The following is a paper that I had to write for a class. Some who knew I was writing it asked to read it so here it is. Enjoy?
THE DECONSTRUCTION OF THE MEGA-CHURCH GROWTH PLAN
INTRODUCTION
In the interest of integrity it should be noted that this paper is being written from the viewpoint of a disgruntled, depressed, and frustrated small church pastor. It is written from the viewpoint of one who constantly finds himself at yet another church growth conference or reading yet another church growth book and thinking, “This will not work at my church because I’m not at a mega-church or on the way to being one.” The purpose of this paper is demonstrate that current church growth models deal more with the growth of local individual churches then with the growth of the Kingdom of God and in turn propose a church growth plan that seeks to bring the Kingdom of God to all people.
The paper will examine current church growth models in order to show that they fall short of the Biblical ideal. The church growth models encourage competition, homogeneous structures of social class, and consumerist mentalities. This examination is necessary to understand the proposal that is made in which the church grows by seeking the people, reaching out to all, and building mature believers.
THE DECONSTRUCTION OF THE MEGA-CHURCH GROWTH PLAN
THE GOAL IS TO GROW
It does not really matter who you go to hear at a conference or whose book you choose to read, most any church growth plan that is talked about today is a variant of the now famous Saddleback Church model found in Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church. The model or models basically follow this pattern: define your church purpose, find a target group, attract the target group, move the crowd into connecting into small groups or cell groups, use these groups to grow mature and ministering people which will then be used to attract more of the target group.
This model has been successfully used to grow many churches and is perhaps responsible for the North American church having any growth at all as the majority of churches in North America are actually in stagnation or decline. So not everything said here is a rebuke against this movement that began with Warren. The rebuke that is here is more about the concept of church growth in general and specifically with the idea of growth being the goal. The rebuke is a reflection of a disgruntled pastor who feels that with every church growth conference and book that once again he has been told how to take a declining, neighborhood store and to turn it into a big box retailer. The bottom line is numbers and numbers just is not enough.
When you take out the justification that growing numbers is one of the few tangible ways to determine if the church is reaching people, you quickly find that in the end church growth stresses the numbers more than the people. It is just hard to remove the stress of numbers from the perhaps sincere desire of pastors and churches to reach people to be growing followers of Christ. Pastors want numbers. Church members insist on numbers. The pastor’s performance becomes based on numbers. The easiest way to see if a pastor is being successful is to look at his numbers. Rarely on a resume will a pastor list that he spent a year discipling 8 people who really grew in their walk with Christ. More often you will find that he took a church of 100 people and grew it to 200.
With this great emphasis on numbers the focus of the current church growth models becomes the part in which we strive to attract a crowd. Here is also where problems arise for the growth of the Kingdom. Say there are 3 churches in a mid-size town. They take the current growth models and they devise a purpose and a target audience. Because they want to reach the greatest number of people the three churches study the demographics and design their own version of the now famous “Saddleback Sam.” However, because the churches all use the same demographics they all have similar targets.
Now the competition begins. The competition is pretty fierce too because again, the pastors’ success in based on the numbers. They all work to have better nurseries, better playgrounds, better video and audio, better buildings, etc. Millions of dollars are spent doing their best to attract the crowd (the issue of, is attracting a crowd a negative or a positive thing, will be addressed later). At the end of the day, the one who is best able to have the better attraction is the one who “wins.” Competition is born and co-operation dies. A single church may grow, in large part to transfer growth, while other churches in the area continue to decline and die.
BUILDING HOMOGENEOUS CHURCHES BUILT ON SOCIAL CONTEXT NOT FAITH
A second troubling issue with the current growth models is that in the targeting of a certain type of people churches are building themselves to be homogeneous units of the same social type of people. Obviously, every church will say that they are open to everyone. Every church that takes this approach will say that they are merely being effective in their outreach efforts.
However, by taking a look at the three churches used in the previous example a clear problem arises. If all three churches, using the same demographic information to design their target, build a similar profile of their respective target audience, then there will certainly be a lot of people in this town who no one is trying to reach. Perhaps even worse are that few churches, particularly of the mega-church variety that work on the current church model, would intentionally try to reach those people who are both demographically and socially on the fringes of society.
Sadly, this seems to be an anti-Biblical approach. Again, the argument for churches following this approach is most likely that they are simply being most effective with their time and resources. However, as will be seen later, the church has been given a model of effectiveness that does not call for isolation of any group.
BEGINS WITH A CONSUMERIST MENTALITY
One more issue that is seen in this current model of church growth is that it begins with and therefore re-enforces the American model of consumerism. A church finds a target audience and then begins to market itself to reach that audience. Again the idea here is to reach or to attract the largest crowd possible. The easy way to attract a crowd is to give the crowd what they want. In America you would certainly never hear of a church that meets in a dark, cold basement.
Churches spend billions on recreation centers, nurseries, comfortable seating, and landscaping. Millions more are spent on fancy advertising. This in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. However, when one comes to church they should come to learn, to grow, and to change. They should come to glorify Christ not to simply be comfortable and to be with their social group. The church’s action, in its approach to reach its target audience, makes the first impression that the consumers and their desires are the priority of the church.
Naturally, the objection will be raised that the church is simply meeting the needs of the people. This would be true if the church was feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison. However, multi-million dollar audio visual equipment is not reaching the needs of anyone.
Another objection would be that without that multi-million dollar audio-visual system the church would not be able to reach anyone. The culture demands that we use such equipment. However, is it not the case that the church change culture and not necessarily condone the values and priorities of it? The church should be a place that expects more of people then simply being “good” people who “enjoy” a good show on Sunday morning.
MEMBERS BECOME CHURCH EVANGELIZERS NOT CHRIST DISCIPLERS
A final assessment of the current church growth models draws the conclusion that the members of a church built on this premise calls the members to be evangelizers of their local church and not Christ Disciplers. In the goal to gain more numbers people are constantly encourage to partner with the church in bringing people to the church to hear the message. At first sight, this looks like straight up good evangelism. But look at it again. The evangelism is “come to my church where there will be lots of stuff that you will like, where you will feel comfortable, where there are people just like you.”
An objection here would be that the church is recognizing that evangelism is difficult for most people therefore this approach is making it easier for people to invite their friends and family to church. But is this what we are called to do, make evangelism easy? Are we not called to simply go and teach? The current growth models state that the teaching is done in the preaching at the worship service and at the small groups that people become connected to but the crowd must be attracted first. This would all be good if the Reveal project from Willow Creek had not revealed that this was not taking place.
The Reveal project showed that people in this type of growth model were indeed being attracted, they were even making connections to small groups, they were involved at least in part to some sort of ministry but they were not growing spiritually. They were not growing as disciples.
It seems that with so much of the emphasis being on the attraction of people to the primary worship service that the discipleship and teaching aspect gets put on the back burner. Again, the goal is to get numbers. The members are encouraged to connect in these small groups to feel a greater connection to their church in order to be more encouraged to get more people (and by this it is meant more people like them) to attend. The people are evangelizing their church. It is all about their church. It is not about disciples discipling disciples.
INTO THE HIGHWAYS AND THE HEDGES
Once again in needs to be stated that if it was not for the current church growth models it is almost a given that the church in North America would be at a far greater declining rate. However, as has been shown there are flaws to the model or at the very least, there are questions that need some answers. In this next section, a proposal will be made of a church growth model that is solely based on Scripture and seeks to answer some of the issues in the current model.
KINGDOM GROWTH VERSUS CHURCH GROWTH
To move beyond the problem of local church centric growth and Kingdom growth a review of the events at Pentecost will be helpful. Here in Acts 2 Scripture records that nearly three thousand were added to the Church that day. Many see this as another reason to emphasis numbers. However, this is not to be a reflection of three thousand people joining a local congregation in Jerusalem. This is three thousand in the Kingdom of God. A closer look at this Pentecost day reveals that those who joined the Kingdom that day were from all over. The celebration was that God’s Kingdom grew and that it would be spread throughout by all of these new believers.
This emphasis must change and it will have to change with the heart of the people. The leadership of the church through prayer and teaching will need to move their people into being more concerned with the growth of the Kingdom everywhere then they are simply about their local institution. The goal would be to find and make disciples wherever they may be found. The goal would be to see that the Word of God is spread throughout the world.
NOT ATTRACTION – GOING AND FINDING
This model of Kingdom growth would also call for a replacement of the value of attracting a crowd with the emphasis on going and finding a crowd. Luke 14:23 instructs us to go into the highways and into the hedges. The ministry of Jesus was walking into the streets. Paul would go out into the marketplaces. Somewhere in the history of the church that thought turned from going to where the crowds are to building something that the crowds might come to. A change has to take place.
This would mean that the church would spend its time and money focused on training and teaching its people to be out where the lost already are. Countless times it is said that the number one factor in another person coming to Christ and the Church is by way of a personal relationship. Currently we use these factors to get people to a church but when we look at Paul we see that he simply used his relationships to spread the Gospel. Getting people into an organized church is wonderful but the emphasis must be to get people into the Kingdom.
This type of relationship building, of going to the people to meet their needs there would greatly free up money and resources in the church that are now used in building attractions. It would also mean that people would have to release themselves from the feeling that they want something for their money. The Biblical idea of the collection in church is to supply for those in need. Imagine people meeting in a lowly rented room with bad sound and no video to worship the Lord. Imagine them not caring about this because they have grown to understand that the money they give to the church is there to assist those less fortunate. That it is not about them.
Going out would also be a greater incarnation of the Great Commission. It may be a bit trite but the Great Commission does say “go” not “attract.” This is the heart of evangelism. Evangelism was never meant to be a system of attracting people but of going and meeting the real needs of the people, where they are, in order to be able to gain their ear and their attention so that they may hear the Good News.
REACHING OUT TO THOSE NOT LIKE YOU
This emphasis on going to the people where they are also allows the church to not focus on a target. The reason a target audience is needed in the come and see approach because you are asking people to come to one church. However, the going to the people approach allows any number of people to go to as many as they can. Imagine a church of 50 and all 50 are encouraged to bring one person with them to this church. The church has a target audience of cowboys. When the 50 go out to find a cowboy to bring they first have to find a cowboy and then get the cowboy to come.
Now imagine another church with 50 people who simply go with no target in mind. They go to everyone and anyone and instead of just inviting them to a church they invite them to dinner. They build a relationship. They build a relationship with anyone for they have been trained and taught that they are to become all things to all people (I Corinthians 9:20-22).
Who would reach more people? The church only trying to attract the cowboys or the church that is going to everyone and anyone? The answer to that may be unclear. However, it seems clear that this is the mission of the church and is in line with a more Biblical approach. Scripture speaks often that there is neither Jew nor Gentile that there is neither rich nor poor. That the church is to be a place not of homogeneous social structure but of a homogenous faith.
Furthermore, Scripture is quite clear that the church is to be a father to the fatherless (Psalm 82:3 NAS), a protector of the widows and the orphans (James 1:27), to be there for the sick, to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry (Matthew 25). If the Church is building itself on the profile of demographics then these groups will most certainly always be missed. The reality is that these groups simply do not show up as large statistical features on demographic reports. Never the less, this is the churches mission. Reaching these people will necessitate that the church go to them. To go to them in the highways, the undergrounds, the orphanages, the prisons, the ghettos, the slums, the trailer parks, the hospitals, alleys, the crack houses, whore houses, migrant farm camps, and the homeless shelter. Interestingly enough these are not the people that churches try to attract but these are the people that Jesus went to, met with, and declared that they were blessed for the Kingdom of God is available to them (Matthew 4:24 – 5:3).
Some may object at this point claiming that this is why there are a variety of churches. The number of churches allows for greater diversity. First off, this diversity usually involves doctrinal issues and worship style differences. Secondly, this is a negative view of the church and not a Biblical view. Again, the church is to be a place where all that separates us no longer does and the faith that binds us is greater than any earthly social context. There is a great sin in the church that is enhanced by the idea of finding a target audience. The sin of separation, not from sin but from one another.
Let this sin be replaced by a heart for all people. Let the emphasis be on going directly to them, where they are, meeting their real needs and sharing the real Christ with them. Let it no longer be the case that the church says, “If we build it, they will come.”
DISCIPLINE, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND MATURE DISCIPLES
Finally, this growth plan does rely on the small group system. It is necessary to have groups where the disciples intimately know one another. The intimacy is necessary for the disciples to grow. In this system the disciples will come together to not only study the Scriptures but will use the group to hold one another accountable to the commands of Christ. Accountability will also include discipline as described in Scripture (Matthew 18:15).
Church discipline is most likely not a subject that one would expect to hear in a church growth strategy. Never the less, it seems quite clear that church discipline is a Biblical expectation. Discipline is not for the purpose of removing people from the church. It is for the purpose of restoring people into greater fellowship and for making them stronger in their faith (Galatians 6:1).
Going back to the Reveal report from Willow Creek it was learned that people even in small groups are not growing spiritually. Could it be that people have the expectation of joining a small group to be connected in good fellowship? That they also join to perhaps learn some Scripture? That they may even do some ministry within the group? But to what extent do the members of this group intentionally plan to grow spiritually, to deal with the sins they struggle with, and to hold one another accountable with love and humility in order that they may grow in their walk with the Lord.
The growth potential for the church is in the strengthening of the current membership of the church. They would be growing spiritually and would be filled with the courage to embrace the Biblical mandate to go to all peoples. Churches would not simply be asking their members to invite people to an attraction. Churches would be expecting their members to be growing, not into local church evangelizers, but makers of disciples of the Kingdom of God. The active discipline would let members know that the church truly has high, but wonderful, expectations for their disciples of Christ.
CONCLUSION
In looking at the proposed strategy for church growth a few things should become abundantly clear. This proposal is asking for churches to set aside the idea that they are building structures to attract people to come and join. Churches are being asked to set aside the idea that churches are best when the people in them are similar in social context. Churches are being asked to not target for members that will most likely “fit” in.
The strategy proposed here is really quite simple. Go! Go to everyone and anyone. Go to the forgotten, the abused, the down trodden, the diseased, the depressed, the pushed around, the broken, the poor, the rich, the wise, the foolish, the outcast, and the in-crowd. Use the resources to meet the needs of the people. The resources, specifically the money, are not going to be used to build a place that is attractive but to practically meet the needs of the people.
Another important part of this strategy is getting people to know that their efforts are to build God’s Kingdom and not a particular local church. It is important to understand that this strategy is less about a particular program for a church as it is a matter of the transformation of the people of the Church into a co-operative, universal fellowship that works to builds God’s Kingdom.
Finally this strategy calls for the accountability and discipline of the members. Again this is done with love and with the purpose of personal growth.
The current growth models have succeeded in growing large churches with many people attending. However, it has been shown that this does not always translate into the most Biblical picture of a church and it certainly does not translate into people who are growing spiritually. It is the hope that by following these few simple Biblical guidelines a dramatic and wonderful change can take place in the life of the North American church and for the Church around the world. Let us reach all – not just those like us because they like what we have to offer them.
To God be the glory.
