Possible correspondences between church growth principles and nine Chinese churches in Metro Manila

Abstract

Several attempts by the Central Luzon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to increase the number of members at the Manila Chinese SDA Church have not met with success over the years. In contrast, nine Chinese churches in Metro Manila have exhibited excellent growth. The purpose of this study is to describe what major factors contributed to the growth of the Chinese Christian churches based on the literature, personal observation and interviews. The findings show that small groups, leadership, spiritual gifts, dynamic worship, loving relationships, family and evangelism are important church growth factors among the nine Chinese Christian churches. The study also shows that contextualization is a very important factor as well in the growth of the Chinese Christian churches. Based on the findings of this study, seven recommendations were proposed for effective church growth for the Manila Chinese SDA Church.