Are Church Movements Meant to Age?
Exploring vision, leadership, & congregational life cycles by Chris Cooke
I’m deeply grateful to Chris for the investment and impact he has had on my life. His faithfulness in marriage, family, and leadership goes before him, and he is someone who truly lives full and will die empty. I’m genuinely thankful that he has taken the time to write and share this.
Chris writes not as a distant observer, but as a practitioner, a theologian, and a leader who has lived through seasons of growth, transition, and release. What follows is the fruit of decades of experience, thoughtful reflection, and a genuine concern for the long-term health of the Church.
This Wisdom Digest invites leaders to think honestly about where their church is, how it got there, and what faithfulness looks like in the next season. It is not alarmist, but it is sobering. And it is offered not to discourage, but to serve.
Read slowly. Reflect honestly. And allow the questions raised here to do their work.
Chris Cooke
Having been a part of the founding generation of Freedom Church in the UK, my wife Karin and I were for a number of years the Locations Directors, overseeing and supporting our European churches. We recently stepped out of that, as we have released those churches to have their own leadership, trustees, legal structure, etc, and are now back engaged more in our local church, as well as being mentors for other leaders inside and beyond our Movement.
On a personal level, I am completing a Theology PhD which is dealing with whether churches have life cycles. The original thinking for this began some five or six years ago. Freedom Church had been planted in rural Herefordshire something over 30 years before, but from 2011 had exploded into a church planting movement. We had gone from one church in one city, to over 30 different locations in around 18 nations, (more have been added since).
Everything felt dynamic and optimistic. But through my relationships and work with other churches, Movements and Denominations, I was aware that other such scenarios had existed in the last century in the UK, where new denominations had experienced dramatic growth, only to run aground in some way by the end of the century. There had been leadership succession issues, doctrinal disagreements, or (most particularly, I observed), they had simply fossilised and ‘grown old’. Their practice and methodology remained much as it had 50 years ago, and fresh new expressions of church were reaching the younger generations that these churches were not.
A Christian university maths professor in Wales, (who I may well quote in future articles), has used highly technical and reputable methodology to chart ‘Extinction Dates’ for those denominations, stretching from 2038 (for the United Reformed Church), to 2080+ for the Baptist denomination, (whilst emphasising that these were mathematical projections and not predictions).
Extinction? Now that should focus the mind!
How to avoid our church falling victim, or more likely simply drifting, into similar decay. This got me thinking about life cycles. Can a church rejuvenate from being, appearing and acting ‘elderly’ to being, appearing and acting more youthfully?
Our natural life cycles are relatively fixed. To date, 100% of humankind have died when they reached old age. In recent centuries, no-one has lived for more than 150 years. But an Anglican Church in my hometown recently celebrated their 950th anniversary.
I found a model of congregational life-cycles that has made a lot of sense to me. It was devised by George Bullard and helpfully maps the stages of congregational life onto the human life cycle. Now, George E.P. Box once wrote that “All models are wrong, some models are useful.”
In other words, don’t expect this model of thinking to be perfect, (for example, I’m not convinced by the chronological time frames that he uses), but just perhaps this model can be useful if you map your own church onto this framework.
Where is your church? In its Infancy? Retirement? Adulthood? If you do not feel that it is where you would want it to be, what would need to be done (for example) bring Vision to the fore again?
Are you the point leader? If so, is on you to communicate with your leadership team about this. Are you more of a support leader? If so, do you need to raise the subject with your senior pastor/leadership team?
Have a look at the attached model, and see if it is helpful to you.
Chris Cooke
Imagine a Car
Imagine a car as a metaphor for a congregation. Place Vision, Relationships, Programs, and Management in this vehicle in the seat best suited for each to symbolize a faithful, effective, and innovative journey for a congregation.
Who would drive? Vision, of course. Vision would be driving and fuelling the forward progress of the vehicle. Who would navigate? Relationships would navigate and flavour the quality of the journey.
Who would be in the back seat behind Relationships? Programs would sit behind Relationships in a supporting role. It would provide the programs, ministries, and activities through which the best possible relationships could happen with God, with one another, and with the context the congregation serves.
So, Management would be in the back seat behind Vision? Yes. It would provide the administrative infrastructure that allows Vision to engage in “Faith Soaring” in response to God’s leadership.
What happens when Vision gets tired and needs to take a nap in the back seat? Who drives?
The answer begins with Scriptures. A loose translation of the first part of Proverbs 29:18 says that where there is no vision the people perish. Or. Where there is no vision the people cast off all restraint. Or, where there is no vision, the people run around in circles without any clear sense of direction and focus.
Further, where there is no vision and Moses, the leader stays too long on the mountain, then the people demand that Aaron, the manager, build them an idol of God they can see and touch.
Where there is no Vision, Management drives.
At first management does an excellent job of driving. The longer management drives, and the longer Vision sleeps, the more likely the congregation will engage in activities that cause it to age and become more passive and less vital. The long term result of this pattern is death.
Because of the view I have presented on Programs and Management, would it not be better to just leave them home and not take them on the journey? No. Programs and Management are an essential part of the journey.
Alignment is the key. Each organizing principle must play out its appropriate role in its best seat in the vehicle for the journey to be excellent, transformation, and to approach the full Kingdom potential of the congregation.
Ten Stages of Congregational Development
Condensed from Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential Of Your Congregation by George Bullard
Phase One: Early Growth
This phase involves the life cycle stages of Birth and Infancy and is preceded by a Gestation period.
1. Birth
Birth is that period when Vision is dominant, and relationships, programs, and management are not. Vision is the fuel or energy that drives a new congregation forward.
2. Infancy
Infancy is that period when Vision and Relationships are dominant, but programs and management are not. The period of Infancy lasts three to five years.
Phase Two: Late Growth
This phase involves the life cycle stages of Childhood and Adolescence. Phase Two is the time during which a congregation develops and grows its Programs. They begin to walk by sight rather than by faith. This causes confusion in Adolescence.
3. Childhood
Childhood is that period when Vision and Programs are dominant, but relationships and management are not. The Childhood stage of a congregation is characterized by an urgency to build programs, ministries, and activities similar to a full-service congregation. Energy and resources that were dedicated to an intentional disciple-making system during Infancy are now dedicated to program development.
4. Adolescence
Adolescence is that period when Vision, Relationships and Programs are dominant but Management is not. The period of adolescence lasts six to eight years. The adolescent stage is characterized by a passion to fulfill the strategic spiritual vision of the congregation. Because fulfillment of this Vision may be in sight, the congregation presses for a higher quality and quantity of ministry.
Phase Three: Prime / Plateau
This phase involves the life cycle stages of Adulthood and Maturity. Phase Three is the time during which a congregation reaches its prime. In Adulthood they have a balance by walking of faith and by sight. This balance begins to weaken in Maturity.
5. Adulthood
Adulthood is that period when Vision, Relationships, Programs, and Management share dominance. The period of Adulthood lasts three to five years. Adulthood is characterized by a congregation that is in its prime. It is relaxed. It is successful. It has a positive spirit. It is focused. It is clear about its Vision, and its Vision shares broad ownership in the congregation. It is positive about its future. It feels that it can accomplish anything to which it sets its mind, as long as it matches the will of God for the congregation.
Needs VRPm
6. Maturity
Maturity is that period when Relationships, Programs, and Management are dominant. Vision is no longer dominant. Management is controlling the direction of the congregation. A congregation that is past its prime characterizes Maturity. It is more passive than active. It is successful in many areas. For the most part it has a positive spirit. The quality of what happens in Maturity is the highest of any stage in the life cycle.
Needs VRPm
Phase Four: Early Aging
This phase involves the life cycle stages of Empty Nest and Retirement. Phase Four is the time during which a congregation diminishes, first in programs and then in relationships. They begin to hardwire a pattern into their congregational life of walking by sight more than faith.
7. Empty Nest
Empty Nest is that period when Relationships and Management are dominant. Vision and programs are no longer dominant. Management is controlling the direction of the congregation. Empty Nest has three phases: Nostalgia, Disappointment, and Anger.
Needs vRPm
8. Retirement
Retirement is that period when Programs and Management are dominant. Visions and relationships are no longer dominant. Management is controlling the direction of the congregation.
Needs vRpm
Phase Five: Late Aging
This phase involves the life cycle stages of Old Age and Death. Phase Five is the time during which a congregation institutionalizes its Management and loses sight of vision and relationships. They walk by sight only.
9. Old Age
Old Age is that period when Management is the only one of the four organizing principles that is dominant. Vision, relationships, and programs are no longer dominant. Management is the only thing left to control the direction of the congregation. Old Age is that stage of a congregation’s life cycle when it is functioning on fumes rather than being fuelled by Vision. The habit or pattern of gathering for worship and fellowship is the primary factor keeping the congregation going.
Need vrPm
10. Death
Death is the period when none of the four organizing principles is dominant. Vision, relationships, and programs are no longer even present. Management is the only organizing principles left, and its role is brief and confined. At Death a congregation ceases to exist as a community of worship, discipleship and fellowship.
Needs Vrpm
Wisdom to Digest
This is the kind of wisdom that asks us not just to assess systems, but to examine stewardship.
Chris reminds us that churches rarely drift suddenly. They drift quietly, gradually, often with good intentions. Vision fades, management fills the gap, and life gives way to maintenance unless leaders are willing to pause, re-centre, and realign.
As you finish reading, consider:
Where is vision seated in your church right now?
What is driving, and what is merely managing?
What conversations need courage, not delay?
Wisdom Digest exists to help leaders notice what is happening beneath the surface, and to respond with faith, humility, and hope.