Church growth. How do you measure it? Is it last Sunday’s attendance? Do you track weekly giving? Or are there other things, less visible but ultimately more important, that indicate a congregation’s growth?
LifeHouse Church, a BIC congregation in Abilene, Kans., has asked many of these questions over the past two years.
In 2023, Pastor Brian Emig was hired as their new lead pastor. LifeHouse was coming out of a challenging season; once a body of over 200 people, the congregation had dwindled to less than 20 as multiple pastors came and went. The congregation had gained some stability under the interim leadership of Bishop Ron Bowell and Robert Levis, now pastor at CrossRoads Church in Salina, Kans., but Pastor Brian and LifeHouse still had an unknown road ahead.
Growth would be crucial, but rather than measuring LifeHouse’s growth by their weekly attendance, Pastor Brian’s focus was on spiritual growth. “Individual’s growth is really what I’m keying in on,” he says. “I want to see people grow in their spiritual walk.”
As they’ve pursued this fresh vision, three markers of growth have emerged: expanding volunteers, missional attitudes, and transformed hearts.
Expanding Volunteers
As a benchmark of growth, volunteers may be a surprising first step, but it was a crucial early win. Brent Potter has attended LifeHouse for eight years and serves on the church board, giving him a front row seat to many of the congregation’s more painful moments. As the congregation shrank, more and more was asked of the remaining volunteers, including Brent. Coupled with emotional strain, it took a toll. “We were in sad survival mode,” he remembers.
So, when new volunteers began offering their time and talents, Brent got his first glimpse of LifeHouse’s future. People stepped up to run tech and lead music. Soon they had enough volunteers to start recording and posting YouTube videos of their services again. “Suddenly it wasn’t just a small handful of people running things,” he says with a smile. He is still an active volunteer, but today, one of his greatest joys is sitting in Sunday morning services with his grandkids.
“The number of people who had grown in their faith and wanted to serve in the church was a good indicator for me that we were going in the right direction,” says Pastor Brian. And it was the perfect launching point to invite the congregation to develop missional perspectives.
Missional Attitudes
“Everybody has a call on their life,” says Pastor Brian. He frequently preaches on missional living with Acts 1:8 being a favorite passage. He’s been encouraged to see LifeHouse members fully embrace their calls, both locally and in other places.
Locally, they’ve spent much of 2025 preparing to open a nonprofit coffee shop to help fund new outreach initiatives for teens, not just at LifeHouse but throughout Abilene. The coffee shop project was enthusiastically funded by the congregation and community members who caught the vision, and it is set to open in early 2026.
Outside of Abilene, Pastor Brian has led two missions trips. The first only had a small handful of participants, but 20 individuals (a quarter of the congregation at the time!) signed up for the second one to serve in New Mexico among the Navajo. “People are starting to recognize their callings,” says Pastor Brian, “and they’re stepping into positions both in the church and in the broader community to fulfill them.”
Transformed Hearts
Perhaps the most important – yet least tangible – sign of growth has been the healing, transformation, and restoration of people’s hearts, best told through their stories and testimonies.
In 2025, one of LifeHouse’s former pastoral couples, who left under painful circumstances, contacted Pastor Brian, asking if they could attend LifeHouse again. He enthusiastically said yes, but later paused, concerned the rest of the congregation may not be equally excited.
His worry was needless.
Their first Sunday back, the couple was welcomed with open arms. “It was a tear fest in here,” says Pastor Brian, his own eyes glistening as he tells the story. “I don’t use the word miracle lightly…” he says, struggling to find the right words to adequately encapsulate the divine transformation everyone involved had experienced. “If it’s not a miracle, it’s close.” The couple are now active, involved members of the LifeHouse community.
A Vision of Growth
Today, over 120 people attend LifeHouse on an average Sunday – truly remarkable considering where they were just two years ago. But their vision was never to reach a specific number of attendees or members, and the growth they’ve experienced is so much more than a number.
“Vision is so important, yet so misunderstood,” says Pastor Brian. Vision isn’t the project of getting more volunteers, leading more service trips, starting a coffee shop, or even baptizing a certain number of people.
“It’s not the project,” Pastor Brian continues. “Vision is about where people end up in their relationship with God.”
Watch LifeHouse’s Story
Originally published in our 2025 Annual Report.
Salynda Hogsett is the content editor for Brethren in Christ U.S. and loves to connect with pastors and ministry leaders to tell their stories. She grew up in the BIC and currently attends Mechanicsburg BIC where she is involved in worship and youth ministry.
In her free time you can find her writing in coffee shops, trying new restaurants, or crocheting with a favorite show or movie.
