… abandoning an obsession for growth and what that might look like.
Previous posts can be read HERE.
Previously posts contend churches which embrace church growth strategy and become obsessed with growth are winning the battle for attention but are headed in the wrong direction; though open to question, I am confident obsession with growth is a diversion from the Church’s purpose 1The purpose of the church is a subject worthy of its own discussion. Rachel Held Evans –Searching for Sunday is helpful:
The purpose of the church, and of the sacraments, is to give the world a glimpse of the kingdom, to point in its direction. When we put a kingdom-spin on ordinary things–water, wine, leadership, marriage, friendship, feasting, sickness, forgiveness–we see that they can be holy, they can point us to something greater than ourselves, a fantastic mystery that brings meaning to everything. We make something sacramental when we make it like the kingdom. Marriage is sacramental when it is characterized by mutual love and submission. A meal is sacramental when the rich and poor, powerful and marginalized, sinners and saints share equal status around the table. A local church is sacramental when it is a place where the last are first and the first are last and those who hunger and thirst are fed. And the church universal is sacramental when it knows no geographic boundaries, no political parties, no single language or culture, and when it advances not through power and might, but through acts of love, joy, and peace and missions of mercy, kindness, and humility. and it is important to consider abandoning obsession for growth and what might happen as a result.
I have no illusion abandoning obsession for growth would be easy, the cost is high.
“When we unplugged from the high-octane, entrepreneurial, pragmatic, success-driven, attractional model of church growth, our church was plunged into a decade-long roller-coaster ride of excessive (at times) introspection, organizational upheaval, uncertainty, plummeting attendance and fractured relationships.”
— Renovation of the Church: What Happens When a Seeker Church Discovers Spiritual Formation by Kent Carlson, Mike Lueken
https://a.co/jdRMLLe
The cost of doing nothing is infinitely higher.
“A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing.”
Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
Abandoning an obsession for growth is not insignificant. Success, plus material and emotional sunk costs are high bars. Churches who adopt church growth strategy and become obsessed with growth; like fish, have no awareness that they are swimming in water. Such a radical decision requires painful soul-searching and the Holy Spirit’s work.
ALERT: What follows is derived from numerous resources and my imagination.
What a church choosing to abandon church growth strategy, the battle for attention and obsession with numbers might look like…
FROM:
TO:
Leadership/Administration
- Leadership is relieved of the relentless, never satisfied monster of bigness.
- Staff and resources committed to programs and facilities become available for ministry/missions.
- Leadership/ staff meetings focus on spiritual concerns rather than growth issues.
- Corporate leadership paradigm replaced with leadership by service.
- Management by objective replaced by continuous improvement. Values over metics
- Kingdom strategy replaces marketing strategies/ tactics
Praise and Worship
- Performance gives way to authentic praise and worship
- Cacophony becomes symphonic, producing collective effervescence.
- Celebration is no longer exclusive, space is provided for grief and lament
- Church demonstrates openly its hope and gladness; while honoring the gospel’s call for holiness, piety, repentance, and solemnity.
- Communion moves from the margin to the center
Preaching
- Focus becomes “One Another”, building community rather than soliciting contributions to fund facilities and increase staff.
- Preaching the Word, the person and work of Jesus, is prioritized.
- Promoting growth gives way to proclaiming the Kingdom of God
- The preacher becomes a “midwife of the word” in the event of preaching.
Discipleship
- Discipleship shifts from transactional to transformational.
- No longer a manufacturing plant, assembling and repairing machines and robots. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness, and sanctification center, where flawed people place their trust in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he has designed.
- Discipleship is designed to send people back into daily life where the real Christian life is lived.
Evangelism/ Outreach
- Thrust of evangelism changes from ‘come to church’ to ‘come to Jesus’.
- Outreach focused on building a diverse rather than homogenous community
- Faith sharing involves more conversations than lectures.
- Evangelism is not more important than how others are treated.
- Evangelism happens when the reality of God’s love and saving grace is revealed through spiritual conversation with authentic whole-life disciples.
Language/ Vocabulary
- I becomes WE
- My church becomes Our church
- Kingdom narrative replaces Ideographic rhetoric.
- Meaningful talking, attentive listening, and profound thinking emerge
- Sacred words- “Sacred words are containers that carry information about deep and often invisible realities. They help us describe, albeit imperfectly, what we believe. Words allow us to whisper encouragement over the God-loved downtrodden, and we use them to pray and to preach and to praise.
- Language about the virtues Christians call the fruit of the Spirit—words like love, patience, gentleness, and faithfulness.
What is the “church?”
The church is God’s instrument through which his Holy Spirit moves and expresses his love, proclaiming the ‘good news’ that Jesus is redeeming the world to come under his kingdom. WE are the church! The church is God continuing to live and work in this world through us. When we see the church that way, the focus moves off of ourselves and we break out of the consumer mindset.
Erwin McManus
STILL ON THE JOURNEY
- 1The purpose of the church is a subject worthy of its own discussion. Rachel Held Evans –Searching for Sunday is helpful:
The purpose of the church, and of the sacraments, is to give the world a glimpse of the kingdom, to point in its direction. When we put a kingdom-spin on ordinary things–water, wine, leadership, marriage, friendship, feasting, sickness, forgiveness–we see that they can be holy, they can point us to something greater than ourselves, a fantastic mystery that brings meaning to everything. We make something sacramental when we make it like the kingdom. Marriage is sacramental when it is characterized by mutual love and submission. A meal is sacramental when the rich and poor, powerful and marginalized, sinners and saints share equal status around the table. A local church is sacramental when it is a place where the last are first and the first are last and those who hunger and thirst are fed. And the church universal is sacramental when it knows no geographic boundaries, no political parties, no single language or culture, and when it advances not through power and might, but through acts of love, joy, and peace and missions of mercy, kindness, and humility.