Where is your church in its life cycle?

Everywhere in God’s good creation is evidence of his universal life-cycle design.  Life-cycles include birth, growth, maturity, aging, death and rebirth.  The author of Ecclesiastes observed there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity including: “A Time to be born and a time to die…”

That life-cycle is also apparent in the life of most congregations.  The majority of churches are born out of vision, grow organizationally as they live into that vision and mature into the full expression of that vision. Typically, they then begin demonstrating signs of institutional aging as passion for the founding vision fades and resources necessary to sustain the vision diminish.  In time most congregations complete their journey while others begin theirs.

It should be noted that these congregational life-cycles are normal but not entirely inevitable.  Some congregations that show signs of early institutional aging have reinvented themselves and responded to a fresh calling as they embrace a new God-preferred future.

Where would you place your church on the congregational life-cycle bell curve?