Pastor John Wagner | Helping Church Grow

With a master’s degree in theology and religion from Honolulu University, Pastor John Wagner holds more than 25 years of experience leading and growing churches around the United States. John Wagner currently serves as the lead pastor for Turning Point Community Church and he routinely demonstrates his creative nature by pioneering new outreach avenues and helping the church and community grow.

Growing a church may seem like it relies more on chance than anything the church leaders or community can do, but in reality, almost any church can increase in size by focusing on a few areas. Outreach is a major contributor to church growth. Without outreach efforts, potential members will not hear about the church and its various offerings. 

This can be a problem for some older churches, in particular, but if both members and leaders begin sharing information about the church in their community, more people will start attending services and some of those individuals may become lifelong members.

Organizing groups to care for people is another way churches can expand. Because a pastor can only attend so many events and help so many people, establishing groups of church members who are focused on helping fellow members with certain problems take the strain off the pastor and helps meet the needs of community members. 

If pastors have to focus on caring for everyone, they can quickly become burnt out. This could actively prevent church growth because they may no longer have the energy to fully lead the congregation. Without proper leadership, churches cannot grow effectively and they may even struggle to advance their mission.

Even aside from his dedicated ministry work, Pastor John Wagner has donated his time, finances, and efforts to both local and international communities. He led Turning Point Community Church’s contribution to Living Waters International, which helped to build 12 wells to supply clean water to communities around the world. Additionally, John Wagner serves Covenant Ministries International, an organization of over 900 pastors in more than 80 nations, as the Apostolic Team Leader.