The subject of church growth has been a topic of academic study and debate probably since around the 1960s when Don McGavran published his book The Bridges of God. McGavran was a missionary who developed a methodology for studying the growth of the church using scientific methodologies: research, sociology, analysis, and the like. His purpose was to discern how to more effectively share the gospel with people groups who did not know Christ. It became a means of using a scientific methodology to help grow larger churches. As academics and pastors in America latched onto this concept, it became quite the fad and produced many books, seminars, and even entire courses of study in Bible schools and seminaries.
In the process of it all, there were those who bought into this movement whole heartedly, but there were others who were critical. Those who bought into it tended to be people who were looking for ways to make their churches larger numerically. Those who were critics tended to be people who, for a whole host of reasons, wanted to put the focus on spiritual rather than numerical growth. In many places it became a battle between those who were seeking organizational growth vs. those who wanted to focus on personal spiritual growth.
The problem is, that is a false dichotomy, and perhaps not even the kind of distinction that should be made. The fact is, we are spiritual individuals who live in a material world. Our core essence is spiritual, but the material part of our being puts boundaries around the way we express our spiritual selves. Thus, if we legitimately grow spiritually, that is going to be expressed in the material world. The question becomes, then, “What does, and should, that material expression look like?”
For instance, if a believer is faithful in living our his or her faith and other people come to know Christ through their witness, it is natural and normal for that new believer to connect with a church. If a whole church full of people are faithfully doing that, it would be expected that the number of people in that church would grow and the church become larger.
A problem with that process occurs when the spiritual element is left out. When the focus is on organizational growth, it is very possible to completely leave out the spiritual element and focus on methodologies that simply make the organization larger. This can easily be done by developing various superficial programs, worship styles, or outreach methodologies that are attractive to people outside the church and entice them to join. The opposite problem also happens in some churches that do not want to make their churches welcoming, so they focus only on opportunities for their own people.
The truth is, based on a biblical worldview, genuine spiritual and numerical growth are not in competition with one another; they are two sides of the same coin. That said, they are not always found together.
It is very possible to promote numerical growth and there not be any spiritual growth. There are numerous examples of mega-churches that have grown because they were able to put on a good show or provide attractive content that does not point people to Christ.
By the same token, it is possible to promote spiritual growth and there not be numerical growth. Sometimes this happens in places that are resistant to the gospel, but many times it happens in groups that simply don’t want to let outsiders in.
Genuine church growth is primarily organic and happens when the focus of a body of believers is in the right place. In fact, in most cases it can be confidently stated that motive is more important than methodology. Not only must the desire for personal spiritual growth in individual believers be present, it must be present in a particular way; in a way that gets expressed out in the real worlds of those who are personally growing spiritually.
Ephesians 4:11-13 gives us a model for growing the church in a way that promotes organic growth. In verse 11 the apostle Paul lists the leaders of the church. Then, in the first part of verse 12 he shares the purpose of those leaders: To equip the saints for the work of ministry.
So what does this tell us? We don’t have to dig very deep to make an amazing discovery: that the main ministers to the world are “the saints” – the everyday Christian – not the church leaders. And what about the church leadership? Their entire ministry is to “equip the saints” – to provide the church membership with the knowledge and tools they need to be effective ministers out in the world.
The truth is, the leaders in the church do not have the ability to reach out and touch the vast majority of people in the world who need Christ. There are just too few of them. But if the large number of believers in the church are equipped to go out into their world and touch the lives of those they interact with day in and day out, explosive growth can occur.
Most churches have fallen into the traditional paradigm of trying to attract new members using various kinds of programming. And to be sure, in many places this approach has been able to attract new members and cause a church to grow numerically. But “continued” growth using this model is mostly dependent on the programming, not on actually reaching people for Christ. This does not mean that churches that use a programming approach do not ever reach people for Christ; some do and some don’t. However, using a programming methodology makes it difficult to accomplish the explosive growth that happened in the New Testament era because ultimately most of the growth is dependent on the skills of the church leaders.
Genuine explosive growth is possible when a biblical worldview paradigm is established. Using this approach, the saints (regular church members) are equipped to go out into the world and bring people to Christ. When they do, they bring those new Christians into the church where they, too, are equipped, then they go out and do the same. As this keeps happening, massive growth is possible.
You see, growth is not the goal, it is the byproduct of the goal. The goal is equipped mature believers living a faithful lifestyle in relationship with Christ. If the actual goal is accomplished, the byproduct is certain.
© 2018 Freddy Davis