Before I give you my list of top ten myths of church growth, I would like to provide a type of disclaimer. Larger churches are not bad churches. Many of the larger churches are exciting places to worship God and are doing amazing things in God's Kingdom. Please understand that I am not being critical of larger churches, per ce.
This list is a reaction to the church growth culture that has been created (and not necessarily biblical) that is causing more damage than good in the Church of Jesus Christ. It is a reaction to the consumer-driven entertainment industry that the church is buying into. It is also a reaction to the "star" system, which I will address below. It is a reaction to denomination emphases on church growth instead of faithful Christian ministry. There are precious saints of the Lord that labor every day to be faithful to the ministry of Jesus Christ in the pastorate and are marginalized, neglected, overlooked, and dismissed as irrelevant and incapable because they pastor a smaller church.
Myth #1: Smaller churches are unhealthy churches
Smaller churches have been pigeonholed into "unhealthy" church status from the church growth movement and the denominational leaders that cater to the larger churches and their pastors. There is a destructive concept out there that says that "healthy churches grow automatically." Whereas this may true in some contexts, it does not mean all small churches are somehow unhealthy.
But, how does the Bible describe a healthy church? In other words, by what standard would Jesus Christ judge a healthy church? First, you will not find the term "healthy church" in the Bible. What you will find, however, are very clear expectations of the church in any context and of any size. For example, Paul exhorts the church at Colossae: " . . . [W]e have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light" (Col 1:9b - 12, NIV). That sounds like a healthy church to me, regardless of how many people are in the church and regardless of how many people are being "added" to the church over any given period of time.
Myth #2: God is displeased with pastors of small churches
In other words, the pastor of a smaller church is a spiritually inferior pastor and probably not a good leader.
I love the conversation that Jesus had with Peter after his resurrection (see John 21:15 - 19). Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me?" Peter responded, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."
How does a pastor find favor in the sight of the Lord? Feed His sheep! Later, Peter, when exhorting the pastors in Asia Minor, said, "Be shepherds of God's flock..." (1 Peter 5:1). That is when we find favor in the sight of the Lord. That is when we will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness" (Matt 25:21, 23).
God is not angry with pastors of small churches. In fact, God looks favorably to those pastors that suffer and work for the Lord in the most grueling of circumstances. God looks favorably on pastors that refuse to measure the quality of their ministry by the standards of success as defined by the world.
Listen to Jesus: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and the he will reward each person according to what he has done" (Matthew 16:24-27).
Myth #3: Only healthy churches grow automatically.
There are a lot of large churches that I would call "unhealthy" if you take scripture seriously. There are churches that are growing large because they are preaching anything but the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ.
Myth #4: You have to "brand" to be effective in ministry
Be careful what "image" you are trying to copy at your church. Branding is image control. The only "image" that we need to focus on is being conformed to the image of Christ.
Believe it or not, the world does not give a rip about your brand. When you focus on branding, you become another "product" that the world perceives as being sold. It's actually counter-productive.
I say this because there are some pastors that are really image driven. Unfortunately, this can become idolatry.
Be careful!
Myth #5: Mega-church pastors are by default wise pastors
"The culture that surrounds the electronic church has developed a 'star' system. Authority comes from an individual's celebrity status in this [church] subculture [authority and 'celebrity' is measured by the number of butts in the pews, how many hits on their website or 'views' on YouTube]. There is a great temptation for preachers [and pastors] to imitate the styles and manners [and models of ministry] of these stars in order to [draw] and hold an audience" (Richard Ward 98).
"In our current religious culture, we've made attendance the most important measure of our success. We honor and extol the largest churches. Their pastors become elite priesthood that others look to for guidance. But this belief system cripples us from focusing on what's required to fulfill the great commission . . . One way to give up the god of attendance is to replace it with a different goal. When our goal moves from wanting recognition from others to transformation of others, we put the god of attendance in its place (Bill Hull in The Complete Handbook of Discipleship, p. 265).
Be careful who you idolize!
There are some very wise and powerful pastors of small churches.
Myth #6: Pastors should strive for or focus on breaking growth barriers
No, pastors should focus on shepherding God's flock (see 1 Peter 5:1-4). God will break the growth barriers.
Myth #7: "Traditional" churches are unhealthy churches
Actually, every church is a traditional church. I once heard a pastor of one of these "new-paradigm churches" say, "Contemporary churches are healthy churches. Traditional churches are selfish churches." What? Are you kidding?
If you do something once, you do something twice, and you intend on doing it a third time because it is meaningful to you, you have yourself a tradition.
I am finding that some of the traditions of these "new-paradigm" churches are unhealthy. For example, the tradition of preaching "self-help" messages instead of holiness is "unhealthy."
Myth #8: Programs are bad for churches and will prevent a church from growing
Every church has programs. Even Rick Warren's church is "program-driven" (which he calls a bad thing in his book The Purpose-Driven Church). His program is the "purpose-driven church" model and the "purpose-driven life."
People don't like programs when it is not their program.
Myth #9: You should staff for growth
No, you should staff for ministry. In Exodus 18, Deuteronomy 1, and Acts 6, "staffing" was added to meet a specific need, not to grow Israel or the Church. Go look up in a lexicon the definition of the Greek word diakonos, from which we get our word "deacon." You might find out what a healthy church really looks like.
Myth #10: Church growth only means coming up with methods to add numbers to a church.
Since I teach a "church growth and evangelism" course in a Christian college, I have thought a lot about the concept of "church growth" and what that really means. Really, their are four main facets of church growth instead of just one (i.e., how to put more butts in the pews). For my students, I compare church growth to an oak tree. First, an oak tree grows "deep." It has a strong root system. Likewise, the local church should grow deep in authentic worship (reverence, piety, and service), spiritual formation, revitalization, discipleship, and maturity. This specifically has to do with the individual growth of the believer in the local church. The church is not "growing" unless it is growing deep. Second, the oak tree grows tall. This has to do with adding people to the kingdom of God through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the broad sense, it has everything to do with adding people to the kingdom. In the narrow sense, it has absolutely nothing to do with the consumer-driven models that are being crammed down our throats in the Christian marketplace. The church is not "growing" unless it is proclaiming the true gospel of Jesus Christ and seeks to add to the kingdom of God. Third, the oak tree grows wide. This is compared to the influence of the Church of the Jesus Christ in the world. This facet seeks to ask, "How can the Church universal influence and transform culture?" The church is not growing if it is not trying to influence and transform culture. The problem I see with the church growth movement is that, in some cases, they have assimilated postmodern culture with Christianity instead of seeking to transform the culture through the Gospel. Finally, the oak tree produces seed that falls and is intended to reproduce. This is church multiplication (planting). The Church is not growing unless it is multiplying by planting new churches (regardless of how large they become).
These are my ten myths of church growth. I want to encourage you awesome pastors of small churches. Keep up the fight over the souls of the precious saints that God has called you to shepherd. God is going to reward you for your faithfulness, not how good an entrepreneur you can be.
Don't commit the same sin that some larger church pastors are doing to you. Don't ignore and dismiss the good work that larger churches are doing. Fellowship with each other and with them. Learn from each other. We are in this together!
1 comment:
Solid! God bless the small churches! There are more of us than there are of them.
Post a Comment