How Church Leadership May Influence Growth by Applying an Organizational Life Cycle Perspective on Church Development: A Literature Study

Scandinavian Journal for Leadership and Theology

This literature study systematically applies Adizes’s (1979, 1988, 1999) lifecycle model, specifically the Courtship through Prime stages, to analyse how leadership challenges within churches evolve as congregations grow and age. The paper recommends Adizes’s framework as a diagnostic lens for church developers seeking to navigate organizational growing pains.