Two Secrets To Growing A Church

9 ‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ Matthew 22:9 (NASB95)

     Our family was entertaining new acquaintances for dinner. Before they arrived we told our three-year-old, Reggie, to be on his best behavior. When he questioned us, we explained, "We're having special company for dinner. You'll like them."
     Reggie, scrubbed and mannerly, joined us at the dinner table. Immediately after the blessing, he said in a loud voice, "Would you please pass the company? My mom says I will really like them." – Betty Bishop, Hampton, Florida. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."    

While never an expert on the subject, I have long been interested in the topic of church growth. I have read many of the books written both by researchers and scholars, and by those who have managed to grow large, successful churches. I have worked with more than one church that experienced measurable success in growing from a small handful to a much larger congregation. I have a personal friend who earned his Ph.D. in church growth who used to often call to talk about what we were doing, and I’m sure he used some of the insights I shared with him to become a recognized expert in the field. I say all that, not to brag, but to let you know that I think I know at least a few things about what goes into growing a church.

I have also come to some conclusions about why churches do not grow. One of the biggest reasons is that churches do not want to grow, and worse, they actually resist growing.

I know it sounds strange, but I’m convinced it is true. One of the fastest growing churches I’ve worked with had this problem. We started with 55 people, counting my wife, our two children, and myself. In about two years, we grew to around 200, having baptized more than 70 people. But one day, that original 50 or so folks woke up and realized, “It’s not our church anymore!” There were more new people than we had started with, and the new people had now become the leaders and the ones deciding on the direction of the church and how we did things. That realization in the minds of the original group was the beginning of the end. We moved within the next year, and with two years after that, the church was back to almost exactly the original 55 people.

For a church to really grow, it cannot be afraid to grow, and it must be willing to bring new leadership on board, new ideas, new projects. It’s not that the original group must be replaced, but the original group must be willing to adapt and move with the “newness” happening in the church.

I have also come to believe that there is one thing that all growing churches have in common. You can find all sorts of variables in growing churches that differ from one church to another, but a small number seems to remain common to all of them.

For example, all growing churches are churches where the members bring people to church. Show me a church where that doesn’t happen, I’ll show you a church that doesn’t grow. Show me a church where the members consistently and constantly bring friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc., to worship with them, I’ll show you a church that grows.

In fact, this might be, at leas in my mind, the single most important factor to make a church grow. Members must bring in the new growth. That’s exactly what happened in the church I wrote about above. We grew because our members brought people to church.

The challenge to us is obvious. First, we need to be aware that we might be afraid to grow, or that we’re resisting growth. Second, we need to realize that if our church is going to grow, we have to bring people to church. Those two factors, one negative and one positive, just might do wonders if we handle them correctly.

That first one requires some deep soul-searching and a willingness in our current membership to change. The second requires some purposeful action from our members to bring visitors.

How To Open People's Ears To The Gospel

30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:30–32 (NASB95)

I could not figure Brenda out. She was wealthy and intelligent. She had an exciting social life married to a leading Australian businessman. What was she thinking inviting us for a meal and discussion? At no point was this teacher pushy or preachy. Her style was completely relaxed and incredibly generous. When her VCR went missing one day, she made almost nothing of it, even though she suspected (quite reasonably) it was [someone from] our group. For me, her open, flexible, generous attitude toward us "sinners" was the doorway into a life of faith. As we ate and drank and talked, it was clear this was no missionary ploy on her part. She truly cared for us and treated us like friends or, perhaps more accurately, like sons. As a result, over the course of the next year, she introduced several of us from the class to the ultimate "friend of sinners," Jesus. – John Dickson, The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission (Zondervan, 2010 ), pp. 51-52

If you take a look at how Jesus went about teaching the gospel, he did it by means of friendship, love, and simply being kind to people. I know. We tend to focus on his famous confrontations with Pharisees, and he did have them. But it was mainly because they weren’t interested, and worse, they were enemies out to kill him. He was hardest on those who claimed to be friends of God. They weren’t.

But look closely at the four gospels. Over and over, Jesus dines with sinners, visits with them in conversations, tells stories to illustrate truth, and dispenses grace and mercy everywhere he went. The reason children liked to be around him is that he was easy to be with. It’s the same reason sinners and tax collectors liked to be with him.

The big question is why don’t we learn from Jesus. We keep thinking evangelism depends on some method or formula. We keep holding workshops to teach the latest “secret” techniques. We need to just be more like Jesus. Be a friend to sinners. Be kind to people, love them, act graciously and mercifully. That opens ears like nothing else.

Insight Sometimes Comes From Unexpected Sources

Some of the ladies from our church took a get-away trip last weekend. Along for the ride was a woman who is not a member of our congregation. She is a member of another church. During their travels, it seems they got into a rather serious and deep discussion about predestination.

The details of that discussion are not important for this article. They did a pretty good job discussing the issue, and talking about why they believe what they believe. Let's just say, the lady who traveled along with them held a view that sees God predestining individuals to be saved or lost, regardless of a person's desire to be saved. In other words, she believes if God wants to save you, then he will, even if you live a wild life and don't believe. If he doesn't want to save you, then it doesn't matter how much you believe, or how badly you want to be saved, you'll still be lost.

The insight, however, happened about something very different. This friend said to our ladies, something like this: "If you don't believe that God predestines people to saved, then you ought to be out every day talking to everyone you know about Jesus."

Wow! She got it right on the money. We might not agree with her view on predestination, but she got the point about the great commission. Why else would Jesus have given the assignment to preach the gospel to every creature? And if we believe that God has given human beings freedom to choose and the responsibility to believe or not, then why are we not more serious about giving them the opportunity to do just that? Why are we not telling more people about Jesus?

In this case, insight came to at least a few of our ladies in an unexpected way. What I heard from a couple of them says that the question posed by their friend hit a nerve. It bothered them. Why? Well because our sweet, good-hearted ladies are very much like most Christians. The "great commission" is not a driving force or motivation. It's not that they are unconcerned. It's just that they haven't realized how important it is that we sow the seed of the gospel.

There is nothing we do as Christians that is as important as sharing the gospel with others. There are a lot of ways we might minister to people, and all of those ways might be very good. Nothing is as important as the saving of lost people. Period. Nothing.

That doesn't mean everyone ought to be conducting Bible studies, though somebody should. It means that all of us can, and should, be aware that our mission is to see that people are saved. Your part in that might be as simple as inviting a friend to church, or as involved as becoming a missionary in a far-away place. The point is that both people can be a viable part of putting people into contact with Jesus Christ so that they can be saved. They still must choose, but you will have helped them face a legitimate choice.

If we really believe that individuals must choose to believe in Jesus Christ, choose to put their faith in him as Savior and Lord, then we must also believe that we have a huge responsibility to them. Yes, we ought to be telling far more people about Jesus. Every day. Every where we go. To every person we can. We are to sow seed. God will then give the increase.

100% Natural Evangelism

We just finished viewing the video series 100% Natural Evangelism by Terry Rush. I was disappointed. It was too short. Only four sessions. Personally, I think Terry should have made this series at least 2 or 3 times as long.

I will say this is hardly vintage Rush. He's calm instead of overly animated. But it's also very, very good.

The four sessions take you through Terry's own personal journey in learning how to talk to people about Jesus. It's open, honest, and revealing. I related to the vignettes about feeling inadequate and scared to death as a novice preacher. I knew exactly what he was talking about when he shared about schools bringing in the experts to talk about how to do personal evangelism, only to produce more fear and guilt because you just couldn't do it like them. I think talking about failure was terrific. The truth is there is a lot of failure, even among those who are excellent at personal evangelism.

Terry's series is a great encouragement, and I would heartily endorse the videos to others. Do not think, however, that he is going to throw a method at you, or that he's going to hand you a program to follow. You'll be very disappointed. This is a series about learning how to love people, how to trust that God is working in you and through you, and how to see your job as sowing seed, not forcing the results. You won't learn verses to teach others, you won't learn an outline to follow, or the standard personal evangelism content. You will learn that you can let the Spirit of God work in you to produce fruit, and in the fruit is the potential of new life in Christ.

I suspect that a great many who view the series will miss the point. This is not a fault in the series or the presentations. It's a fault in people who will watch the videos and just not understand. I'm of the opinion, that some may need to see these videos more than once.

If you need help knowing exactly what to teach, let me encourage you to check out my little "Real Bible Study 4 Kids." Yes, it was written to help parents teach the gospel to their children. But I believe it would be of great help to anyone. Adults can certainly adapt it to their own use, and teens would find it extremely helpful. And, if you're looking to learn what to teach another person, it would provide you with a lot of guidance.

Terry Rush's, 100% Natural Evangelism, will serve to encourage and motivate a lot of Christians to reach out to people. That's really our job. Sow some seed. God will give the increase.