I love Paul's statement in 1 Cor 3:6 on planting and watering. I think that is THE seminal verse for church growth. We are meant to be gardeners. Gardeners don't make things grow, they tend gardens. They do everything they can to make sure that the garden is healthy and then let God do the growing.
I've also seen that growth is not just a one dimensional thing. In any healthy church there will be seasons of growth in width (numbers) as well as in depth (discipleship), often alternating. The only true measure of growth is the area (width times depth).
Numbers is the only growth that is easy to measure so, sadly, it is the one that most of us focus on. This becomes a real problem when we focus on it to the exclusion of more important things, like truth and the Word. Turn on the TV and you'll see that it's really easy to grow in numbers - just sell out the Gospel and tell the people what they want to hear.
Gardening is hard work, but it is the only way to bring healthy growth. It also takes lots of patience. But the good news is that God takes care of the really hard work - changing hearts.
Pastors, don't bear a burden you were never meant to bear. Don't try to grow numbers or change hearts; let God do that. Tend your garden - plant seeds, water liberally and pull weeds (un-Biblical ideas). Free yourself from the burden only God can carry and be free to tend your garden with joy.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Featured Comment
For over a month now, I have wanted to blog about the current season that I see CCF in. First of all, you need to know that I think that much of church life (and life in general) is seasonal. Ecclesiastes was not playing when it drove that point home. There is a time for everything under the sun. Well, at some point soon, I will write a few posts about how I view our current season. Until then, I thought that Kevin Stewart's recent comment on one of my posts really sets the stage for what I will share. It's good stuff. Check it out:
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2 comments:
Good stuff, Noah. We know how to measure width -- by counting the people. How do we measure depth?
Glenn,
That is the reason most don't bother with anything but measuring the width - measuring depth is too hard.
I think the only way you can is my measuring people's impact, how lives are being changed. If you have 1000 people in your church and the community doesn't know you're there, I'd say the depth is pretty shallow. I've seen churches of < 100 people that were impacting lives throughout their community. I'd say they measured pretty good in the depth department.
Without something like Small Groups, it is impossible to build depth when you have a larger church. Depth comes only with discipleship and that happens is small groups, better yet 1-on-1. No pastor can disciple 1000+ people at once.
(Pastor Noah, Glenn won't get notified about this so if you like my response you might want to tell him it's here.)
ybic
Kevin
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