When I get called in as a consultant to work with stuck, plateaued, or declining churches I have a couple of things I look for right off the bat. In the vast majority of the cases I discover that their inability to grow, let alone sustain, their membership is caused by one of six issues. And yes, I know this post is called the top FIVE reasons churches don’t grow, but I have to throw in the one stopper for church growth, no matter what else is happening. Indeed, you can major on “fixing” the top five for the rest of eternity, but if you don’t take care of this one single issue, it will be for naught. I’ve said it before, and I suspect I’ll say it again, and again, and again. The most heinous church growth killer is unresolved conflict. Period. It’s the sarin* or the VX* of the church, let alone growth efforts. I’ve written several posts and articles on dealing with conflict (see Net Results magazine, and the 21st Century Strategies, Inc. web sites).
So, what are the top five reasons churches don’t grow (outside of conflict)? Here they are in reverse order with only a brief explanation of each. Each of these will be dealt with in more depth in the upcoming The Complete Worship Audit, available though our e-commerce store.
Number 5: Ineffective Attendance Tracking. Very few churches do this well. On the other hand, growing churches tend to do this exceptionally well. If you want your church to grow, you have to know who’s there and who’s not. There are a couple reasons for this. First, if you don’t get contact information from your guests, how can you follow up? You can’t. More churches suffer from this sin than almost any other. Second, if you don’t know who’s not there, you can’t do effective member care. I’ve debriefs literally hundreds of church dropouts and one of the top reasons they quit and didn’t go back is because they missed a service of two (sometimes from illness, sometimes from crisis, sometimes for laziness) and no one in the church bothered to inquire. They felt slighted … believing that the church really should care whether they lived or died … and so stopped attending altogether. A word to the wise: develop an effective system for tracking attendance.
Number 4: Lack of Guest Follow-up. Even those churches that use “friendship” pew pads or guest books get lucky sometimes and they’ll get the contact information of a visitor. And let me tell you something – typically if a guest signs a pew pad or a guest book, they’re not just membership prospects, they’re hot membership prospects. And yet, it appears that few churches know what to do when they get these names. I had a conversation with a pastor recently who told me, “We don’t follow up with a visitor until they’ve come twice. We want to make sure they’re really interested.” Here’s your sign: If they came once and gave you their contact information they’re interested. The statistic still stands: follow up within 24 hours and your guest is 86 percent more likely to return. Leave it until the end of the week and the percentage drops to less than 25 percent.
Number 3: Lack of Hospitality. It never fails to amaze me just how inhospitable most churches are. And yes, I chose the word “most” carefully. My writing instructors and my dissertation editors would have told me that I should use the word many, since most implies a quantifiable variable. Well, after twenty-six years of ministry and five years of consulting and coaching, I can confidently say that I can quantify it. MOST churches score less than 5 (out of 10) overall on my hospitality scale. I’ve never been in a church where the majority of the members haven’t told me how “friendly” they were. But friendly towards first time guests? Not often. Mortal sins include poor nursery facilities; unsanitary washrooms; and absent or inattentive greeters/ushers. Venial sins include coded language in bulletins, programs, and worship; publicly identifying visitors in any way (different name badges at best or having them introduced in worship at worst); lack of signage; and lack of attention by members and staff. I could go on, but you probably get the idea. And if you don’t, consider having a trained “Secret Shopper” evaluate your services.
Number 2: Ineffective Assimilation/’Discipleship. It’s great to get new members. Even churches that sin mightily in the previous three categories manage to get a new member or two now and again. However, it never ceases to amaze me how few churches are able to keep these new members in the long run. Typically, the new members are “gone” within a year, and fewer still make it through year two. I’ve worked with a number of “big” churches that have been stuck at the same attendance level for a decade, even though they’re receiving new members almost weekly. Indeed, I recently worked with a church that had an average attendance of 500 for the last twelve years or so. Together, we did some research and we discovered they’d taken in over 800 new members in that period … but apparently they’d managed to loose over 800 members as well. What was the problem? New members hung out between six months and a year, but they never seemed to connect in the church. Assimilation and discipleship doesn’t happen on its own volition. Churches that grow have developed and successfully implemented a system for escorting first time guests from pew to small group to friendship to ministry involvement. And they have a system for escorting first time guests from seeker to believer to disciple. Churches that don’t do this well are churches that may receive members, but their attendance figures are flat-lined.
And the number one reason churches don’t grow?
Number 1: Worship Services that aren’t Worth Shouting About. Your church can be “sinless” in each of the previous categories and still discover it can’t grow. If that’s the case, and conflict is not an issue, the almost certain cause for not growing is because the worship services do not move, touch, or inspire. Churches can grow even in declining populated towns and counties. They can grow in economically impoverished communities. They can even grow in hostile environments. But if worship is uninspiring, especially to its guests, the chances of growth is almost zero. It’s not about contemporary or alternative worship styles. It’s not about technology. It’s not even about dueling piano and organ musicians. It’s about the totality of the worship service. Blended services, as a rule, disappoint almost everyone in the worship space. But even blended worship services can grow a church if they move, touch, and inspire. That means the music connects with the participant’s inner spirit. That means the presentation of the gospel in word, note, and deed is clear and concise. That means the sermon is so motivating that people don’t leave with a bunch of “gee whiz” facts, but with a heart-wrenching commitment to live their lives specifically differently in the ensuing days. That means that nothing gets in the way of the presence of the Holy Spirit – that in spite of our contrived and theologically incorrect invocations, God shows up with the power that breaks the rocks of the heart and with the gentleness of a whisper in the stillness.
Here’s the deal. If your worship services aren’t moving your members enough to invite their friends and relatives, let alone their acquaintances, neighbors, co-workers, and everyone else, then your worship services are clearly not worth shouting about. In that case, it’s time to do a complete worship makeover. That doesn’t mean you’re going to wheel in a drum kit or a big screen TV. But it does mean you’re going to get some professional help – because you probably need it – to take your worship to a new level.
And here’s my prognostication for your church in 2009: Nail down these five areas of church growth and you’ll not only grow, you’ll explode. In a good way.
*Sarin and VX are known as two of the most toxic nerve gasses.
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Where does Clergy doing all the ministry, or Clergy failing to give the ministry away fall on the scale. Is that part of Discipleship (#2)?
A minister who does all the ministry or fails to give it away limits the potential of a church’s growth. A church of under 100 AWA can get away with the Lone Ranger Pastor. Churches between 75-100 will suffer some in membership care, but there are many pastors who can single-handedly grow a church to the 100 level. After that, however, the pastor’s effectiveness rapidly wanes.
Churches that grow have taken seriously the giftedness of each individual participant (and yes, that’s discipleship) and have helped members into ministries such as hospitality, disciple-making, evangelism, mentoring, and so on.
Just one quick note – it’s not always the pastor’s fault when a congregation refuses to step up to do ministry. There are churches full of consumers all over North America – people who want to “be fed” but refuse to take responsibility for their own spiritual nurturance and maturity. In other words, folks who are believers but not disciples who are following Jesus. In those cases, my counsel to a pastor who believes s/he is called to grow faithful churches is to find another congregation to lead. Something about shaking the dust off ….
[...] Bill offers some links to articles he’s written on conflict here. [...]
May I print this out and hand it to my Church Council this Sunday? I think it would help us in some of the discussions we have to have.
How about lack of God (love, holy spirit, compassion etc) in the church? You can have the best business skills, track everything etc but with no God, you get no growth….
You have identified the deadly sins well, but left me hanging with no solutions. What is an effective attendance record keeping system? How do you get people to admit they attend weekly or at all? We have overcome the worship service issue, have a fabulous second service worship leader, and a pastor who shares from his heart the wonderful things that God lays on it. But… here in my job in the church office, I see the things you have identified as weaknesses but have NO IDEA how to correct them. Please help!
Matthew, sure you can print it out. Not a problem. Glad it’s useful.
Michelle, there are lots of resources on our website that can help … make sure you check the Free Resources and the FAQs
http://www.easumbandy.com
If that’s not enough, shoot me an email and I can point you to other resources. For instance, there’s an article I wrote this year on some of this in Net Results magazine (www.netresults.org).
Blessings
Bill
Jermayn, you’re SOOO right. I’ve written a lot about that in previous posts and articles … especially in terms of holding members and leaders accountable for their behaviors. The statistic still holds that the average clergy in USAmerica prays less than 3 minutes a day. By extension, it’s probably accurate to say that the average church member prays almost not at all during the day (other than the sentence prayers of “Help me!). The disciplines of the faith are mostly not practiced, seldom taught, and virtually never witnessed in the church anymore.
Want to see how your church members are doing in the faith? Ask them one-on-one one of these two simple discipleship questions:
1. What did you read in Scripture this week that intrigued you?
-or-
2. What did God say to you this week in your listening-prayer time?
I suspect most of your members will (1) get a blank look on their faces, (2) get angry at your question (how dare you), or (3) shuffle away with a mumble as quickly as they can.
I was thinking, what about nepotism, lack of vision, etc… BUT, then when conflict was presented I realized that if conflict is something that cannot be handled well then it breads nepotism, protectionism and so forth. You cannot bring a compelling vision if it does not challenge and challenge is scary when you have no facility in conflict.
How does kids ministries and the other “touches” on the weekend rate or fit on your list?
Bill:
I just read a reference to your article posted by NACBA–good work!
What I tell our folks here: “Three basic reasons churches can’t reach the people they want to reach or keep the people they have (the reasons: none spiritual–at least at first):
“1. Normal Migration/Attrition (people moving in and out of cities and/or areas of cities; we must work hard to stay even with attrition, much less stay ahead of it–most churches appear not to do this well);
“2. Low-Quality Ministry (have the ministries–but have so many that cannot do the growth-producing ones exceptionally well; our guests want their friends to remain their friends, not to risk losing those friends by referring them to a church whose quality they didn’t like when they visited–so, no recommendations); and,
“3. Unresolved Internal Issues (conflict managed, but not resolved; even the core group will leave seeking peace elsewhere).”
Church growth is spiritual–in part; the rest is administrative, educational, operational. It’s never been easy for a church to sustain its biblical growth over years–and seems even harder these days. The times cry for revival and educational/administrative leadership, in my opinion (more info: dgtroublefield@sbcglobal.net).
David Troublefield
Minister of Education
Lamar Baptist Church
Wichita Falls, TX
Good thoughts Bill. I have a debate about this raging in my mind. Part of thinks and lives, that a passion for lost people will cover a lot of sins (no pun intended). If I really have a lifestyle, preaching life and prayer life that works to connect lost people to Christ, all the othet stuff will be ok.
But then I realize: If I care for lost people, then I must find the most effective ways to reach them. Follow, hospitality, worship, etc. When our passion reaches our organization that is when churches really take off. When we can create nimble, flexable systems that reflect our passions, we can really do great things for Christ.
We are starting to see that now in our church and it is exciting. We had over 250 first time guests to our new service from September to December of 2008. Our system of welcoming, collecting names, following up, etc has worked well and now I have a long list of folks wanting to join the church and give their life to Christ.
If we do not ingrain it into our systems, we really do not believe it, but it makes is easier to blame the Board!
Thanks for you thoughts. I agree that we as Christian do need to be wise in everything we do. However, I do not see the church in the bible worring about church growth. We are told to make disciples. Our company builds several churches a year and experience many people simply glorifying and enjoying God. Too much of what we do is inward focused and I would encourage others to simply make disciples and not worry if they go to “our” church. If we do our job the kingdom will increase and the new converts, lost, whomever… will end up in a church somewhere. I would not focus on growing our own church attendance – focus on building the Kingdom of God.
Keep up the good work.
Making disciples is church growth. The only way that a new disciple does not contribute to the growth of a local church is if a believer has no one mentoring, coaching, or holding them accountable – at which case, they’re not really a follower of Jesus, they’ve engaged in a form of mental gymnastics that is not biblically supported. There is no Christianity without the church – bearing in mind that I define the church as two or more intentionally gathered together in the name of Jesus.
In other words, I contend that the New Testament speaks extensively about “church growth” since Jesus’ last instructions included going into all the world and making disciples (from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth).
As for new converts “ending up in church somewhere,” research from the Billy Graham Crusades doesn’t support that notion. Indeed, there are millions of “Christians” who are fully unconnected with any other practicing Christian or any local manifestation of the church. Paul didn’t go make disciples and leave them, he went and made disciples and put them together as the church.
I completely agree with this article, however, I also believe that the location of a church can play a huge factor in church growth. Our church is located in “Church Plant Valley”!! There is a church on every corner and many of them are great, solid churches. How would you suggest a church succeed in growing when it islocated where there is just too much inventory?
Is there such a thing as “unspoken” unresolved conflict? I feel like unity is taken to such an extreme at our church that there is never any open congregational discussion about anything. There have been a few issues over the last couple of years that have left small (but growing)groups of members out of our aproximately 250 Sunday regular attenders wondering why decisions are just pretty much dumped on us without any prior open discussion. Our Sunday evening service attendance is between 70-90 and we have business meetings after the service. When talking with the Pastor he just repeats how important unity is. I understand that talking about some things can open the “can of worms” and other things only require decisions followed by action but since were are supposedly a congregation run church according to our constitution how do you figure out when to push the issue and rally the troops? When people come to me and ask why something happened the only thing I have been able to say at this point without stirring up the unity problem is that it is a congregation run church and please come to the next business meeting and voice your concerns. I am really dying to see ownership replace the apathy that has continued to prevail.
I totallly agree. My hausband and I are Pastors and I have seen these sames scenerios over and over again. We are very small and I would have thought that it would have been easier to maintain membership. I t’s not however. I find that sometimes even as leaders we are so involved in so many things; it’s almost impossible to be effective in any. We need help. Many times its easy to identify the problems but often times it is more difficult to come up with a workable solutions that effective.
[...] February 4, 2009 Came across an article at Monday Morning Insight about the top five reasons churches don’t grow. It quotes a guy named Bill Tenny Brittian. He’s a consultant to churches. You can see his full article here. [...]
I would have to include lack of God-focus. We can come and contemplate our navels or sing songs and say prayers as if they don’t make it past the ceiling. But when God is clearly the focus and we make no bones about that, people will get it.
Bill,
Thanks for the article. We are working at several of these. You mention the complete worship audit, but I do not see it available in the store. Is it not out yet? Thanks for any help.
Bruce
UNITY………our church is committed to teaching conflict resolution. Check out the book “Peace Maker” by Ken Sande (A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict) We are encouraging all in leadership positions in the church to take a day retreat teaching the concepts in this teaching. (Being taught by a member of our congregation & leader) We are a new church of 5+yrs and are in the beginnings of building our church building. It is clear from all the comings and goings of people that God is sifting us. We so believe He is growing a church of believers who are committed to unity in Him and to serving as Christ served……one another, the community, the lost, and making disciples. We are no social club, but a living, breathing body that is committed to changing lives. Our motto: “Changing lives through the unchanging Word of God”. It’s a great family to belong to! Read Ephesians 4. God Bless You. Ps We have awesome, vibrant – mostly contemporary – worship services – with music as the powerful vehicle that it is for leading people to experience the wonderful presence of our Papa God, Brother Jesus, and the awesome Holy Spirit of the Risen Lord.
Bill,
Good thoughts..In our church we are in the process of deciding whether or not to “track every individual”. You say yes, some say no. Do you have some thoughts on how to do that..
Thanks
The problem with the management of people in the business world is the same in church. The problem is more complex because church membership is voluntary, members contribute and expect spiritual benefit.s I think what is the most important to pastors is to connect fully to God and play their role as the linking-pin between God and the congregation as appropriate. Any attempt to do otherwise may not work. Church is about the spiritual life of people. Thanks.
How much of an effect can attendance capacity effect growth? In other words if a church is 80% facility capacity will growth stall (70%, 90%??) Thanks.
The rule of thumb is that unless you are experiencing extremely rapid growth, growth essentially stops at the 80 percent mark. This is true of seating capacity as well as parking capacity. At the 80 percent mark, a space “looks” full and guests and late comers alike. Even choirs that fill 80 percent of the choir loft will find it somewhat difficult to attract new vocalists.
The exception is in fast growing churches that blow past the 80 percent mark … however, if the church leaders don’t do something about breaking capacity, such as by adding an additional service, multi-site-ing, or remodeling, the growth will come to a screeching halt and the attendance will normalize back at the 80 percent of capacity in due course.
I know someone who has started a church and it has been up and running for about 2 years now, but there are still only 3 members. The Pastor, his wife and 1 member. Is there something wrong with this picture? Thank you.
JoAnne,
That all depends on how you define church. It’s not just about numbers, it’s about faithfulness of life and ministry. By Jesus’ standards, church appears to be defined as wherever two or three are gathered together in his name. By that definition, they’re a fine church. The purpose of the church, however, is to make disciples … both more of them and more effective/faithful ones. This is truly the only way to effectively measure a church’s faithfulness as the body of Christ.
Of course, by that definition, most churches in North America are in pretty sorry shape, regardless of their size. There are 300+ member churches in the US that haven’t done a baptism in years. There are thirty member churches that would rather nurture and tolerate ongoing conflict than confront non-Christian behavior (and provide a path to faithful discipleship).
So, before we can really weigh in on a church with only three members, we’ve got a lot of work to do with a slew of other churches.
On the other hand, if the pastor is receiving a salary, something is VERY wrong with this picture.
6. Una casa Dividida no Prospera ( por Pastor C. Ortiz)
(Translation into English – Badly – below)
Aunque estoy de acuerdo con todos los otros puntos, quiero agregar uno mas
La desunión en cualquier organización hace que se infiltre el desanimo e influencias demonices como el celo, la envidia, el chisme, la ira, la raíz de amargura y la falta de perdón.
La biblia dice en Lucas 11:17 Mas él, conociendo los pensamientos de ellos, les dijo: Todo reino dividido contra sí mismo, es asolado; y una casa dividida contra sí misma, cae.
El espíritu de división en las iglesias entra por la falta de amor, misericordia, benignidad, humildad, mansedumbre y paciencia entre los hermanos . Es necesario que nosotros como verdaderos cristianos nos mantengamos unidos en todo momento limando toda aspereza a fin de cumplir con la misión que Cristo nos otorgo. Debemos acostumbrarnos a hacer como escuchamos y predicamos, practicando el amor, el perdón y compartiendo en humildad; siempre llevando muy en alto nuestra visión y nunca perdiendo el rumbo de lo que nos une y esto es Cristo Jesús Fil 3:13.
Que fácil sería que toda el mundo fuera de nuestro agrado en el trabajo o en la iglesia?… pero la realidad es que siempre nos encontraremos con personas que no tenemos afinidad y similitud en lo natural. Mas si siempre tenemos presente la visión por la cual se trabaja y si Cristo es el centro de nuestra vida eso se convierte en nuestra identidad que nos hace semejantes y afines en lo espiritual y lo cual tendrá repercusión en los natural.
Los exhorto pues a que pongan estos 6 puntos en práctica para poder ver resultados positivos en nuestra iglesia y además los llamo a que tomen las medidas necesarias para hacer cambios en sus actitudes y mentes si es necesario, a fin de demostrar un verdadero carácter cristiano del cual Cristo se pueda sentir orgulloso.
Colosenses 3:12 – 17
12.Vestíos, pues, como escogidos de Dios, santos y amados, de entrañable misericordia, de benignidad, de humildad, de mansedumbre, de paciencia;
13 soportándoos unos a otros, y perdonándoos unos a otros si alguno tuviere queja contra otro. De la manera que Cristo os perdonó, así también hacedlo vosotros.
14 Y sobre todas estas cosas vestíos de amor, que es el vínculo perfecto.
15 Y la paz de Dios gobierne en vuestros corazones, a la que asimismo fuisteis llamados en un solo cuerpo; y sed agradecidos.
16 La palabra de Cristo more en abundancia en vosotros, enseñándoos y exhortándoos unos a otros en toda sabiduría, cantando con gracia en vuestros corazones al Señor con salmos e himnos y cánticos espirituales.
17 Y todo lo que hacéis, sea de palabra o de hecho, hacedlo todo en el nombre del Señor Jesús, dando gracias a Dios Padre por medio de él.(G)
ENGLISH
6. A Divided house will not prosper (by Pastor C. Ortiz) Although I am in agreement with all the other points, I want to add one.
The lack of unity in any organization causes that it infiltrates demonic dejection and influences like the fervor, envy, @@@, the wrath, the root of bitterness, and the lack of pardon. The Bible says in Lucas 11:17 But he, knowing the thoughts them, said them: A kingdom divided against itself, is knocked down; and a house divided against itself, falls. The spirit of division in the churches enters by the lack of love, mercy, gentleness, humility, meekness and patience between the brothers. It is necessary that we as true Christians we stay united at any moment filing all harshness in order to fulfill the mission that Christ grants to us. We must be used to us doing as we listened and we preached, practicing the love, the pardon and sharing in humility; taking very in always high our vision and never losing the course than it unites to us and this is Christ Jesus Fil 3:13. That easy it would be that all the world outside our affability in the work or the church? … but the reality is that we will always be with people who we do not have affinity and similarity in the natural thing. But if always we remember the vision by which it works and if Christ is the center of our life that turns into our identity that does compatible resemblances to us and in the spiritual and which will have repercussion in the natural one. I exhort them then to that they put these 6 points in practice to be able to see positive results in our church and I call in addition them to that they take the measures necessary to make changes in its attitudes and minds if it is necessary, in order demonstrate a true Christian character of which Christ can be felt proud. Col 3:12 – 17 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Bill,
I just ran across your article and generally understand your growth principles. I will say that your appearing to need visilble meeting of standards to be an acceptable Christian is one thing that in many cases drives people who come to church to “be fed” away. You made the following comment
“Just one quick note – it’s not always the pastor’s fault when a congregation refuses to step up to do ministry. There are churches full of consumers all over North America – people who want to “be fed” but refuse to take responsibility for their own spiritual nurturance and maturity. In other words, folks who are believers but not disciples who are following Jesus. In those cases, my counsel to a pastor who believes s/he is called to grow faithful churches is to find another congregation to lead. Something about shaking the dust off ….
First we are all called by God not church leadership to the tasks that He needs us to do. For many, even most, members of any congregation, this leads to efforts outside of the church in areas of volunteering, Bible study groups among friends, for many simply praying daily for others and raising their families in a Christian environment. Holding anyone accountable to a “church” devised list of accomplishments to the point that if all the congregation does not meet this the pastor should leave and shake them, “the dust off” is just saying if you can’t be just like me or live, act, and serve just like I say then I don’t think your a Christian. God made us all different Bill, and through our life experiences, assuming we let Him, uses us in many many ways unrealted to visible, accountability to church minimums.
He sure has used this ole sinner in many ways I would not have imagined all through our 45 years together. Churches are meant to feed folks not demand visible accountable church related activity levels. Great article though with a lot of principles that all churches can consider.
God Bless
Mike
Mike, I don’t disagree with you that God does the calling and we do the responding. However the list I suggest holding Christians accountable to is lifted directly from scripture, not from a congregational contrived list. I don’t take issue with folks doing ministry outside the church … indeed, there are too many Christians so busy doing “church work” that they don’t even have an unchurched friend with whom to have a significant spiritual conversation (and without spiritual conversations with non-Christians, there can be no evangelism). As for personal prayer and Bible study, these are crucial to spiritual growth (oh that more would engage personal faith development) and are foundational – I have no qualms with that either. My issue is with consumer Christians who expect the church (and particularly the pastor) to mollycoddle them rather than expecting them to go forth and be disciples of Jesus Christ in their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, and beyond. There are churches all across this nation that are so inward focused, conflicted, and committed to cultural Christianity that it would make little difference who their church leader was, the congregation would not refocus and recommit to engaging the culture for the cause of Christ. I’m in churches like this far too often. I invite these congregants to look around at one other to check either hair color or lack thereof … and then to project how many years before their congregation is unable to “keep the lights” on. Typically, they conclude it’s less than ten years – but they almost always remain “stuck.”
In those cases, when a person has been called to be a church change agent, but have found themselves leading in a congregational milieu unreceptive to faithfulness to the great commission, the great commandments, and the great invitation (and we as a church or as an individual are not afforded the luxury of choosing which of these “greats” to be faithful to – we are called to be faithful to the whole of the Gospel) then the church leader and the Kingdom is best served when they take seriously Jesus’ instructions to his disciples when they realized they were in an unreceptive town – dust off their feet and move on.
HOWEVER, having said that – I don’t believe every pastor is called to be a change agent. Some – perhaps many in these troubled times – are pastoral chaplains who are called to churches that are unwilling or unable (?) to embrace Jesus’ commandments to the church. Their task, like the Elder Son’s father, is to gently plead with the congregation to “come” to where the action is – and to finally lay them to rest if they refuse. It’s been estimated that as many as 100,000 churches will close their doors forever in the next few years and these churches need leaders who can help them to die gracefully – and perhaps even salvage some of the inheritance so that new congregations can be started. This too is a vital and important ministry that must continue and we need faithful leaders to attend these congregations.
My problem is that there are too many churches who really do want to reach their community, but have pastoral chaplains as leaders – leaders who do not have the capacity to lead growth. Conversely, there are also too many congregations who make a lot of noise about growing, who call change-agent pastors, but who then thwart church growth and/or (wittingly or unwittingly) sabotage growth when it happens – and too many of these pastors are burning out or leaving the ministry in frustration. The pastors of these two types of church desperately need to change places.
Disciples are called to hold each other accountable – not to church related activities, but to faithful behavior as the body of Christ. I’m afraid that until we start taking this seriously (as the church used to do), we will continue to watch our congregations slip into darkness, lock their doors, and see our buildings remodeled into coffee shops, craft outlets, bed and breakfasts, or razed completely from the sight of the community.
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