Program Size
~Most of our active members accept the fact that this is no longer a small church. 
~Key lay leaders often put into their own words the reasons it is right for our congregation to grow numerically at this time.
~Our teams and committees and groups see it as their job to make room for more people in their particular areas of worship, program, and community. 
~When we gather informally we usually make positive comments about our numerical growth and our newer members.
~We are the sort of congregation that “steps up” to new community needs; our faith calls us to expand our capacity in response to population growth. 

Pastor Size
~Active members say that it would be better to remain this size so we can all know each other.
~Our main motivation for growth is to resolve our budget difficulties.
~Usually it is the pastor who states the reasons we should grow numerically at this time.
~A few people are thinking about growth issues, while the teams and committees mostly attend to their business.
~When we gather informally, we hear reservations about changes related to numerical growth.

Program Size
~At least one third of the pastor’s time is spent organizing effective ministries:  defining tasks, discerning gifts, recruiting leaders, establishing teams, training new leaders, helping ongoing committees and ministries to become more effective.
~Most of the pastoral care in our congregation occurs through well-organized ministries (groups, programs and lay care teams).  We expect our pastor to help us care for each other effectively.
~Our Pastor is encouraged in and experiences the work of leading and organizing as a valid and satisfying expression of ordained ministry.
~Leaders celebrate growth as an opportunity for expanding member’s ministry to each other.  If there were ample budget for additional clergy, the congregation would still emphasize member ministries of caring.
~Our pastor understands the needs of leadership in a program size church and can adapt to meet them.

Pastor Size
~Members feel neglected if the pastor doesn’t visit them in the hospital.
~When confronted with administrative and political challenges occasioned by growth, our pastor might see them as outside what he or she was called to do.
~Even though we have a good lay pastoral care team, our pastor still feels guilty about not being present in moments of need.
~When complaints come up about pastoral care, lay leaders hesitate to speak up and explain what is expected of the pastor in a growing congregation.
~Our pastor prefers serving as a leader in a congregation with the needs of a pastor size church.  

Program Size
~We are staffed with two full time program people, one full time office staff, one fulltime building maintenance staff, and at least half time music staff.
~We have undertaken serious study of staffing needs occasioned by growth and have developed a comprehensive staffing plan and funding strategy.
~We have an able group developing personnel practices and policies.

Pastor Size
~Our staffing includes one full time pastor, half time secretary, part time custodian and a music director who serves us one or two days a week.
~We make our staff decisions without an overall assessment and plan.
~We are casual about personnel policies and practices.

Program Size
~Comfortable, easily accessible seating options are visible every week at worship starting time.
~None of our services occupies less than 50 percent of seating capacity.
~Visitors who arrive just before the service can always find a parking space without difficulty. Current members rarely complain about parking problems.
~Our education programs for children and adults always have comfortable seating available for someone who arrives at the last minute. It is easy to get in and out of spaces, no one feels trapped if they drop in to try out the program.
~Rest rooms can accommodate a crowd and are easy to find.
~Our nursery area seems calm, clean, and spacious when parents bring their children in.

Pastor Size
~Our service is filled beyond 80 percent of its comfortable capacity (measured at 30-36 inches per person) on more than six Sundays each year other than church holidays.
~Our service is filled to less than 50 percent of comfortable capacity on more than six Sundays other than holidays. 
~Our way of involving children in worship creates double discomfort; overcrowding in the part of the service where children are present and a vacant feeling the rest of the time.
~People who come to adult education or social time see a cramped space with poor access to seats, refreshments and exits (especially if they wish to leave before it is over.) 

In a pastoral size church a small group of leaders provide the emotional glue that holds the church together as a single circle of community.  As the church grows the small network of leaders often becomes stressed as it tries to keep everything going.  In a multi-cell congregation, that informal network is replaced by boards, committees and teams that draw new leaders from all parts of the congregation.  Members accept the fact that there are distinct sub communities within the church. 

Program Size
~Our committees and teams are well organized, and all know what each is responsible for. Attendance at meetings is consistently good. 
~ People often comment on the wealth of talent and leadership we have in this church.  We have clear processed to recruit, orient and train new committee and team members.  At least 50 different adults fill some sort of leadership role.
~Whenever a major worship service is filled to 80 percent of comfortable capacity on 6 or more non-holiday weekends a year, we start planning another worship option. 
~Because we have a shared sense of mission, we still experience ourselves as a unified congregation even though people worship at different times. 
~Year by year, we increase the number of options for child and adult education, youth, musical participation, small groups, and spiritual growth and care.  We add holiday worship services as needed to provide comfortable space for everyone. 
~The Council no longer depends on a small “core group” of longer term members to keep things going.

Pastor Size
~Adults from a relatively small pool of people anchor almost every important ministry in the congregation and provide the nucleus of the Council from year to year.
~Many people feel that the congregation could not be a desirable community if there were more than one major Sunday worship option.
~Most of our program areas consist of only one group.  We would rather stay together and include more than divide.
~We feel that it is too much burden on our staff and choir to add more holiday services, even though we are cramped or turn people away.
~Many of our best leaders burn out. Some then withdraw from active participation.  

Timely progression from planning studies to decisions to implementation, including fund development.  Adequate number of self-motivated lay leaders (change champions) guiding the political and organizational processes from phase to phase and integrating the work into a coherent effort.  Willingness to learn from outside sources. 

Program Size
~We have completed or updated a long-range plan within the last three years.
~All our committees and team members know what the main long term goals are and understand their role in implementation.
~ We regularly create special groups to study specific aspects of growth, such as space, staffing, capital funding, new worship services, expanding our Sunday School.  These groups make timely recommendations that are voted upon promptly and implemented effectively.
~Our planning groups frequently learn from people outside the congregation: denominational resources, other congregations, professional fundraisers, organizational consultants. They find and use the best published resources in their learning.
~We have at least half a dozen well respected leaders who are change champions – people with sustained energy and passion for this congregation’s growth.  They help lead the work from phase to phase, and are often willing to move into the next needed position of leadership.  These people understand change management from their experience in community organizations, business, education, unions or previous church involvement. 

Pastor Size
~We have no up to date long range plan.
~Our committees and teams and ongoing groups operate like separate organizations.  They do not relate their work to commonly agreed goals or seek to collaborate with other groups.  Each group has its own turf.
~We may be concerned about growth related challenges, but rarely authorize a special group to study an issue and make recommendations.  The Council may feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the change we are facing.
~We tend to suspect outside experts and doubt that any other congregation could share helpful insight with us.  We always prefer home grown wisdom.
~Our committee and team chairs do their best while they are in office but we rely on the pastor and staff to provide continuity in our growth efforts.  Plans made in one year often fail to be implemented once new committee members come on board.  

Program Size
~Our pastor usually spends the necessary time of the workweek preparing a sermon.
~Worship planning involves effective teamwork among the worship leader, preacher, musicians, lay assistants and acolytes, church school leaders, and greeters and ushers.  The result is a coherent and uplifting worship experience.
~We employ specially trained and licensed professionals to supervise nursery care, and we follow clear safety policies in all our programs for children and youth.
~All our program leaders, whether paid or volunteer, have the right training skill and attitude for their role.
~We evaluate each program annually, and develop goals for quality improvement.

Pastor Size
~The administrative and pastoral load causes our pastor to prepare sermons on a day off or with less time than is necessary.
~The elements of our worship seem to be planned separately and don’t add up to a coherent and uplifting experience.  Sometimes there seems to be competition between elements, or too many elements are loaded into one service.
~Since we have trouble recruiting program leaders for church school, youth and adult education, we don’t feel we can expect very much.  We rarely ask these volunteers to attend training or planning sessions, or to study material on their own. 
~We evaluate by waiting for complaints, and we focus our planning on fixing the problems people seem most upset about. 

Program Size
~From the first day someone visits our church onward, we are organized to gather accurate information about them.  We integrate this information into a well-chosen database program and deliver information reliably to those who need it.
~Pastoral care is seen as the congregations responsibility, with certain functions delegated to our ordained ministers.  We have a specific team that designs effective ways for member to care for each other.
~We have at least two occasions every year when all our congregations subcommittees come together for a project or celebration.  If one of these is a work project we make sure the other is a celebration time.  If necessary we rent a large space off site to accommodate everyone.
~We are constantly learning about the gifts and interests of all our members. We do not rely on sign-up sheets; we use interactive methods such as interviews and gift identification workshops. A gifted team or person works year round to connect members with satisfying ministry inside and/or outside the church.
~We give careful attention to the number of small and large group opportunities we have for adults and the quality of each one.  We start a new group every 6-12 months in order to make room for new members and emerging needs.  We have at least 7 groups for every 100 people.

Pastor Size
~Our lists are not accurate or up to date.  We cannot reliably provide each group with current data about every person they should contact.
~We see pastoral care as the job of our ordained pastors.  A few lay people may help out, but we do not have a lay led system for member care.
~We don’t bring our subcommittees together effectively in a big event every year.  The ways we once came together now reach only selected parts of the congregation. We rarely gather as a whole community primarily for fun and celebration.
~We rely on general announcements or a sign-up sheet to discover our member’s gifts.  We have difficulty recruiting enough people serve as leaders and volunteers in teaching, worship, member care, community service or committee/team positions.

Program  Size
~We have an effective structure such as a coordinating committee or semiannual planning day involving leaders from all programs for communication, planning, calendar negotiations and problem solving.
~We look into complaints, but do not change course without an overall assessment of how things are going.  We make sure we understand what is working well before we try to fix a problem.
~Our pastor and lay leaders are well educated about conflict in churches.  They expect conflicts to arise, know how to assess the seriousness of conflict, take effective stops to reduce tension and structure problem solving, and call in appropriate help when camps withdraw from friendly interaction with each other. 
~We guarantee due process to staff members, volunteers, or groups that are criticized.  We engage in fair and deliberate procedures even if some members demand immediate action.
~Few conflicts in the past decade have resulted in competing camps.  Where this has occurred, we have made clear decisions, learned from the process, rebuilt trust and regained energy for new projects and risks. 

Pastor Size
~We rely on the pastor, the Council or appointed liaisons to guarantee communication, integration, and problem solving among programs and leaders.
~We find complaints upsetting and expect leaders to fix problems right away especially if the person seems angry or hurt or threatens to withdraw support or leave.
~Our pastor and lay leaders find escalating conflict distasteful. They put off planning a response as long as possible, and do not know how to assess their options. Leaders have not established rules for fighting fair in our congregation.
~Staff members and volunteer leaders cannot count on due process if they are criticized. Members often air complaints without using established channels or personalize their criticisms. 
~We tend to divide into competing camps.  Recent conflicts are unresolved or if resolved have left us fatigued, demoralized or nervous about new projects and risks.