I sometimes feel that my motives are wrong and that I am a voice in the wilderness. Sometimes I get frustrated with my colleagues. Except for some pastors of larger churches in Australia, many church leaders don't talk much about it. It isn't trendy.
I'm challenged by the Luke's observation of the Early Church: "...And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47 NIV). I'm challenged by the growth of new Christians. I'm motivated to help lead a church that experiences such growth.
Sadly, the emphasis on growth doesn't seem a priority amongst many church leaders across the country. Judging from social media "evangelism" isn't trendy. Nearly all of my social media friends who are leaders of churches and denominations rarely talk, if at all, about evangelism. Its all about social justice. Now I must say that I agree with them and we do need church leaders to speak up! My point is, where are those speaking about evangelism and growing God's church? Certainly talking about numerical growth isn't discussed at all.
Over the past decade church leaders have discussed much about being "missional". Authors of the missional movement have created great excitement, hope and even a following. And there are lessons to learn. Unfortunately there is little evidence of growth within Australia brought about through the missional model. Nor has their been growth through the seeker model, cell church model, etc.
"And the Lord added to their number daily those being saved" still challenges me... and as a Christian leader it ought to challenge you to. Unashamedly I am aiming for strong numerical growth for His Kingdom's sake. Jesus said: "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full'" (Luke 14:23 NIV).
In this series of Blogs, I want to dialogue on issues that both hinders and causes growth. My prayer is that together we will seek the Lord, change current church culture, and put into place Biblical principles that will enable strong numerical growth for both Reedy Creek Baptist and Hillcrest Christian College.
For His Cause
David Moyes
P.S. If any posts resinates with you, please write a comment. It would be good to see what others think.
Great thought. I see numerical growth as an indicator of spiritual growth. Our focus should be on Christ and pursuing knowing him, and from that hunger to know Him evangelism becomes an organic and genuine overflow of God's love to those around us. Evangelism is both an expression of our love for Christ and an intentional out working of our faith. There is an ongoing tension between organic and intentional evangelism and ones sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is our guide in each and every situation.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sam. I agree (which by your definition means) that we aren't that healthy (which last year's REVEAL Survey indicated). May God grant us wisdom and leadership "to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12-13 NIV).
DeleteWholeheartedly agree with everything that has been said.
DeleteWe need to make sure our foundation is solid as we undertake the building of the House.
A solid foundation ensures stability, strength and longevity.
We need to tend the ground with one hand while we sow seed with the other.
Hi David, I like the theme of your blog. I don’t really get why ‘Christianity’ isn’t popular other than it is viewed by as a tainted brand by the secular world for reasons such as child abuse in the Catholic church etc. The term Christian is so broad. As Andy Stanley says Christian is a term that was an almost derogatory reference given to us by ‘non-Christians’. Maybe we need to create a brand – find another word for ‘disciple’ or ‘follower’.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don’t get is that even if we just look at it from a secular perspective Christianity offers a good wholesome, clean, benevolent way of life while at a spiritual level at the same time offering eternal life – wow, how could that not be appealing? I think of the verse in John, ‘the light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it’. Maybe that explains why people are not attracted to Christianity. They are spiritually blind.
How do we challenge people to think that Jesus is 'Way Cool'? In a world where there is so much destruction (to ourselves and each other), following Jesus is counter-cultural. I think if communicated correctly, this would resonate with people. People love counter culture these days – look at brands such as Billabong. People under the age of 35 won’t wear Billabong because it’s what their dads wear. It just ain’t cool. They want to be alternative, independent, counter-cultural…. How do we get people to think of Jesus as counter cultural?
It’s taken me a long time to get this but it is not our behaviour that distinguishes us as ‘Christians’. Anyone can behave well or badly. I like C.S Lewis’s comment: ‘a self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But of course, it is better to be neither’.
In my humble opinion what distinguishes us differently is our ability to LOVE those who we would not normally or humanly love. To love people we don’t even like, or who have hurt us, or even hate us. Jesus created the counter culture when he said in (John 13.34-35) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples.” This in my view is the central distinction between ‘Christians’ and his disciples. How do we communicate that and make that distinction? That is the challenge.
Hope you don’t mind me presenting my thoughts. I love this topic.