EFFECTIVE PRINCIPLES FOR HEALTHY CHURCH GROWTH IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A DESCRIPTIVE MEASURE OF LIGHTHOUSE CHAPEL INTERNATIONAL – GHANA

Abstract

This dissertation, ―Effective Principles for Healthy Church Growth in the 21st Century: A Descriptive Measure of Lighthouse Chapel International‖ sought to investigate the relationship between church health and church growth using Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI) as a model. There seems to be a gap in knowledge as to what makes churches grow within the Ghanaian context and this study sought to find out whether the health of a church is a contributing factor to its growth. Data was collected from two major branches of LCI; the main branch, Qodesh-Accra and True Vine Cathedral, Bantama, Kumasi. Questionnaires based on the eight quality characteristics of healthy growing churches as proposed by Christian A. Schwarz, were administered to a total of one hundred and twenty respondents, and a descriptive measure was used to analyse the scores. It was found out that Lighthouse Chapel International is a healthy church and the health is a contributing factor to its growth. It was also discovered that quality and quantity are not in opposition to each other. They are not mutually exclusive. A church does not have to choose between the two. Every church should desire both. An exclusive focus on either quality or quantity will produce an unhealthy church. The limitation of this work is based on the fact that LCI was assessed based on the contribution of church health to growth, however, there are other factors aside church health that contributes to growth which can also be investigated. The findings indicate LCI‘s strengths which can serve as an example for all LCI branches and other churches, and the weak areas which need to be improved. In the future, other churches can be investigated since there seem to be little knowledge on how Ghanaian Churches can maintain a healthy church as the numbers increase.