Growth Is More Than Filling the Sanctuary
EFC Central Auckland was established in November 1996. It began with four Taiwanese families living in central Auckland. Because they travelled to the eastern suburbs for church and recognised the needs of Chinese people in central Auckland, they began meeting in a primary school hall in Mt Roskill and moved to a primary school hall in Epsom in 1999. The church later purchased an older building in 2009 with the intention of developing it, but sold it in 2015 after considering the renovation cost. The present site was then purchased and converted into today’s church building in 2017.
Pastor Dong Yongjun arrived in August 2018. At that time, the church had about 100 people and one Sunday service. Its pastoral and governance structure was relatively flat; the senior pastor worked directly with ministry leaders and handled many operational matters.
After arriving, Pastor Dong first promoted a small-group model, then connected small groups with discipleship and gradually adjusted the pastoral and governance structures. The church began moving away from dependence on the senior pastor towards shared pastoral care, shared governance, team ministry and collective leadership.
Four Important Turning Points
EFCCA’s recent growth did not happen evenly. It included several clear turning points.
1. Becoming a Small-Group Church
At the end of 2018, the church began its small-group transition. Pastor Dong had himself come to faith and grown in a small-group church before serving as a group leader and pastor. He firmly believes that relationships, everyday pastoral care and discipleship need to take place in smaller, more honest communities.
As groups multiplied, connections between members became closer and newcomers could be known and cared for more easily. A little more than a year after Pastor Dong arrived, attendance had increased significantly and the original space was gradually filling.
2. Small Groups Are Not the Destination; Discipleship Is the Purpose
The church did not treat small groups merely as social gatherings or a care system; it connected them with discipleship. As lives grew through relationships, members also took greater responsibility for the gospel and ministry.
“Building small groups is the means and pathway for advancing and practising discipleship; discipleship is the purpose of building small groups.”
3. From Adding a Service to Creating a New Point of Contact for the Gospel
At the end of 2019, as the sanctuary approached capacity, the church began to think more clearly about “mission and church planting”. During the pandemic, an evening service began on 12 December 2021 to reduce crowd density.
The evening service began as a pandemic response, but later met the needs of another group. Around 2023 and 2024, when New Zealand’s borders reopened, more Chinese migrants on work visas arrived. Many still worked during the day on Sundays. The evening schedule, dinner and Chinese-language Alpha course gave them an opportunity to encounter the church. The evening congregation consequently became a new area of growth and included many people exploring faith.
4. Directing Resources towards Younger Generations
Over the past three years, the church has pursued intergenerational partnership more deliberately and increased its pastoral investment in the English congregation, young adults and university fellowships. Pastor Dong observes that the people whose needs a church notices—and towards whom it directs leaders and resources—are the people most likely to develop.
Groups growing more quickly in recent years include teenagers, international students and young families with teenage children. Some families choose EFCCA because their children need peers and pastoral care in English. This reminds the church that ministry to the next generation is not an optional addition; it can determine whether a whole family remains connected to church.
Helping People Stay Takes More Time Than Welcoming Them
In 2019, the church kept more comprehensive statistics on newcomers. About 400 newcomers attended that year. More than half were tourists, visiting relatives or in Auckland temporarily, leaving fewer than 200 who required ongoing follow-up.
The care team records basic details and follows likely long-term newcomers for about six weeks, including whether they continue attending worship, join a small group, or have reasons they cannot continue participating. Fewer than 100 eventually remained on a settled basis.
The data showed the church that a person’s first step into the sanctuary is only the beginning. Building relationships, entering a small group and finding belonging are the keys to becoming part of the church.
What Is Genuine Growth?
At the time of the interview, Pastor Dong described development since his arrival: the central church’s weekly in-person attendance was about 350, while several church plants established in recent years had a combined attendance of more than 100. Together, the central church and church plants exceeded 450 people.
He does not, however, treat attendance as the only measure. He identifies four dimensions of church growth: attendance; giving and financial capacity; the spiritual lives of members; and mature pastoral and governance structures.
During the pandemic, the church repaid approximately NZ$1.2 million in building debt by October 2021. Pastor Dong believes giving can indicate commitment to some degree, but cannot simply be equated with spiritual maturity. More important is whether relationships with God and with other people are changing: whether members are becoming more honest, are willing to face conflict, confess and repair relationships, and continue serving others as their lives grow.
Interview highlight | Genuine growth includes not only higher attendance, but more people serving and sharing pastoral responsibility, and a church increasingly able to bless the community beyond itself.