Increasing Impact: Churches That Are Setting a New Course

Published on 11/8/2011

It was a day Greg Nettle had dreamed about—the morning he would stand before the RiverTree Christian Church, Massillon, OH (http://www.rivertreechristian.com/) congregation and announce plans to build a $70 million campus on farm property he and church members had prayed about for 10 years.

The building fund had been growing. Members were energized. RiverTree would finally get the space for the location it so desperately needed.

But Greg awoke with a sick feeling.

“I had a dream that I was standing before God, and he asked me what I did with all the money people gave,”Greg says. “All I could say was, ‘Here’s the campus we built.’ ”

So on the day of the big announcement, Greg instead asked his congregation what it would think about staying uncomfortable and crowded, and instead allocate the building fund to help at‐risk children.

The crowd erupted into a standing ovation.

“We feel we’re closer to the heart of God than we’ve ever been,” says Greg, who has led RiverTree to sponsor well over 1,000 children through Compassion International (such as in the photo above). “The more we give away, the more our faith has grown. People want to be part of a generous church that’s going to make a difference.”

RiverTree provides a powerful picture of a pivotal issue for “rising influence” churches—a group of pioneering North American congregations identified by Leadership Network staff based on innovation in ministry, and high impact in their community and among pastoral peers.

One distinctive is that leaders of these churches want to be less bound by buildings and debt, yet they depend on facilities and finances to serve growing congregations and carry out their externally‐focused ministries. This is only one of several important distinguishing characteristics of today’s “rising influence” churches.

More on This New Leadership Pattern
You can learn more about several different significant trends that are driving high-influence churches in “The Heartbeat of Rising Influence Churches”—a resource in three parallel formats, available at the links below.