From the book, “What People Ask About The Church,” by Dale A. Robbins — 10 — There is no purer motive for a church than to want its pews filled
with people who hunger for God. After all, the primary purpose of the church is to reach
the masses with the saving message of Christ, "...not desiring any to perish, but all
to come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9). However, a Biblical mandate for church growth is probably best
associated with Jesus' commission for His church to go and "...make disciples"
(Matt. 28:19). Not only does God want persons to be saved, but He wants them to be
discipled into spiritually mature believers who will carry on His ministry — and it
requires the environment of the church to do this. There, the believer is taught the word,
has the guidance and correction of spiritual authority, and through worship and
fellowship, will develop spiritual virtues, including a deeper love for God and others.
Consequently, the Lord not only wants people to get saved, He wants them joined to a local
body of believers, just as they were in the early church. "...the Lord added to the
church daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47). One of the prominent authorities on church growth, Dr. C. Peter
Wagner, views this as the strongest motive for a growing congregation. He says
"Evangelism is not only reaching people with the Gospel message and bringing them to
a decision for Christ, it is making them disciples... To evangelize is to present Christ
Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit that men and women shall come to put their trust in
God through Him, to accept Him as their Savior, and serve Him as their King in the
fellowship of His church. This ties commitment to Christ with commitment to the church.
God's will is clear... He wants men and women everywhere to come to Him and into the
church of Jesus Christ."¹ A desire for a growing church is one thing — but actually
experiencing it is another. Despite the great emphasis of the American church growth
movement, with scores of how-to books, tapes and seminars, the majority of churches are
still not growing. Perhaps the reason for this lies with misdirected priorities —
"getting the cart before the horse." To illustrate this, some years ago a pastor described his prolonged
struggle to get his church to grow. He tried many of the popular strategies and methods
with little success. He finally withdrew from this emphasis, deciding instead to refocus
his ministry toward the spiritual discipleship of his small flock. He determined that
Christ would be the core of the ministry in every way possible. He personally rededicated
his life to Christ's example of godliness, prayer and the Word — more than ever,
Jesus became the center of his preaching — he constantly taught people to follow the
love, character and example of Christ. To his surprise, the church began to do what it
wouldn't previously... it started to grow. And as he continued his Christ-centered
ministry, the church eventually grew to considerable size. Without realizing, he stumbled
across important priorities that relate to church growth. First, we must remember, Jesus is the one who builds His church, not
us. He said, "...I will build My church..." (Matt. 16:18). There are numerous
philosophies and methods of church growth being circulated today, but Jesus must always be
at the center. Pastors and leaders need to use caution lest they find themselves trying to
substitute man's wisdom and methodology in the place of the Lord. The Bible says,
"Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it..." (Psa.
127:1). Secondly, the church needs to concentrate on its main objective, to
live Jesus and preach Jesus. During His earthly ministry, Christ never had a problem
drawing a crowd. Therefore, if Jesus is effectively personified in the church, by being
lifted up in our message and lifestyle, His presence will have the same drawing power to
bring souls to His church. Growth is not really the primary goal, but is the natural
derivative of lifting up Jesus Christ. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will
draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32). With Jesus in the center stage of our philosophy, there are many
concepts, authored by many outstanding leaders, which may be helpful to the church growth
process. Without attempting to list them all, there are three basic issues that every
church should take in consideration: (1) The Profile of a Growing Church — It has been said that
when a church begins to absorb and emulate the character of Jesus, it will exhibit the
qualities and climate that naturally lend toward growth. My personal, pastoral philosophy has always been that "the
seeds for growth are in the fruit." In other words, it is a fact of nature that
within the fruit of each species (such as apples, peaches or grapes), there are seeds that
will yield the offspring of future harvests. Similarly, the character of spiritual fruit
in the church bears spiritual seed that contributes toward the harvest of souls. "But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23). Spiritual fruit is the
loving, sweet personality of Jesus that warms the heart. Therefore, development of the
spiritual character of the church contributes toward church growth. Below are listed the statistical traits of a growing congregation,
each of which can be related to spiritual fruit and a mature relationship with Christ. (a) Love — a genuine care for other people. (2) The Primary Agent of Church Growth — There is the frequent
misconception that church growth comes as a result of the wonderful preaching and warm
personality of the pastor, or because of the visitation programs, or by conducting great
crusades with well-known speakers. All these things have their value, however statistics
show that the reason for increased numbers originates elsewhere. The Institute for
American Church Growth interviewed 10,000 church attenders to learn how they came into
their church.² The percentage of people shown below attended for the following
reasons: 2.0% ..... Due to a special Need It may come as a surprise that the most potent agent of church
growth is the person in the pew — and the majority of those who will come into the
church consist of their own family or friends. The church begins to grow when Christ's
body identify themselves with His great commission, to "go into their world" and
reach out to the persons they already know (Mark 16:15). (3) The Glue of Church Growth — It's one thing to get people to
come to church, and it's quite another to get them to stay. The assimilation of
individuals into the church is probably the most important element to growth. Generally
speaking, the two great reasons why persons stick in a church are (1) relationship bonds,
and (2) a task or role of service that provides a sense of purpose.³ Finding ways to help
people develop relationships in the church, and getting them involved in its ministries
will help to stop the revolving door tendency, and result in a growing adherence to the
church. It is believed that these two church adhesives are best developed in
the environment of a condensed sub group, sometimes referred to as a "cell." The
smaller climate better enables people to get to know each other and develop
"relationship bonds," something that's not very easy in a larger setting. And in
the smaller group, everyone is able to be used in their gift or a special "role of
service," something not always possible when there are many gifted people in a large
church. In some churches, Sunday School classes or other specific groups for youth, men or
women fulfill the need for such cell groups. Other churches use a concept of home groups,
where small gatherings meet for fellowship and ministry. It is a truth that for a church
to grow larger, it must also grow smaller at the same time. ¹ Leading Your Church To Growth, C. Peter Wagner This article is copyrighted © by Dale A. Robbins, 1995, and is a publication of Victorious Publications, Grass Valley, CA 95949. Unless otherwise stated, all scripture references were taken from The New King James Bible, © Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.You may download for personal use as long as you retain credit to the author. Obtain permission before reproducing copies for any reason, by filling out our simple permission form. For media reproduction rights, or to obtain published quantities of this title, email us. |
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