Church Growth
This is a topic that catches the attention of pastors, church leaders, and their congregation alike. There have been hundreds of books wrote on the topic. There have been thousands of conferences taught on the topic. Yet despite all the hype and the attention it gets, churches in America are on a decline. In fact, Christianity in American has been on a steady decline, from 85% in 1990 to 65% in 2019 of polled Americans. Only 45% of those polled, claimed they were members of a church.(1) How can we have put so much emphasis on church growth and yet still see our churches decline?
The Last Days
2 Timothy 3:1-4 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 give a description of what it looks like during “the last days”. This is an entirely different subject all together, but if we are going to look at our current situation of churches declining, I don’t believe it can be ignored. Nonetheless, I also think we all too often have justified our lack of being able to grow a congregation with these scriptures. We have read, researched, and tried to apply all that we know about church growth, yet it isn’t working. Therefore the only explanation is that we are fighting an uphill battle and we are living in the days described in the aforementioned scriptures. But should that be a reason to sit on the sidelines and continue to let the declining trajectory of the church endure?
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” II Timothy 3:1-4
4th Quarter & down by 1
I’m not a quitter. I have played many basketball games that have run into overtime or double overtime. Games where there were only 4 players on the floor, because the rest of the bench had fouled out. Yet I would still giving my all. I’ve been on the winning side during games like this, and those seem to be the sweetest victories. Those are the games you remember and still talk about. Those are the games that fuel the fire to keep going, even when the score doesn’t look good. Acts 1:7-8 sums up my feelings on the current situation of the church, “And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’”
Generations that have successfully grown the church before us. They did not cast mission statements, they didn’t have websites, social media, and all the innovative strategies we have today, yet they grew the church. It will never be our tactics, programs, or techniques that grow the church. These are tools we can use to further the gospel, but they should never become our main stream strategy. Zachariah 4:6 “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit says the Lord of Hosts.” So if it’s not by website, not mission statement, not by outreach, but only by His spirit, what then can we do but only seek after the Spirit of God to see church growth. Matthew 16:18 “...I will build My church, and the gate of Hell shall not prevail against it.”
By The Spirit of the Lord
To be more like Jesus and have the spirit of the Lord within us should be our core. The greatest commandment He gave us was to love the Lord your God with all your heart and love to love your neighbor as yourself. The following blogs (more coming soon!) will look at a few of the ways we can implement Christ’s actions into our churches, and ultimately point people toward Him.