Athletes often describe hitting a "wall" of performance. It is a barrier where no apparent amount of effort appears able to push through the pain of the moment. Athletes who hit such a barrier either surrender to the lid or they devise new understandings of the mind and disciplines of the body to help break through the barriers of their efforts.

Churches and church leaders face similar barriers. Often, it is a barrier that exists because of repeated patterns of behavior. Church consultant Lyle Schaller calls this behavior, "path dependency." He writes in his book, "The Very Large Church," that once people/institutions travel down a certain path, it is difficult to choose a new road.

Having gotten what we\u2019ve always gotten, we continue to do what we have always done. How many times have we constrained ourselves to destructive patterns in the church that prevent our growth? God wants our churches to grow\u2014to reach new people for him and to impact our culture for Christ!

Barriers to your ministry vision do exist! Some of them you know about, others are perceptible, but others hide under the surface and threaten to damage your ministry leadership.A "growth barrier" is a set of qualitative factors that create a ceiling to quantitative progress. In this respect, a number of observable barriers relate to various size plateaus. Schaller has suggested the following size groupings as a way to categorize church ministries:

Large 351-750
Very Large 750-1800
Megachurch 1801+

Of these, the 200 barrier is the most notable in that 85 percent of churches in North America stay below it. The dynamics that relate to this barrier are mostly predicable, and, from the leadership perspective, mark the quantitative divide between small churches and large churches.

Growing churches have a heart for reaching people for Jesus Christ. If your vision is to care for the contented, then you will not produce passion in your people to reach those outside the boundaries of the church family. Walt Kallestad's book entitled, "Turn Your Church Inside Out" is probably the easiest reading and clearest reference that I have read in years on this topic. Clarity of vision must answer the question, "Who does my church exist for?"

One of the exciting dynamics of having a clear vision is recognizing the need to be present in the community. Rather than waiting for the community to show up on the church\u2019s doorstep, churches that break growth barriers practice what some call, "Presence Evangelism;" being present in the normal network of society, being present in the ministry to physical needs of people, and being present in the spiritual battle for people\u2019s souls.

"Churches that are effective reaching people for Christ see the needs of the unchurched, establish ministries that allow the church to be present in the community, and have a process by which they are able to draw these unchurched people into the safety of Christ and a local church," Gary McIntosh and Glen Martin wrote in their book, "Finding Them, Keeping Them."

Leaders of growing churches know who they are, why they are and where they are. They have learned to operate out of their strengths and to mitigate against their weaknesses. They know what their key role is and how to parlay that role into motivated ministry. Finally, leaders in growing churches know where they are going and where they are now. Leaders in growing churches build bridges to the future while they are walking there.