Pews. Stop filling them. (Photo credit: boxchain)
Yes, you read that right. I’m done.
No more outreach strategies to fill the pews. No more ideas to draw young people. No more switching out the hard stuff for lighter fare in hopes that we will appeal to a larger audience.
No more “growing the church.”
It seems that every time I sit down to think of ways to lead people to Jesus, I find a new way to “align a program” or “bring focus to an issue” — or worse, I find good people who mistakenly think that my job is to be a chaplain, or just their “professional visitor.” Gotta get those visitors to close the deal and join up.
Too many people think that mission of the Church is to swell the ranks and fill the pews. Too many people think that this task is my job. Too many people find me a failure for not getting this done.
So. No more just “growing the church.”
Unless. Unless you mean something different when you say, “Grow, Church.”
Perhaps you mean, “Growing in Grace.” Perhaps the church is learning to become more mature about forgiveness. Maybe that would mean that the churches in the USA would be more willing to reach across boundaries of age, race, gender, and politics (yeah, I said it) in order to develop real relationships.
I would love to grow that church.
Maybe you mean, “Growing in Love.” That could mean that the church is learning to become more selfless. That could turn into giving our time and our money to help people who are in a bad way — even people we don’t think really deserve it.
I could see myself growing a cool church like that.
Maybe you mean “Growing in Depth.” Would that mean that people were learning to accept their flaws without glossing them over? Would that mean an outbreak of patience and kindness that only comes from realizing that we are all screwed up in one way or another, and God loves us anyway? Would that mean that folks realized that they are unqualified to do ministry — just like the minister — and would commit to doing ministry anyway? Would that mean that you realized the value of what you have in Christ is too valuable to not give it away?
I would give my right arm to grow that church.
What do you mean when you say, “Grow the church?” Because if you are looking for growth strategies that capitalize on market demographics and creative sales pitches, I’m probably busy that day you want to talk.
What do you mean when you say, “Grow the church?” Because if you are trying to find ways to impress kids, add some flash to your worship, and pray that they will give enough to pay for the brand new $2.3 million, 2500 seat worship center, I’ve got another appointment to keep.
But if you mean that you are interested in growing disciples into deeply committed Christians, let me invite you to pull up a chair, stop pulling out your hair, give up on pulling up your own bootstraps, and let’s get down to brass tacks.
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Stick a fork in this pastor, he’s done…. and he is speaking truth in love..
It’s hard to express how much I loved what you wrote. Let’s pray for an outbreak of this kind of thinking across our land (at least). When I was apologizing today to someone for my religious brand (Baptist), he said, “Most of those brands (religious denominations, labels) suffer from the same problem.”) Yes, because we’re focusing on many wrong things in our churches and ignoring many of the most important things – as you clearly point out. Thanks!! God bless!
Thanks William. I appreciate your kind words. Grace and peace, brother.
We’re not actually asked to grow the church. We’re asked to make disciples. There’s a difference and I have to remind myself to keep it straight.
Amen,amen amen!
Please! Let’s open that window for this breath of fresh air.This talks of active expression of faith and wonderfully departs from the bricks and mortar of “church” so that we become the “Church.” Namaste!
Yes and yes! Grace and peace for your journey, Geza!
Yes, agreed. And, just what I needed to hear and be reminded of as our church starts focusing on outreach this year… Thank you.
I’ll be praying for you and your fellow disciples, Jane. Thank you for your post. 🙂
Blessings!
I have only two comments to make.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. Luke 19:10
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
Amen and amen.
Quantity is easy to use as a metric of success, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good metric of success.
Quality is harder to assess, but more important. What is the church doing? What is the church being?
And if the church is doing and being nothing, why do we care if we have more of it?
Well said, Cindi. As I mentioned to a colleague, the metric will be how many of our “found people” start finding people. As a person becomes sexually mature, he or she is able to produce offspring. Mature disciples should be measured by their ability to “reproduce” their faith in another. Thanks for the post. Blessings!
I appreciate what you have written. But I must add that sometimes when we grow in the ways you mention people do come. So many folks are looking for communities that take them to the deeper places, even if it may appear that they are not.
I agree, Bill. The numbers, if they come, will be a bonus. Blessings to you and yours.
Us, too, Rev.! We’ve had similar conversations with our own leadership. Nouwen’s “In the Name of Jesus”, that quintessential exploration of spiritual vs. socio-political leadership, springs to mind here. The Church will grow in direct correlation to her deep contemplation on matters of significance rather than “relevance”, whatever the hell that means!
Very nice, sir. Peace be with you and yours…Rob
Amen! That’s the kind of conversation I have time for, too! Thank you!
Thank you for this! I’ve shared on my congregation’s FB page. As I’ve often told my parishioners, in the church the “bottom line” (whether numbers of people or dollars in revenue) can never be the bottom line.
Hallelujah, Baby!
Just a note to say thanks. This is a wonderfully beautiful message that gets at the core of what it means, to me, to be following the gospel. I’ll be forwarding it on to many folks.
I know some DSs and some Bishops that should read this.
Brad, we have some who have realized that Vital Congregations is a good thing — like a thermometer in a doctor’s office. But it isn’t the prescription for the cure…
Thanks for posting!
Growing in Grace and Love. Growing Disciples to me means spreading the good news, loosing the bonds of injustice, offering hope and healing to a broken world. It means understanding that the Gospel message is not to be kept just for our own personal feel good growth. Instead deep growth in faith in a God who loves us and wants us to be out in the world – being God’s eyes and hands and feet.
I found this article to be very enlightening! For years my father worked in smaller communities in rural Montana. He often questioned the effect of his ministry. In conversations I had with him… I suggested to him that ministry isn’t arithmetic in nature and that the true results were the individual persons who “got” it and blessed thousands and thousands of other lives. That his effectiveness wasn’t in the number of folks in his church, but rather the lasting impact in others’ lives that counted. In that venue… he was extremely focused and successful! His ministry touched way beyond his home church and impacted small towns that flourished in loving ways and extended to children of families who no longer lived in small towns. When the foundation was love and caring ministry… the effects are impossible to numerate! Thanks for a wonderful article and declaration! It’s meaning lies deep in my spirit.
Sorry, I disagree. Jesus didn’t describe the making of new disciples as a “bonus.” The Great Commission isn’t one-sided, but two: make new disciples, and teach them to obey; in other words, growth in numbers and growth in spirit are both imperative. You can’t – no matter how burned out you are on mistakenly one-sided “church growth” efforts – you can’t leave either one of those two foci out. You can’t know the gospel without also knowing the need to spread the gospel. Faith without works is dead. The two efforts are inseperable.
Father, you’ve missed the point. My words support disciple-making. Our problem is that, too often, we bring people to the church but not necessarily to Jesus. We bring them to the organization without expectation of life change.
I apologize for the lack of clarity and join you in your support for disciple-making.
Yes, I say again, yes! Grow faith, grow love, grow a heart for service and grow the willingness to do the work of the Gospel. I love formal liturgy, love the music, the art, the ceremony but I, too, am done with all that if it keeps people from acting, keeps the focus on preserving buildings and trapping, diverts funds from direct ministry (and to support the ministers, including those in communications ministry) who preach and live the Word in other ways. Yes!
Thank you for the clarification. My point is that we’re not given the option of stopping our church growth efforts to focus on our discipleship efforts (or vice versa, which is, of course, the extreme to which you’re reacting in the original post; and quite rightly, I think). You can’t disciple people who aren’t there. In my denomination, that’s rapidly becoming the case. We use all the arguments you’ve made here as excuses not to spread the gospel to new people. We become insular, happy in our own little church community that deepens our discipleship nicely but which leaves the poor fella just across the street in the spiritual cold! I took my church out door-to-door evangelizing recently and we found 9 people on the first day who live within – without exaggeration – 100 yards of my pulpit, who knew nothing about Jesus or Christianity beyond mere cultural background noise. They’ve heard our bells in this neighborhood for 141 years but they’ve never heard the message. Many churches are in this same situation. We’re happy with our comfortable, likeminded little church family, but is it reaching the family that lives across the street, where the dad faces addictions and mom’s just lost her best friend to cancer and the children don’t even know that Jesus rose from the dead (real story – we had some kids who were CRUSHED upon hearing the story of the crucifixion, because they liked this Jesus guy and had never heard that he rose!).
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s good to rebel agains the church growth movement. It’s become a method targeted to transform a small congregation into a mega-church: and it doesn’t take much Christian common sense to know that not every church is called to that, that numerical growth does not itself equal solid evangelism (your point, above), and that you can pretty quickly sell your soul and you may or may not get the results you hoped for. But swinging back in the other extreme isn’t right, either.
So what does a solid church-growth effort look like? It’s gotta include deepening discipleship, as you’ve said. But it must also include an effort to push out beyond our congregation’s comfortable boundaries and find people where they are, because the people who most need the Gospel are the ones who are least able to find it on their own. It’s not without reason that Jesus Himself emphasizes over and over that He came to seek and save that which is lost, or talked about treasures in fields, lost coins, lost sheep and a shepherd that would leave 99 behind to seek the one. Angels rejoice at that! Maybe real church growth isn’t about congregational development and is more about growing the Kingdom of God itself, a Kingdom of which our congregations ARE a legitimate part. The Kingdom of God is meant to be spread and grown; otherwise we proclaim ourselves to be satisfied with people sitting in darkness, with oppressed and prisoners staying that way, with the poor going without the good news, with no one knowing that this – this – is the year of the Lord’s favor! If our little bit of the Kingdom is only meant for our own deepened discipleship then we proclaim ourselves at odds with Jesus’ own mission statement that he preached in His hometown! It’s gotta reach out. You can’t teach if you don’t reach. You can’t deepen disciples that aren’t there. You can’t help someone finish the race who never began. You can’t harvest a field that has never been sown.
What I am not hearing in this discussion, is that churches need to learn how to listen. If we do not find out what our communities (especially younger people) are thinking, and what they need from the churches, then the churches will not survive, and communities will be missing something important – a spiritual center. We have to realize that Christ is working in our communities, and that people have a right to their interpretation of religion, theology, sprituality, the Bible…. We have to listen, and adapt to where the culture is going, or we are history. We are just pensioners spending down the churches capital for our own retirement.
Thank you so much for speaking truth. If we attended to what it really means to grow the church maybe the church would grow into what God calls it to be.
I have tried to be the visitor, initiator, innovator and it only causes frustration and disappointment. I have prayerfully considered that it is time for me to order ministry around some basic principles and that the “church” ie congregation needs to adopt these same principles…..
Hospitality
Worship, Prayer and the Spiritual Disciplines
Engaging with and listening to the Holy Spirit
I believe if we do that, the vision you outlined will be possible.
I totally agree with David Reed’s comments.
Church growth strategies are about adapting to the language of the world (like Paul at the Areopagus) in order to attract persons to the Gospel who would otherwise never set foot in a church. And once they are in the church, then we can start disciple-making. But even if people never go very far down the path of discipleship, we have to remember that professing Christ, first and foremost, is of far greater value than any WORKS we might subsequently perform in Christ’s name.
As a (not very good) golfer, I draw an analogy to golf courses, driving ranges, and miniature golf. Many churches are like country clubs: they expect you to be able to play “real” golf from the start. And golfers generally deride miniature golf. Yet mini golf is often how people get their first taste of the fun of hitting a ball into the hole. Then they spend time on a driving range, then they try “real” golf. So don’t criticize the megachurch that looks like the spiritual equivalent of miniature golf – complete with windmills. They’re giving people a taste of what it’s like to hold a club.
As Adrian Rogers used to say: pastors are not meant to fill the pews, they are meant to fill the pulpit…:)
Why are the different definitions of “grow” so seemingly mutually unacceptable? It strikes me that they are not. In my view, we are required by the Lord to make the Church grow in many areas–including in numbers. The key is to approach “grow” with a realistic understanding of the gifts, talents and resources that God has given each Church and proceed from there. Our Churches are not monestaries that have the right to simply turn in on themselves and not bring the message to those who have not heard the Word. Thank you!
Steven, I concur. In fact, discipleship that is both relational and missional will bring numerical growth. The problem is that “church growth” methods often swell the ranks temporarily, but the soil is thin and the roots have little depth. Thanks for your post!
We can talk about rebelling against the church growth movement all we want, but as long as we’re still using the language of attraction and hospitality, it’s just so much air. When we sit on our haunches and wait for someone to whom we might be hospitable; when we paint our walls and put up our screens and hope to attract the right demographic (inevitably, its the youth), aren’t we still trapped in the same old prison? It’s all the language of passivity, of oblique evangelism (that is, doing something else entirely and hoping that evangelism happens on the side somehow). Isn’t all that still in the old church growth playbook? Even the impulse to give it all up and just go back to deepening the quality of discipleship plays into the false dichotomy between outreach and in-reach. Church isn’t an either-or proposition.
What happened to the Wesleyan “the World is my parish” spirit that would never be content unless he had found someone to preach to by 5 AM? He wasn’t painting his walls, planting a communty garden, advertsing service times, putting up screens, and “attracting” people at 5 AM on an English workday. He was going out and finding them and preaching to them, like it or not. Sure, he got attacked a few times… best not talk about that… I suppose we all feel that way about preachers at 5 AM. But the point is that he would never in his wildest dreams have advised that his methodist societies should work primarily on an attraction basis. He was himself the biggest seeker of the lost, the number one finder of sheep, exquisitely discontent with parish boundaries and church walls. There was no talk of programs for certain demographic groups, targetting certian kinds of people – he just preached to who was there, and he went to where they were. That’s what is NOT in the now-aging “church growth” movement. That is the scandal of the Gospel to those of us – myself included – who are used to sitting in our comfy parish and hoping to attract and be hospitable enough to grow. But that’s just not the Jesus method. “Go out and compel them to come in.” “The Son of Man came to seek and save that which is lost.” He didn’t send the disicples out two by two to attract people, but to find an audience and preach to it.
I agree, Father. The church must leave the building — and to do more than hit the buffet. We must deploy into the community for the purposes of sharing the good news and disciple-making.
Waiting around for our freshly painted walls to attract “the right kind of people” is as ludicrous as it is offensive to the very notion of the gospel.
I agree with your post, Joey, except for your comment, “…or worse, I find good people who mistakenly think that my job is to be a chaplain….”
Looks like it’s not just the “good people” who don’t understand what real ministry — in ALL its forms — is about. Because chaplains daily DO “reach across boundaries of age, race, gender, and politics (yeah, [you] said it) in order to develop real relationships….” Working alongside others who are “…giving [their] time …to help people who are in a bad way — even people we don’t think really deserve it….”
Commit some time to getting some CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) or even just spend a day shadowing a professionally trained chaplain — military chaplain, a trauma center chaplain, a police chaplain, a chaplain at a community hospital, it really doesn’t matter. You’ll see dynamic relationships developing, folks connecting in love, ministering to (and a lot of times with) folks many people don’t think are deserving.
Hi Anita!
I thoroughly enjoyed my CPE units. I discovered worlds of ministry I had never known existed — and the fact that I was not called to chaplaincy.
I also think that the role of the church pastor has been compromised by the insistence of some congregations that their minister serve primarily as a chaplain.
It is worthy of a separate post, but suffice it to say that the chaplain, in my opinion, serves primarily as a pastoral care giver while the role of the minister is to equip the saints and deploy the church for ministry. Yes, pastoral care will always be a part of the local pastor’s role. But it is not the sole component, nor even the primary component.
I hope that clarifies my original intent.
Thanks for posting!
What I still find missing here is that the church really needs to learn to listen to the community. I don’t mean shallow talk, or pizza and rock music. I mean that the community has interpreted religion in new, fresh ways that the church has not yet managed to resolve. The depth may not be in the church, but out in the world, where Christ is busy working, whether pastors step outside to hear it or not. Issues that the Church is hopelessly confused about: war, ecology, the real nature of God – the public is not so confused about. We are decidedly anti-war, and we believe that God and nature are not in conflict. Most of what I hear in church creates separation, but world consciousness is headed towards unity. The church needs to re-examine its core beliefs, and really learn to LISTEN. Tighten up the message, make it world-relevant, and join your community. Don’t wait for your community to join you.
Thank God you said this! I wish I had these thoughts, which I’ve been having for 25 years of ministry, crystallized to this extent when Tom Bandy got in my face 7 or 8 years ago! My enthusiasm for this post might be overtaking me, but I think you could start a movement with this!
Odd situation you “professional” Christians find yourself in. I don’t think Christ, Himself, viewed himself as a “professional” religious, or even Rabbi, or if he was in fact, Rabbi, took the title lightly but the life of bringing the light of God to those he met, almost always coincidentally, a passion. And this is the way of the Christian in any community…buried as housewives, hairdressers, doctors, teachers, etc. … passionate about sharing the Light of God through relationships.
I’m impressed you could build a 2500 seat worship center for only $2.3 mil. Can I talk to your contractor?
In all seriousness, great post.
Very well written!
‘If we do not find out what our communities (especially younger people) are thinking, and what they need from the churches, then the churches will not survive, and communities will be missing something important – a spiritual center.
I respectively disagree David. While the institution, organization, buildings we illusively call the church, the Church will always survive, because the church is US.
In addition, there is no hint that Jesus followed the particular fads and trends of his own culture, and niether should we.
I cut my teeth on church pews, but my comprehension of “church” has been radically revised since I have experienced homelessness and mental illness. I believe those who are “as Levites” should be maintaining the temple (pews); while the other 11 tribes should be working the fields, selling in the marketplace, serving widows and orphans, and managing the inn for those who have been beaten nearly to death on the road to their Jericho.
Navigating homelessness and years of depression has changed me forever; and I will be eternally grateful. These realities have also changed my thoughts about “church” as I knew it. True joy has been birthed through my long dark night; but I’m not in the mood for a party right now. There is a time to dance; and a time to weep.
There are countless weeping souls whose lives are filled with nothing but sorrow; who have no hope of escape… UNLESS and until we become the church they need; until we become the hands and feet of Jesus who shows up on their doorsteps!!!
Now is the time to rescue the perishing; and not just the ones who are able to make their way to our pews! Jesus left ninety-nine sheep in the safety of His fold; but he went to the wilderness to rescue the one who had lost it’s way.
How can we do less??? If we have so many professing Christians, why do we have so many homeless? Why do Christians divorce? Why are Christian families falling apart? How do we expect to do good things for society if our own homes are in perpetual chaos?
If we truly hope to impact our world for Jesus, we; the Church must first become beacons of light during dark, stormy nights.
I’m an “Old Church” gal, and I’m done too. You can place me on the roll call for the church of your dreams… and I’ll be there with bells on.
God Bless You, Pastor.
Your words resound loudly in my heart; and I’m delighted to have discovered your blog. Now, please tell me what I can do to join you!!!
Your vision is my dream. Thanks for the words that brings dream to reality.
Great thoughts.
However, I find that churches that are growing in discipleship, reconciliation, and (in the Methodist tribe) perfection ALSO grow numerically. They can’t help it. A people growing in Christ MUST be people who REACH out in Christ. Real discipleship never happens in a silo.
Vice-versa is also true. Churches that aren’t engaging in discipleship growth, mission, forgiveness, and other things WILL NEVER grow numerically. Any perceived growth will eventually fall away unless there is something beyond the surface.
A tree cannot grow unless it has deep roots, and deep roots need wide branches.
If we grow the kingdom, God will take care of the church. If we focus on the church, we miss the point.
Andy, you’re so right. Why do we forget this so easily? Maybe praying the Lord’s prayer “daily” would be an antidote? Thanks man.
I would love a church like this… i am done until i see it in action… talk is cheap and unimpressive…. i think jesus would slam the doors of the current day pharisees growing churches…for power, prestige, position….
When I read this I think of all the ways that we use media in churches; but in the end the difference in church attendance and meaningful discipleship is made through truly meaningful relationships with others in a church. Often program is so time consuming that those relationships suffer. Sometimes I think we should go back to smaller church units only because it allows time for more depth in sharing. We don’t know each others stories; we don’t share what is really going on; I do love big worship settings with a beautifully crafted liturgy (I am an Episcopalien) — that feeds me but I know its not for everyone.
I enjoyed the blog. The funny thing is when I sent it to some friends, one who is our District Field Outreach Minister (aka assistant DS) became very concerned that I was discouraged or disgruntled. Not at all! Actually I was amused by the image of you hunched over your desk doing statistical reports and realizing that there wasn’t a line to report the really important things.
I was even more amused, however, that even at the lowest levels of the bureaucracy she assumed that there must be something WRONG with me if I agree that the things we cannot measure are more important than the things that we can.
Thanks for a good chuckle!
After reading this I would like to say that when I say grow the Church I expect us to do what Jesus did…Go out and find sinners and those in need and bring them to the church. Were would we be if Jesus only preached to the disciples? Only gave lessons to those that already believed? What if the Disciples only spoke to each other about what Jesus said? We cannot grow God’s army being safe inside the doors of our churchs. As pastors and leaders of the body of Christ it is our job to grow the church. If we leave one soul behind because we did nothing to get them to church we have failed. If we are called to do God’s work then let us do God’s work. Jesus was called to save us and He hung on a cross for us so that we might have everlasting life in heaven, the least I can do is put in some extra time to grow His church, bring people in to learn and accept Jesus in their lives. Thank you for letting me post. Many Blessingsto all of you.
Thank you for reblogging the article! Blessings to you and your congregation.