Sunday, April 03, 2005
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CHURCH GROWTH —— A WORD OP CAUTION
Any consideration of church growth must deal with two general areas: goals, or goal setting and means or methods by which to attain those goals.
Generally speaking, goals merit consensus and are rarely divisive. What Christian doesn't want to add to the fold by winning the lost, improve or expand existing physical facilities to better serve the community and each other, or see real spiritual growth in himself and others?
Even the best goals, however, may be subverted. We may set goals beyond the reach of our willingness to let God use us for His glory. We may set goals for others rather than ourselves. We may expect greater fruits for our labor than will result.
We must set goals for ourselves, base those goals on the level of activity we are willing to practice, and rely on God to bless our efforts with success as He chooses. We must realize that we cannot guarantee good results——and that we are not expected to.
Potentially more troublesome is the question of the means or methods we employ to accomplish our goals. Sometimes they may be questionable and, therefore, engender division. Methods cannot be defended, supported, or justified on the basis of goals alone. Both means and goals must be tested by Scripture. Also, it is important to realize that when disagreements over either of these occur it is someone's judgement, rather than their motivation, that needs to be questioned.
One basic problem is that when striving to reach the world, the world's tools may become deceptively alluring: false advertising to bring people into the church, entertainment to keep them, and motivational gimmicks to get them going "for the good of the church." We may become guilty of trying to build our church by relying on secular organizational tools that seem appropriate. But we must not forget that if one attempts to build the church as one would attempt to build a secular organization, one should expect a secular organization to result. By the world's standards one may be successful, with the budget met, numbers growing, and enthusiasm high; but if the church is supposed to be more than these things, one might only be building a facade——rather than a mighty fortress; building with clay rather than with stone.
Let's consider first the problem of false advertising. Have you ever heard the Christian life misrepresented to the extent that one unfamiliar with Scripture could envision only a sort of Yuppie heaven on earth? Let's face it: to be fair, and accurate, we need to balance "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine," (Proverbs 3:9,10) with "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money," (Luke 16:13) or "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Luke 18:24,25). In the same vein we may all agree that our church family is a great source of fellowship and strength and that anyone would benefit by gaining membership---but becoming a Christian involves sacrifices as well as gains. Jesus said, "Anyone who loves his father or his mother more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:37-39) The point here is that to build a strong church we must present a balanced view of Christianity-—one that includes trials, discipline, and sacrifice as well as joy, hope, and peace.
Hand in hand with the problem of false advertising is that of entertainment. We all enjoy worship services that are uplifting, pleasant, and cheerful. We all want to present a service to visitors that is calculated to bring them back. The primary danger here is that our services are first and foremost to be pleasing to God. They should be times of sincere worship and praise, done decently and with order. They should not become pep rallies or concerts whose entertainment value is greater than their worship value——nor should they be designed to appeal more to the audience than to God. The Bible gives us great latitude in designing our services; but it seems clear that we miss the mark when we emphasize preaching and special music and even our offerings over our communion service. Please note: none of this is intended to criticize the inclusion of any of these acts of worship in our services; none of these things are bad. But when the world is our competitor and it is a world of entertainment that places a premium on making people feel good and helping them escape from reality we should not try to compete on such terms.
Finally, in our efforts to motivate each other to greater service in the Lord's kingdom we may allow the well intentioned use of seemingly innocent aids. These may range from pledges and appeals to cash prizes and lapel pins. They may be designed to entice or compel. They seem so innocent because the object is merely to get the person to do what is right—-to get them going "for the good of the church." It is argued that both they and the church will benefit as a result, that no harm is intended, and that service is properly one of their duties. We are told that some people just need to be stimulated and that these methods work-—in churches and in the world.
Public recognition has a place in the world-—it does motivate people to greater achievement. But the following words of Jesus cast great doubt on the use of such tools in the church. "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do. you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Rut when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4)
Perhaps the central issue is the approach one wishes to take: should we attempt to build the church to serve God, or serve God in order to build the church? The first strategy places the organization at the center and we proceed to make judgements on that basis. This may be well intentioned and we may not even be conscious of it; but it may lead to questionable methods justified only by a worthy goal: church growth. The second strategy, serving God in order to build the church, recognizes that church growth is a by-product or result of Christian lives displayed in any community.
The method by which we attain legitimate and lasting, rather than superficial and temporary, church growth, therefore, is by following the pattern and practices set forth in the Scriptures——as the early church was instructed. Therefore, we need to present the full Gospel and live it ourselves to bring people into the church, and see that our church, each of us, ministers to one another to keep people in the church. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another." (John 13:34) And the apostle Paul wrote that we should "serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13) If we do these two things, love and serve, "for the good of the church" will be replaced by "for Christ" and the result will be a good church. As such, there should be no doubt that it will grow.
CHURCH GROWTH —— A WORD OP CAUTION
Any consideration of church growth must deal with two general areas: goals, or goal setting and means or methods by which to attain those goals.
Generally speaking, goals merit consensus and are rarely divisive. What Christian doesn't want to add to the fold by winning the lost, improve or expand existing physical facilities to better serve the community and each other, or see real spiritual growth in himself and others?
Even the best goals, however, may be subverted. We may set goals beyond the reach of our willingness to let God use us for His glory. We may set goals for others rather than ourselves. We may expect greater fruits for our labor than will result.
We must set goals for ourselves, base those goals on the level of activity we are willing to practice, and rely on God to bless our efforts with success as He chooses. We must realize that we cannot guarantee good results——and that we are not expected to.
Potentially more troublesome is the question of the means or methods we employ to accomplish our goals. Sometimes they may be questionable and, therefore, engender division. Methods cannot be defended, supported, or justified on the basis of goals alone. Both means and goals must be tested by Scripture. Also, it is important to realize that when disagreements over either of these occur it is someone's judgement, rather than their motivation, that needs to be questioned.
One basic problem is that when striving to reach the world, the world's tools may become deceptively alluring: false advertising to bring people into the church, entertainment to keep them, and motivational gimmicks to get them going "for the good of the church." We may become guilty of trying to build our church by relying on secular organizational tools that seem appropriate. But we must not forget that if one attempts to build the church as one would attempt to build a secular organization, one should expect a secular organization to result. By the world's standards one may be successful, with the budget met, numbers growing, and enthusiasm high; but if the church is supposed to be more than these things, one might only be building a facade——rather than a mighty fortress; building with clay rather than with stone.
Let's consider first the problem of false advertising. Have you ever heard the Christian life misrepresented to the extent that one unfamiliar with Scripture could envision only a sort of Yuppie heaven on earth? Let's face it: to be fair, and accurate, we need to balance "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine," (Proverbs 3:9,10) with "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money," (Luke 16:13) or "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Luke 18:24,25). In the same vein we may all agree that our church family is a great source of fellowship and strength and that anyone would benefit by gaining membership---but becoming a Christian involves sacrifices as well as gains. Jesus said, "Anyone who loves his father or his mother more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:37-39) The point here is that to build a strong church we must present a balanced view of Christianity-—one that includes trials, discipline, and sacrifice as well as joy, hope, and peace.
Hand in hand with the problem of false advertising is that of entertainment. We all enjoy worship services that are uplifting, pleasant, and cheerful. We all want to present a service to visitors that is calculated to bring them back. The primary danger here is that our services are first and foremost to be pleasing to God. They should be times of sincere worship and praise, done decently and with order. They should not become pep rallies or concerts whose entertainment value is greater than their worship value——nor should they be designed to appeal more to the audience than to God. The Bible gives us great latitude in designing our services; but it seems clear that we miss the mark when we emphasize preaching and special music and even our offerings over our communion service. Please note: none of this is intended to criticize the inclusion of any of these acts of worship in our services; none of these things are bad. But when the world is our competitor and it is a world of entertainment that places a premium on making people feel good and helping them escape from reality we should not try to compete on such terms.
Finally, in our efforts to motivate each other to greater service in the Lord's kingdom we may allow the well intentioned use of seemingly innocent aids. These may range from pledges and appeals to cash prizes and lapel pins. They may be designed to entice or compel. They seem so innocent because the object is merely to get the person to do what is right—-to get them going "for the good of the church." It is argued that both they and the church will benefit as a result, that no harm is intended, and that service is properly one of their duties. We are told that some people just need to be stimulated and that these methods work-—in churches and in the world.
Public recognition has a place in the world-—it does motivate people to greater achievement. But the following words of Jesus cast great doubt on the use of such tools in the church. "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do. you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Rut when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4)
Perhaps the central issue is the approach one wishes to take: should we attempt to build the church to serve God, or serve God in order to build the church? The first strategy places the organization at the center and we proceed to make judgements on that basis. This may be well intentioned and we may not even be conscious of it; but it may lead to questionable methods justified only by a worthy goal: church growth. The second strategy, serving God in order to build the church, recognizes that church growth is a by-product or result of Christian lives displayed in any community.
The method by which we attain legitimate and lasting, rather than superficial and temporary, church growth, therefore, is by following the pattern and practices set forth in the Scriptures——as the early church was instructed. Therefore, we need to present the full Gospel and live it ourselves to bring people into the church, and see that our church, each of us, ministers to one another to keep people in the church. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another." (John 13:34) And the apostle Paul wrote that we should "serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13) If we do these two things, love and serve, "for the good of the church" will be replaced by "for Christ" and the result will be a good church. As such, there should be no doubt that it will grow.
# posted by kef1000 @ 3:48 PM 
