If you're a member of a local church, I'm sure you, like me, want your church to grow. What Christian doesn't? To have more people attending services, placing membership, participating in worship, commenting in Bible classes, is a wonderful blessing.
I've been preaching for seven years now. During that time, I've worked with four congregations. Three of the four have had an average Sunday attendance of 30 or less; one of the four averaged 50-6o on Sundays. So needless to say, I have primarily worked with smaller congregations.
In small churches, there is always a great desire for growth, moreso than in bigger churches. Churches that number in the hundreds often reach a point where they are happy with their size and as a result, they evangelize less (this is not always true, of course). The expectation, and...well, the reality...often is that growth begets growth. Larger churches seem to attract more visitors, and even faithful Christians from other, smaller churches are often drawn to these larger churches (I'll come back to this). But again, I've never worked with a large church where this attitude of complacency exists; in my seven years as a Christian and preacher, there has always been a sense of urgency.
My point in all of this is simple: I've thought a lot about church growth, and I have some thoughts that I'd like to share with you in this article.
WARNING: I'm stepping onto my soapbox now. This is an important issue to me and something that I've been passionate about for years. So please interpret what I say in light of that. The emotion in this article reflects passion, not anger.
Okay, let's get started...
First of all, I want to ask a very simple question, one that many Christians, I expect, will answer incorrectly. Is it the church's job to ensure that growth of the church occurs? Many would answer "yes," but I truly believe that this is the wrong answer. It is NOT the church's job to ensure an annual increase in membership. My basis for saying this is 1 Corinthians 1:17. This verse is always viewed in light of the baptism controversy, which is understandable since so many denominational folks misuse this verse to argue against the necessity of baptism for salvation. As Christians, sometimes we view verses such as this defensively. In other words, we interpret it in view of the controversy and we explain, not what it means, but what it doesn't mean. But dear reader, this verse means something. Paul says, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect." What does this verse mean? I think it's very simple. It is not our primary function as Christians and as evangelists to convert people. It goes without saying that we want to convert people, but ultimately that should not be our focus. Instead, as Paul says, our focus should be on "preaching the gospel." You see, we can't make anyone become a Christian; that's between them and God. People choose to either accept or reject the gospel, and even though we are to "persuade" (2 Cor. 5:10-11), it is God who "adds the increase" (1 Cor. 3:6).
It bothers me when the "success" of a local church is measured by how many people are converted each year and/or how many new members are added. Certainly, if the gospel is being proclaimed and if the members are all actively striving to reach the lost, over time, growth ought to occur...you'd think. But not necessarily.
I've worked with some congregations that were located in very difficult areas as far as evangelism is concerned, but then now I am working in an area where there seems to be more potential and promise...more people are eager to study the Bible and as a result I've helped to lead a few to Christ. But was this not true in the New Testament times as well? Acts 17 is the perfect illustration of this. Paul's efforts in Thessalonica garnered very little response; in fact, the people there were quite antagonistic towards the gospel. But in Berea, the people were said to be "fair-minded" and "noble" in that they "received the word with all readiness, and searched the scriptures daily..." (vs. 11).
It's wonderful when a church is able to baptize a number of people, when Bible studies are being set up left and right and sinners are being converted to Christ and His truth. But again, we cannot base a church's success on increased numbers and expanding membership.
Ultimately, it is not our job to baptize people, our job is to preach the gospel. With this in mind, a church's success ought to be measured by the efforts that are being made and NOT by the measure of response to those efforts. Door-knocking excursions, newspaper ads and articles, radio and TV programs (when they can be afforded), pamphlets, tracts, flyers, personal invites, attempts to set up home studies, sermon CDs, etc...these are the kinds of things that churches ought to be doing. If people are baptized, FANTASTIC, but if people are not baptized, the church is still successful because it's doing it's job!
We also need to understand that baptizing someone means nothing if there is not proper teaching before and after. A person who is baptized without being properly taught is only getting wet. Likewise, a person who is baptized but then neglected and ignored after the fact, leaving the Lord as a result, reflects POOR evangelism in my opinion and reflects badly on that church's devotion to spiritual growth. This is especially bad in foreign churches. An American preacher spends two weeks in some overseas "mission field" and baptizes 50 people. They are praised for their efforts and churches line up to finance such endeavors. But I wonder what is being done after these people are converted? Are they being taught and trained? Or are they baptized and then abandoned when the American preacher returns to the States? In my humble opinion, we need to be going overseas to strengthen churches and train Christian men to evangelize themselves so that they can impact their respective communities. I'm sure much more could be said about this.
And the same is true in America all-too-often. People are converted and then there is the expection that they will learn enough in the Sunday sermons and Bible classes at church. Perhaps they will. But brethren, we need to be working with these new converts; they usually need special attention.
Alright, I'm going to wrap this up for today. There is so much more that I'd like to say about this subject, and so I'm going to make this a mini-series. Tomorrow I plan on addressing the problem of "church hopping" and whether or not we should embrace with joy those who leave another faithful church to join ours. And then I want to write about what I call "preacheritis," an all-too-common problem among faithful churches.
I'd love to hear your comments on this. Or email me at KYBibleQuestions@yahoo.com.
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