The Unstuck Church Podcast with Amy Anderson Q1 2026 Unstuck Church Report - Episode 441
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Mar 25, 2026 David Middlebrook, legal advisor for churches who helps with bylaws, compensation, insurance, and multi-state growth. He discusses legal risks around pay studies and expansion. The conversation highlights space as the top growth barrier, slipping invite culture, volunteer-leader strains, giving trends, and practical governance and risk-audit checkups.
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Equip Leaders To Lower Volunteer Pressure
- Do prioritize equipping volunteer leaders to reduce the volunteer-leader ratio and grow ministry capacity.
- Treat it as an equipping problem: train leaders to lead volunteers rather than staff doing all ministry work.
Total Giving Up While Per Capita Drops With Size
- Giving is up 9% year over year, with largest churches (+1,000) seeing ~10% increases.
- Per capita giving falls as churches grow: under-200 give ~$65/week while 1,000+ give ~$49/week, and fastest-growing churches average $45/week.
Space Limits Are The Biggest Growth Constraint
- The top barrier to growth is space constraints: 35% of churches report running out of seats or optimal service capacity.
- Space limits silently cap growth because crowding deters invitations, repeat attendance, and kid/ministry quality.