A friend of mine, Jason Byassee who teaches at Regents College in Vancouver, Canada (and holds a Ph. D. in theology at Duke Divinity School), wrote more than a decade ago in Christian Century Magazine about the latest fads in church growth:
I have tried to emphasize that we must preach the gospel to outsiders not necessarily in order to grow, but because Christians are supposed to be people who witness. It shapes us to do so, and it is a failure in our own Christian formation not to. The Great Commission does not insist on manageable, measurable results, much less spectacular ones; it insists that we be telling and baptizing and teaching people. (“Repurposed”, Christian Century, March 9, 2004)
Notice that in the scriptures “…the church is called to be fruitful, faithful, and to bear witness to the Gospel.” Jesus is not calling us to be successful, affluent, busy, or effective. What Jesus calls us to do is to bear fruit. Often times in the church we make the mistake of imagining the church as a business. Businesses must grow, make profits, expand their market shares, and take over rivals through buyouts or mergers. But the church is not a business. The church isn’t called to make a profit, or to offer more products-the church is called to be fruitful, faithful, and to bear witness to the Gospel.
Many people want many things from the church. Some want convenience, comfort and dependability. Others want to be provided with programs, products, and perks. Others want a place to push their political opinions on others. But Jesus doesn’t teach us in the scriptures that the church is about any of these things. Jesus tells us in Luke that the purpose of the church is “to bring good news to the poor. […] to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18)
Once we have been released from prison, set free from oppression, bandaged, healed, made to hear, to see and to speak-then God asks us to become whole. In becoming whole we learn what gifts God has gifted us with and we use those gifts to bear fruit for the kingdom.
If the truth is to be told– the church if it is like anything it is like a garden. A fruitful garden full of the rich tastes, smells and sights that everyone enjoys. There are many things we can do to help the garden grow-but only God gives the growth. The best church growth strategy that I have ever read came from a little Mediterranean pastor named Paul who wrote, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”(Galatians 5:22-23) The churches that grow are churches that are loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle and full of self-control. When we focus on our own spiritual growth, our own witness, and intentionally share the gospel with others– then and only then will the church grow.