Church Growth = "We need more people like us." Really?

There are efforts in the UMC to talk more about church growth.  My cynical side will say that this focus on church growth is because the church is declining in terms of warm bodies in the pew and if the numbers of people in the pews were of the 1950's then we would not focus on church growth.

However, my non-cynical side of me says this is a good thing.

My only issue with this how church growth is defined.

If we define church growth meaning that we need to get more people into pews; that is to say if we define church growth as "getting more people to be like us" and become members - I do not think that is a great way to think of church growth.

Instead of thinking that church growth means "more people need to be like us", perhaps a healthier understanding is "we need to be more like Jesus".

When talking about church growth as primarily as getting more people, we are forgetting that the church is the Body of Christ and even people who are members of a church are part of the body of Christ.  Church growth includes those who are already members of the church.

If we redirect all the resources we spend on trying to get more people to be like us to use them on getting us to be more like Christ then the church inevitably grows!

Friends, let us be honest here, if the church is growing by becoming more like Christ not only is the Church growing, but also non-Christians will be more interested in the Christian life.

I am convinced the life of Jesus is more attractive to people than any event or sermon series in the world.

Abundance of critics, prophets are rare

If one were to read the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, one would quickly see that one of the roles of the prophet is to criticize their current context.  For instance take this little gem in which Amos has a word to say to the powerful and rich people of his day: 

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan
   who are on Mount Samaria,
who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
   who say to their husbands, ‘Bring something to drink!’ 
The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:
   The time is surely coming upon you,
when they shall take you away with hooks,
   even the last of you with fish-hooks. 

It is easy for people to critique the world around them.  From Tea Party to Occupy to the general "haters", people can critique rather well.  In the local church I hear many critiques: 

"We spend too much on the building."

"We are hypocritical." 

"We so not engage the marginalized."

"We have lame worship."

"We do no have enough members."

"We do not have a good ______ ministry."

You get the idea.

Here is the thing though, anyone can critique.  Heck, my three year old son can critique the world around him rather well.  His favorite word at times is, "No!'  

Never has my son's favorite word been "Yes!"  

Maybe we are quick to attach ourselves to the word "No" because we know that there is something wrong with our world.  Or maybe it is because it is safer to say "No" than to say anything else.  

The Church is at its best when we are able to help people mature from constantly saying "No" and critiquing the world to say "Yes."  

We are at our best when we are able to help people move from saying "I am not..." to saying "I am..."  

We are at our best when we are able to help society move from saying "We are not..." to saying "We are..."

We are at our best when we help people move from being critics to being prophets.

We are living into the role of the prophet when we are no longer held hostage to the word "No" and the worldview of critique.  We are living into the role of the prophet when we are able to see the world for what it is and what it could be rather than what it is not.  

Critics are annoying or comical and flash in the pan.

Prophets are cemented into our collective imagination and live forever.  

Perhaps the Church could re-discover the role of prophets in our time.  

Heaven knows we have an abundance of critics.

Confusing Rushing and Urgency

With the world changing so quickly there is a pressure in the Church to try to keep up with the times.  Local churches are expected to have the same personal services and amenities of any other place which has 'membership dues'.

• Child care at all times
• Personalization of services
• Different "take aways" or SWAG
• Free perks for members
• Premium content for those who pay more
• Access to communal resources 

When viewed in this light, the church becomes a place where we are primarily "fed" and "where everybody knows your name".  And when the church does not accomplish these things, then one takes "membership dues" and goes elsewhere.  This creates a unhealthy co-dependency which I have recently addressed here and here.

The point of this post however, is that when the local church is asked and expected to keep up with the Joneses of the for-profit world then we are always running behind.  This pressure to keep up married with the fact that churches are usually lagging behind, creates a sense of urgency in the church for some people.

What I have noticed is that in the church urgency is often confused with rushing.

In our efforts to keep up with the Joneses and keep pace with the expectations of being a "membership based" culture, we are often reacting to things and rushing to create something that it ends up not being our best.

There is a difference in a sense of urgency and being rushed.

There is a difference in responding to issues and reacting to a concern.

Our churches are notorious for rushing to get something out by Sunday and in doing so we fall even more behind and look even worse.

Are we Christians really monotheistic? Part 3

If we live our lives thinking there are multiple gods (such as the "god of anger") yet we worship only one God (such as Jesus) then we are not really monotheistic oriented.  Rather we are henotheistic or monolatristic.  


If we Christians are moving in our lives believing there are somethings (or some gods) which are good (say love) and some things(gods) that are bad (say hate) then we are forgetting that God declared all things good.  


If we declare somethings good and somethings bad then we will live out our lives attempting to remove the bad while seek after the good.  So we begin to worship the "good" gods and demonize the "bad" gods.  


Again, not a posture of monotheism.  


While practical and popular, the question, "Is this good or bad?" is not a question for Christian monotheism.  We already know the answer.  All things are good as declared by God.  


If we are asking if something is good or bad then we are really, at our core, practicing something other than monotheism of Christianity.  


Christian monotheism rather accepts that all things are created by one God and that one God called all things good.  As such we do not waste time considering if something is bad and therefore should be avoided or good and therefore should be attained.  The question Christian monotheism asks is, "Is this redeemed or does it need to be redeemed?"  


This question changes our posture in the world.  

If we think that hate is bad and should be avoided then we are forgetting that Christian monotheism calls us to hate things like slavery and injustice.  If we think that drug use is bad then we will avoid it as well as those who are victims of drugs.  Rather if we see drug use as something that needs to be redeemed then we will sit with and seek out help for those who are addicts.  


If we live in a world of good and bad then we will not engage the bad parts of the world and therefore the world does not change.  Additionally, when we think something is bad we deny the power that is inherent in that thing (such as the power of hating injustice).  


Rather, if we live in a world that is redeemed or in need of redemption then we will enter into the dark places of the world and work for change.  Additionally, when we see something as in need of redemption then we are able to utilize the inherent power in that thing in order to help redeem it.  Can you imagine a world that is so full of hate of slavery that no one would allow anyone to become enslaved in human trafficking?  


So, I join all my Christian brothers and sisters who claim monotheism to change from asking, "Is this good or bad?" to "Is this redeemed or in need or redemption?".

Somethings are difficult to redeem. :)