The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has faithfully and courageously embodied commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice for several decades. These values and pursuits have been and will continue to be essential to our denominational expression of Christianity.
Yet amid those crucial commitments, we have seemingly also lost track of another missional value: seeing our churches grow in numbers. Just like the early church, we need our local churches to grow in both faith and numbers (Acts 16:5). A new and growing group of PC(USA) leaders is putting renewed emphasis on helping churches grow in both faith and numbers: the newly formed PC(USA) Church Growth Network (PCGN).
Related reading: “The future of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): Decline, renewal and shifting trends” by Gregg Brekke, Outlook reporting
The PCGN is a learning community of PC(USA) leaders who value local congregations and new faith communities, believing these are called to be “strengthened in the faith” and to increase in numbers. The PCGN seeks to foster growth in size, vitality and missions impact for local congregations and new faith communities so that more people experience the life-changing love of Christ.
Reframing church growth
For many mainline Protestant Christians, the very phrase “church growth” carries baggage. It conjures images of shallow marketing gimmicks, megachurch failures or growth pursued at the expense of theological depth. But the PCGN is not encouraging that kind of growth. Rather, the PCGN is seeking to foster a denomination-wide conversation about church growth. This conversation will continue for some, be new for others and improved for many.
Related reading: “The vital congregation of tomorrow” by Mark Elsdon
Healthy and faithful church growth is not about nostalgia or institutional survival. Growth is about the mission of the church, so that more people might experience the life-changing love of Christ and contribute to the transformation of the world, making God’s dream a reality.
One key aspect of the PCGN is that we are seeking to support sustainable church growth as well. We want churches to grow so they can be the best version of themselves, rather than trying to imitate another church. We believe that each church should strive to reach the upper limit of its current capacity. Our approach helps churches have a faithful growth mindset. Some churches are called to break a church-size growth barrier, but not all churches. The goal is to sustain the growth of a church so that it does not rely on a single person or a small group of leaders, but is instead rooted in the whole congregation.
What do we mean by “growth in size”?
The PCGN believes that congregations and new faith communities should grow at a sustainable pace by welcoming and integrating new people into the community, resulting in numerical increases in engagement, worship attendance or membership. One result of healthy church growth is congregations of all sizes and types, which we will value and support.
What do we mean by “vitality”?
Congregations and new faith communities must embody four types of vitality to promote growth and be a dynamic local church.
- Missional Vitality: Demonstrates a strong outward focus that promotes the sharing of the Gospel and the welcoming of new people into a local church. A vital church is welcoming and integrates new people into its community.
- Ecclesial Vitality: Embodies the marks of a faithful church devoted to the ministry of Word and Sacrament, fellowship, care for one another and administration. A vital church is committed to being faithfully strong internally.
- Adaptable Vitality: Cultivates the ability to approach tasks in new ways or adapt to different situations to achieve different results. A vital church knows it must engage in adaptive change.
- Experiential Vitality: Demonstrates the ability to deliver a personally impactful experience for individuals. A vital church must be able to engage with people in the ways they need to be engaged, not in the ways we think they should engage.
What do we mean by “missions impact”?
Congregations and new faith communities must also make an observable difference in making God’s dreams for the world a reality by serving our neighbors. To be internally strong is not enough. Local churches need to focus externally to make a meaningful difference in their communities.
Adding growth to the whirlwind of each local church’s ministry
The PCGN recognizes that church growth needs to be a “wildly important goal.” This concept comes from The Four Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling (revised in 2021). The leadership of the PCGN sees these four disciplines of execution as a valuable tool for church leadership and a source of a great metaphor as well.
Most church leaders know the whirlwind of the day-to-day life of a local church — the unending cycle of bulletins and budgets, Sunday morning preparations, loving the lost and least of these in our world, committee meetings, caring ministries and property repairs. These are not unimportant; they are essential. In fact, pursuing all of them helps a congregation be vibrant and aid its growth in faith. But if this is all you focus on, then your church is less likely to grow in numbers as well.
“Before the PCGN, I was seriously wondering where I fit in the PC(USA). I feel a new sense of belonging and excitement for our denomination!” — PCGN member/pastor, small-town Texas congregations
The change occurs when a local church adopts the wildly important goal of church growth. It then needs to devote 20% of its efforts in pursuit of this goal; 80% of its efforts still go to the whirlwind. The consistent and passionate pursuit of the wildly important goal will eventually transform a church, enabling it to learn new skills and incorporate those activities into its daily whirlwind. To achieve different results, you must act differently. Pursuing a wildly important goal will help you do that.
This approach does mean that a local church needs to adopt new strategies and tactics. Fostering online engagement, renewing facilities, improving worship, increasing investment in children and youth ministries and partnering with other local nonprofits to meet community needs are a few examples of things that can spur church growth. There is no promise of “if you build it, they will come.” But you must try.
Adding church growth to the whirlwind of the PC(USA)
Similarly, the PCGN aims to help the denomination incorporate church growth into its overall strategy. In this focus, our denomination continues to pursue the whirlwind, but it devotes 20% of its efforts to church growth. We must keep pursuing what we are doing, as the vital work of diversity, equity and inclusion is never done; and we cannot lose the progress that has been made. Asking for 20% is a significant effort, for sure — but the more we decline, the more effort we will need to make to alter our course.
Deeply committed to the PC(USA)
The PCGN is deeply committed to serving the PC(USA) and helping to shape the future of our denomination from a supportive and collaborative posture. We are not interested in shaming anyone in leadership nor agitating to leave the denomination. We have named these concerns because they are logical based on past actions and outcomes of other church growth conversations within our denominational circles. The PCGN board must stress how much we believe in the denomination’s overall progress in becoming more inclusive and welcoming. Diversity is a key element of sustainable church growth.
Starting with the PC(USA), but ecumenical
The PCGN is an ecumenical endeavor at large, but we are starting with the PC(USA) denomination. We are doing this because that is our community, and we also do not know how best to work with other denominations on a broader level at this time. Our in-person and online events are open to all church leaders.
Ways to get connected to the PCGN
The PCGN invites all PC(USA) leaders to participate in our learning and relationship-building opportunities. We host two monthly drop-in Zoom calls (second Tuesday at 2 p.m. Central and second Wednesday at 9 a.m. Central). Those calls feature a monthly theme for discussion, and participants leave with actionable next steps to help their churches seek healthier growth.
“I’ve been desperate for more conversations about church growth and vitality. I went to a few church planters’ groups, but that just wasn’t really my context. I was also at GA last year and noticed that no one talked about working toward growth — just lamenting the loss of status or power. I’m grateful the PCGN has gotten off the ground, and I am excited to be prt of this conversation. — PCGN member/pastor, suburban congregations
We have also launched a series of webinars that feature expert voices from around the denomination. And we are collaborating with local churches, presbyteries and synods to plan other online and in-person events.
We hope that these collaborative events will foster more local and regional connections. We also know that these will serve local church leaders with more contextual conversations and learnings.
An invitation to the Second Annual PCGN Conference: October 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio
The PCGN is still young, but we believe the Spirit is at work. We invite leaders across the denomination to gather in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 6 and 7, 2026, for a conference hosted by the Presbytery of Cincinnati and Knox Presbyterian Church. We hope that pastors, elders, deacons, church staff, mid-council leaders and anyone connected to a PC(USA) institution will come be inspired to help the church grow in faith and numbers.
About the PCGN
The PCGN began as a small Facebook group of PC(USA) leaders who sought to share their work and how God was using it to help grow their churches. This group began to grow, gradually. A group met in May 2025 to develop a charter that would define this growing group and facilitate experimentation. We needed to know who we were before we could invite others into the conversation. We went public in July 2025. We went from fewer than 100 Facebook members to more than 550 in just three months! Visit pcgrowthnetwork.org or go to facebook.com/groups/pcgrowthnetwork to join the conversation.
