When I began my education to prepare for the ministry, I went to a Baptist college that was very much immersed in what came to be called the “church growth movement.” The term “mega-church” hadn’t been coined yet, but there were many churches in our fellowship that gathered thousands of people every week, with a few having ten thousand or more in attendance. The pastors of those churches were revered, and their explanations of “how to build a church” were eagerly heard and followed. These pastors were in high demand as conference speakers, and their churches were written about in books by “church growth experts.”
I grew up in one of those large churches, and accepted and absorbed these ideas about church growth without question. But there were lots of churches in our fellowship that were much smaller, numbering in the hundreds, and many more that has a hundred people or less in their weekly attendance. Somehow the unspoken thought was that their smaller churches and their pastors weren’t doing it right, somehow falling short or not measuring up. Because if they were doing things the right, and if the pastors were dedicated enough, committed enough, loved Jesus enough, and worked hard enough (often at the expense of their families), then, of course, the church would grow. And if a church wasn’t growing, well, that was a pretty good indicator of the disappointing lack in these churches and these pastors. The unfortunate result of all this stuff was that lots of churches and pastors felt like failures. Some pastors even attempted to commit suicide because their churches weren’t growing.
Then a funny thing happened. Bob Dylan wrote a song, “The Times, They Are a-Changin’!” And the times, they had changed. As the 1970s gave way to the 1980s, church growth began to lose steam, and even many of the big churches began to lose numbers. There was an increasing sense that the things that had been done in churches since at least the 1950s weren’t working so well anymore. And more and more attention was turned to the “church growth experts” to try to find out what would work and what wouldn’t. Looking back, a line had been crossed, almost unnoticed. The question was no longer “What is Biblical?” or “What has God told us to do in the Bible?” Instead, the question was now, “What works?”
There were encouraging things that happened, too. By the late 1980s, thanks to the ministries of men like W.A. Criswell, Charles Swindoll, Chuck Smith and John MacArthur, there was a renewed emphasis on expository preaching. Expository preaching seeks to simply expose the meaning of the Scriptures, in order to help us understand what God is actually saying to us in His Word. Most often this was done by preaching consecutively through a book of the Bible, verse by verse. The men I just named all preached like that, and they had large and growing congregations. And books were written, and seminars and conferences were held to explain how, if you preached expository sermons, then your church would grow, too.
Only it didn’t always turn out that way.
So, as the 1990s dawned, everyone was looking for the Next Big Thing to build large churches. And what caught everybody’s attention was what came to be called the “praise and worship movement.” Lots of new songs were being written and sung in churches, played in a contemporary style with guitars and – clutch your pearls-even drums. Some of these songs were really good, and Scriptural. Others, not so much. But a lot of the larger churches were using music like this, and the conclusion was that, if your church would play and sing contemporary worship music, then your church would grow, too.
Only it didn’t always turn out that way.
Some churches actually tore themselves apart arguing over what kind of music to use. Older Christians were often adamantly set against singing anything new (in spite of the Bible telling us plainly, “Oh sing to the LORD a new song!”- Psalm 96:1; cf. Psalm 33:3; 144:9 and 149:1) Some of the younger Christians refused to sing anything old (in spite of the Bible telling us plainly that songs were passed down from generation to generation, like the entire book of Psalms- literally, the book of Songs ). As far as I’m concerned, there are great and not-so-great worship songs written in every generation. But singing and playing a certain style of music in church was never a guarantee of church growth. And it is an absolute travesty for churches to split in bitter conflict over worship music. How that must grieve the heart of Jesus.
And there was a dirty little secret about the “mega-churches” that began to emerge in 1990s and 2000s. Yes, there were people converted and baptized in those churches, and that is always a good thing. But the biggest percentage of growth in the mega-churches was from transfer growth: Christinas leaving other churches to join the larger churches. Transferring to another church isn’t necessarily a bad thing. My family and I have done that from time to time. And our church has benefited immensely from brothers and sisters who came to us from other churches.
But transfer growth isn’t conversion growth: new people coming to faith in Christ and being baptized. The truth is, the rise of mega-churches coincided with the decline of the number of Christians in our county, and the declining influence of Christians on our county. Despite what was going on in mega-churches, Christianity was losing ground.
Or we could ask different questions, like: “What does God actually tell us to do in the Bible?” And: “How can we be faithful?”
Because God never guaranteed us that if we would do what He said, our number would grow and grow, we would always experience victory and success, and everybody would like us. We only have to read the Bible to see that that isn’t so, especially in the book of Acts. The apostles Peter and John were threatened, beaten, and imprisoned. People who believe in Jesus were shunned by relatives and slandered and abused by their government. And even the Lord Jesus had people turn away from Him in great numbers when He began telling them things they didn’t like. Did that mean Jesus was a failure, or not doing it right? Of course not!
God tells us what to do in His Word and calls us to be faithful to do what He says, no matter the outcome. If we do what He said to do and in contradicts the “church growth experts,” and people turn away from us, and it makes the world mad… well, keep obeying God anyway. Do what God said to do and leave the results to Him. Or in the words of Michael Easley, former president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago: “Do the right thing in the right way. Then go home.” It doesn’t all rest on you. It all rests on God.
I read a wonderful book titled John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock by Iain Murray. It’s a memoir about MacArthur’s life and ministry. He made a wonderful admission in that book. In contrast to what he taught in the 1980s- that if you did all the right things in the right way, then you, could build a church- John MacArthur acknowledged that is was really God who built Grace Community in Sun Valley, California. He said, “We were dropped into the right place at the right time. We caught the wave of those events… I must ascribe our church’s numerical and spiritual growth to the will of our sovereign God. “Amen, Brother MacArthur! (Man, I wish he’d said that back in the 1980s.)
It turns out, Jesus meant it when He said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing,” and “I will build my church.” (John 15:5; Matthew 16:18)
Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ in God. And only God can build a church.
That’s His part. Our part is to just do what He told us to do, and leave the rest to Him. Do the right thing in the right way, then go home.
That’s the best way I know how to say all this. So… now I’m going home.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor David