The longer a congregation exists, the more concerned it tends to become with self-preservation – and the less concerned with its original purpose. Time, money, staff, and even the prayers become increasingly inward-focused. The result, not surprisingly, is that the church stops growing. The foremost principle says that leaders must keep, or turn, the focus of their church away from themselves and back to their primary goal -and Christ’s primary goal – of making disciples. This happens through prayer, engaging the Bible, programming, budget, staffing, and evaluating all the church’s ministries on their contribution to increasing the number of Christian disciples. – A church can do many good things. A church should do a few important things. But there is only one essential thing a church must do: “… God out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life…” – (Matthew 28:19, The Message). – Charles Arn