales jumped more than 20% in 2024, with millions of copies sold across the U.S.
• Christian podcasts and digital content are reaching enormous audiences. Faith-based podcasts regularly rank near the top of the religion and spirituality charts, and millions of listeners are tuning in every week.
• At the same time, faith conversations are showing up in places they rarely did before. Influential podcasters, athletes, musicians, and actors are openly talking about Christianity and exploring faith in front of massive audiences.

People are still searching.
They’re asking spiritual questions.
They’re curious about Jesus.
They’re looking for meaning.

So if spiritual curiosity is still present in the culture, but many churches are plateaued or declining, that raises a different question.

Maybe the issue isn’t a lack of spiritual hunger.

Maybe the issue is how well the church is reaching the people who are hungry.
Let me point to a few common reasons churches stop growing—and what can change if they want to grow again.

1. Your Church May Have an Evangelism Problem
Lifeway Research recently studied discipleship practices among Protestant churchgoers and graded believers across several areas of spiritual maturity.

One category stood out above the rest.
Sharing Christ received an F. The average score was 54.8 out of 100.

Think about that for a moment:

• If most believers rarely share the gospel…
• rarely invite people to church…
• and rarely engage spiritually with lost people…
• then growth slows down quickly.

The primary evangelistic engine of a church isn’t the preacher It’s the people.

When everyday believers begin talking about Jesus again, inviting people again, and engaging their neighbors again, churches often start reaching people again.

What Needs to Change

• Make evangelism normal again.
• Talk about it regularly.
• Train people to do it simply.
• Celebrate it when it happens.

If evangelism disappears from the life of the congregation, growth usually disappears with it.

2. Your Church May Have a Discipleship Problem
The same research revealed another issue. Bible engagement received a D. That matters more than most churches realize.

When believers are not consistently engaging Scripture:

• spiritual maturity slows
• confidence in faith declines
• motivation for mission fades

​Churches sometimes try to solve growth problems with programs, events, or marketing strategies.
But healthy churches are built on something deeper.

They are built on people whose lives are shaped by the Word of God.

What Needs to Change

• Move discipleship beyond information.
• Help people actually:
  • read Scripture regularly
  • understand it clearly
  • obey it faithfully

A church that produces mature disciples will eventually produce disciple-makers.

And disciple-makers change everything.

3. Your Church May Have a Relationship Problem
Another weak area in the research was building relationships. That’s not a small issue.
Most people don’t start attending church because they saw a sign or an advertisement.

They come because someone they trust invited them.
And they stay because they form meaningful relationships.

A church can have strong preaching and solid theology and still struggle to grow if newcomers never truly connect.
What Needs to ChangeMake relational connection intentional.

Ask honest questions:

• How quickly do new people meet others?
• Are there clear pathways from attending to belonging?
• Do people move from the crowd into real community?

Churches grow through relationships.
Always have.
Always will.

4. Your Church May Be More Inward Than Outward
When churches plateau, something subtle often happens. The focus gradually shifts inward.

Energy gets directed toward:

• maintaining programs
• protecting traditions
• meeting the needs of insiders

None of those things are inherently wrong. But when the church becomes primarily focused on itself, mission begins to fade.

Jesus didn’t call the church to become a religious gathering. He called it to become a missionary movement.

What Needs to Change

• Re-center the church around the mission.
• Talk about the lost.
• Pray for the lost.
• Train people to reach the lost.

When a church begins looking outward again, momentum often follows.

5. Your Church May Be Protecting What God Intended to Multiply

Sometimes churches stop growing because they become protective.

• Protective of traditions.
• Protective of leadership structures.
• Protective of how things have always been done.

But the gospel was never meant to be protected.
It was meant to be proclaimed and multiplied.

Healthy churches continually ask a simple question:
How do we reach the people God has placed around us right now?

Not the people who lived in the neighborhood thirty years ago.
The people who live there today.

The Good News
Plateaued churches are not hopeless churches. Many churches grow again when they address the right issues.

Growth often returns when churches:

• renew their commitment to evangelism
• strengthen discipleship
• prioritize real relationships
• refocus on the mission of reaching people

The path forward usually isn’t complicated.
But it does require honesty.

Instead of blaming culture, healthy churches ask a better question: What needs to change so we can reach people again? And here’s the truth many churches eventually discover.

• People are still spiritually curious.
• They are still searching.
• They are still asking questions about God.
• The issue is not whether people are looking.
• The real question is whether the church is still reaching.

When a church rediscovers its mission to make disciples and reach people with the gospel, something powerful happens.

New life begins to show up.
​
And sometimes… growth does too.