Factors Hindering Church Growth in Rwanda: A Case Study of the Lutheran Church of Rwanda (LCR)

Abstract

There are several factors that can cause the church not to grow. Some of these factors include lack of enthusiasm for evangelism, internal squabbles, weak discipleship, pastors who are not developed in leadership and weak stewardship. In order for the church to adhere to the great commission, it is imperative for church growth. “Church Growth” is the discipline that seeks to analyse how Christian churches grow, both numerically and spiritually. Numerical growth can include attendance at worship, membership and the number of congregations. Spiritual growth is measured by how people seek the love of God and practices to the neighbours. However, it is harder to quantify, but it is an essential part of the subject. The findings revealed that lack of strategic plan for evangelism, lack of Christian stewardship and lack of leadership skills are among the factors that contributed to making the LCR not to grow. It is therefore recommended that there should be a proper plan for evangelism methods like house to house evangelism, open air meetings and seminars. It is further recommended that Christians of the LCR should take their responsibilities to ensuring that they use their gifts, time, money and talents to make sure that the church grows both spiritually and numerically. The research concludes that the LCR has all the potentiality to grow spiritually and numerically. The church has to take advantage of the growing number of the citizens in Rwanda especially in big cities like Kigali to expand and grow. For this to happen, new strategies for evangelism and discipleship together with mutual relationships between leaders and congregants are most needed.