A leader focusing on growth must keep a multi-dimensional view.

Organizational leadership is dimensioned in time and space. Growth in time focuses on future results. Growth in space on present influence. 

Church leadership is dimensioned in width and depth. Growth in width means an increase in quantity or size. Growth in depth means an increase in quality or maturity. Find a flourishing church and you’ll find behind it a leadership team whose eyes have equal focus on both of these dimensions.

The medical experts have a metric for body health: BMI. It is a measure of body mass using two dimensions: height and weight. At one point, my BMI indicated I was slightly overweight. This was voiced as a health concern by my doctor. To which I replied, “I’m not overweight, I’m just too short!” I suppose the debate is still out. When the width and depth of a church body are out of balance it becomes unhealthy. To which Jesus, who cares for it, will voice His concerns. The greater the imbalance, the greater the concern. 

A church with a hyper-focus on depth may find itself not growing in width – its numbers may plateau or even decline. A church with a hyper-focus on width may have shallow roots whose members become spiritually stunted in maturity.

Either way both suffer

Leadership’s role is to strike the right balance needed for holistic growth. They must first pray, then plan. Next, they must define, delegate, and with the Holy Spirit, provide platforms for the right people with the right gifts to operate in the right functions, all operating through the right administrative structure in the right way. This creates the right balance needed for healthy growth in all directions. 

The leaders must wear bifocals to see the big picture while also zooming into the details when needed. Today it requires technological savvy. 

Where leadership allocates resources (including human and financial) tells where the focus on growth is.

Balanced growth demands teamwork – both engaged and facilitated by leadership. Such teamwork must also be multi-dimensional to achieve growth, both horizontally (among each other) and vertically (with the Lord).

As it is written: 

I(Paul) planted the seed (that’s the width), Apollos watered it (that’s depth), but God has been making it grow (that’s grace). – 1 Corinthians 3:6

Paul, Apollos, & God: each operated in their strengths, yet interdependently, with a common mission to grow a church both in width and depth.

For any institution to be healthy, leaders must keep an eye on balanced growth. For church leaders, this requires returning to and re-emphasizing its primary mission: to make disciples – both in width and depth.