A Thought on "Church Growth"...

There is an interesting quote from John MacArthur over at Old Truth today, which is worth digesting (It's called "Synthetic Church Growth Is Like Cancer"). I especially was struck by the following posted comment comment:

"A year ago September I was Providentially led to a small independent community church in our community. (We live 3 blocks from it.) The church had just hired a new Calvinistic pastor who isn’t afraid to preach the Word. We have gone from two services to one, and people are leaving in droves. At the same time we are having great Bible studies, and the people who are left are growing spiritually. Which model for church growth is better? Water the Word down to get the maximum number of people in the pews, or preach the whole council of God straight up with no apologies and let the chips fall where they lay?

Posted by: Dan R. on Friday, October 26, 2007"

My reaction is that "truth" and "growth" don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive, but "truth" ought to be the goal and that, while there are happy exceptions, the normal experience of Jesus' ministry and the Church is that when the whole counsel of God is preached without apology, the crowds thin.

I think that the primary corporate focus of God's family ought to be on the clear proclamation of the whole Truth as taught in Scripture. The "good news" of the Gospel is only seen clearly when one understands the "bad news" of our lost condition. Why do churches try to "reach" lost people by self-help type messages, better life messages or otherwise "focusing on the positive" messages? (As if truth has electrical properties!) The answer seems self-evident: It's what they want (or are at least willing) to hear. Where are the "seeker-sensitive" messages about their real need - their totally lost condition, the reality of an eternal hell waiting for them apart from Christ, their total inability to do anything to address their problem - and their absolute dependence on a God who may or may not save them? Where are the seeker messages who warn the lost people to seek the Lord while He may be found? Where are the messages which leave the listener in awe of a most Holy God who is under no obligation at all to do anything for them?

Growth is great... it's important because it is people - but if God is responsible for the growth (1 Corinthians 3:7), can't we trust Him for it? Can't it be His message, His way that we preach? Said another way, why is so much attention placed in today's church on methodology? I think it is very telling that churches today seem to put a very high value "creativity" in methodology, and (at best) assume fidity to doctrinal truth. What other explanation can be given for the loss of esteem for formal training for the ministry? Would you go to a doctor who has been training in marketing, but hadn't gone through medical school?

I'm not saying that seminary is the answer to all of our problems. But the fact that it isn't even viewed by many as a requirement any more is an indication of how little Truth we view as essential. A cursory reading of publications like Christianity Today show that almost everything is viewed as "non-essential" these days. And so, we become a movement of style without substance, and the crowds may come - but for what? Jesus had a comment about this "growth strategy" too:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Matthew 23:15

My guess is that 99% of all evangelicals would think Dan R.'s comment represents an insulated, selfish point of view, and wouldn't see any merit in his comment at all. I agree with him. What do you think? Tell me why I'm wrong. Comments are open.