Steve posted this comment a long time ago:
I think that the desire to grow a church is often a misplaced priority, because it is focused on the need of a church to survive or to restore some "golden age" nostalgia. It is a need more grounded in the kingdom of self than in the reign of God's mercy and truth. I have served as a pastor for 35 years and have yet to see a church significantly increase membership because it decided to grow. Why would I want to attend a church that is interested in using me to meet their (survival) needs instead of evidencing a genuine interest in my life and destiny?So, now what? Posted by tripp at July 17, 2006 06:14 PMIf Christians have found a reality which makes life fuller and more meaningful, it is natural to share this with others. I think that this is the most natural form of evangelism, "sharing the good news" as it has become real for me. When a community of believers has a significant number of people who are "alive in Christ," led by staff who model the expression of faith in word and deed, I think that growth will happen. And I think that the worship service then becomes an expression of the "alive in Christ" experience of the members of the community of faith.
If a church takes evangelism seriously, I think there needs to be at least a two-staged approach:
1) to meet the self-centered needs of those who are separated from God. I think most of us self-centered creature/sinners first take God seriously because we thing God will meet our needs. The hope that our self-centeredness will find a deeper fulfillment in God is, I think, the driver for the first stage of the salvation process.
2) to help new believers move beyond the selfish infant-in-faith stage to grow as disciples whose desire becomes more and more "thy will be done."Churches that focus only on one of these dimensions tend, in the first case, to produce a cultural Christianity that is not really transforming of the fallen world, and in the second case, to produce a more "elite" expression of Christianity that seldom reaches those who do not have a previous allegiance to the faith.
I have to confess I'll be less eloquent than Steve, but yeah. Exactly. When I was looking for a new call a year ago, I shied away from churches whose #1 priority was "growth," specifically growth in numbers.
How about growth in spirit, and see what happens with the numbers? :)
Posted by: Mark J. at July 17, 2006 06:45 PMDear Canon of the Unordinary,
In my short tenure as a pastor I feel that once folk start concentrating on growth, stewardship, sunday school etc wrapped in the language of survival watch out. I really feel if folk concentrate on deepening and strengthening their prayer, worship, service and study new life will naturally flow.
I was reading yesterday that James Pike of Binkley Memorial had a long pastorate at your church. Good company I suppose.
Posted by: travis at July 18, 2006 09:42 AMI don't know if this answer the question of "So, now what?" but the quote makes me think of something Pastor Robert Goldstein, the former Past of Immanuel said.
He said someone once asked him what he would say to someone who asked, "What's a Lutheran?" or What is Lutheranism?" He answered with a question, "How can we help you?"
For me, this seems to be a clearer, more workable articulation of what Steve said. This kind of a question, defining ourselves by what we can do and be for others, is a kind of catch-all, ultra-flexible Christianity that still witnesses to the Truth that is God in Christ.
At first someone who is asked, "How can we help you?" by a Church or by a Christian thinks, "Wow. Someone cares. They may want something from me, or they may not. But how often does someone ask this question when they clearly don't expect to get paid or a tip from me."
Presumably someone who approaches a church or a Christian and is greeted with that kind of hospitality will be drawn in, fed, nourished, provided for. And if they become a Christian, they realize that they have become this question. In the same way that Pastor Goldstein defined the church (in his case the Lutheran church) as "How can we help you?", someone drawn into a church with that kind of operative focus will go from the first kind of seeker, the self-centered kind, and become someone who asks that question, which is the essential question of the Body of Christ, the question of Christ himself.
If God sought to create something in his own image, and that thing, humanity, failed to reflect God, God became human so that, indeed, humanity might reflect God's image more fully, as God has taken on human nature. This last bit comes from the end of Bonhoeffer's _The Cost of Discipleship_, paraphrased by me. The Incarnation is the both the question and answer to the biggest, "How can We help you?" of all time.
I wonder if this actually makes sense to anyone but me. And the Big Man Who Slaps the Glass, presumably.
Thanks for the comments.
I think that a church fixated on growth simply will not, or at least not in a way that will help them move beyond themselves as a congregation. But I also am aware of the logistical reality of needing more people to keep a place going.
God honors those who do God honor. If there is some kind of achievement/success/growth of the Kingdom, then it is centered upon honoring God...and nothing else.
Posted by: Tripp at July 18, 2006 02:35 PM