Stop Trying To Grow the Church

 

Don’t worry, I know what you’re thinking. The title of this blog sounds ludicrous and I must be crazy to tell you to stop trying to grow the church, right? Isn’t the whole point of the church to spread the gospel and grow the church? Well, yes, you’re right. It is. The whole mission of the church is to spread the gospel and to try and bring as many people as we can to Christ. So, in essence, our whole mission is to grow the church. So why am I telling you to stop trying to grow the church? Because when our entire focus is simply to grow the church, we often miss out on so many other things that are vital to the health of the church, like fellowship and discipleship. 

The modern, western church has done a great job for a long time at making itself attractive to people and drawing crowds to great events and performance-style worship services. This has done wonders for the spread of the gospel and in bringing people to Christ. Here’s where I take issue with that type of thinking: is there any follow-up? Those dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people coming to your event and making a decision for Christ; are they getting the follow-up and discipleship they need to grow in their newfound faith? Are they being surrounded by a family of believers in the church and experiencing true fellowship of believers? If the answer to either of those questions is a no, then we may need to evaluate the way we are trying to reach people. Big events and great worship services are great, but they have to be accompanied by follow-through so that these people new to Christ or maybe even new to the church, in general, are getting a good, biblical picture of what the church is supposed to be. There must be genuine fellowship and discipleship to make sure that new believer is properly guided closer and closer to Christ in their early days of faith. 

Where we have often done well in getting people in the door and to the altar, the church has often done poorly in following through in actually “making disciples” as Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 28. When our sole focus is to get people in the door and grow the church, we often miss the true calling we have to make disciples and do life together as a body of believers. Remember, growth isn’t just about numbers, it’s often more about spiritual growth and the health of the people who are in our churches. So don’t stop trying to grow the church. Just remember that it is about more than just butts in pews. It’s actually about believers who are being strengthened and encouraged in their faith by being a part of a faith family.