Pastors and churches spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year attending conferences, buying books, hiring consultants, advertisers and marketers, all to try and accomplish one thing: to increase attendance -- to be a bigger church.
I'm absolutely convinced this is the wrong tack.
Success is a slippery subject when it comes to the Church. That our ultimate picture of success is a crucified Messiah means any conversation about success will be incompatible with a "bigger is better" mentality. Yet, bigger and better is exactly what most churches seem to be pursuing these days: a pursuit which typically comes in the form of sentimentality and pragmatism.
Sentimentality and pragmatism are the one-two punch which has the American Church on the ropes, while a generation of church leaders acquiesces to the demands of our consumer culture. The demands are simple: tell me something that will make me feel better (sentimentality for the churchgoer), and tell me something that will work (pragmatism for the church leader). Yet it is not clear how either one of those are part of what it means to be the church.
Sentimentality is mother's milk to the church which has ceased to believe our faith should really make a difference in the way we live our lives. Instead of proclaiming resurrection, the sentimental church will devote their entire Sunday worship service to Mother's/Father's Day -- or worse yet, Valentine's Day. Not that we don't appreciate our parents and sweethearts, but the yielding of precious worship time to the celebration of greeting card companies signals a much deeper problem: we have lost track of the story of God. Yet, for a church to grow bigger, losing track of the story is precisely what is required.
Instead of pursuing faithfulness the sentimental church must provide a place where people can come to hear a comforting message from an effusive pastor spouting fervent one-liners which are intended only to make us feel good about the decisions we've already made with our lives. If our beliefs aren't actually, really true then at least we can have a Hallmark moment, right? Above all the sentimental church must never teach us that in the kingdom of God, up is down, in is out, and nothing short of dying to ourselves and each other can help us truly live.
Perhaps more than sentimentality, pragmatism is ravaging the church. Pragmatism has led to a fairly new niche industry I call the Church Leadership Culture. Taking their cues from business, church leadership manuals are more than willing to instruct the interested pastor in how to gain market share. I once heard church consultant and leadership guru Don Cousins say that you can grow a church without God if you have good preaching, great music, killer children's ministry, and an engaging youth minister. Cousins should know. He helped build Willow Creek Community Church and the church leadership culture. In the pragmatic church, there is only one question that matters, "What will work to grow my church?"
The fundamental problem with the one-two punch of sentimentality and pragmatism is, of course, the church's job is not to affirm people's lives, but to allow the gospel to continually call our lives into question. The church's job is not to grow -- not even to survive. The church's job is to die -- continually -- on behalf of the world, believing that with every death there is a resurrection. God's part is to grow whatever God wishes to grow. Growing a church isn't hard ... being faithful as the church, that's a different story.
I'm the pastor of a church called Redemption Church in Olathe, KS. Our church was planted in 2003 and founded upon church leadership principles that worked like a charm. We grew from 2 families to around 200 families in the first three years. We planted another church in a nearby town and continued to grow. But, when we decided to reject sentimentality and pragmatism and chase faithfulness instead we really began to grow ... smaller that is. I don't know for sure because we no longer count, but my best guess is that we have decreased by more than half. If pressed about my church's growth strategy, I usually say it is to get smaller and die; to continually decrease the amount of time, resources and energy we spend trying to have the ultimate church experience, and to spend more time actually being faithful. Nowadays, faithfulness -- not success -- is our only metric. Success is about "doing." Faithfulness is about "being," and it's really hard to measure.
Convincing the church she does not exist for the benefit of her members, but for the life of the world is a bad church growth strategy. It's also exactly what the church must do. It's a tough sell because crucifixion seems like a losing strategy unless you believe in the resurrection. Faithfulness seems like a losing strategy unless you believe that the power of the gospel trumps our ability to come up with all the right answers to all the right questions.
So, God save us from the successful church. Give us churches who shun sentimentality and pragmatism and aren't afraid to face the inevitable shrinkage which comes as a result of following Jesus. God save us from church leadership strategies. After all, it takes zero faith to follow a strategy, but incredible faith to pursue the kingdom of God and leave the rest in God's hands. If I've learned anything as a pastor, it is this: faithfulness flies in the face of sentimentality and pragmatism, and if you pursue it you have to expect small numbers.
Follow Tim Suttle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Tim_Suttle
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Jesus said that the gates of hell will not be able to withstand the onslaughts of His Church. Case in point. How often does your Church have notable numbers gather together and pray and bear witness against modern day child sacrifice at your local abortion clinics? Are there women in your congregation who have abortions because the clergy is afraid of the stigma of preaching against it?
If the clergy doesnt know that the destruction of innocent human life is murder then they shouldnt be in the ministry. If they do and are afraid to preach against it then perhaps they shouldnt be called Christians.
Called the book of Acts. Acts 12:24 ,
" But the WORD of God grew and multiplied. also Acts 6:7 and Acts 19:20.
One says, " The Word of God grew and the number of the disciples multiplied.
God wants His church full of Him.....His Word. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God. John first chapter.
How else will we identify one another? The Word. There are already plenty social clubs at hand.
That's "success." Worldly success.
Those who wish to know and follow Jesus will have to seek him where he dwells. Luckily, that's everywhere.
What is the gospel that these vast numbers of people are hearing? Is it the truth - one that preached Christ crucified and calls a person to die to themselves and forsake the trappings of the world? One that calls them to submit to each other and receive correction or even be displaced from the fellowship if their behavior calls for such an action? Or is it one where people speak of how much they love Jesus attend Bible studies and drift through their life while living like the rest of the world?
Can God build his Bride though a large church? No doubt. It's the ones too many American Evangelicals have built that makes me wonder.
All of this judgmentalism is abject hogwash. You can deny that Mr. Suttle is being judgmental, but the fact is that he is isolating readers. Got news for you: It's not necessary. You can preach a message of faith-inspite-of-numbers without making broad generalizations and accusations, and telling people what their motives are or aren't. The message would be more effective. Instead, Mr. Suttle can't help but to really take it to the people, groups of people, and the "consumerism" that he's so angry with.
For the sake of his message, that's a shame.
I wonder if the author realizes that Jesus had crowds of people come to hear him teach? I know the crowds often left when the hard truth was taught (as has happened at the 3 churches mentioned above and many other sentimental pragmatic churches).
I don't think "bigger is better" nor do I think "smaller is spiritual".
Most megachurches don't want to make "seekers" uncomfortable with the confession that "we poor miserable sinners are sinful and unclean." The Gospel includes the telling of Christ's suffering and death, and megachurches don't want to make "seekers" uncomfortable with that talk about death, crowns of thorns and crosses.
Instead, they want to talk about how God has a plan for your life, and if you just do the right things and think positively, you'll be healthy, wealthy and wise--what Martin Luther called the theology of glory. As a result, the people do not hear what they have to hear--the theology of the Cross. We have to understand that man is inherently sinful and that only through Christ's redemption do we have eternal life--something that does not necessarily come with worldly prosperity. We follow Him, even if that means freezing in a Gulag.
That isn't very attractive. When Jesus told the thousands whom he had fed with loaves and fishes that they had no life without His body and blood, His audience went down to twelve in short order, and one of those twelve was "a devil", Judas Iscariot. That proclamation Jesus made, though, is the Church's proclamation, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it, no matter what its size.
Drop this "consumerism" nonsense. It's taking away from the message.
- Get a lot of people in the door. This means a killer sound system, great youth program, sermons based on hit movies, whatever it takes.
- Meet felt needs. This means seminars on finances, classes on parenting, sermons on how to have great sex, whatever it takes.
- Preach Jesus. This is third in line, of course. Jesus makes a routine appearance, and is wedged in between youth-group antics and the massive Christmas pageant, but he's there.
- Accept nominalism as the price of success. This is rarely explicit, but assumed. 80% of the congregants will donate a little, participate in leadership less, and eventually leave, to be replaced by others. But hey! the other 20% are growing in their faith! Mission successful!!
The problem? The 80%, as well as all their friends and neighbors, are now inoculated against the Gospel. "I tried the church thing, didn't work for me." "Church is 80% hypocrites." If you insist "you didn't really meet Jesus there", people assume you're crazy: it's a church, after all!
As usual, the church is too often its own worst enemy. Jesus spent more time warning about wolves in the flock and weeds among the wheat than he did about frank persecution from without.