Pastor Jacob Birch and Will Mancini's 12 Kinds of Churches

Will Mancini's 12 Kinds of Churches has really shaped my thinking lately about my own church as the Elders here go through a vision-casting-revival-needing-strategic-planning process.

Will Mancini says there are only "12 kinds of churches". I actually see churches falling into only 1 of 2 types going forward but more about that in a later blog post.

Based on his purposefully thought provoking titles and descriptions... what type of church is yours? If you are a denominational leader... what kind do you have the most of?

4 KINDS OF GROWING CHURCHES

• Neo-transcendance attractionals: Big crowds are coming this Sunday.
• Micromentums: Lots of variety, seed vision and redemptive passion.
• Faithfully-focused: Faithful to the gospel, the saints & the surrounding community.
• New-world traditionals:  Historic patterns for a new generation.

4 KINDS OF PLATEAUED CHURCHES

• Mega-mores: We built it and they didn’t come.
• Over-competents: Smart leaders with all-things-to-all-people approaches.
• Succession stalls: Who’s our leader?
• Strategic multipliers: Great influence but its not in the numbers.

4 KINDS OF DECLINING CHURCHES

• Die-visions: More differences of opinion and less people.
• Havens of care: It’s all about us!
• Target transplants: Someone moved but our address is the same.
• Denominational allegiants: If 1950 rolls around again, we’ll be ready.

Most important of all to me are the questions...

• What type of church are you moving to become? 
• What type of leader will you need to be to move your church to the type it wants to embrace?