The Rev. James Cooper, rector of Trinity Church, Wall Street reflects on the Four Habits of Highly Successful Churches on the Trinity Church, Wall Street site.
Four Habits of Highly Successful Churches
At the Trinity, Wall Street website
Growth in the Church is not linear (1 to 2 to 3), but rather exponential (2 to 4 to 16). Scripture tells us that through God the abundance of love is multiplied for everyone in a never-ending flow of plenty. Churches are places that help people keep lives centered in the Gospel. In this endeavor, we do well by cultivating and balancing simplicity and intimacy, splendor and awe, mission and ministry, and prophecy and prayer.
Intimacy and Simplicity
Human beings yearn for small-town life. This is true even for people who live in big cities, where neighborhoods usually self-organize into areas of four blocks or so. No matter where we live, we come to know the grocery store owner, the dry cleaners, and our neighbors — all those with whom we share this pattern of familiarity.
The Church is an antidote to the alienation and complexity so commonly felt in other areas of life. Parishes that foster intimacy and simplicity create situations and opportunities that encourage common experience and storytelling. Coming together in shared work allows people to relax in the task at hand. Through that experience comes intimacy and a shared story.