Fundamental Principles of Church Growth - Essay Example

Fundamental Principles of Church Growth. How They Have Been Challenged and Developed This paper is dedicated to the principles and stratagies of the church growth and their development through ages. Historically, my opinion has been formed on the basis of my own ideas about the truth of such religion. The Church should take people closer to God, but not to compete in the number of those who just came to the pray, because it “fashionable”, “modern”, “all the neighbors do it”. I am opposed to innovative strategies and recommendations for attraction of parishioners. Thats why I would not start directly with the presentation of “successful” strategies, but with explanation, why many of them are not as useful for the faithful people, as it seems at first glance. Many of the techniques are based more on marketing and psychology than on the human faith. Studies do not define a clear classification of such strategies and what to choose each church should define itself. Difference between modern and original growth` strategies The most popular strategy of growth in Western countries is called “seeker-sensitive” strategy. According to it, Sunday services are constructed in such manner that Christians feel safe to invite non-believers and the gospel is presented in the form of soft, lightweight for reading and understanding, to unbelievers. Service during the week is intended for discipleship. In this way some churches have achieved quite a lot of growth. These churches have a great opportunity for evangelization and education of people; if everyone is involved to and is trained in the cell, and if the gospel is preached without compromise. At least these “seeker-sensitive” churches are trying to reach unsaved people, what the traditional church hardly makes. But lets see how this "seeker-sensitive" principle refers to the facts that we see in Scripture. The apostles and evangelists, called by God, preached the gospel publicly and from house to house, and they were accompanied by signs and wonders that attracted the attention of unbelievers. Those, who repented and believed, abideth in the doctrine of the Apostles, met regularly at home, where Gods Word was studied, prayed together, and so on. All this took place under the leadership of the apostles. God-called teachers and prophets walked the churches. Everyone shared the gospel with friends and neighbors. Construction of buildings did not inhibit the growth of the church and did not invalidate the resources needed to spread the gospel and discipleship. Leaders were trained quickly in practice, but not in the Bible schools and seminaries. All of these factors contributed to the explosive growth of the church in a short time, until they reached all people in this area. For comparison, the modern “seeker-sensitive” model usually has no signs and wonders, and thus, it has no supernatural “advertising” and reproof. Everything is focused on the arrival of people in the building, where preaching will sound, and it depends on the natural advertising and marketing moves. A preachers oratorical talent is the main tool of persuasion. How it differs from the methods of St.Paul, who asked to convince the faith not with the wisdom of men, but with the power of God. (1 Cor. 2: 4-5). It should be noted that the “seeker-sensitive” model often does not have the apostles and evangelists, because the first figure of it is the pastor. “Seeker-sensitive” pastor preaches once a week on Sunday`s service which Christians are advised to bring unsaved people to. It turns out that the unsaved friends of believers can hear the gospel only once a week. “Seeker-sensitive” model requires a corresponding building for believers not to be ashamed to invite their friends and acquaintances. It always requires a certain amount. Before tackling the spread of the Gospel, it is necessary to construct a building. This building should be located in a good location, usually - in the wealthy suburb. But the biblical model requires no special buildings and money. The spread of the gospel is not limited capacity of the church building. The Gospel, which is often preached in “seeker-sensitive” churches, is different from the origin. Sinners are said how much God loves them, how He can respond to their deepest needs and how they can be saved, accepting Jesus as Savior. After they pray a short “sinners prayer”, without knowing anything about the real cost of discipleship, they are claimed to be really saved and have the privilege to grow in Christ. If they become members of the church (often they do not return to the church), they are trained by the program, which is aimed more at the completion of knowledge than on the formation of a pupil who keeps the commandments of Christ. The culmination of such educational process is the moment when one is told that he “found his ministry”, if he supports financially the traditions, not mentioned in the Scriptures. Main factors of the church growth Few people recognize that there is a number of factors beyond the control of pastors that limit the growth of the church. The first and the most important reason of church`s “popularity” is that church growth is limited by the number of residents in the area. Obviously, the biggest churches are located in the most densely populated areas. At their disposal millions of people are from which they can make church members. If the numbers are a measure of true success, it should be evaluated not on the number, and in the percentage of the number of people in the church to the population. If we would judge in this way, some churches of ten people will be seemed more successful than the church of ten thousand. Church of ten members in the village, where only fifty men live, is more successful than a church of ten thousand in a city of five millions. However the pastor of a church of ten people will never be invited to preach at a conference of church growth. Secondly, church growth is limited by the activity of all the churches in the region among the people who are open to the Gospel. At a certain time there is a certain number of people in the region, whose hearts are open to the Gospel. Of course, every believer was once immune to the gospel, but then under the influence of the Holy Spirit he opened his heart. Therefore, a “closed” person may be open. When this happens, the church can grow. Jesus sent his disciples to the cities, where no person has repented, but he still continued his attempts. Could it be named a defeat of the disciples? No, as even though the church did not grow, they obeyed Jesus. So, these pastors who are devoted employees of their small churches can be much more successful in the eyes of God than some experts on church growth. The third factor limiting the growth of the church is the abilities of the pastor. Most pastors do not have the necessary skills to manage a large church, and it is not their fault. They just do not have the organizational and administrative gift, or the ability to preach and teach in a large church. Clearly, such pastors are not called by God to being a pastor in a large church, and not to make a mistake, they should lead the church no more than medium-size or small local churches. Main principles of the church growth There are other strategies of church growth, in addition to the "seeker-sensitive". Many of these strategies have no biblical basis and are included to the category of strategies called “spiritual warfare”. In fact there are several common strategies and advices for growth of church. For example, according to McIntosh, one can found five useful methods of achieving this goal. His “What Every Pastor Should Know” describes the fact that the longer church exist the more self-centered it becomes and the less concerned with the original reason of church’s existence. So, the outreach should become the priority. The second principle is widely shared by those who study the churches and the issues, dedicated to them. It is based on the formation of social networks. MCGavran is sure that the church`s development is a result of rationalistic strategy, which requires carrying of consistent programs as well as the experienced trained leaders (McGavran 142). The principle of coming to the church through relationships with Christians is over 2000 years old. Church growth experts claim that most of those, who now believe in God, were once brought by the family members or close friends. So, the pastors are asked to encourage every person in church to list their friends and relatives to the religious community and bring them to Jesus. Especially this method is effective during the first months after conversion and in general one can list 4 or 5 new believers. The priest is recommended to inform his parishioners with the idea that only they can become a bridge for their unchurched friends to the God (Krejcir, Web). Another proposed idea is to keep more attentive look at what people are disturbed, as unchurched people are not walking keeping in mind the idea of eternal destiny of the soul. They are usually thinking about more mundane matters: work, hobby, children, health, finances and so on. So, the idea is to find the connecting point, because it is necessary to show people how the church and religion are relevant to their lives, as the Gospel of Christ applies to all aspects of life. Giving people the chance to see they are not disconnected and isolated, the church would reduce the pressure and stress of the world and as a result it will get a hearing. People would be ready to hear the religious message. The growing church itself determines the spiritual needs of the community and serves them. Growing churches realize their resources and collective spiritual gifts with spiritual and social needs of the society it serves. Part of this work is to overcome the disease known as “blindness to the people”. The growth is enhanced when the church knows in which direction it is moving. Many churches in general have a vague idea of where they are going and why even exist. Many of them tend to share the views of its current pastor; they do not have their own philosophy of ministry. As a result the community turns just into people, who gather once a week in a certain place. Arriving at the meeting, they expect that the pastor will “perform” in the traditional spirit and this is all their participation. Several researchers are advicing to divide the strategies into small easy steps, as there are no simple recipes for consistent growth. All the parts and functions are equally important, consistency and work simultaneously. Without this infrastructure separate strategies often do not give the desired result. Donald McGavran thinks it is better to use an imperfect plan, as plans in action can become the only thing that matters (287). For example, Jay Dennis idea is formed around prayer and hard work. His advice is to do this with people, not for them. It is useful to make individual and group works. Practically the same is told by McIntosh that “life-giving churches are empowered by worshipers who willingly invest their lives in life-giving ministry” (110). To sum up, I would like to say that many of the innovations in the field of church growth are the result of the experience of a few pastors who say, “I acted in the following way and my church grew. Try to do the same”. But the truth is that between the growth of their churches and the fact that they did, there is no real connection, even if they think differently. It has been proven for many times, that if the pastor is trying to repeat what others have done, his church does not grow. Therefore, as in any industry, I can not single out the most effective tips. Nevertheless, the minister of the church should be spiritual and soulful, it is the most important to attract people. Thus, I feel it`s better to perform the duties well and follow biblical methods of church growth, which are a prayer, preaching, teaching, training of students, assisted by the Holy Spirit, and so on, but even these biblical elements do not guarantee church growth, because God gave people freedom of choice. They can decide to repent or not themselves. All of this suggests that for church growth only methods should be used. References Donald A. McGavran (1990).Understanding Church Growth Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Gary L. McIntosh (2003). Biblical Church Growth: How You Can Work with God to Build a Faithful Church Baker Books. Gary L. McIntosh, Charles Arn (2013). What Every Pastor Should Know - 101 Rules for Effective Leadership and Ministry in Your Church, Baker Books. Jay Dennis, 20 Church Growth Principles for Maximum Impact, [Online] Available at: www.lifeway.com. Paul Young (2013). Principles of Church Growth Second Edition, [Online] Available at: http://www.drawingotherstochrist.com. Richard J. Krejcir, Ph.D. Schaeffer (2000). 44 Church Growth Principles that are Real and Work, Institute of Church Leadership, [Online] Available at: www.churchleadership.org. Read More