A friend has got me thinking about how we judge success in the church and what is the telling sign of growth. You don’t have to have a M.Div. to know when a church is completely broken; but what about the ones that are just getting by? Many churches have a worship service every Sunday, bible study and children’s programs. So what is the telling sign of growth?
Certainly it is easy to look at large churches and seem them as models of growth. For those who have been involved with small churches there is a compulsion to view size as a worldly concept of growth. The Dallas Cowboy’s new stadium has a viewing screen so large that it interferes with game play on occasion. As a man, I view this as a good thing. TV’s should be obnoxiously large and challenge the space they are put in. Bigger is better! But is this what scripture says?
In my opinion, there is no greater example of church health and growth than the events following Pentecost. The disciples filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaiming the gospel to everyone in Jerusalem. Acts 2:42-46 shows us this picture: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people."
This model of health and growth was the development from people getting saved at Pentecost. Acts 2:41 “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” The day the church was born it was three thousand people. Following the huge influx of people on the first day, we see in Acts 2:47 “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” I believe that a properly equipped, healthy, growing church can’t stop from growing.
In light of what scripture says about size in relation to health, we need to be careful not to make a correlation/causation mistake. Growth does not equate to health and health doesn’t equal a fixed number. When McDonalds assesses the health of their stores, they don’t count the people that walk through the door. They measure purchased goods and service times. Likewise we can’t view the church only by the number of people that walk through the doors.
These are the signs of health and growth in scripture:
- · People who attend multiple teaching opportunities.
- · People who serve.
- · People involved in missions.
- · People who tithe.
I don’t believe that you can reverse engineer any of these measurement tools. You can’t increase the tithing or service of a church to equate to health and growth. Only true health will lead to any of these groups growing. A church can’t grow past what the leadership is equipped to handle. God isn’t going to give a pastor 500 souls to shepherd when the pastor is only able to handle 50. The cry of every pastor’s heart needs to be “increase my capacity.”
A pastor must grow in the following ways in order to be prepared for God’s blessing of ministry:
- · Stewardship of ministry.
- · Quality of leadership.
- · Personal growth.
If a pastor loses as many people as they bring in to the church, they are losing ground. Why would God trust them with more people when they can’t handle what they have now? Pastors need to be able to create a leadership team and functionally develop people. Lastly, if pastors are not growing in their faith and interpersonal relationships they have no capacity to receive more blessing.
Church growth is not an accident and requires intentional actions. It cannot be measured purely statistically and cannot be spurred on by report assessment. If it isn’t the passion of the church and the leadership, it won’t happen.
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