Years ago I enrolled, and completed a seminary course on church growth. The professor’s introductory statement was, “If the ends don’t justify the means, what does?” The class collectively shrugged its shoulders and assumed the question’s answer apparent and without question. The question was valid, but the students were either unwilling or unable to engage in the healthy dialogue which ought to have followed. The assumption was, and the rest of the sessions rested on the premise, (numerical) growth validates church activity.
Another form of the same premise is, “The message is sacred, but the methods are not.” My response, “Not so quick!” Didn’t Jesus say, “By this shall all men know you are my disciples, when they see you loving one another?” That is Jesus primary method, one filled with self-sacrifice and presence.
Consider the following as conversation starters with others who care deeply about fulfilling Jesus’ desires.
• Whom did Jesus delegate, or put in charge of church growth?
• What is the primary witness of the church in community?
• How do observers and passers-by describe your church?
• Who attracted you to Jesus?
• What is holding you in the fellowship of the church?
• When describing your church, what descriptors are Biblical? Which are cultural?
• Are our methodologies effectively presenting the Jesus who confounds, convicts, and converts those who receive His message?
• How effectively is Jesus’ call to deny self and follow, challenging the prevailing self-centeredness of our culture?
• Are we filled with wonder that the Eternal God allows one to come face-to-face, heart-to-heart, mind-to-mind, spirit-to-Spirit with Him? Or are we comparing methods?
• Am I self-confident in my methods, or humbly surprised that the grace of God outstrips sin?
The church growth professor and I engaged in conversation. We agreed that the ends must not be immediate and more than numerical, but transformational and eternal. A major American cult is building a temple in center city Philadelphia. Their growth rate is the envy of the church and commerce. The cult’s methods are profoundly effective, but the ends are destructive, death.
Before another dollar is spent on advertising, or another team is enlisted to produce another attention-getting program, we might explore the powerful potential of disciples deliberately and unselfishly giving themselves to someone who has never met Jesus. We could introduce those who have never met Jesus to a fellowship (a.k.a. bar-b-q, dinner, breakfast, etc.) where people listen carefully, care deeply, and laugh heartily. Miracles can happen in venues where Jesus’ disciples are giving themselves away! It is a proven, primitive method that has been validated by Jesus.
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