Factors Affecting Church Growth

When a child is not growing we look for causes. The child may not be growing because he is not eating the right foods. The child may not be exercising correctly. Perhaps, the young one is not getting the proper nutrients to his body. If the situation becomes so critical as to threaten the child's existence, we consult a doctor. Yet, when our churches do not grow, many of us just assume that must be the way things are and who can change it? When Jesus walked the earth, he turned to the fig tree and cursed it because it gave no fruit. Growth is one of the characteristic of a living things which means that if our church is a living church, then the church must grow. Should we seek spiritual growth which is horizontally growth, community growth which is vertically growth or numerical growth. On which of these must we concentrate to enable the church of Jesus Christ to grow?